Review: Richmond Symphony

Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
April 30, Randolph-Macon College

Chia-Hsuan Lin, the Richmond Symphony’s associate conductor, made the most of a rare opportunity to conduct the orchestra in a classical program in this season’s final Metro Collection concert in Ashland.

Lin, whose primary work with the symphony is conducting lighter fare in Pops and LolliPops concerts and directing the symphony’s Young Performers Program, crafted a performance of Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony (No. 41 in C major, K. 551) on a grander scale than might have been expected from a chamber orchestra, and led a superbly detailed reading of Stravinsky’s “Danses concertantes.”

“Danses concertantes,” the first work that Stravinsky produced after moving to the US in 1939, is structured like the dance suites of the baroque period, but couched in the neo-classical style that he developed and that subsequently became a common language of mid-20th century music.

The piece is relatively easy listening, but far from easy playing, full of off-kilter and overlapping rhythms, unexpected harmonic twists, tricky instrumental balances and, with its spare instrumentation, no place to hide for musicians who aren’t fully on their game.

Lin’s treatment of the piece nicely balanced its melding of antique spirit and modern style, and brought out the many intricacies of Stravinsky’s orchestration. The musicians, paced by clarinetist Eric Anderson, flutist Jennifer Debiec Lawson and oboist Shawn Welk, played with refinement and exuberance.

A larger ensemble played the Mozart symphony and a bit of rarely heard Beethoven, the Overture to his ballet score “The Creatures of Prometheus,” emphatically but without the thick, sonically tubby quality that’s often the consequence of such an approach.

The Mozart, which can sound repetitious and formulaic in a routine performance, here sounded energized and intent on scaling an expressive height.

The program opened with “The Entrance of the Queen of Sheba” from Handel’s oratorio “Solomon,” a speedy, uncharacteristically unceremonial number that always makes me wonder whether Handel imagined the queen making her entrance fleeing a swarm of bees. Oboists Welk and Alexandra von der Embse stylishly led a suitably skittish romp through the piece.

Before the concert, David Fisk, the symphony’s executive director, was presented with the Award for Achievement in the Arts from the Arts Council of Randolph-Macon College.

Review: Richmond Symphony Chorus

Erin Freeman directing
April 28, Second Baptist Church

The Richmond Symphony Chorus remembered its founding director, James Erb, in a program ranging from sections of Brahms’ “A German Requiem” and the Renaissance polyphony of Roland de Lassus to Erb’s own compositions and arrangements.

The emotional highlight of the program, not surprisingly, was its climax: the arrangement of “Shenandoah” that Erb prepared for his University of Richmond Chorus to take on its first European tour in 1971. (He founded the Symphony Chorus that year, as well.)

His “Shenandoah” has been sung by hundreds of choruses worldwide, and has been put to sometimes unlikely uses, such as accompanying the end credits of Oliver Stone’s film “Nixon.” Erb liked to joke that royalties from its many performances financed quite a few family vacations.

In this concert, the Symphony Chorus sang “Shenandoah” once onstage, then descended to the aisles of the Second Baptist Church, where the choristers were joined by audience members – among them, many alumni of Erb’s collegiate and community choruses – to sing it again.

It was the finale of a set of American and Anglo-Celtic folk-song arrangements that Erb had made over the years, all of them wistful or yearning in lyric content. Erb’s treatments mostly introduced the tunes in straightforward folk style – “Amazing Grace,” for example, at the outset clearly echoing the late-18th century shape-note tradition – then developed them in a mid-20th century style that might be described as romantic with modestly modernist touches.

Four members of the ensemble – Steve Travers, Gabriella Francesca Bergeret, Rondy Michael Lazaro and Colleen James – took solo turns in three of the folk tunes, most affectingly Lazaro in “Colorado Trail” and James in “Now Is the Cool of the Day.”

The chorus also sang Erb’s setting of William Blake’s “The Lamb,” and his arrangement of the Scottish song “John Anderson, My Jo,” by way of Robert Schumann’s “Romances and Ballads,” Op. 145.

The Brahms requiem was the last large-scale work that Erb prepared with the Symphony Chorus before his retirement in 2007. In this concert, his successor, Erin Freeman, led the ensemble in three of the work’s most solemnly lyrical sections, “Seilig sind, die da Leid tragen” (“Blessed are they that mourn”), “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen” (“How lovely are Thy dwelling places”) and “Seilig sind die Toten” (“Blessed are the dead”).

The choristers sang these pieces with affectionate warmth and satisfying collective heft, the latter underscored by Michael Simpson in his organ accompaniment.

A chamber contingent of the chorus was on less familiar ground in Lassus’ chanson “Dessus le marché d’Arras” (“Near the Marketplace in Arras”), whose bawdy lyric describes a Spaniard bargaining for the favors of a French girl (Freeman eschewed translation in this church setting), and the Magnificat that the composer based on the tune – a piece that, nearly years later, Erb edited for the scholarly edition of Lassus’ compositions.

The singers strained to negotiate the heavy traffic of notes in the chanson. They produced a firmer ensemble sound in the Magnificat.

Washington Performing Arts 2017-18

Martha Argerich, the eminent Argentine-born pianist who has rarely appeared on US stages in recent years, will perform twice in Washington Performing Arts’ 2017-18 season, playing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Antonio Pappano conducting the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia of Rome on Oct. 25 and playing works of Bach, Franck and others with violinist Itzhak Perlman on March 20, both at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Washington Performing Arts, marking its 50th anniversary next season, is the region’s leading presenter of internationally prominent classical artists.

Its coming season also will feature concerts by the Mariinsky Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Valery Gergiev conducting, with pianist Daniil Trifonov, Nov. 12; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti conducting, Feb. 7; the Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting, March 6; and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel conducting, April 26. All will perform in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall except the Philadelphia Orchestra, which will play at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, in the DC suburbs.

Solo and chamber recitalists include Ensemble Signal, Brad Lubman conducting, with composer Steve Reich in an all-Reich program, Oct. 18 at the Library of Congress; pianist Nikolai Lugansky, Nov. 1 at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater; violinist Joshua Bell with pianist Alessio Bax, Nov. 5 at Strathmore; violinist Maxim Vengerov with pianist Roustem Saitkoulov, Jan. 26 at Strathmore; pianist Alexandre Tharaud, Feb. 13 at the Terrace Theater; flutist Emmanuel Pahud with pianist Alessio Bax, Feb. 16 at the Terrace Theater; pianist Mitsuko Uchida, Feb. 21 at Strathmore; the trio of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Leonidas Kavakos and pianist Emanuel Ax, Feb. 23 at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall; pianist Boris Berezovsky, March 22 at the Terrace Theater; pianist Roman Rabinovich, March 24 at the Terrace Theater; the Kronos Quartet with pipa (Chinese lute) player Wu Man, April 19 at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium; and pianist Evgeny Kissin, May 16 at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

The second season of SHIFT: a Festival of American Orchestras will present the Fort Worth Symphony, Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducting, with violinist Augustin Hadelich and the Texas Ballet Theater, April 10; the Albany Symphony, David Alan Miller conducting, with pianist Joyce Yang and tuba player Carol Jantsch, April 11; the Indianapolis Symphony, Krzystof Urbanski conducting, with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and two choirs, April 13; and Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda conducting, with baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, April 14. All will perform at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

For a complete schedule of performers and programs, visit Washington Performing Arts’ website at http://www.washingtonperformingarts.org

'Curating' the classics at The Times

A lot of dust has been kicked up lately about changes in the way The New York Times covers classical music – notably, the brevity or omission of reviews of some performances.

There’s some urgency to the discussion, as The Times is one of the few newspapers in the US that still devotes significant space and staffing to the subject.

In an interview with Steve Smith on The Log Journal, Zachary Woolfe, who recently became classical-music editor of The Times and has overseen many of its changes in coverage, explains how the paper is “curating” classical news, features and reviews, online and in print, and the wider audience he intends to reach:

http://thelogjournal.com/2017/04/21/zachary-woolfe-curating-cultural-experiences-in-the-digital-domain/

(via http://www.artsjournal.com)

Letter V Classical Radio this week

April 26
noon-3 p.m. EDT
1600-1900 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Beethoven: “Coriolan” Overture
Anima Eterna Orchestra/Jos van Immerseel
(Zig Zag Territories)

Mozart:
String Quintet
in G minor, K. 516
Hausmusik
(EMI Classics)

Mendelssohn:
“Variations sérieuses,”
Op. 54
Alfred Brendel, piano
(Philips)

Antonio Bertali: Chaconne in C major
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra Consort
(Carus)

J.S. Bach:
“Chromatic Fantasy
and Fugue” in D minor,
BWV 903
Leon Fleisher, piano
(Vanguard Classics)

Britten:
Quartet No. 3
in G major, Op. 94
Emerson String Quartet
(Decca Gold)

Past Masters:
Beethoven:
Symphony No. 9
in D minor (“Choral”)
Ursula Kaszut, soprano
Brigitte Fassbaender, mezzo-soprano
Nicolai Gedda, tenor
Donald McIntyre, bass
Munich Philharmonic Choir
Munich Motet Choir
Munich Philharmonic/Rudolf Kempe
(recorded 1973)
(Warner Classics)

Fisk renews at symphony

The Richmond Symphony has extended the contract of David Fisk, its executive director, through 2020.

The English-born Fisk, a 51-year-old graduate of Manchester University and the Royal Northern of Music in Manchester, joined the Richmond Symphony in 2002 after serving as chief executive officer of the Ulster Orchestra Society in Belfast and as manager of the Orchestra of St. John’s, Smith Square, a chamber orchestra in London.

Fisk, a pianist, and his wife, the Irish-born soprano Anne O’Byrne, are active performers in local recitals and chamber concerts.

Review: Chamber Music Society

April 23, University of Richmond

A blisteringly expressive performance of César Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor, concluding a program of otherwise rarely heard French chamber works, wrapped up the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia’s current season.

The Franck, which probably comes as close as any piece to what chamber music by Richard Wagner might have sounded like, pits an often thunderous piano against a string quartet whose parts, singly and collectively, are impassioned and rich – or dense – with chromatic harmonies and swelling dynamics.

Richness, rather than density, characterized this performance by pianist Roman Rabinovich, violinists Diana Cohen and Daisuke Yamamoto, violist Amadi Azikiwe and cellist James Wilson, who, aided greatly by the bright acoustic of the University of Richmond’s freshly renovated Perkinson Recital Hall, projected unusual clarity in the normally heavily weave of Franck’s miniature orchestration.

Rabinovich didn’t hold back in the piano’s massive chordal punctuations; but the string players, paced by Cohen, matched him in volume and intensity, and their treatments of the recurring, lyrical leitmotif – a sound portrait of a woman (not his wife) with whom Franck was obsessed at the time – underlined the passionate edge of this reading.

The Franck was preceded by two rare examples of chamber music with trumpet, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Septet in E flat major, Op. 65, and Vincent d’Indy’s “Suite dans le style ancien” (“Dance Suite in the Old Style”), Op. 24, both composed for a late 19th-century Parisian chamber-concert series called La Trompette.

In these performances, trumpeter Justin Bland alternated between instruments, playing a modern valved trumpet in the Saint-Saëns and a valveless “natural” trumpet, for a better blend with two flutes in a wind chorus, in the d’Indy octet.

In both pieces, Bland ably reined in volume and brightness, keeping his instrumental lines within the fabric of ensembles rather than blaring over them – a peril that explains the scarcity of trumpet parts in chamber works with strings.

Saint-Saëns and d’Indy consciously couched their pieces in the antique form of the baroque suite, with a decorous introduction followed by dances (minuet, sarabande, gavotte). Neither exactly impersonated baroque musical style – virtually unknown in their day – opting instead for structures and tonal blends that Mozart or Haydn might have recognized, d’Indy a bit more rigorously than Saint-Saëns.

Bland, joined by the string players and Rabinovich in both works and by flutists Tabatha Easley and Brandon Patrick George in the d’Indy, delivered stylishly classical, somewhat understated treatments, with Rabinovich adding an appropriately romantic gloss to the Saint-Saëns.

George and Rabinovich rounded out the program with a straightforward reading of Gabriel Fauré’s Fantasie, Op. 79, for flute and piano, an unabashedly romantic piece, but one without the emotional tumult of the Franck.

Review: Takács Quartet

April 20, University of Richmond

The Takács Quartet’s recorded cycle of the Beethoven string quartets has been widely rated as a reference version since the discs were released between 2002 and 2004.

Some of the same qualities that have gratified record collectors – a middle-of-the-road interpretive stance that stood up to repeated hearings, warm-blooded collective tone that made room for felicitous details from individual players – characterized the ensemble’s performances of three of the quartets in a return engagement at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center.

The Takács – violinists Edward Dusinberre and Károly Schranz, violist Geraldine Walther and cellist András Fejér – sampled early, middle and late Beethoven, playing the quartets in B flat major, Op. 18, No. 6, and F major, Op. 135, in the first half of the program, and the third “Razumovsky” Quartet, in C major, Op. 59, No. 3, after intermission.

The later quartets lent themselves more readily to the Takács’ expansive, room-filling sound and borderline-romantic mode of expression. The foursome’s long lyrical arc in the slow movement of Op. 135 and pacing of the slow movement of Op. 59, No. 3 – almost Mahlerian in its scale – were perhaps the most rewarding performances in the program.

Dusinberre’s quasi-cadenza in the opening movement of the “Razumovsky” was a rare burst of solo brilliance. Elsewhere, the Takács emphasized consistent, concentrated ensemble sound, exploring gradations of dynamics – how many degrees of mezzoforte can these musicians produce? – and playing with a tonal weight reminiscent of the Budapest and Guarneri quartets in their primes.

I’ve heard the playful Beethoven – of the first movement of Op. 18, No. 6, for example – played more playfully, and the energetic finale of Op. 59, No. 3, played more speedily, than they were in this performance. There were times, especially in the early quartet, when I would have preferred a leaner, more focused tone.

But very few string quartets at work today have this music as securely in hand. The Takács has a clear, long-considered notion of how Beethoven quartets should sound, and makes a compelling case for its approach.

Mozart Festival 2017

The musicians’ collective Classical Revolution RVA stages its fourth annual Mozart Festival on April 23, with eight afternoon and evening performances at galleries, restaurants and nightclubs in the Jackson Ward neighborhood of downtown Richmond.

All events are open without admission charge.

The schedule of events:

11 a.m.-1 p.m. (Saadia’s Juicebox, 402½ N. Second St.; Max’s, Brook Road at Marshall Street.) – “Eine kleine Brunch Music.” String quartets, other chamber music. (Reservations suggested for Max’s.)

Noon-3 p.m. (Gallery5, Marshall Street at Brook Road) – Family events. Crafts and activities, noon; musical storytime, 1 p.m.; student recital and “Twinkle Play-in,” 2 p.m.

1 p.m. (Big Secret, 120 W. Marshall St.) – “Wolfgang 101.” Erin Freeman discusses Mozart’s life and work, with live musical examples. (Cosponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Music.)

2 p.m. (1708 Gallery, 819 W. Broad St.) – Richmond Cello Orchestra, Michael Knowles directing. (Sponsored by Four Strings.)

3 p.m. (Charm School Social Club, 311 W. Broad St.) – University of Richmond Vocal Studio singing scenes from “The Marriage of Figaro,” other operas. (Sponsored by UR Music Department.)

4 p.m. (Coalition Theater, 8 W. Broad St.) – Capitol Opera in “Bastian and Bastienna.” (Sung in English.)

5 p.m. (Candela Gallery, 214 W. Broad St.) – Orchestra, chorus and soloists, Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting, in excerpts of symphonies and Requiem, with violinist Adrian Pintea and violist HyoJoo Uh featured in Sinfonia concertante in E flat major, K. 364.

7 p.m. (Atlas Gallery, 114 W. Marshall St.) – “Mozart’s Greatest Hits.” Singers and orchestra, Anthony Smith conducting, in opera arias.

For more information, visit the festival’s website, http://www.classicalrevolutionrva.com/mozart-festival/

Letter V Classical Radio this week

April 19
noon-3 p.m. EDT
1600-1900 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Johann Joseph Fux:
“La Grandezza della Musica Imperiale” –
Overture in D minor
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/
Gottfried von der Goltz
(Carus)

Haydn:
Sonata in E minor,
Hob. XVI:34
Marc-André Hamelin,
piano
(Hyperion)

Past Masters:
Prokofiev: “Lieutenant Kijé” Suite
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Claudio Abbado
(recorded 1977)
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Mozart:
Symphony No. 38
in D major, K. 504
(“Prague”)
(arrangement by
Franz Theodor Schubert)
Vienna Schubert Ensemble
(Camerata)

Beethoven:
Sonata in A major,
Op. 47 (“Kreutzer”)
(orchestration by Richard Tognietti)
Antje Weithaas, violin
Camerata Bern/Hyunjong Reents-Kang
(Avi Music)

Arensky:
Quartet No. 2
in A minor, Op. 35
Philippe Quint, violin
Lily Francis, viola
Claudio Bohórquez &
Nicolas Altstaedt, cellos
(Avanti Classic)

Schumann:
Piano Concerto in A minor
Howard Shelley, piano & director
Orchestra of Opera North
(Chandos)

Inflammation sidelines Lang Lang

Pianist Lang Lang, who is scheduled to play Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto (No. 5 in E flat major) on Sept. 14 in the opening concert of the Richmond Symphony’s 2017-18 season, has canceled performances through June to recover from inflammation in his left arm, Slipped Disc’s Norman Lebrecht reports:

http://slippedisc.com/2017/04/just-in-lang-lang-cancels-next-three-months/

Radio special

Music for Holy Saturday: Dieterich Buxtehude’s oratorio “Membra Jesu nostri” (“The most holy limbs of our suffering Jesus”) (1680) and Peteris Vasks’ “Dona nobis pacem” (1996), framing Otto Klemperer’s memorably intense performance of Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

April 15
11 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1500-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Dieterich Buxtehude: “Membra Jesu nostri,” BuxWV 75
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
(DG Archiv)

Past Masters:
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor
Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer
(recorded 1956-57)
(EMI Classics)

Peteris Vasks: “Dona nobis pacem”
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Talinn Chamber Orchestra/Paul Hillier
(Harmonia Mundi)

Review: Klemperer Trio

April 12, University of Richmond

In the 18th and 19th centuries, chamber music was played among relatives and friends, to entertain other relatives and friends,
or for the musicians’ own enjoyment.

That was very much the vibe of a concert
by the Klemperer Trio
– violinist Erika Klemperer, cellist Ronald Crutcher and pianist Gordon Back – at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center.

Klemperer and Back have been married for 37 years. Klemperer and Crutcher have known each other since early teen-age. The three musicians have performed together, on and off, since 1980.

This reunion took place near the end of Crutcher’s second year as UR’s president. He circulated in the lobby greeting guests before the performance, while his wife, Betty Neal Crutcher, did the same as people made their way to seats in Camp Concert Hall.

The trio’s program was composed of old friends: Mendelssohn’s Trio in D minor, Op. 49; Shostakovich’s Trio in C minor, Op. 8; and Anton Arensky’s Trio in D minor, Op. 32 – all staples of the piano-trio repertory, and audibly the subjects of musical discourse among these artists for some time.

So, the violinist and cellist knew when and how to give the pianist space to project his glittering runs in the Mendelssohn, and the violinist and pianist naturally deferred to the cellist in setting the tone of the Arensky, especially in its elegiac adagio.

The choice of two Russian-romantic works – Shostakovich’s Op. 8 is an early composition, looking back as much as forward stylistically – was wise programming, because Crutcher’s cello has a Slavic accent in its unusually dark, throaty timbre. He exploited that quality to fine effect in the Arensky and Shostakovich, and Klemperer darkened her tone nicely to match.

The threesome’s reading of the Mendelssohn was on the cautious side in tempos and accents, but nicely detailed, often affectionate in its instrumental exchanges.

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Music for Passover and Holy Week: Rarely heard works by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Ernest Bloch; a distinctive and moving account of Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis” conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt in his last recording; and Arvo Pärt’s “Tabula Rasa,” played by the artists who introduced the piece 40 years ago.

April 12
noon-3 p.m. EST
1700-2000 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

J.S. Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582
(orchestration by Ottorino Respighi)
Seattle Symphony Orchestra/
Gerard Schwarz
(Naxos)

Korngold:
“Passover Psalm”
Emily Magee, soprano
Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus
Munich Radio Orchestra/
Marcello Viotti
(Hänssler)

Bloch: Psalm 22
Vincent Le Texier, baritone
Luxembourg Philharmonic/David Shallon
(Timpani)

Haydn: Symphony No. 39 in G minor
Il Giardano Armonico/
Giovanni Antonini
(Alpha)

Brahms:
“Begräbnisgesang”
Monteverdi Choir
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/
John Eliot Gardiner
(Soli Deo Gloria)

Beethoven:
“Missa solemnis”
Laura Aikin, soprano
Bernarda Fink, alto
Johannes Chum, tenor
Ruben Drole, bass
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Concentus Musicus Wien/
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
(Sony Classical)

Arvo Pärt: “Tabula Rasa”
Gidon Kremer &
Tatjana Grindenko, violins
Alfred Schnittke,
prepared piano
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra/
Saulius Sondeckis
(ECM)

Barber: Agnus Dei
Choir of New College, Oxford/
Edward Higginbottom
(Erato)

Richmond Symphony reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Richmond Symphony, Symphony Chorus, soprano Michelle Areyzaga and bass-baritone Kevin Deas, performing works by Vaughan Williams, Bruckner and Schubert:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/music-review-richmond-symphony-s-evocations-dark-and-timely/article_b73d7173-2ae3-54fa-9724-7cee207733c5.html

Symphony Summer Series

“The Flower of England: from the Empire through the Wars” is the theme of this year’s Richmond Symphony Summer Series, running from July 13 to Aug. 17 at Dominion Arts Center.

Six chamber concerts lasting about an hour will be staged on Thursday evenings in the fourth season of the series, presented by the symphony in association with Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond. Members of the orchestra will perform with VCU and UR faculty musicians; the Aug. 3 program also will feature faculty from VCU’s Global Summer Institute of Music.

The concerts, at 6:30 p.m. in the Gottwald Playhouse of Dominion Arts Center, Sixth and Grace streets, will mix works by familiar names from English music – Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Britten, Delius – with pieces by less frequently heard composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Charles Villiers Stanford, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Frank Bridge, Arnold Bax, John Ireland and Eugene Goosens.

Subscription ticket prices for six concerts are $81 for adults, $60 for youths (18 and younger) and college students. Sampler subscriptions – three or more concerts at $16 each for adults, $11 each for youths and students – also are offered. Single tickets, which go on sale on May 8, are $18 for adults, $12 for youths and students.

Most concerts in past series have sold out in advance.

For more information, call the Richmond Symphony patron services desk at (804) 788-1212 or visit http://www.richmondsymphony.com

“The Flower of England” artists and programs:

July 13
Adrian Pintea, violin
Russell Wilson, piano
Vaughan Williams: “The Lark Ascending” (arr. for violin and piano)
Britten: Suite for violin and piano, Op. 6
Coleridge-Taylor: “Petite suite de concert,” Op. 77
Elgar: “Salut d’amour,” Op. 12

July 20
Susannah Klein, violin
Joanne Kong, piano
Elgar: Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82
Bridge: “Norse Legend,” “Amaryllis,” “Souvenir,” “Heart’s Ease”
Ireland: “Summer Evening”
Thomas Pitfield: Violin Sonata in A major – Allegretto articulato and Scherzo

July 27
Schuyler Slack, cello
David Fisk, piano
Bridge: “Four Pieces”
Bax: “Folk Tale”
Delius: Romance for cello and piano
Bridge: Cello Sonata in D minor

Aug. 3
Zachary Guiles, trombone
Yin Zheng, piano
Pascale Delache-Feldman, double-bass
Aleksandr Haskin, flute and piccolo
Elgar (arr. Sauer): “Chanson de nuit,” “Chanson de matin”
Holst: Concertante
Elgar: Duetto for double-bass and trombone
Elgar: “Salut d’amour” for trombone, piano and double-bass
Goosens: “Five Impressions of a Holiday” for flute, trombone and piano
Vaughan Williams: “Suite de ballet” for flute and piano
Ian Clarke: “The Great Train Race,” “Zoom Tube” for solo flute
Britten: “Ploughboy” for trombone, piano and piccolo

Aug. 10
David Lemelin, clarinet
Magdalena Adamek, piano
Gerald Finzi: “Five Bagatelles,” Op. 23
Charles Villiers Stanford: Clarinet Sonata, Op. 129
Bridge: “Three Miniature Pastorales”
Joseph Horowitz: Sonatina

Aug. 17
Shawn Welk, oboe & English horn
Richard Becker, piano
Britten: “Six Metamorphoses after Ovid” – “Pan,” “Arethusa”
Edmund Rubbra: Oboe Sonata in C major, Op. 100
Tobias Matthay: “Three Lyric Studies” for piano
Vaughan Williams (arr. Stanton): “Six Studies in English Folk-Song” for English horn and piano
Thomas F. Dunhill: “Three Short Pieces,” Op. 81
Goosens: “Concerto in One Movement,” Op. 45 (arr. for oboe and piano)

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Johannes Brahms, master of the art of variation: His piano variations on themes by Handel, Haydn, Paganini and Schumann, played alongside their sources; his rarely heard “13 Variations on a Hungarian Song,” played alongside a set of his familiar Hungarian dances; and, to conclude, his most famous variation on a theme – the
old collegiate drinking song “Gaudeamus Igitur” – in the “Academic Festival” Overture.

April 5
noon-3 p.m. EST
1700-2000 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Brahms: Hungarian dances –
No. 3 in F major
No. 4 in F minor
No. 5 in F sharp minor
(orchestrations by Marc-Olivier Dupin,
based on arrangements by Joseph Joachim)
Patrice Fontanarosa, violin
Jan Talich
Chamber Orchestra
(EMI Classics)

Brahms:
“13 Variations on a Hungarian Song,”
Op. 21, No. 2
Andreas Bach, piano
(Oehms Classics)

Handel:
Suite in B flat major, HWV 434
Shai Wosner, piano
(Onyx)

Brahms: “Variations on a Theme by Handel,” Op. 24
Shai Wosner, piano
(Onyx)

Paganini:
Caprice in A minor,
Op. 1, No. 24
Midori, violin
(Sony Classical)

Brahms:
“Variations on a
Theme of Paganini,”
Op. 35 – Books 1 & 2
(selections)
Yuja Wang, piano
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Past Masters:
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor
(“La campanella”)
Ivry Gitlis, violin
Warsaw National Philharmonic/Stanislaw Wislocki
(recorded 1966)
(Philips)

Brahms:
Capriccio in B minor,
Op. 76, No. 2
Ivan Moravec, piano
(Supraphon)

Schumann:
“Bunte blätter,”
Op. 99, No. 4
Louis Lortie, piano
(Chandos)

Brahms: “Variations on a Theme of Schumann,” Op. 9
Louis Lortie, piano
(Chandos)

Haydn (attr.):
Octet (Partita)
in B flat major,
Hob. II:46
Consortium Classicum
(Warner Classics)

Brahms:
“Variations on a Theme
by Haydn,” Op. 56
Martha Argerich & Nelson Freire, pianos
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Brahms: “Academic Festival” Overture
Gewandhaus Orchestra, Leipzig/Riccardo Chailly
(Decca)

Review: Roman & Žlabys

Joshua Roman, cello
Andrius Žlabys, piano
April 1, Virginia Commonwealth University

Solo recitalists typically receive boldface billing, with their accompanists in secondary font. Not so in the weekend’s performance by Joshua Roman, the widely lauded young American cellist, and his longtime recital partner, the Lithuanian-born pianist Andrius Žlabys, in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts series.

Roman, whose focused, singing tone sounded perfectly suited to music ranging from Debussy and Beethoven to Janáček and Arvo Pärt, certainly rated star billing; but so did Žlabys, who has been performing with Roman since they were studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music and has built his own career as a solo pianist.

A few measures into Debussy’s Sonata for cello and piano, which opened the program, it was clear that this would be an evening of deeply collaborative music-making. Žlabys proved to be the rare accompanist who, while always supportive, also creates and constructively inhabits his own musical space.

This was especially satisfying in Beethoven’s Sonata in A major, Op. 69, in which cello and piano are equal, consistently complementary voices. The sonata’s central scherzo, in which the piano plays a nearly orchestral role, found Roman and Žlabys at their collaborative best, feeding off each other’s energy and expressiveness in playful exchanges.

The duo’s phrasing and sensitivity to tone coloration brought contour and continuity to Janáček‘s “Pohádka” (“Fairy Tale”), emphasizing the folk-derived melodies and moderating the sometimes grating sonorities that characterize this early modern Czech composer’s style.

Roman and Žlabys made unusually lyrical work of the Debussy sonata, fleshing out the skeletal quality of this piece from late in the composer’s life, but without quite romanticizing it. The cellist crossed that line with vibrato-heavy lyricism in “Louange à l’Eternité de Jesus” (“Praise to the immortality of Jesus”) from Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time.”

The two musicians traced the long narrative and expressive arc of Pärt’s “Fratres” (“Brothers”), a quasi-minimalist piece that has gone through 17 (!) instrumental iterations since its original 1980 version for violin and piano. It sounded warmer, naturally, when played on cello, and Roman’s austere voicing of his part left more space for the piano’s partly supportive, partly contrasting voice.

Roman and Žlabys have been improvising – “noodling,” as the cellist put it – since their student days, but had not done so in public before this concert. Their “Only Once” improvisation suggested extensive exposure to impressionistic jazz by the likes of Pat Metheny and Bill Evans.

Astor Piazzolla’s “Grand Tango,” the climax of the program, was a virtuoso exercise for both players.

Bates energizes Philly

Mason Bates, the Richmond-bred composer of symphonic works combining traditional instruments with electronica – sounds generated on and played back through a laptop computer – performs his “Alternative Energy” with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra on April 6-8.

In this and other works, the 40-year-old Bates, currently conducting a performance and curation residency at the Kennedy Center in Washington, seeks to make “music that’s fresh and inevitable. If it has both of those things, it can still surprise you,” he tells the Philadelphia Inquirer’s David Patrick Stearns:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/417489783.html

Bates, who in recent years has become one of the most frequently performed living US composers, will introduce his “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” at the Santa Fe Opera this summer. He is at work on an as-yet untitled choral-orchestral work to be introduced in May 2018 by the Richmond Symphony and Symphony Chorus.

April calendar

Classical performances in and around Richmond, with selected events elsewhere in Virginia and the Washington area. Program information, provided by presenters, is updated as details become available. Adult single-ticket prices are listed; senior, student/youth, group and other discounts may be offered.

* In and around Richmond: Joshua Roman, one of the leading young American cellists, and pianist Andrius Žlabys play Debussy, Beethoven, Messiaen, Janáček, Arvo Pärt and Astor Piazzolla in a Rennolds Chamber Concerts program, April 1 at Singleton Arts Center of Virginia Commonwealth University. . . . Virginia Opera concludes its current season with a performance of Puccini’s “Turandot,” starring soprano Kelly Cae Hogan in the title role and tenor Derek Taylor as Calaf, April 2 at the Carpenter Theatre of Dominion Arts Center. . . . Organist Bruce Stevens plays works by Bach, Mozart, Josef Rheinberger and Domenico Zipoli in a free recital, April 3 at the University of Richmond’s Cannon Memorial Chapel. . . . Alexander Kordzaia conducts the UR Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of Allen Wittig’s “In Tribute,” in a free program also featuring Saint-Saëns’ “Organ” Symphony (No. 3), April 5 at UR’s Modlin Arts Center. . . . The Richmond Symphony and Symphony Chorus, Steven Smith conducting, are joined by soprano Michelle Areyzaga and bass-baritone Kevin Deas, in Vaughan Williams’ “Dona nobis pacem” and Bruckner’s Psalm 150, with Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony opening the program, April 8-9 at Dominion Arts Center. . . . The Klemperer Trio – violinist Erika Klemperer, cellist (and UR President) Ronald Crutcher and pianist Gordon Back – play Shostakovich, Mendelssohn and Arensky on April 12 at the Modlin Center. . . . The Takács Quarter returns for an all-Beethoven program, April 20 at the Modlin Center. . . . The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia presents a free program “Paris in Words and Music,” April 22 in the Gellman Room of the Richmond Public Library’s downtown main branch, and a ticketed program of works by Franck, Saint-Saëns, Fauré and Vincent D’Indy, April 23 in UR’s Perkinson Recital Hall. . . . The Richmond Symphony plays Handel, Stravinsky, Beethoven and Mozart in a Rush Hour casual concert, conducted by Steven Smith, April 27 at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, and a Metro Collection concert led by the orchestra’s associate conductor, Chia-Hsuan Lin, April 30 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. . . . The Richmond Symphony Chorus, led by Erin R. Freeman, remembers its founding director, James Erb, in a program of Brahms, Lassus and folk-song arrangements by Erb, April 28 at Second Baptist Church. . . . VCU Opera stages a double bill of Puccini one-acts, “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi,” April 28 and 30 at Singleton Arts Center. . . . David Higgs plays Liszt, Karg-Elert, Dupré, Duruflé and more in the season finale of the Repertoire Recital Series of the Richmond chapter, American Guild of Organists, April 30 at River Road Church, Baptist.

* Noteworthy elsewhere: The New York-based chamber orchestra The Knights, joined by the San Francisco Girls Chorus and vocalist Christina Courtin, perform in the final program of SHIFT: a Festival of American Orchestras, April 1 at the Kennedy Center in Washington. . . . The Escher String Quartet plays Beethoven, Debussy and Webern, April 3 at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, April 4 at the Williamsburg Library Theatre. . . . Pianist Paul Lewis plays Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Weber, April 4 at Old Cabell Hall of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Pianist Daniil Trifonov plays Schumann, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, April 4 at Washington’s Kennedy Center. . . . Countertentor David Daniels and cellist Michael Daniels join JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony in Kenneth Fuchs’ “Poems of Life,” on a program also featuring Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and Charles Tomlinson Griffes’ “The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan,” April 7-9 at venues in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. . . . Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Lambert Orkis play works by Mozart, Respighi, Saint-Saëns and Sebastian Currier, April 8 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Violinist Itzhak Perlman plays film scores for violin with the Virginia Symphony, April 13 at Sandler Arts Center in Virginia Beach. . . . Eric Owens, the stellar American bass-baritone, sings Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Ravel and more, April 15 at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville. . . . Kate Tamarkin, longtime conductor of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia, leads her farewell concerts with the ensemble, with works of Wagner and Elgar and Anne-Marie McDermott playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, April 22 at UVa’s Old Cabell Hall and April 23 at Charlottesville High School.
. . . Pianist Yefim Bronfman plays works by Bartók, Schumann, Debussy and Stravinsky, April 25 at the University of the District of Columbia in Washington. . . . Opera Roanoke stages Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah,” April 28 and 30 at the Jefferson Center.


April 1 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Joshua Roman, cello
Andrius Žlabys, piano
Debussy: Cello Sonata
Beethoven: Sonata in A major, Op. 69
Roman-Žlabys: “Only Once, an Improvisation”
Messiaen: “Louange a l’eternite de Jesus”
Janáček: “Pohadka”
Arvo Pärt: “Fratres”
Astor Piazzolla: “Grand Tango”
$34
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/

April 1 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
SHIFT: a Festival of American Orchestras:
The Knights
Eric Jacobsen conducting
San Francisco Girls Chorus
Christina Courtin, vocalist
Brahms: Psalm 13, Op. 27
Lisa Bielawa: “My Outstretched Hand”
Aaron Jay Kernis: “Remembering the Sea”
Vivaldi: “Gloria in D major
The Knights: “. . . the ground beneath our feet” (excerpts)
$25
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

April 1 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Mozart: “A Musical Joke”
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488
Eric Lu, piano
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
$48-$88
(301) 581-5100
http://www.strathmore.org

April 2 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Arts Center, Sixth and Grace streets, Richmond
Virginia Opera
John DeMain conducting
Puccini: “Turandot”
Kelly Cae Hogan (Turandot)
Derek Taylor (Calaf)
Ricardo Lugo (Timur)
Danielle Pastin (Liù)
Keith Brown (Ping)
Ian McEuen (Pang)
Joseph Gaines (Pong)
John McGuire (Emperor)
Andrew Paulson (Mandarin)
Lillian Groag, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$40-$124
(866) 673-7282
http://vaopera.org

April 2 (3 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Piano Battle (Andreas Kern & Paul Cibis, pianos)
“Combat on the Keys – Classical Smackdown”
program TBA
$25-$47
(757) 594-8752
http://fergusoncenter.org

April 2 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Barber: Adagio for strings
Steven Mackey: “Beautiful Passing”
Jennifer Koh, violin
Rimsky-Korsakov: “Scheherazade”
$35-$105
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org

April 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Cannon Memorial Chapel, University of Richmond
Bruce Stevens, organ
anon.: 9 Renaissance dances
Domenico Zipoli: “Sonate d’Intavolatura”
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544
J.S. Bach: “Orgel-Büchlein” – five chorale preludes
Josef Rheinberger: Sonata 11 in D flat major, op. 154 – Pastorale
Mozart: Fantasia in F minor, K.608
free
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

April 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Chrysler Museum of Arts, 1 Memorial Place, Norfolk
Feldman Chamber Music Series:
Escher String Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in E flat major, Op. 127
Webern: “Five Pieces,” Op. 5
Debussy: Quartet in G minor
$30
(757) 552-1630
http://feldmanchambermusic.org

April 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Women’s Choir & Vocal Ensembles
program TBA
$10
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/

April 4 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Escher String Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in E flat major, Op. 127
Webern: “Five Pieces,” Op. 5
Debussy: Quartet in G minor
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 220-0051
http://chambermusicwilliamsburg.org

April 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Paul Lewis, piano
J.S. Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
Beethoven: Sonata in E flat major, Op. 7
Chopin: Waltz in A minor Op. 34, No. 2
Chopin: Waltz in F minor Op. 70, No. 2
Chopin: Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1
Weber: Sonata No. 2 in A flat major, Op. 39
$12-$35
(434) 924-3376
http://tecs.org

April 4 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Daniil Trifonov, piano
Schumann: “Kinderszenen,” Op. 15
Schumann: Toccata, Op. 7
Schumann: “Kreisleriana,” Op. 16
Shostakovich: 24 preludes and fugues, Op. 87 (selections)
Stravinsky: “Three Movements from ‘Petrouchka’ ”
$30-$110
(202) 785-9727
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

April 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Kordzaia conducting
Allen Wittig: “In Tribute” (premiere)
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor (“Organ”)
organist TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

April 5 (1 p.m.)
St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg
Steven Lianos, organ
works TBA by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi
free
(757) 229-3631
http://www.bedeva.org/concerts

April 6 (5:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Andy Harnsberger, percussion
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/

April 6 (7 p.m.)
April 7 (8 p.m.) 
April 8 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
James Conlon conducting
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Britten: “Peter Grimes” – “Four Sea Interludes”
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major
Lisa de la Salle, piano
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

April 6 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Ludovic Morlot conducting
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major 
Ray Chen, violin
Berlioz: “Symphonie fantastique”
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org

April 7 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
April 8 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
April 9 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Charles Tomlinson Griffes: “The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan”
Kenneth Fuchs: “Poems of Life”
David Daniels, countertenor
Michael Daniels, cello
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor
$25-$110
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org

April 7 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa University Singers
Michael Slon directing
“Music of African-American Composers”
Nathaniel Dett: “Listen to the Lambs”
works and spiritual arrangements by Moses Hogan, William Dawson, others
$15
(434) 924-3376
http://music.virginia.edu/events

April 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Salem Civic Center, 1001 Roanoke Boulevard
Roanoke Symphony Pops
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Classical Mystery Tour, guest stars
“Music of The Beatles”
$32-$53
(540) 343-9127
http://rso.com

April 8 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Acadelt Enemble
(Erin Stuhlman, soprano; Louise Gallagher, alto; Christopher Ahart, tenor; Seth Roberts, bass)
“Songs of Love and Strife”
motets by Palestrina, Victoria, Anero
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

April 8 (8 p.m.)
April 9 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Arts Center, Sixth and Grace streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B minor (“Unfinished”)
Bruckner: Psalm 150
Vaughan Williams: “Dona nobis pacem”
Michelle Areyzaga, soprano
Kevin Deas, bass-baritone
Richmond Symphony Chorus
$10-$80
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com

April 8 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Lambert Orkis, piano
Sebastian Currier: “Clockwork”
Mozart: Sonata in A major, K. 526
Respighi: Sonata in B minor
Saint-Saëns: “Introduction and Rondo capriccioso”
$30-$95
(202) 785-9727
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

April 9 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Schola Cantorum & Women’s Chorale
Jeffrey Riehl & David Pedersen directing
Kodály: sacred and secular works TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

April 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Klemperer Trio
Shostakovich: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 8
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49
Arensky: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 32
free; tickets required
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

April 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
“The Great Violin Film Scores”
$66.75-$125
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org

April 13 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa New Music Ensemble
I-Jen Fang directing
Cornelius Cardew: “Treatise”
Jon Bellona: “Immaterial Vamp”
free
(434) 924-3376
http://music.virginia.edu/events

April 15 (8 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Craig Terry, piano
songs by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Ravel, Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, others
$29.75-$74.75
(434) 979-1333
http://www.theparamount.net

April 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Chamber Ensembles
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

April 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Commonwealth Singers
VCU Choral Arts Society
Erin Freeman directing
program TBA
$10
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/

April 19 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Terry Austin directing
program TBA
$10
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/

April 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Takács Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in B flat major, Op. 18, No. 6
Beethoven: Quartet in C major, Op. 59, No. 3
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 135
$38
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

April 20 (7 p.m.)
April 22 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Cristian Macelaru conducting
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major
Sergey Khachatryan, violin
Sibelius: “The Oceanides”
Smetana: “Vltava” (“The Moldau”)
Mason Bates: “Liquid Interface”
$15-$99
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

April 20 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Pops
Jack Everly conducting
The Doo Wop Project, guest stars
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org

April 21 (9 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Cristian Macelaru conducting
Zakir Hussain, tabla
Rahul Sharma, santoor
“DECLASSIFIED”
Hussain: “Peshkar”
world-music selections TBA
dance party with DJ Rekha and video mix by
Robin Bell, 10:15 p.m.
$39
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

April 22 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Diana Cohen & Daisuke Yamamoto, violins
Amadi Azikiwe, viola
James Wilson, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
Roman Rabinovich, piano
Anthony Smith, narrator
Angela Lehman, script writer
“Paris in Words and Music”
works TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://cmscva.org

April 22 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Virginia Women’s Chorus
Katherine Mitchell directing
“Earth Day Concert: Our Earth Is a Garden”
Native American and folk-song arrangements TBA
$15
(434) 924-3376
http://music.virginia.edu/events

April 22 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
April 23 (3:30 p.m.)
Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center, Charlottesville High School, 1400 Melbourne Road
Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Wagner: “Die Meistersinger” Overture
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Elgar: “Enigma Variations”
$8-$45
(434) 924-3376
http://cvillesymphony.org

April 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Berglund Performing Arts Theatre, Orange Avenue at Williamson Road, Roanoke
April 23 (2:30 p.m.)
Center for Music Concert Hall, Liberty University, Lynchburg
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Handel: “Water Music” – hornpipe (April 22 only)
Handel: “Let the Bright Seraphim” (April 22 only)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor (“Choral”)
Adelaide Trombetta, soprano
Jan Wilson, alto
Jeffrey Springer, tenor
Wayne Kompelien, bass
Roanoke Symphony Chorus
guest choruses
$25-$52
(540) 343-9127
http://rso.com

April 22 (8 p.m.)
April 23 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Bruch: “Kol Nidrei”
Bloch: “Schelomo”
Zuill Bailey, cello
Mussorgsky-Ravel: “Pictures at an Exhibition”
$23-$78
(301) 581-5100
http://www.strathmore.org

April 23 (4 p.m.)
Perkinson Recital Hall, North Court, University of Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Diana Cohen & Daisuke Yamamoto, violins
Amadi Azikiwe, viola
James Wilson, cello
Tony Manzo, double-bass
Mary Boodell & Brandon Patrick George, flutes
Justin Bland, trumpet
Roman Rabinovich, piano
Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor
Saint-Saëns: Septet in E flat major, Op. 65
Fauré: Fantasie, Op. 79, for flute and piano
D’Indy: “Suite dans un style ancien,” Op. 24
$25
(804) 304-6312
http://cmscva.org

April 23 (5 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Choral Arts Society of Washington & orchestra
Scott Tucker conducting
Mozart: Requiem
J.S. Bach: Cantata 51, “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen”
Jake Runestad: work TBA (premiere)
Mozart: “Ave verum corpus”
Yuanming Song, soprano
Allegra De Vita, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Loyal Smith, tenor
Wei Wu, bass
$15-$69
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

April 25 (8 p.m.)
Theater of the Arts, University of the District of Columbia, Washington
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Bartók: Suite, Op. 14
Schumann: “Humoreske,” Op. 20
Debussy: “Suite Bergamasque”
Stravinsky: “Three Movements from ‘Petrouchka’ ”
$65
(202) 785-9727
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

April 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Family Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Fortas Chamber Music Series:
Elena Urioste, violin
Michael Brown, piano
Mozart: Sonata in A major, K. 526
Messiaen: Theme and Variations
Brahms: Sonata in G major, Op. 78
De Falla-Brown: “Suite Populaire Espagnole”
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

April 27 (6:30 p.m.)
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Overbrook Road at Ownby Lane, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Rush Hour
Steven Smith conducting
works by Handel, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mozart
$15 (seating limited)
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com

April 28 (7 p.m.)
April 30 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Opera
Melanie Kohn Day directing
VCU Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Puccini: “Suor Angelica”
Puccini: “Gianni Schicchi”
casts TBA
in Italian
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/

April 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Second Baptist Church, River and Gaskins roads, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Erin R. Freeman directing
“James Erb Choral Celebration”
Brahms: “A German Requiem” (excerpts)
Lassus: chanson and Magnificat on “Dessus le Marche d’Arras”
Erb: “Little Lamb”
Schumann-Erb: “John Anderson”
trad.-Erb: “My Lagan Love”
trad.-Erb: Suo Gan”
trad.-Erb: “Amazing Grace”
trad.-Erb: “Colorado Trail”
trad.-Erb: “Now is the Cool of the Evening”
trad.-Erb: “Shenandoah”
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com

April 28 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Baroque Orchestra
David Sariti, violin & director
Mozart: Sonata in G major, K. 379
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414
David Breitman, fortepiano
Haydn: Symphony No. 44 in E minor (“Mourning”)
$10
(434) 924-3376
http://music.virginia.edu/events

April 28 (7:30 p.m.)
April 30 (3 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave. SW, Roanoke
Opera Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
Steven White conducting
Carlisle Floyd: “Susannah”
Amy Cofield Williamson (Susannah)
Zachary James (Olin Blitch)
Scott Williamson, stage director
in English
$26-$105
(540) 345-2550
http://operaroanoke.org

April 28 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Steven Reineke conducting
LeAnn Rimes, guest star
$39-$109
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

April 29 (2 p.m.)
Theater of the Arts, University of the District of Columbia, Washington
Javier Perianes, piano
Schubert: Sonata in A major, D. 664
Schubert: “Three Piano Pieces,” D. 946
De Falla: “Homenaje (Le tombeau de Claude Debussy)”
Debussy: “Estampes” – “La soirée dans Grenade”
Debussy: Préludes, Book II – “La puerta del vino”
Debussy: Préludes, Book I – “La sérénade interrompue”
Albéniz: “Suite Iberia” – “Albayzín”
De Falla: “El amor brujo” Suite
$45
(202) 785-9727
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

April 29 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Renée Fleming VOICES:
Alan Cumming, vocalist
“Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs”
$29-$99
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

April 29 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Arvo Pärt: Credo
Stravinsky: “Symphony of Psalms”
University of Maryland Concert Choir
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E minor
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org

April 30 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
Handel: “Solomon” – “Entrance of the Queen of Sheba”
Stravinsky: “Danses concertantes”
Beethoven: “The Creatures of Prometheus” Overture
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (“Jupiter”)
$22
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com

April 30 (4 p.m.)
River Road Church, Baptist, River and Ridge roads, Richmond
Repertoire Recital Series of Richmond chapter, American Guild of Organists:
David Higgs, organ
Liszt: “Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H”
Percy Whitlock: Sonata in C minor – III: Scherzetto
Karg-Elert: “Trois Impressions” Op. 72 –
I: “Harmonies du soir”
Dupré: “Variations sur un Nöel”
John Cook: Fanfare
William Albright: “Sweet Sixteenths: a Concert Rag for Organ”
Duruflé: Suite, Op. 5
donation requested
(804) 288-1131
http://richmondago.org

April 30 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
John Mayhood, piano
Morton Feldman: “For Bunita Marcus”
pre-concert talk by Mayhood, 2 p.m., Room 107, Old Cabell Hall
$15
(434) 924-3376
http://music.virginia.edu/events

April 30 (7 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Jeffrey Siegel, piano & speaker
“Keyboard Conversations: the Genius of Chopin”
Chopin: works TBA
$25-$42
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar

April 30 (4 p.m.)
Theater of the Arts, University of the District of Columbia, Washington
Eric Owens, bass-baritone 
Susanna Phillips, soprano
Myra Huang, piano
Schubert: Lieder TBA
$45
(202) 785-9727
http://washingtonperformingarts.org