Gershwin's new co-author

The George Gershwin estate has tapped Brian Wilson, former leader and principal songwriter of The Beach Boys, to complete songs that Gershwin left unfinished when he died in 1937. Wilson says he hopes to finish "at least two" (out of about a dozen left incomplete, some little more than fragments) for inclusion on a Gershwin album that he plans to release next year, Randy Lewis reports in the Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-brian-wilson8-2009oct08,0,2518188.story

Walt Disney Records, for which Wilson will record the album, says he will "Brian-ize" the Gershwin material "with his trademark vocal stacks and unique arrangements” (via The New York Times' Dave Itzkoff):

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/the-boys-of-summer-brian-wilson-will-rework-george-gershwin-for-new-album/

"Is it just me, or does this sound like a terrible idea?" wonders the Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/

Early music menu planner

Early Music America, the professional association/advocacy group for performers of medieval, Renaissance and baroque music, has published "Touring Early Music Ensembles," a directory listing 33 U.S. and Canadian ensembles, their 2010-11 season programming and – purportedly for bookers, but also interestingly for onlookers – their fees.

For "$15,000 or more," the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, with its conductor, Harry Christophers, will perform Handel's "Messiah." For $15k or less, Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland-based chamber orchestra, offers the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610; "Fire and Folly: Myths of Love and Betrayal," with soprano Sophie Daneman; and "Come to the River: an Early American Gathering." Sarasa, a strings-with-continuo ensemble, with violin soloist Elizabeth Blumenstock, will do Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons" for less than $5,000.

Among the big names: Anonymous 4, offering 13th-century Spanish songs, a reprise of "A Medieval Ladymass: English chant and polyphony," and a Christmas-carol program (fee: "Ask for a quote"). . . . The Baltimore Consort, Scottish, Spanish and French programs, "Gut, Wind and Fire: Instrumental Music, 1500-1700," and Christmas carols and dances ($7,000-$9,999). . . . The Boston Camerata, seven programs ranging from "Carmina Burana" (the 13th-century original) to early Americana ($5,000-$15,000). . . . Piffaro: The Renaissance Band, music of Elizabethan England, 16th-century Spain and Flanders, and European Christmas tunes ($7,000-$9,999). . . . The ARTEK baroque ensemble, four different Monteverdi programs (including the Vespers) and "Graveyard Music (multimedia baroque program on themes of death and sorcery)" ("$15,000 or more"). . . . The string quartet I Furiosi, "Crazy: From Venice to Bedlam, the sounds of madness unleashed," "Intro to the Body: Playing doctor with I Furiosi," and "Addicted to Love: When you can’t get enough of a good thing" ($3,000-$4,999).

I Furiosi wins the prize for frisky program themes and titles. More typical are snapshots of musical history, related to a specific manuscript or music of century-X in locale-Y; song-lyric thematic programs (love, death, hunting, carousing, etc.); music from the time and place of some famous non-musician (Dante, Boccaccio, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, Gainsborough); explorations of forgotten musics (many pre-modern Jewish, one early Yiddish; several Euro-Arab and Euro-Turkish; even one Hawaiian); a dusting of greatest hits, usually of the Renaissance; a Christmas program; and, often overlapping with Christmas, early American hymnody.

Glancing through this brochure is like grazing through a cookbook of an exotic, probably delicious cuisine. (One group calls itself Les Délices; another, the Repast Baroque Ensemble.) What’s not to want to like about outfits called Ciaramella, La Donna Musicale, Galileo’s Daughters, Gravitación or The Spirit of Gambo? Ensemble Lucidarium might seem a bit intimidating (lucidity can be); The Catacoustic Consort, a bit . . . what? . . . Goth?

I, for one, am now primed to spend evenings with "Stylus Phantasticus, the Fantastical Style of 17th-century Italy," "Macchine: Science and Music from the Age of Leonardo da Vinci," "Queen and Huntresse! English and French Renaissance songs about the game of courtship," "The Coal-Seller’s Concert Hall: Music from Purcell’s London," "Aery Entertainments," "Kehi Kinnor: a Jewish Wedding in the Renaissance," "The Gigg is Up: Music in Shakespeare’s England" – even "Graveyard Music," under the right moon.

The undead-tree version of the directory:

http://earlymusic.org/rostersearch

Peruse, then lobby your local impresario.

A new children's classic

On Oct. 31, the Richmond Symphony launches its new Lollipops series for children and families with a piece that's fast becoming the toast of kiddie concerts: "The Composer Is Dead," a "musical murder mystery" composed by Nathaniel Stookey to a text by Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket).

"The Composer Is Dead," which has been performed more than 50 times since its 2006 premiere by the San Francisco Symphony, scores both with audiences and musicians, Daniel J. Kushner writes at NewMusicBox:

http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=6135

Erin Freeman conducts the Richmond Symphony, with Nathaniel Stookey narrating, in "The Composer Is Dead," at 11 a.m. Oct. 31 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. (Pre-concert activities begin at 10 a.m.) Tickets: $17. Details: (800) 927-2787 (Ticketmaster); www.richmondsymphony.com

Oh G*D!

Gustavo Dudamel, the Wunderkind of conductors, launched his tenure as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic over the weekend with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, in a free concert that drew 18,000 to the Hollywood Bowl.

The symphony followed sets by a wide-ranging roster of jazz, pop and gospel musicians – Herbie Hancock, Taj Mahal, David Hidalgo, Andraé Crouch – many of them leading youth and community groups. Dudamel, who came up through Venezuela's El Sistema program of music education for young people, conducted a troupe of beginners in an arrangement of the "Ode to Joy."

The 28-year-old conductor "goes by many names," the Los Angeles Times' Mark Swed writes. "Gustavo the Great. Gustavissimo. The Dude. Some have taken to referring to the new music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic by his initials, thus: G*D."

Swed swoons intermittently in his review of Dudamel at the Bowl:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/10/dudamel-bows-with-beethoven-for-all-the-ages-.html

"[T]here has never been a gala quite like this to celebrate the arrival of a conductor to a major American orchestra," notes The New York Times' Anthony Tommasini, who seemed pleasantly surprised not to hear "the Beethoven’s Ninth some might have expected from a young dynamo" . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/arts/music/05gustavo.html?ref=music

NPR's "Performance Today" will air Dudamel's opening-night program with the LA Phil at Disney Hall – Mahler's First Symphony and the premiere of John Adams' "City Noir" – in a live webcast at 10 p.m. (Eastern time) Oct. 8 on its site:

http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/

UPDATE: This G*D stuff is catching on. Daniel Nasaw, reporting for The Guardian, refers to Dudamel as "the 28-year-old Venezuelan conductor and saviour of classical music":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/09/gustavo-dudamel-los-angeles-philharmonic

The NY Times' Tommasini again hears unexpected maturity in Dudamel:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/arts/music/10dudamelcnd.html?hp

Dudamel led Adams' "City Noir" with "confidence and urgency," Swed writes in the LA Times. In the Mahler First, "he has found his way inside every note, and takes a listener with him":

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/10/dudamels-gala.html

REPRISE: Arthur Lubow's 2007 profile of Dudamel in The New York Times Magazine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/magazine/28dudamel-t.html

Updating opera

At opening nights of Puccini's "Tosca" at the Metropolitan Opera and Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, audiences booed the directors and designers responsible for non-traditional productions.

The Guardian's Charlotte Higgins scolds the dissatisfied London patrons for being "boorish, callow and just plain rude" . . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2009/oct/01/opera-classicalmusicandopera

"Updating has gotten a bad rap," writes The New York Times' Anthony Tommasini. "Shifting a story to another era can easily seem a glib and arbitrary maneuver. But done with imagination, an updated production can take today’s audiences to the core of a familiar work." He compares Luc Bondy's undecorous but "essentially traditional" staging of "Tosca" at the Met with Achim Freyer's "unabashedly avant-garde approach" to Wagner's "Ring" cycle at the Los Angeles Opera:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/arts/music/04tomm.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=music

Under the headline "Fiasco," The New Yorker's Alex Ross writes that the Bondy production "suck[s] the life out of 'Tosca' " in "an uneven, muddled, weirdly dull production that interferes fatally with the working of Puccini’s perfect contraption." Ross avoids (for now) lengthy rumination on Regieoper ("director's opera"), but observes that a new vision of a familiar work "needs to be good" . . .

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2009/10/05/091005crmu_music_ross?currentPage=1

Tommasini approaches, but doesn't quite get to, a key point about updating operas. "Tosca" is set in a particular place and time (Rome, 1800); its text refers to that environment, and its stage directions reflect period manners and behaviors. Puccini packs all kinds of cultural cues into his score. Update a show like this, and you're rewriting it – but only partly, since even the most avant-garde directors don't (yet) routinely splice historical references out of texts or doctor the scores.

Other music dramas are mythic fantasies, set in unspecific or theatrically malleable times and places. Tommasini cites the "Ring" cycle, the grandest example of this genre. Mozart's "Magic Flute" is another familiar fantasy. Operas set in such distant history that there's no real picture of the setting in the vernacular memory – I'm thinking here of Greek drama and other ancient storytelling – also can be manipulated successfully in chronology, costuming and the like. Baroque depictions of myth and legend respond especially well to modern, even abstract-expressionist, stagings.

There's an old actors' aphorism: "Dying is easy, comedy is hard." Reverse that and you've got good guidance for opera directors and designers.

Tragedy is tougher to update than comedy. Perhaps it's because tragic gestures and mourning rituals are so rooted in specific cultures and eras. It's comparatively easy to juggle times and places in comedy, especially a domestic comedy such as "Cosi fan tutte" or "The Elixir of Love." Comedic expression is pretty universal, physical comedy even more so – slapstick has been with us always. We have no trouble envisioning Bugs Bunny as Figaro and Elmer Fudd as Doctor Bartolo in "The Rabbit of Seville."

Opera combines many arts and crafts, but the dominant one is music. (How many "innovative" directors could say that and mean it? Show of hands, please.)

When a master composer addresses a specific theatrical style – when Verdi takes on 19th-century Italian melodrama – no staging intervention will change the piece into something else. Directors and designers can either work with what they've got, or against it. Wagner invites more creative direction and stagecraft; so do Mozart, Handel, Monteverdi, Richard Strauss (but not, please, "Rosenkavalier"). Before envisioning, let alone re-envisioning, an opera, listen to it.

Review: Richmond Symphony

Oct. 2, Oates Theater, Collegiate School

After a first tryout in splashy orchestral-choral spectaculars, Alastair Willis, latest of the music-director candidates to conduct the Richmond Symphony, turns this weekend to a program of standards for chamber orchestra. The better attributes he brought to last weekend’s concerts – close attention to voicings, timbres and balances, pouncing on accents, emphasizing dynamics – came through in this program as well.

Karen Johnson, the symphony’s concertmaster, is the soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 211 – which, remarkably, had not been programmed by this orchestra until now. This is early-ish Mozart, dating from 1775, when the 19-year-old composer still adhered mostly to the tuneful and decorous rococo or early classical style. The concerto anticipates the comic and wistful operatic arias of the mature Mozart, and Johnson’s reading emphasized those hints of things to come.

In the second of three performances of the concerto, the violinist’s tone was sweet but with an expressive edge, rather like that of the young but self-possessed women of the operas – Susanna in “The Marriage of Figaro,” say, or Despina in “Così fan tutte.” As concertmasters-turned-soloists tend to be, Johnson was always attentive to the orchestra’s accompaniment and the soloist's relationship to it; but she was not reticent in taking the lead and fully exploiting the violin's moments. Her performances of the cadenzas of the first and second movements were virtuosic without flash, and came across as playful or lyrical ruminations on the music previously heard – what a cadenza is supposed to be, but too rarely succeeds in being, in a concerto performance.

Willis is one of just two of the nine music-director candidates to audition with a Beethoven symphony. (Evidence, if you needed it, that we are in the early 21st century, not the early 20th.) Arthur Post conducted the First Symphony last season; Willis is conducting the Fourth Symphony this weekend. A good choice, as this relatively under-performed work is a microcosm of symphonic Beethoven, with virtually all the expressive devices, techniques of thematic development and structural nuts-and-bolts that the composer employed in the larger, better-known symphonies.

Willis paced, phrased and accented the Fourth as a classical symphony, but acknowledged the romantic tradition of Beethoven interpretation as he broadened the tempo in the adagio and downshifted markedly in the trio sections of the scherzo. The violins played with a nice bloom balancing warmth and brilliance – no mean feat in this acoustically dry space – and the low strings sounded hefty and assertive.

The opening piece, Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” showcased a wind section in excellent form and drew a more brilliant, primary-colored collective tone from the fiddles. The conductor opted for a brisk, sunny reading of the piece.

This program, opening the symphony’s new Metro Collection series, repeats at 3 p.m. Oct. 4 at Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St. in Ashland. Tickets: $20. Details: (800) 927-2787 (Ticketmaster); http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

October 2009 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, group and other discounts may be offered.

SCOUTING REPORT

* In and around Richmond: Two more candidates for music director of the Richmond Symphony audition this month: Alastair Willis, after conducting the season-opening Masterworks program, returns to launch the new Metro Collection series, Oct. 2 at Collegiate School and Oct. 4 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland; Christian Knapp conducts the opening Symphony Pops program on Oct. 10 and Masterworks concerts featuring pianist Jeremy Denk, Oct. 17-18, all at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage. . . . Virginia Commonwealth University’s renovated James W. Black Music Center Recital Hall (the old church building at Grove Avenue at Harrison Street) gets a chamber-music tryout with the University of Iowa’s Maia String Quartet, in an Oct. 10 matinee. . . . The Chestnut Brass Quintet launches this season’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts with "American Voices" on the evening of Oct. 10 at VCU’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . Cellist Lynn Harrell joins the Shanghai Quartet in string quintets by Schubert and Glazunov, Oct. 19 at the University of Richmond. . . . Christopher Marks opens the American Guild of Organists’ Repertoire Recital Series with a program of Mendelssohn and Americana, Oct. 18 at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. . . . Baritone Thomas Hampson visits UR with his "Song of America Project" on Oct. 21. . . . The Virginia Opera opens its season with Puccini’s "La Bohème," Oct. 23 and 25 at the Carpenter Theatre (following runs in Norfolk and Fairfax). . . . Erin Freeman conducts the debut of the Richmond Symphony Lollipops series for children and familes, "The Composer Is Dead," with Nathaniel Stookey narrating, Oct. 31 at the Carpenter Theatre.

* New and/or different: Matt Albert, the violinist of eighth blackbird, and fellow fiddler Andrew McCann play rarely heard duos by Leclair and Prokofiev and contemporary music by Stephen Hartke, Oct. 5 at the University of Richmond. . . . The Greek ensemble Spiza presents an "Ecoacoustic Chamber Music Concert," combining music with "environmental soundscapes," Oct. 16 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Pianist Christopher O’Riley brings his arrangements of songs by the pop bands Radiohead and Nirvana to The Barns at Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia on Oct. 17. . . . Opera Lafayette continues its revivals of 18th-century operas with Charpentier’s "Les Arts Florissants," Oct. 19 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Virginia Symphony introduces Behzad Ranjbaran’s Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra, Oct. 22 at St. Bede Catholic Church in Williamsburg and Oct. 24 at Regent University Theater in Virginia Beach. . . . Soprano Judith Cline and pianist Clara Ellen Modisett perform Alan Smith’s "Vignettes: Ellis Island," based on oral histories of immigrants who passed through New York’s gateway to America, Oct. 25 at UR. . . . John Winn, the Richmond jazz musician who crosses over into classical composition, introduces a new work with the Oberon Quartet, Oct. 27 at St. Christopher’s Upper School Chapel.

* Star turns: Richmond visits by Jeremy Denk, Lynn Harrell and Thomas Hampson (see In and Around Richmond, above). . . . Mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina and bass Ildar Abrazakov perform in a recital sponsored by the Washington National Opera, Oct. 3 at the Kennedy Center in Washington. . . . Nelson Friere, the great Brazilian pianist, plays Brahms’ D minor Concerto with the National Symphony, Oct. 8, 10 and 11 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Takács Quartet plays Beethoven and Schumann, Oct. 13 at U.Va. in Charlottesville. . . . Pianist Murray Perahia plays Bach, Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin, Oct. 17 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Richard Stoltzman plays two standards of the clarinet repertory, the Mozart and Copland concertos, plus bits of Gershwin, with the National Philharmonic, Oct. 17 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of D.C. . . . Lorin Maazel conducts the National Symphony, with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg playing Barber’s Violin Concerto and Dietlinde Turban-Maazel, the conductor’s wife, narrating his composition "The Giving Tree," Oct. 17-19 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Percussionist Evelyn Glennie performs with Orquestra de Sao Paulo, Oct. 21 at Strathmore. . . . Soprano Dawn Upshaw returns to the region for a recital, Oct. 23 at Strathmore. . . . Pianist Simon Dinnerstein plays Mozart and Louis Langrée conducts Haydn and Beethoven with the Baltimore Symphony, Oct. 24 at Strathmore.

* Wild card: Christopher Taylor plays Bach’s "Goldberg Variations" on a Steinway Double-Register Moór Concert Grand, an instrument said to combine the tonal qualities of a harpsichord and a modern piano, Oct. 14 at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

* Bargain of the month: The Oberon Quartet playing John Winn’s new Quartet and pieces by Mendelssohn and Piotr Szewczyk, Oct. 27 at St. Christopher’s School. (Free)

* My picks: The Virginia Opera’s "La Bohème," four dates between Oct. 3 and 11 at Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House, Oct. 16 and 18 at the George Mason University in Fairfax, Oct. 23 and 25 at the Carpenter Theatre in Richmond. . . . Nelson Friere with the National Symphony, Oct. 8, 10 and 11 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Washington National Opera’s production of Verdi’s "Falstaff," with Alan Opie in the title role, seven dates between Oct. 10 and 30 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Takács Quartet, Oct. 13 at U.Va. . . The Richmond Symphony, with conductor Christian Knapp and pianist Jeremy Denk, in Debussy, Prokofiev and Berlioz, Oct. 17-18 at the Carpenter Theatre. . . . The Shanghai Quartet with Lynn Harrell, Oct. 19 at the University of Richmond. . . . Thomas Hampson’s "Song of America" program, Oct. 21 at UR.


Oct. 1 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 2 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 3 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Iván Fischer conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral")
Bartók: "The Wooden Prince"
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 1 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
James Ehnes, violin
$25-$80
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Oct. 2 (8 p.m.)
Collegiate School, North Mooreland Road, Richmond
Oct. 4 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Alastair Willis conducting
Ravel: "Le Tombeau de Couperin"
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 2
Karen Johnson, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
$20
(800) 927-2787 (Ticketmaster)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Oct. 2 (8 p.m.)
Harris Theater, George Mason University, Fairfax
Washington Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble
Program TBA
Free
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.gmu.edu/cfa/

Oct. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Marta Puig, piano
Program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 3 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 9 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 11 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Peter Mark conducting
Puccini: "La Bohème"
Veronica Mitina (Mimi)
Derek Taylor (Rodolfo)
Elizabeth Andrews Roberts (Musetta)
Eugene Brancoveanu (Marcello)
Nathan Stark (Colline)
Michael Redding (Schaunard)
Julia Pevzner, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$114
(866) 673-7282
www.vaopera.org

Oct. 3 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
Mendelssohn: "The Fair Melusine" Overture
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto
Jon Manasee, clarinet
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
$35-$55
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.gmu.edu/cfa/

Oct. 3 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano
Ildar Abrazakov, bass
Program TBA
$30-$140
(800) 876-7372
www.dc-opera.org

Oct. 3 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 4 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2
Misha Dichter, piano
Beethoven: "Choral Fantasy"
Misha Dichter, piano
National Philharmonic Chorus
$29-$79
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Oct. 4 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Susanna Klein, violin
Dmitri Shteinberg, piano
Program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Matt Albert & Andrew McCann, violins
Works by Leclair, Prokofiev, Stephen Hartke
Free
(804) 289-890
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Oct. 5 (8 p.m.)
Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre, Orange Avenue at Williamson Road
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Suppé: "Light Cavalry" Overture
Richard Strauss: "Don Juan"
Marquez: Danzon No. 2
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Nathasha Korsakova, violin
$21-$41
(866) 277-9127
www.rso.com

Oct. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Young Concert Artists Series:
Hahn-Bin, violin
Pianist TBA
Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro
Schnittke: Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano
Penderecki: Cadenza for solo violin
Cage: Nocturne
Chopin-Milstein: Nocturne in C sharp minor
Mozart: Sonata in E minor, K. 304
Lutoslawski: Partita
$30
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 6 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
American Brass Quintet
Lacerda: "Quintetto concertante"
Hillborg: Brass Quintet
Sampson: "Entrance"
Josquin des Préz-Mase: chansons
Tower: "Copperware"
canzoni by Widmann, Troilo & Brade
$32
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 7 (5:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Chamber Brass Ensembles
Program TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 8 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 11 (1:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Ludovic Morlot conducting
Martinů: “The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca”
Tchaikovsky: "Francesca da Rimini"
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
Nelson Friere, piano
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
American Theatre, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Joan Kwuon, violin
Program TBA
$25-$30
(757) 722-2787
http://hamptonarts.net/american_theatre/onsalenow.php

Oct. 9 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Ron Regev, piano
Frank Huang, violin
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 45
John Adams: "Road Movies"
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0910-schedule.html

Oct. 10 (3 p.m.)
Black Music Center Recital Hall, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Maia String Quartet
Program TBA
$10
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 10 (4 p.m.)
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Ninth and Grace streets, Richmond
Fort Lee Army Band
"Concert for Caring"
Program TBA
Donation requested of food items, especially for diabetics and others with special dietary needs
(804) 545-5405
http://www.stpauls-episcopal.org/

Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Chestnut Brass Quintet
"American Voices"
Kevin McKee: "Vuelta del Fuego" ("Ride of Fire")
Lois V. Vierk: "Sunbow"
Renaissance brass works by Speer, Gastoldi, Henry VIII
19th-century American brass-band works by Francis Johnson, Stephen Foster, others
arrangements of folk songs and pieces by Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington
$32
(Free master classes at 4 p.m. Oct. 9, 3 p.m. Oct. 10)
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Pops
Christian Knapp conducting
"Hitchcock! A Symphonic Night at the Movies"
$17-$75
(800) 927-2787
www.richmondsymphony.com

Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falleta conducting
John Adams: "Slonimsky’s Earbox"
Brahms: "A German Requiem"
Janice Chandler Eterne, soprano
Jason Grant, baritone
Virginia Symphony Chorus
Robert Shoup directing
$25-$85
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Oct. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
California Guitar Trio
Program TBA
$22
(703) 938-2404
www.wolftrap.org

Oct. 10 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 12 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 17 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 25 (2 p.m.)
Oct. 27 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Sebastian Lang-Lessing conducting
Verdi: "Falstaff"
Alan Opie (Falstaff)
Tamara Wilson (Mrs. Ford)
Ji Young Lee/Micaëla Oeste (Nannetta)
Elizabeth Bishop (Mrs. Meg Page)
Timothy Mix (Ford)
Nancy Maultsby (Mistress Quickly)
Yinqxi Zhang (Fenton)
Christian Räth, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 876-7372
www.dc-opera.org

Oct. 11 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Sonia Vlahcevic, piano
Program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 11 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
The Commonwealth Brass
Charles Hinson directing
Steve Henley, organ
Program TBA
Donation requested
(804) 272-7514

Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Other works TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 14 (8 p.m.)
Kimball Theatre, Merchants Square, Williamsburg
Williamsburg Symphonia
Janna Hymes conducting
Weber: "Der Freischütz" Overture
Arnold: Serenade
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
$30-$42
(757) 229-9857
www.williamsburgsymphonia.org

Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Takács Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Schumann: Quartet in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 ("Razumovsky")
$12-$28
(434) 924-3376
www.tecs.org

Oct. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Christopher Taylor, piano
Bach: "Goldberg Variations"
$38
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 16 (8 p.m.)
Harrison Institute Auditorium, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Spiza
"Ecoacoustic Chamber Music Concert"
Program TBA
Free
(434) 924-3052 (U.Va. Music Department)
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/performance/events/index.html

Oct. 16 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 18 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Peter Mark conducting
Puccini: "La Bohème"
Veronica Mitina (Mimi)
Derek Taylor (Rodolfo)
Elizabeth Andrews Roberts (Musetta)
Eugene Brancoveanu (Marcello)
Nathan Stark (Colline)
Michael Redding (Schaunard)
Julia Pevzner, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$44-$98
(866) 673-7282
www.vaopera.org

Oct. 16 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Carducci Quartet
Haydn: Quartet in E flat major, Op. 33, No. 2 ("Joke")
Moeran: Quartet No. 2 in E flat major
Beethoven: Quartet in C major, Op. 59, No. 3 ("Razumovsky")
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0910-schedule.html

Oct. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Mansion at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Chiara String Quartet
Works by Beethoven, Debussy, Prokofiev
$28
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Oct. 17 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 18 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Christian Knapp conducting
Debussy: "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun"
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Jeremy Denk, piano
Berlioz: "Symphonie fantastique"
$17-$72
(800) 927-2787
www.richmondsymphony.com

Oct. 17 (8 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Opera Roanoke
Stephen White directing and narrating
"Wagner in the Valley"
Introduction to the "Ring" cycle, other works
Singers from Wagner Society of Washington’s Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Program
$20-$90
(540) 982-2742
www.operaroanoke.org

Oct. 17 (7:30 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
Christopher O’Riley, piano
arrangements of songs by Radiohead and Nirvana
$25
(703) 938-2404
www.wolftrap.org

Oct. 17 (4 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Murray Perahia, piano
Bach: Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830
Beethoven: Sonata in E major, Op. 109
Schumann: "Kinderszenen"
Chopin: Etude in A flat major, Op. 25 ("Aeolian Harp")
Chopin: mazurkas, Op. 59, Nos. 1-3
Chopin: Scherzo in E major, Op. 54
$35-$95
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Oct. 17 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 18 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 19 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Lorin Maazel conducting
Mussorgsky-Rimsky-Korsakov: "Night on Bald Mountain"
Barber: Violin Concerto
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Maazel: "The Giving Tree"
Dietlinde Turban-Maazel, narrator
David Hardy, cello
Franck: Symphony in D minor
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 17 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Richard Stoltzman, clarinet
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto
Gershwin: Promenade
Gershwin: "Bess" and "Summertime" from "Porgy and Bess"
Gershwin: Lullaby
Copland: Clarinet Concerto
$29-$79
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Oct. 18 (4 p.m.)
Music Center Recital Hall, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU & Community Guitar Ensembles
John Patykula directing
Program TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 18 (3 p.m.)
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1627 Monument Ave., Richmond
American Guild of Organists’ Repertoire Recital Series:
Christopher Marks, organ
Mendelssohn: Sonata in D major, Op. 65, No. 6
Rossini-Buck: "William Tell" Overture
N.H. Allen: "Spring Greeting"
Samuel B. Whitney: "Vesper Hymn"
Arthur Foote: "Night: a Meditation"
Dudley Buck: Allegro vivace non troppo from Sonata No. 2, Op. 77
Seth Bingham: "Watchman"
Bingham: "March of the Medici" from "Harmonies of Florence"
Bingham: Roulade fropm "Six Pieces," Op. 9
Bingham: Toccata from Suite (1926)
Free
(804) 359-2463
www.richmondago.org

Oct. 19 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Russell Wilson, piano
Program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 19 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Shanghai Quartet
Lynn Harrell, cello
Schubert: Quartet in C minor, D. 703
Glazunov: Cello Quintet in A major, Op. 39
Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D. 956
$34
(804) 289-890
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Oct. 19 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Opera Lafayette
Ryan Brown conducting
Charpentier: "Les Arts Florissants"
Nathalie Paulin (La Paix)
William Sharp (La Discorde)
Ah Young Hong (La Musique)
Stacey Mastrian (La Poésie)
Tony Boutté (La Peinture)
Monica Reinagel (L’Architecture)
François Loup (Un Guerrier)
in French, English captions
$60
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 19 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Eroica Quartet & friends (TBA)
Mendelssohn: Octet
Spohr: Double String Quartet No. 3, Op. 87
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0910-schedule.html

Oct. 20 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Charles West, clarinet
Dmitri Shteinberg, piano
Dana Wilson: "Liquid Ebony" (2008)
works by Brahms, Babin, Alwyn
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Thomas Hampson, baritone
"The Song of America Project"
Program TBA
$34
(804) 289-890
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Oct. 21 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Orquestra de Sao Paulo
Kazeem Abdullah conducting
Evelyn Glennie, percussion
Program TBA
$21-$55
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Oct. 22 (8 p.m.)
St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg
Oct. 24 (8 p.m.)
Regent University Theater, 1000 Regent University Drive, Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta/Akiko Fujimoto conducting
Respighi: "Gli uccelli" ("The Birds")
Behzad Ranjbaran: Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra (premiere)
Vahn Armstrong, violin
Beverly Baker, viola
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish")
$26-$46
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Oct. 23 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 25 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Virginia Opera
Peter Mark conducting
Puccini: "La Bohème"
Veronica Mitina (Mimi)
Derek Taylor (Rodolfo)
Elizabeth Andrews Roberts (Musetta)
Eugene Brancoveanu (Marcello)
Nathan Stark (Colline)
Michael Redding (Schaunard)
Julia Pevzner, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$29-$99
(866) 673-7282
www.vaopera.org

Oct. 23 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 24 (8 p.m.)
Harris Theater, George Mason University, Fairfax
GMU Opera Review
Menotti: "The Telephone"
Douglas Moore: "Gallentry"
Casts TBA
in English
$20
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.gmu.edu/cfa/

Oct. 23 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Pianist TBA
Program TBA
$25-$74
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Oct. 24 (3:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Susan Starr, piano, in master class
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 24 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 31 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Andreas Delfs conducting
Richard Strauss: "Ariadne auf Naxos"
Irène Theorin (Ariadne)
Pär Lindskog/Ian Storey (Bacchus)
Lyubov Petrova (Zerbinetta)
Kristine Jepson (The Composer)
Gidon Saks (Music Teacher)
Nathan Herfindahl (Harlequin)
Chris Alexander, stage director
in German, English captions
(800) 876-7372
www.dc-opera.org

Oct. 24 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Louis Langrée conducting
Haydn: Symphony No. 44 ("Funeral")
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488
Simone Dinnerstein, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
$28-$85
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Oct. 25 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Judith Cline, soprano
Clara Ellen Modisett, piano
Alan Smith: "Vignettes: Ellis Island"
Free
(804) 289-890
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Oct. 25 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Guitar Series:
Torcuato Zamora, flamenco guitar
Maria, flamenco dancer
Program TBA
$10
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 25 (4 p.m.)
Grace Baptist Church, 4200 Dover Road, Richmond
American Youth Harp Ensemble
Original Elbe Musikanten German Band
Oktoberfest program TBA
German dinner served
$10
(804) 837-9355
http://www.harpensemble.org/

Oct. 25 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Young Concert Artists Series:
Jeanine De Bique, soprano
Warren Jones, piano
Mozart: "Misera, dove son"
Debussy: "Quatre Chansons de Jeunesse"
Wolf: five Lieder
Richard Strauss: four Lieder
Trad.-Alan Smith: four British folk songs
$30
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 27 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Fall Choral Classic, Richmond region high-school choristers led by VCU faculty
Free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 27 (7 p.m.)
Recital Hall, Black Music Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Wayla Chambo, flute
Linda Blondel, piano
Program TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Oct. 27 (7:30 p.m.)
St. Christopher’s Upper School Chapel, 711 St. Christopher Road, Richmond
Oberon Quartet
John Winn: Quartet (premiere)
Works by Mendelssohn, Piotr Szewczyk
Free
(804) 282-3185

Oct. 27 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Regional Library Arts Center Theater, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Stradivari String Quartet
Program TBA
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 273-1210
www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org

Oct. 27 (7:30 p.m.)
American Theatre, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Alissio Bax, piano
Program TBA
$25-$30
(757) 722-2787
http://hamptonarts.net/american_theatre/onsalenow.php

Oct. 27 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Amit Peled, cello
Eli Kalman, piano
Prokofiev: Sonata, Op. 119
Shostakovich: Sonata, Op. 40
Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata
$12-$28
(434) 924-3376
www.tecs.org

Oct. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Longwood Wind Symphony
Gordon Ring directing
University Wind Ensemble
David Niethamer directing
Ring: "Fanfare and Ceremonial Music"
Henri Rabaud: "Solo de Concours"
David Niethamer, clarinet
Other works TBA
Free
(804) 289-890
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Oct. 29 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 31 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Pops
Marvin Hamlisch conducting
Chris Botti, trumpet
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Oct. 31 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
Matthew Kraemer conducting
Vivaldi: "The Four Seasons"
Philippe Quint, violin
Richard Strauss: "Don Juan"
Stravinsky: "The Firebird" Suite
$25-$85
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Oct. 31 (11 a.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Lollipops
Erin Freeman conducting
"The Composer Is Dead"
Nathaniel Stookey, narrator
(Pre-concert activities at 10 a.m.)
$17
(800) 927-2787
www.richmondsymphony.com

Oct. 31 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Korean Concert Society:
Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano
Corigliano: Etude Fantasy
Smetana: Polka in G minor, Op. 8, No. 2
Smetana: "Czech Dances," Book 2 (excerpts)
Wagner-Liszt: "Liebestod" from "Tristan und Isolde"
Ravel: "La Valse"
Mussorgsky: "Pictures at an Exhibition"
$30
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Oct. 31 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Bach: Klavier Concerto No. 5 in F minor
Brian Ganz, piano
Brahms: Double Concerto
Elena Urioste, violin
Zuill Bailey, cello
Beethoven: Triple Concerto
Brian Ganz, piano
Elena Urioste, violin
Zuill Bailey, cello
$29-$79
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org