Symphony Chorus auditions

The Richmond Symphony Chorus will audition singers on the evenings of Aug. 3 and 17 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Grove Avenue at Three Chopt Road.

The chorus, led by Erin R. Freeman, rehearses on Tuesday evenings at Richmond CenterStage downtown. Its repertory for the 2010-11 season includes Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and "Missa Solemnis," Holst’s "The Planets," Handel’s "Messiah" and opera choruses by Beethoven, Bizet and Verdi.

For audition requirements and other information, visit www.richmondsymphony.com and click on "Get Involved." The deadline for submitting an audition request is July 23.

On disc: 'Drottningholm Music'

Johan Helmich Roman: "Drottningholmsmusiken (Music for a Royal Wedding)" – Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Manze (BIS 1062)

Over the last half-century, one of the most agreeable bodies of music to be (re)introduced to the repertory is the baroque orchestral suite – basically, a decorous overture followed by a suite of dance tunes.

Listeners’ exposure to this form once was limited to occasional performances of one of the four suites by Bach – usually the Third, home of "Air on a G String" – and Handel’s "Water Music" and "Royal Fireworks Music," typically in Hamilton Harty’s symphonic arrangements. More recently, especially since 1980 or so, we’ve been introduced to "overtures" and dance suites from theater works by Purcell, Telemann, Heinchen, Zelenka, Lully, Rameau, Gluck and a host of other composers of the 17th and 18th centuries.

This is not, for the most part, Great Music. A lot of it, however, is ingenious music, full of unexpected twists, raucous bursts of energy, atmospheric effects, emotional affect. It can tootle along pleasantly in the background – as it typically was written to do – but there is enough going on to engage listeners’ imaginations, and certainly to get their toes tapping.

I’ve often prescribed baroque orchestral suites as a musical purgative for summer heat. They are light-textured, rarely dwell on dark tone colors, have the kind of melodies you might sing and the kind of rhythms you might dance to (assuming you could get sarabande and gavotte lessons.)

Violinist-conductor Andrew Manze and the Helsingborg Symphony have released a new recording (BIS 1602) of one of my favorite baroque suites: Johann Helmich Roman’s "Drottningholm Music," a large collection of processional pieces and dances written in 1744 for the multi-day wedding festivities of Crown Prince Adolf Frederik of Sweden and Princess Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.

Even if we didn’t have written accounts of the occasion, Roman’s music could tell us that this was a truly over-the-top fancy dress, high-courtly event, among the most lavish of the time. (Also quite the crowd scene – the couple apparently were expected to meet everyone who mattered in Sweden, aristos and commoners alike.)

Much of this took place on or within sight of water, and Roman gave a liquid quality to rhythms, bass lines, even some harmonies, in his dances. The "Drottningholm Music" sounds more consistently "afloat" than Handel’s "Water Music" or the several water-related suites that Telemann wrote for Hamburg.

The Manze performance is less bouyant, at least in the representationally liquid sense, than the recording that introduced me to this music, a 1982 disc of Claude Génetay’s arrangement of the suite with the Chamber Orchestra of the National Museum, Stockholm (Polar Music 361 – out of print but obtainable on the used-disc market).

Génetay emphasizes the rhythmic swing of this music, almost as if the suite were a set of variations on a barcarolle. Manze adorns pieces with more high-baroque touches – rhythmic pointing, ornamentation, heightened affectus in phrasing and harmonic emphasis – at some cost to the "grooves" that Génetay mined from Roman.

The Helsingborg orchestra, like Génetay’s Stockholm ensemble, is a modern-instruments band; but under Manze’s direction, the Helsingborgers are more attuned to historically informed performance practices. Their blend and timbres are barely distinguishable from those of period-instruments bands.

Sound and production quality are up to the BIS standard – a realistic, brightly resonant room acoustic, very high fidelity. This is a standard-digital, not super-audio, release, but it’s hard to imagine it sounding appreciably better.

If you don’t know the "Drottningholm Music," Manze and Helsingborg offer a highly listenable and sonically brilliant introduction.

From ArkivMusic:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=10296&name_role1=1&comp_id=14752&bcorder=15&name_id=20201&name_role=3

From Amazon.com:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=10296&name_role1=1&comp_id=14752&bcorder=15&name_id=20201&name_role=3

Sing along with the tsar

On Sunday, throughout the United States, bands and orchestras will mark the Fourth of July by playing Tchaikovsky’s "1812 Overture." Celebrating our Independence Day with a musical depiction of the victory of tsarist Russia over Napoleon's invading army is a pretty weird practice – and the standard follow-up, John Philip Sousa’s "The Stars and Stripes Forever," doesn’t really mitigate the weirdness.

How about an arrangement of the old American folk song "Bonaparte's Retreat" between the Tchaikovsky and Sousa?

Anyway, the "1812" on the Fourth represents This Great Country of Ours at its pragmatic best: Until some homegrown composer and/or pyrotechnician comes up with a better musical platform for firing artillery and shooting off fireworks, this will do.

It would be nice to hear the choral version more often. Tchaikovsky's quotations of the Russian anthems "God Save the Tsar" and "God Protect Thy People" really hit the spot when they're sung.

POSTSCRIPT: The Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith proposes rewriting the overture "so that the structure and length stay the same, along with as much as the original musical material as possible, but all French and Russian allusions are transformed into appropriate British and American counterparts. No more 'Marseillaise.' No more Russian hymns." . . .

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2010/06/wanted_an_1812_overture_to_cal.html#more

. . . so we'd hear "God Save the Queen" vs. "My Country 'Tis of Thee" . . . no, wait, same tune . . . or "To Anacreon in Heaven" vs. "The Star-Spangled Banner" . . . oops, same tune again . . . "Rule Brittania" vs. "The Battle of New Orleans?" Umm . . .

Until we grow our own "1812" (paging John Williams?), I think we'd better stick with undoctored Tchaikovsky.

Coming attraction

The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt reviews "Mahler on the Couch," by the German film-makers Percy and Felix Adlon, dramatizing the tempestuous marriage of Gustav and Alma Mahler in the midst of a "crowded cocktail party of famous names" – Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt, Walter Gropius – in fin de siècle Vienna:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/mahler-on-the-couch-film-review-1004100365.story

Coming soon to a theater near you? Probably not; wait for the DVD.

Catchy numbers

Jay Kennedy of Britain's University of Manchester posits that Plato composed his dialogues "according to a 12-note musical scale, attributed to Pythagoras," Julian Baggini reports in The Guardian . . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/29/plato-mathematical-musical-code

. . . which prompts Tom Service, The Guardian's classical-music blogger, to survey composers, from Bach to John Zorn, who've coded their music numerically:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/jul/01/composers-clandestine-codes-plato

One of the catchiest, yet bummer, numbers in music is the minor third. Research by Meagan Curtis of Tufts University's Music Cognition Lab finds that this interval conveys sadness in both music and speech. Ferris Jabr reports in Scientific American:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=music-and-speech-share-a-code-for-c-2010-06-17

CAUTION: Do not try to make Pythagorean sense of that graphic. Chaos theory might work, though.

July 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.

SCOUTING REPORT

* Away: Virginia’s classical center of gravity shifts west and north this month, to: Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival of opera and symphonic music, opening July 2 with Puccini’s "Il Trittico," continuing through July 25 with stagings of Britten’s "The Turn of the Screw" and his version of "The Beggar’s Opera," a double-bill of Igor Stravinsky’s "L’histoire du soldat" ("The Soldier’s Tale") and Manuel de Falla’s "Master Pedro’s Puppet Show," and four orchestra concerts, at Castleton Farms, about 20 miles northwest of Culpeper in Rappahannock County. . . . The summer chamber-music festival at Garth Newel Music Center in Bath County, opening July 3 with a French program and July 4 with violinist-fiddler Mark O’Connor, continuing through the month with chamber programs on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons. . . . Ash Lawn Opera’s productions of Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" on July 3 and 7, and the Lerner & Loewe musical "Brigadoon" on July 17-18, at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville. . . . Classical and pops programs throughout the month by the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC.

* Select weekend road trips: Berlioz, Debussy and Ravel by Lorin Maazel and the Castleton Festival Orchestra on July 10, and "gypsy" music by Haydn, Schubert, Bartók, Liszt and Brahms with pianist Adam Golka and members of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet on July 11. . . . Violinist Joshua Bell playing Bruch's "Scottish Rhapsody" with the National Symphony Orchestra, July 22 at Wolf Trap, and Maazel conducting the Castleton Festival Opera in the Stravinsky-de Falla double bill, July 23. . . . A Shenandoah Valley Music Festival performance by the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra with pianist Alon Goldstein, July 30 at the Orkney Springs Hotel Pavilion, and a troupe of musicians playing Schoenberg’s "Transfigured Night" and works by Webern and Zemlinsky, July 31 at Garth Newel.


July 2 (7 p.m.)
July 4 (2 p.m.)
July 18 (2 p.m.)
July 24 (7 p.m.)
Festival Tent, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Opera
Lorin Maazel conducting
Puccini: "Il Trittico:" "Il Tabarro," "Suor Angelica," "Gianni Schicchi"
casts TBA
William Kerley, stage director
in Italian
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 3 (7:30 p.m.)
July 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Ash Lawn Opera
Christopher Larkin conducting
Mozart: "Don Giovanni"
Christopher Burchett (Don Giovanni)
Seth Mease Carico (Leporello)
Aundi Marie Moore (Donna Elvira)
Liam Moran (Masetto/Commendatore)
Janette Zilioli (Donna Anna)
other cast members TBA
Nick Olcott, stage director
in English
$35-$40
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net

July 3 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin
Stravinsky: "Suite Italienne"
Cassado: Suite for solo cello
Milhaud: "La création du monde"
Ravel: Sonata for violin and piano
Gershwin-Heifetz: Three preludes for violin and piano
$10-$22 (concert only)
$53-$75 (concert with dinner following)
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 3 (2 p.m.)
July 8 (7:30 p.m.)
July 11 (7 p.m.)
Theatre House, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Opera
Timothy Myers conducting
Britten: "The Turn of the Screw"
cast TBA
William Kerley, stage director
in English
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Festival Tent, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Orchestra
Lorin Maazel conducting
Respighi: "The Pines of Rome," "The Fountains of Rome"
works TBA by Rossini, Verdi, Puccini
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 4 (7:15 p.m.)
Dogwood Dell, Byrd Park, Richmond
Richmond Pops Band
Mark W. Poland directing
Fourth of July patriotic program TBA, with fireworks following
Free
(804) 646-1437
http://www.richmondgov.com/parks/programmingDogwoodDell.aspx

July 4 (3 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Mark O’Connor, violin/fiddle
folk-classical program TBA
$35-$50
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 8 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
George Fenton conducting
" ‘Planet Earth’ Live," BBC documentary with music by Fenton
$18.50-$62
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

July 9 (7:30 p.m.)
July 11 (2 p.m.)
Festival Tent, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Opera
Lorin Maazel conducting
Puccini: "Il Tabarro," "Gianni Schicchi"
casts TBA
William Kerley, stage director
in Italian
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 10 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Adam Golka, piano
all-Chopin program TBA
$10-$22 (concert only)
$53-$75 (concert with dinner following)
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 10 (2 p.m.)
Festival Tent, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Opera
Lorin Maazel conducting
Puccini: "Suor Angelica"
cast TBA
William Kerley, stage director
in Italian
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 10 (7 p.m.)
Festival Tent, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Orchestra
Lorin Maazel conducting
works TBA by Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 11 (3 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Adam Golka, piano
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Haydn: Piano Trio in G major ("Gypsy")
Schubert: "Hungarian Melody" in B minor for piano
Bartók: "Romanian Dance," Op. 8a, No. 1, for piano
Liszt: "Hungarian Rhapsody" No. 6 in D flat major for piano
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
$10-$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 15 (7 p.m.)
July 17 (7 p.m.)
Theatre House, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Opera
Lorin Maazel conducting
Gay-Britten: "The Beggar’s Opera"
cast TBA
William Kerley, stage director
in English
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Festival Tent, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Orchestra
Lorin Maazel & members of Maazel Master Class conducting
Gershwin: "An American in Paris"
works TBA by Barber, Bernstein, Copland
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 16 (8:15 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
National Symphony Orchestra
Emil de Cou conducting
singers from Wolf Trap Opera Company
works by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Gounod, Bernstein
$20-$52
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

July 17 (7:30 p.m.)
July 18 (2 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Ash Lawn Opera
Christopher Larkin conducting
Lerner & Loewe: "Brigadoon"
David Barron (Mr. Lundie)
Alicia Berneche (Fiona MacLaren)
Christopher Burchett (Tommy Albright)
Seth Mease Carico (Jeff Douglas)
Jonathan Smucker (Charlie Dalrymple)
Lynn Summerall (Mr. MacLaren)
Dan Stern (Archie Beaton)
other cast members TBA
Dorothy Danner, stage direction
$35-$40
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net

July 17 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
James Stern, violin
Rachel Young, cello
Tony Manzo, double-bass
Robbie Merfeld, piano
Bach: "Crab Canon" from "The Musical Offering"
Haydn: String Quartet in D major, Op. 50, No. 6 ("Frog")
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major ("Trout")
$10-$22 (concert only)
$53-$75 (concert with dinner following)
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 17 (8:15 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
National Symphony Orchestra
Marvin Hamlisch conducting
Idina Menzel, guest star
pops program TBA
$20-$52
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

July 17 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Christian Colberg, violin & conductor
Tchaikovsky: "Capriccio Italien"
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Sirena Huang, violin
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
Conrad Tao, piano
$25-$55
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

July 18 (3 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
James Stern, violin
Rachel Young, cello
Tony Manzo, double-bass
Robbie Merfeld, piano
Bridge: "Miniatures" for violin, cello and piano
Schnittke: "Four Hymns" for cello and double-bass
Glière: "Two Pieces," Op. 9, for double-bass and piano
Poulenc: Sonata for piano four-hands
Beethoven: Piano Trio in E flat major, Op. 70, No. 2
$10-$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Festival Tent, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Opera
Lorin Maazel conducting
Puccini: "Suor Angelica," "Gianni Schicchi"
casts TBA
William Kerley, stage director
in Italian
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 22 (8:15 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
National Symphony Orchestra
Emil de Cou conducting
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Gershwin: "Cuban" Overture
Bruch: "Scottish Fantasy"
Joshua Bell, violin
Respighi: "Roman Festivals"
$20-$52
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

July 23 (7:30 p.m.)
July 25 (2 p.m.)
Theatre House, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Opera
Lorin Maazel conducting
Stravinsky: "L’histoire du soldat" ("The Soldier’s Tale")
cast TBA
De Falla: "Master Pedro’s Puppet Show"
Emily De Cola & Eric Wright (The Puppet Kitchen), puppeteers
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 23 (8:15 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
National Symphony Orchestra
Emil de Cou conducting
Lisa Vroman, soprano
Gary Mauer, tenor
William Michaels, baritone
The Washington Chorus
Julian Wachner directing
"A Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration"
$20-$52
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

July 24 (4 p.m.)
Theatre House, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Opera
Han-Na Chang conducting
De Falla: "Master Pedro’s Puppet Show"
Emily De Cola & Eric Wright (The Puppet Kitchen), puppeteers
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 24 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Robbie Merfeld, piano
William Hite, tenor
Schumann: "Märchenbilder," Op. 113, for viola and piano
Schumann: "Dichterliebe," Op. 48
Schumann: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 63
$10-$22 (concert only)
$53-$75 (concert with dinner following)
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 25 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Guitar & Other Strings series:
VCU Community Guitar Ensemble
John Patykula directing
program TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

July 25 (3 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Robbie Merfeld, piano
Schumann: "Waldszenen," Op. 82, for piano
Schumann: "Fantasiestücke," Op. 73, for cello and piano
Schumann: Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47
$10-$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 25 (7 p.m.)
Festival Tent, Castleton Farms, Route 617 (Castleton View Road), Rappahannock County
Castleton Festival Orchestra
Lorin Maazel conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica")
$20-$85
(866) 974-0767
http://chateauville.org/

July 25 (4 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Opera International
Edward Roberts conducting
Verdi: "La Traviata" (semi-staged production)
Jessica Stecklein (Violetta)
Yingxi Zhang (Alfredo)
Chen-ye Yuan (Germont)
Muriel Von Villas, stage direction
in Italian, English captions
$20-$50
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

July 30 (8 p.m.)
Orkney Springs Hotel Pavilion, Route 263 (Orkney Grade), 12 miles west of Mount Jackson
Shenandoah Valley Music Festival:
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
Milhaud: "The Creation of the World"
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Alon Goldstein, piano
De Falla: "Ritual Fire Dance" from "L'amor brujo"
Honegger: "Summer Pastoral"
De Falla: "The Three-Cornered Hat" Suite No. 1
Rachimaninoff: Vocalise
Piazzolla: Sinfonietta
$30-$40
(800) 459-3396
www.musicfest.org

July 30 (8:30 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
National Symphony Orchestra
Arnie Roth conducting
"Distant Worlds: Music from ‘Final Fantasy’ "
Nobuo Uematsu: "Final Fantasy XIV"
$20-$52
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

July 31 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 between Warm Springs and Hot Springs, Bath County
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Rick Faria, clarinet
Aaron Berofsky, violin
Kathryn Votapek, violin/viola
Jan Müller-Szeraws, cello
Robbie Merfeld, piano
Webern: "Langsamer Satz" for string quartet
Webern: "Drei kleine Stücke," Op. 11, for cello and piano
Zemlinsky: Clarinet Trio in D minor, Op. 3
Schoenberg: "Verklärte Nacht" ("Transfigured Night") for string sextet
$10-$22 (concert only)
$53-$75 (concert with dinner following)
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

July 31 (8 p.m.)
Orkney Springs Hotel Pavilion, Route 263 (Orkney Grade), 12 miles west of Mount Jackson
Shenandoah Valley Music Festival:
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
Rossini: "The Barber of Seville" Overture
Sibelius: "Valse triste"
Rachmaninoff: Vocalise
Bizet: "Carmen" Suite
$30-$40
(800) 459-3396
http://www.musicfest.org/

July 31 (8:30 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
National Symphony Orchestra
Emil de Cou conducting
"The Planets in HD"
Holst: "The Planets," with films by José Francisco Salgado
$20-$52
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

Juilliard losing violinist

Nick Eanet, who took over from Joel Smirnoff as first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet last year, will leave the group after next season because he found that touring aggrevated "an acute digestive ailment." Eanet will return to the Metropolitan Opera's orchestra, in which he had been co-concertmaster, The New York Times' Daniel J. Wakins reports:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/first-violinist-resigns-from-the-juilliard-string-quartet/?ref=music