Recent Concert Articles
Musical Wizardry
Emil de Cou will conduct the orchestra while The Wizard of Oz screens at Wolf Trap
There's this amazing detail in sounds and colors and orchestrations that you just really don't hear in the movie theater anymore,'' says the National Symphony Orchestra's Emil de Cou of the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz. But beyond Harold Arlen's famous tunes, especially ''Over The Rainbow,'' chances are you don't remember much of the Oz score. ''It's very easy to not even notice it that much,'' says de Cou, who serves as the NSO at Wolf Trap Festival Conductor. ...[more]
Dark Victory
The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington present a gripping, vital new work
''I didn't know what was happening -- I thought he was having a mid-life crisis or something,'' says composer Michael Shaieb of a close friend and writing partner who was never available to work. Turns out his friend was dealing with meth addiction. The experience informed Through A Glass, Darkly, a composition Shaieb had been commissioned to write a month before his friend's admission, when Shaieb knew little about the issue. ''It blew my mind,'' says Shaieb. ''All this time ...[more]
Nice Piaf
Edith Piaf's sound-a-like comes to Lisner
Jil Aigrot Jil Aigrot has become known for singing as Edith Piaf. So perfect is her Piaf, she was tapped to voice the singing portions of the 2007 biopic, La Vie en Rose. But Aigrot says her life is little like that of the late French legend, known for hits including ''Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien'' and ''La Foule.'' ''Piaf was troubled, and I'm not troubled,'' says Aigrot, quickly adding, ''Well, when I'm on stage and I have to speak ...[more]
Alphabet Soup
The Gay Men's Chorus presents their spring show
Jeff Buhrman knows his gay ABCs -- knows them well. And he'll help the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington recite them at everything gAy to Z, this weekend's annual spring concert. ''The idea came about because GLBT people of all generations don't know all there is about what's happened in the last 40 years of the GLBT movement,'' says Buhrman, a 23-year veteran with the chorus and its current artistic director. ''[We want] to educate in an entertaining way.'' The ...[more]
Choral Milestone
LGCW celebrates 25 years with a new commission
What comes to mind when you think of human warmth? That's the question Robert Convery asked members of the Lesbian and Gay Chorus of Washington to answer. Convery then used the responses to weave together inspirations from nine different poets, including Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman, ending up with a song titled ''Under the Greenwood Tree.'' It's a piece commissioned by LGCW and the centerpiece of the group's upcoming 25th Anniversary Concert this weekend. ''We're doing new pieces, old pieces, ...[more]
Life Songs
D.C.'s Different Drummers presents its inaugural World AIDS Day benefit
After a recent dress rehearsal with the Capitol Pride Symphonic Band, director Joe Bello was feeling emotional. ''They actually moved me to tears on the podium tonight,'' he said. ''The music was just so beautiful.'' Joe Bello Bello hopes concertgoers have the same reaction at Songs for Life, D.C.'s Different Drummers' inaugural benefit to commemorate World AIDS Day, Monday, Dec. 1. Bello will lead the Drummers' 60-piece band in a performance that will include Aaron Copland, John Philip Sousa and ...[more]
Piano Gal
Rachel Sage spices up the Jewish Music Festival
By the time she was only 11, Rachael Sage decided she wanted to be a singer-songwriter. Namely, a female Billy Joel. ''Why not? He was the life of the party. Anytime 'Piano Man' came on, everybody wanted to sing along to it,'' says Sage, the 34-year-old jazzy folk artist from New York, whose music is softer and sweeter than Joel's, her lyrics more poetic. Rachel Sage Sage released her first album in 1996, soon after graduating from Stanford University with ...[more]
Final Bow
D.C. Different Drummers's Scott Barker take the stage one last time
Before Scott Barker learns how to play the fiddle, the 43-year-old will take his final bow with the D.C. Different Drummers' Capitol Pride Symphonic Band. Barker, artistic director for the DCDD for the past decade, will make his final performance with the group on Saturday, April 26, with a show titled Festivals. Scott Barker ''The day that I decided I was going to leave the band, I had a dream that night that I was going to be playing the ...[more]
Hooters Hoedown
Time hasn't stood still for band's guitarist, John Lilley
When it comes to hooters, one sort is definitely more gay than the other. The kind that comes with burgers, fries and bright-orange hot pants, not so gay. The kind that remind you of ''a wave on the ocean'' and the '80s/'90s, perhaps more gay than you realized. ''We're back,'' says John Lilley, the openly gay guitarist and mandolin player of the Philly-based band, ''and we're having a great time.'' The Hooters (Photo by Brigitte Morgenstern) Not only are The ...[more]
Finding Joy in Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra performs Mozart and Mahler
Conventional wisdom holds that suburbanites must venture downtown for world-class entertainment. But from Olney to Alexandria, non-District denizens have repeatedly shown that artistic merit knows no boundaries. The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra is just one example. And artistic proficiency needn't be pretentious, as the FSO offers an evening of ''light-hearted music by Hindemith, Mozart and Mahler,'' March 1, with local soprano Amanda Gosier singing pieces by the latter two composers. ''The Mozart is incredibly jubilant. It's this fantastic, celebratory piece,'' says ...[more]
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