Classical Music

BACH SINFONIA

Takoma Park/Silver Spring Performing Arts Center
Montgomery College
Georgia Avenue and East-West Highway
Silver Spring
301-362-6525
bachsinfonia.org

The Art of Lute/The Art of Ronn McFarlane — 2009 Grammy nominee McFarlane joins Sinfonia for the complete works for lute by Antonio Vivaldi, plus the world premiere of his own work written especially for the Sinfonia (5/8)

BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

410-783-8000
bsomusic.org

Cirque de la Symphonie — The BSO’s four-week midseason music carnival opens with this program with performers on and above the stage, presenting a feast for your eyes and ears (3/11-12, Meyerhoff; 3/13-14, Strathmore)
Circus Maximus (3/19-21)
Hearts, Cards & Carnival – Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, George Gershwin’s Blue Monday and Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella (3/25, 3/28, Meyerhoff)
Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (4/8-9, Meyerhoff; 4/10, Strathmore)
Music with Mena – Juanjo Mena leads the BSO in Joaquin Rodrigo’s concerto that evokes a sultry Spanish summer, featuring BSO concertmaster Jonathan Carney (4/15, Strathmore; 4/17-18, Meyerhoff)
BSO SuperPops: Motown Tribute with Spectrum – This show features the hits of Motown and R&B with full orchestra, harmonies, costuming and choreography (4/22, Strathmore; 4/23-25, Meyerhoff)
Russian Perfection – World premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Starburst plus Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 (4/29, Strathmore; 4/30, Meyerhoff)
Beethoven Triple Concerto — This program also includes pieces by Schubert and Strauss performed by four soloists drawn from the BSO’s principal musicians, as well as the director of the Peabody Institute (5/7-9, Meyerhoff)
Three Romantics — Canadian pianist Louis Lortie performs Schumann’s Piano Concerto, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth, among other works (5/13-14, Meyerhoff; 5/15, Strathmore)
BSO SuperPops: A Tribute to Irving Berlin — Internationally renowned singer and pianist Tony DeSare and Broadway star Ashley Brown join Jack Everly in this celebration of the composer of many pop standards (5/20, Strathmore; 5/21-23, Meyerhoff)
Underground Railroad: An Evening with Kathleen Battle (5/27, Strathmore; 5/29, Meyerhoff)
Barber, Bartók and Beethoven with André Watts — The legendary pianist joins to play one of his grandest signature works, Beethoven’s last and greatest piano concerto (6/4, 6/6, Meyerhoff; 6/5, Strathmore)
Brahms’ German Requiem — Marin Alsop enlists soprano Janice Chandler-Eteme, bass Stephen Powell and the Washington Chorus to close the BSO season with a concert of innocence and remembrance (6/10, Strathmore; 6/11-13, Meyerhoff)

BARNS AT WOLF TRAP

1645 Trap Rd.
Vienna, Va.
703-255-1900
wolf-trap.org

Antares – Four virtuoso instrumentalists draw from a vast and colorful repertoire for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (3/19)
Bastianello & Lucrezia –Semi-staged performances of two comic operas by John Musto and William Bolcom (3/26)
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (4/9)

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AT UMD

University of Maryland
College Park
301-405-ARTS
claricesmithcenter.umd.edu

The UM Symphony Orchestra — Husband-wife duo of violinist James Stern and pianist Audrey Andrist joins in The Hero’s Life (3/26)
The UM Wind Orchestra — The Stern/Andrist duo joins in The Two Viennese Schools (3/27)
Shadowboxer: An Opera Based on the Life of Joe Louis — The Maryland Opera Studio presents this world premiere directed by Leon Major with music by Frank Proto and libretto by John Chenault (4/17-25)
The University Chorale — This 50-voice group performs Goodheart, Mozart, Rheinberger and more in Solemn Vespers (4/18)
The UM Symphony Orchestra — The orchestra closes its season with a program of Beethoven and Berlioz (4/30)
Annual Pops Concert — The great American songwriting team of George and Ira Gershwin is celebrated in this program featuring the UM Wind Ensemble and the Community Band (5/1)
The UM Wind Orchestra — The orchestra closes out its season with Post-Modern/Romantic-ism (5/6)

D.C.’S DIFFERENT DRUMMERS CAPITOL PRIDE SYMPHONIC BAND

202-269-4868
dcdd.org

30th Anniversary Concert: Shades of Blue — DCDD’s Capitol Pride Symphonic Band and Capitol Pride Winds play “blue” selections from Gershwin, Ticheli, Perkins and Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man (4/17-18, Bell Multicultural High School)

FAIRFAX SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

703-563-1990
fairfaxsymphony.org

Masterworks 5: Alon Goldstein — The orchestra presents an East Coast premiere, Avner Dorman’s Piano Concerto, composed for and played by this pianist (3/13)
Masterworks 6: Julie Albers — As part of “Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts,” the orchestra, with conductor Glenn Quader, presents Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral and Albers performing the Elgar Cello Concerto (5/1)

FOLGER CONSORT

Folger Elizabethan Theatre
201 East Capitol St. SE
202-544-7077
folger.edu

Ballets and Brawls: French Music of Court and Countryside — Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux, baritone William Sharp, Renaissance winds and strings join the consort for this springtime program of romance and wit circa 1610 (3/19-3/21)
A Musical Banquet: Songs for Lute, Voice and Viol — Tenor and multi-instrumentalists Charlie Weaver and Tom Zajac help the consort return to its English roots with music from 1610, when the lute and viol still reigned as the most important English instruments, but the violin was beginning to make its presence felt (4/9-4/11)
Tempest — Sir Derek Jacobi, Lynn Redgrave and Richard Clifford join to read selections from Shakespeare’s play as the Consort and guest artists perform Matthew Locke’s Tempest (6/10, Lutheran Church of the Reformation; 6/11, Strathmore)

GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

202-293-1548
gmcw.org

Grease — Following in the footsteps of The Wizard of Oz and Bye Bye Birdie, GMCW presents a fully staged, all-male production of this Broadway musical (3/19-3/21, Lisner)
Fever— GMCW’s select, close-harmony pop ensemble Potomac Fever joins with Rock Creek Singers and special guests from the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus (5/8, Metropolitan Community Church of Washington)
Divas — Guest star Christopher Peterson offers his incomparable vocal and physical impersonations of everyone from Judy to Barbra to Elton to Britney (6/5-6/6, Lincoln Theatre)

GMU CENTER FOR THE ARTS

4373 Mason Pond Drive
Fairfax
888-945-2468
gmu.edu/cfa

Eileen Ivers: Beyond the Bog Road — The nine-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion returns for a stellar collaboration of Irish and Old Time musicians, singers, step dancers and cloggers in time for St. Patrick’s Day (3/14)
Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra with Lang Lang — Christoph Eschenbach conducts the orchestra in its first tour of the United States with a program of Beethoven and Prokofiev and featuring Lang, the virtuoso pianist (4/3)
GMU Percussion Ensemble Concert (4/6)
GMU Chamber Orchestra (4/13)
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields — Founded by Sir Neville Marriner, this British ensemble has established itself as one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras and its most recorded (4/18)
Virginia Opera: Porgy and Bess (4/23-25)
GMU Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band Spring Concert (4/27)
Flutopia Flute Choir (5/4)

KENNEDY CENTER

202-467-4600
kennedy-center.org

The Washington Chorus performs Mozart’s Requiem (3/26, Concert Hall)
Vocal Arts Society: America Sings Festival Showcase — Soprano Patricia Racette performing a variety of vocal music genres with various vocal groups (4/10, Concert Hall) Marietta Simpson — The mezzo-soprano sings with a chamber ensemble performing works by Bach, Brahms and Schubert (4/21, Concert Hall)
Escher Quartet — The chamber ensemble performs Bartok, Brahms and Beethoven (4/26, Concert Hall)
Vocal Arts Society: Christine Brewer and Craig Rutenberg — The soprano and pianist perform pieces by Gluck, Schubert and Marx as well as songs by Hundley and Cole Porter and Harold Arlen (5/7, Concert Hall)
Jennifer Koh and Reiko Uchida — The violinist and pianist perform selections by Bach, Harrison, Salonen and Adams (5/9, Concert Hall)

MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE

5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda
301-581-5100
strathmore.org

The Celtic Tenors (3/12)
Ari Allal — Bassoonist known for playing in the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra (3/24)
Naomi Kudo — The young pianist performs an all-Chopin program (3/25)
George Winston, A Solo Piano Concert (4/9)
Romeo and Julia Koren — This 10-member Swedish group focuses on reviving and sharing the expressively dramatic music of the Renaissance (4/13)
Songs of the Earth: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day — Everything from Celtic, Shaker songs, African-American spirituals and more factor into this celebration (4/23)
Andrew Arceci & Friends — The chamber ensemble performs Baroque masterworks (5/13)

NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC

Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda
301-493-9283
nationalphilharmonic.org

All Brahms (3/20, 3/21)
Brahms Requiem— Written as a tribute to his mother, this is considered Brahm’s greatest vocal work (3/27)
From Mozart to Mahler (4/17, 4/18)
Vivaldi’s Gloria(5/1)
The Polish Masters and Schumann – Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is filled with delicate and poignant melodies (5/22)

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Kennedy Center Concert Hall
202-467-4600
kennedy-center.org

Verdi’s Requiem — Christoph Eschenbach conducts his first NSO concerts since his appointment as music director, joined by various soloists and The Washington Chorus (3/11-13)
Dvorák’s Cello Concerto — Prague Philharmonia’s Jakub Hruša leads the NSO along with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott (3/25, 27-28)
Bach’s Mass in B Minor — To celebrate Easter week, Ivan Fischer conducts this monumental masterpiece, with the University of Maryland Concert Choir, for the NSO’s first time in over three decades (4/1-4/3)
Kennedy Center Chamber Players — The ensemble performs a program of Ravel, Dutilleux and Dvorák (4/25, Terrace)
Stephen Sondheim 80th Birthday Tribute — Marvin Hamlisch conducts the NSO Pops in a celebration of the best loved tunes from Broadway’s wittiest composer (5/6-5/8)
John Adams — The composer will lead two weeks of programs of his own works: The Dharma at Big Sur with Leila Josefowicz on six-string electric violin, City Noir Symphony and The Wound-Dresser (5/13-5/22)
Kennedy Center Chamber Players — The ensemble performs a program of Gieseking, Szymanowski and Schubert (6/6)
NSO Pops: Classical Mystery Tour— Martin Herman conducts Beatlemania performers Jim Owen, Tony Kishman, Tom Teeley and Chris Camilleri in this tribute to the original Fab Four (6/24-6/26)
Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Kahane (6/29)
NSO @ Wolf Trap: Romeo and Juliet (7/16, Wolf Trap)
NSO @ Wolf Trap: An Evening with Marvin Hamlisch (7/17, Wolf Trap)
NSO @ Wolf Trap: A Rodgers and Hammerstein Celebration (7/23, Wolf Trap)

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Thomas Jefferson Building
10 First St. SE
202-707-8000
loc.gov/concerts

Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexandre Tharaud — These young French musicians, a cellist and pianist respectively, perform works by Debussy, Poulenc and Schubert (3/12)
Curtis Contemporary Music Ensemble — Celebrating the centennial of Samuel Barber (3/15)
Voces Intimae — Italian fortepiano trio (3/26)
Juilliard String Quartet — This internationally acclaimed quartet, in residence at the Library of Congress for four decades, returns with its new first violinist, Nicholas Eanet (4/9)
Henschel Quartet — This German group’s members are “pop stars of chamber music” (4/14)
Alexander String Quartet, Afiara String Quartet — A San Francisco group and a Canadian group collaborate (4/16)
Jack Quartet (4/30)
Woodley Ensemble (5/14)
Ensemble Caprice — Montreal’s period instrument ensemble (5/28)
Mahan Esfahani — A London-based, Washington-born harpsichordist (5/29)

WASHINGTON BACH CONSORT

National Presbyterian Church
4101 Nebraska Ave. NW
202-429-2121
bachconsort.org

Happy Birthday Bach! — Honoring the composer’s 325th birthday with a selection of his most brilliant, joyful and best-loved works, many of which were created during the composer’s highly productive tenure as Capellmeister to the Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen (3/21)
Noontime Cantata Series (4/6, Church of the Epiphany)
Magnificat! — Two settings of this work reveal the genius of two generations of the Bach family: J.S. Bach and his brilliantly innovative son C.P.E. Bach (5/2)

WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY

202-833-9800
wpas.org

The San Francisco Symphony — German violinist Christian Tetzlaff joins this renowned ensemble (3/24, Kennedy Center)
Vladimir Feltsman – This pianist plays Haydn’s Sonata in E-flat Major, Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in C minor and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (3/26, Strathmore)
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sondra Radvanovsky — Opera star baritone Hvorostovsky and soprano Radvanovsky are joined by the National Philharmonic (3/29, Kennedy Center)
Maurizio Pollini — The pianist is renowned for his virtuosity and attention to a composer’s intentions (4/15, Kennedy Center)
Takács String Quartet – One of the world’s premier string quartets performs Haydn, Beethoven and Schumann (4/16, Strathmore)
Anoushka Shanker — The one-time child prodigy learned to play the sitar from her father, the legendary Ravi Shankar, but has since become a formidable composer and creative voice on the instrument in her own right (4/17, Sixth & I Historic Synagogue)
Mitsuko Uchida – This internationally recognized pianist plays Schumann (4/21, Strathmore)
Zuill Bailey and Orion Weiss — The well-regarded cellist and pianist team up (5/4, Kennedy Center)
Nobuyuki Tsujii — Blind since birth, this 20-year-old Japanese pianist won the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (5/1, Kennedy Center)
WPAS’s 2010 Annual Gala and Auction — Broadway legend Chita Rivera headlines this year’s event that also features Grupo Latino Continental, WPAS Children of the Gospel and TangoDC (5/8, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel)
Los Angeles Philharmonic — 28-year-old conductor Gustavo Dudamel makes his debut (5/17, Kennedy Center)
Yuja Wang — This 22-year-old, touted as the next piano sensation to come from China, plays works by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Debussy and Prokofiev (5/22, Sixth & I)
The Philadelphia Orchestra – This superb orchestra performs classics by Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky and Glinka (5/26, Strathmore)
Denyce Graves — Recognized worldwide as one of today’s most exciting vocal stars (6/13, Strathmore)
Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan — Another cellist and pianist team up (6/15, Sixth & I)

WASHINGTON OPERA

Kennedy Center Opera House
202-295-2400
dc-opera.org

Porgy and Bess— The Gershwin classic, featuring such treasures as “Summertime” and “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” is to be directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by John Mauceri (3/20-4/3)
The Marriage of Figaro — Mozart’s timeless classic, in a production from the Houston Grand Opera (4/24-5/7)
Hamlet — Placido Domingo conducts the company premiere of this French Opera based on the Shakespeare classic. Featuring Carlos Alvarez, Diana Damrau and Samuel Ramey (5/19-6/4)

WOLF TRAP

1645 Trap Rd.
Vienna, Va.
703-255-1900
wolf-trap.org

The Mikado – New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players return (5/21-22)
Wolf Trap Opera Company presents Mozart’s Zaide (6/11, 6/13, 6/15, 6/19)
Wolf Trap Opera Company presents Rossini’s The Turk in Italy (7/9, 7/11, 7/13)