Classical & Choral: Spring Arts Preview 2023

The year 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth. You might call that a trivial anniversary, especially considering it’s been 80 years since the great Russian romantic composer actually died. Yet there’s nothing trivial about the profound way Rachmaninoff and especially his music is fully alive and kicking this spring throughout the classical music universe, and all because of that number, 150.

The Rach will be sharing space with Dvorak and Beethoven, among other perennial giants of the genre, but also with Still and Walker and Price, to name but three African-American composers finally getting the kind of major attention and acclaim posthumously that they deserved long ago during their lifetimes.

Yet all that barely scratches the surface of what’s in the offing of the new season in classical and choral music. Now more than ever, the emphasis is on the “new” — from “New American Songs” to “New Tango” to “Best New Artist” (a la the Grammys). In fact, the more you look, the more you see “new” all around.

THE ALDEN

McLean Community Center
1234 Ingleside Ave.
McLean, Va.
703-790-0123
www.mcleancenteer.org

• The Borisevich Duo — Both Russian expatriates and alumni of the prestigious Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Nikita Borisevich, violin, and Margarita Loukachkina, piano, are partners in marriage and in music; the internationally renowned violin and piano duet will perform a recital of music by Schnittke, Wieniawski, and Beethoven as part of this year’s Chamber Music Series at the Alden (4/16)
• The Kobayashi/Gray Duo — Another Chamber Music Series recital, this time the violin/piano duo of Laura Kobayashi and Susan Keith Gray, alumni of the elite University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, who came to acclaim as Artistic Ambassadors for the former United States Information Agency, and these days are particularly in demand for their specialty in performing works by women classical composers from the 19th century to today (6/4)

BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

410-783-8000
www.bsomusic.org

• Angel Blue and Rachmaninoff — Fresh off her role in the Metropolitan Opera production of Terrence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, opera star Blue performs “Peculiar Grace” from Blanchard’s opera as part of a program, led by conductor Oksana Lyniv from Ukraine, that also offers Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 as well as Janáček’s Taras Bulba, a rhapsody based on a novel by Nikolai Gogol in which warriors from what is now Ukraine defend their lands from advancing Polish armies (3/24, 3/26, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall; 3/25, Music Center at Strathmore)
• Classical Kids Live: Beethoven Lives Upstairs — BSO Assistant Conductor Jonathan Rush leads a production with a lively exchange of letters between a young boy and his uncle about “the madman” who has moved into the apartment above the boy’s home, with selections from some of Beethoven’s greatest works (3/29-4/1, Meyerhoff)
• Marin Conducts Rach 3 — Marin Alsop returns to explore all the romance and grandeur of Rachmaninoff’s glorious Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Olga Kern, who is a relative of the great composer and a past winner of the prestigious Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition, in a program with the Fantasy Overture to Tchaikovsky’s tone painting Romeo and Juliet, plus the late Baltimore composer Christopher Rouse’s symphonic swan song, his Symphony No. 6 (4/13, Strathmore, 4/15, Meyerhoff)
• Joshua Bell Plays Mendelssohn — The superstar violinist performs the German composer’s deeply poetic Violin Concerto in a program, led by young Russian conductor Anna Rakitina, also including the mysteries and charms of Elgar’s titillating Enigma Variations, and When the World as You’ve Known It Doesn’t Exist, a reflection on women’s suffrage by one of the most compelling voices in contemporary music, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and sound artist Ellen Reid (4/21, 4/23, Meyerhoff; 4/22, Strathmore)
• Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto — “Prepare to get goosebumps when the horns sound, the strings surge, and the wondrous [soloist] Behzod Abduraimov plays those first heroic chords that launch the spine-tingling ride of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1“; program also includes Grammy-winning composer Augusta Read Thomas’s spiritually resonant Prayer Bells and Rachmaninoff’s reflective, nostalgic Symphonic Dances (5/4, Strathmore; 5/6-7, Meyerhoff)
• The Pathétique Symphony — In addition to Tchaikovsky’s passionate Symphony No. 6, new BSO Music Director Jonathan Heyward conducts scores by two rising stars in their 20s, British composer Grace-Evangeline Maso with her ethereal The Imagined Forest and American virtuoso Xavier Foley performing his joy- and justice-fueled Double Bass Concerto (5/19, 5/21, Meyerhoff; 5/20, Strathmore)
• Isata Returns — Worldly young pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason returns with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a bold showpiece written to delight American audiences, in a program, led by Kevin John Edusei, also featuring Brahms’s noble Symphony No. 4 and Kodály’s earthy “Peacock” Variations (6/10, Strathmore; 6/11, Meyerhoff)
• To Awaken The Sleeper — Named after a new work co-commissioned by the BSO from revolutionary young composer Joel Thompson, this program features narrator Rodrick Dixon speaking the words of James Baldwin incorporated into Thompson’s gripping meditation, while also revisiting Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed, Adolphus Hailstork’s reverent memorial to MLK Jr., conveying the visceral hurt in 56 Blows, Alvin Singleton’s nearly 30-year-old reaction to police brutality, and taking a fresh look at Shostakovich’s self-reflective Symphony No. 10, written in the aftermath of Stalin’s reign of terror (6/17, Strathmore; 6/18, Meyerhoff)

BARNS AT WOLF TRAP

1635 Trap Road
Vienna, Va.
703-255-1868
www.wolftrap.org

• Winter Journey in Concert — A concert exploring Jewish culture and identity in Nazi Germany, including works by four composers lost to the Holocaust, inspired by the same-named film, which in turn was inspired by Martin Goldsmith’s book The Inextinguishable Symphony, telling the true story of his parents, members of Jüdischer Kulturbund, Berlin’s all-Jewish orchestra and Nazi propaganda tool (3/31)
• Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: The Brahms Effect — The final concert in the 2022-2023 Chamber Music at the Barns series focuses on two Brahms trios of profound originality paired with Ernő Dohnányi’s Brahms-steeped Sextet in C Major, all performed by a sextet of clarinetist David Shifrin, pianist Juho Pohjonen, horn player Radek Baborak, violinist Chad Hoopes, viola player Hsin-Yun Huang, and cellist David Finckel (4/21)
• Night and Day, U.S.A. — Steven Blier, longtime artistic director of song recitals for the Wolf Trap Opera Company, leads a concert offering a whirlwind day of travel around the U.S. with featured soloists Véronique Filloux, soprano, Mary Beth Nelson, mezzo-soprano, Daniel Rich, baritone, and William Clay Thompson, bass, all accompanied by Marco Rizzello, piano (6/4)
• Wolf Trap Opera: Handel’s Semele — Some of Handel’s most lyrical arias and dramatic choruses are contained in this tragi-comic work, part-opera, part-oratorio, about a forbidden passion between a mortal, would-be princess and an immortal king of the gods; Tara Faircloth directs a cast led by Esther Tonea in the title role opposite Lunga Eric Hallam as Jupiter (6/23-7/1)
• Wolf Trap Opera Studio: Aria Jukebox — Studio members will perform whatever classics the audience selects from a list of possibilities at the start of the program (7/2)
• Wolf Trap Opera Salon Series — A chance to hear the opera stars of tomorrow, those selected to be this year’s Filene Artists, in an intimate setting and a cabaret-style program (7/7, 7/12, 7/28)
• Wolf Trap Opera: Gounod’s Faust –Based on Goethe’s play, Gounod’s popular masterpiece explodes with memorable music, arias, trios, and gripping scenes, brought to life by director Alison Moritz with a cast led by Eric Taylor in the title role and Brittany Logan as Faust’s love interest Marguerite (7/21-29)
• Wolf Trap Opera Studio Spotlight — Studio Artists shine in a program of opera scenes and highlights curated to showcase their remarkable talents (8/3)

BENDER JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF GREATER WASHINGTON

Kreeger Theater
6125 Montrose Rd.
Rockville, Md.
301-881-0100
www.benderjccgw.org

• Arod Quartet — The 50th season of the Polinger Artists of Excellence concert series continues with this French ensemble, at the forefront of the younger generation of string quartets, performing works by Haydn, Mendelssohn, and Schubert (4/23)
• Claremont Trio — A thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative piano trio, and the only such trio to win the Young Concert Artists International auditions, performs works by Mendelssohn-Hensel, Agocs, and Dvořák (5/7)

CAPITAL CITY SYMPHONY

Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H St. NE
202-399-7993
www.capitalcitysymphony.org

• Songs of Hiawatha — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s broad-brush retelling of Native American folklore was wildly popular in the mid- to late-19th century, and is still heralded as the first truly American epic; this quirky and unassuming, volunteer-oriented community orchestra, led by Artistic Director and Conductor Victoria Gau, is working to rekindle interest in this peculiar slice of American cultural history by reviewing a few of the better known musical compositions it inspired — chiefly, Frederick Delius’s passionate and longing tone poem Hiawatha (circa 1888), Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “lucious, rich, and sensual” The Song of Hiawatha (1898), and Antonin Dvořák’s beloved Symphony No. 9, From the New World (1893)(4/2, Lang Theatre)
• Of Sight & Sound — A concert incorporating cutting-edge video-syncing technology for the performance of Jocelyn Hagen’s The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, a multimedia symphony for chorus, orchestra, and video animation, part of a program also featuring Chinese-American composer Zhou Tian’s Broken Ink, inspired by poetry from China’s Song Dynasty; a co-production with the Congressional Chorus (5/13, Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW)

CAPITAL ONE HALL

7750 Capital One Tower Rd.
Tysons, Va.
703-343-7651
www.capitalonehall.com

• Side by Side: Virginia Chamber Orchestra and William & Mary Symphony — David Grandis, music director of the Virginia Chamber Orchestra and director of orchestras at the College of William and Mary, leads a program of Brahms’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 featuring soloist Sarah Russell-Hunter, violin, and Saint-Saëns’s Morceau de concert featuring soloist Lydia Doughty, French horn (3/25)

THE CHORAL ARTS SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

202-244-3669
www.choralarts.org

• Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil — The most recent collaboration between Whitacre and poet/lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri tells an intimate story of life, love, and loss, based on Silvestri’s loss of his wife and the mother of their two children to ovarian cancer, although she’s not mentioned by name; Joel Rinsema conducts the hour-long work (5/6, Live! at 10th & G)
• Haydn’s Mass for Troubled Times — A performance of the “Lord Nelson Mass” along with I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes by Adolphus Hailstork and Solaris by Dominick DiOrio, the latter of whom serves as the guest chorus master for this concert featuring the symphonic chorus and the Choral Arts Orchestra conducted by André J. Thomas (6/11, Kennedy Center Concert Hall)

THE CITY CHOIR OF WASHINGTON

202-495-1613
www.thecitychoirofwashington.org

• From Grief to Hope — Music by Grammy-winning film composer Sharon Farber paired with the mournful-turned-triumphant Cantata BWV 21 by Johann Sebastian Bach, both tapping into the human need for hope in times of grave despair, in a program featuring a full orchestra and traditional Middle Eastern instruments, plus special guests Suzanne Karpov, soprano, Jacob Perry, Jr., tenor, and Ian Pomerantz, bass-baritone and cantor (3/26, Temple Sinai, 3100 Military Rd. NW)
• Old & New American Songs — D.C.-area composers including Armando Bayolo, Jessica Krash, and City Choir’s own Robert Shafer will premiere “new American songs” written per commission, part of a program also including Samuel Barber’s Reincarnations, John Corigliano’s Fern Hill, and Gilda Lyons’ Love Is When, and featuring special guest Catrin Davies, mezzo-soprano (6/4, Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, Alexandria)

THE CLARICE

Gildenhorn Recital Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, Md.
301-405-ARTS
theclarice.umd.edu

• Masterful Strings: The Nightingale’s Sonata — Thomas Wolf will read passages from his 2019 book, a profile of pioneering female violinist Lea Luboshutz, who was also a founder of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, interspersed with movements from Cesar Frank’s Violin and Piano Sonata, a work championed by Luboshutz and here featuring soloists Irina Muresanu, violin, and Daniel Del Pino, piano (3/27)
• Daniel del Pino, piano — A leading Spanish concert pianist presents a selection of works by Isaac Albéniz and Frédéric Chopin for this Guest Artist Series recital (3/28)
• Awadagin Pratt, piano — An award-winning pianist, acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances, appears in a Visiting Artists recital with masterworks for the piano from Phillip Glass, Fred Hersch, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, and Liszt (4/2, Dekelboum Concert Hall)
• Brentano Quartet — More than 30 years after forming at The Juilliard School, this Visiting Artist ensemble is heralded for its enthusiastic yet reverent approach to music, and for performances that are equally passionate and precise (4/13)
• Maryland Opera Studio: Mozart’s Don Giovanni — An opera that masterfully combines dark comedy with the darkest of acts — murder — with themes that continue to resonate today (4/14, 4/19, 4/21, 4/23, Kay Theatre)
• Prince George’s Philharmonic: Season Finale — Music Director Jesus Manuel Berard concludes the orchestra’s season with a program of Sibelius, Respighi, Marquez, and Beethoven, specifically the German giant’s Piano Concerto No. 4 featuring soloist Brian Ganz (4/30, Dekelboum Concert Hall)
• Emilio Colón, cello — A passionate and virtuosic performer, highly sought after as a solo cellist, chamber musician, conductor, composer, and pedagogue, comes to UMD for a School of Music Guest Artist recital (5/2)
• Tesla Quartet: Rising Tides — This Visiting Artist ensemble offers a program inspired by nature and concerns over climate change, including two new string quartets commissioned by The Clarice touching on changes already occurring in the Chesapeake Bay region, such as fast-disappearing Hooper’s Island in south Dorchester County, Md., which is the focus of Alexandra Gardner’s new work, while the other, by Adrian B. Sims, takes a more evocative approach, beginning calmly and serenely, gradually becoming more disrupted by dissonance, before ending on a hopeful note, reflecting the fervent wish for better environmental stewardship going forward (5/7, Kogod Theatre)

CONGRESSIONAL CHORUS

202-629-3140
www.congressionalchorus.org

• Of Sight & Sound — A co-production with Capital City Symphony (5/13, Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW)
• Homecoming — The organization’s American Youth Chorus take to the stage for the first time in five years with renewed vigor and a refined treble sound courtesy of its new leader, Jonathon Hampton; the return of the ensemble, comprised of fourth through eighth graders, will be celebrated as part of a heartwarming program bolstered by adult voices from across the Chorus family, namely the NorthEast Senior Singers and the a cappella Congressional Chorus Chamber Ensemble (6/3, Live at 10th & G, 945 G St. NW)

D.C.’S DIFFERENT DRUMMERS

202-403-3669
www.dcdd.org

• April Fools Concert — A Night of Satire and Smiles, and music destined to make you laugh (4/1, Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW)

THE EMBASSY SERIES

202-625-2361
www.embassyseries.org

• Ensemble MidtVest — This Danish ensemble is hardly a traditional, tradition-bound chamber music organization, instead advocating for more innovation in the genre, its performance, and its presentation. In D.C., they’ll perform works by their compatriots Bent Sørensen and Carl Nielsen as well as Brahms from the theater of a historic mansion near the White House housing a private club supporting the arts and arts writing; a post-concert Danish-style dinner buffet is included (3/22, Arts Club of Washington, 2017 I St. NW)
• Julia Angelov, violin — Award-winning young Bulgarian violinist performs sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, and Ysaÿe, accompanied by pianist Rohan de Silva, a regular collaborator with Itzhak Perlman and other illustrious violin virtuosos (5/5, Embassy of Bulgaria, 1621 22nd St. NW)

FAIRFAX SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

GMU Center for the Arts Concert Hall
Fairfax, Va.
703-563-1990
www.fairfaxsymphony.org

• George Li, piano — Soloist joins for a soaring classical music program led by Music Director Christopher Zimmerman that has as its centerpiece Li’s staggering virtuosic rendering of Rachmaninoff’s immortal Piano Concerto No. 2, nodding to the 150th anniversary of the Russian romantic composer’s birth, which is bookended with a pair of Sir Edward Elgar’s rousing masterpieces, graduation staple Pomp and Circumstance and the passion-filled Symphony No. 1 (4/22)
• Zuill Bailey, cello — Dvořák’s Cello Concerto and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 “The Inextinguishable” are part of the bill for the finale to FSO’s 65th Anniversary season, featuring this Grammy-winning musician, one of the most sought after and acclaimed cellists today who actually grew up in Northern Virginia (5/13)

FOLGER CONSORT

St. Mark’s Capitol Hill
301 A St. SE
202-544-7077
www.folger.edu

• Shakespeare in Step and Song — A concert of music drawn from and inspired by Shakespeare and his era, from the “uniquely English broken consort” style of three plucked stringed instruments, to the distinctly American genre of bluegrass that clearly derived from the earlier style (3/17-19)
• Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble — A recently formed group of professional singers from the U.S. and Canada representing a true range of racial, ethnic, and gender backgrounds and identity joins the Consort for a program focused on performances of new music as well as the timeless music of Claudio Monteverdi (5/5-7)

GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

202-293-1548
gmcw.org

• Youth Invasion — Led by C. Paul Heins, the GenOUT Youth Chorus returns for its annual concert giving voice to the identities and experiences of LGBTQ and allied youth (4/29, THEARC)
• Spring A-Cher — This year’s fundraising affair has all the usual ingredients, from dinner and open-bar reception, to live and silent auctions, to special presentations and the Harmony Award ceremony, plus the original winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars and longtime Cher impersonator Chad Michaels as its special guest celebrity (5/13, The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC, 1150 22nd St. NW)
• Dolly — The Season of Phenomenal Women draws to a close with a salute to every queer person’s favorite country music legend, that most inspirational of humans, Dolly Parton (6/3-4, Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW)

GMU CENTER FOR THE ARTS

4373 Mason Pond Dr.
Fairfax, Va.
703-993-2787
cfa.gmu.edu

• Daniel Hope and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra — Violin luminary returns with the Swiss ensemble to perform the program America, revealing the charisma of American music and celebrating the U.S.’s most recognizable tunes from across the 20th century (4/2)
• Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel: Mozart and Friends — Exploring Mozart’s masterpieces as well as those created by his influences, such as Joseph Haydn, and those he influenced, namely Ludwig Beethoven (4/16)
• Mason Opera: Die Fledermaus (4/29-30)
• Mason Symphony Orchestra Concert (5/7)

HYLTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Merchant Hall
Manassas, Va.
703-993-7759
www.hyltoncenter.org

• Manassas Chorale: With One Voice — The chorale teams up with the Voices United Workshop Choir, a guest clinician, and a lively orchestra for this annual concert of sacred music, including a final piece to be performed with a whopping 150 musicians (3/18)
• Matinee Idylls: Leo Sushansky and Michelle Lundy — “Strings will sing in this stunning concert,” featuring duets spanning a wide array of genres and performed by harpist Lundy, a founding member of the Beau Soir Ensemble, and violinist Sushansky, artistic director of the National Chamber Ensemble; concert can also be enjoyed with lunch option (4/12, Jacquemin Family Foundation Rehearsal Hall)
• Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel: Chopin and Grieg: A Musical Friendship — Prepare to get swept up by the enchanting music and the fascinating stories of the two beloved Romantic composers (4/23)
• Manassas Symphony Orchestra: Aspirations — Alexander Bernstein, an internationally acclaimed young soloist who is also a professor of piano at Shenandoah Conservatory, is featured at the symphony’s season finale, where he’ll perform Edward MacDowell’s Piano Concerto No. 1, as part of a program of American composers also including Leonard Bernstein and William Grant Still (5/6)
• Virginia Opera: 2023 Spring Gala — The premier fundraising event of the season offers a lively cocktail hour and elegant dinner paired with wine, a Silent Auction, and last but not least, live performances by Virginia Opera stars (5/6, Ballard Postma Studio)
• Old Bridge Chamber Orchestra — “How to Opera: Overtures, Arias, and Recitatives” (5/14)
• Manassas Chorale: From Sea to Shining Sea — Patriotic music honoring the nation’s veterans and featuring the Chorale’s ensemble, orchestra, and the Greater Manassas Children’s Choir (6/2)

THE IN SERIES

202-204-7763
www.inseries.org

• I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky — A new production of a seminal collaboration between composer John Adams and poet June Jordan, an opera/musical theater hybrid they refer to as a “song-play,” and also the first new staging since its 1995 premiere starring Audra McDonald, telling the story of the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake that rocked Los Angeles one year earlier and the issues of race, gender, and migration it raised; featuring Judy Yannini, Daniel J. Smith, and Shana Oshiro and directed by the IN Series’ Timothy Nelson (4/14-16, Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St.; 4/21-22, 4/29-30, Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE)
• Chuck & Eva — A new work celebrating D.C. and the power of music written by Natalie Hopkinson and inspired by The Other Side, the 1992 collaborative album between Chuck Brown, the late godfather of go-go, and singer Eva Cassidy, featuring their funk and pop covers of standards from the Great American Songbook (6/2-18, Source, 1835 14th St. NW; 6/23-25, Baltimore Theatre Project)

KENNEDY CENTER

202-467-4600
www.kennedy-center.org

• Derek Gripper — Virtuoso classical guitarist who’s astounded his fellow string players and everyone else besides with his groundbreaking playing technique that evokes the West African kora, and the South African’s unprecedented original music creates links between such disparate composers as J.S. Bach, Arvo Pärt, Baaba Maal (3/25, Millennium Stage)
• Tenor Lawrence Brownlee and Pianist Kevin J. Miller — A recital presented by Vocal Arts DC (3/26, Terrace Theater)
•  Ravinia on Tour — Ravinia Steans Music Institute presents alumni of its piano and strings program and violinist Miriam Fried, the program’s director, in works of intense contrast (3/30, Terrace)
• The 6821 Quintet — Named after the distance in miles between Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and originally conceived to bring a more prominent classical music presence to the spring cherry blossom festivities, this group of international artists will perform selections from the four new works in total commissioned in the years prior to the pandemic (4/1, Millennium)
• RIVERRUN FESTIVAL: Talking Rivers, Talking Water: The Rhine, Wagner, and the Rhinemaidens — Jim Holman, a lecturer, author, and all-around expert on Richard Wagner offers a dynamic talk focused on the composer, his connection to Germany’s iconic Rhine River, the music of his seductive nymphs the Rhinemaidens, and their crucial roles in The Ring (4/6, The REACH’s Justice Forum)
• RIVERRUN FESTIVAL: Mekong: SOUL — Emmy Award-winning musician Vân-Ánh Võ collaborates with composer Jonathan Berger and the Apollo Chamber Players to tell three powerful and multi-sensory stories about life on the Mekong River of Southeast Asia (4/7, Terrace)
•  RIVERRUN FESTIVAL: The Amazon Concert — Mexican singer Eugenia León joins São Paulo’s Youth Orchestra Tom Jobim for a special concert celebrating the Amazon River and the exuberant beauty of Brazilian nature (4/11, Eisenhower Theater)
• RIVERRUN FESTIVAL: A Moonlit Night on the Spring River — A unique concert, curated and led by composer/conductor Huang Ruo, celebrating the enchanting and diverse landscapes and rivers of China and featuring ancient and new music, including pieces for piano, violin, cello, pipa, and voice (4/12, Terrace)
• RIVERRUN FESTIVAL: Terje Isungset Ice Quartet — Norwegian percussionist Isungset, internationally known as the pioneer of Ice Music, offers an innovative performance featuring musical instruments made out of blocks of natural ice (4/14-15, Terrace)
• Soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and Pianist Simon Lepper — Vocal Arts DC presents this recital (4/17, Terrace)
• PostClassical Ensemble: Double Feature Celebrating Manuel de Falla — Arguably Spain’s greatest composer of the 20th century, de Falla is the focus of this double feature launching with the world premiere of Entwined, a performance piece by Derek Goldman about the friendship between de Falla and poet Federico Garcia Lorca; the second half of the program features a performance of de Falla’s century-old one-act puppet opera El retablo de maese Pedro (Master Peter’s Puppet Show), except the traditional puppets are replaced by visual artist Kevork Mourad’s animation synced with the live score (4/19, Terrace)
• Taiwan Philharmonic — Presented by Washington Performing Arts (4/19, Concert Hall)
• Lun Li, violin, and Albert Cano Smit, piano — Violinist’s debut program for Young Concert Artists offers an exploration of the interplay between fantasy and reality in works of Bartók, Messiaen, Schumann, and more (4/20, Terrace)
• National Symphony Orchestra — Members of the orchestra form an ensemble to play an assortment of chamber music, performed for free as part of the daily Millennium Stage programming (4/21, Millennium)
• Pan American Symphony Orchestra: Masters of New Tango — A concert of nuevo tango composed by the famous tango artist and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla as well as other new tangos by young, talented composers of today performed by this Latin Grammy-nominated ensemble, directed by Maestro Sergio Alessandro Buslje, with special guest Pedro Giraudo Tango Ensemble (4/22, Terrace)
• Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra — Another free assortment of chamber music featuring members of this in-house ensemble (4/26, Millennium)
• NSO Youth Fellows (4/27, Millennium)
• Isidore String Quartet — The winners of the prestigious 2022 Banff International String Competition perform in the REACH in this special Fortas Chamber Music Concert (4/27, Justice Forum)
• Opera Lafayette: Actes de Ballet — The preeminent American interpreter and producer of period-instrument opera from the 17th through the 19th centuries next offers a double bill of two fully staged one-act opera-ballets, starting with the notable debut of Jean Philippe Rameau’s Io, an unfinished piece recently completed with added music from another Rameau work by Rameau scholar Sylvie Bouissou; that’s followed by the modern premiere of Pierre de la Garde’s Léandre et Héro, a lyric drama in which Madame de Pompadour herself performed; French-American harpsichordist Justin Jonathan Taylor conducts the program with stage direction by Nick Olcott, plus more than a dozen new costumes developed by renowned queer New York designer Machine Dazzle (5/2-3, Terrace)
• Evgeny Kissin & Renée Fleming — Renowned pianist and virtuoso Kissin joins superstar soprano and Kennedy Center Artist Advisor at Large Fleming for an unforgettable evening of music, co-presented by Washington Performing Arts (5/10, Concert Hall)
• Juilliard String Quartet — Fresh from celebrating its 75th anniversary, this ever-evolving ensemble carries on as “the most important American quartet in history” per The Boston Globe (5/17, Terrace)
• Pan American Symphony Orchestra: Tango sin Fronteras — A show marking the orchestra’s new recording of the same name, meaning Tango Without Borders in English, and featuring 30 musicians, including Javier Sanchez and Heyni Solera on bandoneons, Ariel Pirotti on piano, and a slew of international tango dancers, coming together to celebrate the diversity and virtuosity of tango music across the Americas (5/20, Terrace)
• Kennedy Center Chamber Players: Summer Concert — A program of Brahms’s Quintet No. 2 in G major, Stephen Jaffe’s String Quartet No. 2, and Frank Bridge’s Lament for two violas, performed by violinists Heather LeDoux Green and Marina Aikawa, violists Daniel Foster and Abigail Evans Kreuzer, and cellist David Hardy (6/11, Terrace)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Coolidge Auditorium
10 First St. SE
202-707-8000
www.loc.gov/concerts

• Richard O’Neill, viola, and Jeremy Denk, piano — Longtime chamber partners, this adventurous duo offer a program of landmark works for the viola, with O’Neill playing the 1690 Tuscan-Medici viola, on loan to the Library from the Tuscan Corporation and one of only a handful of Stradivari violas in existence (3/27)
• Immanuel Wilkins Quartet — Saxophonist and composer is a vital voice in a new generation of jazz thinkers (3/31)
• Wild Up — L.A.-based ensemble plays music by Felipe Lara, Anthony Braxton, and Jürg Frey alongside works by the maverick composer Julius Eastman (4/1)
• Mingus Dynasty Quintet — In collaboration with DC JazzFest, a celebration of the 100th birth year and legacy of the virtuoso bassist, bandleader, and prolific composer Mingus (4/14)
• Harlem Quartet w/Michael Brown, piano — Grammy-winning ensemble perform a program demonstrating the versatility of the string quartet and piano, with music from Beach, ​​López-Gavilán, Strayhorn, von Schauroth, Mendelssohn, and Schumann (4/21)
• Takt Trio, Program 1 — A performance of the horn trio by György Ligeti to mark the composer’s 100th anniversary, alongside Marcos Balter’s new chamber piece for horn trio, co-commissioned by the Library’s, and Hilda Paredes’s Koan (4/27)
• Takt Trio, Program II — As a bonus matinée concert, the Brahms horn trio is performed alongside the classic 20th-century work it inspired: György Ligeti’s horn trio (4/29)
•  Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Chad Hoopes, violin — Honoring the legacy of conductor Andre Kostelanetz with a program featuring Hoopes performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Jannina Norpoth’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and a new commission from acclaimed film and concert composer Danny Elfman (5/4)
• Cecile McLorin Salvant Quintet — Three-time Grammy winner and MacArthur Fellow performs music from her recent project Ghost Song, a mix of original songs and covers on themes of ghosts, nostalgia, and yearning (5/12)
• Signum Quartet — German ensemble performs Franz Schubert’s masterpiece, Death and the Maiden, along with works by Haydn, Priaulx Rainier, and Matthijs van Dijk (5/19)
• Bill Charlap Trio, Jon Faddis, trumpet, and Samara Joy, vocals — Part of the Library’s “Salute to Strayhorn” celebration, honoring the gay right-hand-man to Duke Ellington, composer Billy Strayhorn, the Trio, joined by two partners, including this year’s Grammy winner for Best New Artist, performs Strayhorn’s unforgettable songs, as well as some piano solos (6/8)

NATIONAL CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

703-276-6701
www.nationalchamberensemble.org

• Marvelous European Masters — The centerpiece of this grand season finale concert will be Antonin Dvořák’s sublime Piano Quintet in A Major featuring a string quartet paired with piano, one of the greatest examples of late Romantic chamber music (5/27, Gunston Arts Center – Theater 1)

NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC

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

• NatPhil Chamber Series: Bonds & Price — Curated by Concertmaster Laura Colgate, a program featuring five compositions by Florence Price, including Hold Fast to Dreams, Summer Moon, and the unfinished String Quartet in G Major, and four by Margaret Bonds, from Women Have Loved Before as I Love Now (Sonnet XXVI) and Hyacinth, presented in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute (3/26, Mexican Cultural Institute)
• Beethoven’s Seventh — Past and present collide in a performance of contemporary works, including Valerie Coleman’s Umoja, Anthem for Unity for Orchestra, with classical masterpieces such as Florence Price’s sweeping, melodic Violin Concerto No. 2 featuring soloist Melissa White; led by Gajewski, the program culminates in Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers, incorporating a harmonic structure from Beethoven’s ebullient, optimistic Seventh Symphony, which will be performed to contextualize Simon’s work as well as the works of Coleman and Price (4/15)
• When I Fall in Love: The Music of Nat King Cole — NatPhil Principal Pops Conductor Luke Frazier leads a tribute to the smoothest of crooners featuring Tony-nominee and Grammy- and Emmy-winning performer Chris Jackson (Hamilton, In The Heights), Aisha Jackson (Frozen), and duo piano team Steven Mann and Ray Wong (4/27, Capital One Hall)
• Cosmic Cycles — Gajewski leads a program in partnership with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and presenting the world premiere of a new symphonic suite from Henry Dehlinger that will be performed against a backdrop of out-of-this-world images, animations, and groundbreaking visualizations (5/11, Capital One Hall; 5/13, Music Center)
• NatPhil Chamber Series: Cello Choir (5/21)
• Carmina Burana + Hailstork’s Fifth Symphony — The world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s Symphony No. 5 will be performed in its entirety for the first time at a season-concluding concert capped by the grandeur and drama of Carl Orff’s most famous work for orchestra, also featuring the National Philharmonic Chorale and guest soloists (6/4)

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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

• Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” / Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 — Tchaikovsky’s glorious, heartbreaking final symphony is performed on a double bill program with pianist Sir Stephen Hough performing “the Mt. Everest of the concerto repertoire” (3/23-25)
• Midori plays Korngold / Kevin John Edusei conducts Ravel — Visionary artist, educator, and Kennedy Center Honoree performs Korngold’s glamorous, glittering Violin Concerto, an extraordinary fusion of Hollywood and Old Vienna, as part of a program also featuring kaleidoscopic works by Maurice Ravel and Samy Moussa (3/31-4/1)
• NSO Family Concert: This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration — A world premiere featuring Education Artist-in-Residence Jacqueline Woodson reading onstage, accompanied by brand-new music performed by the orchestra led by Kyle Dickson and Quinn Mason (4/2)
• Gianandrea Noseda & Daniil Trifonov Return — After their critically acclaimed collaboration at the NSO’s Season Opening Gala, the pair reunite for two programs featuring celebrated Russian Piano Concertos, Stravinsky’s revolutionary ballet The Firebird and George Walker’s Sinfonia No. 4 (4/13-15)
• Songs of Separation & Romeo and Juliet — NSO Music Director Gianandrea Noseda leads a program inspired by the written word, including Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite and Berio’s timeless Folk Songs, plus the two works referenced in the program’s title: Tchaikovsky’s open-hearted rendering of Shakespeare’s classic romantic tragedy and a world premiere from Carlos Simon featuring mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges (4/21-23)
• Noseda conducts Schubert & Mendelssohn / NSO Horns play Schumann — Schumann’s unique and dazzling Konzertstück for Four Horns is “the horn-playing equivalent of running a four-minute mile,” on a program also including Mendelssohn’s ever-popular Overture to The Hebrides and Schubert’s infectiously fun Symphony No. 3 (4/27-29)
• NSO at The Anthem: Live Music Trivia! — Teams of any size are encouraged to come and flaunt their knowledge across all genres in this “name that tune” music trivia game backed by the full orchestra (5/2)
• Cirque de la Symphonie — Jugglers, aerialists, contortionists, strongment, and more wow audiences with their breathtaking and lively high-flying displays as the orchestra plays (5/4-6)
• George Walker & Beethoven’s Seventh and Eighth Symphonies — The compact, complex final sinfonia by Walker, a D.C. native and the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, bookended by two glorious Beethoven symphonies (5/12-13)
• William Grant Still & Beethoven’s “Pastoral” — Harlem Renaissance master Still’s colorful Second Symphony combines African spiritual themes with Western classical music, on a program with a Beethoven symphony that gently transports the audience to the Viennese countryside (5/19-20)
• George Walker & Beethoven’s Second Symphony — Walker’s mysterious and hopeful Sinfonia No. 2 is paired with Beethoven’s rebellious and intense Second as well as two of the German giant’s most famous overtures (5/24-25)
• George Walker & Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony — Walker’s exhilarating Sinfonia No. 3 and Beethoven’s grand, emotional Ninth, the symphony by which all others are measured, performed with members and featured vocalists of the Washington Chorus (6/1-3)
• Joseph Young conducts Romeo and Juliet / Michelle Cann plays Florence Price — Two of today’s brightest classical stars make their NSO debuts, Young of the Berkeley Symphony conducting Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers and selections from Prokofiev’s score, and Cann performing Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement (6/8-10)
• DECLASSIFIED: Ben Folds Presents — A “part concert, part party” event that defies the traditional classical music presentation (6/9)
• Between Us… featuring Anoushka Shankar — The boundary-breaking sitar player, producer, film composer, and activist joins to perform dazzling arrangements of her music (6/14)
• What’s Going On NOW — A 50th Anniversary commemoration of Marvin Gaye’s album with music, spoken word poetry, and special guests (6/16-17)
• An Evening with Yolanda Adams — “First Lady of Modern Gospel” showcases her pioneering blend of modern gospel, R&B, and jazz with the NSO under Dr. Henry Panion III (6/20-21)
• Music of Star Wars — A selection of music from the original Star Wars films and Rogue One (6/23-25)
• Devonté Hynes — Grammy-nominated singer shows off his symphonic voice with the NSO (6/28)
• An Evening with Natalie Merchant — Keep Your Courage Tour from the former lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs performing her unique, lush newest album live with the NSO (6/30-7/1)

NEW ORCHESTRA OF WASHINGTON

240-235-5088
www.neworchestraofwashington.org

• Beethoven Five — Hernandez-Valdez will lead the musicians of NOW, an idiosyncratic small chamber ensemble, in a one-night-only concert in the Kennedy Center’s “acoustically unmatched” Terrace Theater, the better from which to appreciate the beauty of Brahms’ beloved Violin Concerto, rendered by soloist Miray Ito, the transformative power of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, and the violent mood and dissonance of Étienne Méhul’s Symphony No. 1 in G minor. The latter is a largely forgotten composition originating in the same year as Beethoven’s Fifth and with uncannily striking similarities to that most iconic of symphonies, particularly in how close the French composer’s last movement resembles Beethoven’s first, from the restlessness and sense of minor-key foreboding all the way down to the four-note motif that is a hallmark of both; speaking of, Brahms very well may have intended the cheerful four-note motif of his concerto’s last movement to be a sly riff on Beethoven’s signature (4/15, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater)

THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

Music Room
1600 21th St. NW
202-974-6832
www.phillipscollection.org

• Danbi Um, violin, and Amy Yang, piano — An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center makes her debut at the Phillips with a world-class collaborative pianist for a suite of iconic works from the 19th and 20th centuries; in-person sold out, livestream available (3/26)
• Clayton Stephenson — A finalist at last year’s 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition presents an imaginative program at the Phillips, beginning with music by Bach and Beethoven, moving to the 20th century with Alexander Sciabin’s Piano Sonata No. 4, Leopold Godowsky’s virtuosic transcriptions of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, and then crosses genre-lines for a foray into the world of jazz (4/2)
• Conrad Tao, piano, and Jay Campbell, cello — An immersive, in-gallery performance of The Additive Arrow, a new work for midi-keyboard and cello by composer Catherine Lamb, co-commissioned by the Phillips, directly inspired from the art and ideas of Paul Klee (4/8, Gallery 116, Museum Annex)
• Invoke — A “not classical, but not not classical” group (SiriusXM’s David Srebnik), this all-singing strings-focused quartet performs music from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism (4/23)
• Michelle Cann, piano — Recognized with the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization, Cann brings a dance-themed program to the Phillips, including Ravel’s La Valse and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz, as well as Fantasie No. 2 and Fantasie No. 4 by Florence Price, a pioneering African-American woman composer now experiencing a long-overdue revival thanks in part to efforts by Cann and others (4/30)
• Melissa White, violin, and Pallavi Mahidhara, piano — The 2022/23 Phillips Music season concludes with a duo performance featuring White, a founding member of the acclaimed Harlem Quartet, leading a whirlwind tour around the varied repertoire for violin and piano, from Brahms and Beach, to two of Jascha Heifetz’s daring transcriptions from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” to William Grant Still’s Suite for Violin and Piano; In-person sold out, livestream tickets available (5/7)

SHRIVER HALL

3400 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, Md.
410-516-7164
www.shriverconcerts.org

• Tetzlaff-Tetzlaff-Dörken Trio — A rare U.S. tour from Grammy-nominated ensemble including violinist Christian, cellist Tanja, and pianist Dörken and featuring Schubert’s radiant B-flat Trio (3/26)
• Piotr Anderszewski, piano — A recital focused on Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 31 Op. 110, a transcendent work of emotional richness and great humanity, performed by a Polish native whom NPR has touted as “one of the most revered pianists today, and one of the most delightfully unpredictable” (4/23)
• Imani Winds — Celebrating 25 years of leading a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet, this ensemble has been nominated twice for a Grammy Award and anyway, they’ve already received what they call the greatest accolade of their career: “a permanent presence in the classical music section” of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (5/14)

STRATHMORE

The Music Center
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda, Md.
301-581-5100
www.strathmore.org

• Annapolis Symphony Orchestra: Two Romantics-Brahms & Prokofiev — If anything, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 is too romantic, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major, sometimes referred to as the composer’s “Pastoral” symphony, too smooth and relaxed; together, the lyrical works radiate energy and optimism, and ultimately complement the third work in the program, Behzad Ranjbaran’s Esther, which explores the connections between the music and mysticism of Persian mythology and the biblical story of its title (4/2)
• Boyd Meets Girl — Expect an eclectic mix of music, ranging from Debussy and Bach to Radiohead and Beyoncé, from this unlikely pairing of Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd with American cellist Laura Metcalf also known as a member of the ensembles Break of Reality and The Overlook (4/6, Mansion)
• Rachel Barton Pine — A violinist and leading interpreter of great classic and contemporary works who performs with dazzling technique and infectious joy (4/13, Mansion)
• Josanne Francis, Chao Tian, and Titilayo Ayangade: Connecting the Dots — First came Parallel Intersections, a musical partnership between Francis, a Caribbean-born steelpan expert, and Tian, a native of China and a master of the Chinese dulcimer; now, the two alumni of Strathmore’s Artist in Resident (AIR) program have added fellow AIR alum Ayangade, a Cincinnati-born cellist extraordinaire, to pursue even more intersections as an unusual, unlikely, even unique performance trio, as different and diverse as they are connected by their shared passion for music and musical experimentation (4/14, AMP by Strathmore)
• Emanuel Ax — Washington Performing Arts presents this celebrated American pianist (4/16)
• Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer — Another Washington Performing Arts concert (4/23)
• Jen Shyu — New frontiers of solo vocal-instrumental performance (4/27, Mansion)
• Annapolis Symphony Orchestra: Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony — The “somber and agitated” first movement and tranquil adagio of Camille Saint-Saëns’s Third Symphony leaves a listener unprepared for the thundering finale with the organ roaring to a grand and glorious conclusion, and also the centerpiece of this program also featuring a world-premiere work by Michael-Thomas Foumai and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Concerto for Violin in D major featuring soloist James Ehnes (5/7)
• Kerry Wilkerson & Danielle Talamantes — “At That Hour: Art Songs by Henry Dehlinger” featuring exuberant baritone Wilkerson and lush soprano Talamantes (5/18, Mansion)
• Quinteto Latino — San Francisco Bay Area classical wind quintet is devoted to expanding the boundaries of classical music through performance and advocacy of work exclusively created by Latinx composers (5/25, Mansion)
• Montgomery County Youth Orchestra: All-Star String Institute (7/10)

URBANARIAS

www.urbanarias.org

• Inbox Zero — Local, innovative opera company presents a staged reading with director Dennis Whitehead Darling and performer Keith Phares and featuring members of Inscape Chamber Orchestra conducted by UrbanArias’s founder Robert Wood. The focus is its latest commission, part of a series exploring the degrading effects of commerce and class in contemporary society from composer Peter Hilliard and librettist Matt Boresi (following Blue Viola and The Last American Hammer). With a title referring to the corporate technique of keeping one’s email inbox empty, Inbox Zero focuses on an everyday American who inadvertently gets caught up in an email “advance-fee scam,” eventually freeing himself with an epiphany about, “how the pursuit of fortune makes fools of us all, and how the hustler can become the hustled” (5/4, Arena’s Keegan Theatre)

WASHINGTON BACH CONSORT

202-429-2121
www.bachconsort.org

• Vocal Polyphony: Thomaskantors and the German Motet — Artistic Director Dana T. Marsh conducts a performance including featured vocalists of Johann Hermann Schein’s motet series Fontana d’Israel, among the most important of the 17th century, with music exquisitely crafted to its biblical text (3/31, Live! At 10th & G; 4/1, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Alexandria)
• Noontime Cantata Series — Longstanding series helps the organization keep the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in circulation in the community, with its monthly schedule of two performances at two different churches, presented for free over lunch
• Mass in B Minor | The Foundation — The season ends with featured soloists drawing out the immense power of the organization’s signature work, Bach’s masterpiece, among the greatest musical compositions in any tradition, and one serving as a limitless reservoir of comfort and balm for the soul (4/30, National Presbyterian Church)

WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS

202-785-9727
www.washingtonperformingarts.org

• Charles Richard-Hamelin — The rising-star Québecois virtuoso devotes his Hayes Piano Series recital to an all-Chopin program, which will suit everyone just fine considering his two awards at Warsaw’s prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition (4/2, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater)
• Yefim Bronfman, piano — “A recital of rare intimacy” is the focus of this program featuring the legendary pianist (4/4, Kennedy Center Tearrace Theater)
• Emanuel Ax — Beloved American pianist performs works by Schubert and others to be announced (4/16, Music Center at Strathmore)
• Taiwan Philharmonic (aka National Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan) — A first-ever Washington Performing Arts appearance in a wide-ranging program led by Music Director Jun Märkl and featuring violin virtuoso Paul Huang (4/19, Kennedy Center Concert Hall)
• Danish String Quartet — The return of this Washington Performing Arts audience favorite for a fascinating program balancing Schubert classics with a new work by Iceland’s Anna Thorvaldsdottir (4/21, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater)
• Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer — Music that revels in cultural convergence and leaves borders far behind is on offer in a concert featuring bluegrass/jazz banjo virtuoso Fleck, Indian tabla legend Hussain, and classical-meets-folk double-bass wizard Meyer, plus an opening set from Indian bansuri, or bamboo flute, player Rakesh Chaurasia (4/23, Music Center at Strathmore)
• Angel Island – An Oratorio for Voices & String Quartet — Acclaimed Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo gives voice to the dark history of Chinese immigration and discrimination inscribed onto the walls of the “Ellis Island of the West,” in a performance featuring the Del Sol Quartet and the U.S. Air Force Band’s Singing Sergeants (5/2, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art)
• Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra — Finland’s foremost orchestra salutes two of its homeland’s greatest composers, Jean Sibelius and Kaija Saariaho, in a program led by Music Director Susanna Mälkki and featuring flute soloist Claire Chase (5/8, Kennedy Center Concert Hall)
• Evgeny Kissin & Renée Fleming — Two eminent Grammy winners perform the music of Rachmaninoff in honor of the 150th anniversary of his birth as part of a program boasting both solo piano and vocal works (5/10, Kennedy Center Concert Hall)
•  Geneva Lewis, violin, Evren Ozel, piano — A debut for this rising-star violinist from New Zealand performing a centuries-spanning program celebrating the concept of “home” (5/14, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater)

THE WASHINGTON CHORUS

Kennedy Center Concert Hall
202-342-6221
www.thewashingtonchorus.org

• Free at Last: A Musical Tribute to Dr. King’s Legacy — Dr. Eugene Rogers, the organization’s artistic director, leads a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech with a performance of Undine Smith Moore’s 16-part oratorio Scenes from the Life of a Martyr and the Duruflé Requiem (4/4)
• Beethoven’s 9th Symphony — Rogers and members of the chorus join the National Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda to perform the classic symphony (6/1-3)

WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN PHILHARMONIC

703-799-8229
www.wmpamusic.org

• Rebecca Bryant Novak, guest conductor, and featuring Emad Zolfaghari, viola — Capped by Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” the March program, with guest conductor Novak, the associate conductor of the National Philharmonic, also includes Jessie Montgomery’s Strum, Arturo Marque’s Conga del Fuego Nuevo, and Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto featuring soloist Zolfaghari, a Toronto-based instrumentalist and a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, which accepted him at the tender age of 16 — which was only two years ago (3/26, George Washington Masonic National Memorial, 101 Callahan Dr., Alexandria)
• The Ulysses James Celebration Concert — Season Finale celebrates Music Director Laureate James in a program of American music and “featuring living composer friends,” including Lawrence Ries and his At First Light: Shadows and Contours and Anthony Iannaccone with Waiting for the Sunrise on the Sound; the program also includes Aaron Copland’s Rodeo and George Gershwin’s orchestral medley Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture (5/20, Washington Masonic Memorial)

WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA

Kennedy Center Opera House
202-295-2400
www.kennedy-center.org

• The Ice Cream Truck Is Broken! & Other Emotional Arias — Renée Fleming and inaugural Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Williams host this family-friendly event exploring our strongest emotions through one of the world’s most dramatic genres and featuring Washington National Opera Cafritz Young Artists. This Kennedy Center and WNO world-premiere commission also includes another new WNO commission, Don’t Let the Pigeon Sing Up Late! by Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon, marking The Pigeon’s dramatic opera debut (4/22-23, Eisenhower Theater)
•  La bohème — Puccini’s tribute to bohemian Paris comes to life in a striking production, directed by Peter Kazaras, featuring grand sets evoking the city of love and a heralded international cast led by Gabriella Reyes as Mimi and Migran Agadzhanyan as Rodolfo, and featuring Jacqueline Echols as Musetta, Gihoon Kim as Marcello, Blake Denson as Schaunard, and Peixin Chen as Colline (5/13-27, Opera House)
• 2023 WNO Opera Gala — A special pre-performance cocktail reception on The River Plaza and a celebratory reception in The REACH immediately following the opening night performance of La bohème (5/13)

WEINBERG CENTER FOR THE ARTS

20 W. Patrick St.
Frederick, Md.
301-600-2828
www.weinbergcenter.org

• National String Symphonia — Celebrating 10 years as a fully professional symphonic string orchestra by performing a concert featuring some of the most popular selections over the past decade (4/22, New Spire Arts, 15 W. Patrick St., Frederick)
• Frederick Symphony Orchestra: “Broadway and Beyond” — “The Best of Broadway and the Silver Screen,” including tunes from Broadway classics The King and I, Phantom of the Opera, and Fiddler on the Roof and selections from Hollywood hits including the James Bond movies and The Lord of the Rings, all performed by this community orchestra composed of professionally trained musicians (4/30)
• FCPS Elementary Honors Chorus — Fifth graders who made it through auditions to represent each public elementary school in the county rehearse weekly with their school music teachers until the day before the concert, when all 150 selected students meet their fellow chorus members and guest conductor (5/3)

WOLF TRAP

1551 Trap Road
Vienna, Va.
877-WOLFTRAP
www.wolftrap.org

• National Symphony Orchestra: The Planets in HD (7/7)
• NSO: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert (7/8)
• NSO: Joe Hisaishi Symphonic Concert — The composer conducts the orchestra performing from his scores to iconic Studio Ghibli films including My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away as scenes from the films screen overhead (7/14-15)
• NSO: Jurassic Park in Concert (7/22)
• NSO: Hilary Hahn plays Brahms — Three-time Grammy-winning superstar violinist joins for Brahms’s Violin Concerto, while Alpesh Chauhan leads the NSO in Tchaikovsky’s emotional Fourth Symphony (8/4)
• NSO Pops: Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (8/5)
• Wolf Trap Opera: Don Giovanni — Often considered the greatest opera ever composed, Mozart’s masterpiece combines comedy, drama, and supernatural elements to capture the downfall of a serial womanizer and themes of amorality, power, and justice, a production starring Cory McGee in the title role opposite Renée Richardson as Donna Anna, accompanied by the Wolf Trap Orchestra conducted by Stephanie Rhodes Russell (8/11)

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