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12.8.14

Classical Music Agenda (September 2014)

Hopefully you have marked your calendar with the twenty-five concerts picked in our season preview. Now in the Classical Music Agenda we list the ten concerts we want to hear in each month. Here is September.

available at Amazon
Hindemith, Hérodiade, Inscape
(2014)
CHAMBER MUSIC:
As part of the season-opening festivites at the Clarice Smith Center, Inscape Chamber Orchestra gives a free concert (September 12, 9 pm). The program includes Hindemith's ballet score Hérodiade, based on the dialogue poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, which the group recorded for a recent release.

The three pianists of the Verge Ensemble -- Jenny Lin, Lura Johnson, and Audrey Andrist -- give a free concert on the Steinway Series at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (September 14, 3 pm), with solo pieces by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Scriabin, plus Rachmaninoff’s Valse and Romance for piano, six hands, and a transcription of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps for piano, four hands.

Pianist Brian Ganz offers his latest recital at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville (September 14, 7:30 pm). The program combines two Beethoven sonatas (opp. 13 and 109), and a selection of pieces by Debussy. (In the interest of full disclosure, I write program notes for this venue's concert series, but that is not the reason that I selected this recital.)

Like clockwork, every eight years, pianist Hélène Grimaud returns to Baltimore to give a recital at Shriver Hall (September 21, 5:30 pm). Her program includes music by Liszt, Ravel, Debussy, Fauré, and Albéniz. UPDATE: Hélène Grimaud has withdrawn from this performance, due to a finger injury. If anything her replacement, Angela Hewitt playing the complete Art of Fugue, is an improvement.

For your early music fix, we recommend the first program from the Folger Consort (September 26 to 28). With assistance from tenor James Taylor and Arcadia Viols, the theme is Music and Patronage in Shakespeare's England, including dance music by John Dowland and lute songs from the period.

Steven Lin may not have won the Kapell Competition two years ago, but he was the favorite of many in the audience. The young pianist gets a recital sponsored by Washington Performing Arts next month (September 27, 2 pm) in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.


available at Amazon
D. Catán, Florencia en el Amazonas, Houston Grand Opera
OPERA:
Gabriel García Márquez, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist from Colombia, died this spring, but his influence can be felt in Florencia en el Amazonas, the ground-breaking opera by Daniel Catán from 1996. Produced in 2010 by Maryland Opera Studio, this opera about an opera singer's voyage down the Amazon will star the powerful soprano Christine Goerke in the production from Washington National Opera (September 20 to 28) in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Olga Peretyatko and Kate Lindsey will sing the leads in the performance of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi by the Washington Concert Opera at Lisner Auditorium on the campus of George Washington University (September 28, 6 pm).

ORCHESTRAL:
Both of the subscription concerts from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra make my list this month. Marin Alsop conducts Mahler's fourth symphony (September 18 at Strathmore, September 19 and 21 in Baltimore), with soprano Tamara Wilson singing the Wunderhorn song movement. Hilary Hahn will also be on hand to play Beethoven's violin concerto on the first half. The following week, violinist James Ehnes will play Korngold's violin concerto (September 27 at Strathmore, September 26 and 28 in Baltimore), with Marin Alsop also conducting Rachmaninoff's first symphony and the BSO premiere of Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral, from 1999.

The rest of the calendar follows after the jump.

September 2, 2014 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Ismar Gomes, cello [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 5, 2014 (Fri)
7 pm
Lisztomania screening [FREE]
Library of Congress

September 7, 2014 (Sun)
12 noon and 1 pm
U.S. Air Force Strings [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

September 7, 2014 (Sun)
3 pm
Haskell Small, piano [FREE]
Mompou, Musica Callada
Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association
The Lyceum (Alexandria, Va.)

September 7, 2014 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Christopher Betts, organ
Washington National Cathedral

September 9, 2014 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Martin Labazevitch, piano [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 9, 2014 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Lana Trotovšek (violin) and Anna Shelest (piano)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Slovenia

September 9, 2014 (Tue)
8 pm
U.S. Air Force Band Brass Quintet [FREE]
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

September 10, 2014 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Stephen Costello (tenor) and Ailyn Pérez (soprano)
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

September 11, 2014 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Mikhail Volchok and Larissa Dedova, piano duo [FREE]
Clarice Smith Center

September 12, 2014 (Fri)
7 pm
The Music Lovers screening [FREE]
Library of Congress

September 12, 2014 (Fri)
9 pm
Inscape Chamber Orchestra [FREE]
Hindemith, Herodiade (inter alia)
Clarice Smith Center

September 14, 2014 (Sun)
3 pm
Jenny Lin, Lura Johnson, and Audrey Andrist, piano [FREE]
Verge Ensemble
Smithsonian American Art Museum

September 14, 2014 (Sun)
3 pm
Piotr Pakhomkin, guitar [FREE]
Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association
The Lyceum (Alexandria, Va.)

September 14, 2014 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Benjamin Straley, organ
Washington National Cathedral

September 14, 2014 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Brian Ganz, piano
Music by Beethoven, Debussy
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

September 16, 2014 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Mignarda (voice-lute duo) [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 16, 2014 (Tue)
8 pm
U.S. Air Force Band Woodwind Quintet [FREE]
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

September 18, 2014 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Martin Babjak (baritone) and Daniel Buranovský (piano)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Slovakia

September 18, 2014 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Tamara Wilson (soprano) and Hilary Hahn (violin)
Music Center at Strathmore

September 19, 2014 (Fri)
7 pm
Mahler (Ken Russell) screening [FREE]
Library of Congress

September 19, 2014 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Tamara Wilson (soprano) and Hilary Hahn (violin)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 20, 2014 (Sat)
7 pm
Catán, Florencia en el Amazonas
Washington National Opera
With Christine Goerke, soprano
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 20, 2014 (Sat)
8 pm
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
With Alexander Schimpf, piano
GMU Center for the Arts

September 20, 2014 (Sat)
8:30 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Gala Concert
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 21, 2014 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Tamara Wilson (soprano) and Hilary Hahn (violin)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 21, 2014 (Sun)
3 pm
D.C. Piano Society [FREE]
Calvary Lutheran Church (Silver Spring, Md.)

September 21, 2014 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Russell Weismann, organ
Washington National Cathedral

September 21, 2014 (Sun)
5:30 pm
Hélène Grimaud, piano
Shriver Hall

September 21, 2014 (Sun)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra Season Opening Ball Concert
With Joshua Bell (violin)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

September 22, 2014 (Mon)
7 pm
Catán, Florencia en el Amazonas
Washington National Opera
With Christine Goerke, soprano
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 23, 2014 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Jeremy Filsell, piano [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 24, 2014 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Catán, Florencia en el Amazonas
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 26, 2014 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Catán, Florencia en el Amazonas
Washington National Opera
With Christine Goerke, soprano
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 26, 2014 (Fri)
8 pm
Folger Consort
Music and Patronage in Shakespeare's England
With James Taylor (tenor) and Arcadia Viols
Folger Shakespeare Library

September 26, 2014 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With James Ehnes, violin
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 27, 2014 (Sat)
2 pm
Steven Lin, piano
WPA
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

September 27, 2014 (Sat)
5 and 8 pm
Folger Consort
Music and Patronage in Shakespeare's England
With James Taylor (tenor) and Arcadia Viols
Folger Shakespeare Library

September 27, 2014 (Sat)
7 pm
Leo Sushansky (violin) and Carlos Rodriguez (piano)
National Chamber Ensemble Benefit Concert
Arlington Spectrum Theater

September 27, 2014 (Sat)
8 pm
Heggie, Three Decembers
UrbanArias
Artisphere

September 27, 2014 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With James Ehnes, violin
Music Center at Strathmore

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
12 noon and 1 pm
NGA Wind Ensemble [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
2 pm
Folger Consort
Music and Patronage in Shakespeare's England
With James Taylor (tenor) and Arcadia Viols
Folger Shakespeare Library

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
2 pm
Catán, Florencia en el Amazonas
Washington National Opera
With Christine Goerke, soprano
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
2 pm
Heggie, Three Decembers
UrbanArias
Artisphere

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
3 pm
Washington Bach Consort
Mozart, Requiem
National Presbyterian Church

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With James Ehnes, violin
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
3 pm
Jan Chong (violin), Eugena Chang (cello), Ellen Hwangbo (piano> [FREE]
The Lyceum (Alexandria, Va.)

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Jeremy Filsell, organ
Washington National Cathedral

September 28, 2014 (Sun)
6 pm
Bellini, I Capuleti e i Montecchi
With Olga Peretyatko and Kate Lindsey
Washington Concert Opera
Lisner Auditorium

September 30, 2014 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Ayreheart [FREE]
Music of Dowland, Byrd
Church of the Epiphany

1 comment:

Gary said...

Steven Lin was my favorite at the Kapell. He was the only one in the final who was exciting to watch (for me). With the winner, I felt like I was watching a very talented Vegas lounge pianist.