To Hear Tonight: Vogler Quartet

Zimro: A Broken Concert Tour, Vogler Quartet, C. Halevi, J. Nemtsov

Berlin's Vogler Quartet will perform some of the compositions revived for its Zimro Project in a concert this evening in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Zimro, a Hebrew word that means singing, is taken from the name of a St. Petersburg clarinet sextet, devoted to the performance of works by the New Jewish School in Russia, all with connections to Jewish folk music (and touted, therefore, by Jens Laurson at WETA for its Mahler-illumining possibilities). Sergei Prokofiev, taken with one of the Zimro sextet's performances he heard, wrote his melody-rich Overture on Hebrew Themes for them, and the Vogler Quartet's concert will open with it. It is the first work on the group's excellent Zimro CD, released last year on Hänssler Classic's SWR label, and the concert will include two other pieces from the album, Grigori Krejn's moody Prelude and selected movements from Joseph Achron's Children's Suite, a series of evocative, delightful scenes from the lives of children. The concert tonight is not an exact copy of the CD, however, as Alexander Fiterstein is the scheduled clarinetist (the pianist will be the same, Jascha Nemtsov), and the evening will conclude with Julius Chajes' Hebrew Suite and Osvaldo Golijov's Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, for klezmer clarinet and string quartet.

Tickets are available for this evening's concert (7:30 pm) at the Terrace Theater. Qualify for a slight discount ($25 instead of $32) if you mention Promotion Code 45484 when you order your tickets, either online or at the box office.