Czech Love Month

See my preview of tomorrow's Embassy Series concert at the Czech Embassy at Washingtonian.com:

Veteran Washington Soprano Lamoreaux to Perform at the Czech Embassy (Washingtonian, May 26):

As a city full of embassies, Washington offers a smorgasbord of international flavors, and that goes for classical music, too. The Embassy Series hosts a season of chamber-size concerts in various embassies and ambassadorial residences around town, often featuring the music and/or musicians of that country. The penultimate concert of the season, planned for this Friday evening (May 27, 7:30), is an evening of mostly Czech music at the Embassy of the Czech Republic (3900 Spring of Freedom St. NW). Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux, clarinetist Richard Spece, and pianist Elizabeth Hill will perform love songs and other music suitable for May, the month of lovers in any culture.

Lamoreaux is likely familiar to most classical-music mavens in Washington because she has been performing throughout the city for some 25 years. In response to questions earlier this week, she told me she loves singing in many venues in Washington—the auditoriums at the Library of Congress, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Phillips Collection for their “warm acoustic resonance”; the ringing stone of spaces at the National Gallery of Art (where she directs a vocal ensemble) and Washington National Cathedral, “particularly for chant and early music” have also captured her imagination. Above all, she adds, “Strathmore is terrific, and I share with many of my colleagues a genuine enthusiasm for performing in that space.” [Continue reading]