Classical Month in Washington (September 2015)

Fall is around the corner, so we have already made our Top 25 Picks for the classical music season, a year of many significant anniversaries for concert presenters. In each month, though, there are many performances we could not include in the season preview. Here are a few options that look to be intriguing for the month of September.

Violinist Lana Trotovšek

Last September's concert by Lana Trotovšek was a season highlight. The Slovenian violinist returns for a recital with pianist Anna Shelest at the Embassy of Slovenia, sponsored by the Embassy Series (September 11, 7:30 pm).

Vocal Arts D.C. celebrates its 25th anniversary by opening its season with a recital by mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and pianist Jake Heggie in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. She will sing Iconic Legacies, a new song cycle by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, plus music by Schumann, Berlioz, Bachelet, and Hahn. Note the new start time for Vocal Arts events this year (September 12, 7 pm).

The Tuesday free concert series at the Church of the Epiphany is going full guns this month. The recital of lute songs by alto Barbara Hollinshead and lutenist Howard Bass should be a good one (September 15, 12:10 pm).

The season-opening galas of the area's symphony orchestras are to be avoided, if listening is your focus. The first subscription concert by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, however, should be worth hearing, with Anna Clyne's Masquerade and Strauss's Alpine Symphony. Olga Kern joins as soloist in Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (September 17, 8 pm at Strathmore; September 18 and 19 at the Meyerhoff).

The following weekend the BSO debuts its new contemporary series, Pulse. It's the flavor of the month for area concert presenters, combining classical music somehow with indie rock or whatnot. The stuff that comes early in the evening is not of much interest to us, but it concludes with the BSO performing Philip Glass's third symphony at the Meyerhoff (September 24, 8 pm). Later that same weekend, the BSO performs a program of Prokofiev, Glazunov (the violin concerto with concertmaster Jonathan Carney as soloist), and Beethoven, with Juanjo Mena as guest conductor (September 26, 8 pm at Strathmore; September 25 and 27 at the Meyerhoff).

Music by Jenny Olivia Johnson, Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis, Armando Bayolo, and other living composers will be on the program for the Great Noise Ensemble's season opener at the Atlas Center (September 19, 8 pm).

Another anniversary celebrated this year is fifty years of the concert series at Baltimore's Shriver Hall. Pianist Yefim Bronfman kicks things off with a recital of music by Prokofiev and Schumann (September 20, 5:30 pm).

Washington Performing Arts opens its season with a recital by two golden oldies, violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Emanuel Ax, in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall (September 28, 7 pm).

See the complete calendar after the jump.

COMPLETE CALENDAR:
Last month | Next monthClassical Month in Washington is a monthly feature. If there are concerts you would like to see included on our schedule, send your suggestions by e-mail (ionarts at gmail dot com). Happy listening!

September 1, 2015 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Stephen Coombs (baritone) and Jamie Roberts (piano) [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 8, 2015 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Magdalina Melkonyan, piano [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 10, 2015 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Season Preview Concert
Music Center at Strathmore

September 11, 2015 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Lana Trotovšek (violin) and Anna Shelest (piano)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Slovenia

September 11, 2015 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Season Preview Concert
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 12, 2015 (Sat)
7 pm
Susan Graham (mezzo-soprano) and Jake Heggie (piano)
Vocal Arts D.C.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

September 12, 2015 (Sat)
8:30 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Gala season opener
With Lang Lang, piano
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 15, 2015 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Barbara Hollinshead (alto) and Howard Bass (lute) [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 15, 2015 (Tue)
8 pm
Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle
CUA School of Music

September 17, 2015 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Olga Kern, piano
Music by Clyne, Rachmaninoff, Strauss
Music Center at Strathmore

September 18, 2015 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Olga Kern, piano
Music by Clyne, Rachmaninoff, Strauss
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 19, 2015 (Sat)
7 pm
Bizet, Carmen
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 19, 2015 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Olga Kern, piano
Music by Clyne, Rachmaninoff, Strauss
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 19, 2015 (Sat)
8 pm
National Philharmonic
Music Center at Strathmore

September 19, 2015 (Sat)
8 pm
Great Noise Ensemble
Atlas Center

September 20, 2015 (Sun)
2 pm
Bizet, Carmen
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 20, 2015 (Sun)
3 pm
Washington Bach Consort
Bach, Lutheran Masses
National Presbyterian Church

September 20, 2015 (Sun)
3 pm
National Philharmonic
Music Center at Strathmore

September 20, 2015 (Sun)
3 pm
Washington Piano Society Concert [FREE]
Calvary Lutheran Church (Silver Spring, Md.)

September 20, 2015 (Sun)
5:30 pm
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Shriver Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 20, 2015 (Sun)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Season Opening Ball Concert
With Sutton Foster and Martin Grubinger
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

September 21, 2015 (Mon)
7 pm
Bizet, Carmen
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 22, 2015 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Mayron Tsong and Jeremy Filsell, piano duo [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 24, 2015 (Thu)
7 pm
BSO Pulse
Glass, Symphony No. 3
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 24, 2015 (Thu)
7 pm
Bizet, Carmen
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 25, 2015 (Fri)
7 pm
Bizet, Carmen
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 25, 2015 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Juanjo Mena, conductor
Music by Prokofiev, Glazunov, Beethoven
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 26, 2015 (Sat)
7 pm
Bizet, Carmen
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 26, 2015 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Juanjo Mena, conductor
Music by Prokofiev, Glazunov, Beethoven
Music Center at Strathmore

September 27, 2015 (Sun)
2 pm
Bizet, Carmen
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 27, 2015 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Juanjo Mena, conductor
Music by Prokofiev, Glazunov, Beethoven
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 27, 2015 (Sun)
4 pm
Amadeus Orchestra
With Alexandra Mikhlin, violin
Saint Luke Catholic Church (McLean, Va.)

September 27, 2015 (Sun)
5 pm
Inscape Chamber Orchestra
Music by Schoenberg, Mozart, Dallapiccola, others
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer (Bethesda, Md.)

September 28, 2015 (Mon)
7 pm
Itzhak Perlman (violin) and Emanuel Ax (piano)
Washington Performing Arts
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

September 29, 2015 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Corda Nova [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

September 29, 2015 (Tue)
7 pm
Bizet, Carmen
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House