Classical Music Agenda (February 2016)

February is a day longer this year, but the shortest month would have had more than enough good concerts in any case. Here are the ten we think are the most important, plus some freebies and two dance events that are must-see.

VOICES:
Opera Lafayette continues its work excavating musical rarities, with two performances of Emmanuel Chabrier's one-act opérette Une Éducation Manquée (February 2 and 3), presented in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Bernard Deletré directs the staging, with costumes by Patricia Forelle.

The French connection continues the following weekend with a rare local appearance by French soprano Sandrine Piau, in a recital with pianist Susan Manoff (February 7) at the Phillips Collection. The program will include songs by Debussy, Poulenc, Wolf, and others.

Leah Crocetto made an excellent Washington National Opera debut in Dialogues des Carmélites last season. The American soprano returns to the area for a solo recital with pianist Mark Markham (February 26), presented by WNO in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Her program will include art songs and opera arias.

Mid-month Washington Performing Arts presents the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth in a program centered around Partita for 8 Voices, the piece that won its member Caroline Shaw the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. The concert, in collaboration with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, also features music by Purcell and Gavin Bryars, at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue (February 13).

CHAMBER MUSIC:
The regular series by the Emerson Quartet offers a concert of quartets by Haydn and Beethoven (February 6), at the National Museum of Natural History. The program combines two quartets from the former's op. 76 and two from the latter's op. 18.

In the infancy of Ionarts, the Juilliard String Quartet, then in residency at the Library of Congress, was often reviewed in these pages. Washingtonians have gotten out of the habit of hearing the group all the time, which is now in a new formation, with Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes on violin and Roger Tapping on viola. This season will be the last for veteran cellist Joel Krosnick, who will be replaced next year by Astrid Schween, so their free concert at the Library of Congress (February 27) will be a valedictory lap. They will play quartets by Schubert, Carter, and Beethoven.

The free concert series at the National Gallery of Art is under new leadership, and the last days of February will feature an entire festival of concerts devoted to all of the instrumental trios of Beethoven (February 25 to 28). Performers featured include members of Inscape, the Mendelssohn Piano Trio, the DEKA Trio, and the North Carolina Symphony Trio, concluding with the NGA Orchestra and West Garden Trio performing Beethoven's Triple Concerto.

BLACK AND WHITE:
Pianist Jenny Lin is an Ionarts favorite, known for her ferocious technique and her daring programming choices. She plays a free concert on the Steinway series at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (February 14). Her program this time, The Composer-Pianists: The Art of Transcriptions and Arrangements, sounds right up our alley.

András Schiff has been playing the three final sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, beginning last March. We had to miss the middle installment of the series because of health issues, but the final recital should be the best (February 24), presented by Washington Performing Arts in the Music Center at Strathmore.

We are fans of Steven Osborne's recordings, so it is easy to recommend the British pianist's next recital at the Phillips Collection (February 28). The program includes Schubert (Impromptus), Debussy, and Rachmaninoff (Études-Tableaux).

Pianist Marc-André Hamelin headlines the concert by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, presented by Washington Performing Arts in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall (February 15). In addition to Liszt's first piano concerto, Iván Fischer will conduct Weber's overture to Der Freischütz and Prokofiev's fifth symphony.

DANCE:
We never miss the chance to see the Mark Morris Dance Group, which returns to the GMU Center for the Arts this month (February 19 and 20). The program features The (Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 1), Whelm (Debussy piano pieces), and Cargo (Milhaud's La Création du Monde), all but the last new to the Washington area.

The annual visit by the Mariinsky Ballet features something a little bit unusual, Marius Petipa's choreography, with revisions by Konstantin Sergeyev, to Glazunov's Raymonda (February 23 to 28), in the Kennedy Center Opera House.


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!

February 1, 2016 (Mon)
8 pm
Horszowski Trio
Dumbarton Oaks

February 2, 2016 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Amy Domingues (viola da gamba), Anthony Harvey (theorbo), and Jeremy Filsell (continuo) [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

February 2, 2016 (Tue)
7 pm
Chabrier, Une Éducation Manquée
Opera Lafayette
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

February 3, 2016 (Wed)
7 pm
Chabrier, Une Éducation Manquée
Opera Lafayette
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

February 4, 2016 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Mario Venzago (conductor) and André Watts (piano)
Music Center at Strathmore

February 4, 2016 (Thu)
8 pm
Ursula Oppens, piano
Clarice Smith Center

February 5, 2016 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Mario Venzago (conductor) and André Watts (piano)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

February 6, 2016 (Sat)
2 pm
Pedja Muzijevic, piano
Washington Performing Arts
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

February 6, 2016 (Sat)
5 pm
21st Century Consort
Crosscurrents
Smithsonian American Art Museum

February 6, 2016 (Sat)
6 pm
Emerson Quartet
Music by Haydn, Beethoven
National Museum of Natural History

February 6, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Mario Venzago (conductor) and André Watts (piano)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

February 6, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Baroque Band
Candlelight Concert Society
Horowitz Center (Columbia, Md.)

February 6, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
National Philharmonic
With Brian Ganz, piano
Music by Mozart, Rossini
Music Center at Strathmore

February 6, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
With George Li, piano
GMU Center for the Arts

February 6, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Alexander Paley, piano [FREE]
Washington Conservatory of Music
Westmoreland Congregational UCC Church (Bethesda, Md.)

February 7, 2016 (Sun)
2 pm
Metropolitan Opera National Council
Middle Atlantic Region Auditions
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

February 7, 2016 (Sun)
2 pm
Washington National Opera Young Artists
Renwick Gallery

February 7, 2016 (Sun)
3 pm
Chantry
Music by Josquin, Morales
St. Bernadette Church (Silver Spring, Md.)

February 7, 2016 (Sun)
3 pm
National Philharmonic
With Brian Ganz, piano
Music by Mozart, Rossini
Music Center at Strathmore

February 7, 2016 (Sun)
3:30 pm
Cantus [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

February 7, 2016 (Sun)
4 pm
Sandrine Piau, soprano
Phillips Collection

February 8, 2016 (Mon)
8 pm
Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra
Chinese New Year
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

February 11, 2016 (Thu)
7 pm
Marina Piccinini (flute) and Andreas Haefliger (piano)
Washington Performing Arts
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

February 11, 2016 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Dénes Várjon, piano
Mansion at Strathmore

February 11, 2016 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
100th Anniversary Concert
With Joshua Bell and Mason Bates
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

February 12, 2016 (Fri)
7 pm
Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan
Rice
Kennedy Center Opera House

February 12, 2016 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Maryland Opera Studio
New works reading [FREE]
Clarice Smith Center

February 12, 2016 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Voces8
Barns at Wolf Trap

February 12, 2016 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Joshua Bell, violin
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

February 13, 2016 (Sat)
7 pm
Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan
Rice
Kennedy Center Opera House

February 13, 2016 (Sat)
7:30 pm
National Chamber Ensemble
With Bowen McCauley Dance
Armenian Musical Treasures
Rosslyn Spectrum Theater

February 13, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Joshua Bell, violin
Music Center at Strathmore

February 13, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Roomful of Teeth
With American Contemporary Music Ensemble
Washington Performing Arts
Sixth and I Historic Synagogue

February 13, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Gounod, Romeo et Juliette
Virginia Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

February 14, 2016 (Sun)
2 pm
Gounod, Romeo et Juliette
Virginia Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

February 14, 2016 (Sun)
3 pm
Jenny Lin, piano [FREE]
Smithsonian American Art Museum

February 14, 2016 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Joshua Bell, violin
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

February 14, 2016 (Sun)
3:30 pm
Cann Duo [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

February 14, 2016 (Sun)
4 pm
Várjon-Baráti-Várdai Trio
Phillips Collection

February 14, 2016 (Sun)
5 pm
U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters [FREE]
St. John's, Georgetown

February 14, 2016 (Sun)
5:30 pm
The Knights
With Gil Shaham, violin
Shriver Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

February 15, 2016 (Mon)
8 pm
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Washington Performing Arts
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

February 16, 2016 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Vasily Popov (cello) and Ralitza Patcheva (piano) [FREE]
Church of the Epiphany

February 19, 2016 (Fri)
8 pm
Mark Morris Dance Group
Includes Cargo (Milhaud, La Création du Monde)
GMU Center for the Arts

February 20, 2016 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Smithsonian Chamber Music Society
Music by Dvorak, Brahms
National Museum of American History

February 20, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Mark Morris Dance Group
Includes Cargo (Milhaud, La Création du Monde)
GMU Center for the Arts

February 20, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Handel and Haydn Society [FREE]
Library of Congress

February 20, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
National Philharmonic
With Zuill Bailey, cello
Music by Vivaldi
Music Center at Strathmore

February 21, 2016 (Sun)
3 pm
National Philharmonic
With Zuill Bailey, cello
Music by Vivaldi
Music Center at Strathmore

February 21, 2016 (Sun)
3:30 pm
Bennewitz Quartet [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

February 21, 2016 (Sun)
4 pm
Bella Hristova (violin) and Gloria Chien (piano)
Phillips Collection

February 21, 2016 (Sun)
4 pm
Cathedral Choral Society
Vivaldi, Gloria
Washington National Cathedral

February 21, 2016 (Sun)
6 pm
Rob Kapilow, lecturer
Haydn: Symphony No. 104 (“London”)
With Peabody Symphony Orchestra
Church of the Epiphany

February 21, 2016 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Smithsonian Chamber Music Society
Music by Dvorak, Brahms
National Museum of American History

February 22, 2016 (Mon)
8 pm
KC Jukebox: Of Land & Sea
With Mason Bates
Kennedy Center Theater Lab

February 23, 2016 (Tue)
7 pm
Glazunov, Raymonda
Mariinsky Ballet (chor. Petipa)
Kennedy Center Opera House

February 23, 2016 (Tue)
7 pm
Daniel Lebhardt, piano
Young Concert Artists
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

February 24, 2016 (Wed)
7 pm
Glazunov, Raymonda
Mariinsky Ballet (chor. Petipa)
Kennedy Center Opera House

February 24, 2016 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Washington Ballet
Director's Cut
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

February 24, 2016 (Wed)
8 pm
András Schiff, piano
Washington Performing Arts
Music Center at Strathmore

February 25, 2016 (Thu)
12 noon and 2 pm
Members of Inscape [FREE]
Trios by Beethoven
National Gallery of Art

February 25, 2016 (Thu)
6 pm
Lana Genc, piano [FREE]
Czech Embassy

February 25, 2016 (Thu)
7 pm
Glazunov, Raymonda
Mariinsky Ballet (chor. Petipa)
Kennedy Center Opera House

February 25, 2016 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Nicolas Altstaedt, cello
Mansion at Strathmore

February 25, 2016 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Washington Ballet
Director's Cut
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

February 25, 2016 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Colin Currie, percussion
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

February 25, 2016 (Thu)
8 pm
Quatuor Danel
Clarice Smith Center

February 26, 2016 (Fri)
12 noon and 2 pm
Mendelssohn Piano Trio [FREE]
Trios by Beethoven
National Gallery of Art

February 26, 2016 (Fri)
12 noon
Lana Genc, piano [FREE]
Arts Club of Washington

February 26, 2016 (Fri)
7 pm
Glazunov, Raymonda
Mariinsky Ballet (chor. Petipa)
Kennedy Center Opera House

February 26, 2016 (Fri)
7 pm
Leah Crocetto (soprano) and Mark Markham (piano)
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

February 26, 2016 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Washington Ballet
Director's Cut
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

February 26, 2016 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Itamar Zorman (violin) and Kwan Yi (piano)
Barns at Wolf Trap

February 26, 2016 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Puccini, Edgar
Baltimore Concert Opera
Engineers Club (Baltimore, Md.)

February 27, 2016 (Sat)
1 and 7 pm
Glazunov, Raymonda
Mariinsky Ballet (chor. Petipa)
Kennedy Center Opera House

February 27, 2016 (Sat)
1:30 and 7:30 pm
Washington Ballet
Director's Cut
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

February 27, 2016 (Sat)
2 pm
Juilliard String Quartet [FREE]
Library of Congress

February 27, 2016 (Sat)
12 noon and 2 pm
DEKA Trio [FREE]
Trios by Beethoven
National Gallery of Art

February 27, 2016 (Sat)
5 pm
Cantate Chamber Singers
With Bowen McCauley Dance
St. Mark's Episcopal Church

February 27, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Disney Fantasia
With Czech National Symphony Orchestra
GMU Center for the Arts

February 27, 2016 (Sat)
8 pm
Yekwon Sunwoo, piano
Candlelight Concert Society
Horowitz Center (Columbia, Md.)

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
12 noon and 2 pm
North Carolina Symphony Trio Trio [FREE]
Trios by Beethoven
National Gallery of Art

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
1 pm
Glazunov, Raymonda
Mariinsky Ballet (chor. Petipa)
Kennedy Center Opera House

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
1:30 and 7:30 pm
Washington Ballet
Director's Cut
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
2 pm
Calder Quartet
Washington Performing Arts
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Colin Currie, percussion
Music Center at Strathmore

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
3 pm
Puccini, Edgar
Baltimore Concert Opera
Engineers Club (Baltimore, Md.)

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
4 pm
Steven Osborne, piano
Phillips Collection

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
4 pm
NGA Orchestra and West Garden Trio [FREE]
Beethoven, Triple Concerto
National Gallery of Art

February 28, 2016 (Sun)
5 pm
Washington Chorus
Music by Luna Pearl Woolf
National Presbyterian Church