What, This Old Thing?

Some of our favorite online reads have put on some fancy new frocks. French daily Le Monde, which I read regularly for its excellent coverage of the arts, has tweaked its look, but I'm not sure yet if for the better. The International Herald Tribune also has an interesting new look, as well as a new page of international Arts and Events, which brings together some of their (extensive) arts coverage, including something called Ear for Opera, which obviously interests us greatly.

This reminds us of the pressing need for a redesign here at Ionarts, which has changed little over the nearly two years we've been rattling around the place. The decoration here is obviously not done by a professional, so we're looking for some ideas as far as updating our appearance. Anyone with ideas can send them to me. We can't pay anyone anything, but we will give you full credit and our undying gratitude.

Houellebecq's New Novel

Just because, from time to time, I like to scoop the Litblog Cabal, most of whom ignore me completely, an article (Houellebecq: un nouveau roman, May 4) from France 2 Cultural News announces the publication of Michel Houellebecq's new novel, La possibilité d'une île, his fourth. It will appear in stores simultaneously in France, Germany, England, Italy, Spain, and the United States, on September 1. According to the article, he is "the most translated living French writer" (which sounds absolutely plausible), and his novels—Extension du domaine de la lutte, Particules élémentaires (a huge success), and Plateforme (something of a dud)—are available in 35 languages. Houllebecq left his old publisher Flammarion last month, to move over to Fayard, who will publish the new book. GMT Productions has already purchased the rights to make the new book into a movie, which shows you just how big Houllebecq has become.

What we have here is a "sad book," adds the novelist, who believes "that we do not cry often enough these days and that it's good for your health." Houllebecq is not saying much about his new novel but has given some hints. He says that he has done some research on sects before writing it and that he bought a large Mercedes and has driven in it for hours on the highway.

"We remain with two average characters, two men, one age 60 and the other 30. I have not strayed from my objective, which is to chronicle everyday people. That is surely where I am most ambitious. The more you dwell on everyday, universal things, the harder it is. It's much easier to write about a lesbian serial killer. [...] I firmly believe that we will eventually see everything: an artificial uterus, cloning, genetic mutations. It's an unstoppable process, and it will profoundly change humanity. So, we must talk about it."

In this conversation, Houllebecq also "somewhat regretted his comments about Islam," which he once described as "la religion la plus con" (I would translate it as "the fucking stupidest religion," which sort of gets across how terribly vulgar and rude he was being). He apparently finished the novel during a several-week stay in Andalusia and now returns to his home in Ireland, "where his dog Clément is waiting for him."

Kremerata Baltica at Shriver Hall

You know your concert habit is bad when you drag yourself to Baltimore not once (for Hoffmann) but twice in a three-day period. Yes, there I was this Monday, May 2, walking into the Temple of Music that is Shriver Hall, a typical college auditorium on a bucolic campus (Johns Hopkins University), in the midst of a less than bucolic urban neighborhood. The reason? To attend a recently scheduled concert by Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra, talked up by Alex Ross among others, in the program that they would take to Carnegie Hall on the following night.

The program was a doozie, beginning with a work for the full group Kremer had brought with him (piano quartet plus two percussionists), the Baltimore premiere of Prinoshenie ("Offering"), completed in 2004, by Alexander Wustin (b. 1943). This gutsy sort of programming is not unusual for Kremer, and the audacity of it was quite welcome. The work opens with a theme that is treated in canon by violin, glockenspiel, and piano in the high register, which was the original combination envisioned by Wustin (he added viola and cello later). There are two sections that sound like variations, both still in canon, and in the next section, Wustin adds drums, viola, cello, cymbal, wood block. The clanging, detached, pointillistic economy of the piece up to this point becomes a frenzy of rhythmic vitality, winding down to a soft ending like an old watch. The importance of canonic imitation seems to explain the work's title, which struck me as a reference to the complex canons of Bach's The Musical Offering, although the program notes do not confirm this suspicion in any way. The piece bubbled along for 7 or 8 minutes and seemed more like an encore than something with which to open a program.

I have read elsewhere that Wustin dedicated Prinoshenie to the memory of his countryman, Dmitri Shostakovich, which probably led Kremer to include this piece on a program with two of that composer's dazzling final works. First, violist Kristine Blaumane and pianist Andrius Zlabys performed the Sonata for Viola and Piano in F Major, op. 147, which Shostakovich completed in the last months before he died in 1975. The first movement (Moderato) is steeped in melancholy, from the viola opening in soft pizzicato, lutelike. The anguished sounds (at one point, reminiscent of the "night music" sound of Bartók) have usually been connected to Shostakovich's painful experience at the end of his life. Ms. Blaumane demonstrated a strong technique, with a good control of piano sounds and especially with loud sounds on the low strings, which can sound belchlike if you are not careful (one of the complaints often leveled against the viola). The second movement is a sort of gypsy melody, mostly in binary meter but with some disorienting metrical shifts thrown in. Mr. Zlabys is an intense player, with his face in a stressful glower and his floppy hair shaking to the rhythm. This unparalleled if gloomy concentration disappeared when he accepted the audience's applause with a broad grin. Both players, like most of the Kremerata members, are young and from the Baltic countries, and they showed an impressive sensitivity to this difficult music.

As the composer explained to Fyodor Druzhinin, the violist for whom this sonata was created, "the first movement is a novella, the second is a scherzo, and the finale is an adagio in memory of Beethoven." The third movement's elegiac tone places it in line with the great Russian lament tradition (see previous posts here and here). In a beautiful and affecting way, Shostakovich evokes the sounds of the Moonlight Sonata, the triplet arpeggios and the dotted rhythm of the main theme, without really quoting it. Blaumane and Zlabys gave a luminous performance, which was dark and circumspect without being overly somber.

The second half was given over to an incredible performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15 in A Major, op. 141. This astounding symphony, the composer's last, was premiered in Moscow in 1972. Kremer has been performing a chamber version of the Fifteenth, by Victor Derevyanko and Andrei Pushkarev, which last year Alex Ross described hearing for the first time, at a midnight concert in a German village church in 1995:

Even in its usual guise, the Fifteenth is a monumentally eerie work — Shostakovich's farewell to symphonic form, his serenade to all musical history. But in that ghostly, stripped-down version, at that hour of the night, in that remote place, it became a borderline religious experience of the kind described by William James ("giving your little private convulsive self a rest"). I remember not just the performance itself but the silence that surrounded it: a rich, resonant silence, which only deepened when I began walking in the moonlight back to the castle.

Alex's account, I admit, was the major reason why I made the trek up to Baltimore to hear Kremer's group. What we see in this work is a much more direct form of musical quotation than the mere evocation in the Viola Sonata. Making appearances are the "Lone Ranger" theme from Rossini's William Tell overture in the first movement, themes from Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony in the second, and Wagner's death theme (for Siegmund and Siegfried) in the Ring Cycle in the fourth. This would probably be tiresome plagiarism, except for how Shostakovich weaves all of these threads from other people's shirts into something quite extraordinary and all his own. The Rossini quote, just a few bars, returns several times in the first movement, for example, mostly in the cello, providing a childlike lightheartedness as a contrast to the more somber character of the rest of the movement.

Other Articles: Tim Smith, A haunting program at Shriver Hall: Shostakovich's ghost pays visit (Baltimore Sun, May 4) Allan Kozinn, Shostakovich With a Twist, Including a Rearranged Symphony (New York Times, May 5), of the Carnegie Hall concert of this program Russell Platt, Shostakovich's gloom without the grandeur (Newsday, May 6)

The full orchestral score calls for 14 different percussion instruments, so a chamber performance certainly would not be possible without the two percussionists on the program, Andrei Pushkarev and Dmytro Marchenko. (Sadly, one of them is just out of the frame of the photograph shown here, which I snapped from the second row during their curtain call.) Throughout this concert, I was amazed at the technical skills of these two players, managing a mess of instruments and mallets. At one point in the second movement, one of them plays the marimba and the timpani almost simultaneously, and the other does the same with the gong (what a sound!) behind his back. Mr. Zlabys also had to slide the celesta keyboard right alongside his piano bench, forcing his pageturner to stand for the fourth movement to make room, and he sometimes had one hand on each keyboard.

All of this one-man-bandedness added to the hallucinatory atmosphere, making up for the orchestral colors that are missing. It's true that the orchestral version of the symphony uses chamber music textures, which makes parts of the score translate easily to the smaller forces. However, I did miss the brass chorales from the Palace Square movement of the 11th symphony (reworked in the second movement) and the clarinet's madcap melody in the scherzo, both of which are carried by the piano, played so well by Mr. Zlabys but still not able to sound quite like brass or winds. Likewise, the Leningrad march from Shostakovich's 7th symphony, quoted in the final movement, cannot possible be as overwhelmingly powerful as with an orchestra. Those minor reservations aside, this was a performance of radiant beauty and surrealistic color. It was completed by an encore, in response to the enthusiastic applause, a second performance of their opener, Wustin's Prinoshenie, now functioning so perfectly as a nightcap. Judging from the smiles that shot back and forth from player to player, Gidon Kremer and his merry band relished the opportunity to play the piece again. Nothing convinces like conviction.

The 2004–2005 season at Shriver Hall concludes this Saturday (May 7 at 7:30 pm) with a free concert by marimba player Eric Beach. Next season, the Shriver Hall Concert Series celebrates its 40th anniversary, which they are calling A Season of Celebration. Highlights I have picked out from their brochure for 2005–2006 include the Takács Quartet with pianist Garrick Ohlsson (October 2, 2005), Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI (March 19, 2006), and recitals by pianists Krystian Zimerman (April 7, 2006), Leon Fleischer (April 8, 2006), Fazil Say (April 9, 2006), and Angela Hewitt (May 14, 2006). The rest of the season looks pretty good, too.

Liszt Your Favorites

On Saturday, April 30, Rome native Giovanni Bellucci capped off the Washington Performing Arts Society's Hayes Piano Series with an all-Liszt program that was in equal measures daunting and impressive. Having studied and worked with the Who's Who of pianists (Pollini, Brendel, Berman, Perahia), his ability to successfully pull off Verdi opera paraphrases from Aida, Il Trovatore, and Rigoletto should not be surprising.

Unfortunately, I was delayed and missed that part. What I did hear, though, was impressive enough: Liszt's far more straightforward transcription of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique with all its bells and whistles. In A Ball, the work's second movement, Bellucci took the Terrace Theater's Steinway to its limit, building up a force that proved irresistible to more than just a few audience members who burst out in spontaneous applause. In the Scene in the Fields he showed off his staggering technique with constant cross-hand sections interspersed with blindingly fast runs and lyrical passages with trills galore. He may have also stretched a few of the copper-wound bass strings with thunderous trills in the very basement of the instrument's range.

A lot of this music is like a very abstract form of impressionism and, even though nearly note-faithful to the original, come across as less enjoyable than his Beethoven Symphony transcriptions, for example. That being said, March to the Scaffold offers melodic material that makes the transcription work much better, and Dream of a Witches' Sabbath was simply awesome. The heft of the punched-out bass notes under the melody was akin to an assault on the instrument and had an immediate impact on some of the more base parts of my brain. The pianistic dazzle towards the end was stunning.

To say that this was all very impressive is stating the obvious. Whether it is also musically satisfying for the (modern) listener is another, entirely. I am always grateful for programs that present seldom-heard repertoire, and saying that two hours of Liszt transcriptions go a long way is in no way tantamount to wishing Mr. Bellucci had simply presented yet another oft-played piano sonata of Beethoven, Chopin, or Rachmaninov. (Next time, I want to hear the Wagner paraphrases.)

WPAS's popular piano series will feature Messrs. von Eckardstein, Bavouzet, and Cominati (!!!), as well as the 2005 Van Cliburn Piano Competition winner and Wonny Song. The series is usually sold out on subscriptions alone, so if you are interested in high-quality piano recitals, it might be worth looking into that possibility at wpas.org.

Tales of Hoffmann in Baltimore

On Saturday night, April 30, Ionarts attended the opening night of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, presented by the Baltimore Opera at the historic Lyric Opera House. This is one of those operas that are simultaneously rewarding vocally and challenging intellectually. The ingenious idea came from a play by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, Les contes fantastiques d'Hoffmann (1851), from which they adapted the libretto used by Offenbach. (They also wrote the libretto for Gounod's Faust.) The authors selected several fantastic stories from the work of E. T. A. Hoffmann (who created the story of The Nutcracker and whose stories were a favorite of Sigmund Freud's for their psychological nature). Adapt three Hoffmann stories of failed love, and weave them into a storyline as tales recounted by Hoffmann on a long, beery night. (Take a look at the Hoffmann Study Guide from the Baltimore Opera for more information.)

Hoffmann is a popular opera, even though it was Offenbach's last opera, left incomplete and rather different from his typical comedies. For decades, the opera was performed in various editions, all of them terrible, resulting from the botched attempts by Léon Carvalho, the director of the Opéra Comique, to complete it. There were even pieces by other composers (such as the aria "Scintille diamant") inserted into the old score, which have become popular with audiences and are still usually performed. Michael Kaye discovered a number of pages of Offenbach's original manuscript, long thought destoyed, which he used to make a new edition of Hoffmann, premiered at the Opéra de Lyon and recorded on the DVD that I reviewed in January.

Available from Amazon: Jacques Offenbach, Des Contes d'Hoffman, Daniel Galvez-Vallejo, Natalie Dessay, Gabriel Bacquier, Jose Van Dam, Kent Nagano, Opéra de Lyon (1999)

Jacques Offenbach, Les Contes d'Hoffman, Roberto Alagna, Jose van Dam, Natalie Dessay, Kent Nagano, Opéra de Lyon (1996)

Hoffmann learns over the course of the opera that the three women in his evening's tales—Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta—are all aspects of the woman he loves now, Stella, an opera singer appearing on the stage in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the opening of the opera. Those aspects of woman—a mechanical doll (technically perfect but soulless), an artist of fragile health (profound but too delicate), and an evil courtesan who steals his reflection—have encouraged a number of psychological analyses of the opera. I prefer to understand the opera as an expression of Offenbach's quest to find the perfect female singer. His original intention was to have the same singer portray all three of the love interest roles, although they are now (as in this production) usually sung by different singers because their technical demands are so different.

The most satisfying tale for me is the first, in which Hoffmann falls in love with a mechanical doll that a crazy inventor is trying to pass off as his daughter. The joke, of course, is that the automaton can be wound up like a toy and she will sung some of the most difficult coloratura passages ever conceived. I am sometimes surprised that coloratura sopranos ever want to sing this role, since the subtext of is that what coloraturas do is mechanical: spin the crank and listen to the high notes! (Soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird has some thoughts on coloratura singing at her blog The Concert.) However, when done well the role can create a phenomenon, as it did for Natalie Dessay, who sang magnificently on the Lyon DVD. Italian soprano Valeria Esposito was a sensation Saturday night, in terms of both her acting and her incredibly potent and accurate singing. Although she did not choose to take the super-high A-flat on the big aria's final note, as Dessay did, this was a performance that brought down the house.

Valeria Esposito will return to Baltimore next season, in the role of Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula (November 2005). Along with their new production of Jake Heggie's recent opera Dead Man Walking (March 2006), I have at least two reasons to make the trip to Baltimore Opera next season.

Other Reviews: Tim Smith, This 'Tales of Hoffmann' is nicely told (Baltimore Sun, May 2) Cecelia Porter, Baltimore Opera (Washington Post, May 2) Tim Smith, 'Tales of Hoffman' is a fantastical version of reality (Baltimore Sun, April 28)

Another Italian, Antonia Cifrone, was also effective in the more lyric role Antonia, with an excellent rendition of her signature aria "Elle a fui, la tourterelle." This role makes completely different demands on a soprano, as does the powerfully dramatic singing of the deceitful courtesan in the Venice act (now performed last, according to Offenbach's original intention), Giulietta. In Baltimore, this role is performed by American mezzo-soprano Victoria Livengood, whose instrument is powerful enough to remove paint, a power that she used always with good judgment. All three of these voices are worth going to Baltimore to hear. Stratospheric range (Olympia), lyrical beauty (Antonia), booming volume and dark color (Giulietta): what makes up the perfect voice? Can you really have all three?

Also turning in good performances were American tenor Gerard Powers, who had some moments of powerful singing as Hoffmann, particularly in the hilarious "Kleinzach" aria in the first act. American mezzo-soprano Cynthia Jansen was at times difficult to hear as Hoffmann's muse, who takes on the shape of his friend Nicklausse, in an attempt to protect the poet. French baritone Alain Fondary certainly had the best diction in the cast (to my ear, some singers were apparently singing in languages other than French at times), but he was often lost in orchestral sound and/or at metric odds with conductor Christian Badea. His voice was suitably Satanic, for the most part, as his characters embody an evil force that is always working against Hoffmann. One interesting detail in this production was a supernumerary role, a sort of henchman to Fondary's villains, cloaked and hooded like the figure of Death. At the opera's conclusion, as Hoffmann passes out, this mysterious figure descends the staircase, as if preparing to take Hoffmann (we can read Offenbach) to the next world, after he has resolved to live only for his art. I think we can give the credit for this role to Christian Badea who is listed as conductor and director. The sets, designed by Ferruccio Villagrossi, were visually pleasing but not stunning. All in all, this production brings the Baltimore Opera's season to a satisfying close.

There are only three performances remaining, on Wednesday, May 4, at 7:30 pm; Friday, May 6, at 8:15 pm; and Sunday, May 8, at 3 pm. Do not assume that you cannot afford to go to the opera. Baltimore Opera has a very good reduced-rate program for young people (Extreme Opera, ages 18-27). You are also welcome to show up for student rush tickets, one hour before curtain: any unclaimed gallery tickets are sold off to those with valid student IDs for $23.

Classical Week in Washington (May 2)

Classical Week in Washington is a weekly feature that appears on Mondays. If there are concerts you would like to see included on our schedule, send your suggestions by e-mail (praecentor at yahoo dot com). To plan your concert schedule for the entire month of may, go to Classical Month in Washington: May. Happy listening!

Monday, May 2, 7:30 pm
Gidon Kremer, violin, with the Kremerata Baltica Soloists (Shostakovich, Alexander Wustin)
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.), Shriver Hall
See the review by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, May 4)

Tuesday, May 3, 12:10 pm
Washington Bach Consort, with Eric Plutz, organ [FREE]
Noontime Cantata (Was frag ich nach der Welt, BWV 94)
Church of the Epiphany (13th and G Streets NW)
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, May 5)

Tuesday, May 3, 7:30 pm
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Vocal Arts Society) [CANCELLED]
Kennedy Center

Wednesday, May 4, 7:30 pm; Friday, May 6, 8:15 pm; Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
Offenbach, The Tales of Hoffmann
Baltimore Opera
See the review by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, May 2)

Wednesday, May 4, 7:30 pm
Elena Bashkirova, piano [FREE]
National Museum of Women in the Arts (1250 New York Avenue NW), requires a reservation (call 202-783-7370 or e-mail to reservations@nmwa.org)
See the review by Andrew Lindemann Malone (Washington Post, May 6)

Wednesday, May 4, 7:30 pm
Jerusalem String Quartet (Haydn, Shostakovich, Dvořák)
Kennedy Center (Terrace Theater)
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, May 6)

Thursday, May 5, 7 pm; Friday, May 6, 8 pm; Saturday, May 7, 8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra, with Mstislav Rostropovich and violinist Mayu Kishima (all-Tchaikovsky program)
Kennedy Center (Concert Hall)
See the review by Lindsay Heller (Ionarts, May 7)

Thursday, May 5, 8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with Henning Kraggerud, violin (Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5)
Strathmore Hall
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, May 7)

Friday, May 6, 7:30 pm (and various dates through May 31)
Puccini, Tosca (Washington National Opera)
Kennedy Center (Opera House)
See the review by Philip Kennicott (Washington Post, May 8) and the general interest article by Scott Vogel (Washington Post, May 6)

Friday, May 6, 8 pm; Saturday, May 7, 8 pm
Palestrina Choir William Byrd Festival: Secular Vocal Works and Keyboard Works (with Vera Kochanowsky, virginal)
Friday: St. Alban's Episcopal Church (Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues NW)
Saturday: Grace Episcopal Church (3601 Russell Road, Alexandria, Va.)

Saturday, May 7, 11 am and 1 pm
NSO Kinderkonzert: Got Rhythm?
Kennedy Center (Theater Lab)
See the review by Charles T. Downey and Mini-Critic (Ionarts, May 8)

Saturday, May 7, 7:30 pm
Left Bank Concert Society (Berio, Knussen, Ligeti, Bartók)
Kennedy Center (Terrace Theater)
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, May 9)

Saturday, May 7, 7:30 pm
Eric Beach (Yale Gordon Concerto Competition Winner, 2004), marimba [FREE]
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.), Shriver Hall

Saturday, May 7, 8 pm
Le Baroque Français (Cantate Chamber Singers, program includes Charpentier, Rameau, De la Lande, Mondonville)
St. John's Norwood Parish (Chevy Chase, Md.)

Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
Tippett: A Child of Our Time (The Washington Chorus, with Elizabeth Bishop, mezzo-soprano, and Gordon Hawkins, bass)
Kennedy Center (Concert Hall)
For a preview, see Tim Page, 'A Child of Our Time' Indeed (Washington Post, May 4)
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, May 12)

Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
National Championship of High School A Cappella
Lisner Auditorium

Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
Metropolitan Chorus (Morten Lauridensen's Lux Aeterna, arrangements of spirituals by Moses Hogan, and Missa Miamiensis by James Buonemani)
Mount Olivet United Methodist Church (1500 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, Va.)

Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
Chantry, Music for God's Mother (Guerrero, Gombert, and Victoria)
St. Patrick's Church (619 10th Street NW)

Sunday, May 8, 5 pm
Elisabeth Adkins, violin, and Ed Newman, piano [FREE, with admission to museum]
Phillips Collection
See the review by Joan Reinthaler (Washington Post, May 10)

Sunday, May 8, 6:30 pm
The Baltimore Consort (17th-century music from the Netherlands) [FREE]
National Gallery of Art
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, May 12)

Sunday, May 8, 8 pm; Monday, May 9, 8 pm
Musica Alta Ripa, from Germany (all-Telemann concert)
Dumbarton Oaks Friends of Music Series (by subscription only)
See the review by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, May 10)

See the last installment of the Ionarts Concert Schedule.

Rain on My Kinetic Parade/Race!

And rain it did. It rained so much that we could have done without the harbor water trials. I took some incredible pictures, too. Probably, without a doubt, the best ever. However, to keep my camera dry I would shoot and then put the camera into my coat; shoot, coat. Who knew the lens would fog up! I had at least 30 shots of pure white or foggy lens white. Besides my goof-ups the race was fabulous. One of the best reasons to live in Baltimore is the American Visionary Art Museum and the incredible group of artists and supporters who turn out for this race. It's alive! and the crowds love it. As loose as this event seems, each team pours its heart into their creation and puts together a costume to match.

The best part is that everyone is a winner. As with life itself, 85% is just showing up, and if you can look good all the better.

As I mentioned in my previous posts (here and here), Team Platypus was a favorite. I didn't get to see the final look of the craft until race day, and they obviously worked over time. With a nice red paint job and added crow's nest and formal wear, they were all pro. The team took the honor of "most mediocre." I'm proud of you guys. (Wait, I need a moment.)

OK, until next year you can go here to see some of the pictures I took of the day, or to this nice piece in the Baltimore Sun, or to this MP3 courtesy of WYPR in Baltimore.

Classical Month in Washington: May

Classical Month in Washington is a monthly feature that appears on the first of the month. If there are concerts you would like to see included on our schedule, send your suggestions by e-mail (praecentor at yahoo dot com). Happy listening!

Sunday, May 1, 2 pm
Kennedy Center Chamber Players (Fauré, Françaix, Brahms)
Kennedy Center (Terrace Theater)
See the review by Grace Jean (Washington Post, May 3)

Sunday, May 1, 3 pm
Washington Bach Consort, The Joy of Bach! (Third Orchestral Suite, Cantata No. 51, and Ascension Oratorio)
Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall, Alexandria, Virginia

Sunday, May 1, 4 pm
Ecumenical Evensong in thanksgiving for the life and witness of Pope John Paul II and in celebration of the election and enthronement of His Holiness Benedict XVI
Choir of Men and Girls from Washington National Cathedral and Choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Gorecki, Totus tuus)
Washington National Cathedral

Sunday, May 1, 5 pm
Andre Ponochevny, piano
Phillips Collection

Sunday, May 1, 6:30 pm
Dean Shostak, glass armonica, with Kelly Kennedy, soprano
National Gallery of Art
See the review by Gail Wein (Washington Post, May 3)

Sunday, May 1, 7:30 pm
Yundi Li (winner of the Chopin Competition at age 17), piano (Mozart, Chopin, Liszt)
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.), Shriver Hall
See the review by Tim Smith (Baltimore Sun, May 4)

Monday, May 2, 7:30 pm
Gidon Kremer, violin, with the Kremerata Baltica Soloists (Shostakovich, Alexander Wustin)
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.), Shriver Hall
See the review by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, May 4)

Tuesday, May 3, 12:10 pm
Washington Bach Consort, with Eric Plutz, organ [FREE]
Noontime Cantata (Was frag ich nach der Welt, BWV 94)
Church of the Epiphany (13th and G Streets NW)
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, May 5)

Tuesday, May 3, 7:30 pm
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Vocal Arts Society) [CANCELLED]
Kennedy Center

Wednesday, May 4, 7:30 pm; Friday, May 6, 8:15 pm; Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
Offenbach, The Tales of Hoffmann
Baltimore Opera
See the review by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, May 2)

Wednesday, May 4, 7:30 pm
Elena Bashkirova, piano [FREE]
National Museum of Women in the Arts (1250 New York Avenue NW), requires a reservation (call 202-783-7370 or e-mail to reservations@nmwa.org)
See the review by Andrew Lindemann Malone (Washington Post, May 6)

Wednesday, May 4, 7:30 pm
Jerusalem String Quartet (Haydn, Shostakovich, Dvořák)
Kennedy Center (Terrace Theater)
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, May 6)

Thursday, May 5, 7 pm; Friday, May 6, 8 pm; Saturday, May 7, 8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra, with Mstislav Rostropovich and violinist Mayu Kishima (all-Tchaikovsky program)
Kennedy Center (Concert Hall)
See the review by Grace Jean (Washington Post, May 6)

Thursday, May 5, 8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with Henning Kraggerud, violin (Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5)
Strathmore Hall

Friday, May 6, 7:30 pm (and various dates through May 31)
Puccini, Tosca (Washington National Opera)
Kennedy Center (Opera House)

Friday, May 6, 8 pm; Saturday, May 7, 8 pm
Palestrina Choir William Byrd Festival: Secular Vocal Works and Keyboard Works (with Vera Kochanowsky, virginal)
Friday: St. Alban's Episcopal Church (Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues NW)
Saturday: Grace Episcopal Church (3601 Russell Road, Alexandria, Va.)

Saturday, May 7, 11 am and 1 pm
NSO Kinderkonzert: Got Rhythm?
Kennedy Center (Theater Lab)

Saturday, May 7, 7:30 pm
Left Bank Concert Society (Berio, Knussen, Ligeti, Bartók)
Kennedy Center (Terrace Theater)

Saturday, May 7, 7:30 pm
Eric Beach (Yale Gordon Concerto Competition Winner, 2004), marimba [FREE]
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.), Shriver Hall

Saturday, May 7, 8 pm
Le Baroque Français (Cantate Chamber Singers, program includes Charpentier, Rameau, De la Lande, Mondonville)
St. John's Norwood Parish (Chevy Chase, Md.)

Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
Tippett: A Child of Our Time (The Washington Chorus, with Elizabeth Bishop, mezzo-soprano, and Gordon Hawkins, bass)
Kennedy Center (Concert Hall)
For a preview, see Tim Page, 'A Child of Our Time' Indeed (Washington Post, May 4)

Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
National Championship of High School A Cappella
Lisner Auditorium

Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
Metropolitan Chorus (Morten Lauridensen's Lux Aeterna, arrangements of spirituals by Moses Hogan, and Missa Miamiensis by James Buonemani)
Mount Olivet United Methodist Church (1500 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, Va.)

Sunday, May 8, 3 pm
Chantry, Music for God's Mother (Guerrero, Gombert, and Victoria)
St. Patrick's Church (619 10th Street NW)

Sunday, May 8, 5 pm
Elisabeth Adkins, violin, and Ed Newman, piano [FREE, with admission to museum]
Phillips Collection

Sunday, May 8, 6:30 pm
The Baltimore Consort (17th-century music from the Netherlands) [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

Sunday, May 8, 8 pm; Monday, May 9, 8 pm
Musica Alta Ripa, from Germany (all-Telemann concert)
Dumbarton Oaks Friends of Music Series (by subscription only)

Tuesday, May 10, 5 pm
Guarneri String Quartet, open rehearsal [FREE]
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (College Park, Md.)

Tuesday, May 10, 6:30 pm
Per Tengstrand, piano (with a buffet reception of Swedish food)
Residence of the Ambassador of Sweden (through CGA)

Tuesday, May 10, 8 pm
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with Daniel Barenboim (WPAS)
Kennedy Center

Thursday, May 12, 7 pm; Friday, May 13, 1:30 pm; Saturday, May 14, 8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra, with guest conductor Roger Norrington (Bruckner's Symphony No. 4)
Kennedy Center

Thursday, May 12, 7:30 pm; Friday, May 13, 7:30 pm
Annlynn Miller (cello) and Ulrich Schmid (piano)
Complete works for piano and cello by Beethoven: op. 5, Nos. 1 and 2 (May 12); op. 102, Nos. 1 and 2, and op. 69 (May 13)
Strathmore Hall (Mansion)

Thursday, May 12, 8 pm
Emerson String Quartet (WPAS)
Mendelssohn, Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 12; Joan Tower, Incandescent; Beethoven, Quartet in C-sharp Minor, op. 131
Strathmore Hall

Thursday, May 12, 8 pm
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [FREE]
Library of Congress

Friday, May 13, 8 pm
Peabody Trio (concluding concert in complete cycle of Beethoven trios)
Corcoran Gallery of Art

Saturday, May 14, 3 pm
Sacchini, Œdipe à Colone (Opera Lafayette)
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Friday, May 13, 8 pm; Saturday, May 14, 8 pm
Kevin Kenner, piano
Embassy of the Republic of Poland (2460 16th Street NW)

Saturday, May 14, 7 pm (and various dates until June 4)
Saint-Saëns, Samson et Dalila (Washington National Opera)
Kennedy Center Opera House

Saturday, May 14, 7 pm; Sunday, May 15, 2 pm
Imant Raminsh's new children's opera The Nightingale (Children's Chorus of Washington)
Lisner Auditorium

Saturday, May 14, 8 pm
Ave Maria: Music in Honor of the Virgin Mary (Woodley Ensemble)
St. Columba's Episcopal Church (4201 Albemarle Street NW)

Sunday, May 15, 3 pm
On Stage with Washington National Opera (Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists from Washington National Opera), excerpts from Shakespeare operas
Renwick Gallery Grand Salon (Free, but reservations required; call 202-448-3490)

Sunday, May 15, 3 pm
In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Songs from the Camps (Master Chorale of Washington)
Kennedy Center

Sunday, May 15, 4 pm
Beethoven, Missa Solemnis (Cathedral Choral Society)
Washington National Cathedral

Sunday, May 15, 5 pm
Yuliya Gorenman, piano
Phillips Collection

Sunday, May 15, 6:30 pm
Saint Petersburg String Quartet (music by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, and Smetana)
National Gallery of Art

Tuesday, May 17, 7:30 pm
Christine Brandes, soprano, with the Cellists of the National Symphony Orchestra (Bach, Henze, Stravinsky, Pärt, Villa-Lobos, Saariho, Françaix)
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater

Tuesday, May 17, 8 pm
New York Festival of Song: Lost Tribes of Vaudeville (Michael Barrett and Steven Blier, directors)
Library of Congress (Coolidge Auditorium)

Thursday, May 19, 8 pm; Friday, May 20, 8 pm; Saturday, May 21, 8 pm
Hungarian Operetta Evening (Krisztina Dávid, soprano; Marko Kathol, tenor; George Peachey, piano; Peter Sirotin, violin)
Embassy of the Republic of Hungary (3910 Shoemaker Street NW)

Thursday, May 19, 8 pm
Brahms, Ein deutsches Requiem (Choral Arts Society)
Kennedy Center, Concert Hall

Friday, May 20, 3 pm; Saturday, May 21, 3 pm; Sunday, May 22, 3 pm
Aavaat Choir (Inuit choir from Greenland)
National Museum of the American Indian

Friday, May 20, 8 pm
Rolf Schulte (violin), James Winn (piano), and Jerry Grossman (cello)
Library of Congress (Coolidge Auditorium)

Saturday, May 21, 8 pm
National Philharmonic: Ravishing Rhythm (with Children's Chorus of Washington: Orff's Carmina Burana, Zhou, and Larsen)
Music Center at Strathmore

Saturday, May 21, 8:15 pm; Sunday, May 22, 3 pm
Palestrina Choir William Byrd Festival: Mass for Four Voices and the Propers for Corpus Christi
Saturday: St. Rita's Catholic Church (3815 Russell Road, Alexandria, Va.)
Sunday: Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle (1725 Rhode Island Avenue NW)

Saturday, May 21, 8 pm; Sunday, May 22, 2 pm
Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia: Fatal Song, or the Great Opera Murders
Theatre One, Gunston Arts Center (Arlington, Va.)

Saturday, May 21, and Sunday, May 22 (various times)
Instrument Demonstration and Early American Musical Instrument Performances
National Gallery of Art (West Building, West Garden Court)

Sunday, May 22, 5 pm
Wendy Law and Ying-Chien Lin, cello, piano [FREE, with admission to museum]
Phillips Collection

Sunday, May 22, 6 pm
Conservatory Project: Juilliard School
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater

Monday, May 23, 6 pm
Conservatory Project: Northwestern University School of Music
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater

Tuesday, May 24, 6 pm
Conservatory Project: Eastman School of Music
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater

Wednesday, May 25, 6 pm
Conservatory Project: The Curtis Institute of Music
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater

Thursday, May 26, 6 pm
Conservatory Project: San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater

Friday, May 27, 6 pm
Conservatory Project: Berklee College of Music
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater

Friday, May 27, 8 pm
Aage Kvalbein, cello, and Shuann Chai, piano
Norwegian Ambassador's Residence (2720 34th Street NW)

Saturday, May 28, 6 pm
Conservatory Project: Shepard School of Music at Rice University
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater

Sunday, May 29, 5 pm
Steve Silverman and Arco Voce, Baroque ensemble [FREE, with admission to museum]
Phillips Collection

Sunday, May 29, 6 pm
Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University
Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater