Art in Belleville

Have a look at some of the art being shown at the Belleville Biennale, with some images (La Biennale de Belleville, un parcours initiatique à l'art contemporain, September 19) published in Le Monde. The show is taking place at various galleries and artist studios in the Belleville neighborhood of Paris, with a theme focusing on revolution. Florence Evin has a review (Prendre l'art à Belleville, September 20) that goes with it (my translation):

Apartment No. 1806, on the 18th floor of a building next to the Place des Fêtes. No name. We knock. The door opens on a two-bedroom flat bathed in light. The apartment-gallery Café au lit is showing, in its living room, a "portable slice," wood and canvas marked with yellow, a work signed Tamas St. Auby, evoking an emergency evacuation. In a mid-sized room is a projection of a diaporama by Uruguayan artist Angel Kalenberg, 240 images put together in 1977, an introduction to the art, culture, and folklore of Latin America. From this 18th floor, the view shows skyscrapers crowding the northern edge of Paris. Members of 180 nationalities live here, most from China, Pakistan, Africa, and Arab countries, of all faiths.

The image embedded here shows the work of sculptor Vincent Lamouroux, who is transforming the landscape of the 19th-century Parc des Buttes-Chaumont by spraying a white substance on the plants in one of the groves. The white stuff is organic, a mixture of lime, flour, and sugar, and not harmful to the plants but makes the place look ghostly until it is dispersed by rain or wind.

'Don Giovanni' Gets the Wilis

Ildar Abdrazakov (Don Giovanni) and Soloman Howard (the Commendatore) in Don Giovanni, Washington National Opera, 2012 (photo by Scott Suchman)

Opera companies perform Don Giovanni a lot: Wolf Trap this past summer and in 2005, the San Francisco Opera in 2011, the Salzburg Festival in 2010, to list only the most recent reviews in our archive. The Washington National Opera has again revived John Pascoe's quasi-updated staging of Mozart's masterpiece, generally at the top of my list for most ingenious opera ever written, last heard in 2007 and 2003. As heard last night, it features an ensemble-oriented cast with a couple individual performances that stood out. More importantly it is a group of singers whose acting in response to Pascoe's rethinking of the staging brought the director's ideas more clearly into light.

Ildar Abdrazakov, who was Leporello to Erwin Schrott's sebaceous Don Giovanni in 2007, was here upgraded to the title role. He did not bring as much sex appeal to the infamous libertine, but he used his voice in a varied way -- power where he needed it, a seductive suavity in the serenade "Deh vieni alla finestra," and rapid-fire patter in perhaps the most breathless "Fin ch'han dal vino" to reach these ears. Baritone Andrew Foster-Williams was a hapless, cowardly Leporello, with excellent comic timing, pleasing resonance, but a tendency to be ahead of the beat. Barbara Frittoli was not quite spiteful enough in her tone for Donna Elvira (oh, for Anja Kampe who sang the role in 2007!), but she took Pascoe's ideas about the character -- as a sort of female version of Don Giovanni -- and ran with it. Soprano Meagan Miller, in a powerful company debut, gave plenty of punch to the role of Donna Anna, with pure, floating high notes that added an angelic aura, with only a slightly overactive vibrato and lack of dynamic variation to cause complaint. She absolutely towered -- physically and vocally -- over her Don Ottavio, sung capably but not quite elegantly by Juan Francisco Gatell, with a lovely, meditative "Dalla sua pace" and a slow, somewhat labored "Il mio tesoro." Veronica Cangemi, known for her performances in early music, was a fetching Zerlina, often light and transparent of tone but with sparkle, while Aleksey Bogdanov's Masetto was memorable more for his comic acting. Soloman Howard, an otherwise fine singer, was imposing physically as the Commendatore but struggled a bit at the top of the role.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Well-cast roles and creative ideas boost WNO’s ‘Don Giovanni’ (Washington Post, September 22)

Some interpretative choices on the part of conductor Philippe Auguin seemed a nod to the René Jacobs HIP recording of the opera. Some of Auguin's tempos were surprising, in the way that Jacobs sometimes is, with a rather fast damnation scene, for example, but luxuriantly slow choices in other places. Pascoe's staging updated the setting to Franco's Spain, which gives Don Giovanni the authority of a fascist police force behind him. A dumb show performed during the overture gave a glimpse of Don Giovanni's punishment in hell, surrounded by a group of former conquests in wedding veils, like the Wilis straight out of the ballet blanc in Giselle, and with ghostly bed frames suspended above him. The decision to have Donna Elvira show up with a babe in arms is a clever way to explain her absence and now her return, as well as why she is so absurdly devoted to Don Giovanni -- so much so that, in what Frittoli made an affecting moment, she tries to follow him into hell. Most scenes of this production compared favorably to the 2007 performance, which likely had something to do with how the singers embraced the direction.

Briefly Noted: More Josquin

Complete Josquin Edition: M. Pange Lingua / M. La Sol Fa Re Mi / L'homme armé Masses (2006) M. Sine nomine / M. Ad fugam (2008) M. Malheur me bat / M. Fortuna desesperata (2009)

Josquin Des Prez, Missa De beata virgine / Missa Ave maris stella, Tallis Scholars (released on November 8, 2011) Gimell CDGIM 044 | 75'58"

As someone who listens to a lot of music, I hate to answer that irksome question about my favorite composer. If pressed, however, I would probably say that I most admire the work of Josquin Des Prez (c. 1440-1521), who was the equal of Leonardo or Michelangelo in composition. He composed secular and sacred music, but for any composer worth his salt, the cyclic Mass was the symphony, the magnum opus of the day, and Josquin's polyphonic settings of the Latin Mass are the summa of the art. Every possible manner of unifying the movements of the Ordinary is explored -- canon, parody of chanson and motet, cantus firmus, chant paraphrase -- but this music is enjoyable first and foremost just as music because of the beauty of his melodic writing and the variation of textures. The Tallis Scholars have undertaken a complete recorded survey of Josquin's Masses, begun in 2006 with the re-release of a 2-CD set of their older discs devoted to this composer. The new recordings in the series, last mentioned in 2008, continue to be just as valuable as those older ones, which introduced many eager young graduate students like myself to the complexity of this music in the best way possible. Before the golden age of early music recording, graduate students spent part of their seminars singing through this kind of music -- an exercise I also enjoy and that imparts a completely different pleasure and greater knowledge.

The most recent disc, released last year, includes what in the Renaissane was likely the most known and performed of Josquin's Masses, the Missa De beata vergine (known in almost 70 different manuscript copies), which brings together paraphrases of several chants for feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As he often did, Josquin adds a fifth voice in most of the later movements, augmenting the canonic complexity but in other places stripping down the texture to more austere bicinia. In a couple of often commented on places, he creates the sensation of duple versus triple rhythm, and director Peter Phillips has restored some of the Marian tropes added to the Ordinary in Josquin's original setting, struck from the score in later editions after the Council of Trent, which eliminated all tropes from the liturgy. It is paired with an almost unknown setting of the Credo, preserved in only one source from Cambrai, a piece that may not even be by Josquin except that it is firmly identified as such in the manuscript. The disc concludes with the concise Missa Ave maris stella -- director Peter Phillips goes so far as to label it a Missa brevis -- which by its quotation of another Marian hymn rounds out the program quite nicely.

The Doors Revealed

Here I am in Florence, one of my favorite cities, to be wowed by Lorenzo Ghiberti's newly restored Baptistry Doors of Paradise. Installed in 1452 and weighing eight tons, the gilded wonders must have dazzled when new. Time and pollution left a darkened patina, which was then layered with varnish in the late 1700s.


During World War II, the doors were removed and stored in a train tunnel for safe keeping. They were cleaned before being reinstalled, once again revealing the former brilliance hiding beneath the soot and varnish. After they survived the devastating flood of 1966 and increased pollutants, it was decided to remove the doors permanently in the 1990s to be properly restored at the renowned Opificio delle Pietre Dure and replaced by cast replicas.

On the day of my visit, the crowd of tourists was twenty deep to get a glimpse of the replica doors on the Baptistry, while the actual, refurbished doors in all their stunning beauty are now on view in a small building behind the Duomo, opposite the Baptistry. In fact, the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore was practically empty -- allowing me some quiet contemplation with these stunning beauties. More images on my Flickr.

Washington Concert Opera: 'La Sonnambula'

René Barbera and Eglise Gutiérrez, La Sonnambula, Washington Concert Opera, 2012 (photo courtesy of Washington Concert Opera)

The Teatro Carcano had quite an 1830-1831 season in Milan. Founded in 1801, the management had dreams of rivaling La Scala as an opera theater. As noted in my preview of the past weekend's highlights here in Washington, the theater premiered both Donizetti's Anna Bolena and Bellini's La Sonnambula in the space of a few months, in December 1830 and March 1831. (A theater in Milan still bears that name, but it now hosts other kinds of performances.) As chance would have it, both operas were performed in Washington this past weekend: the Donizetti by Washington National Opera and the Bellini on Sunday afternoon by Washington Concert Opera at Lisner Auditorium.

Sadly, it was not a good afternoon for Eglise Gutiérrez in the title role, with many of the same issues noted of her performance this past July at Caramoor. There were intonation problems and a swallowed, perilous hold on the high pianissimo notes, although the outdoor acoustic at Caramoor made that sound worse than at Lisner. More disturbingly, the top of Gutiérrez's voice was giving out by the end of the first cabaletta and she struggled with it throughout the performance. The audible torment of the role was doubly sad because, as noted in my preview, it was not created for a voice that went quite that high. The rest of the lead cast was more successful, starting with the lovely sound, heroic high notes, and musical suavity of tenor René Barbera as Elvino -- a nasal, frontally placed voice but one that was beautiful and solid all around.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, WCO’s ‘La Sonnambula’ is live and wide awake (Washington Post, September 18)

Equally good were the smooth baritone of Ben Wager's Rodolfo, with a present and round sound at both ends of the compass, and the pouty, spiteful Lisa of Maureen McKay, a silver-toned voice that darted and sparkled. Supporting parts were capably filled by Madeleine Gray as a maternal Teresa, Matthew Osifchin as long-suffering Alessio, and Rolando Sanz as the Notary. As usual, much of the credit goes to Antony Walker at the podium, who infused the score -- and it has plenty of corny duds in there -- with delight for its beauties and tolerance of its shortcomings. The orchestra was a little messy in the strings here and there, and there were a few wrong notes and false entrances, but Walker, with a relatively small amount of rehearsal, kept singers, orchestra, and the effective chorus all on the same page. Milan was clearly the place to be for bel canto opera that year. Back at La Scala in December 1831, Bellini and Romani teamed up again for Norma, with Giuditta Pasta once more in the title role: it will be mounted by Washington National Opera next March. Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, which will be the second opera from Washington Concert Opera, in April, was premiered at La Scala just four years later, in 1835.

Ionarts-at-Large: Gatti & GMYO in Dresden

Daniele Gatti and the Mahler Youth Orchestra stopped by in Dresden’s Semperoper with their Wagner-Berg-Strauss-Ravel program, the morning after Christian Thielemann had conducted his inauguration concert with the Staatskapelle. It was a fitting concert to cap a trip through Saxony—‘on the paths of Wagner’—I had been on. In fact it was the first Wagner I heard after traipsing through the south-east German countryside, from plaque to plaque: “Here lies Wagner’s great-great-great Grandfather” – “Here Wagner’s first wife was baptized” – “Here Wagner spent a night at his sister’s fleeing from the officials” – “Here Wagner failed middle-school for the second time” – “Here Wagner stayed in a bed that might have looked like this and wrote Lohengrin”. And then, at last, the Third Act Prelude & Good Friday Music from Parsifal: Echt Wagner and in sumptuous, broad sound, quite unbelievable for 11AM (perhaps the awakening-theme of the music helped), and a sound that a glorified pick-up youth orchestra like the GMYO—for all their many considerable qualities—usually doesn’t produce.

A.Berg, Violin Concerto et al., F.P.Zimmermann, Stuttgart RSO, G.Gelmetti et al. EMI

Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto with soloist Frank Peter Zimmermann turned out alert, detailed, clearly delineated, but with feeling and oodles of romance and furthered by the superb acoustic in the Semperoper—in this case the 2^nd rank, preferable to the sound from orchestra seating to these ears. Zimmermann played the first movement with matter-of-courseness, without pathos, with an airy grace, a good-humoredness, a respectful but never reverent take on the memory of an angel, ending in a waltz through tears. Grit and determination and Bach (the chorale “Es ist genug” from O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, most prominently heard in the clarinets, but laced throughout the music) dominated the second movement… which after this summer in Salzburg reminded me invariably of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s works.

Richard Strauss’ Rosenkavalier Suite is not a great work itself, but it’s a medley and jumble of great music; a potpourri of romantic musical scents. Gatti and the GMYO drove through the music like a fire truck with sirens on, with excited violin figures and brass swirls, and finally happily frolicking like a drunken Mariachi band. It would have been a great end to the matinee, but Ravel’s La Valse was still outstanding, and happily it actually was outstanding. Rather than taking from the previous impression, it added with its oodles of character and liberal wit and hearty portamenti. During the introduction the orchestral voices popped up through hatches and holes of the double-bass’ “Jaws” floor that darkly lapped against the woodwinds above. Gatti, at his best, has the ability to make pieces that might have become boring from overexposure in routine run-throughs, exciting again. That is exactly what he did here.

Picture of Daniele Gatti © Silvia Lelli

Sondra Radvanovsky Transcends Drab 'Anna Bolena'

Sondra Radvanovsky (Anna Bolena) and Sonia Ganassi (Giovanna Seymour) in Anna Bolena, Washington National Opera, 2012 (photo by Scott Suchman)

When the Metropolitan Opera presented the disappointing Anna Netrebko in the title role of Donizetti's Anna Bolena last year, they missed the chance to cast Sondra Radvanovsky as the hated arriviste Queen of England. New York's loss is Washington's gain, as the American soprano gave a smash debut in the role on Saturday night in Washington National Opera's first production of the opera since 1993. (For some background on the opera, see my preview article.) Radvanovsky was graceful and dignified as the second wife of King Henry VIII, with searing high notes and an ethereal pianissimo, not swallowed or pinched in sound, just sweet, and active and articulated runs. As noted of her appearances at the Met and here in Washington, the voice makes a large, broad sound, shading to the dark side and occasionally just a hair flat, but the fireworks from Radvanovsky, never really strained throughout a long evening, were the best part of this uneven production.

There were other high points, too, beginning with the company debut of Georgian tenor Shalva Mukeria, who sang the role for his U.S. debut at Santa Fe Opera in 2004. As Riccardo, Anne's former love, he had clarion high notes with plenty of room-filling squillo, a plaintive legato and sobbing tone, but was stiff as a board in his acting, less than believable as the ardent Percy. Mezzo-soprano Sonia Ganassi, last heard in Werther last spring, was good in the role of Giovanna Seymour, Anne's rival, especially in the Act II duet ("Sul suo capo aggravi un Dio") with Radvanovsky, one of the opera's best pieces, but with a somewhat mousy presence that prevented her from becoming a more brilliant foil to Anne. With some of the best little set pieces in the opera, mezzo-soprano Claudia Huckle, a former Domingo-Cafritz artist, had an excellent turn as Smeton, Anne's court musician. Bass Oren Gradus had a mixed company debut as Henry VIII, swaggering with a rough-hewn tone until he hit a bad patch in the second act, cracking badly on a high note ("Giustizia!).

Other Articles: Anne Midgette, Radvanovsky shines in Washington National Opera’s ‘Anna Bolena’ (Washington Post, September 17) ---, Sondra Radvanovsky prepares for Washington National Opera’s ‘Anna Bolena’ (Washington Post, September 14)

WNO revived a dull-as-dust staging from the Dallas Opera, directed by Stephen Lawless, with a truly ugly set of IKEA-style wood panels that moved around unhelpfully (sets by Benoit Dugardyn), providing a backdrop, as in the photo above, that reminded me too much of my childhood friend's wood-paneled den in the 1970s. Moving pieces did little to distract from the plainness: the odd choice of rolling display cases (for the royal ermines and, curiously, the executioner's sword and block) and a bizarre added choreography in the hunt scene (featuring two bare-chested men wearing deer skull masks fighting each other). Because the opera was part of a trilogy staged by Lawless around the life of Elizabeth I, he added the young princess to this opera as a tween supernumerary (not in Felice Romani's libretto), although Elizabeth was not even three years old at the time of her mother's execution. The curving upper backdrop at the back of the stage, based on Shakespeare's Globe Theater, was routinely filled with members of the chorus, a device that became tiresome, as did the fawning menace of character tenor Aaron Blake as Sir Hervey, Henry's toady, their relationship tinged with an unspoken homoeroticism. Several of the cuts often made to the score were reversed in this performance, including in Percy's jail scene in Act II, making for a long evening in the theater. Conductor Antonello Allemandi, in a generally undistinguished company debut at the podium, used exaggerated gestures that did not really help much in coordinating pit and platform.

This production continues through October 6, at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Classical Month in Washington (October)

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!

October 1, 2012 (Mon)
7 pm
Mozart, Don Giovanni
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 2, 2012 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Noontime Cantata: O heilges Geist - und Wasserbad, BWV 165 [FREE]
Washington Bach Consort
Church of the Epiphany

October 3, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Donizetti, Anna Bolena
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 3, 2012 (Wed)
8 pm
West Virginia University Symphony
GMU Center for the Arts

October 4, 2012 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Kelley O'Connor (Lieberson, Neruda Songs)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

October 4, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Don Giovanni
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 4, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Lorenzo Gatto (violin) and Robert Giordano (piano)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Latvia

October 4, 2012 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Markus Stenz (conductor) and Kolja Blacher (violin)
Music Center at Strathmore

October 4, 2012 (Thu)
8 pm
Eliza Garth, piano [FREE]
Cage, Sonatas and Interludes
Clarice Smith Center

October 5, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Opera Bel Cantanti
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

October 5, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Kelley O'Connor (Lieberson, Neruda Songs)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

October 5, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
University of Maryland Symphony
With Nicholas Montopoli, violin
Music by Ravel, Lutoslawski, others
Clarice Smith Center

October 6, 2012 (Sat)
7 pm
Donizetti, Anna Bolena
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 6, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Cantate Chamber Singers
Chips Off the Old Bach: Music of the Bach Sons
St. John's Norwood Parish (Chevy Chase, Md.)

October 6, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir [FREE]
Library of Congress

October 6, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Kelley O'Connor (Lieberson, Neruda Songs)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

October 6, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Markus Stenz (conductor) and Kolja Blacher (violin)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

October 7, 2012 (Sun)
2 pm
Mozart, Don Giovanni
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 7, 2012 (Sun)
2:30 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Opera Bel Cantanti
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

October 7, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Jupiter String Quartet [FREE]
National Academy of Sciences

October 7, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
University of Maryland Wind Orchestra
Music by Schwantner
Clarice Smith Center

October 7, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Phillips Camerata
Phillips Collection

October 7, 2012 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Benjamin Straley, organ
Washington National Cathedral

October 7, 2012 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Mak Grgic (guitar) and Stephen Ackert (organ) [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

October 7, 2012 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Smithsonian Chamber Music Society
Music by Beethoven, Fauré, Chausson
National Museum of American History

October 8, 2012 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 9, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Don Giovanni
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 10, 2012 (Wed)
6 pm
Vivaldi Project: Affetti Italiani [FREE]
Embassy of Italy

October 10, 2012 (Wed)
7 pm
Clarice Smith Lecture: Adam Gopnik [FREE]
Smithsonian American Art Museum

October 10, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Sphinx Virtuosi
With Catalyst Quartet and Elena Urioste, violin
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 10, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Veronika Dobi-Kiss (soprano) and George Peachey (piano)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Hungary

October 11, 2012 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Nathalie Stutzmann, contralto
Music of Wagner, Bruckner
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

October 11, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Shanghai Quartet [FREE]
Freer Gallery of Art

October 11, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Richard Goode, piano
WPAS
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 12, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Nathalie Stutzmann, contralto
Music of Wagner, Bruckner
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

October 12, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Daniel Hope (violin) and Jeffrey Kahane (piano) [FREE]
Library of Congress

October 12, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Bizet, The Pearl Fishers
With Heather Buck
Virginia Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

October 12, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Barns at Wolf Trap

October 12, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Prism Saxophone Quartet
Atlas Center

October 13, 2012 (Sat)
2 pm
Inon Barnatan, piano
WPAS
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 13, 2012 (Sat)
7 pm
Mozart, Don Giovanni
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 13, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Harmonious Blacksmith
Viva Italia
St George's Episcopal Church (Arlington, Va.)

October 13, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Opera Bel Cantanti
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

October 13, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Nathalie Stutzmann, contralto
Music of Wagner, Bruckner
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

October 13, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
National Philharmonic
With Orli Shaham, piano
Music Center at Strathmore

October 13, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Weinberg Center (Frederick, Md.)

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
2 pm
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Music by Bach, Mendelssohn
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
2 pm
Bizet, The Pearl Fishers
With Heather Buck
Virginia Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
2:30 pm
Concert Artists of Baltimore
Music by Britten, Mendelssohn
Friedberg Hall, Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore, Md.)

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Opera Bel Cantanti
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
National Philharmonic
With Orli Shaham, piano
Music Center at Strathmore

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Left Bank Concert Society [FREE]
Music by Britten, Elgar
Smithsonian American Art Museum

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
The Unlikely Trio
Eclipse Chamber Orchestra
George Washington Masonic Temple (Alexandria, Va.)

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Charlie Albright, piano
Phillips Collection

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Washington Master Chorale
Music by Kodály, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky
National Presbyterian Church

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Washington Symphonic Brass
Amadeus Concerts
Saint Luke Church (McLean, Va.)

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Mason Symphony Orchestra
GMU Center for the Arts

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Peter King, organ
Washington National Cathedral

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
5:30 pm
Brentano String Quartet
Shriver Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
6 pm
What Makes It Great: Chopin
With Rob Kapilow (lecturer) and Brian Ganz (piano)
WPAS
National Museum of Natural History

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Thomas Mastroianni (piano), Alessandra Marc (soprano), and Ricardo Cyncynates (violin) [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

October 14, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
Wind Soloists of New York
Dumbarton Oaks

October 15, 2012 (Mon)
8 pm
Wind Soloists of New York
Dumbarton Oaks

October 16, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Thomas Dunford, lute and theorbo
La Maison Française

October 16, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Prokofiev, Cinderella (Ratmansky)
Mariinsky Ballet
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 16, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Prokofiev, Cinderella (Ratmansky)
Mariinsky Ballet
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 16, 2012 (Tue)
8 pm
Mason Wind Symphony and Fairfax Wind Symphony
GMU Center for the Arts

October 17, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Prokofiev, Cinderella (Ratmansky)
Mariinsky Ballet
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 18, 2012 (Thu)
1:30 pm
University of Maryland School of Music
Bach Cantata Series [FREE]
Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211
Clarice Smith Center

October 18, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Prokofiev, Cinderella (Ratmansky)
Mariinsky Ballet
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 19, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Prokofiev, Cinderella (Ratmansky)
Mariinsky Ballet
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 19, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Embassy Series
Embassy of Austria

October 19, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Juanjo Mena (conductor) and Benedetto Lupo (piano)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

October 19, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Great Noise Ensemble
Atlas Center

October 20, 2012 (Sat)
1:30 and 7:30 pm
Prokofiev, Cinderella (Ratmansky)
Mariinsky Ballet
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 20, 2012 (Sat)
7 pm
Choralis: An American Portrait
Schlesinger Concert Hall

October 20, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Juanjo Mena (conductor) and Benedetto Lupo (piano)
Music Center at Strathmore

October 20, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Borromeo String Quartet
Music by Bach, Fairouz, Schubert
Candlelight Concert Society
Smith Theater, Howard Community College (Columbia, Md.)

October 20, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Vida Guitar Quartet
Music by Bizet, Turina, Falla
Dumbarton Concerts

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
1:30 pm
Prokofiev, Cinderella (Ratmansky)
Mariinsky Ballet
Kennedy Center Opera House

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Bach Sinfonia
Music by Handel, Boyce, Avison, Bond
With Joshua Cohen, Baroque trumpet
Cultural Arts Center, Montgomery College (Silver Spring, Md.)

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Eclipse Chamber Orchestra
George Washington Masonic Temple (Alexandria, Va.)

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Juanjo Mena (conductor) and Benedetto Lupo (piano)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble
Music for string sextet and octet
GMU Center for the Arts

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Thibault Cauvin, guitar
Phillips Collection

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Cathedral Choral Society
Duruflé, Requiem
Washington National Cathedral

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
5 pm
Capital City Symphony
Atlas Center

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
6:30 pm
I Musici di Roma [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

October 21, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
Choral Arts Society of Washington
La Música Latina
Lisner Auditorium

October 22, 2012 (Mon)
6 pm
Laurie Rubin, mezzo-soprano [FREE]
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

October 22, 2012 (Mon)
7:30 pm
New York Festival of Song
Vocal Arts D.C.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 25, 2012 (Thu)
6 pm
Suzanne Farrell Ballet [FREE]
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

October 25, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Musicians from Marlboro I [FREE]
Music by Haydn, Ligeti, Mendelssohn
Freer Gallery of Art

October 25, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Paul Huang, violin
WPAS
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 25, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Israel Chamber Project
Embassy Series

October 26, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Alexandre Tharaud, piano
La Maison Française

October 26, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Amernet String Quartet with James Tocco, piano
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 26, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Cornelius Meister, conductor
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

October 26, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Pieter Wispelwey (cello) and Lois Shapiro (piano) [FREE]
Library of Congress

October 27, 2012 (Sat)
5 pm
21st Century Consort
Election Special: Music for Uncivil Discourse
Smithsonian American Art Museum

October 27, 2012 (Sat)
6 pm
Members of KC Opera House Orchestra [FREE]
Schubert, Octet
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

October 27, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra
Vienna Presbyterian Church

October 27, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Cornelius Meister, conductor
Music Center at Strathmore

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
1 and 3 pm
NSO Family Concert: Halloween Spooktacular
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
2 pm
Cineconcert: The Mark of Zorro [FREE]
With live music by Hesperus
Smithsonian American Art Museum

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Cornelius Meister, conductor
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
3 and 7:30 pm
Dali Quartet
Mansion at Strathmore

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Leon McCawley, piano
Phillips Collection

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
5 pm
City Choir of Washington
Music of Handel
National Presbyterian Church

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
5 pm
Music of Heaven and Earth
Thomas Circle Singers
First Congregational United Church of Christ

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Tanya Vegvari Plescia, piano [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
ETHEL with Todd Rundgren
Clarice Smith Center

October 28, 2012 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Chee-Yun (violin) and Alessio Bax (piano)

October 29, 2012 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Avanti Orchestra [FREE]
Friday Morning Music Club
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 29, 2012 (Mon)
7:30 pm
L'Invitation au Voyage [FREE]
Opera Lafayette
Atlas Center

October 30, 2012 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Armonia Nova [FREE]
Medieval music for autumn
Church of the Epiphany

October 30, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
L'Invitation au Voyage
Opera Lafayette, with Emmanuelle de Negri, soprano
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 30, 2012 (Tue)
8 pm
András Schiff, piano
Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II
WPAS
Music Center at Strathmore

October 30, 2012 (Tue)
8 pm
Founder's Day Concert [FREE]
Library of Congress

October 31, 2012 (Wed)
10:30 am
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Youth Concert
Enchantment Theater: Wizards and Wands
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

October 31, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Christine Brewer, soprano
Vocal Arts D.C.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

October 31, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Andre Goricar, silent film pianist
Embassy Series
Embassy of Slovenia