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Letter V
Clarke Bustard
The Virginia Classical Music Blog
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Andris Nelsons, the Latvian-born conductor who has led Britain’s City of Birmingham Symphony since 2008, has been named the new music director of the Boston Symphony.

Nelsons, who turns 35 in November, will conduct the Boston Symphony this summer at Tanglewood and in the coming fall and spring in Boston as music director-designate. He takes over the orchestra formally in the 2014-15 season.

The Boston post became vacant when James Levine, unable to conduct because of health problems, resigned in 2011.

5 days ago | |
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I’ve been prodded to comment – again – on coughing and other unwelcome noises at live classical events. OK, but the prodders may not get satisfaction this time around.

Extramusical distractions have been on the upswing in these parts since the first of the year. Turns out, though, that there may be sound medical reasons.

Over the winter, a doctor told me that “70 percent of the population has become allergic to Richmond,” thanks to an accumulation of pollen, mold and other environmental irritants over the past two or three years. The problem, this doctor said, is a succession of mild winters. Until we experience a long, hard freeze, preferably with a heavy snowfall, our respiratory woes will continue.

What I’ve been hearing in concert halls bears this out. There’s about as much sneezing as coughing, and I’ve heard a lot more of it coming from the stage. The people making music have the biggest stake in not disrupting performances with bronchial asides, so presumably their coughs and sneezes are involuntary.

More people seem to be bringing cough drops to concerts, and more are choosing the brands that are wrapped in wax paper rather than cellophane, so they can be unwrapped quietly. That eases the coughing problem. Sneezing comes on suddenly, and trying to suppress a sneeze can be noisier than the sneeze. So, that we’ll have to live with.

Not so very long ago, quite a few patrons did not consider the dimming of lights, or even the beginning of a performance, sufficient grounds for stopping a conversation. I’m hearing a lot less of that lately.

More people seem to be complying with requests to turn off cell phones and other electronic devices. Occasional bleeps and bloops still intrude, but not as many as I recall from five or 10 years ago – and no more around here than I keep reading about in supposedly more cultured places. (Cell-phone distractions apparently are endemic in New York, for example.)

I have noticed more squeaking seats and doors, random thuds and other hall noises this season. This is partly a maintenance issue. Attention, theater managers: Lubricate your moving parts! Also, remind your staff to keep quiet during performances. Theatergoers, meanwhile, should take care not to leave purses, umbrellas, drink cups, etc., where they may be noisily dropped.

And complainers, a little perspective, please. Coughing and other noises notwithstanding, there aren’t many public places quieter than a concert hall during a classical performance.
6 days ago | |
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Grete Dollitz, whose “Hour With the Guitar” was a fixture of programming at Richmond’s public radio station WCVE-FM and its predecessor, WRFK-FM, for decades, has died at 88.

Dollitz, who emigrated with her family from Germany to the U.S. in the 1930s, was known not just for her classical-guitar program but also for imaginative and venturesome programs spanning a wide spectrum of classical music and for conducting insightful interviews with guitarists and other musicians.

Her deep, throaty, accented voice was one of the most recognizable on Richmond’s airwaves. The warm personality she projected through the microphone was not a broadcaster’s artifice – what you heard was who she was.

She retired from broadcasting last December.

WCVE’s Peter Solomon recalls Grete Dollitz:

http://ideastations.org/articles/long-time-public-radio-classical-music-host-grete-dollitz-dies-at-age-88-2013-05-13
7 days ago | |
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Steven Smith conducting
May 11, Richmond CenterStage

A substantially augmented Richmond Symphony this weekend is celebrating the centenary of the 1913 premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score “Le sacre du printemps” (“The Rite of Spring”). The orchestra, which usually numbers about 70 for these mainstage programs, exceeds 100 in this one; most of the guest musicians enlarge the woodwind and brass sections – including nine French horns, which I believe is a record for the symphony.

For a regional orchestra and its conductor, those extra numbers compound the challenge of Stravinsky’s score. In pretty short order, the musicians have to create an ensemble from a group in which one in three players are newcomers or occasional participants. That’s in addition to playing the notes, rendering the distinctive colors and negotiating the tricky balances and famously complex rhythms of this piece.

Most of the pressure falls on the conductor. Steven Smith, the symphony’s music director, coped very well indeed in the first of two weekend performances. His traffic control was exemplary; rarely was any solo instrument or instrumental choir too assertive or too reticent, and only in the brassiest or most heavily percussive passages were the strings overbalanced (as they often are at such times even in the biggest and best bands).

Smith’s most impressive achievement was coloristic. This “Le sacre” was almost pointilistic, with tone color of such clarity and nuance that one could mistake the score for a work of Ravel or Debussy. Principal bassoonist Thomas Schneider set a standard for color, phrasing and atmospherics that most every other wind soloist matched throughout the performance. Principal French horn player James Ferree and clarinetist Jared Davis also distinguished themselves on this score.

Tumultuous and violent sections of the piece must make a powerfully visceral impact – the scenario of the ballet, after all, revolves around frenzied fertility rites and human sacrifice. Smith and the musicians did not hold back, but their violent music-making was as well-crafted and deftly colored as their work in subtler passages.

In this program, titled “Musical Revolutionaries,” the Stravinsky is preceded by the Toccata and Ritornelli from Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” (1607), generally considered to be the first modern opera, and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, one of the first orchestral scores to treat its themes cyclically, in addition to being one of the earliest and greatest examples of abstract music as drama in sound.

The Monteverdi is being played in a modern orchestration using full symphonic forces, but one that fairly faithfully reproduces the instrumental timbres and performance style of the early Italian baroque.

The Beethoven Fifth, like Smith’s previous performances of the Seventh and Ninth symphonies, was given romanticized “big band” treatment, focusing more on great arcs of structure and accumulations of tone than on the sharp, startling accenting characteristic of “classical” Beethoven. Grandeur tends to trump energy in romantic-style Beethoven, and did so here, despite tempos (especially in the first movement) that were quite brisk.

The Beethoven is being played with as full a string complement as the Stravinsky. The resulting rich string tone may have contributed to a collective sonority, notably among the cellos and basses, that smoothed away the edges of phrasing and accenting.

The program repeats at 3 p.m. May 12 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $10-$73 (widely discounted). Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); www.richmondsymphony.com
9 days ago | |
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May 4, Virginia Commonwealth University

The Tokyo String Quartet, calling it quits this summer after a 43-year career, is not going away gently. Its farewell tour is an international affair, and some of the stops on that tour are pretty demanding. The group’s appearance last weekend at Virginia Commonwealth University, for example, included a day’s worth of workshops with local string players, culminating in an evening program of Beethoven, Bartók and Mendelssohn.

The ensemble is disbanding as its two remaining Japanese members, second violinist Kikuei Ikeda and violist Kazuhide Isomura, retire. The Tokyo’s performances in the season finale of VCU’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts sounded like a celebration of Ikeda and Isomura, the quartet’s two “inside” men, charged with illuminating the inner details of much of the quartet literature.

Isomura, especially, was a consistently prominent voice in all three of the program’s selections, Beethoven’s Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 (known as the “Serioso”); Bartók’s Quartet No. 6; and Mendelssohn’s Quartet in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2. His rhythmic contributions were crisp and energetic in the Beethoven and Bartók; and he brought unusual warmth to the Mendelssohn.

The Beethoven suffered from odd balances, due in part to the rather reticent first violin of Martin Beaver, and in part to Clive Greensmith’s heavy, rather woolly sounding cello.

The Bartók, introduced in a richly moody viola solo by Isomura, received a finely detailed, expressively pointed reading, peaking in a highly concentrated burletta.

Collectively, the foursome was at its best in the Mendelssohn, balancing the work’s lyricism with its more turbulent expressive passages.

A prolonged ovation from a near-capacity crowd brought the Tokyo back for a brief encore, the menuetto from Mozart’s Quartet in D major, K. 499.

(Sorry for the lateness of this posting. I’ve been having computer issues.)
12 days ago | |
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Janos Starker, the Hungarian-born cellist known for his crystalline technique and unindulgent interpretations, has died at the age 88. Starker, onetime principal cellist of the Dallas and Chicago symphonies and Metropolitan Opera, had taught at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University since 1958.

Starker was one of the few recording artists whose career spanned the eras of 78-rpm and vinyl discs and digital recordings.

He also was known for his blunt observations on music and musicians, famously describing artists who displayed high temperament onstage as “making love to themselves.”

An obituary by Margalit Fox in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/arts/music/janos-starker-master-cellist-dies-at-88.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0
19 days ago | |
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Classical performances in and around Richmond, with selected events elsewhere in Virginia and the Washington area. Program information, provided by presenters, is updated as details become available. Adult single-ticket prices are listed; senior, student/youth, group and other discounts may be offered.

SCOUTING REPORT

* In and around Richmond: Three Beethoven symphonies, or two and a fraction, depending on how you hear things: Erin R. Freeman conducts the Richmond Symphony in No. 6, the “Pastoral,” in part on May 2 at Richmond CenterStage’s Gottwald Playhouse (an added date in the symphony’s Rush Hour series of casual concerts), and in full on May 5 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland; Steven Smith conducts Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, alongside Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” May 11-12 at Richmond CenterStage’s Carpenter Theatre; and the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, directed by cellist James Wilson, plays a chamber version of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, the “Eroica,” as arranged by Beethoven’s pupil, Ferdinand Ries, on May 20 at Bon Air Presbyterian Church. . . . The Chamber Music Society’s spring festival, “Revolutionary and Banned,” sampling works by Handel, Haydn, C.P.E. Bach, Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss, Erwin Schulhoff, George Anthiel and more, stages concerts on May 16, 20 and 22 at Bon Air Presbyterian and May 17 at Wilton House Museum, and free mini-concerts on May 18 and 21 at the Richmond Public Library’s main branch downtown. . . . The Tokyo String Quartet makes a Richmond stop on its farewell tour, playing Beethoven, Bartók and Mendelssohn, in a Rennolds Chamber Concerts program on May 4 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . The Richmond Philharmonic is joined by another conductor candidate, Peter Wilson, and by the duo of vioilinist Wanchi Huang and violist Amadi Azikiwe, for a program of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Wagner, May 5 at VCU’s Singleton Center.

* Noteworthy elsewhere: The Virginia Arts Festival continues with chamber-music performances by pianist André-Michel Schub, the Miami String Quartet and others, May 8-24 at venues in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg. . . . Washington National Opera stages Jerome Kern’s classic “Show Boat” in 15 performances from May 4-26 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Virginia Opera presents Rodgers’ & Hammerstein’s “Carousel,” starring former Richmonder Matthew Worth, in eight performances from May 10-19 at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk. . . .  Soprano Dawn Upshaw and Crash Ensemble, the Irish new-music group, sing and play works by Osvaldo Golijov and Donnacha Dennehy, May 14 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Soprano Kathleen Battle, pianist Cyrus Chestnut and the Heritage Signature Chorale present “Undergrounbd Railroad,” May 18 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC. . . . John Adams conducts Orchestra 2001 in music of Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Adams and more, May 24 at the Library of Congress in Washington, and sticks around to conduct DC’s National Symphony with pianist Jeremy Denk in music of Respighi, Ravel and Adams, May 30-31 (and June 1) at the Kennedy Center.


May 1 (7:30 p.m.)
May 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Opera Lafayette
Ryan Brown conducting
Charpentier: “Actéon”
Aaron Sheehan (Actéon)
Yulia Van Doren (Diane)
Kelly Ballou (Arthébuze)
Laetita De Beck Spitzer (Daphne)
Seán Curran, stage director
in French, English captions
$55-$70
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 1 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting
Korngold: Violin Concerto
Hilary Hahn, violin
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
$35-$105
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

May 2 (6:30 p.m.)
Gottwald Playhouse, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
May 5 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Erin R. Freeman conducting
Vaughan Williams: “Three Shakespeare Songs”
Richmond Symphony Chamber Chorus
Vaughan Williams: “Flos Campi”
Molly Sharp, viola
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 (“Pastoral”) (excerpts on May 2, in full on May 5)
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

May 2 (8 p.m.)
Phi Beta Kappa Hall, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg
May 4 (8 p.m.)
Regent University Theater, 1000 Regent Drive, Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
Daniel Hege conducting
Mozart: “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”
Astor Piazzolla: “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”
Vahn Armstrong, violin
Schumann: Symphony No. 1 (“Spring”)
$20-$50
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

May 2 (7 p.m.)
May 4 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 3 (8 p.m.)
Christ & St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 560 W. Olney Road, Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Christopher Houlihan, organ
program TBA
$25
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 3 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Shchedrin: “Slava, Slava”
Schnittke: Viola Concerto
David Aaron Carpenter, viola
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 3 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Orchestra 2001
Ann Crumb, soprano
Patrick Mason, baritone
George Crumb: “Night of the Four Moons”
Chaya Czernowin: “”Slow Summer Stay II: Lakes” (premiere)
Crumb: “Voices from the Heartland” (“American Songbook” VII)
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html

May 4 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Tokyo String Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 (“Serioso”)
Bartók: Quartet No. 6
Mendelssohn: Quartet in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2
$34
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org

May 4 (7 p.m.)
May 6 (7 p.m.)
May 7 (7:30 p.m.)
May 8 (7:30 p.m.)
May 10 (7:30 p.m.)
May 11 (7 p.m.)
May 12 (2 p.m.)
May 16 (7:30 p.m.)
May 17 (7:30 p.m.)
May 18 (7 p.m.)
May 19 (2 p.m.)
May 21 (7:30 p.m.)
May 24 (7:30 p.m.)
May 25 (7 p.m.)
May 26 (2 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
John DeMain conducting
Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II: “Show Boat”
Michael Todd Simpson & Rod Gilfry (Gaylord Ravenal)
Jennifer Holloway & Andriana Chuchman (Magnolia)
Lara Teeter & Wynn Harmon (Captain Andy)
Alyson Cambridge & Talise Trevigne (Julie)
Morris Robinson & Soloman Howard (Joe)
Angela Renée & Gwendolyn Browne (Queenie)
Francesca Zambello, stage director
in English, English captions
$30-$270
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Carducci String Quartet
Haydn: Quartet in C major, Op. 76, No. 3 (“Emperor”)
Dvorák: Quartet in F major, Op. 96 (“American”)
Beethoven: Quartet in A minor, Op. 132
$35
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

May 4 (8 p.m.)
May 5 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Brahms: “Schicksalslied” (“Song of Destiny”)
Brahms: “Alto Rhapsody”
Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
National Philharmonic Chorale
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
$28-$84 
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

May 5 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Richmond Philharmonic
Peter Wilson conducting
Wagner: “Die Meistersinger” Act 1 Prelude
Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E flat major, K. 364
Wanchi Huang, violin
Amadi Azikiwe, viola
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
$8 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 673-7400
www.richmondphilharmonic.org

May 5 (3 p.m.)
May 6 (8 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Copland: “Hoedown” from “Rodeo”
Copland: “Appalachian Spring”
$22-$52
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.com

May 5 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Kennedy Center Spring Gala:
Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
James Moore conducting
Lerner & Loewe: “My Fair Lady” (concert performance)
Gregory Jbara (Alfred P. Doolittle)
Jonathan Pryce (Henry Higgins)
Laura Michelle Kelly (Eliza Doolittle)
Cloris Leachman (Mrs. Higgins)
Florence Lacey (Mrs. Pearce)
Max von Essen (Freddy Eynsford-Hill)
Michael York (Colonel Pickering)
Marcia Milgrom Dodge, choreographer & director
in English
$49-$175
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 8 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Jocelyn Adelman, violin
Amanda Halstead, piano
“And Their Music Lives On: Works of the Holocaust Generation”
works by Messiaen, Zemlinsky, Krenek 
$30-$75
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 9 (7:30 p.m.)
John Paul Jones Arena, 295 Massie Road, Charlottesville
touring company
Leonard Bernstein: “West Side Story”
cast TBA
in English
$35-$55
(888) 575-8497
www.johnpauljonesarena.com

May 10 (7 p.m.)
Short Pump Town Center, Richmond
May 12 (3 p.m.)
Stony Point Fashion Mall, Richmond
Central Virginia Wind Symphony
Mike Goldberg directing
Al Regni, saxophone (May 10)
Jacob Mertz, saxophone (May 12)
Texidor: "Amparito Roca"
Mozart: "The Marriage of Figaro" Overture
Vaughan Williams: "English Folk Song Suite"
Ticheli: "An American Elegy"
Robert W. Smith: "Encanto"
Jerry Nowak: Rhapsody for alto saxophone and band
Anderson: "Clarinet Candy"
Schoenberg: "Les Miserables" (selections)
Gershwin: "Someone to Watch Over Me"
Shostakovich: Galop
free
(804) 342-8797
www.thewindsymphony.com

May 10 (8 p.m.)
May 11 (2:30 & 8 p.m.)
May 12 (2:30 p.m.)
May 17 (8 p.m.)
May 18 (2:30 & 8 p.m.)
May 19 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Adam Turner conducting
Rodgers & Hammerstein: “Carousel”
Matthew Worth (Billy Bigelow)
Patricia Noonan (Julie Jordan)
Lora Lee Gayer (Carrie Pipperidge)
Greg Ganakis, stage director
in English
$35-$100
(757) 623-1223
www.vaopera.org

May 11 (8 p.m.)
May 12 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
Stravinsky: “Le sacre du printemps” (“The Rite of Spring”)
$10-$73
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

May 11 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Shai Wosner, piano
Schubert: 4 impromptus, D. 899
Schubert: Allegretto in C minor, D. 915
Schubert: Sonata in D major, D. 850
Widmann: “Idyll and Abyss: Six Schubert Remembrances” (2009)
$38
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

May 11 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
“Modern Times,” Charlie Chaplin film with live orchestra accompaniment
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

May 12 (5 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Choral Arts Society of Washington
Scott Tucker directing
Brian Stokes Mitchell, baritone
“Broadway’s Show-Stoppers”
program TBA
$29-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
André-Michel Schub, Lydia Artymiw, Josu de Solaun & Anna Petrova, pianos
“Pianopalooza”
Mozart: Sonata in D major, K. 448, for two pianos
Schumann: Andante and Variations in B flat major, Op. 46, for two pianos
Scriabin: Fantasy in A minor for two pianos
Brahms: “Variations on a Theme by Haydn” for two pianos
Smetana: Rondo in C major
$30
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Pro Musica Hebraica:
Apollo Ensemble
“Jewish Baroque Treasures from Italy & Amsterdam”
works by Salomon Rossi, Marco Uccellini, Giacobo Basevi Cervetto; 3 works from Ets-Chaim Library of Amsterdam
$38
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 14 (10:30 a.m.)
Miller Studio Theater, Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Arts Festival Coffee Concerts:
André-Michel Schub, Lydia Artymiw, Josu de Solaun & Anna Prerova, pianos
Debussy: “Petite Suite”
Tchaikovsky: “Capriccio Italien” for piano four-hands
Ravel: “Mother Goose Suite” for piano four-hands
$20
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Christopher Mooney, baritone
Debra Wendells Cross, flute
Barbara Chapman, harp
Michael Daniels, cello
Charles Woodward, piano
“Home Sweet Home: Treasures of the Moses Myers Collection”
chamber works, 19th-century popular songs and airs TBA
$30  
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Crash Ensemble
Osvaldo Golijov: “Lua Descolorida”
Golijov: “How Slow the Wind”
Donnacha Dennehy: “Grá agus Bás”
Dennehy: “Aisling Gheal” for cello and electronics
Dennehy: “That the Night Come”
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Rieko Aizawa & Carsten Schmidt, piano
Jesse Mills, Nurit Pacht, Diane Pascal, violins
James Wilson, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
Jared Davis, clarinet
James Ferree, French horn
Tracy Cowart, mezzo-soprano
“Visionaries”
Schumann: Piano Trio in D minor
Handel: “Lucretia” Cantata
Schoenberg-Webern: Chamber Symphony, Op. 9
$25
(804) 519-2098
www.cmscva.org

May 16 (7 p.m.)
May 17 (8 p.m.)
May 18 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Steven Reineke conducting
Jennifer Laura Thompson, Julia Murney, Jeremy Jordan & Norm Lewis, vocalists
The Washington Chorus
“The Wizard and I: the Musical Journey of Steven Schwartz”
$20-$85
(800) 444-12324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Wilton House Museum, 215 S. Wilton Road, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Nurit Pacht, baroque violin
James Wilson, baroque cello
Mary Boodell, flute
Tracy Cowart, mezzo-soprano
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
“(Pre)Revolutionary Music”
Couperin: “Les Barricades Mysterieuses”
Rameau: “Piece en concert” in A major
C.P.E. Bach: Sonata for solo flute
Couperin: Concert from “Les Gouts Reunits”
$35
(804) 519-2098
www.cmscva.org

May 18 (noon)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Jesse Mills & Nurit Pacht, violins
James Wilson, cello
Rieko Aizawa & Carsten Schmidt, piano
“Stretch Your Ears” 
Wagner: “Liebestod” from “Tristan und Isolde”
Webern: “Drei kleine Stücke”
John Cage: “4‘33” ”
Astor Piazzolla: “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” (excerpts)
free
(804) 519-2098
www.cmscva.org

May 18 (7 p.m.)
May 19 (2 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
conductor TBA
“Pixar in Concert”
program TBA
$26.50-$56.50
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

May 18 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Cyrus Chestnut, piano
Heritage Signature Chorale
“Underground Railroad: an Evening with Kathleen Battle”
$55-$95
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

May 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Max Mandel, Jesse Mills & Diane Pascal, violins
Mark Holloway, viola
James Wilson, cello
Anthony Manzo, double-bass
Mary Boodell, flute
Jared Davis, clarinet
James Ferree, French horn
Carsten Schmidt, piano
“Renegades” 
Richard Strauss: “Till Eulenspiegel” (chamber arr.)
Erwin Schulhoff: Concertino
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”) (chamber arr.)
$25
(804) 519-2098
www.cmscva.org

May 21 (5:30 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Max Mandel, Jesse Mills & Nurit Pacht, violins
James Wilson, cello
Tracy Cowart, mezzo-soprano
Rieko Aizawa & Carsten Schmidt, piano
“Revolutionary and Banned”
Haydn: Quartet No. 1
George Anthiel: Violin Sonata No. 2
Britten: cabaret songs
free
(804) 519-2098
www.cmscva.org

May 21 (10:30 a.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festivial Coffee Concerts:
Miami String Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4
Mendelssohn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 80, No. 6
$20
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Jesse Mills & Diane Pascal, violins
Mark Holloway & Max Mandel, violas
James Wilson, cello
Tracy Cowart, mezzo-soprano
other artists TBA
“The Start of Something Big”
Beethoven: “Grosse Fuge" (“Great Fugue”)
Handel: “Il Delirio Amoroso” Cantata
Benjamin Broening: work TBA
Mendelssohn: Octet
$25
(804) 519-2098
www.cmscva.org

May 22 (10:30 a.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 500 Court St., Portsmouth
Virginia Arts Festival Coffee Concerts:
Miami String Quartet
Debra Wendells Cross, flute
Barbara Chapman, harp
Beverly Kane Baker, viola
Libby Larsen: “Trio in Four Movements”
Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111
$20
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Anthony de Mare, piano
“Liasons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano”
$30
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 22 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Attacca Quartet
Janácek: Quartet No. 2 (“Intimate Letters”)
Timothy Andres: “Early to Rise” (premiere)
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
John Adams: Quartet
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html

May 23 (6 p.m.)
Williamsburg Winery, Lake Powell Road, James City County
Virginia Arts Festival:
Miami String Quartet
André-Michel Schub, piano
Beverly Kane Baker, viola
“Classics at the Vineyard”
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26
Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111
$100
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 23 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Jennifer Koh, violin
Reiko Uchida, piano
Janácek: Violin Sonata
Essa-Pekka Salonen: “Lachen verlernt”
Schubert: Sonata in A major, D. 574
John Adams: “Road Movies” 
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html

May 24 (11 a.m.)
Williamsburg Winery, Lake Powell Road, James City County
Virginia Arts Festival:
Miami String Quartet
André-Michel Schub, piano
“Music on the Menu”
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 9
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 14 in E flat major, K. 449
$50
(757) 282-2822
www.virginiaartsfestival.org

May 24 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
International Contemporary Ensemble
John Adams conducting
Stravinsky: “L’histoire du soldat” (“The Soldier’s Tale”)
Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
Adams: “Son of Chamber Symphony”
DiCastri: “Lo Forma della Spazio” 
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html

May 25 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar conducting
Narong Prangcharoen: “Phenomenon”
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 3
Jean-Philippe Collard, piano
Prokofiev: “Romeo and Juliet” (selections)
$31-$91
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

May 26 (8 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
U.S. Marine Band (“The President’s Own”)
Col. Michael J. Colburn directing
program TBA
with fireworks
free
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

May 26 (8 p.m.)
West Lawn, U.S. Capitol, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
conductor TBA
guest artists TBA
National Memorial Day Concert
program TBA
free
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 30 (7 p.m.)
May 31 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
John Adams conducting
Respighi: “The Fountains of Rome”
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Jeremy Denk, piano
Adams: “City noir”
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

May 30 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckedrman Lane, North Betrhesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Pops
Jack Everly conducting
Spectrum, vocal group
Radiance, vocal group
“The Magic of Motown”
$31-$91
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

May 31 (8 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players
Gilbert & Sullivan: “The Mikado”
cast TBA
in English
$12-$50
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org
19 days ago | |
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Virginia Opera
Steven Smith conducting
April 26, Richmond CenterStage

Musical and theatrical challenges abound in “The Marriage of Figaro.” This first of three collaborations by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte is a comic romp that turns on a dime into moments of aching romantic tenderness. It contrasts and combines youthful and mature voices. It integrates singing and acting as no opera had done before, and few have since, requiring its principals to plumb depths of character and do justice to great melodies at the same time.

If you ever experience a perfect “Figaro,” remember it well, because you probably won’t encounter another.

Virginia Opera’s current production is not a perfect “Figaro,” but its satisfactions outweigh its shortcomings.

With 10 singers with solo numbers or prominent parts in ensembles, mismatches of voices and/or acting styles are perhaps inevitable. In the first of two Richmond performances concluding the production’s run, operatic tone overcame tune in several key arias. Lapses of intonation and timing also cropped up repeatedly.

On the plus side, characterizations were spot-on, at least in the broadly comic context set by stage director Lillian Groag. And when more depth was called for, as in the moment of recognition between Count and Countess Almaviva in the final scene, the production delivered.

Aaron St. Clair Nicholson, as the Count; Anne-Carolyn Bird, as the maid Susanna; and Karin Mushegain, as the page Cherubino, were the vocal standouts in this performance. Bird also excelled in the slapstick high jinks to which her character was frequently subjected. Two of the company’s emerging artists, Drew Duncan (Don Basilio) and Ashley Logan (Barbarina), also made strong impressions in their supporting roles.

As Figaro, the manservant to whom Susanna is betrothed, Matthew Burns (Bird’s spouse in real life) had most of the right moves – he was a bit static in ensembles – but showed a troubling variability in voice. Of his two big numbers in Act 1, “Non piu andrai” was energized and pointed, while “Se vuol ballare” was curiously soft-focused;” and he swung between those poles throughout the evening.

Katherine Whyte, as the Countess, poured tone and emotiveness into “Porgi amor,” but to a degree that obscured the melody of the great aria. Her other showcase, “Dove sono,” came across in a better balance of characterization and tunefulness.

Jeffrey Tucker (Doctor Bartolo), Margaret Gawrysiak (Marcellina) and Aaron Ingersoll (Antonio) sang and played their comic roles to a satisfying hilt, although the rest of the cast over-reacted to Antonio as if the gardener had an epic case of halitosis rather than giving off the fumes of drunkenness.

Choristers and supernumeraries were actively and constructively engaged in the show, adding some of its best comic touches. Their costumes (from Sarasota Opera) and Peter Dean Beck’s scenic design provided plenty of eye candy.

The orchestra, drawn from the Richmond Symphony, led by the symphony’s music director, Steven Smith, in his local operatic debut, was a strikingly animated and lyrical asset. I’ve rarely heard Mozart’s score played with more sparkle and refinement.

Virginia Opera's final performance of “The Marriage of Figaro” begins at 2:30 p.m. April 28 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $31-$119. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); www.vaopera.org
24 days ago | |
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Steven Smith conducting
April 20, Richmond CenterStage

Mezzo-soprano Kathryn Leemhuis, who performed with the Richmond Symphony last season in Mendelssohn’s “Die erste Walpurgisnacht,” returned to highlight the weekend’s Masterworks program in a tonally exquisite, richly expressive performance of Berlioz’s “Les nuits d’été.”

In this cycle of night sings, Leemhuis, brightly animated in the opening Villanelle, plumbed greater emotional and atmospheric depths in the likes of “Le spectre de la rose” and “l’Absence,” singing with a concentration and introspective passion that proved extraordinarily affecting.

Her dark lower register tones, while not especially loud, seemed to fill the considerable space of the Carpenter Theatre and impose a profound quiet on both the accompanying musicians and the audience. It was a remarkable display of artistry exercising spell-binding authority.

Conductor Steven Smith, meanwhile, displayed a mastery of Berlioz’s phrasing and tone-colorization in shaping the subtle orchestrations of both “Les nuits” and the “Béatrice et Bénédict” Overture. Smith brought an especially welcome touch of nostalgia to the waltz theme of the overture, and deftly balanced its lyrical and energetic sections to make the piece sound less episodic than it often does.

The program’s featured orchestral work, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor, started promisingly with the somberly soulful clarinet solo of Ralph Skiano leading into a a reading of the symphony’s first movement full of moody portent. The andante cantabile second movement, with the French horn solo of James Ferree pacing fine work by the woodwinds, sustained both moodiness and lyricism.

The performance began to deflate in a strangely matter-of-fact treatment of the third-movement waltz, and lumbered to a close in the symphony’s big finale. It was one of those cases of music mostly being played right – more than right in sweeping high-string phrases and sonorous wind choruses – but ultimately failing to take off. Reticent brass, thick bass and a plodding tempo, with little of the flexibility that kept the first movement going, sounded to be the prime culprits.

It was also one of those concerts in which my ears and those of the audience heard things quite differently. One of the rules of reviewing is not to criticize the audience unless it’s being overtly rude or inattentive; so I’ll simply note that the Berlioz selections were received politely, while the Tchaikovsky prompted a roaring ovation.

I’m not aware of any rule against criticizing an ineptly run house, so: What the heck was going on with the thumps, bumps and squeaking hinges that intruded on the music through the evening – not to mention the itchy fingers that cut the house lights several times while patrons filed out of the auditorium after the concert?
29 days ago | |
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April 18, University of Richmond

France’s Ebène Quartet lived up to the buzz that preceded its first Richmond appearance, in a blazing yet lyrical reading of Tchaikovsky’s Quartet No. 1 in D major and an unusually intense and moody reading of Schubert’s Quartet in A minor, known as the “Rosamunde.”

The ensemble plays in the French fiddle style, with a twist. Violinists Pierre Colombet and Gabriel le Magadure produce brilliant, relatively lean tone with tightly focused pitch; the playing of violist Mathieu Herzog and cellist Raphaël Merlin is more softly textured, with wider vibrato, giving the group’s collective sound a richer and more tonally subtle “bottom.”

This contrast is especially effective in softer passages. In the minuet of the Schubert, for example, Merlin’s cello evoked the sonic equivalent of fog drifting over water. Similar visual analogues suggested themselves in the more lyrical or atmospheric sections of the Tchaikovsky, especially in the muted string tones of its familiar andante cantabile movement.

In Mozart’s “Dissonant” Quartet (the C major, K. 465), the distance between high-string brilliance and the soft focus of low strings was more pronounced and, to my ears, more problematic. Ensemble playing remained tight and detailed, but the details of bass lines seemed rather blurred.

This program, a sampler of greatest hits of the classical and romantic string-quartet literature, left the impression that the Ebène is at its best in poetically expressive and/or high-energy romanticism.

The encore briefly showcased the “other Ebène,” as the French call the group when it turns to jazz and other non-classical repertory. The foursome positively sizzled in its arrangement of the Greek dance tune made popular in the the Quentin Tarrantino film “Pulp Fiction.”
1 month ago | |
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