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Letter V
Clarke Bustard
The Virginia Classical Music Blog
751 Entries
Sept. 21, First English Lutheran Church

Most accomplished pianists come to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach early in life, and Bach stays with them for life. Many of them avoid playing Bach in public, or wait until middle age before they go public; and in maturity they often filter Bach through the pacing, phrasing and expressive language of other music that they play especially well.

Case in point: In the opening program of this year’s 15th season of his Richmond music festival, Alexander Paley seemed to call up the spirit of Chopin and leave it hovering over his performance of the sarabande of Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825. His tempo was very slow, his touch and phrasing wistfully romantic. The music took this treatment agreeably, even as a sarabande became a reverie.

Paley’s readings of this and the Second Partita in C minor, BWV 826, were liberally garnished with these post-Bachian touches, usually with happy results. At no point did he try to make the piano impersonate a harpsichord. The bright tone and clarity of his instrument, a Blüthner from Leipzig, and the marked contrasts in dynamics that Paley produced, kept these dance suites from sounding pianistically overwrought.

With his wife, Pei-wen Chen, Paley played Max Reger’s four-hands transcriptions of Bach’s “Brandenburg” concertos Nos. 3 and 6. One surprise was that these pieces translate so well to the piano – testimony to both the durability of the music and the ingenuity of the transcriber. Another surprise was that the darker-hued Sixth (whose orchestration omits violins) came off more convincingly than the more cheerful and rhythmically insistent Third, which in this reading sounded too heavy and overly metrical.

The two pianists and the Blüthner seemed to adjust to the church sanctuary’s acoustic as the program progressed – piano sound noticeably improved in the second half – and the Second Partita and “Brandenburg” No. 6 were more satisfying performances.

The second and third concerts of the festival were to include cellist Dana McComb, but she has had to withdraw because of a hand injury. So, scheduled performances of trios by Mozart and Beethoven will be replaced by a couple of Mozart’s violin sonatas (played by Kathy Judd) and works for clarinet and piano (with Charles West). For details, see the September calendar, below.

The Alexander Paley Music Festival continues with performances at 8 p.m. Sept. 22 and 3:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at First English Lutheran Church, Stuart Circle (Monument Avenue at Lombardy Street) in Richmond. Donations requested. Details: (804) 355-9185; www.paleyfestival.info
7 months ago | |
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Sept. 15, Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts concluded last season with one of the last performances of cellist David Finckel with the Emerson String Quartet. The series opened its 2012-13 season with Finckel returning with his wife, pianist Wu Han, and his now-former Emerson colleague, violinist Philip Setzer.

In recent years, the three have been regular collaborators, onstage and in the recording studio, in the piano-trio repertory. They played the two Schubert trios two years ago at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center; in this return visit, they reprised the Trio in B flat major, Op. 99/D. 898. The VCU date also featured performances of Haydn’s Trio in A major and Mendelssohn’s Trio in D minor, Op. 49.

The Schubert and Mendelssohn are, of course, two of the greatest hits of the piano trio, written within a few years of each other (1828 and 1839, respectively) by composers whose music straddled the classical and romantic styles. The Mendelssohn D minor is, as its key signature portends, more dramatically expressive, and is also quite economical in its development of musical materials. The Haydn also says its piece without much dawdling. The Schubert trio, on the other hand, is one of the preeminent examples of this composer’s working out of materials at “heavenly length,” or with lots of repetition.

Han, Setzer and Finckel produced more variety in inflection and dynamics than might have been expected in this relatively narrow band of repertory. Their collective tonal profile varied very little, though.

The three are master practitioners of what I call New York-standard music-making – pitch-perfect, sonically robust, interpretively straightforward, generally taking a one-sound-fits-all approach with few, if any, nods toward the historical performance practices now frequently employed in classical and early romantic music. Their sound is refined and streamlined. It fills a modern concert space nicely; but its unvarying quality can get monotonous, and one rarely senses real spontaneity in the performance.

The Mendelssohn, a turbulent work full of sharp accents and abrupt attacks, drew the most engaged and expressive performance from the threesome. Violinist Setzer’s finely spun tone and subtle inflections added some variety (not enough) to Schubert’s repetitions. A brisk finale rescued what had been a tidy but humorless reading of the Haydn.
7 months ago | |
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Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony, has commissioned students at New York’s Parsons The New School for Design to craft new outfits for orchestral musicians, in a probably overdue effort to retire the white-tie-and-tails/black gown dress code that has been the symphony night standard since the 19th century, The Baltimore Sun’s Tim Smith reports:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2012/09/marin_alsop_bso_launch_pilot_p.html

I’ve long advocated black or some other dark-colored shirts and trousers for men and pants-suits for women, loose-fitting in the neck and upper body to accommodate the contortions that string musicians, trombonists, et al., go through when playing.

* * * 

Meanwhile, a Farmington, NM, middle school has told an 11-year-old orchestra student that she may not play her purple violin because it doesn’t look like all the other fiddles. John M. Glionna reports in the Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-school-purple-violin-20120912,0,6370815.story
8 months ago | |
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Mason Bates, the Richmond-bred composer known for his mixture of traditional symphonic orchestrations and electronic sounds, has been named the arts and humanities recipient of the 18th round of Heinz Awards from the Heinz Family Foundation.

The 35-year-old Bates, who now lives in Oakland, CA, is Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and 2012-13 Composer of the Year with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He will receive $250,000 from the Heinz Foundation.

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and the Pittsburgh Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting, will introduce Bates’ Violin Concerto on Dec. 7. Before the premiere, the composer will curate an electroacoustic music program in Pittsburgh.
8 months ago | |
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The Last Night of the Proms, the final concert of the BBC Promenade Concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall, is one of the iconic musical events of every season and the most delightfully rowdy affirmation of Britishness to be seen and heard.

This year’s Last Night took place on Sept. 8. Jirí Belohlávek conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with Nicola Benedetti playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor and the Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja (in Olympic track suit) leading the mass sing-along of Thomas Arne’s “Rule, Brittania!”

The BBC’s video stream of the Last Night concert is not available outside Britain, but the audio stream is online here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01mk7zr

So far, only video snippets are available on YouTube. Go to http://www.youtube.com  Search for “Last Night of the Proms 2012.” Leave out the year and you’ll get a treasury of past performances.

My favorite “Rule, Brittania!” from 2011 with Susan Bullock in Anglo-Valkyrie garb, is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnY83VTHSTM
8 months ago | |
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Neal Cary, principal cellist of the Richmond Symphony, is one of 95 musicians from more than a dozen U.S. orchestras playing in the All-Star Orchestra, an ensemble selected by conductor Gerard Schwarz to perform for a forthcoming public-television series on the symphony orchestra and the music composed for it.

The first season of “The All-Star Orchestra,” produced by WNET in New York, is expected to air on PBS next year. (Dates have not been announced.) There will be eight one-hour episodes, each of which will contrast familiar works by Dvorák, Brahms, Schumann, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Stravinsky and Ravel with pieces written recently by American composers, among them Philip Glass, Joseph Schwantner, Ellen Taafe Zwilich, Robert Beaser, Bright Sheng and Augusta Read Thomas.

“I felt very lucky to be asked to play,” said Cary, who has worked with Schwarz at the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina, where Schwarz is music director. Cary also has taught the conductor’s son, cellist Julian Schwarz.

Cary recently returned from four days of sessions at the Manhattan Center, a familiar venue for recording sessions in New York since the 1950s. Schwarz and the orchestra spent six hours a day taping, with 19 cameras shooting the sessions, Cary said.

“We had no rehearsals, but [Schwarz] had marked all the [instrumental] parts very carefully . . . and with the standard pieces, all of us were quite familiar with the music.”

The All-Star Orchestra drew musicians from such leading ensembles as the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera’s MET Orchestra. The All-Stars’ first violin section boasted concertmasters from 10 orchestras, and its wind section included a number of principals of major orchestras.

“The standard of playing was just incredible,” Cary said. “One of the most memorable moments for me was from the first taping we did. I was seated between Steve Honisberg of [Washington’s] National Symphony and Maria Kitsopoulus of the New York Philharmonic. His cello is a Stradivarius; hers is a Testore. It was quite an experience to hear such wonderful instruments at such close range.”

The series will be unusual in its mixture of standard and contemporary works. “It’s been a long time since I had played a contemporary piece that was any good,” the cellist remarked, “but these were all home runs.” Cary was especially impressed with a new cello concerto by the Texas-based composer Samuel Jones, which featured Julian Schwarz as the soloist.

Other than “Live from Lincoln Center,” which regularly features the New York Philharmonic, and the Michael Tilson Thomas-San Francisco Symphony series “Keeping Score,” U.S. orchestras rarely are seen and heard on network television these days. European ensembles still perform frequently on telecasts, and those make their way onto cable channels and the DVD market.

The forthcoming series “should increase the profile of American orchestras,” Cary said, and its educational format “might help increase attendance for our concerts.”

To learn more about the All-Star Orchestra, visit its website at www.allstarorchestra.org
8 months ago | |
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Today is the 100th birthday of John Cage, perhaps the most original, certainly the most provocative, composer that American music has produced. At Deceptive Cadence, the NPR classical music blog, Anastasia Tsioulcas assembles a sampler of music and words by Cage, whom she describes as a figure who “forces you to reconsider your expectations and assumptions” about music:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/

Here in Richmond, the principal celebration of Cage’s centennial week comes on Sept. 7, when organist David Sinden performs “Organ 2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible),” beginning at 10 a.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Ninth and Grace streets.

Sinden’s rendition, expected to last about 10 hours, is high-speed compared with the most (in)famous performance of the piece, which began in 2001 at St. Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, and is projected to conclude in 2640, a duration of 639 years. The original “As Slow as Possible,” for piano, typically lasts just over an hour.

More compact Cage programs are scheduled for March 21 and 27 at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center.
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Chalk it up to the economy, or the Zeitgeist, or what have you – the 2012-13 classical-music season in Richmond is going to be especially big on string quartets.

Between mid-November and early May, we’ll be hearing from the Brentano, Shanghai, Takács, Ebène and Tokyo quartets. The Takács will play all six of the string quartets by Bela Bartók on two nights. The Tokyo’s Richmond appearance is part of the venerable ensemble’s farewell tour.

Most of the rest of the season’s star power is concentrated in chamber music. (That’s not unusual here.) Among the stellar guests are pianists Simone Dinnerstein and Jeremy Denk, violinist Jennifer Koh, and the trio of Emerson String Quartet violinist Philip Setzer, former Emerson cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, Finckel’s wife and duo partner.

And it’s no longer wildly out of the ordinary for a hefty share of our town’s noteworthy chamber programs to be devoted to contemporary music. The University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center is putting on a Philip Glass festival to mark the composer’s 75th year; Glass will speak and perform, the fall program of eighth blackbird’s UR residency will center on Glass, and several films with his soundtracks will be screened. The centenary of John Cage will be celebrated at UR and elsewhere. Two more noted contemporary composers will visit: Nico Muhly with eighth blackbird at UR, and Bruce Adolphe with the Brentano Quartet at Virginia Commonwealth University. John Luther Adams’ percussion extravaganza “Inuksuit” will be performed on Earth Day at UR.

Virginia Opera will be one of the first regional companies to stage André Previn’s “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and the Richmond Symphony’s programming includes new and recent works by Derek Bermel, Paquito D’Rivera, John Hedges and Stephen Hartke, as well as major concertos by Bartók and Barber, Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings and a season finale marking the centennial of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.”

The symphony’s Masterworks season will be trimmed from eight to seven programs, three of them staged only on Saturday nights. On the plus side, the orchestra will revive casual concerts for adults with a pair of one-hour Rush-Hour programs at Richmond CenterStage’s Gottwald Playhouse.

Virginia Opera’s season opens with Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” a piece new to its repertory, and also features Johann Strauss II's “Die Fledermaus” and Mozart's “The Marriage of Figaro,” the latter with the Richmond Symphony and its music director, Steven Smith, conducting. Lyric Opera Virginia has put off its staging of Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West” until next season, but will go on with its Broadway offering, “Camelot,” and a “jewel-box” (condensed) version of Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Alexander Paley, the Russian-American piano virtuoso, will present the 15th season of his Richmond music festival, this year focusing on Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. No word yet from the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia on its programming for 2012-13; but its artistic director, cellist James Wilson, usually cooks up flavorful blends of old and new, familiar and obscure.

Conflicting performances, a bane of Richmond’s recent seasons, look to be less numerous this season. The main conflict occurs on Nov. 17, when the symphony is joined by pianist Orion Weiss (with no Sunday repeat) and the Brentano with Adolphe perform in VCU’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts series.

The following list of classical events will be supplemented in coming weeks, as locally based chamber groups, choruses and other presenters announce their seasons. Details can be found on the websites of presenters, links to which follow the listings.

SEPTEMBER
7 – David Sinden, organ (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church).
8 – Richmond Symphony Pops (Pocahontas State Park) (rain date: Sept. 9).
10 – Brahms’ “Liebeslieder Waltzes” (UR Modlin Center).
15 – Philip Setzer, violin/David Finckel, cello/Wu Han, piano (VCU Singleton Center).
16 – Anne O'Byrne, soprano/Tracey Welborn, tenor/Charles Staples, piano (UR Modlin Center).
16 – Nathan Mills, guitar (VCU Singleton Center).
19 – eighth blackbird (UR Modlin Center).
21 – Ruth Smedina-Starke, piano (VCU Singleton Center).
21-23 – Alexander Paley Music Festival (First English Lutheran Church).
22-23 – Richmond Symphony/Norman Krieger, piano/Symphony Chorus (Richmond CenterStage).
26 – VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble (VCU Singleton Center).
28 – UR Music Department Family Weekend Concert (UR Modlin Center).
29 – Richmond Symphony Pops/Jamie Bernstein, narrator “Bernstein on Broadway” (Richmond CenterStage).

OCTOBER
4 – Richmond Symphony Rush-Hour concert (Richmond CenterStage).
5 – Philip Glass, keyboards/Tim Fain, violin (UR Modlin Center).
7 – Richmond Symphony/Joseph Evans, tenor/James Ferree, French horn (Randolph-Macon College).
7 – Torcuato Zamora, flamenco guitar (VCU Singleton Center).
9 – VCU Symphony (VCU Singleton Center).
13 – Jennifer Koh, violin/Shai Wosner, piano (VCU Singleton Center).
14 – Sonia Vlahcevic, piano (VCU Singleton Center).
14 – Gianna Barone, soprano/Drew Seigla, tenor (Bon Air Presbyterian Church).
19, 21 – Virginia Opera “The Pearl Fishers” (Richmond CenterStage).
20 – Kenneth Wood, voice (VCU Singleton Center).
22 – Tabatha Easley, flute (VCU Singleton Center).
23 – Russell Wilson, piano (VCU Singleton Center).
26 – Simone Dinnerstein, piano (UR Modlin Center).
27 – Richmond Symphony LolliPops “Peter and the Wolf” (Richmond CenterStage).
28 – Richmond Philharmonic/José Ramos-Santana, piano (VCU Singleton Center).
28 – UR Schola Cantorum & Women’s Chorale (UR Modlin Center).

NOVEMBER
2-3 – Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival (UR Modlin Center).
3 – Sheri Oyan, saxophone/Quux Collective new-music ensemble (VCU Singleton Center).
4 – Richmond Symphony (Randolph-Macon College).
7 – Richmond Symphony/Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra “Side by Side” (Richmond CenterStage).
11 – UR Wind Ensemble (UR Modlin Center).
11 – Charles Staples, piano (Bon Air Presbyterian Church).
12 – Stephen Tharp, organ (Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church).
16, 18 – VCU Opera scenes (VCU Singleton Center).
17 – Richmond Symphony/Orion Weiss, piano (Richmond CenterStage).
17 – Brentano String Quartet/Bruce Adolphe, composer (VCU Singleton Center).
18 – Richmond Symphony/community musicians “Come and Play” (VCU Siegel Center).
23, 25 – Virginia Opera “Die Fledermaus” (Richmond CenterStage).
26 – Anna Kijanowska, piano (UR Modlin Center).
30 – Commonwealth Singers/Women’s Choir (VCU Singleton Center).

DECEMBER
1-2 – Richmond Symphony Pops/Symphony Chorus/City Singers Children’s Choir “Let It Snow!” (Richmond CenterStage).
2 – Richmond Symphony youth orchestras (Richmond CenterStage).
2 – VCU Guitar Ensemble/Community Guitar Ensemble (VCU Singleton Center).
3 – Richmond Philharmonic Family Holiday Concert (James Center Atrium).
4 – Choral Arts Society/Vocal Chamber Ensemble (VCU Singleton Center).
5 – UR Symphony Orchestra/Richard Hu, piano (UR Modlin Center).
6 – VCU Symphony (VCU Singleton Center).7 – VCU Music Department Holiday Gala (VCU Singleton Center).
8 – Richmond Symphony/Symphony Chorus/soloists TBA “Messiah” (Richmond Center Stage).
9 – Christmas Candlelight Services (UR Cannon Chapel).
9 – “Messiah” Sing-Along (Bon Air Presbyterian Church).

JANUARY
13 – Mike Goldberg, clarinet (Bon Air Presbyterian Church).
19 – Richmond Symphony Pops/Maureen McGovern, vocalist (Richmond CenterStage).
23 – Paul Hanson, piano (UR Modlin Center).
26-27 – Richmond Symphony/Marina Piccinini, flute (Richmond CenterStage).
27 – Lyric Opera Virginia “Camelot” (Landmark Theater).
27 – Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra (Richmond CenterStage).
27 – David Robertson, guitar (VCU Singleton Center).

FEBRUARY
2 – Richmond Symphony LolliPops/Michael Boudewyns, actor “Scheherazade” (Richmond CenterStage).
3 – Richard Becker, piano (UR Modlin Center).
4 – James Weaver, baritone/Joanne Kong, piano (UR Modlin Center).
10 – Members and friends concert (Bon Air Presbyterian Church).
11 – Matthew Worth, baritone (UR Modlin Center).
16-17 – Richmond Symphony/Symphony Chorus (Richmond CenterStage).
21 – Richmond Symphony Rush-Hour concert (Richmond CenterStage).
22 – Stefan Engels, organ (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church).
23 – New York Polyphony (VCU Singleton Center).
24 – Richmond Symphony (Randolph-Macon College).
24 – Shanghai Quartet/Paul Neubauer, viola (UR Modlin Center).

MARCH
2 – Richmond Symphony Pops/Tiempo Libre (Richmond CenterStage).
3 – Richmond Philharmonic/Akemi Takayama, violin (VCU Singleton Center).
8, 10 – Virginia Opera “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Richmond CenterStage).
10 – Durham (NC) Piano Performance Team (Bon Air Presbyterian Church).
14 – VCU Symphony (VCU Singleton Center).
16 – Richmond Symphony/Diana Cohen, violin (Richmond CenterStage).
17 – Richmond Guitar Quartet (VCU Singleton Center).
20 – eighth blackbird/Nico Muhly, composer (UR Modlin Center).
21 – John Cage Centennial concert I/eighth blackbird (UR Modlin Center).
23 – Richmond Symphony LolliPops/VCU dancers “Come Dance with Us” (Richmond CenterStage).
23 – Jeremy Denk, piano (VCU Singleton Center).
24 – Richard Becker & Doris Wylee-Becker, pianos (UR Modlin Center).
27 – John Cage Centennial concert II/Paul Hanson, prepared piano (UR Modlin Center).

APRIL
7-8 – Takács Quartet (UR Modlin Center).
10 – UR Symphony Orchestra/Charles Staples, piano (UR Modlin Center).
12 – Isabelle Demers, organ (River Road Church, Baptist).
12 – Choral Arts Society/Vocal Chamber Ensemble (VCU Singleton Center).
14 – Lisa Edwards-Burrs, soprano (Bon Air Presbyterian Church).
14 – Lyric Opera Virginia “Romeo and Juliet” (Collegiate School).
14 – Richmond Symphony youth orchestras (Richmond CenterStage).
17 – UR Wind Ensemble (UR Modlin Center).
19 – Ebène Quartet (UR Modlin Center).
20 – Richmond Symphony/Kathryn Leemhuis, mezzo-soprano (Richmond CenterStage).
21 – Earth Day Celebration (UR location TBA).
25 – Richmond Symphony Chorus/brass & organ (River Road Church, Baptist).
26, 28 – Virginia Opera “The Marriage of Figaro” (Richmond CenterStage).
27 – Richmond Symphony Chorus/brass & organ (Chester Presbyterian Church).

MAY
4 – Tokyo String Quartet (VCU Singleton Center).
5 – Richmond Philharmonic/Wanchi Huang, violin/Amadi Azkiwe, viola (VCU Singleton Center).
5 – Richmond Symphony/Molly Sharp, viola/Symphony Chamber Chorus (Randolph-Macon College).
11-12 – Richmond Symphony (Richmond CenterStage).

JUNE
2 – Richmond Symphony youth orchestras (Pocahontas State Park).
16 – Richmond Philharmonic Family Summer Concert (Brandermill).


Richmond Symphony:
www.richmondsymphony.com

Virginia Opera:
www.vaopera.org

Lyric Opera Virginia:
www.lyricoperavirginia.org

Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond:
www.modlin.richmond.edu

VCU Music Department:
www.vcumusic.org

Richmond Philharmonic:
www.richmondphilharmonic.org

Richmond chapter, American Guild of Organists:
www.richmondago.org
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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: Minnesota-based organist David Sinden marks the John Cage centenary with a performance of Cage’s “Organ 2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible)” on Sept. 7 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. (This reading, lasting about 10 hours, will be a relatively speedy one; a performance of the piece under way since 2001 at a German church is projected to last 639 years.) . . . Four singers and a piano four-hands duo perform both sets of Brahms’ “Liebeslieder Waltzes,” Sept. 10 at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Center. . . . The trio of violinist Philip Setzer, cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han play Haydn, Schubert and Mendelssohn in the season-opener of the Rennolds Chamber Concerts, Sept. 15 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Center. . . . Another composer anniversary, Philip Glass’ 75th, is celebrated by UR’s Modlin Center in a series of concerts, film and talk, including a program by eighth blackbird on Sept. 19. . . . The Richmond Symphony opens its 2012-13 Masterworks season with Steven Smith conducting works of Copland, Tchaikovsky and Mahler, with pianist Norman Krieger and the Richmond Symphony Chorus, Sept. 22-23 at Richmond CenterStage. . . . Pianist Alexander Paley’s Richmond music festival, for its 15th season, focuses on Bach, Mozart and Beethoven in three concerts, Sept. 21-23 at First English Lutheran Church. . . . Jamie Bernstein, daughter of Leonard Bernstein, joins Erin R. Freeman and the Richmond Symphony Pops for “Bernstein on Broadway,” Sept. 29 at Richmond CenterStage.

* Noteworthy elsewhere: JoAnn Falletta conducts the Virginia Symphony, with pianist Jon Kimura Parker playing Rachmaninoff’s “Paganini Rhapsody,” Sept. 7-9 at three Hampton Roads venues. . . . The Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, with guests including the Brooklyn Rider string quartet, presents six concerts, Sept. 9-23 at the University of Virginia’s Old Cabell Hall and the Paramount Theater. . . . The Washington National Opera opens its 2012-13 season with productions of Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena,” Sept. 15-Oct. 6, and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” Sept. 20-Oct. 13, and baritone Nathan Gunn in concert, Sept. 23, all at the Kennedy Center. . . . Opera Roanoke stages its first Wagner production, “The Flying Dutchman,” Sept. 21 and 23 at the Jefferson Center. . . . Colonial Williamsburg’s Early Music Festival, featuring baroque trumpeter Barry Bauguess, runs from Sept. 25-28 at several venues in Williamsburg. . . . Pianist Dmitri Shteinberg returns to Virginia to play Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Charlottesville & University Symphony, Sept. 28 at UVa’s Old Cabell Hall, Sept. 30 at Monticello High School. . . . Virginia Opera opens its new season with its first production of Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” Sept. 29 at Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House (with October dates in Norfolk, Fairfax and Richmond). . . . Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter joins Christoph Eschenbach and Washington’s National Symphony in Mendelssohn and Sarasate, Sept. 30 at the Kennedy Center.

Sept. 2 (8 p.m.)
West Lawn, U.S. Capitol, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Steven Reineke conducting
Tony DeSare, vocalist
Michael John Casey, narrator
Labor Day Capitol Concert
program TBA
free (800)
444-1324 www.kennedy-center.org

Sept. 7 (10 a.m.)
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Ninth and Grace streets, Richmond
David Sinden, organ
John Cage: “Organ 2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible)”
free
(804) 643-3589
www.stpauls-episcopal.org

Sept. 7 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Kenneth Fuchs: “Atlantic Riband”
Rachmaninoff: “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Mussorgsky-Ravel: “Pictures at an Exhibition”
$20-$70
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Sept. 8 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Sept. 9 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Hindemith: “Mathis der Maler” Symphony
Rachmaninoff: “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Mussorgsky-Ravel: “Pictures at an Exhibition”
$20-$70
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Sept. 8 (6 p.m.)
Pocahontas State Park, Route 655 (Beach Road), Chesterfield County
Richmond Symphony
Erin R. Freeman conducting
“Wild for John Williams”
program TBA
free
rain date: Sept. 9
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Sept. 9 (3 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival:
Jennifer Frautschi, violin
Timothy Summers, viola
Raphael Bell, cello
John Blacklow, piano
Stephen Hartke: “Prologue to a Shadow Play”
Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121
Steve Mackey: Violin Sonata
Schumann: Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47
$16-$22
(434) 295-5395
http://2012.cvillechambermusic.org/

Sept. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Anne O'Byrne, soprano
Jennifer Cable, mezzo-soprano
Reginald Potts, tenor
Christopher Lindbloom, bass
Paul Hanson & Joanne Kong, piano four-hands
Brahms: “Liebeslieder Waltzes”
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Sept. 10 (8 p.m.)
St. Patrick Catholic School, 1000 Bolling Ave., Norfolk
Feldman Chamber Music Society:
Voxare String Quartet
Barber: Adagio for strings
Dvorák: String Quartet in F major, Op. 96 (“American”)
other works TBA
$10-$25
(757) 552-1630
www.feldmanchambermusic.org

Sept. 10 (8 p.m.)
Chandler Recital Hall, Old Dominion University, Norfolk
Kenneth Tompkins, trombone
program TBA
$15
(757) 683-5305
www.al.odu.edu

Sept. 11 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Voxare String Quartet
program TBA
$15
(757) 258-4814
www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org

Sept. 13 (8 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival:
Aki Saulière & Timothy Summers, violins
Jennifer Stumm & David Quiggle, violas
Raphael Bell, cello
Alasdair Beatson, piano
Martinu: “Three Madrigals” for violin and viola
Mozart: String Quintet in C major, K. 515
Thomas Adès: “Darkness Visible”
Dvorák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 87
$16-$22
(434) 295-5395
http://2012.cvillechambermusic.org/

Sept. 13 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story”
Dukas: “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”
Christopher Rouse: “Ku-Ka-Ilimoku”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
John Adams: “Short Ride in a Fast Machine”
Wagner: “Liebestod” from “Tristan und Isolde”
Rachmaninoff: Etudes-tableaux No. 2
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major
$10
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Sept. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano
Warren Jones, piano
program TBA
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Sept. 15 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Philip Setzer, violin
David Finckel, cello
Wu Han, piano
works by Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn
$34
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org

Sept. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Town Point Park, 333 Waterside Drive, Norfolk
Virginia Opera’s “Opera in the Park”:
Heather Buck, soprano
Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano
Chad Johnson, tenor
David Pershall, baritone
Virginia Symphony
Gerald Steichen conducting
works by Mozart, Verdi, Bizet, others
free
(757) 627-9545
www.vaopera.org

Sept. 15 (7 p.m.)
Sept. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Sept. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Sept. 24 (7 p.m.)
Sept. 27 (7:30 p.m.)
Sept. 30 (2 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Antonello Allemandi conducting
Donizetti: “Anna Bolena”
Sondra Radvanovsky (Anna)
Shalva Mukeria (Riccardo)
Sonia Ganassi (Jane)
Oren Gradus (Henry VIII)
Stephen Lawless, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Sept. 16 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
Scott Hicks’ “Glass: a Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts” (film screening)
$5
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Sept. 16 (4 p.m.)
Jepson Theatre, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Anne O’Byrne, soprano
Tracey Welborn, tenor
Charles Staples, piano
program TBA
$36; proceeds benefit Friends of Barnabas Foundation’s Project Little Hearts
(804) 289-8980
www.fobf.org

Sept. 16 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Guitar Series:
Nathan Mills, classical guitar
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org

Sept. 16 (3 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival:
Brooklyn Rider
Timothy Summers, viola
Raphael Bell, cello
Brooklyn Rider: “Seven Steps”
Ljova: “Culai”
Colin Jacobsen: “Persian Miniatures”
György Kurtág: “Microludes”
Brahms: Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36
$16-$22
(434) 295-5395
http://2012.cvillechambermusic.org/

Sept. 18 (8 p.m.)
The Bridge, 209 Monticello Road, Charlottesville
Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival:
Timothy Summers, violin
David Cossin, percussion
UVA New Music Ensemble
I-Jen Fang directing
contemporary works TBA
$5
(434) 295-5395
http://2012.cvillechambermusic.org/

Sept. 18 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Mindy Rosenfeld, flute
Ronn McFarlane, lute
David Sariti, violin
works by Bach, Handel, Dowland, Locatelli, others
free
(434) 924-3052 http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

Sept. 19 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
eighth blackbird
Glass: “Arabesque in memoriam”
Glass: “Einstein on the Beach” (excerpt)
Glass: “Mad Rush”
Derek Bermel: “Tied Shifts”
Tom Johnson: “Counting Duets”
Nico Muhly: “Doublespeak”
John Cage: “Living Room Music”
Mayke Nas: “Anyone can do it”
Andy Akiho: “erase”
$20
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Sept. 20 (8 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival:
Timothy Summers, violin
Raphael Bell, cello
Demarre McGill, flute
Matthew Hunt, clarinet
Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano
David Cossin, percussion
Prokofiev: Flute Sonata
Missy Mazzoli: “Still Life with Avalanche”
Jeffrey Cotton: “Meditation, Rhapsody and Bacchanal”
George Friederich Haas: “Tria ex Uno”
Fauré: Trio in D minor, Op. 120, for clarinet, cello and piano
$16-$22
(434) 295-5395
http://2012.cvillechambermusic.org/

Sept. 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Sept. 22 (7 p.m.)
Sept. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Sept. 29 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Philippe Auguin conducting
Mozart: “Don Giovanni”
Ildar Abdrazokov/Paulo Szot (Don Giovanni)
Andrew Foster-Williams (Leporello)
Meagan Miller (Donna Anna)
Barbara Fritolli (Donna Elvira)
Juan Francisco Gatell (Don Ottavio)
Veronica Cangemi (Zerlina)
Aleksey Bogdanov (Masetto)
Solomon Howard (Commendatore)
John Pascoe, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
www.kennedy-center.org

Sept. 21 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Ruth Smedina-Starke, piano
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org

Sept. 21 (8 p.m.)
First English Lutheran Church, Stuart Circle (Monument Avenue at Lombardy Street), Richmond
Paley Music Festival:
Alexander Paley, piano
Paley & Pei-Wen Chen, piano four-hands
Bach-Reger: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 3 in G major
Bach-Reger: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 6 in B flat major
Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
Bach: Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826
donation requested
(804) 355-9185
www.paleyfestival.info

Sept. 21 (8 p.m.)
Sept. 23 (2:30 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave. SW, Roanoke
Opera Roanoke
Steven White conducting
Wagner: “The Flying Dutchman”
Ryan Kinsella (Dutchman)
Julia Rowling (Senta)
Bryan Register (Erik)
Carla Dirilkov (Mary)
Crystal Manich, stage director
in German, English captions
$20-$110
(540) 345-2550
www.operaroanoke.org

Sept. 22 (8 p.m.)
Sept. 23 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Copland: “Old American Songs”
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat major
Norman Krieger, piano
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major
$10-$73
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Sept. 22 (8 p.m.)
First English Lutheran Church, Stuart Circle (Monument Avenue at Lombardy Street), Richmond
Paley Music Festival:
Alexander Paley, piano
Charles West, clarinet
Kathy Judd, violin
Mozart: Violin Sonata in G major, K. 379
Mozart: Violin Sonata in E flat major, K. 380
Beethoven: “Diabelli” Variations
donation requested
(804) 355-9185
www.paleyfestival.info

Sept. 22 (8 p.m.)
McIntire Amphitheatre, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra
Kate Tamarkin conducting
“Symphony Under the Stars”
program TBA
free
(434) 924-3376
www.cvillesymphony.org

Sept. 22 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
John Adams: “The Chairman Dances”
Ellen Taafe Zwilich: “Shadows” for piano and orchestra
Jeffrey Biegel, piano
Bernstein: “Three Dance Episodes” from “On the Town”
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F major
Jeffrey Biegel, piano
$25-$55
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.fairfaxsymphony.org

Sept. 22 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Bernstein: “On the Waterfront” Symphonic Suite
Barber: Violin Concerto
Gil Shaham, violin
Copland: Symphony No. 3
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Sept. 23 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
Godfrey Reggio’s “Koyaanisqatsi” (film screening) (soundtrack by Glass)
$5
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Sept. 23 (3:30 p.m.)
First English Lutheran Church, Stuart Circle (Monument Avenue at Lombardy Street), Richmond
Paley Music Festival:
Alexander Paley, piano
Charles West, clarinet
Kathy Judd, violin
Schumann: “Fantasiestücke” for clarinet and piano
Weber: “Grand Duo Concertant” for clarinet and piano
Ives: Violin Sonata No. 2
Lukas Foss: “Three American Pieces” (1944) for violin and piano
donation requested
(804) 355-9185
www.paleyfestival.info

Sept. 23 (3 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival:
Timothy Summers, violin
Rebecca Albers, viola
Raphael Bell, cello
Joseph Conyers, double-bass
Demarre McGill, flute
Matthew Hunt & Ixi Chen, clarinets
Valentin Martchev, bassoon
Lisa Conway, French horn
Mimi Solomon, piano
Ives: “Concord” Sonata for piano
Brahms: Serenade No. 1 in D major (chamber arr.)
$16-$22
(434) 295-5395
http://2012.cvillechambermusic.org/

Sept. 23 (7 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Jeffrey Siegel, piano
“Keyboard Conversations: Spellbinding Bach”
program TBA
$19-$38
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/

Sept. 23 (4 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera Celebrity Concert Series:
Nathan Gunn, baritone
William Burden, tenor
Washington National Opera Orchestra
Ted Sperling conducting
works by Mozart, Rossini, Sondheim, others
$25-$180
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Sept. 24 (7:30 p.m.)
Christ & St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 560 W. Olney Road, Norfolk
Norfolk Chamber Consort
Bach: Organ Concerto in D minor, BWV 596
Vivaldi: “Stabat Mater”
Vivaldi: Concerto in C minor
Piazzolla: “Autumn” from “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”
$9-$22
(757) 852-9072
www.ncconsort.org

Sept. 25 (7:30 p.m.)
Governor’s Palace Ballroom, Colonial Williamsburg
Early Music Festival:
The Governor’s Musick
program TBA
$16
(800) 447-8679
www.history.org

Sept. 26 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Terry Austin directing
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org

Sept. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Wren Chapel, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg
Early Music Festival:
Barry Bauguess, trumpet
Tom Marshall, organ
Lance Pedigo, timpani
program TBA
$18
(800) 447-8679
www.history.org

Sept. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Jack Gibbons, piano
Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue”
Gershwin: “An American in Paris”
works by Gershwin, Gibbons, Alkan
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Sept. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Family Weekend Concert:
UR Wind Ensemble
UR Symphony Orchestra
UR Women’s Chorale & Schola Cantorum
UR Jazz Ensemble
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Sept. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Governor’s Palace, Colonial Williamsburg
Early Music Festival:
Barry Bauguess, trumpet
The Governor’s Musick
program TBA
$25
(800) 447-8679
www.history.org

Sept. 29 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Pops
Erin R. Freeman conducting
Jamie Bernstein, narrator
“Bernstein on Broadway”
$10-$76
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Sept. 28 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Sept. 30 (3:30 p.m.)
Monticello High School, 1000 Independence Way, Charlottesville
Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Weber: “Invitation to the Dance”
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor
Dmitri Shteinberg, piano
Tchaikovsky: “Swan Lake” Suite
$10-$38
(434) 924-3376
www.cvillesymphony.org

Sept. 29 (8 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Bizet: “The Pearl Fishers”
Heather Buck (Leila)
Chad Johnson (Nadir)
David Pershall (Zurga)
Nathan Stark (Nourabad)
Tazewell Thompson, stage director
in French, English captions
$25-$114
(757) 623-1223
www.vaopera.org

Sept. 29 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
John Adams: “Short Ride in a Fast Machine”
Dave & Chris Brubeck: “Ansel Adams: America”
Claire Bloom, narrator
Bernstein: Symphony No. 3 (“Kaddish”)
Kelley Nassief, soprano
The Washington Chorus
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Sept. 30 (4 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
performers TBA
“Caribbean Reflections”
Chuck Dotas: new work TBA
other works TBA
$18-$20
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Sept. 30 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Beethoven: “The Creatures of Prometheus” Overture
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
Sarasate: “Carmen Fantasy”
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Richard Strauss: “Der Rosenkavalier” Suite
$47-$125
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
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The Richmond Symphony has added two casual concerts at Richmond CenterStage’s Gottwald Playhouse to its 2012-13 schedule.

The new “rush-hour” concerts, led and hosted by Steven Smith, the orchestra’s music director, will be one-hour Thursday evening previews of Metro Collection programs in October and February. The full programs are staged on Sunday afternoons at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland.

The first rush-hour concert, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 4, will feature music by Kodály, Britten and Haydn, to be performed in full at 3 p.m. Oct. 7 at Randolph-Macon. The second, focusing on Bach’s “Brandenburg” concertos and modern echoes of those works, will be at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 21; the full program will be at 3 p.m. Feb. 24 in Ashland.

Tickets for the rush-hour concerts are $20 for adults, $10 for children.

For more information, visit the Richmond Symphony’s website, www.richmondsymphony.com
8 months ago | |
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