With a typically starry flourish, the 46th Shriver Hall Concert Series will do its part to light up Baltimore's classical music scene. Recitalists on the 2011-2012 lineup include eminent pianist Richard Goode performing Chopin and Schumann; top-notch violinist Christian Tetzlaff with the equally incisive pianist Lars Vogt in a program of Schumann, Brahms and Bartok; Steven Isserlis, a remarkably colorful cellist, whose program includes music of provocative contemporary British composer Thomas Ades; and the fine keyboard artist Angela Hewitt in a program that includes works of Bach, Faure and Ravel.
It's also great to see that, despite resistance from some Shriver Hall subscribers, there will be another vocal recital next season. And it promises to be a most absorbing one --
the excellent baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, accompanied by Russell Ryan, will sing Schubert's profound "Winterreise." (The concert will be in bleakest February, which makes it even cooler.) Chamber music is always part of the Shriver attractions. For 2011-12, that genre will be represented by such admirable ensembles as the St. Lawrence String Quartet, playing Haydn, Dvorak and Osvaldo Golijov; the Takacs Quartet, playing Beethoven, Debussy and Janacek; and the baroque group Les Violons du Roy offering Vivaldi, Bach and more.
Next season, Shriver's free "Discovery Series" at the Baltimore Museum of Art, devoted to up-and-coming artists, will feature the Johannes String Quartet, as well as pianists George Li (first-place winner in the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions) and Yury Shadrin (winner of the 2011 Yale Gordon Competition).
PHOTO OF WOLFGANG HOLZMAIR (by Gabriela Brandenstein) COURTESY OF WOLFGANGHOLMZAIR.COM; PHOTO OF ANGELA HEWITT (by Peter Hundert) COURTESY OF ANGELAHEWITT.COM