We knew it had to happen, but here it is almost July, and we have little to tell you about this week. So, the time has come for your Classical Music Agenda to take a well-deserved summer break. Today's installment will give you some ideas for concerts to hear from now through July. We will be back at the end of July. Until then, you can always find classical concert information at Ionarts. CAN WE......

The classical music world of Washington seems to have Baroque music on its mind. After plugging the Washington Early Music Festival in this week's Classical Music Agenda, it is time to tell you about the two Baroque operas that were staged over the weekend. For its first production this summer, the Wolf Trap Opera Company is staging Telemann's Orpheus, which I heard on Friday night. This opera, rediscovered only in the 1970s, combines a mostly......

Soon, the Washington heat and humidity will mean that we take a hiatus from classical music. Your Classical Music Agenda will even take a couple weeks off next month when there is just not that much to report. However, for the time being, we have some things to tell you about. Mainly, this is the final week of the Washington Early Music Festival, and there are usually two concerts a day just with that. I......

One of the deficiencies of the city's leading opera company, Washington National Opera, is that lately they think of Mozart as early opera. The last time the WNO staged an opera from before 1775 or so was Handel's Julius Caesar in 2000 and the same composer's Agrippina in 1992 before that. Baroque opera is one of my major interests, and Handel is great, but there is a century of Baroque opera before Handel, too. We......

June is here, and that means that many of the major performing groups will be going on vacation. However, just as that happens, we have the Washington Early Music Festival most of this month, about which I'll write more next week. This week, both of the area's major symphonies are presenting major transcendant symphonies by Gustav Mahler, some of the most extravagant musical statements ever made. These works are not performed all that often, because......

Well, it's almost June now, which means that most of the free concert series have ended. There are still some good things to hear this coming month, although you will have to pay for them. Concerts will start to trickle off as summer gets hotter, so take your friend and hear some music. THE BIG GUNS: >> This week Kurt Masur appears for the first time as guest conductor with the National Symphony, in an......

In the summer, concert life in Washington becomes less frenzied in the places where we hear music the most during the regular season. At the same time, some old friends return for their expected summer performances. So, while we will not be telling you about a lot of concerts, you can still find some classical music to hear this week. More information is available at our Classical Week in Washington column at Ionarts. EARLY MUSIC:......