Results tagged “washingtonperformingartssociety”

There’s no way to deny that dancers are athletic. All of that leaping, turning, jumping – it’s a lot of work. The performers of AEROS, however, are literally athletes from the prestigious Romanian Gymnastics Federation who blend acrobatics, modern dance, theater and original music to create something entirely original.

Washington Performing Arts Society inaugurated its relationship with the brand-new downtown venue, Sidney Harman Hall, with a recital by Venezuelan-American pianist Gabriela Montero on Saturday afternoon. Although you may have heard about her abilities as an improviser on NPR last year, this was her first appearance in the area since she had to cancel her 2005 recital at the Corcoran. As you would expect of someone who took a Bronze Medal at the 1995 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, she was certainly technically impressive, if not rock solid, in a challenging program of three daunting works in the standard repertoire.

At this point in December, holiday concerts and Handel's Messiah have completely hijacked the classical music schedule. Here are a few other events, not all of which avoid the spirit of the season. After this post, the Classical Music Agenda will take its end-of-the-year hiatus, to return in the New Year.

The swell of holiday concerts and Messiah and Nutcracker performances has reached a deafening level this week. Still, there are some excellent concerts to hear, if you just need to get away from the tinselly, Santa-hatted madness. HEADLINES: >> Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero will give a nearly sold-out Washington Performing Arts Society recital on Saturday (December 15, 2 p.m.), Sidney Harman Hall. This new downtown venue, if an article in The Economist is to be...

MONDAY >> The Library of Congress Mary Pickford Theatre in the James Madison Building kicks off 5 weeks worth of free Monday night rock and pop films with a rare showing of the 1966 documentary, The Big T.N.T. Show. David "Man from Uncle" McCallum hosts Ray Charles, Petula Clark, the Lovin' Spoonful, Bo Diddley, Joan Baez, the Ronettes, Roger Miller, the Byrds, Donovan, the Seeds, the Modern Folk Quartet, and Ike and Tina Turner taped...

After a weekend full of concerts, there is not much to mention this week, for obvious, turkey-related reasons. Still, if you find yourself in town this week, there will be a few things to hear, although tickets may be hard to find. >> On Monday (November 19, 7:30 p.m.), French violinist Nicolas Dautricourt will be hosted by his country's embassy, La Maison Française. The attractive, all-modern program is bookended by the Poulenc and Debussy violin...

As Washington Performing Arts Society President Neale Perl pointed out, Monday evening's recital at the Kennedy Center was cellist Yo-Yo Ma's 23rd appearance sponsored by the organization. WPAS returns again and again to someone like Ma, not only because one can be reasonably assured that he will deliver a fine recital but also because he can sell out a space like the Concert Hall, even though it is arguably too large for the sort of...

If you are looking for a musical way to celebrate Veterans Day, the Washington Chorus will perform its annual Tribute and Reflection concert this afternoon (November 11, 3 p.m.), in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall (tickets: $15 to $55). Their program includes Joseph Haydn's martial Mass in Time of War. Although there are not that many classical music concerts in the early part of the week, the schedule for next weekend is about as full...

No one who loves the piano would have missed Murray Perahia's sold-out recital on Sunday afternoon in the Music Center at Strathmore, sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society. Perahia had to cancel his 2006 WPAS recital because of renewed pain from a thumb injury in the 1990s that nearly ended his career. Indeed, there were worries that we might never hear him play again. Happily, there he was, modest and unassuming, bowing politely and then...

The Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) is presenting an exciting double bill of adventurous piano-based jazz this Sunday at Lisner Auditorium. Performing will be The Bad Plus (pictured right) and pianist Jason Moran (pictured below), two acts who consistently refuse to be limited by traditional notions of what a jazz performance should or should not be. Moran and The Bad Plus have played together on the same bill before and, unsurprisingly, their common outside-the-box approach...

This is going to be an excellent week for serious listeners of classical music, with several major events headlining the agenda and some other good concerts on the sidelines. In the spotlight are a piano recital, a visiting orchestra, Russian music, and possibly the greatest opera ever composed. HEADLINES: >> Pianist Murray Perahia had to cancel his 2006 recital for Washington Performing Arts Society, because of renewed pain from a finger injury in the 1990s...

As they did in 2006, the Cleveland Orchestra came to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Monday night for a concert sponsored by the Washington Performing Arts Society. After Washington, they will play a three-concert series at Carnegie Hall and then leave for an extended European tour. The Clevelanders were once arguably America's best orchestra and were always classed among the Big Five symphonic ensembles in the country, a placement that more and more people...

While the "nature v. nurture" argument may rage for years to come, two respected musical patriarchs showed that regardless of which is the more important, nature and nurture in tandem are a most formidable combination. Oliver Lake (pictured right), a trailblazing elder statesman of jazz, and Ravi Shankar (pictured below), the most celebrated Indian classical musician in the world, each performed at the Kennedy Center this past weekend with gifted progeny in tow. The result...

Last week's battle of the orchestras may be eclipsed by this week's. Besides the local symphonic ensembles, there are some visitors in the ring, too. The common theme is the piano concerti of Johannes Brahms, both of them disarmingly beautiful pieces, and here is how we call it. THE ORCHESTRAS >> The week starts strong with the Cleveland Orchestra on Monday (October 15, 8 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Washington Performing Arts Society...

On Wednesday night, Washington Performing Arts Society opened its fall classical music season with a spectacular concert by the La Scala Philharmonic. Notably it did so not at the Kennedy Center, which has long been the organization's main venue, but at the newer and growing Music Center at Strathmore. In spite of the suburban location, which doubled this disgruntled city dweller's car trip, a VIP box at house left held such distinguished guests as First...

The high point of this week in classical music is surely the Lieder recital by the superlative German baritone Christian Gerhaher and his regular pianist collaborator, Gerold Huber, sponsored by the Vocal Arts Society at the Embassy of Austria (October 11, 7:30 p.m.). Gerhaher's most recent Lieder recording is a knockout, and his program for Thursday night is devoted entirely to songs by Robert Schumann. THE SYMPHONY: >> Riccardo Chailly brings his La Scala Philharmonic...

On Sunday afternoon, Washington Performing Arts Society concluded another excellent season with the latest concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. The impressively full hall bore witness to the continued popularity of this prestigious ensemble, in spite of the turning of critical opinion against it. According to one recent assessment of American orchestras, the Philadelphians are no longer among the symphonic Big Five. The problems began when current Music Director Christoph...

This is another one of those weeks, when devoted classical listeners could be in one hall or another every night of the week. Enjoy it while you can, as the summer is almost here and with it far fewer concerts to hear. ESSENTIAL: >> A concert by French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard is an event to be cherished, and this week he will play twice in Washington. The first occasion is a solo recital at the...

The lesson learned at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday night was that, if you just keep clapping and cheering, Evgeny Kissin will keep playing the piano. At the end of a marvelous recital sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society, Kissin returned to the stage for countless ovations. The wild yelling from the orchestra level and the balconies was enough to induce him to play eight encores. After about 45 minutes of nightcaps — from Liszt...

April continues to be a busy month for your classical music critic, and that is just the way we like it here. This week has just about everything: some big names, some opera, some early music, and more free concerts than we probably deserve. Take your pick. >> The main event of the week is the much-anticipated (and sold out) Kennedy Center recital by Evgeny Kissin, sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society. The program features...

Is Jean-Yves Thibaudet the classical pianist being overshadowed by Thibaudet the media sensation? His recent recordings have included arrangements of opera melodies, excerpts of film soundtracks, jazz, as well as more classical fare. His concert attire is designed by Vivienne Westwood, and he has homes in Paris and, of course, Los Angeles. In a recital sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society Saturday afternoon at the Kennedy Center, Thibaudet had the chance to show Washingtonians that he can still play serious music. Also, he looked fabulous.

Written by DCist guest contributor Michael Lodico. The Kennedy Center Concert Hall was packed Monday evening for the Washington Performing Arts Society’s third and final all-Mozart 250th birthday program. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Lambert Orkis offered a program of five sonatas for piano and violin by Mozart. The performance was a rare instance of profound artistic collaboration. This exceptional quality was achieved through the simple consequence of Mutter and Orkis playing precisely at the...

After several feverish weeks of wall-to-wall concerts, the approach of Thanksgiving puts the Classical Music Agenda into a temporary lull this week. Not to worry: we have some concerts for you even this week, and next week we will come back out swinging.

The beautiful and technically prodigious violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter will play a recital this coming Monday evening (November 20, 8 p.m.) at the Kennedy Center. With pianist Lambert Orkis (who teaches in Philadelphia and plays keyboard regularly as part of the National Symphony here in Washington), she will perform a program of five of the Mozart violin sonatas (warning: that's a .PDF file), all recorded on the duo's recent 4-CD complete set of the Mozart violin sonatas. For over a year now, Mutter has commemorated the Mozart Year (the composer was born 250 years ago) with an ambitious undertaking called the Mozart Project, a recording of all the major Mozart compositions for violin. In fact, when she answered the Proust Questionnaire, Mutter stated that her historical heroes and heroines were Mozart, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa, in that order. I think she likes Mozart.

This is a good week for hearing 20th-century symphonic repertoire, even though the National Symphony Orchestra is on another break. As we approach the first major event of the NSO's season, the two-week Shostakovich festival in November, we will have the chance Since the NSO Shostakovich festival in November has been cancelled (due to Mstislav Rostropovich's health problems), this week is our only chance to celebrate the Dmitri Shostakovich centenary some more. MODERN: >> On...

Maurizio Pollini's recital at Strathmore last night was one of a limited number of appearances he is making in the United States this year, after Boston, Carnegie Hall, and Chicago. Thank you again, Washington Performing Arts Society! If you love the piano and its greatest repertory — by the twin masters of the 19th century, Fryderyk Chopin and Franz Liszt (the good and evil twin, respectively?) — you may not think that Pollini is necessarily the best interpreter of this music ("all intellect and no soul" is the most common criticism). You likely still admire Pollini and leapt at the chance to hear him play live. If you missed it, that is why DCist is here.

This is going to be a good week. There are so many things to hear, concerts that promise great delights. We'll start with the best of the best and go from there. RECOMMENDED: >> For many serious fans of the piano, especially those who prize accuracy of technique and intellectual craft, there is only Maurizio Pollini. The last time that he played in Washington, I leapt at the chance to hear him, as I have...

Last night, cellist and, since January, United Nations Peace Ambassador Yo-Yo Ma played a sold-out solo recital in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society. On the program were three of the unaccompanied cello suites of J. S. Bach, pieces with which Yo-Yo Ma is widely identified in the United States. (The last time we heard an all-Bach cello suite recital like this was from Mischa Maisky at the National Gallery...

FRIDAY: >> We're definitely planning on checking out a new performance series called Take That Hill that's looking to turn in to a semi-regular evening of short films and short story readings presented by local lit mag Barrelhouse. Sounds promising, and we'll have the rundown on how it went down for you come Monday. At Warehouse Theater's screening room, $5, 8 p.m. >> Dude, free Yeah Yeah Yeah's listening party at Cue Bar, plus the...

You could hear a lot of good classical music this week, much of it at no cost other than the trip to the concert hall. The biggest events this week are not going to be cheap, but the performances of these visiting musicians do promise to be extraordinary. We will be bringing you reviews, of course. For more concerts, go to our Classical Week in Washington feature at Ionarts.