Classical Music Agenda
All this month, the Kennedy Center is hosting the Festival of China, with a full schedule of concerts, exhibits, and other events. Although many do not really fall under the rubric of our Classical Music Agenda, we are leading off our suggestions for you with Chinese concerts.
FESTIVAL OF CHINA:
>> There are some interesting dance companies performing at the Kennedy Center this week, beginning with the National Ballet of China, in the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater beginning on Tuesday and continuing through Saturday (October 4 to 8, 8 p.m.). Tickets are not outlandishly priced, from $21 to $55. If that's still too steep, the group will hold an open Rehearsal on Friday (October 7, 3:30 p.m.) for only $12.
>> On Sunday (October 9, 8 p.m.), the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, playing a combination of Western orchestral instruments and traditional Chinese ones, will perform in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, for the very reasonable price of $10. Of course, the best kind of concert is the free kind. On Monday (October 3, 7:30 p.m.), the Beijing Traditional Music Group will give a free concert in beautiful Meyer Auditorium at the Freer Gallery of Art. Tickets are required but are free: you can reserve up to four through Ticketmaster. One hour before the performance, tickets are also given out to anyone waiting on line (maximum of two per person).
OTHER FREE CONCERTS:
>> Probably the best free concert this week is at the Library of Congress. On Saturday (October 8, 8 p.m.), Masatoshi Mitsumoto will conduct a concert of chamber music by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. A preconcert panel, beginning at 5 p.m., will feature music historians and critics, including Mark Swed, music critic for the Los Angeles Times. You can reserve free tickets through Ticketmaster or take your chances and wait on line for an unused seat. Enter the Thomas Jefferson Building through the First Street SE entrance.
>> Then on Sunday (October 9, 6:30 p.m.), the excellent and justly famous Beaux Arts Trio will present a free concert of music by Martinů, Beethoven, and Schubert. This is the first important concert on the free series at the National Gallery of Art. No tickets, no reservations: the line begins to form at the Constitution Avenue NE entrance to the West Building at around one hour before the concert.
>> Finally, on Tuesday (October 4, 12:10 p.m.) it's time to take in some good music while you are on your lunch break if you work downtown. The Washington Bach Consort continues its free Noontime Cantata series, with Bach's cantata Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe, BWV 25, at the Church of the Epiphany (13th and G Streets NW). These performances, which also usually feature other pieces for organ, are always of the high quality we have come to expect from the Washington Bach Consort.
WORTH THE MONEY:
>> This week's National Symphony Orchestra concert features Danish-born violinist Nikolaj Znaider, an up-and-coming twentysomething on the world classical scene. Leonard Slatkin will lead the orchestra in Bruch's first violin concerto, with Znaider, and also in John Corigliano's first symphony, which you should leap at the chance to hear live. Performances are this Thursday (October 6, 7 p.m.), Friday (October 7, 1:30 p.m.), and Saturday (October 8, 8 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets: $20 to $79.
>> Another important homegrown early music ensemble, the Folger Consort, will give its first concerts of the season this weekend, a program devoted to the music of Renaissance composers Josquin des Prez and Heinrich Isaac. Performances are scheduled for Friday (October 7, 8 p.m.), Saturday (October 8, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.), and Sunday (October 9, 2 p.m.) in the Elizabethan Theatre of the Folger Shakespeare Library, a very cool place to visit on East Capitol Street. Tickets: $28.