Classical Music Agenda
James Levine, the renowned music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, took over at the podium of the Boston Symphony Orchestra recently and has brought that group significant national attention with his daring programming. The Boston Symphony comes to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall this Saturday (March 11, 4:30 p.m.) for a concert that we have no business recommending because it is already sold out. (Recently injured in an onstage fall, Levine will not conduct this concert and will be replaced by David Robertson.) Characteristically, Levine has juxtaposed orchestral classics, Strauss and Beethoven's great seventh symphony, with two works by living composers, Elliott Carter and Peter Lieberson. The latter's new cycle of Neruda Songs was premiered in Boston last fall, with the composer's wife, acclaimed mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, singing. Given Hunt Lieberson's recent spate of cancellations due to health problems -- officially, back injuries, but suspected by many to be a return of the cancer that was in remission -- it is anyone's guess whether she will actually perform this weekend. We will let you know in our review.
FREE, FREE, FREE:
>> The other big news this week is that you could almost fill up your classical music schedule with free concerts, beginning with what promises to be a spectacular concert on Friday (March 10, 8 p.m.) at the Library of Congress. Highly esteemed tenor Ian Bostridge will join pianist Julius Drake and the Belcea Quartet in performances of Fauré's La bonne chanson, op. 61, Shostakovich's third string quartet, and the Vaughan Williams On Wenlock Edge. You can reserve a place through Ticketmaster, with the usual fees, or arrive early and hope for an unclaimed seat.
>> On Tuesday (March 7, 7:30 p.m.), the young musicians from the Marlboro Festival come to Washington for their second concert at the Freer Gallery of Art. Various combinations of musicians will perform the Beethoven quintet for piano and woodwinds, op. 16, Nielsen's Woodwind Quintet, op. 43, Elliott Carter's Eight Etudes and a Fantasy, and songs by Schubert from his op. 129, D. 965. Again, you can reserve through Ticketmaster or take a chance and show up early.
>> On Tuesday, there will be two free lunchtime concerts. First is the monthly Noontime Cantata (March 7, 12:10 p.m.) performed by the Washington Bach Consort at the Church of the Epiphany (13th and G Sts. NW). On the same day (March 7, 12:15 p.m.), harpist Constance Whiteside will give a concert of music played on historical harps at St. George’s Episcopal Church (915 N. Oakland St.) in Arlington. On Sunday (March 12, 5 p.m.), you can hear violinist Lina Bahn in the free concert hosted by the Phillips Collection.
GRAMMY AWARD WINNERS:
>> The Turtle Island String Quartet won a Grammy last month for Best Classical Crossover Album, a recognition of what has become their bread and butter, popular styles of music played by traditional classical string quartet. They will appear twice this Wednesday (March 8, 7 and 9 p.m.) in a concert at the Mansion at Strathmore. The first performance is already sold out, but there are some tickets, at $26, remaining for the 9 p.m. performance. The program will consist of works "around the time of and influenced by John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.”
WORTH MENTIONING:
>> On Friday (March 10, 8 p.m.), the Russian National Orchestra, the first symphonic orchestra founded in post-Soviet Russia, will play a concert at the George Mason University Center for the Arts, out in Fairfax. Their all-Russian program will include Stravinsky’s arrangement of excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Stravinsky’s Le baiser de la fée (“The Fairy's Kiss”), and Tchaikovsky’s third suite for orchestra. Tickets: $25 to $50.
>> We recently reviewed a great performance of Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. This Saturday (March 11, 8 p.m.), you have another chance to hear this epic tone poem, performed this time by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, in a concert that will also feature Prokofiev's second violin concerto. Violinist Sayaka Shoji joins the BSO for the latest of their regular appearances at the Music Center at Strathmore, in North Bethesda. Remaining seats are limited. Half of the fun will be seeing who is going to show up on the podium to take the place of indisposed conductor Yuri Temirkanov. We believe it will be James Judd.
>> Finally, young violinist Nicolas Kendall will perform twice this weekend at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville. On Saturday (March 11, 8 p.m.), he will play the Sibelius violin concerto with the JCC Symphony Orchestra. On Sunday (March 11, 7:30 p.m.), he will give a solo recital with music by Mozart, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Kreisler, and Sarasate. Tickets for either concert are $29, with special $10 tickets available to people under 30.
>> For more concert choices, go to our Classical Week in Washington feature at Ionarts.