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Even though it is a holiday week, there are some excellent concerts to be heard. If you happen to be religiously inclined or can at least tolerate sitting through a religious service, this is also the week to hear lots of Renaissance polyphony and other historical music sung in resonant church spaces.
Krystian Zimerman, pianist
>> The last time that Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman was in the area, he dedicated one of the pieces he played to the cause of the prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay. In fact, he was so upset about American foreign policy that he swore not to return to the United States until after President Bush's term in office had ended. Well, there's a new sheriff in town, and the legendary pianist, the winner of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1956, will give a solo recital sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society in the Music Center at Strathmore on Wednesday (April 8, 8 p.m.). The intriguing program combines some Bach and Brahms with Beethoven's last piano sonata and a Polish tribute, Szymanowski's Variations on a Polish Theme, op. 10.
>> You may have seen the story of El Sistema, Venezuela's miraculous system of public music education, featured on 60 Minutes. The most public part of El Sistema is the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, an ensemble of the most accomplished students, which has been giving acclaimed concerts around the world. They will come to Washington on Monday (April 6, 8 p.m.) for their first concert here, with their dynamic young conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, who is about to take over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. You can try to contact Washington Performing Arts Society directly about tickets, but it has been sold out for a while.
>> The National Symphony Orchestra will perform the Brahms German Requiem this week (April 9 to 11), with guest conductor Kurt Masur and the Master Chorale of Washington, in one of that group's final concerts before it ceases to exist.
IN ECCLESIA:
>> This week many large churches are offering concerts of historical music, sometimes in conjunction with or as part of religious services. This is only a partial list: feel free to add other events in the comments. Later today, which happens to be Palm Sunday, at the National Presbyterian Church (4101 Nebraska Ave. NW) there will be a concert by the National Pres choir (April 5, 5 p.m.), featuring music by Mendelssohn, Rutter, Barber, and Wilberg with a chamber orchestra.
>> For something very British, the Anglo-Catholic church of St. Paul's K Street (2430 K St. NW) sponsors an excellent choir of men and boys. They sing at the Solemn Evensong and Benediction on Sunday evenings, including today (April 5, 6 p.m.), but note that they will not sing on Easter Sunday.
>> Members of the Washington Bach Consort will present their monthly noontime cantata, one of the best ways to spend your lunchtime if you work downtown. On Tuesday (April 7, 12 noon) you could hear a performance of Bach's cantata Nur jedem das Seine (BWV 163) in a free performance at the Church of the Epiphany (1317 G St. NW).
>> The local all-male choir known as the Suspicious Cheese Lords will perform as part of a traditional Catholic Tenebrae Service, with Renaissance polyphony, at the Franciscan Monastery (14th and Quincy St. NE) on Wednesday night (April 8, 7:30 p.m.).
>> The solemn Holy Week services at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (4th St. and Michigan Ave. NE) are preceded by concerts of a cappella polyphony performed by the Basilica Choir. The concerts begin one half-hour before the services on Holy Thursday (April 9, concert at 5:30 p.m.) and Good Friday (April 10, concert at 2:30 p.m.).
>> For a different kind of reflection, there will be a tribute concert to Marian Anderson and Abraham Lincoln on Easter Sunday (April 12, 2 p.m.), featuring soprano Denyce Graves, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Washington National Opera, and the Chicago Children's Choir in a free concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
ALSO:
>> On Tuesday (April 7, 7:30 p.m.) WPAS presents the Escher String Quartet at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.
>> Violinist Nicolas Kendall appears as soloist in a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the National Philharmonic in the Music Center at Strathmore on Saturday night (April 11, 8 p.m.).
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Although the concert is sold out, as far as I know there are still tickets available for the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra's dress rehearsal Mon. at 4 in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Plus, they're only 15 bucks.