Classical Music Agenda

German Mother and Child (detail), by Woldemar Friedrich

If you need to come up with something quick to do for your mom on Mothers' Day, the agenda begins this week with some free concerts this afternoon, so you can save your money for some flowers. Combine the concert with a trip to the museum for extra good child points, but it is probably best to show up early in case there are crowds.

FREE MUSIC FOR MOM:
>> The Mendelssohn Trio will give a free concert (May 10, 3 p.m.) in the auditorium of the Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. Free tickets are distributed in the musuem's G Street lobby starting one hour before the concert. The program of music by Brahms, Haydn, and Bloch should meet with any mom's approval.

>> You will have to spring for tickets to the Phillips Collection, with which you and your mom could also attend a piano recital by Maurizio Moretti in the museum's lovely Music Room (May 10, 4 p.m.). No tickets required, but seating is limited.

>> Take in one of the exhibits at the National Gallery of Art, followed by a recital by soprano Nancy Peery Marriott with pianist David Chapman, violinist Daniel Heifetz, and trumpeter Scott Sabo (May 10, 6:30 p.m.), playing music by Fauré, Handel, Mozart, and Scarlatti in the West Garden Court of the West Building's main floor. No tickets required, but the best seats go quickly.

LATER IN THE WEEK:
>> Austrian pianist Till Fellner will present the third part of his complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas on Monday (May 11, 7:30 p.m.), presented by the Embassy Series at the Austrian Embassy (see my reviews of the first and second parts). This time Fellner will play the three sonatas of op. 10 and the daunting "Hammerklavier" (op. 106).

>> Baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes will give Vocal Arts Society recital with pianist Craig Rutenberg on Tuesday (May 12, 7:30 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

>> Garrick Ohlsson plays one of the Mozart piano concerti this week (May 14 to 16) with the National Symphony Orchestra. Guest conductor Jun Märkl also leads performances of Schumann's first symphony and the lovely Konzertstück in F major for Four Horns and Orchestra.

>> The talented French harpsichordist Maude Gratton will perform a program of French and Italian Baroque music with her group Il Convito on Thursday (May 14, 7:30 p.m.) at La Maison Française.

>> On Friday (May 15, 7:30 p.m.) pianist Christopher Hinterhuber offers an Homage to Haydn on the Embassy Series at the Austrian Embassy.

>> From the Department of Sounds You Aren't Likely to Hear Often, the flute sections of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra will join forces for a special concert on Saturday (May 16, 2:30 p.m.) at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church.

>> Later that evening (May 16, 7 p.m.) Washington National Opera opens its last production of the season, Puccini's reliable Turandot.

>> The Master Chorale of Washington will leave the stage and put up its shingle for good after Sunday's performance of Orff's Carmina Burana (May 17, 2 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

>> On Sunday (May 17, 6 p.m.) the Emerson Quartet will play music by Haydn, Ives, and Beethoven to close out its series at the National Museum of Natural History.

>> The Smithsonian Chamber Music Society presents a concert of trio sonatas by Purcell and Handel on Sunday (May 17, 7:30 p.m.) in the Smithsonian Castle.

>> If you need to have your concerts free, then you should go to the Phillips Collection on Sunday (May 17, 4 p.m.) to hear pianist Joaquín Achúcarro or to the National Gallery of Art (May 17, 6:30 p.m.) to hear the Foundling Ensemble play music of Boccherini and others.