Classical Music Agenda
Evgeny Kissin, pianist
BIG GUNS:
>> One of my favorite pianists, Evgeny Kissin, is the marquee name on the National Symphony Orchestra's Season Opening Ball Concert on Saturday night (September 26, 7 p.m.) at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. A few (expensive) tickets remain.
>> French pianist Cédric Tiberghien will open the Washington Performing Arts Society season with a recital at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on Saturday (September 26, 2 p.m.), already sold out.
CONTEMPORARY:
>> After a generally successful gala concert last weekend, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop kick off their subscription series with a program featuring the Concerto 4-3 by American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work incorporates music in both folk and country music styles, written for (and to be played in Baltimore by) the Time for Three Trio, a group founded by three students at the Curtis Institute to explore the boundaries of classical music and other styles. Before the Thursday performance in Baltimore (September 24, 8 p.m.) the BSO is hosting a Bloggers' Night, featuring yours truly (with the Post's Anne Midgette and the Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith, no less) on a panel about classical music and new media. Bloggers interested in attending should write to Sarah Haller at the BSO (shaller at bsomusic dot org): drinks, light food, and possibly a free ticket could be yours.
>> The Great Noise Ensemble, one of the most adventurous local contemporary music groups, opens its residency at Catholic University on Friday night (September 25, 7:30 p.m.) with a concert at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music's Ward Hall.
>> The NSO Pops opens its fall season on Thursday night (September 24, 7 p.m.) with a concert featuring the music of indie rocker Ben Folds in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Ben Folds himself will perform at the piano, which is why the concert is already sold out.
ELSEWHERE:
>> Così fan tutte Goes Hollywood, Nick Olcott's adaptation of Mozart's classic comic opera, continues this week at Source Theater (September 20, 23, and 26, various times).
>> The Argos Trio plays a concert on Thursday night (September 24, 7:30 p.m.) in the Mansion at Strathmore.
>> On Saturday (September 26, 6 p.m.) the first concert in the Emerson Quartet's series for the Smithsonian Resident Associates will actually feature only violinist Eugene Drucker and his trio, at the National Museum of Natural History.
>> The same evening (September 26, 8 p.m.) will feature the season opener of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra at Alexandria's Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall, with violinist Leonid Sushansky and pianist Carlos Rodriguez.
>> Pianist (and Catholic University faculty member) James Litzelman will give a recital next Sunday (September 27, 3 p.m.) at Catholic University's Ward Hall.