Charles Downey

two Maryland kids apparently stole, among other animals, a Madagascar hissing cockroach Those kids had better hope that it was a male cockroach or they could have a major infestation on their hands. ...

UPDATE: That belching instrument was no contrabassoon, it was a new instrument called the contraforte....

No, no, the Four Last Songs are definitely not fluff. The Liszt and the *Johann* Strauss bits....

I should have mentioned the Attend! program at the Kennedy Center again. If you are between the ages of 17 and 25, register for the program to be eligible for tickets discounted to as low as $10, incl...

To be more specific, Washington National Cathedral's Web site is out of date. Here is the up-to-date information....

Ah, thanks for that date. The Web site has not been updated. It makes sense, I suppose, since she is replacing Diana Damrau as Ophélie in Washington National Opera's "Hamlet."...

IMGoph, thanks for that link: I had totally missed that article. Great story!...

Something I inadvertently left out of this week's Classical Music Agenda: the rescheduled recital by pianist Sara Daneshpour, canceled by snow in February, is tonight at the National Museum of Women i...

FYI, Christoph Eschenbach's "Beyond the Baton" appearance has been canceled since the time of posting....

For extra laughs, see this related picture taken in Baltimore: http://img113.yfrog.com/i/w8cqd.jpg/...

Believe me, I know. As the second snowstorm was looming on Tuesday, the Kennedy Center press office reassured me that the Mariinsky dancers, who are used to snow in St. Petersburg, were here and ready...

Thanks for reading!...

Yeah, and then Sabine Karsenti sang "Ich habe ihn geküsst deinen Mund." Classic....

Holly Morris is just always so chipper and always so damn early in the morning, at that point in the day where if facial expressions could kill I would be deadly. Julie Wright, the WTOP traffic repor...

Oh, God -- someone please make it stop!...