There’s a great Canadian TV show called Slings and Arrows about the backstage sound and fury at a fictitious Shakespeare company. In one memorable episode, the director of a troubled production of MacBeth — and theatrical superstition holds that there can be no other kind — tries to turn things around by making the blowhard actor he’s been forced to cast in the title role perform his first scene with Lady MacBeth in the......

Verdi's Macbeth is the least worthy of the composer's three settings of Shakespeare plays, but it is hardly fair to compare this homely little opera to the composer's final masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff. Macbeth, the earliest of the three, has some beautiful melodies, some dramatic scenes, effective choral writing, and glimmers of what Verdi would eventually accomplish -- the elimination of tired bel canto conventions or, short of that, the ingenious incorporation of those......

This is another one of those weeks, when devoted classical listeners could be in one hall or another every night of the week. Enjoy it while you can, as the summer is almost here and with it far fewer concerts to hear. ESSENTIAL: >> A concert by French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard is an event to be cherished, and this week he will play twice in Washington. The first occasion is a solo recital at the......

Shakespearan works are often known for their pathos and their poetry. In Titus Andronicus, however, it’s all about the bloody. A slick production of the gruesome tragedy is now being staged by http://www.shakespearedc.org/ ">Shakespeare Theater Company as part of the Shakespeare in Washington festival. The story starts off pretty slowly, mired in complicated political intrigue that fails to fully engage. Then, the limbs start coming off, and things proceed swiftly from there. Titus is at......

Last year's celebration of the 100th birthday of Dmitri Shostakovich, on September 25, fizzled out somewhat here in Washington. This week, dedicated listeners had the chance to take their fill of the Russian composer's music. After a thundering concert performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by the Kirov Opera on Sunday, it was the Emerson Quartet who brought the early half of their complete cycle of Shostakovich's fifteen string quartets, played to great acclaim in......

As reportedly happened during the Kirov Opera's visit to Washington last year, the best performance of the group's residency this week at the Kennedy Center was saved for last. On Sunday afternoon, conductor Valery Gergiev led a concert performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's modern opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk that was an incendiary triumph. Combined with the three evenings of Shostakovich's chamber music from the Emerson Quartet on my schedule this week, the Russian composer's......

FRIDAY: >> Bliss, the Black Cat's indie rock dance party, presents a combination DJ/Live show. Kicking things off will be The Juan Maclean, followed by the always memorable (and not nearly as dead as you might have thought) Edie Sedgwick. 9 p.m., $12. >> We're all by now familiar with the greatest hits of the Kubrick canon: The Shining, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, etc. But if you've never had the......

The magic word this week is opera, and just taking in all of the opera performances on the schedule is going to keep you busy. You will find options other than opera after the jump. PLEASURES OPERATIC: >> After Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims this weekend, the Kirov Opera will perform Verdi's Falstaff on Wednesday (January 31, 7:30 p.m.), Friday (February 2, 7:30 p.m.), and Saturday (February 3, 7:30 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Concert......

Washington National Opera has two more operas scheduled for this season, and DCist went to the prima of the first of them Saturday night, Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. Michael Hampe's handsome production, created for the Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile, places characters in 18th-century Napoleonic costumes (designed by Germán Droghetti) -- Tito's imperial robes in the final scene appear to be derived from Ingres's coronation portrait of Napoleon I -- in sets clearly......

It’s hump day! Hurrah! And what better way to celebrate than by reading Ms. Jessica Cutler’s Playboy.com interview! She reveals gems like that she’s had sex on the Mall, is registered as a Republican, and the storyline for her upcoming novel. (We say odds are 2:1 someone gets it in the butt.) If scheming, bloodthirsty women are more to your liking than sexterns, go check out "Macbeth", which opened this week at the Shakespeare Theatre.......