Results tagged “musicagenda”

>> Japandroids and their new wave garage rock are at the Rock and Roll Hotel this evening, with New Jersey's Real Estate and Brooklyn's Neon Indian. $10/$12, 8:30 p.m.

>> Something about Great Britain's rainy days and gray skies help produce more delightfully melancholy indie pop groups than anywhere else. And wouldn't you know it, the Black Cat bundled up three of them in a convenient little package for you, all for one convenient, low price ($12 in advance, $14 at the door). The Twilight Sad may be the most striking, but We Were Promised Jetpacks and Brighton four-some Brakes are nothing to sneeze at either. Doors at 8:30 p.m.

>> Here's a good reason to spend the hottest day of the summer in a cool, dark place. Franz Nicolay, he of thee immaculate Rollie Fingers mustache (oh, and of thee Hold Steady), comes to the Black Cat backstage in support of his recent solo record, Major General. Joining him on the bill is TV Torso, made up of former members of the Sound Team. $10, 9 p.m.

>> There's no rock like garage rock. No music besides garage rock tonight, either, really. And so: The Breakups with Balmer surfcats Thee Lexington Arrows at the Black Cat Backstage. $8, 9 p.m.

>> Kansas City isn't exactly known for its vibrant hip-hop scene. That fact, however, hasn't stopped Missouri MC Mac Lethal from planting his name on the map. Rapping over everything from harmonica loops to folky ballads and referencing Wilco and Nick Drake in his songs, it's no stretch to say that Lethal isn't your average hip-hop artist. That said, fans of acts like Atmosphere and Sage Francis will find plenty to love in his introspective, self-deprecating rhymes. At DC9 with Grieves and Soulcrate Music, $10, 9 p.m.

>> Long Beach, California's Crystal Antlers have been the subject of much hype during the past few months, as they've traveled up and down the coasts peddling a fractured hodgepodge of post-punk, psych and garage. Come catch their infamously raucous live show before the band makes the inevitable jump to larger venues. At the Black Cat, with D.C.'s own avant-poppers True Womanhood, $8, 9:00 p.m.

At this point in December, holiday concerts and Handel's Messiah have completely hijacked the classical music schedule. Here are a few other events, not all of which avoid the spirit of the season. After this post, the Classical Music Agenda will take its end-of-the-year hiatus, to return in the New Year.

As highlighted in this week's Classical Music Agenda, the newly appointed music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Maestra Marin Alsop, is the first woman to take the helm of a major American orchestra. Tonight in the Music Center at Strathmore, she will lead the BSO in a program that features Fearful Symmetries by American composer John Adams. Last night, Marin Alsop sat down with John Adams at the quirky alternative venue known as Baltimore Theater Project, to inaugurate Composers in Conversation, a new series that brings living composers to speak to audiences about their music. In an hour-long dialogue, Adams spoke about his admiration for Beethoven, whose seventh symphony he will conduct at the BSO's concerts next week, as well as Mahler, whose Fifth Symphony Marin Alsop will conduct this week.

>> The Classical Music Agenda will return this Sunday, after hibernating all summer, but there are already a few developments to note this week in local classical news. Robert Shafer is a legend in the local choral music scene, as the long-standing director of the Oratorio Society of Washington, known in recent years as the Washington Chorus. Shafer's particular gift is to inspire a huge group — some 200 singers, none (or few) of them...

During a private dinner ceremony at the Arts Club of Washington (in the historic home of President James Monroe) on Monday night, the S&R Foundation conferred its Washington Awards on five deserving young musicians. For the four runners-up, we heard a brief recorded excerpt of their work: pianist Naoko Takao, Special Committee Award Winner (Persichetti's 7th sonata); marimbist Naoko Takada (a concerto by Ney Rosauro); composer Moto Osada (his own Take the Six for Marimba and Electronics); and violinist Shunské Sato, Grand Prize, 2nd place (the third Ysaÿe sonata).

>> There's a lot going on tonight in our Weekly Music Agenda, but we'd especially recommend making the trip to Iota for Exit Clov's show with The Eames Era, who play easily digestible indie-pop without being annoying about it. Also The Beanstalk Library. 8:30 p.m. $10. >> Tickets are still available to see Skinny Puppy at the 9:30 Club tonight. It could be just like when you used to hang out with your older...

Everyone needs a vacation, even musicians, and the summer is quite naturally a time that the classical music world slows down. So this is it for your Classical Music Agenda, until August. This week's installment will be a little longer than normal, because there are several interesting things happening over the next couple months. If you want to hear some music this summer, you can, and here's where. HEADLINES: >> The most important classical music...

>> In the early 1970s, Charles Burnett made a film called Killer of Sheep as his MFA thesis film at UCLA, and it became an instant landmark in American cinema. But few people ever got a chance to see it, because the stellar soundtrack included too many classic songs by the likes of Etta James and Dinah Washington to make it affordable to release it into theaters. This week, Washingtonians have a rare chance...

Memorial Day has come and gone, and we are now officially in the summer hiatus of the Classical Music Agenda. Here are some highlights for this week: in a week or two, this feature will take a well-deserved rest until Labor Day, when the classical concert schedule returns to full power. TOPS THIS WEEK: >> On Wednesday night, the excellent NPR radio program From the Top will be recorded in front of a live audience...

>> Music junkies raised in an era of candy-coated pop or Seattle-based indie should check out a screening of The Day The Country Died: A History of Anarcho-Punk 1980-1984 at the Black Cat tonight. The flick features rare performances caught on tape before the era of ubiquitous personal video recorders, along with interviews from artists and activists. $5, 9 p.m.

Summer is almost here, and that means it is almost time to roll up the carpets and send the Classical Music Agenda on vacation. So enjoy the music while you can. In particular, this is the last week to take in a performance of the best production from Washington National Opera this season, Janáček's Jenůfa. My review called this opera "essential viewing for anyone who cares about music drama." Performances remain only on Monday (May...

They have a saying in Paris that describes the fast pace of life in that city: Métro, boulot, dodo, meaning that life consists only of an endless repetition of subway rides, work, and sleep. Life in Washington is harried, too, but sometimes you need to stop as you dash through the L'Enfant Plaza station at rush hour on a Friday in January. Who is playing the famous Chaconne from Bach's D minor partita so well...

Last week's Classical Music Agenda omitted an excellent concert opportunity that just came to my attention, annual concerts of Schubert's music called Schubert, Schubert, and Schubert. The final installment is this evening (March 18, 8 p.m.), at Georgetown University's Gaston Hall (37th and O St. NW), when the Auryn String Quartet will play Schubert's Quartetsatz, D. 703, and the "Death and the Maiden" quartet, D. 810. Pianist Kyoko Hashimoto will also play the four Schubert...

At this point in December, people looking to hear a concert are probably only looking for a performance of Handel's Messiah or Holiday Concerts, and we have already dealt with both of those. Since there is not much else to mention, this will be your Classical Music Agenda until the New Year. There are a few things to hear, so hang in there. We will be back on January 7. >> The year's final free...

FRIDAY: >> Seems like it's an unofficial Film Noir Week all over town. The National Film Registry is rolling out all their classic Noir prints at the Library of Congress' Mary Pickford Theater — we'd recommend the chance to catch a free screening of Blake Edwards' 1967 feature film version of the classic television detective, Gunn, at 7 p.m., preceded by a 30-minute episode of the show it's based on, ABC's Peter Gunn, from 1959...

After several feverish weeks of wall-to-wall concerts, the approach of Thanksgiving puts the Classical Music Agenda into a temporary lull this week. Not to worry: we have some concerts for you even this week, and next week we will come back out swinging.

With a jam-packed weekend in the city that saw the dedication of the Air Force Memorial by the president as well as festive activities for Howard's homecoming and a crushing loss by the Skins, there doesn't seem to be too terribly much on the local news radar. But let's check it out. Gallaudet to Reopen: Despite the fact that over 100 students (133 to be exact) were arrested in continued protests on the school's campus...

On Tuesday, American composer Steve Reich turned 70, as mentioned in last week's Classical Music Agenda. While New Yorkers are enjoying a month-long festival of performances of Reich's music, here in Washington there was only one opportunity, a concert Saturday night by the recently formed Great Noise Ensemble at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Silver Spring. The Great Noise Ensemble may have the distinction of being the first new music ensemble formed through a listing on craigslist.com. Their core membership are young area musicians who answered the ad placed by the group's founder, Armando Bayolo, and they are now embarking on their second season of concerts.

In last week's Classical Music Agenda, I led with a concert on Sunday afternoon in the Corcoran Gallery of Art's acoustically splendid auditorium. It was the first concert of the season from the Contemporary Music Forum, but not even the Washington premiere of a major piece of new music, Paul Moravec's Tempest Fantasy, could draw more than a sparse audience.

The Classical Music Agenda has been missing in action for several weeks now, but there just has not been that much to hear. My weekly recommendations will return at the end of this month, as the September schedule heats up. For now, you will have to content yourselves with the following concerts, few and far between.

We knew it had to happen, but here it is almost July, and we have little to tell you about this week. So, the time has come for your Classical Music Agenda to take a well-deserved summer break. Today's installment will give you some ideas for concerts to hear from now through July. We will be back at the end of July. Until then, you can always find classical concert information at Ionarts. CAN WE...

The classical music world of Washington seems to have Baroque music on its mind. After plugging the Washington Early Music Festival in this week's Classical Music Agenda, it is time to tell you about the two Baroque operas that were staged over the weekend. For its first production this summer, the Wolf Trap Opera Company is staging Telemann's Orpheus, which I heard on Friday night. This opera, rediscovered only in the 1970s, combines a mostly...

Soon, the Washington heat and humidity will mean that we take a hiatus from classical music. Your Classical Music Agenda will even take a couple weeks off next month when there is just not that much to report. However, for the time being, we have some things to tell you about. Mainly, this is the final week of the Washington Early Music Festival, and there are usually two concerts a day just with that. I will recommend some of the interesting ones.

Here at DCist, we do not normally concern ourselves much with Baltimore, for obvious reasons contained in the name of this site. However, I do go up to Charm City regularly to hear concerts, and I mention things to hear there if they are exceptional. So, as I advised you all in last week's Classical Music Agenda, on Friday night DCist Got In On It and heard the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Departing music director Yuri Temirkanov did indeed return from St. Petersburg for his final series of concerts in The City That Reads. With him this week was the extraordinary 22-year-old Munich-born violinist Julia Fischer, a sensation on recordings (her refined CD of Bach solo violin works has charmed many reviewers, including me). Nothing prepared me, however, for the joy and excitement that hearing her live would bring.

A decade ago, conductor Lorin Maazel and his wife started the Châteauville Foundation, based at Castleton Farms in Rappahannock County, Virginia. On Monday night, rather than have Washingtonians go down to the Shenandoah Mountains, Maazel brought his young musicians to the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater. A cast of talented singers and a finely honed small ensemble of instrumentalists gave an exquisite performance of Benjamin Britten's chilling and yet beautiful chamber opera The Turn of the...