In England, being named poet laureate is a lot like being named to the U.S. Supreme Court: once there, you're there for life. More importantly, you're expected to be the living, breathing embodiment of a tradition, of an institution constructed entirely of words, texts, precedent. And, though you aren't expected to wear robes when performing your job, you are expected to pen occasional verses on the birth of a royal or on the opening of... more ›

Many of you have probably heard guitarist Anthony Pirog at various bars and restaurants around the DC area, and some of you might not have even realized it. Whether playing with local jazz artists at Utopia or Tryst, as an experimental duo with celloist Janel Leppin at Bossa, or with his vintage rock band The Bang at the Velvet Lounge, Anthony's prolific guitar work seems to find its way into just about every club and... more ›

MONDAY more ›

This DCist is always surprised to learn the strange stories behind how artists inspire one another. In 1957, Philip K. Dick published a novel called Eye in the Sky. Years later, composer Robert Dick, no relation to the author, wrote a hallucinogenic and extremely difficult piece for solo flute that takes its name and subject matter from that novel. As previewed in this week's Classical Music Agenda, we heard the composer himself, who teaches at New York University, play this unusual work as part of the first concert of the French-American Contemporary Music Festival at the embassy of France, La Maison Française. As the composer explained before his performance, the novel is about "an interstellar journey" (a lab accident transports the characters into an alternate world) where, although separated from all humanity, there is still a sense of connection with others. Playing alone on a large J-shaped open-hole alto flute (the instrument shown here), he created an entire cosmic sound world: blowing through the instrument to make a wind effect, humming simultaneously to create harmonies, overblowing for overtone sounds. This arresting music, created while he was in residence at IRCAM (Pierre Boulez's contemporary music center in the Centre Pompidou in Paris) could work very well as the soundtrack for the next Alien movie. After the concert, over a glass of wine, we learned from the composer himself that he plays the work differently every time, rather than being bound to a single notated version. more ›