(Classical music agenda contributed by Charles T. Downey of Ionarts)
Want to hear something classical to impress your family and friends? At DCist, we have some quick picks for you, and can you say free concerts? That’s right, Washington has more excellent classical music to be heard for free than probably anywhere else, and we’re here to tell you
about it. For more information, see our Concert
Schedule at Ionarts.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS:
>> Free concerts at the Library
of Congress take place in Coolidge
Auditorium, where among other things Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring was premiered, in the Thomas Jefferson Building (enter from First Street SE).
>> This Wednesday, at 8 p.m., is the Aguavá New Music Studio, featuring new compositions by late 20th- and early 21st-century Latin American composers. A pre-concert panel discussion, led by composer Aurelio de la Vega, will precede the concert at 6 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion (just outside Coolidge Auditorium).
>> Later this month, on March 30, at 8 p.m., young international performers from the Ravinia Festival will join seasoned musicians. For events at the Library of Congress, you need a ticket, which you can order through Ticketmaster (for the standard small processing fee). If you don’t mind a little suspense, you can wait on line before the concert to see if you can sit down in an unused seat.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART:
>> Free concerts take place here almost every Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are not required, but popular events
require that you wait in line starting at 6 p.m. (and sometimes earlier), because it’s first come, first served, at the Constitution Avenue entrance to the West Building, to get a seat in the West Garden Court. On the next two Sundays, you could make a day of it at the National Gallery, seeing the new exhibit Toulouse-Lautrec
and Montmartre (opening on March 20), and hearing a concert in honor of it.
>>This Sunday, March 20, the Orchestre de Chambre Français will perform works by Ravel, Magnard, and other early 20th century French composers.
>> The following Sunday, March 27, pianist Philippe Entremont will play a program of Debussy and Ravel, 52 years after he made his U.S. debut right here in Washington, at the National Gallery.
OTHER PERFORMANCES:
>> This Friday, at 8 p.m., violinist Florin Croitoru will perform Paganini’s legendary Twenty-Four Caprices for Solo Violin at the Embassy of Romania (1607 23rd St. NW). Tickets are $50, but that includes a post-concert Romanian buffet, prepared by master chef Cezar Munteanu.
>> French pianist Alexandre Tharaud will play Bach, Couperin, and Rameau at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater next Saturday, March 26, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $31.
>> If you’ve always wanted to hear an opera live but thought it was too expensive, you should join the Washington National Opera’s Generation O program, which offers significant price reductions to students and young professionals between the ages of 18 and 35. Register here to receive information about Generation O tickets. The upcoming winter season of operas will begin with
Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orléans, in a production imported from the Teatro Regio di Torino, with
renowned soprano Mirella Freni and a mostly Russian cast. Performances are scheduled for March 26 and 31, as well as April 3, 5, 8, and 11.
>> Newcomers to opera might be happier with more traditional offerings from the Washington National Opera, like Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” (April 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 17).
