Last week, we told you about the Washington National Opera production of Gershwin’s classic opera Porgy and Bess. This DCist will see it this Wednesday (November 2, 7:30 p.m.), when there is a performance at the Kennedy Center Opera House. This week, you can also buy a ticket for a performance on Saturday (November 5, 7 p.m.). Although Sunday’s performance (November 6, 2 p.m.) is sold out at the Kennedy Center, all DCists should be planning to show up on the National Mall for a free video broadcast on a huge outdoor screen near the U.S. Capitol.
FREE IS GOOD:
>> There are several good concerts of the free variety this week, starting on Tuesday (November 1, 7:30 p.m.). The Miro Quartet will perform a program including a Beethoven quartet (op. 18, no. 6), Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” quartet, and Shostakovich’s op. 108 quartet in the Meyer Auditorium at the Freer Gallery of Art. It’s free but you need a ticket, which can be reserved through Ticketmaster for the usual fees or, if you are willing to take a chance, obtained at the door.
>> On Thursday (November 3, 8 p.m.) the Jerusalem Trio will join forces with clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, for a free concert at the Library of Congress. The trio also will present piano trios by Haydn and Brahms, but the highlight of the evening will when Fiterstein joins them for a performance of Messiaen’s transcendent Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time). Free tickets can again be ordered through Ticketmaster, although the fees the company charges mar the perfect beauty of a truly free concert. If you are like this DCist, you can show up at the concert and wait for an unclaimed seat.
>> Finally, and most importantly, on Sunday (November 6, 6:30 p.m.) the National Gallery Vocal Arts Ensemble will present a free concert of Gregorian chant, laude, and music by Palestrina. This program is presented in honor of the exhibit Masterpieces in Miniature: Italian Manuscript Illumination from the J. Paul Getty Collection at the National Gallery of Art. We saw this exhibit earlier this month and highly recommend it. For two of the manuscripts shown, visitors can push a button and hear a recorded example of the music written on the medieval page in front of them. This is like that, but a whole concert, with pieces transcribed from the books in the show.
