We don’t normally include musical events in Baltimore in this agenda, for obvious reasons. However, we are leading off with a singular opportunity up in Charm City this week, the production of Jake Heggie’s opera Dead Man Walking (premiered by San Francisco Opera in 2000) at Baltimore Opera. This new opera was a smash success at its premiere and has been revived in several more successful productions in the years since. Having just gone up to Baltimore to hear it last night, I have to say that, although I was already familiar with this opera from a recording, I was not prepared for how powerful it would be to see it live. If you want to experience an excellent and immediately accessible modern opera, get yourself up to Baltimore and take a friend. Performances remaining are scheduled for Wednesday (March 15, 7:30 p.m.), Friday (March 17, 8:15 p.m.), and Sunday (March 19, 3 p.m.). Baltimore Opera even has a reduced-price ticket program for students.
NATIONAL SYMPHONY:
>> Garrick Ohlsson joins the National Symphony this week, to play Dvořák’s G minor piano concerto. Concerts are scheduled for Thursday (March 16, 7 p.m.), Friday (March 17, 8 p.m.), and Saturday (March 18, 8 p.m.). Barber’s Dance of Vengeance and Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony are also on the program. Tickets: $20 to $79. If you’re looking for something cheaper than that, anyone with a valid student ID can purchase a $10 ticket through the Attend! program: take your student ID to the Kennedy Center Box Office (2700 F St. NW) and ask for the Attend Discount (mention promotion code 12927 and the name of your college). If $10 is still too steep, members of the NSO (but not, we think, Garrick Ohlsson) will give a free performance at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on Saturday (March 18, 6 p.m.).
FREE IS ALWAYS GOOD:
>> The free concerts start on Tuesday (March 14, 7:30 p.m.) when the Post-Classical Ensemble gives a free concert called Manuel de Falla and the Music of Faith, with music by Victoria, Soler, and de Falla. Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux will join the group, at the Virginia Theological Seminary’s Lettie Pate Auditorium (3737 Seminary Rd.) in Alexandria. A friend of ours, Dr. Peter Casarella, will give an equally free pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m. You need to make a reservation: call (202) 966-8778.
