Does anyone else need a vacation from their vacation? Some good classical music is just the thing to calm your nerves after battling the traffic or the airport crowds. Happily, we have some excellent things on the agenda for this week, before the Holiday Concert Madness truly sets in, beginning with some of the big guns.
STAR CONCERTS:
>> The main event this week as far as I am concerned is the recital by powerhouse soprano Christine Brewer on Tuesday night (November 28, 7:30 p.m.), with pianist Craig Rutenberg in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, sponsored by the Vocal Arts Society. The program combines a first half of big German songs, Wagner and Richard Strauss, and a second half of songs in English, a set by John Carter and arrangements of British folk tunes. If it is like her last recital in Washington it will be superb. The lady can sing. Tickets: $38.50.
>> Wednesday night (November 29, 7:30 p.m.), the Vermeer String Quartet will give a recital in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater as part of its final U.S. tour. The program includes quartets by Beethoven and Schumann, as well as one of the magnificent quartets by Benjamin Britten, the third. Tickets: $40.
>> That same night, however (November 29, 8 p.m.), you may be tempted instead to hear the London Philharmonic on its U.S. tour. Kurt Masur will conduct a concert of music by Liszt and Brahms, with violinist Sarah Chang joining for the Sibelius violin concerto. Remaining tickets: $50 to $80.
