Here are a few highlights for your first full week of classical concerts in March, followed by a respectable list of free events for the small of budget.
>> Argentinian pianist Ingrid Fliter won the second prize, after the astounding performance by Yundi Li, at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2000. She will play a free recital at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (1250 New York Ave. NW). You need a reservation, and the list is already full. You may be able to squeeze your way in if you arrive early and wait on stand-by. This concert by Ingrid Fliter, and another one co-sponsored by the NMWA at the National Gallery, are offered in honor of Women’s History Month.
>> Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä leads the National Symphony Orchestra this week in a concert of Finnish music. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos will join the group for the violin concerto of Jean Sibelius. The program also features Sibelius’s Rakastava and Symphonic Dances: Hommage à Uuno Klami by Kalevi Aho. Kennedy Center Concert Hall, March 8 to 10.
>> The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra also offers Sibelius this week, his first symphony, with Günther Herbig conducting. This concert also features violinist James Ehnes playing the second violin concerto by Mozart, as well as Schubert’s eighth symphony (“Unfinished”). Strathmore, March 8.
>> The Folger Consort, joined this week by the Newberry Consort, has put together what may turn out to be the best concert event for the Shakespeare in Washington Festival. Ballads and Brawls for the Bard includes songs sung in Shakespeare’s plays as well as other music popular during the Bard’s lifetime. Folger Shakespeare Library, March 9 to 11.
>> Over the next three Sunday afternoons, the Auryn String Quartet from Cologne will join with renowned violist Roger Tapping to play all of the Mozart string quintets. Each concert will also feature the Auryn Quartet playing one of the Britten string quartets. These concerts sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences take place at Congregation Beth-El (8215 Old Georgetown Rd.) in Bethesda. March 11, 18, 25, 4 p.m.
