Multiplicity: Bach, Forms of Silence and Emptiness, Compañía Nacional de Danza

>> For me, the week begins and ends with pianist Maurizio Pollini, who celebrates the Chopin bicentenary with a recital dedicated to the Polish composer on Wednesday (May 12, 8 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Pollini had to postpone the concert from its original date, April 15, but all tickets for that event will be honored. Judging by his most recent recitals here, lovers of fine piano playing cannot afford to miss this.

>> John Adams, the celebrated American composer (and recently, blogger), will take the podium of the National Symphony Orchestra this week (May 13 to 15). He will conduct his own piece The Wound-Dresser — on the poetry of Whitman — as well as other American classics by Copland and Barber, plus Elgar’s gorgeous Enigma Variations. (You can read Adams’s latest thoughts on Elgar at his blog). Adams conducted the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra a couple of years ago, with rather good results.

>> We have heard very good things about the Compañía Nacional de Danza’s production called Multiplicity: Bach, Forms of Silence and Emptiness, with choreography by the group’s director, Nacho Duato, inspired by the life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The group will bring this unusual work to the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater (May 14 and 15).

>> The Emerson String Quartet closes out its season at the National Museum of Natural History with a concert on Saturday (May 15, 6 p.m.), featuring an intriguing program of music by Martinů, Dvořák and Janáček.