This week, our focus is on several big-name soloists visitng town. All of them should be worth your time.
BIG GUNS:
>> Cellist Gautier Capuçon and pianist Gabriela Montero will perform on Tuesday night (November 9, 8 p.m.) as part of the free concert series at the Library of Congress. It is likely that Montero will give one of her famous improvisations as an encore, although I have only heard her do this at solo appearances. The program includes the Rachmaninov and Prokofiev sonatas featured on this duo’s 2008 Rhapsody CD. If you cannot reserve a ticket through Ticketmaster, show up early to wait for an unused seat. Anyone who cannot catch this concert on Tuesday will have a second chance to hear Montero and Capuçon on Sunday (November 14, 5:30 p.m.) — not free and with a Grieg sonata replacing the Rachmaninov — at Baltimore’s Shriver Hall.
>> Phoenix-like, Emanuel Ax has emerged into a new, remarkable phase of his storied career, heard most recently in this year’s appearance with the National Symphony Orchestra. The American pianist will give a solo recital, presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society, on Wednesday (November 10, 8 p.m.) in the Music Center at Strathmore. His program will combine music by Schubert and Chopin.
>> The Bang on a Can All-Stars return to Washington on Thursday night (November 11, 8 p.m.), for an all-Steve Reich extravaganza in the Music Center at Strathmore. The program includes the U.S. premiere of Reich’s 2×5, as well as a performance of a Steve Reich classic, Music for Pieces of Wood.
>> Superstar violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has her turn on Saturday afternoon (November 13, 4 p.m.) with a concert of all three Brahms violin sonatas, also featuring pianist Lambert Orkis in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall presented by WPAS.
>> Violinist Robert McDuffie will appear as soloist with the outstanding Venice Baroque Orchestra on Sunday evening (November 14, 7 p.m.) in the Music Center at Strathmore. The program pairs an eternal favorite, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, with the Washington premiere of Philip Glass’s second violin concerto, dubbed “The American Four Seasons.”
