Soprano Judith van WanroijThe focus in today’s agenda is on unusual music being offered in concerts. If you are tired of hearing the same old pieces again and again, this is your week.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH:
>> Opera Lafayette, one of the leading early music ensembles in the area, presents a concert of rarely heard French Baroque music tonight (November 15, 7:30 p.m.), headlined by Clérambault’s La Muse de l’Opéra. The fine Dutch soprano Judith van Wanroij is the featured soloist in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.
>> A viol consort named Quaver performs a free lunchtime concert on Wednesday (November 17, 12:10 p.m.) at the National Gallery of Art‘s East Building auditorium. The players of these old instruments will interpret music of the Renaissance, as well as some modern works by Ligeti and others.
>> That same evening (November 17, 7:30 p.m.) the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble performs a concert in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater that features the world premiere of The Hawthorn Tree, a new work by William Bolcom for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble. The composer, originally scheduled to play the piano part in this performance, has had to withdraw.
>> Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki leads the National Symphony Orchestra this week (November 18 to 20), in a program that opens with Magnus Lindberg’s Parada. The Adagio of Mahler’s tenth symphony and Beethoven round out the evening.
>> Pro Musica Hebraica presents Toronto’s ARC Ensemble in its latest concert on Thursday (November 18, 7:30 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, with a selection of music of Karel Berman, Walter Braunfels, and Paul Ben-Haim, all presumed to have been lost during World War II.
>> Maryland Opera Studio presents a staging of Daniel Catán’s interesting opera Florencia en el Amazonas, with piano accompaniment only, at the Clarice Smith Center (November 19 to 23).
>> The London-based Doric String Quartet performs a free concert at the Library of Congress on Friday night (November 19, 8 p.m.), which includes one of Erich Korngold’s string quartets.
>> Also on Friday (November 19, 8 p.m.), Vladimir Spivakov leads the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra in a concert at Strathmore, including pieces by Alfred Schnittke and Dmitri Shostakovich, with pianist Alexander Ghindin.
