Yet again, this is one of those weeks where it’s very good to live in the district, if you want to hear some classical music for free, that is.
Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard MAKE IT FREE:
>> Have some Bach at lunchtime with the Noontime Cantata series from the Washington Bach Consort this Tuesday (May 3, 12:10 p.m.). They will be performing Die Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31, with organist Scott Dettra at the Church of the Epiphany (1317 G Street NW).
>> That evening (May 3, 6 p.m.) a woodwind quartet named Pièces de Résistance performs music by Apostel, Toch, Schulhoff, Rathaus and Reiner at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.
>> On Wednesday (May 4, 12:10 p.m.) trumpeter Mary Bowden will perform a free concert at St. John’s, Lafayette Square.
>> On Thursday night at St. John’s, Lafayette Square (May 5, 7 p.m.) the Choir of St. Martin-in-the-Fields will perform a concert. A freewill donation of $10 is requested to cover costs. Both of the St. John’s concerts will also be broadcast on the Internet.
>> Also that evening (May 5, 7:30 p.m.) the Freer Gallery of Art will host the third of this year’s concerts by musicians from the Marlboro Festival.
>> On Friday night (May 6, 8 p.m.) violinist Colin Jacobsen and pianist Bruce Levingston will play a free concert at the Library of Congress. Even without a reserved ticket (available from Ticketmaster) you can show up early and wait on line for an unclaimed seat.
>> On Sunday afternoon (May 8, 3 p.m.) the Mendelssohn Piano Trio will play a free concert on the Steinway Series at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free tickets are distributed in the G Street lobby starting one hour before the concert.
>> The National Gallery of Art presents a free concert by its resident ensembles on Sunday night (May 8, 6:30 p.m.). All you have to do is show up at the West Building’s West Garden Court, space permitting.
>> Finally, also on Sunday night (May 8, 8 p.m.), the Adelphi String Quartet will play a free concert at the Clarice Smith Center in College Park.
IT’S RAINING PIANISTS:
>> First on this week’s list is pianist Yefim Bronfman, who joins the National Symphony Orchestra this week (May 5-7) in Tchaikovsky’s first piano concert. Guest conductor Neeme Järvi also leads performances of Glazunov’s first Concert Waltz for Orchestra and Prokofiev’s sixth symphony.
>> On Thursday night (May 5, 8 p.m.) Washington Performing Arts Society presents French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard playing an intriguing program of music by Wagner, Berg, Scriabin and Liszt at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue.
>> On Friday night (May 6, 7:30 p.m.) the A Venti Ensemble performs woodwind and piano quintets by Mozart, Beethoven and Friedrich Witt, with Daniel Isoir at the pianoforte at La Maison Française.
>> Finally, Russian virtuoso Denis Matsuev will play a recital on Friday night (May 6, 8 p.m.) featuring music by Schubert, Beethoven, Liszt and Rachmaninoff in the Music Center at Strathmore.
A FEW MORE:
>> The University of Maryland Symphony and Wind Orchestra plays music by Messiaen, Stravinsky and Debussy on Thursday (May 5, 8 p.m.) at the Clarice Smith Center in College Park.
>> Washington National Opera finally gets around to staging an opera by Gluck this month with Iphigénie en Tauride starting this Friday (May 6, 7 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Opera House. In addition to soprano Patricia Racette, this may be your last chance to see tenor Plácido Domingo on the stage in Washington. Highly recommended.
>> Tenor Carl Tanner performs a recital with baritone Jason Stearns and others on Friday (May 6, 8 p.m.), presented by the Aurora Opera Theater at Rosslyn’s Spectrum Theater.
>> On Saturday (May 7, 8 p.m.) Marin Alsop leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in music by Mendelssohn and Mahler (Das Lied von der Erde) in the Music Center at Strathmore.
>> The Bach Sinfonia will perform Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on Saturday night (May 7, 8 p.m.), in a special multi-media performance combined with images of art inspired by the music, at Montgomery College’s Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring.
>> On Sunday (May 8, 6 p.m.) the Emerson String Quartet concludes its series of concerts at the National Museum of Natural History. In addition to music by Mendelssohn and Beethoven, it will include the Washington premiere of a string quartet by Pierre Jalbert.
>> For a complete concert schedule, go to Ionarts.
