It’s December, which means that much of the classical music concert schedule is devoted to some holiday that apparently occurs near the end of the month. Consult our Holiday Concert Agenda and our Handel’s Messiah Agenda, if that is the sort of thing that interests you. Let’s try to keep the regular agenda free of that stuff. There is plenty to talk about without it. VOICES: >> The annual residency of the Kirov Opera, the…

Washington Concert Opera presented the first half of their new season on Sunday night at an admirably full Lisner Auditorium. Rather than a more typical rarity, it was one of the gems of the bel canto repertoire, Vincenzo Bellini’s late opera I Puritani, or as bad-girl soprano Anna Netrebko memorably put it, “crap.” No one should ever mistake I Puritani for a dramatic masterpiece, but it does have some of the best, most polished, and…

After last week, and especially yesterday and today, probably the busiest weekend in October for classical music, things slow down a little this week. Not to worry, there are concerts for you to hear and some good ones at that. TOP PICKS: >> A week from today (October 22, 7 p.m.), there are still tickets for the recital by Croatian piano virtuoso Ivo Pogorelich at the George Mason University Center for the Arts, way out…

We don’t normally include musical events in Baltimore in this agenda, for obvious reasons. However, we are leading off with a singular opportunity up in Charm City this week, the production of Jake Heggie’s opera Dead Man Walking (premiered by San Francisco Opera in 2000) at Baltimore Opera. This new opera was a smash success at its premiere and has been revived in several more successful productions in the years since. Having just gone up…

This DCist loves opera, but we understand that it is not for everyone and that the cost can be prohibitive. If your mood turns operatic, however, it’s a good month for you. This is the final week for Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, with sold-out performances on Tuesday (November 15, 7:30 p.m.), Friday (November 18, 7:30 p.m.), and Saturday (November 19, 7 p.m.). If you still want to…

In late October the major musical groups in Washington — the Washington National Opera and National Symphony Orchestra — take a break from performing for a couple weeks until November. You might think that their absence would mean a reduction of concert volume, but this is not really the case. In fact, we have a lot to tell you people about for the next two weeks, and without opera and symphony, we may even get…