Everyone needs a vacation, even musicians, and the summer is quite naturally a time that the classical music world slows down. So this is it for your Classical Music Agenda, until August. This week’s installment will be a little longer than normal, because there are several interesting things happening over the next couple months. If you want to hear some music this summer, you can, and here’s where. HEADLINES: >> The most important classical music…

When Gustav Mahler, near the end of his life, conducted the world premiere of his eighth symphony, in Munich in 1910, he did so with amassed musical forces — orchestra, eight vocal soloists, off-stage brass, and several large choruses of adults and children — numbering over 1,000 people. Although Mahler never liked the name, the work is still often known as the “Symphony of a Thousand.” More an oratorio than a symphony in many ways,…

June is here, and that means that many of the major performing groups will be going on vacation. However, just as that happens, we have the Washington Early Music Festival most of this month, about which I’ll write more next week. This week, both of the area’s major symphonies are presenting major transcendant symphonies by Gustav Mahler, some of the most extravagant musical statements ever made. These works are not performed all that often, because…

This is going to be a good week. There are so many things to hear, concerts that promise great delights. We’ll start with the best of the best and go from there. RECOMMENDED: >> For many serious fans of the piano, especially those who prize accuracy of technique and intellectual craft, there is only Maurizio Pollini. The last time that he played in Washington, I leapt at the chance to hear him, as I have…

As we noted in the Classical Music Agenda this week, Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky gave a nearly sold-out recital last night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society. It was an event that the music critic of the Washington Times predicted would be fueled as much by the singer’s star power as vocal talent. Judging by the sighing of the majority of female patrons around this DCist, that was certainly…

Well, Washington, we are now two weeks into Christmas Concert Hell, and it’s only going to get worse. Non-holiday programs will increasingly be edged out by holiday ones, but this does not mean that there will be no good concerts to be heard, of either kind. Let DCist be your guide. We are planning to take some time off from the Classical Music Agenda for the holiday break: for concert information, read our Classical Week…

Is there too much information in the Classical Music Agenda? This DCist tends to err on the side of being too complete, but we will endeavor to restrict ourselves to recommending nothing but the best, in the hope of not overwhelming you. If you think we’re being stingy, go to our Classical Week in Washington feature at Ionarts for the whole scoop. CHORAL MASTERPIECES: >> Our sources tell us that the free concert at Washington…

We are moving the Classical Music Agenda so that it appears on Sundays instead of Mondays, when it was giving you all information overload by appearing too close to the more popular Weekly Music Agenda. This makes much more sense in planning your classical week, so we have moved the more complete Classical Week in Washington feature at Ionarts to Sundays, too. The change makes little difference in the month of July, when the Washington…

D.C.’s best arts and arts organizations were honored Monday night at the 20th annual Mayor’s Arts Awards. The gala ceremony, which took place at the Kennedy Center, was presented by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities and hosted by Mayor Anthony Williams and WRC anchor Jim Vance. Leonard Slatkin (shown at left), music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his imaginative musical programming and…

What’s on your radar? Here’s what we’ve got: FRIDAY: Mike Watt, formerly of the Minutemen, hits the Black Cat this evening at 9:30 p.m. $10. De La Soul with Butta Verses and ESL’s Thunderball and Federico Aubele at the 9:30 Club. Doors open at 10 p.m. $20. In a Halloween state of mind? Why not try a Capital Hauntings Walk? The creepy tour leads you through the Lafayette Square area, where, it’s claimed, “restless ghosts…