Second only to time-travel, this is a great way to hear what medieval music performance actually sounded like.
A showcase of some of the most beautiful music from the middle of the Renaissance.
If you really must attend a holiday concert, make it something musicologically interesting. In what has become an annual tradition (see the 2005 and 2006 installments), the Folger Consort is presenting the most appealing and satisfying Christmas concert in the city. More than just a concert, it is a staged production of the Second Shepherds’ Play, an English mystery play from the Towneley cycle. Director Mary Hall Surface began by modernizing the play’s Middle English…
December begins tomorrow, and that means only one thing: it’s time to take that special person in your life to a holiday concert. Do you want to subject him or her to the same old carols, something historical, or something really weird? Here is a list of your options, not including the many performances of Handel’s Messiah or The Nutcracker, to be previewed tomorrow. THE BEST OF THE BEST: >> For those who never want…
While no major event on the schedule this week trumps all others, there are several concerts that will merit your attention. Three of them are scheduled for Thursday night. If contemporary music was the headliner last week, this week it is early music. >> Opera Lafayette’s bread and butter is in presenting obscure Baroque operas, usually French, sung by exceptional voices and with the help of their fine instrumental ensemble. The group opens its season…
Fans of classical music had a light schedule last week, but there is plenty to be heard this week to make up for lost time. Most evenings it is going to come down to a choice. WEDNESDAY: >> The Embassy of Austria (3524 International Ct. NW) is hosting a series of concerts called An das Lied: Festival of Song 2007, devoted to the greats of German-language song composition. The music starts this Wednesday, with a…
Here are a few highlights for your first full week of classical concerts in March, followed by a respectable list of free events for the small of budget. >> Argentinian pianist Ingrid Fliter won the second prize, after the astounding performance by Yundi Li, at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2000. She will play a free recital at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (1250 New York Ave. NW). You need a…
Personally, I’m going to go in an ale and eggnog coma starting, oh…in seven hours or so, but if you feel like getting up and about, here are some holiday weekend options for you. FRIDAY >> Nothing says Friday before Christmas like…a little Latvian punk-rock. Yup. We’ve heard wild things about both the music and antics of Latvian punkers Macitajs on Acid (and if Latvian musicians can drink anything like our Latvian friends, we’re sure…
Taking someone you love to a Holiday Concert is a great December tradition, but how do you know what you will like? Are there really that many choices? We dealt with Messiah performances earlier this week, but here are the season’s best and not so best, all around Washington. Use the comments section if we’ve missed something. INTERESTING: >> The Folger Consort gives the best Christmas concert in Washington, with excellent performances of unusual repertory….
