The exceptional trio of concerts sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences this month continued on Sunday afternoon. Just like last Sunday’s concert and the final installment next Sunday, this concert at Bethesda’s Congregation Beth El by the Auryn Quartet plus violist Roger Tapping combined two Mozart string quintets with one Britten string quartet. The result after three weeks will be an unusual achievement, a complete cycle of both sets. One or…

One could do worse things with one’s retirement than playing the Mozart quintets with every string quartet possible. Since violist Roger Tapping retired from the Takács Quartet, he has appeared in Washington as the fifth wheel with the Jupiter Quartet, the Parker Quartet, and the Daedalus Quartet. This month, Tapping is at it again, with the Auryn Quartet from Cologne, in a series of three consecutive Sunday concerts sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Education…

This time of year, with so many concerts on the schedule, it is sometimes hard to separate what is essential from the rest. If we had to pick this week — and we do have to pick, every week — it would be as follows. >> Last week’s stellar concerts from the National Symphony, with Osmo Vänskä and Leonidas Kavakos, were scandalously underattended. If you like good music but were unable to hear the Finnish…

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…