As reportedly happened during the Kirov Opera’s visit to Washington last year, the best performance of the group’s residency this week at the Kennedy Center was saved for last. On Sunday afternoon, conductor Valery Gergiev led a concert performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s modern opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk that was an incendiary triumph. Combined with the three evenings of Shostakovich’s chamber music from the Emerson Quartet on my schedule this week, the Russian composer’s…

It being Super Bowl Sunday, there weren’t many people too concerned with college basketball yesterday, but those who were saw Georgetown continue its outstanding season with a 61-58 defeat of No. 9 Pittsburgh. The game had a strange texture to it. Georgetown won despite a minus-12 rebounding margin and just two points from the bench. The Hoyas found themselves trailing 33-18 before closing the first half on a 10-2 run that trimmed the deficit…