>> Tony Snow, Dan Bartlett and the White House Press Corps turn a routine presser into a Christopher Nolan movie for morons. The Pledge: Snow and Bartlett begin an ordinary conference on the record. The Turn: Halfway through, the two make their ordinary act seem extraordinary by suddenly becoming Anonymous White House Sources. The Prestige: Everyone assembled acts as gallingly obsequious as possible to enforce the illusion that the American people are children that should…

A decade ago, conductor Lorin Maazel and his wife started the Châteauville Foundation, based at Castleton Farms in Rappahannock County, Virginia. On Monday night, rather than have Washingtonians go down to the Shenandoah Mountains, Maazel brought his young musicians to the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. A cast of talented singers and a finely honed small ensemble of instrumentalists gave an exquisite performance of Benjamin Britten’s chilling and yet beautiful chamber opera The Turn of the…

You have a few more performances this month before the Washington National Opera season ends. We have reviewed both productions for you at DCist and I recommend them both. On Monday (May 22, 7 p.m.) and Saturday (May 27, 7 p.m.) are the final two performances of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, an opera that is not all that well known but that has some great music — Mozart at the height of his compositional…