Anyone at Steven Blier’s latest Wolf Trap recital this past August likely wanted to hear more from mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. Washingtonians had that wish fulfilled by Young Concert Artists, who sponsored her Sunday afternoon recital in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. Cooke and her excellent associate artist, pianist Pei-Yao Wang, presented an attractive program of relative rareties from the 19th- and 20th-century song repertory to a relatively full house. The concert opened memorably with a…
Without a doubt, the most important event in classical music this week is the opening of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s season. It will be the occasion of the official installation of Marin Alsop as the group’s music director, the first woman to hold that position with a major American symphony orchestra. A celebrated champion of contemporary music, particularly by American composers, Maestra Alsop has come into her new job with a full head of steam,…
April has been an exhausting month for classical music listeners. Still, when that means staying out late to hear Evgeny Kissin play eight encores, you will not hear me complaining. Put your shoes back on, because there is more music to be heard. We start with the best events this week. >> By all accounts, Chinese-American pianist Chu-Fang Huang, winner of the 2005 Cleveland Piano Competition, is an exceptional talent at age 23. She is…
FRIDAY: >> The EU Film Showcase kicked off at the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center last weekend, and we’ll have a little more about it for you this weekend. In the meantime film buffs should consider checking out Bergman Island, a documentary by another Swedish filmmaker, Marie Nyeröd, that visits legendary director Ingmar Bergman at his home on the island of Fårö. Now 88 years old, this is no doubt the final document of…
The Ahn Trio are three sisters, originally from Korea, who graduated from Juilliard. Their performance on Wednesday night at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the conclusion of this year’s three-concert Shenson Chamber Music Concert Series, was a lightweight 80 minutes of mostly popular music. The Ahn Trio thrives on the same crossover concept as the Turtle Island String Quartet, in fact opening with a piece by the Turtle Island’s first violinist, David…
