The Dover Quartet and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes performed Tuesday night at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Photo: WCR The Dover Quartet has had an unsettled couple of years, since violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt stepped down in 2022. Hezekiah Leung took her place for the 2022-2023 season, only to be himself replaced by Julianne Lee last fall.  The chance to hear the new formation came Tuesday night, when they appeared in a program with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, presented by the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Or rather, it would have bee ..read more

Mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey will perform in Vocal Arts DC’s 2024-25 season. Photo: Daniel Welch Vocal Arts DC has announced its lineup for the 2024-25 season with five distinguished singers performing recitals in the venerable series. Baritone Lucas Meachem—who recently sang the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—will open the series September 12 with his wife, pianist Irina Meachem. The program will feature Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, and American art songs by William Grant Still, Florence Price, and Jake Heggie. Tenor Lunga Eric Hallam, a noted exponen ..read more

Randall Scarlata, baritone Gilbert Kalish, pianist Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin 12:30 p.m. Hopkins Bloomberg Center Free admission April 25 WNO Cafritz Young Artists Tiffany Choe, soprano Kresley Figueroa, soprano Teresa Perrotta, soprano Winona Martin, mezzo-soprano Cecelia McKinley, contralto Justin Burgess, baritone Jonathan Patton, baritone Sergio Martínez, bass Pei-Hsuan Lin, pianist Opera selections 7 p.m. Kreeger Museum April 26 Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra Chamber music selections 6 p.m. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Free admission Marc-André Hamelin, pianist Hamelin: New wo ..read more

Jennifer Johnson Cano performed Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with David Chan conducting the Apollo Orchestra on Sunday. Photo: Shalev “Stan” Weinstein The Apollo Orchestra continues its season split between two conductors. David Neely led two performances last fall, ceding the baton to David Chan this spring. Chan, one of the concertmasters of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, made the strongest showing in opera selections in his stand with the orchestra last season. The results this time around were much the same, as heard Sunday afternoon at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church. Julie Vidrick Eva ..read more

Harpsichordist Lillian Gordis performed Saturday night for Capriccio Baroque. Photo: CB Lillian Gordis is becoming a Capriccio Baroque fixture. The American-born harpsichordist, who accompanied gambist Jérôme Hantaï last season, returned to Washington Saturday night at Live at 10th and G. This was her second solo recital on the series, postponed from last October. Her two-fold theme highlighted counterpoint and the distant harmonic territories connected by enharmonic spellings, such as the equivalence of A-flat and G-sharp. The programming combined music of two different periods and regions ..read more

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center performed Mendelssohn’s String Quintet No. 2 Friday night at Wolf Trap. Photo: WCR Take five or six string players, add pieces for a few different combinations, culminating in a work for all of them. A simple enough recipe that Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has used before. The scheme yielded delicious results from a string quintet in the final CMS program to come to northern Virginia this season, heard Friday evening on the chamber music series in the Barns at Wolf Trap, curated by pianist Wu Han. Two string trios opened the concert, a c ..read more

Simone Young led the National Symphony Orchestra in music of Strauss, Mozart and Saariaho Thursday night at the Kennedy Center. Photo: Scott Suchman Simone Young, a globetrotting veteran maestro who is currently chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in her native Australia, came halfway around the world to lead the National Symphony Orchestra on Thursday night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. The cleverly balanced program featured two lush works for huge orchestras by Kaija Saariaho and Richard Strauss, with a piano concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to cleanse the palate in b ..read more

Saxophonist Steven Banks played with the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Xian Zhang Thursday night. Photo: Scott Suchman Since the National Symphony Orchestra debut of Xian Zhang, in 2010, the Chinese-born conductor has been appointed music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. With that ensemble she has made a point of raising the profile of music by women and composers of color. For her latest NSO podium appearance Thursday night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, she did the same, leading lesser-known works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Billy Childs, alongside a more ..read more

The Quatuor Ébène performed Sunday evening at Shriver Hall. Photo: WCR The Quatuor Ébène was last heard locally in 2014 at the Library of Congress. In the decade since that appearance, the group has switched out half of its former personnel. Their Baltimore debut, heard Sunday evening at Shriver Hall, offered the first chance to hear the new formation, with Marie Chilemme, violist since 2017, and cellist Yuya Okamoto, who joined just this year. Okamoto, born in Japan but now based in Munich, is the first non-French member of this celebrated quartet. He replaces Raphaël Merlin, who left the g ..read more

Violinist Geneva Lewis, cellist Gabriel Martins and pianist Evren Ozel performed Beethoven’s “Archduke”  Trio Saturday night in Columbia for the Candlelight Concert Society. Photo: Bernie Carrieri Musicians, like many people, often form their closest friendships in college. New Zealand-born violinist Geneva Lewis’s collaborative bond with pianist Evren Ozel and cellist Gabriel Martins was audible in their performance Saturday evening at a Candlelight Concert Society concert at the Horowitz Center in Columbia. All three were once students at New England Conservatory of Music, who have go ..read more