Catalyst Quartet hones its contemporary edge in Studio K debut
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
6d ago
The Catalyst Quartet played in Studio K at the Kennedy Center. Photo: WCR The Catalyst Quartet returned to the Kennedy Center Thursday evening for its debut performance in the “club” at Studio K. Jennifer Koh, new director of the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series, has made greater use of the annex known as The Reach. The move is echoed in the more recent repertory often being programmed, as well as in the unfortunate prevalence of amplification. Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, composed in 1903, stood as the oldest work on this contemporary-leaning concert. The four musicians made a coh ..read more
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March 21
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
1w ago
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Jonathon Heyward, conductor Mahler: Symphony No. 6 7:30 p.m. Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Catalyst Quartet Ravel: String Quartet in F major Riley: Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector Webern: Langsamer Satz Cage: 4’33” 7:30 p.m. Kennedy Center Studio K kennedy-center.org March 22 Washington Bach Consort Paulina Francisco, soprano Paula Maust, harpsichordist Joanna Blendulf, viola da gambist Deborah Fox, lutenist Canoro pianto di Maria Vergine sopra la faccia di Christo estinto (selections) 7 p.m. Live at 10th and G Alexandria Symphony Orchestra James Ross, conductor ..read more
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The Thirteen’s breathless Mass in B minor achieves belated depth and resonance
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
1w ago
The Thirteen performed Bach’s Mass in B minor Sunday at National City Christian Church. Photo: WCR Among J.S. Bach’s greatest achievements, the Mass in B minor comes second only to the St. Matthew Passion, largely because the latter, unlike the former, was composed as a unified work. Matthew Robertson led his chamber choir The Thirteen in a grand interpretation of the Mass Sunday night. For this performance, the second of two at National City Christian Church, the choir partnered with an accomplished orchestra of historic-instrument specialists. Bach, a Lutheran, initially limited himself to ..read more
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Carlos Simon, Hub New Music program reflects tragedy and transcendence
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
1w ago
Carlos Simon and Hub New Music performed Thursday night at the Kennedy Center Reach’s Studio K. Photo: WCR On Thursday evening, new music brought the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series back to Studio K, the bar-like venue in the Kennedy Center Reach. The main event was the moving Requiem for the Enslaved, composed by Carlos Simon. (He recorded the work with Hub New Music, released by Decca in 2022.) Hub is an unusual ensemble combining flute and clarinet with violin and cello. On the concert’s first half were four pieces composed specifically for them, commissioned to be part of the record ..read more
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Kennedy Center announces a bounteous season for 2024-2025
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
2w ago
Sondra Radvanovsky stars in concert performances of Samuel’s Barber’s Vanessa, with Gianandrea Noseda leading the  National Symphony Orchestra in the Kennedy Center’s 2024-25 season. Photo: Andrew Eccles The National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, the flagship organizations of the Kennedy Center, announced their 2024-2025 seasons Thursday.  Gianandrea Noseda will open his eighth season as NSO music director with the local debut of pianist Yunchan Lim, gold medal winner at the Van Cliburn Competition in 2022, as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (Sept ..read more
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Chamber Music Society of LC serves up gourmet feast of rarities at Wolf Trap
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
2w ago
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center performed Hummel’s Septet in D minor Sunday at Wolf Trap. Photo: WCR The Barns at Wolf Trap has become a sort of southern outpost for Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center under the tenure of artistic director Wu Han. That is not a complaint, for this elite organization has the roster to present an endless variation of intriguing programs. Sunday afternoon’s concert featured a veritable cabinet of curiosities: five eclectic works, culminating in Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s rarely heard Septet in D Minor. In the first half, each of the seven musicians ..read more
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Clarinetist McGill brings brilliant advocacy to concerto premiere with Fairfax Symphony
Washington Classical Review
by Andrew Lindemann Malone
2w ago
Anthony McGill performed the concert premiere of Malek Jandali’s Clarinet Concerto with Christopher Zimmerman conducting the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra Saturday night. Photo: Daniel Corey Malek Jandali completed his Concerto for Clarinet in 2021, and its dedicatee, Anthony McGill, recorded it in 2022.  It took until Saturday night for its first public performance, however. McGill, principal clarinet for the New York Philharmonic and one of the foremost exponents of his instrument, joined the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and music director Christopher Zimmerman to publicly premie ..read more
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Charismatic Leonard can’t save WNO’s lightweight Offenbach soufflé
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
2w ago
Isabel Leonard and Ramin Karimloo star in Washington National Opera’s Songbird. Photo: Scott Suchman Operetta is a guilty pleasure occasionally indulged by most opera companies. Washington National Opera has mounted Bernstein’s Candide, as well as operettas by Lehár and Strauss, over the years. The company has now gotten around to Jacques Offenbach’s La Périchole, but as reimagined in a jazz idiom and set in 1920s New Orleans. This leaden production, titled Songbird, opened Saturday night in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Offenbach’s opéra bouffe in three acts, set to a libretto by H ..read more
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Music finds renewed life at French Embassy with L’Opéra Comique’s game Offenbach
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
2w ago
L’Opéra Comique de Washington performed Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne Friday evening at La Maison Française. Photo: WCR Quelle surprise to have the regional lacuna of Jacques Offenbach’s operettas filled twice this weekend. Before Washington National Opera’s adaptation of La Périchole, opening tonight, comes a new company called L’Opéra Comique de Washington. Founded last year by conductor Simon Charette, it presented a concert performance of the composer’s La Vie Parisienne Friday evening at La Maison Française (the French Embassy). The libretto, by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, is set ..read more
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Koh and Mazzoli branch out from traditional chamber concert with uneven results
Washington Classical Review
by Charles T. Downey
3w ago
Jennifer Koh and Missy Mazzoli performed at the Kennedy Center’s Studio K Friday night. Photo: Derek Baker Jennifer Koh took over as artistic director of the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series at the Kennedy Center in late 2022. The programming may still bear the mark of her predecessor, Joseph Kalichstein, but her performances this season offer a glimpse into the dual future of this esteemed series. Last December, she partnered with her mentor, violinist Jaime Laredo, in a nod to the past, while Friday night’s concert with composer Missy Mazzoli reached for something new and different. Ko ..read more
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