Classical performances in and around Richmond, with selected events elsewhere in Virginia and the Washington area. Program information, provided by presenters, is updated as details become available. Adult ticket prices are listed; senior, student/youth, military, group and other discounts may be offered. Service fees may be added. June 1 (8 p.m.) June 2 (3 p.m.) Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth & Grace streets, Richmond Richmond Symphony Valentina Peleggi conducting Verdi: Requiem Jennifer Rowley, soprano Guadalupe Barrientos, mezzo-soprano Rodrick Dixon, tenor David Leigh ..read more

7-9 p.m. EDT 2300-0100 UTC/GMT WDCE, University of Richmond 90.1 FM http://wdce.org J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049 Café Zimmermann/Pablo Valetti (Alpha) Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595 Francesco Piemontesi, piano Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Andrew Manze (Linn) Villa-Lobos: “Bachianas brasileiras” No. 5 Renée Fleming, soprano New World Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas (RCA) Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor Joshua Bell, violin Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner (Decca) Dvořák: “The Golden Spinning Wheel” Royal Concertgebou ..read more

Writing for The Guardian, the documentarian Kate Kennedy revisits the famous 1924 BBC broadcast in which cellist Beatrice Harrison played the “Londonderry Air” (“Oh, Danny Boy”) in her garden while a nightingale sang along. Or did it? Maude Gould, a professional whistler, or siffleur, who performed as “Madame Saberon” in music halls, claimed that she had been hired by the BBC to impersonate a nightingale in case the real bird didn’t sing during the broadcast. Kennedy, after examining the cellist’s papers and BBC archives, disputes the whistler’s story, noting that Gould, the partner of a Germa ..read more

7-9 p.m. EDT 2300-0100 UTC/GMT WDCE, University of Richmond 90.1 FM http://wdce.org Rossini: “La gazza ladra” (“The Thieving Magpie”) Overture Royal Philharmonic/Colin Davis (Warner Classics) Peter Schickele: “Spring Forward” David Shifrin, clarinet Miró Quartet (Delos) Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major Maximilian Hornung, cello Kammerakademie Potsdam/Antonello Manacorda (Sony Classical) Damien Geter: Quartet No. 1 (“Neo-Soul”) Inés Voglar Belgique & Ruby Chen, violins Jennifer Arnold, viola Nancy Ives, cello (Navona) Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 (Arnold Schoenberg orchest ..read more

Vahn Armstrong, concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra since 1993, will relinquish the position but continue to play in the violin section, the orchestra has announced. As concertmaster emeritus, he will continue to serve as the ensemble’s first violinist until a successor is hired. Armstrong, a Michigan-born alumnus of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay, has played with the New World String Quartet, and the orchestra and ensembles at New York’s Chautauqua summer festival. He also is concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony contingent that performs with Virginia ..read more

The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam’s storied concert venue, has reinstated one of two scheduled recitals by the Jerusalem Quartet after canceling the group’s appearance over concerns about protests against Israel’s conduct in its offensive against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza. The Jerusalem, one of the world’s pre-eminent string quartets, was to have performed on May 16 and 18 at the Concertgebouw; but the hall’s management canceled the dates after violent protests at the University of Amsterdam and fears that pro-Palestinian demonstrators might disrupt the performances or endanger the safety o ..read more

Apple is apologizing for its advertisement showing a hydraulic press crushing musical instruments, art supplies and other culturally symbolic objects, then opening to reveal its latest gizmo. Message: All creative endeavor can be compacted into our amazing little product. The ad, aired only on its YouTube channel, has been seen more than 1 million times. People who create things other than electronic devices were not amused, a problematic reaction in that creative types are among the prime potential purchasers of the product. A corporate officer admitted that the ad “missed the mark.” This is ..read more

I am medically advised to be cautious about attending crowded public events, including Richmond Symphony concerts. The orchestra is making video streams of its Symphony Series performances available to ticket-holders. The stream of this program was posted on May 8. Anthony Parnther conducting with Dominic Rotella, French horn May 4-5, Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center Anthony Parnther contrasted two modes of classical expression in a guest-conducting date with the Richmond Symphony, leading the Symphony No. 3 in C minor of the long-overlooked composer Florence Price, then turning to th ..read more

As the world marks today’s 200th anniversary of the premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, tests of samples of the composer’s hair suggest that the deafness and other ailments that plagued Beethoven may have been the result of lead poisoning, The New York Times’ Gina Kolata reports. Laboratory analysis at that Mayo Clinic found that “[o]ne of Beethoven’s locks had 258 micrograms of lead per gram of hair and the other had 380 micrograms. A normal level in hair is less than 4 micrograms of lead per gram.” “These are the highest values in hair I’ve ever seen,” Mayo lab director Paul J ..read more

7-9 p.m. EDT 2300-0100 UTC/GMT WDCE, University of Richmond 90.1 FM http://wdce.org Josef Suk: “Fantastiké Scherzo” Buffalo Philharmonic/JoAnn Falletta (Naxos) Rodrigo: “Concierto de Aranjuez” Miloš Karadaglić, guitar London Philharmonic/Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Deutsche Grammophon) Milhaud: “La création du monde” Eduardo Hubert, piano Dora Schwarzberg & Michael Guttman, violins Nora Romanoff, viola Mark Drobinsky, cello (Warner Classics) Lili Boulanger: “D’un matin de printemps” Orchestre national de Lyon/Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider (Bru Zane) Delius: “Brigg Fair” Welsh National Opera Orchestra/Ch ..read more