2005-2006 Season Schedule
All events are in Coolidge Auditorium and start at 8:00 pm unless otherwise noted.
| Date | Artist / Event | Description / Program |
|---|---|---|
Wednesday, September 20 |
CARTER
FAMILY TRIBUTE
This year, one of the recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship Award is country singer and autoharp player Janette Carter, one of A.P. and Sara's daughters. Janette has labored for years to preserve the legacy of the Carter Family, and in 1979 founded the Hiltons, Virginia music venue The Carter Family Fold. In honor of Janette's achievement as a performer and an organizer, the American Folklife Center will present a Carter Family Tribute Concert, featuring prominent country and old-time musicians, hosted by Joe Wilson, former director of the National Council for Traditional Arts. |
The Original Carter Family was the most influential group in early country music, recording dozens of hit songs between 1927 and 1941. Made up of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara Carter, and her cousin Maybelle Carter (who got the Carter surname by marrying A.P.'s brother Ezra), the group established many of the conventions of the genre, including styles of guitar playing and vocal harmony that remained standard for years. The Carters also collected and arranged many folk songs from both white and black traditions, bringing folk ballads, lyric songs and blues firmly into popular Country music. |
| Friday, September 30 | DAEDALUS
QUARTET "Like its namesake, the Daedalus Quartet creates gorgeous and innovative structures. And like his son Icarus, it likes to play a little close to the edge." |
Opening with a work commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, the Daedalus Quartet is joined by Donald Weilerstein, founding primarius of the esteemed Cleveland Quartet, as guest violist in one of Mozart's late string quintets. Prokofiev String Quartet no. 1, op. 50. (Coolidge
commission) |
| Saturday, October 8 | CHAMBER MUSIC OF TORU TAKEMITSU Takemitsu's "idiosyncratic sound world was a realm in which passions and philosophies mingled." Part of the Toru Takemitsu 75th Birthday Celebration in the Library of Congress. Funded in part by the Japan Foundation. |
An evening of chamber music by a seminal figure in twentieth-century music who bridged Eastern and Western traditions--including his string quartet A way a Lone, Stanza II for harp and tape, Air for flute, and other pieces--performed by flutist Paula Robison, violinist Shoko Aki, violist Maria Lambros, harpist Naoko Yoshino, cellist Evelyn Elsing, pianist Audrey Andrist, and the Potomac String Quartet. Artistic director/conductor: Masatoshi Mitsumoto. |
Wednesday, October 12 |
NEGURA
PERUANA |
Negrura Peruana performs the music and dance of Peru's African and criollo population from the coastal region just to the south of Lima, the nation's capital. Group members emigrated from Lima to the Hartford area of Connecticut about ten years ago and formed Negrura Peruana in 2002. Group members learned their music, dances and songs in their neighborhoods in Peru, where music was an important part of celebrations, gatherings, and informal competitions. Since its founding Negrura Peruana has become a popular attraction at events held by the growing Peruvian community in Connecticut. |
| Friday, October 14 | VERMEER
QUARTET A "sense of buoyancy" elevated the Vermeer's performance "to a special category of excellence." ~ Battersby's playing was beautifully etched--sometimes, feather light and with crystalline runs, at other times--brilliant and forceful." |
A highlight of the program is the first piano quintet of Ernst von Dohnányi--the work which "introduced this genius of a composer at the height of the purest art." Haydn Quartet in G Major, op. 76, no. 1 |
| Monday, October 17 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
The Gene Krupa Story (1959) - stars Sal Mineo, whose drumming on-screen is ghosted by the popular swing jazz drummer himself, and Shelly Manne and Red Nichols in featured roles. Clyde Hurley, Al Morgan and Bobby Troup, Bix Beiderbecke, Bunny Berigan, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, and Frankie Trumbauer are played by actors. |
| Monday, October 17 | CHICK COREA'S TOUCHSTONE QUINTET ". . . Spanish rhythms were given new twists by . . . Corea's inventiveness." |
With the core members of Paco de Lucia's band--Carles Benavent, Tom Brechtlein, Jorge Pardo, and Rubem Dantas--the twelve-time Grammy Award winner revisits the heart of his Spanish-influenced compositions from his classic Touchstone album continuing his flamenco-based explorations with a new set of music for this innovative quintet. |
| Tuesday, October 18 | WÜRTTEMBERG
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA HEILBRONN Co-sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the Adolf Cluss Exhibition at the Charles Sumner School Museum. For more information: www.adolf-cluss.org 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Denise Gallo, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) |
A rare U.S. appearance of this outstanding chamber orchestra from the industrial city of Heilbronn, led by its music director--dubbed a "young Bernstein" by several critic--joined by the prizewinning protége of Anne-Sophie Mutter in Mozart's fifth violin concerto. Mendelssohn Sinfonia no. 10 in B minor |
| Wednesday, October 19 | BORODIN
QUARTET " . . . the Russian soul speaking longingly out of the instruments. . ." |
Founding cellist Valentin Berlinsky celebrates his eightieth year and six decades with the world's longest-lived string quartet, which has imparted the distinctive Russian tradition of string playing to hosts of younger musicians including the current members of the group--in works for which the Borodin Quartet has attained legendary status. Borodin String Quartet no. 1 in A Major |
| Monday, October 24 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIESSeries Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
The Connection (1961) - winner of the Critic's Prize at Cannes, Shirley Clarke's controversial film based on the play by Jack Gelber "captures the be-bop infused counter-culture of the early 1960s" with notable appearances by saxophonist Jackie McLean and pianist Freddie Redd playing drug addicts waiting for their connection. One Night with Blue Note (2003) - Jackie McLean in an excerpt from the historic Town Hall reunion concert on February 22, 1985, marking the revival of the Blue Note label. |
| Friday, October 28 ~ Founder's Day Concert | THOMAS
GALLANT, oboe Gallant's playing is "elegantly songful . . . with a vocal quality many singers might envy." ~ The Corigliano displays "abundant commitment and mastery." |
Included in the Library's annual tribute to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and her legacy is a piece she wrote for her son Sprague, an accomplished oboist, and two contemporary works--a recent work of one of the most respected American composers and a piece written for Thomas Gallant and the Kronos Quartet. Coolidge Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1947) |
| Monday, October 31 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
Sweet Love, Bitter (1966) - a film adaptation of John A. Williams's novel, Night Song, about a jazz saxophonist, Richie "Eagle" Coles--a character based loosely on Charlie "Bird" Parker and played by Dick Gregory. Also stars Don Murray, Diane Varsi, and Robert Hooks with music bu Mal Waldron and Charles McPherson. Jazz at the Philharmonic (1950) - Director Gjon Mili's unfinished follow-up to his groundbreaking film Jammin' The Blues stars Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Harry "Sweets Edison, Bill Harris, Lester Young, Flip Phillips, Hank Jones, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, and Ella Fitzgerald in a series of startling lip-synched studio performances. |
| Thursday, November 3 | JERUSALEM
TRIO "Youthful zest and virtuosity abound in intensely emotional readings" by the Jerusalem Trio. Fiterstein's playing is "dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility, and range." Presented in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel. |
First performed in 1941 for five thousand inmates in a German prison camp, Messiaen's mystical piece is performed by Israel's leading piano trio and one of today's rising virtuoso clarinetists. Haydn Piano Trio in A Major, Hob. XV:18 |
Saturday, November 5 2:00 p.m. in the Coolidge Auditorium (No tickets required) |
Lecture-Concert by Alan Mandel: |
Washington, D.C. pianist-composer Alan Mandel in a presentation of piano music by Alexander Reinagle, Amy Beach, Edward MacDowell, Charles Ives, Elie Siegmeister, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and his own work newly commissioned by the William and Adeline Croft Memorial Fund in the Library of Congress. |
| Monday, November 7 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
The Cool World (1963) - featuring a jazz score by Mal Waldron and Dizzy Gillespie, Shirley Clarke's film portrays with "unflinching realism" the pressures that confront a group of young black teenagers in Harlem. |
| Wednesday, November 9 7:30 p.m. in the Coolidge Auditorium (Free; but reservations required) |
A NEW WORK - LIZ LERMAN DANCE EXCHANGE Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the
End of World War II: presented by the Veterans History
Project of the Library of Congress |
Copresented with the Harvard Law School Conference on the Nuremberg Trials, the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in a program of original works created with veterans and historians based on stories of wartime service, Concentration Camp liberators, and Justice Robert Jackson’s personal papers.
|
Monday, November 14 |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
Salsa (1976) - a documentary and performance film centering around the historic 1973 Yankee Stadium concert by the Fania All-Stars featuring Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Larry Harlow, Johnny Pacheco, Mongo Santamaria, Ricardo Ray, Bobby Cruz, Roberto Roena, Billy Cobham, Manu Dibango, and other stars of the Latin music scene in New York and Puerto Rico. |
Tuesday, November 15 7:30 p.m. in the Coolidge Auditorium (Free; but reservations required) |
IN THE SHADOW OF THE
HOLOCAUST Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the End of World War II: presented by the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress |
A cantata by the Chorale’s own music director, Donald McCullough, based on songs and writings of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps — a tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, among whom were American Jewish soldiers. The program will also include selected readings from the collections of the Veterans History Project. |
| Wednesday, November 16 at Noon |
DINEH TAH NAVAJO DANCERS |
Founded in 1993, the Dineh Tah Navajo Dancers promote the understanding of the rich cultural traditions of the Navajo "Dineh" people. Their performances include dances and songs such as the Corn Grinding Act, the Basket Dance, the Bow and Arrow Dance and the Social Song and Dance. The group is made up of young dancers from throughout the Four Corners region of the Southwest that comprises the Navajo nation. Cosponsored with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. |
| Friday, November 18 | KENNEDY CENTER CHAMBER PLAYERS "Chamber music never had such dynamic proponents . . . who exhibit an unsurpassed level of expertise and enthusiasm." |
One of the many treasures in the Gertrude Clarke Whittall Collection is the autograph score of the remarkable masterpiece by a sixteen-year-old Mendelssohn--played by members of the National Symphony Orchestra. Prokofiev Sonata in C Major for Two Violins,
op. 56 |
| Monday, November 21 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
Harlem Variety Revue (1955-56) - rhythm and blues variety television show hosted by Willie Bryant Part One: four episodes with Lionel Hampton, Bill Bailey, Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown, Honi Coles, Cholly Atkins, Sarah Vaughan, Amos Milburn, Joe Turner, Mantan Moreland, and others. |
| Monday, November 28 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
Harlem Variety Revue (1955-56) - rhythm and blues variety television show hosted by Willie Bryant Part Two: four episodes with Count Basie, "Big" Joe Turner, Martha Davis, Nipsey Russell, Lionel Hampton, Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole, Faye Adams, and others. |
| Friday, December 2 | AMELIA
TRIO "This trio plays with passion, sweep, and energy--big, bold, direct and un-self-conscious." ~ "Zukerman's magic flute is graceful and eloquent--an absolute marvel of sensitivity." |
Hear a trio for flute by Albert Roussel, considered by some as one of the greatest but least-known French composers of the twentieth-century, second only to Debussy. Beethoven Piano Trio in C minor, op. 1, no.
3 |
| Monday, December 5 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
That Rhythm, Those Blues (1988) - a documentary about pre-rock-n-roll rhythm and blues from the 1940s and early 1950s featuring Charles Brown, Ruth Brown, record store and label owner Bobby Robinson, disc jockeys Shelly The Playboy and Diggy Doo, and record producers Jerry Wexler and Ralf Bass. God Only Knows: Vocal Harmony--the Voice (2003) - this fascinating documentary includes never-before-seen archival footage of the Delta Rhythm Boys, the Moonglows, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Chantels, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, and others. |
| Wednesday, December 7 at Noon |
BIRMINGHAM SUNLIGHTS -- African American Gospel quartet from Alabama |
The dynamic Birmingham Sunlights are dedicated to carrying on the art of unaccompanied gospel harmony singing that has an especially brilliant heritage in their home place Jefferson County, Alabama. Formed in 1979 by music director James Alex Taylor, the quartet originally included James' brothers Steve and Barry, and Ricky Speights and Wayne Williams; Williams has since been replaced by Bill Graves. Upon becoming aware of the rich Jefferson County gospel quartet tradition they sought training from a senior quartet, the Sterling Jubilees, to learn songs traditional to the area. For over twenty years since then, the Sunlights have carried their joyful message all over the United States and the world. They have appeared at numerous festivals across the nation, performed in France as ambassadors of Alabama traditional culture, toured five countries in Africa and performed extensively in the Caribbean and Australia under the auspices of the United States Department of Information and the United States State Department. |
| Friday, December 9 |
ANDY BEY QUARTET "A deftly understated piano player and a singer with a heartbreakingly pure voice." |
The "elder statesman of jazz vocals" with a voice of phenomenal range in an evening of soul and blues and standards from the Great American Songbook. |
| Monday, December 12 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
Soul to Soul (1971) - Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner, the Staple Singers, Voices of East Harlem, and others in the legendary concert on March 6, 1971 in Ghana, West Africa, celebrating the fourteenth anniversary of the country's independence. |
| Friday, December 16 ~ Stradivari Anniversary | JUPITER
STRING QUARTET |
The young prize-winning ensemble carries on the tradition started by the Budapest and Juilliard quartets—playing the Stradivari instruments given to the Library by Gertrude Clarke Whittall to be played regularly in free public concerts. Haydn Quartet in B-flat Major, op. 76, no. 4
("Sunrise") |
| Monday, December 19 at 7:00pm |
JAZZ FILM SERIES Series Curators: Larry Appelbaum and Norman Middleton Monday evenings at 7:00 pm from October 17 - December 19, 2005 / Mary Pickford Theater / 3rd Floor / James Madison Building. |
Sam Cooke: Legend (2001) - archival footage and photos tell the story of the promising artist, including interviews with his father and younger brother, Lou Rawls, Aretha Franklin, Dick Clark, Lloyd Price, Gladys Knight, and many others. The Apollo Presents the Motortown Revue (1963) - Little Stevie Wonder, the Miracles, Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas, Mary Wells, and others appear in a vintage performance of the famous traveling show. |
| January 18, 2006 at Noon |
MISTER JELLY ROLL, MISTER LOMAX and the Invention of Jazz |
In 1938, Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe, AKA Jelly Roll Morton (1885-1941), sat down at a piano in the Library of Congress to record the first oral history of jazz. Seated nearby, asking questions and operating a small portable disc recorder , sat Alan Lomax, 23 year old assistant in charge of the Library's Archive of American Folksong. Join a celebration of the life and music of Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton and the release of the comprehensive CD box set, Jelly Roll Morton - The Complete Library of Congress Recordings, recorded by Alan Lomax (Rounder Records, 2005). The set chonicles a milestone recording session at the Library of Congress which both captured the repertoire of a pioneer jazz musician and constituted the first oral history of jazz. Writer and jazz scholar John Szwed and pianist Dave Burrell explore this unique legacy right where it was created -- on the stage of the Coolidge Auditorium. For more information, see -- http://www.loc.gov/folklife/lomax/lomaxlegacy.html. |
| Thursday, February 2 | CHAMBER MUSIC OF ROGER REYNOLDS Roger Reynolds, computer "Reynolds is at once an explorer and a visionary composer, whose works can lead listeners to follow him into new regions of emotion and imagination." |
The 1989 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer is known for his eclectic and experimental works that explore spatial, perceptual, and technological boundaries. A Library of Congress Web presentation of Reynolds's music is located at www.loc.gov/rogerreynolds/ Kokoro (1992; solo violin with real time computer
spatialization) |
| Friday, February 3 | CUARTETO CASALS " . . . a quartet for the new millennium . . ." 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Robin Rausch, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) |
Winner of the Yehudi Menuhin First Prize at the 2000 London International String Quartet Competition, Cuarteto Casals plays a string quartet by the unjustly neglected composer Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, who has been described as the "Basque Mozart." Arriaga String Quartet no. 3 in E-flat Major |
| Friday, February 10 | CZECH NONET " . . .Bohemian musicality and aristocratic elegance . . . . positively effervescent ." 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Karen Moses, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) |
One of the oldest continuously performing ensembles of its type in the world pays homage to Mozart with his Quartet for Oboe and Strings. The group introduces a piece by a protége and close friend of Martinu, and a reconstruction of the lost original version of the Brahms Serenade for nine string and wind instruments. Novák Balleti à 9 |
Friday, February 17, 2006 (rescheduled from December 7, 2005) 7:00 p.m. Coolidge Auditorium (No tickets required) |
PETER SCHICKELE No tickets are required for the lecture. Seating is first come, first served. |
Composer, performer, scholar and entertainer, Peter Schickele (a.k.a. P.D.Q. Bach) will offer a lecture on the history of the string quartet, titled "STRING QUARTET: THE DARK HORSE OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC: How the most European-rooted musical genre has come from behind in the race to embrace diverse cultural influences." |
Tuesday, February 21 |
KUIJKEN
STRING QUARTET Part One: Sunday, February 19, 2006, at 4:00
pm ~ National Gallery of Art 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Denise Gallo, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) |
During Mozart's anniversary year, these renowned pioneers of the historical performance practice movement will perform all six of the quartets dedicated to Haydn in two Washington concerts: the first at the National Gallery of Art and the second at the Library of Congress. No. 4 in E-flat Major, K. 428 |
| Friday, March 3 | ENSEMBLE
CORUND "This was angelic singing--musically unmannered and highly soul-satisfying."
|
Lucerne's impressive Swiss a cappella chamber choir presents "A Shakespeare Serenade," an evening of songs based on texts by the Bard and his contemporaries, by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frank Martin, Edward Elgar, Frederick Delius, and others. |
Friday, March 10
|
IAN BOSTRIDGE, tenor The Belcea's "tonal refinement goes hand in hand with an electric charge that can shock and singe . . . music-making of extraordinary magnetism." ~ "Bostridge and Drake mobilize a wide range of expressive skills to reinforce their pure musicianship." |
Fauré "La
bonne chanson," op. 61 |
| Friday, March 17 | SONGS
OF RICKY IAN GORDON
AND JAKE HEGGIE |
Mezzo sopranos Margaret Lattimore, Stephanie Novacek, and Mary Phillips perform song cycles by acclaimed contemporary composer-pianists Gordon and Heggie, along with duets and trios by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. |
| Friday, March 24 | BACH COLLEGIUM JAPAN Bach "played to the highest possible standards . . .with utter stylistic conviction . . . heartbreaking tenderness." |
Hailed by BBC Music Magazine as "Kings from the East," Japan's premier period instrument ensemble, acclaimed worldwide as one of the world's leading interpreters of Bach and his contemporaries, makes its first appearance in Washington. An all-Bach instrumental program features the Collegium's founder-conductor as harpsichord soloist. Orchestral Suite no. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 |
| Friday, March 31 | CHAMBER
MUSIC OF MILTON BABBITT 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Stephen Soderberg, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) |
Pianist Robert Taub is joined by soprano Judith Bettina and violinist Curtis Macomber, in a 90th birthday concert honoring the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize Citation for his "life's work," including a new work for violin and piano commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress. |
Thursday, April 6 part of The American Violin ... from Jefferson to Jazz -- April 6-20, a joint venture between the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, Inc. and the Library of Congress, with generous support from the Violin Society of America and select contributors. |
TURTLE ISLAND STRING QUARTET "...Turtle Island Quartet stands alone.." -- Los Angeles Times "Stands tradition on its civilized ear." -- People Magazine |
A singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings, the Turtle Island String Quartet fuses the classical quartet aesthetic with contemporary American musical styles. Exhilarating and irrepressible, the group has made forays into folk, bluegrass, swing, bebop,funk, R & B, new age, rock, hip-hop, and world music. No tickets required. |
Friday, April 7 part of The American Violin ... from Jefferson to Jazz |
JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) |
"The First Family of String Quartets" plays this concert in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, the national organization of the finest makers, dealers, and restorers in the United States and Canada. Schubert String
Quartet in A minor, D. 804 ("Rosamunde") |
Saturday, April 8 part of The American Violin ... from Jefferson to Jazz |
ELMAR
OLIVEIRA, violin "Oliveira has shown us the long-missed glories of violin virtuosity." |
An enthusiastic supporter of the art of violin
and bow makers, the first and only American violinist to win the
Gold Medal in
the Tchaikovsky International Competition is a champion of contemporary
works including works written for him, as well as of rarely-heard
works of the past.
Copland Sonata for Violin and Piano |
| Wednesday, April 12 at Noon |
DAVID & LEVON AYRIYAN -- Armenian music from Rhode Island
|
David Ayriyan is the inheritor of a long family tradition in music. He learned to play the violin and the kemancha from his father and from such illustrious masters as Nefton Gregorian. Mr. Ayriyan is a true master with an impressive list of performances both as a soloist and as an instrumentalist with international symphony orchestras. His astounding playing never ceases to enthrall audiences. Mr. Ayirian plays Armenian dance music, and will be accompanied by his son on the dumbek, a Middle Eastern drum. The kemancha is one of the oldest stringed instruments from the Middle East. Played in ancient Persia, it has continued to be used for both classical and popular repertoires in such areas as Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is a three-stringed or four-stringed instrument played with a bow, held upright like a cello. |
| Thursday, April 20 | JAY
UNGAR & MOLLY MASON "Jay Ungar and Molly Mason play music from the heart which reminds us of the best in all of us." |
Music from the heart and soul of America, performed by one of the most celebrated duos in American roots music—internationally recognized for Ungar's composition "Ashokan Farewell" that became the musical hallmark of Ken Burns's 1990 The Civil War on PBS. Sheet music from the Civil War era may be found in LC Presents: Music, Theater and Dance: http://www.loc.gov/ihas/ as well as in American Memory: http://memory.loc.gov/. |
| Friday, April 21 | BACH ALIVE! IN THE NATION'S LIBRARY - Washington Bach Consort, Founder and Music Director: J. Reilly Lewis 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Norman Middleton, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) A special collaborative project cosponsored by the Elinor Remick Warren Society, the Washington Bach Consort, and the Library of Congress. |
Second in a series of performances
exploring connections between the Baroque master and other choral
works found in the Library's
vast archives, which include the autograph scores of J. S. Bach's
Cantatas 9 and 10. The program includes the Cantata, Es ist
das heil uns kommen her, BWV 9, and twentieth-century choral
works by American composers. The series and past performances of
the Consort will be made available online at www.loc.gov/ihas. |
| Friday, April 28 | LONDON
HAYDN QUARTET "For all the fire and energy within them, there was always a beguiling lightness and clarity..." |
The British period instrument ensemble, joined by "transcendent clarinetist" Eric Hoeprich, presents three aspects of the composer--"Mozart Arranged, Mozart the Arranger, and Mozart the Divine." Mozart Clarinet Quartet in B-flat Major (18th-c.
arr. of Violin Sonata, K. 378) |
Friday, May 5 |
JACQUES OGG, harpsichord " Technically spectacular . . . suitably virtuosic, and always expressive." |
A professor at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Jacques Ogg studied with Gustav Leonhardt at the Amsterdam Conservatory and has an impressive performing and teaching career as a harpsichordist, fortepianist, and organist D'Anglebert Suite in D minor |
| Friday, May 12 | MUSIC
OF MORTON SUBOTNICK An innovator in electronic music and multimedia works performs Until Spring Revisited, a solo laptop work in surround sound, utilizes many of the important technological breakthroughs in the history of the genre. 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Stephen Soderberg, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) |
Brahms’s late masterwork, String Quintet in G Major, op. 111, and Dvorák’s charming and unusual Terzetto, op. 74, highlight an evening with eminent violinist Miriam Fried, violinist/violist Paul Biss, and an international quintet from Ireland, Holland, France, Israel, and the United States--participants in the Ravinia Festival professional program for young artists. |
| Friday, May 19 | CHO-LIANG
LIN, violin "In a galaxy full of radiant violinists, Cho-Liang Lin shines bright." ~ Schub is "pianistically flawless ... a formidable pianist with a fierce integrity." 6:15 pm: Pre-concert presentation by Susan Clermont, Music Division, Library of Congress (No tickets required) |
The virtuoso duo plays two sonatas in honor of the Mozart anniversary year and gives the first performance of a sonata by Bright Sheng--commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress and the La Jolla Music Society. Mozart Sonata in D Major, K. 306
|
| Wednesday, May 23 at Noon |
JAMES "SUPER CHIKAN" JOHNSON & RICHARD CHRISTMAN -- Blues Guitar from Mississippi
|
Sprinkled with stories about life in the Mississippi Delta, the music of James "Super Chikan" Johnson has been heard from Rovigo, Italy to Russia, from Dakar, Senegal to Dayton, Ohio. An energetic and exciting performer in the Delta blues tradition; he offers a variety of original and traditional music, spanning the blues spectrum from country to contemporary. Performing solo or with his band, "The Fighting Cocks," Johnson gives memorable performances to audiences from juke joints to elementary schools. His debut album, Blues Come Home to Roost, received wide critical acclaim, including three Handy Awards. He has released three CDs and was a 2004 recipient of the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. |
| Saturday, May 27 |
BARTÓK STRING QUARTET "...clearly one of the great quartets of the world." New York Times Following the performance, the members of the quartet will participate in a question and answer session with the audience. Co-sponsored by the Embassy of Hungary |
Named for the composer Béla Bartók, one of Hungary's most eminent cultural figures, violinists Peter Komlos and Geza Hargitai, violist Geza Nemeth, and cellist Laszlo Mezo are particularly admired as interpreters of Bartók's music. This program includes his Quartet No. 5, commissioned in 1934 by the Coolidge Foundation in the Library of Congress and now a centerpiece of the string quartet repertoire. Bartók Quartet No. 5 (1934)
|
| Wednesday, June 21 at Noon |
THE RIVER BOYS POLKA BAND -- Dutch Hop Polka music from Nebraska
|
Robert Schmer (accordion), Dave Beitz (hammered dulcimer), Jerry Hergenreder (trombone, vocals) and Steve Deines (bass, vocals) make up the River Boys Polka Band. They have played traditional Dutch Hop dance music together for ten years. All four have performed at traditional weddings, anniversaries, and other German Russian celebrations for 35 years or more in various groups. The term "Dutch Hop" can be used generically to describe all of the traditional dance music of the Germans from Russia in Nebraska, Eastern Colorado, and Wyoming. However, specifically, Dutch Hop is the name for their unique, quick-tempo polka dance that includes a slight hop that isn't present in the polkas of other ethnic traditions. That, and the inclusion of a hammered dulcimer, give the Dutch Hop its unique, lilting sound. In addition to the dulcimer, the other typical instruments in today's Dutch Hop bands are a piano accordion, a trombone, and an electric bass guitar. |
| Wednesday, July 26 at Noon |
NATASINH DANCERS & MUSICIANS -- Lao music and dance from Iowa
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The Lao Natasinh Dance Troupe of Iowa, based in Des Moines, is a group of Lao dancers and musicians trained in the Natasinh style of performance—the traditional forms, techniques, and character of performing arts taught at the Ecole National de Musique et Danse Laötien (founded in Vientiane in 1956 to preserve Lao music and dance traditions). The genre includes court music for royal ceremonies and the classical dance-drama based on the Ramayana, the Hindu epic that depicts the life and struggles of the Buddha, as well as music and dance performed for social and ritual occasions. In the early 1980s, the Natasinh Dancers and Musicians resettled in Des Moines, Iowa, thanks to Iowa’s Refugee Resettlement Program and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Folk Arts, which enabled the group to tour the region and the US. The main purpose of the Natasinh Troupe is to teach and entertain at Lao Buddhist celebrations and to pass their skills on to young dancers and musicians in the Des Moines Lao community. The Troupe was featured at the 2001 Festival of Iowa Folklife, the Iowa Folklife & Prairie Voices Institute, the Culture Café (Des Moines Playhouse), at the 25th Anniversary of Freedom for the Peoples of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, at several state and multi-state Midwest folklife festivals, and at the 2005 National Governors’ Conference in Des Moines. |
| Wednesday, August 16 at Noon |
MARY LOUISE DEFENDER WILSON & KEITH BEAR -- Sioux and Mandan Hidatsa storytelling and music from North Dakota
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Mary Louise Defender Wilson, also known by her Dakotah name, Gourd Woman-Wagmuhawin (wha' gmoo ha wi'), was born in 1930 on the Standing Rock (Sioux) Indian Reservation of North Dakota. She has spent a lifetime telling stories and performing songs and dances about the life, land, and legends of the Dakotah (Sioux) and Hidatsa people. Mary Louise first heard these stories at home from her family, especially her grandfather and her mother. Keith Bear's name in the Nu E'ta (Mandan) language means Northern Lights, or "He Makes the Sky Burn with Great Flame." A self-taught flute player, Bear has been performing since 1986. His critically acclaimed performances include traditional storytelling and the sacred Buffalo Dance, a ceremony which only honored tribal members may perform. During the summer of 1995, Bear made his professional acting debut in the feature film, "Dakota Sunrise." Born and educated in North Dakota, Bear lives on the Fort Berthold Reservation. |
