2008-2009 Schedule of Events and Performances
Season-at-a-Glance 2008: Sept. | October | November | December 2009: February | March | April | May
All concerts are free but most require tickets (see ticket information and dates when tickets are available for each concert). All programs and dates are subject to change without notice. Please check this page for the most up-to-date information. Request ASL and ADL accommodations five days in advance at 202-707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov.
September 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 7:00pm
LECTURE by Dr. Annegret Fauser
After Pearl Harbor: Music, War, and the Library of Congress
Dr. Annegret Fauser from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, gives the second lecture in a series by members of the American Musicological Society who have done significant research using the collections of the Library’s Music Division.
Coolidge Auditorium (no tickets required)
October 2008
Friday, October 16, 2008 at 7:00pm - Coolidge Auditorium
SOLDIERS OF MUSIC: ROSTROPOVICH RETURNS TO RUSSIA
Emmy-award winning documentary film produced
by Peter Gelb and Susan Froemke
No tickets required.
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 8:00pm
COLLEGIUM
VOCALE GENT and KRISTIAN BEZUIDENHOUT, guest-director/fortepiano
"The singing is by turn luscious and full-bodied or restrained but with a dynamic tensile strength." (Ensemble Vocale Gent)
"A joy to hear and thrilling to watch...every note he played was lovingly produced.” (Kristian Bezuidenhout)
The Haydn Songbook (Hob.XXVb-c):
Moderato from Sonata in G minor, Hob. XVI:44
Der Greis, Hob. XXVc:5
Betractung des Todes, Hob. XXVb:3
Andante and Finale: Presto from Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:51
Der Augenblick, Hob. XXVc:1
Alles hat seine Zeit, Hob. XXVc:3
Verliebte Pein, Hob. XXVIa:29
Die Harmnonie in der Ehe, Hob. XXVc:2
Die Warnung, Hob. XXVc:6
Die Beredsamkeit, Hob. XXVc:4
Allegro moderato from Sonata in B minor, Hob. XVI:32
Abendlied zu Gott, Hob. XXVc:9
Wider den Übermut, Hob. XXVc:7
Das Leben is ein Traum, Hob. XXVIa:21
Lento “Consumatum est” from Seven Last Words, Hob. XX/1:1C
6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: "Homo Musicus: How Music
Began" – Ellen Dissanayake, University of Washington, author
of Art and Intimacy: How the Arts Began (Part of “Music
and the Brain”)
** JIM HALL TRIO has been rescheduled
from October 24 to March 20 **
> View concert details below
Please note: REFUNDS FOR TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE PLACE
OF PURCHASE THROUGH 11/7/08.
Friday, October 24, 2008 at 6:15pm
MUSIC and the BRAIN Lecture/Presentation
“The Brain on Jazz – Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Improvisation”
- Charles J. Limb, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Peabody Conservatory
(Part of “Music and the Brain”)
Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Saturday, October 25, 2008 at 8:00pm
Messiaen Centenary
CHRISTOPHER
TAYLOR, piano
“infectious zest and a real sense of music-drama”
MESSIAEN: Vingt regards sur l’Enfant Jésus
This admired mathematician-turned-pianist has gained a following for his blazing accounts of one of the great Herculean challenges of the piano repertory, performing from memory the composer’s contemplations on mystical love, “as if on assignment from the Divine.”
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: “Messiaen in War and Peace:
From Vingt Regards to Harawi and the Tristan trilogy”
–
Peter Hill, University of Sheffield and editor of The Messiaen Companion.
(Part of “Music and the Brain”)
Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 8:00pm
Founder's
Day Concert
FIREWORKS ENSEMBLE
"Labels did indeed cease to matter: this was just music, and it sounded like music to keep."
Fireworks frolics, waltzes, swings, bounces, and rocks through 700 years of party music. Dance tunes from an anonymous 14th-century work through Haydn, Johann Strauss, Jr., Duke Ellington, Copland, and Sapo Perapaskero, to the Bee Gees, AFX, David Byrne, R.D. Burman, and New Order.
6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Preconcert presentation: “Dangerous Music”
– Jessica Krash, George Washington University and Norman Middleton,
Music Division (Part of “Music
and the Brain”)
Friday, October 31, 2008 at 7:00pm
- Mary Pickford Theater
APPARITION of the ETERNAL CHURCH
A documentary by Paul Festa.
Paul Festa's 58-minute film captures the responses of 31 authors, musicians, filmmakers and dancers to Olivier Messiaen's monumental organ work. "Is it possible to portray, through time-bound, invisible sound, the spiritual, the architectural, the eternal," writes Festa. "Resolution abuts eternity, eroticism, asceticism, spiritual ecstasy, physical torture. Together, the music and its interpreters conjure something like what William Blake famously called the marriage of heaven and hell."
No tickets required. Seating is limited.
Reservations may be made one week before any given screening by calling (202) 707-5677 between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. Reserved seats must be claimed at least 10 minutes before show time, after which standbys will be admitted. Programs subject to change without notice.
November 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008 at 8:00
Messiaen
Centenary
TONY ARNOLD, soprano
JACOB GREENBERG, piano
“Together. . .a combination of stunning power and beguiling subtlety.”
This young soprano is renowned for her uncompromising performances and a pure, seductive vocal timbre. Her program offers Messiaen’s rarely-heard song cycle based on a Peruvian love song, “Harawi,” the first work in the composer’s Tristan trilogy.
Liebestod: Songs of Love and Death
Carter: Voyage
Mozart: Das Veilchen
Berlioz: Le Spectre de la Rose
Sibelius: Svarta Rosor
Kurtág: Requiem for the Beloved
Harbison: Breakfast Song
Adés: Life Story
Messiaen: Harawi (A Song of Love and Death)
6:15 pm – Coolidge Auditorium (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: "The Complete Works for
Violin and Piano" by Messiaen performed by Paul Festa, violin and Jerome
Lowenthal, piano. Includes: Theme and Variations; Le Loriot from Catalogue
d'oiseaux (piano solo); Fantasie (Washington premiere); and, "Louange
à l'immortalité de Jésus" (mvt VIII of Quatuor
pour la Fin du Temps)
Friday, November 7, 2008 at 8:00pm
TETZLAFF
QUARTETT
"highly expressive, probing and passionate performances"
Led by virtuoso violinist Christian Tetzlaff, who founded the group in 1994, the quartet appears in a few notable venues each season, making American stops this year including Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress.
MOZART: Quartet in D minor, K. 421
BERG: Lyric Suite
SIBELIUS: Quartet in D minor (“Voces Intimae”)Friday, November 7, 12:00-2:00pm
Violin masterclass with Christian Tetzlaff
Coolidge Auditorium (no tickets required)
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: “The Music of Language
and the Language of Music” – Aniruddh D. Patel, Neurosciences
Institute and author of Language and the Brain (Part of “Music
and the Brain”)
Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.
Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 8:00 pm
KUSS QUARTET
"provocative, driving, impassioned playing”
Formed by students at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, this stellar quartet appears at the world’s prestigious chamber music venues including Wigmore Hall and the Concergebouw and in its edgy Kuss Plus series at Berlin clubs, offering a mirror to contemporary music culture.
HAYDN: String Quartet in D Major, op. 64, no. 5 (“Lark”)
LACHENMANN: String Quartet no. 3 (“Grido”)
SCHUBERT: String Quartet in A minor, D. 804 (“Rosamunde”)
Friday,
November 14, 2008 at 8:00 pm
TAKÁCS QUARTET / MUZSIKÁS
with special guest MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN
“left its audience breathless, invigorated and delighted” (TAKÁCS QUARTET)
“a breathtakingly kaleidoscopic display of music” (MUZSIKÁS )
"Meticulously stitched together," a rollicking exploration of the folk and gypsy roots in Béla Bartók's research into folk music. The program features Bartók's Fourth String Quartet and Violin Duos counterpoised with dances from Transylvania and folk ballads.
Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.
Tuesday,
November 18, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The World in Six Songs: How the Musical
Brain Created Human Nature
Daniel Levitin, author of This is Your Brain on Music, will talk about his new book, The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature. He will then sign copies of his book, which will be available for sale. Open to the public, no tickets required.
Director of McGill University’s Laboratory for Musical Perception, Cognition, and Expertise, and best-selling author of "This is Your Brain on Music," Dr. Levitin blends cutting-edge scientific findings with his own sometimes hilarious experiences as a former record producer and still-active musician. Earning advance raves from reviewers like Sting and Sir George Martin, the Beatles’ producer, his new book takes readers on a journey of the world through six types of songs-friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge; religion/ritual, and love.
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 8:00 pm
MARK O’CONNOR & ROSANNE CASH
An evening evoking the life of the legendary Johnny Cash, with O'Connor's
work for piano trio, Poets and Prophets, and selections from his daughter
Rosanne's powerful album, Black Cadillac, plus O'Connor's arrangements
of her songs.
Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.
December 2008
Friday,
December 5, 2008 at 8:00 pm
American Creativity: The Composer-Conductor
CHAMBER MUSIC OF CHARLES WUORINEN
"A composer of acuity, vision and striking resourcefulness"
with Mark Steinberg, violin; Alan Feinberg, piano; Jo Ellen Miller, soprano; Lois Martin, viola; Fred Sherry, cello; Moran Katz, clarinet; Michael Atkinson, French horn; and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band.
WUORINEN: Sonata for Violin and Piano (McKim commission)
WUORINEN: The Winds
WUORINEN: Viola Variations
WUORINEN: A Winter's Tale for soprano and six players - text by Dylan Thomas
** CANCELLED ** (to be rescheduled
in 2009)
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: “Why Do Listeners Enjoy
Music that Makes Them Weep?” –
David Huron, Ohio State University; author of Sweet Anticipation: Music
and the Psychology of Expectation (Part of “Music
and the Brain”)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 7:00pm
– Mary Pickford Theater
Elliot Carter Centennial
Film: A Labyrinth of Time
Documentary by Frank Scheffer
A Labyrinth of Time (2006) Frank Scheffer's brilliant documentary illuminates Elliott Carter's musical development and projects his compositions in time, in a journey led by the composer himself. Beautiful pictures of the city of New York, of which Carter is a lifetime citizen, are used as metaphors, building a juxtaposition of Carter's music and its reflection on our democratic society.
No tickets required. Seating is limited.
The Mary Pickford Theater is located on the 3rd Floor of the Library's James Madison Building. No tickets required. Seating is limited. Reservations may be made one week in advance by calling (202-707-5677) between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. Reserved seats must be claimed at least 10 minutes before show time, after which standbys will be admitted.
Thursday,
December 11, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Elliott Carter Centennial
VERGE ENSEMBLE
Steve Antosca, Artistic Director
"A palliative for the sore ears. . .saturated with the traditional and the familiar."
ANTOSCA: kairos - time outside of time for violin, harpsichord, and computer (World premiere - McKim commission)
CARTER: Scrivo in Vento for solo flute
CARTER: Eight Pieces for Four Timpani
CARTER: Enchanted Preludes for flute and cello
SHATIN: Tower of the Eight Winds for violin and piano
(World premiere - McKim commission)
CARTER: A Mirror on Which to Dwell
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: A discussion with composers Steve
Antosca and Judith Shatin.
Friday,
December 12, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Elliott Carter Centennial
SEQUITUR
Harold Meltzer & Sara Laimon, Co-Artistic
Directors
“boundaries crossed among artistic disciplines”
CARTER: Double Concerto for piano, harpsichord and two chamber orchestras
BURKE: Over a moving landscape for bass clarinet and nine instruments
CARTER: Duo for Violin and Piano (McKim commission)
MELTZER: Virginal for harpsichord and fifteen instruments
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: A discussion with composers Harold
Meltzer and Steven Burke.
Thursday,
December 18, 2008 at 8:00pm
Stradivari Anniversary
HARLEM QUARTET
CARTER BREY, cello
“played
with panache" (Harlem Quartet)
“elegant, lithe, and supple performance” (Carter Brey)
This young all-Black and Latino ensemble opens with the Third String Quartet of an American pioneer, Walter Piston, and is later joined by Carter Brey, principle cellist of the New York Philharmonic, in Schubert's sublime String Quintet C Major, D. 956 -- his final chamber music work.
TURINA: La Oración del Torero
PISTON: String Quartet no. 3
STRAYHORN: Take the "A" Train
SCHUBERT: String Quintet in C Major, D. 95
Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.
February 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009 at 8:00pm
Mendelssohn Anniversary
CYPRESS STRING QUARTET
“Apollonian restraint. . . Dionysian exuberance”
Kevin Puts, “an emerging young composer who is turning heads around the country,” has written a work in “response” to Mendelssohn’s first and Beethoven’s last string quartets.
MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet in A minor, op. 13
PUTS: World Premiere of a new work*
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in F major, op. 135
Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.
* co-commissioned by the Library of Congress, Cypress String Quartet, Lied Center of Kansas, and the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center in Illinois. Visit the Cypress String Quartet Web site for more information.
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: A discussion with composer Kevin
Puts and members of the Cypress String Quartet (Part of “Mendelssohn
on the Mall”)
Saturday,
February 7, 2009 at 8:00 pm
HOMMAGE À BARTÓK
A new work by Kurtág commissioned by the Coolidge Foundation in the Library of Congress and performed by the composer and his wife Márta highlights an evening that includes selections from Kurtág's Játékok and Bartók’s Quartet no. 5 with the Keller Quartet
(Part of “Extremely Hungary – Art and Culture Beyond Your Expectations,” co-sponsored by the Hungarian Cultural Center of New York and the Embassy of Hungary)
KURTÁG: Excerpts from Játékok (Games) and transcriptions
KURTÁG: Hommage à Bartók (World Premiere)
KURTÁG: 6 moments musicaux Op.44
BARTÓK: String Quartet no. 5 in B flat major, BB 110
Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.
Tuesday,
February 10, 2009 at 8:00pm
Mendelssohn Anniversary
MIRA TRIO
Byron Schenkman, piano; Gabriella Diaz, violin; Alexei
Gonzales, cello
“a glowing depth of sound, a strong lyric impulse and natural musical heartbeat”
The trio is named after “Stella mira” (“wonderful star”) -- a red giant star also called Omicron Ceti. The special program designed for the Library of Congress’s Mendelssohn celebration offers a rare opportunity to hear Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Piano Trio, op. 11, along with her brother’s second piano trio, op. 66, and some of their Songs without Words.
HENSEL: Piano Trio in D minor, op. 11
MENDELSSOHN: Lied ohne Worte. Andante espressivo in E-flat Major, op. 30, no. 1
HENSEL: Lied ohne Worte. Andante in G Major, op. 2, no. 1
MENDELSSOHN: Piano Trio in C minor, op. 66
HENSEL: Il Satltarello Romano, op. 6, no. 4
MENDELSSOHN: Andante cantabile in B-flat Major
MENDELSSOHN: Presto agitato in G minor
MENDELSSOHN: Piano Trio in C minor, op. 66
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: Susan Clermont, Music Division,
talks about the Mendelssohn collections in the Library of Congress (Part
of “Mendelssohn on the Mall”)
Friday,
February 13, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Mendelssohn Anniversary
ATRIUM QUARTET
“a unanimity of musical feeling and intuition...only found in top-class quartets”
Founded at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, this young quartet won First Prize in the 2003 London International String Quartet Competition and the Premier Grand Prix in the 2007 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition.
MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet in F minor, op. 80
SHOSTAKOVICH: String Quartet no. 5 in B-flat major, op. 92
BORODIN: String Quartet no. 2 in D Major
(Part of “Mendelssohn on the Mall”)
Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.
Wednesday,
February 18, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Mendelssohn Anniversary
TRIO CON BRIO COPENHAGEN
JAMES DUNHAM, viola
“lucid elegance. . .blending polish and fizzing energy in fine order”
With the violist of the unparalleled Cleveland Quartet, the Winner of the 2005 Kalichstein Laredo Robinson International Trio Award performs the twelve-year old Mendelssohn’s Piano Quartet in B minor, op. 3, “a specimen of extraordinary precocity.” Also in the program is the only Song without Words written for cello and Beethoven’s monumental “Archduke” Trio.
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: R. Larry Todd, Mendelssohn scholar,
Duke University
(Part of “Mendelssohn on the Mall”)
Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 7:00
pm - Coolidge Auditorium (no tickets required)
LECTURE by R. Larry Todd
Reflections on the Mendelssohn Bicentenary
Hailed in the New York Times as “the dean of Mendelssohn scholars in the United States,” R. Larry Todd is the author of Mendelssohn: A Life in Music (2003), the most up-to-date biography of the composer whose 200th birth anniversary occurs on February 9, 2009. A professor of musicology at Duke University, Dr. Todd shares his insights on the Mendelssohn reception in the 19th and 20th centuries, and how different composers responded to his music.
Thursday,
February 26, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Insights: Exploring the Collections
CURTIS ON TOUR Special Performance
(Open to the public. No tickets requried.)
Gifted performers from the Curtis Institute of Music perform Stravinsky’s L'histoire du soldat and a new work by alumnus and composer David Ludwig, who is also the narrator of the Stravinsky piece. They are joined by a faculty member, bassist Harold Hall Robinson.
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: “The Birth of a Ballet
Classic: the Genesis of Stravinsky’s Apollon-Musagète,”
commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation. Elizabeth Aldrich,
Dance Curator, Library of Congress
Friday,
February 27, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Mendelssohn Anniversary
MENDELSSOHN CHOIR OF PITTSBURGH
Betsy Burleigh, Music Director
“impressive exuberance. . .clarity of rhythm and line"
Pittsburgh's largest choral group and the city's oldest continuously running cultural organization celebrates the anniversaries of Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn, and its own centennial.
MENDELSSOHN: Heilig (from Die Deutsche Liturgie, op. post.); Sechs Sprüche, op. 79; Psalm 55: Sechs Lieder (Im Freien zu singen)
RINDFLEISCH: Commissioned work
HAYDN: Selections from Partsongs, Hob. XV
HANDEL: Cantata XVI “No, di voi non vo’ fidarmi,” HWV 189; Selections from Messiah
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: Betsy Burleigh, Music Director,
Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh
(Part of “Mendelssohn on the Mall”)
March 2009
Thursday,
March 5, 2009 at 8:00 pm
BELCEA QUARTET
“irresistibly dynamic and compelling”
Established in 1994 at the Royal Academy of Music, this :stunning, unheralded British ensemble” has won top prizes at the Bordeaux and Osaka international competitions.
HAYDN: String Quartet in F-sharp minor, op. 50, no. 4
PROKOFIEV: String Quartet no. 1 in B minor, op. 50 (Coolidge commission)
SCHUBERT: String Quartet in D minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”)
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: “From Mode to Emotion in
Musical Communication” – Steven Brown, Director, NeuroArts
Lab, McMaster University (Part of “Music
and the Brain”)
Friday, March 6,
2009 at 8:00pm
BIRÉLI
LAGRÈNE and SYLVAIN LUC, guitars
“masterfully rendered. . .music that shines”
These brilliant French guitarists display an affinity for the legendary Django Reinhardt, playing off each other with “an almost telepathic ease and a delicate rapport that lights up the pared-down instrumentation of two acoustic guitars...turning pop songs into gorgeous jazz balladry.”
Co-sponsored by the Embassy of France and the French American Cultural Foundation
Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.
Friday, March 13, 2009 at 8:00 pm
QUATUOR
ÉBÈNE
“interpreters of rare understanding and communicative flair”
Three quintessentially French chamber music masterworks are heard in one program, in stylish interpretations by this young Paris-based ensemble.
DEBUSSY: Quartet in G minor, op. 10
FAURÉ: String Quartet, op. 121
RAVEL: String Quartet in F Major
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: “Halt or I’ll Play
Vivaldi! Classical Music as Crime Stopper" – Jacqueline Helfgott,
Seattle University and Norman Middleton, Music Division
(Part of “Music and the Brain”)
* Please
note: this concert was resheduled from October 24
Friday,
March 20, 2008 at 8:00pm
JIM HALL TRIO
“shimmering webs of sound. . . .crystalline and tranquil"”
World grandmaster of the jazz guitar and recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2004, Jim Hall has also earned recognition as a composer and arranger.
Friday, March 27, 2009 at 8:00 pm
NEW
ZEALAND QUARTET
RICHARD NUNNS, traditional Maori instruments
“fluid and energetic. . .moments of uncommon eloquence”
New Zealand composer Gillian Karawe Whitehead has created “an eerily haunting and compelling aural landscape” in her work for strings and traditional Maori instruments performed by her compatriots for whom it was written.
MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet in E minor, op. 44, no. 2
WHITEHEAD: Puhake ki te rangi (“Spouting to the Sky”) for string quartet and Maori instruments
SCHUBERT: String Quartet in G Major, D. 887
6:15 pm – Whittall Pavilion: (no tickets required)
Pre-concert presentation: “The Mind of the Artist”
– Michael Kubovy and Judith Shatin, University of Virginia
(Part of “Music and
the Brain”)
April 2009
Friday,
April 3, 2009 at 8:00 pm
DOMINANT QUARTET
"empathetic, insistent, and gritty”
The Moscow-based all-women ensemble, founded in 1995 under the tutelage of Valentin Berlinsky, cellist of the venerable Borodin Quartet, is making its North American debut.
HAYDN: String Quartet in D Major, op. 76, no. 5
VAINBERG: Quartet no. 8 in C minor, op. 66
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in E minor, op. 59, no. 2
Friday,
April 17, 2009 at 8:00pm
BRENTANO
QUARTET
PETER SERKIN, piano
RICHARD LALLI, reciter
"intoxicating . . .a revelatory experience” (Brentano
Quartet)
"uncanny clarity. . .entrancing suppleness. . .silken tone”
(Peter Serkin)
HAYDN: Quartet in D minor, op. 76, no. 2 (“Quinten”)
WUORINEN: New Piano Quintet (commissioned by the artists) Washington premiere
SCHOENBERG: Ode to Napoleon, op. 41 for speaker, string quartet and piano
BEETHOVEN: Grosse Fuge, op. 133
Saturday, APRIL 18, 2009 at 8:00pm
QUATUOR
MOSAÏQUES
"assertion and divine elegance. . . .with bursts of passion"
The Vienna-based period-instrument ensemble comprising former players of Concentus Musicus offers two of Haydn's great quartets in bold and impetuous interpretations.
HAYDN: String Quartet in G minor, op. 20, no. 3
HAYDN: String in F Major, op. 77, no. 2
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in C minor, op. 18, no. 4
Friday, April 24, 2009
at 8:00pm
GERINGAS
BARYTON TRIO
"liquid, passionate tone. . .an extraordinary range of hues."
A cellist’s cellist, Lithuanian David Geringas is held in high esteem in Europe as one of the great cellists of his generation. His trio with violist Hartmut Rohde and cellist Jens-Peter Maintz brings to Washington two programs that reflect Haydn's Italian and German Connections.
Haydn and the Italian Connection
TOMASINI: Baryton Trio in C Major
ROSSINI: Duo for 2 cellos
PAGANINI: Variations on a theme by Rossini for viola and 2 cellos
HAYDN: Baryton Trio in C Major, Hob. XI:82
HAYDN: Baryton Trio in D Major, Hob. XI:97Haydn and the German Connection
Sunday, April 30, 6:00 pm – National Gallery of Art (http://www.nga.gov/programs/music/)Saturday, April 25 from 12:00-2:00pm
Cello masterclass with David Geringas
Coolidge Auditorium (no tickets required)
Thursday, April 30 at 7:00 pm
LECTURE/DEMONSTRATION by Dr. Frank P. Baer
Touching History - Pianos in Perspective
Dr. Frank P. Baer, curator of historic instruments at the German National Museum, Nuremberg and fortepianist Ludwig Semerjian from Quebec, will share their experience of a journey into the land of the forgotten sound. Presented in collaboration with the Orchestre de la Nouvelle France and SMW World of Sound. Concert on May 1 (see below).
May 2009
Friday,
May 1, 2009 at 8:00pm
LUDWIG SÉMERJIAN, fortepiano
“dazzling virtuosity, uncommon grace and poetic temperament”
This Canadian pianist has been praised for his penetrating and highly original interpretations of 18th- and 19th- century literature on period and modern instruments.
Bridging Two Centuries: Haydn and the Road to Romanticism
SCHUBERT: Sonata in C Major, D. 840 (“Reliquie”)
HAYDN: Sonata in E-flat Major, Hob.XV:52
BEETHOVEN: Eleven New Bagatelles, op. 119
HAYDN: Sonata in A-flat Major, Hob.XVI:46
Friday, May 8, 2009 at 8:00pm
ETHOS
PERCUSSION GROUP
BERNARD WOMA, Master of the Ghanaian Xylophone
M’BEMBE BANGOURA, Master Drummer
from Guinea
"from the softest tappings to the heartiest roars, they achieved stunning
atmospheric nuances”
Classical chamber music and world music playing styles merge in this collaboration between two cultural treasures of West Africa and the acclaimed virtuoso quartet of percussionists.
Traditional music of the Dagara People and original works for the Ghanian
gyil
Traditional music of Guinea in the style of Ballet Djoliba
Chamber works for percussion by Steve Reich, Iannis Xenakis, and Robert
Levin
Saturday,
May 9, 2009 at 2:00pm
Insights: Exploring the Collections
THE REVOLUTIONARY VIOLIN
Lecture/Recital by Peter Sheppard-Skaerved
(Open to the public. No tickets requried.)
The French Revolution gave birth to completely new ideas of music and “violinism,” such as those of Marie Antoinette’s violinist, Giovanni Battista Viotti, whose classicism contrasted dramatically with the style of the arch-revolutionary Nicolò Paganini. Playing on the Library’s instruments, British violinist Peter Sheppard-Skaerved explores how Viotti influenced his contemporaries, among them, Pierre Baillot and Anton Reicha.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
at 8:00pm
TRIO
APOLLON
“poignant interpretation.”
Founded by soloists of the Berlin State Opera Orchestra, this trio comprises clarinet, viola, and piano, which Schumann described as “the most romantic combination of instruments.”
SCHUMANN: Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales), op. 132
MATTHUS: Wasserspiele (Dedicated to Trio Apollon)
BRUCH: Three Pieces from op. 83
FRANÇAIX: Trio
Saturday,
May 23, 2009 at 2:00pm
Insights: Exploring the Collections
BACH IN CREMONA
Lecture/Recital by Nicholas Kitchen
(Open to the public. No tickets requried.)
Violinist Nicholas Kitchen discusses and performs Bach’s Sonatas
and Partitas— with projections of the manuscripts—on five extraordinary
instruments in the Library’s Cremonese Collection — the two
Guarneris (“Kreisler” and “Baron Vitta-Goldberg”),
the “Brookings” Amati, and two of the Whittall Stradivari (“Betts”
and “Castelbarco”).
Friday, May 29, 2009
CAROLE FARLEY, soprano
JOHN
CONSTABLE, piano
“Every song brings fresh evidence of high-level artistry in
a contemporary style” (Carole Farley)
“all the musical reassurance that a soloist could wish for”
(John Constable)
Acclaimed for her portrayals of the title roles in Lulu and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, American Met Opera soprano Carole Farley has won several Grand Prix du Disque, Deutsche Schallplatten, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice awards. The centerpiece of her Library concert with the versatile British accompanist is her gripping interpretation of Poulenc’s tour de force, La Voix Humaine, in a semi-staged production.