What a difference a year makes! When I compiled last year's list of Fall concerts, I had no idea that a major nexus of performances would be shuttered. Washington Performing Arts, Washington National Opera, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts, not to mention visiting dance and theater performances have all had to find new venues in which to perform, thanks to the ongoing drama at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Looking on the bright side of this upheaval, we are now discovering or re-discovering new performance spaces throughout the Washington metro area. As WPA's season brochure declares, "the city is our stage." In fact, there seems to be an explosion of exciting concerts throughout the area this Fall. Talk about a rich variety of offerings!
October is pretty packed at Washington Performing Arts. Dance Theatre of Harlem performs their legendary Firebird ballet at the National Theatre. WPA's renowned Hayes Piano Series opens at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center and violinist Itzhak Perlman (a friend of WPA since the 60's) returns to Strathmore for a special recital October 14.
Washington National Opera made headlines last season when it declared independence from the Kennedy Center. This season brings Madama Butterfly beginning on November 7 to DAR Constitution Hall followed by Nixon in China, Idomeneo, La Traviata and more, in venues including Arena Stage, Harman Hall and Strathmore.
Meanwhile, Washington Concert Opera opens their season with Haydn's Armida October 24 at GW’s Lisner Auditorium.
Vocal Arts DC presents tenor Ben Bliss October 4 at Live! At 10th & G. George Mason University Center for the Arts features Voces 8; Choral Arts kicks off the season with a Community Sing on September 20th at the Sauf Haus Bier Hall and Garten, and Cathedral Choral Society opens with Rossini's Petite messe solennelle. The Thirteen offers “Brahms & Bonds” at Schlesinger Concert Hall.
The National Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 96th season with a season opening gala September 26th at Strathmore. The NSO's first subscription concert will be held both at George Mason's Center for the Arts on October 1, and Strathmore on October 2. Later concerts will have the orchestra traversing the DMV, from Strathmore to George Mason to Lisner Auditorium, to Schlesinger Concert Hall, to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland and the Lincoln Theatre in DC. Now there's no excuse not to attend a concert near you!
Fortas Chamber Music Concerts have also moved out of the Center, to the Beaux Arts Flagg Building at the Corcoran School for the Arts and Design at George Washington University. Director Jennifer Koh opens the season on October 4th with a solo recital titled “Bach and Beyond."
The Washington Bach Consort presents Baroque violinist Dangi Zeng in 2 separate venues—September 11 at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Old Town, Alexandria and September 12 at Live! @ 10th and G.
Folger Consort opens its season September 11-13 with Monteverdi's Legacy.
Choralis presents “Bach and Handel," October 25 at National Presbyterian Church.
The Library of Congress launches its milestone 101st season with a celebration of legendary flutist Sir James Galway on September 12th, featuring the world premiere of a flute sonata written by Lowell Liebermann in honor of Sir James. Boston Symphony Orchestra principal flute, Lorna McGhee is the soloist.
Over at Strathmore, National Philharmonic opens its season on September 19th with “Dvorak, Karpman and Beethoven”; the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is on stage on October 2, in a program titled “Stravinsky & Prokofiev with Jonathan Heyward”, and October 15-18, Marin Alsop conducts Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony and John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls with The Washington Chorus.
Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic presents “Myth and Majesty” October 4 at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.
The Alexandria Symphony performs “Carmen and Firebird” September 16 at Schlesinger Hall; Fairfax Symphony Orchestra offers a program of "Rachmaninoff and Saxophone Noir," October 10 at GMU.
Cellist Julian Schwarz solos in Jennifer Higdon’s Cello Concerto with Annapolis Symphony Orchestra October 2-3 at Maryland Hall.
In the chamber music realm, the Takacs Quartet plays Haydn at The Clarice; Murray Horwitz narrates PostClassical Ensemble’s “The Song is You,” an exploration of American popular song at the Klein Theatre at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Another PCE concert to note is “Your Brain on Music: Sound, Science and Soul” on October 16 at the John Hopkins Bloomberg Center.
The Phillips Collection features the Ariel Quartet & Orion Weiss (9/27);
Chiarina Chamber Players presents Transfiguration, October 4 at St. Mark's Capitol Hill; Daniel Hope and Maxim Lando open the season at The Barns at Wolf Trap, and at The Clarice, Zlatomir Fung Plays Bach Cello Suites.
This is just a sampling of what’s going on in town this Fall. The arts have never been more accessible. Chances are, there’s something new and exciting happening right in your neighborhood, making it easier than ever to support the arts!
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