Front Row Washington

Mondays at 9:00 pm on Classical WETA 90.9 FM

Tune in on Mondays at 9:00 pm for classical performances by top local musicians and ensembles, recorded at venues throughout the Washington area.

This month we celebrate the National Gallery of Art and their concert series that began in World War 2. Now in their 78th season, they have presented more than 3,000 free concerts featuring some of the most prominent names in classical music in the United States and abroad.

Upcoming Broadcasts

Cellist Natalie Clein and pianist Dina Vainshtein

Presented by the National Gallery of Art

Monday, June 1, 2020 - 9:00pm

Born in the United Kingdom, Natalie came to widespread attention at the age of sixteen when she won both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians in Warsaw. As a student she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholarship by the Royal College of Music. She completed her studies with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. Natalie is a Professor at the Royal College of Music London and Music Academy Rostock. She plays the 'Simpson' Guadagnini cello of 1777.

Pianist Dina Vainshtein collaborates with some of the most promising musicians of our time. Now based in Boston, she is the daughter of two pianists, and studied with Boris Berlin and Arthur Aksenov at the prestigious Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. At the 1998 International Tchaikovsky Competition, she received the Special Prize for the Best Collaborative Pianist.

Featured performances:

Nadia Boulanger - Three pieces for Cello and Piano

Modéré, Sans vitesse et à l'aise, Vite et nerveusement rythmé
Frank Bridge - Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, H 125
Elisabeth Lutyens - Nine Bagatelles
Rebecca Clarke - Sonata for Viola and Piano

Fauré Quartett

Presented by the National Gallery of Art

Monday, June 8, 2020 - 9:00pm

The Faure Quartett has established itself as one of the world’s leading piano quartets within just a few years. Dirk Mommertz (piano), Erika Geldsetzer (violin), Sascha Frömbling (viola) and Konstantin Heidrich (cello) use the opportunities arising from these developments. They discover new sound fields in chamber music and perform compositions outside the mainstream repertoire.

The musicians of the Faure Quartett are pioneers in many ways. After they met during their studies in 1995 in Karlsruhe for the 150th anniversary of Gabriel Faure, they quickly realized, that this combination offered new insights into undiscovered repertoire. In 2006, they signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon, promoting them to the Champions League of the classic music business. They made highly regarded benchmark-recordings with works by Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn and pop songs from Peter Gabriel and Steely Dan.

PUBLIQuartet

Presented by the National Gallery of Art

Monday, June 15, 2020 - 9:00pm

Applauded by The Washington Post as “a perfect encapsulation of today’s trends in chamber music,” and by The New Yorker as “independent-minded,” PUBLIQuartet’s modern interpretation of chamber music makes them one of the most dynamic artists of their generation. Dedicated to presenting new works for string quartet, PUBLIQuartet rose on the music scene as winner of the 2013 Concert Artists Guild’s New Music/New Places award, and in 2019 garnered Chamber Music America’s prestigious Visionary Award for outstanding and innovative approaches to contemporary classical, jazz, and world chamber music.

PQ’s genre-bending programs range from 20th century masterworks to newly commissioned pieces, alongside re-imaginations of classical works featuring open-form improvisations that expand the techniques and aesthetic of the traditional string quartet.

Air Force Strings - The Latin American Spirit

Monday, June 22, 2020 - 9:00pm

The Air Force Strings is the official string ensemble of The United States Air Force. Stationed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C., it is one of six musical ensembles that form The U.S. Air Force Band. The Air Force Strings consists of 20 active duty Airmen musicians performing a wide range of musical styles, from classical symphonic selections and Broadway show tunes to classic rock, bluegrass and patriotic compositions. The ensemble often entertains audiences at high-level military and government events in a formation known as the Strolling Strings. Providing a multi-dimensional experience, the instrumentalists surround the audience performing from memory without the aid of a conductor.

As part of The U.S. Air Force Band, the Air Force Strings honors those who have served, inspires American citizens to heightened patriotism and service, and connects with the global community on behalf of the U.S. Air Force and the United States. The excellence demonstrated by these Airmen musicians is a reflection of the excellence displayed by Airmen stationed around the globe. Each member is proud to represent all Airmen, whose selfless service and sacrifices ensure the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the United States of America.

Trio Valtorna

Presented by the National Gallery of Art

Monday, June 29, 2020 - 9:00pm

Bringing together the gifts of three internationally recognized artists, Trio Valtorna formed in 2011. After performing together at “Music from Angel Fire” Chamber Music Festival, renowned violinist Ida Kavafian and French horn player extraordinaire David Jolley decided to continue in collaboration, adding the young pianist Gilles Vonsattel to complete the ensemble. Fred Kirshnit, writing in the New York Sun, called Ms. Kavafian’s artistry “meaningful and affecting”, while the New Yorker has praised Mr. Jolley’s “richly melancholy horn solos”, and David Weininger in the Boston Globe observed the “clarity and light touch” of Gilles Vonsattel. The ensemble promises to offer chamber music par excellence to audiences across the United States.

Recent Broadcasts

Barclay Brass

Presented by the Church of the Epiphany at Metro Center

Monday, May 25, 2020 - 9:00pm

Established in 2015, the Barclay Brass is an ensemble comprised of some of Washington DC’s top brass musicians. Performers of the highest caliber, Barclay Brass members are proud to serve as musicians in the premier military bands in Washington, DC. From the Pope to the President, these members have performed for some of the highest profile officials and ceremonies. As highly sought after freelance musicians, some members have performed with groups such as Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Empire Brass, National Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and many other high profile ensembles throughout the country.

All arrangements by David J. Miller unless otherwise noted.

Alban Gerhardt & Cecile Licad

Presented by the Phillips Collection

Monday, May 18, 2020 - 9:00pm

"One of the finest cellists around – expressive, unshowy and infinitely classy“ (The Guardian). Alban Gerhardt has, for twenty-five years, made a unique impact on audiences worldwide with his intense musicality, compelling stage presence and insatiable artistic curiosity. His gift for shedding fresh light on familiar scores, along with his appetite for investigating new repertoire from centuries past and present, truly set him apart from his peers.

Called "a pianist's pianist" by The New Yorker, Cecile Licad's artistry is a blend of daring musical instinct and superb training. Her natural talent was honed at the Curtis Institute of Music by three of the greatest performer/pedagogues of our time: Rudolf Serkin, Seymour Lipkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. Licad's large repertoire as an orchestral soloist spans the Classical works of Mozart and Beethoven, the Romantic literature of Brahms, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Rachmaninoff, and on to the 20th century compositions of Debussy, Ravel, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Bartók.

Z.E.N. Trio

Presented by the Phillips Collection

Monday, May 11, 2020 - 5:15pm

The Z.E.N. Trio – pianist Zhang Zuo, violinist Esther Yoo and cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan – met as BBC New Generation Artists in 2015 and have since performed concerts together for BBC Radio as well as across the UK, Europe, China, Canada and United States, including a debut at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival in 2018. In the 2019/20 season, the trio performs in North America, in a six-city tour to San Francisco, Vancouver, Santa Barbara, Boston, Washington and Miami.

Their debut album was released in 2017 on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring Brahms and Dvořák Piano Trios. Their follow-up album will be recorded during this season for the same label.

While the trio’s name, "Z.E.N." is an acronym for the three artists’ initials, it also represents the philosophy with which they approach chamber music making - the forgoing of the self for total togetherness.