Concerts

Review: ‘Jerry Blavat: Salute to Street Corner Harmony’ at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia

It’s easy to see that Philadelphia native Jerry Blavat loves bringing his favorite music back to town, and in turn the city of Philadelphia loves to welcome back one of its own. Blavat’s Salute to...

Review: ‘The Silver Age in Russian Poetry in Music’ at the Russian Chamber Art Society

The musical imagery of the material presented by Washington’s Russian Chamber Art Society is so distinctive that its substantial audiences actually crave the work that goes into listening to it as...

Review: ‘Valentine’s Day Concert: Armenian Musical Treasures’ at National Chamber Ensemble

Whenever I need a ‘pick-me-up’ I head down to the Rosslyn Spectrum to see a National Chamber Ensemble (‘NCE’) concert. This year’s Valentine’s Day Concert filled the air with L-O-V-E and wonderful...

Review: Washington Performing Arts Presents Chris Botti at The Kennedy Center

Washington Performing Arts Produces an Eclectic and Entertaining Musical Evening with Chris Botti I went to a Chris Botti concert and Cirque du Soleil and Led Zepplin broke out. Saturday night’s...

Review: ‘Cabin in the Sky’ at Encores! at City Center in New York City

I’d seen the film, but never the musical on which it was based. The original, with a score by Vernon Duke and John LaTouche, opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway in 1940 and only managed a...

Join Performing Arts Association of Linthicum (PAAL) for ‘Finian’s Rainbow’ This Sunday at 3 PM at North County High School in Ferndale, MD

Inspired by Joel Markowitz’s recent interview with J. Ernest Green, focusing on his upcoming Live Arts Maryland’s Finian’s Rainbow concerts February 12 and 13th at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts,...

A Valentine’s Day Treat: ‘Lovers and Lotharios’ at the Cultural Arts Center of Montgomery College

If you’re looking for a romantic date this Valentine’s Day, then check out the ‘Symphony of the Potomac’—Washington’s own community-based orchestra—which will be celebrating the art of love with a...

An Interview With Isabelle Époque and Bella La Blanc on ‘Bowie and Burlesque’

And the stars look very different today. David Bowie left us poor, mere earthlings behind last month but there are two burlesque shows in his honor happening next week! Philanthrotease is presenting...

Review: ‘Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Concert with Arlo Guthrie’ at Strathmore

Fifty years later, audiences can still get anything they want – but Alice is still not part of the package. Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Concert with Arlo Guthrie played to a packed house...

J. Ernest Green on Musical Directing and Conducting ‘Finian’s Rainbow’ for Live Arts Maryland on 2/12&13

J. Ernest Green is musical directing Finian’s Rainbow at Live Arts Maryland on Friday and Saturday, February 12th and 13th. He talks here about the decision to mount the recent Broadway revival and...

An Interview with Local DC Musician Kate Moran on The Rainbow Rock Band

Alexandria, Virginia native and musician Kate Moran is a renaissance woman! She started the Del Ray Music Festival, has a Ph.D in Special Education, formed the Kate Moran Band in 2006 and then the...

Live Arts Maryland’s “Finian’s Rainbow” Performed on Friday, 2/12@7:30 PM & Sat 2/13 @3 and 8 PM

Live Arts Maryland presents Broadway in Annapolis: Finian’s Rainbow, Friday, February 12th at 7:30 PM and Saturday, February 13th at 3 PM and 8 PM at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. With a dream...

Review: ‘Kristin Chenoweth: Coming Home Tour’ at Strathmore

To paraphrase an old expression, “big talent can come in small packages!” This observation was never truer than when the diminutive musical superstar, Kristin Chenoweth, took the stage at Strathmore...

Review: ‘Let Freedom Ring! Featuring Yolanda Adams’ at The Kennedy Center

The spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was present this past Monday, January 18th, in the John F. Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall for the fourteenth annual Let Freedom Ring Celebration. This...

Review: ‘Holy Holy’ at The Birchmere

The best way to celebrate artist David Bowie’s life is to attend a Holy Holy concert. Even David Bowie would have approved. The show played The Man Who Sold the World album with the drumhead featuring...

Pianist Brian Ganz and Mezzo-Soprano Magdalena Wór in Their All-Chopin Performance at Strathmore

Songs you’ve never heard of in a foreign language you rarely hear, performed by two artists who started rehearsing them two days earlier. What kind of a formula for success is that? This kind: When it...

Pianist Brian Ganz and Mezzo-Soprano Magdalena Wór Team Up for Special Chopin Concert This Saturday Night at Strathmore

They say the show must go on, and a set of unusual circumstances is bringing together two of Washington’s most distinctive classical performers this Saturday evening for a special concert at The Music...

The National Philharmonic’s ‘Messiah’ at Strathmore

There is a legend about the London premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah involving King George II. The story says that he was so moved by the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in Part Two that he stood and...

‘The Season Bids Us’ at The Folger Consort

The Folger Consort — this splendid, and lapidary jewel in the crown of the Greater Washington area, and indeed, “all the world’s a stage” when it comes to the Folger — opened its Christmas-season...

The National Chamber Ensemble’s Holiday Concert by J.M. Greig

The National Chamber Ensemble never fails to delight, and the “Happy Holidays” concert on Saturday, December 12, 2015, provided a sparkling start to the holiday season, with works by Strauss,...

Discovery Artist in the KC Jazz Club: Fresh Cut Orchestra

On December 12th, 2015, The Kennedy Center Jazz Club showcased a ten-piece jazz ensemble from Philadelphia: the Fresh Cut Orchestra. The show, located in a private room in the Terrace Gallery, brought...

The Washington Chorus’ ‘A Candlelight Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

No stranger to world-class performances, the Concert Hall of The John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts makes itself home to an annual musical favorite this month, The Washington Chorus’...

‘American Festival Pops Orchestra: Holiday Pops: Songs of the Season’ at GMU’s Center for the Arts

On December 12, 2015, American Festival Pops Orchestra presented Holiday Pops: Songs of the Season at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts’ concert hall. Founder and Artistic Director Anthony...

China National Traditional Orchestra’s ‘Rediscover Chinese Music’ at The Kennedy Center

Having just returned from China—where one of the highlights of the trip was hearing traditional music performed casually in teahouses and parks—I was curious to see how these simple melodies would...

BSO: ‘Tis the Season with Brian Stokes Mitchell’ at Strathmore

The Music Center at Strathmore was filled with the holiday spirit as the Tony Award-winning Broadway superstar Brian Stokes Mitchell joined Conductor Damon Gupton and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra...

NSO Pops: ‘The von Trapps and Stephanie J. Block Family Holiday’ at The Kennedy Center

With their annual holiday concert at The Kennedy Center on Thursday, December 10, 2016, the NSO Pops, joined by special guests Stephanie J. Block and The von Trapps, as well as the Washington Chorus,...

The Philadelphia Orchestra Presented by Washington Performing Arts at Strathmore

Composers wrote great ballet and opera music for two reasons. The first was to help dancers and singers to portray characters and tell their stories. The second was to have the music led in the 21st...

Fantasia at ‘An Elegant Evening of Giving’ at Strathmore

Queen of Rock Soul and American Idol winner, Fantasia brought the house down at An Elegant Evening of Giving benefit concert presented by Talking Hands Incorporated at the Music Center at Strathmore...

‘ReWrapped’ at the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

The annual Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) holiday concert entitled ReWrapped was a lively holiday treat that combined cutting-edge musical arrangements with a light, breezy, and...

‘An Acoustic Evening with Over the Rhine’ at The Barns at Wolf Trap

An Acoustic Evening with Over the Rhine is the equivalent of a big, warm musical hug. Everything, from their chords to their consonants, was soft and rounded with nothing even resembling a pointed...

‘An Acoustic Evening with Eric Hutchinson’ at The Barns at Wolf Trap with Anya Marina

Last night, American singer/songwriter Eric Hutchinson performed live at The Barns at Wolf Trap, a beautifully rustic venue that I’ve come to love. In fact, I’ll admit I was not too familiar with...

Cellist Amit Peled and Pianist Noreen Polera with Washington Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

Cellist Amit Peled is one of those practitioners of “serious” music who brings a kind of pizzazz that’s probably needed in the 21st century world of what’s generically dubbed classical music. His...

The National Symphony Orchestra with Guest Conductor Jiri Belohlavek and Pianist Igor Levit

The National Symphony Orchestra is doing one of its best guest conductors, Jiri Belohlavek, mostly proud this week with music from his Czech homeland. In the first of its three concerts this week, the...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Off the Cuff: A Season of Vivaldi’

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has some fun as they tackle Vivaldi as part of their Off the Cuff series. The series includes a smaller gathering of strings, about 35 in all, and an informal...

Quinn Lemley on ‘Burlesque to Broadway’ at The Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick This Friday @8 PM

Quinn Lemley is bringing her show Burlesque to Broadway this Friday night, November 6, 2015, at 8 PM to the Weinberg Center for the Arts, in Frederick, MD. I asked her to tell us about what audiences...

NSO Pops: ‘Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers’ at The Kennedy Center

It was an evening of American classics – from the pops program the National Symphony Orchestra played under the sure baton of Steve Reineke to the guest of honor himself, Steve Martin, winner of the...

‘Mozart and Friends’ at The National Chamber Ensemble by J.M. Greig

The National Chamber Ensemble opened its ninth season in style at the Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre on Saturday with a program entitled Mozart and Friends. After introductory remarks by guest host and...

The University of Maryland Wind Orchestra and Concert Choir Perform Anton Bruckner’s ‘Mass in E Minor’ at The Clarice

When you think of a 19th century Mass, you might imagine a grandiose piece of music, featuring a large orchestra, lengthy solos and dynamic percussion. Anton Bruckner’s Mass in E Minor, composed in...

Megan Hilty at The Barns at Wolf Trap

It was a “Smash”-ing evening at the Barns at Wolf Trap last night as Broadway and TV star Megan Hilty lit up the stage with some of her signature songs. Hilty’s vivacious and energetic stage presence,...

The National Philharmonic’s ‘Rienzi, A Concert Opera’ at Strathmore

Artistic risk-taking in Washington extends across many genres to numerous performing groups. The region’s vocal music scene certainly got a flavor of that on Saturday night in a one-time concert...

Bernadette Peters at ‘Arts By George’ at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts

“Let Me Entertain You” belted Bernadette Peters as she burst onto the stage to begin the Arts by George! benefit at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts. And boy did she ever—this diva of the...

‘The Midtown Men’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Ah, what a night! It was 1963 again, or there abouts. It was a carefree concert to recall a certain period in the ‘60’s full of happy days. A time of AM radio hits, high school and perhaps college...

Pianist Olga Kern and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore

Russian pianist Olga Kern is something of a cult figure because of her landmark victory in the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, captured in one of the greatest...

Adam Ezra and Kathryn Calder at Gypsy Sally’s

Sunday night, Adam Ezra and Kathryn Calder rocked the joint! Adam Ezra had a solo set of 45 minutes laying bare his vulnerability. In between his songs he shared the stories behind the music, which...

‘The Gypsy Baron’ at Victorian Lyric Opera Company

One might not be surprised to hear Johann Strauss Jr’s The Gypsy Baron described as delightful and charming, as that is what a late 19th century Viennese operetta aspires to be, but fresh and...

An Interview With Kathryn Calder Who is Performing Tomorrow at 8 PM at Gypsy Sally’s

Here’s my interview with Kathryn Calder, who is performing at Gypsy Sally’s tomorrow night at 8 PM. Canadian indie rock musician Kathryn Calder has found much success as one of the keyboardists and...

Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club ‘Adios Tour’ at Wolf Trap

Everyone at Wolf Trap tonight must have oiled their hips tonight as just about the whole audience was dancing in the aisles by the end of the evening to the Latin beats coming from the stage. The...

Kristen Chenoweth at Wolf Trap

Kristin Chenoweth, well-known for her impressive Broadway, film, and television careers, took Wolf Trap by storm on Friday night. Met with an enthusiastic audience of theater-lovers and, as she joked...

Melissa Etheridge: ‘This is M.E. Solo’ at Strathmore

Iconic rocker Melissa Etheridge has been tearing up the country showcasing her new album and old favorites on her This is M.E. tour. For this leg of the tour, she ventures out solo – just her and her...

The Beach Boys at Wolf Trap

Nostalgic Fun for all Generations: The Beach Boys at Wolf Trap Great music and good weather brought audiences out in droves to Wolf Trap for an unforgettable afternoon with the iconic band, The Beach...