Concerts

Gladys Knight and the O’Jays at Wolf Trap

“Tonight is all about love!” proclaimed the Empress of Soul, Gladys Knight herself, as she and the O’Jays gave the crowd an amazing night out at Wolf Trap on Saturday, August 22, 2015. And indeed it...

Culture Club at Wolf Trap

They say that timing is everything, and that certainly seemed to be the case for reunited iconic ’80s sensation Culture Club who returned to Wolf Trap last night to ecstatic embrace. The nearly...

Idina Menzel at Jiffy Lube Live

Fighting both the summer heat and a summer cold, Idina Menzel nonetheless stormed the stage at the Jiffy Lube Live arena on Saturday, July 18, 2015, and blew the (figurative) roof off the place. With...

Maysa at The Birchmere Music Hall

There’s an earthy, primal kind of beat that pulsates through every song at a Maysa concert. It’s a sound akin to a heartbeat, a panting breath, or a sonic boom that touches the emotional core the way...

National Symphony Orchestra: ‘Back to the Future’ at Wolf Trap

On June 19, 2015, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts presented National Symphony Orchestra– Back to the Future. Music Director Christoph Eschenbach and Conductor Emil De Cou work with a...

Columbia Festival of the Arts: Day Two at the Lakefront

It was a hot day and a hotter night at the Lakefront but that did not keep the crowds away. Good music, especially free for the listening, is always a way to attract an audience. Folks listened while...

Kool & the Gang and Chaka Khan at Wolf Trap

Oh what a night – there’s a party goin’ on! Chaka Khan, Queen of Funk Soul, and the funkedelic Kool and the Gang were a red-hot double-hitter that rocked a sold-out house and packed lawn in a concert...

Mark Nadler: ‘Runnin’ Wild: Songs and Scandals of the Roaring ’20s’ at Starthmore’s AMP

Raconteur. A word seldom used nowadays. In the era of Twitter and short attention spans, good luck finding “a person who excels in telling anecdotes.” But flip open the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to...

‘A Prairie Home Companion’ with Garrison Keillor and Special Guests Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap

The Filene Center launched the summer season at Wolf Trap with another visit by Garrison Keillor and the news from . The United States Navy Band joined Keillor and the usual suspects onstage along...

In the Moment: Hylton Performance Center Presents Rosanne Cash on 6/26 and The Castleton Festival on 6/28

It’s never too early to begin thinking about summer entertainment plans, both venues and entertainment. Early this summer, the Hylton Center for the Performing Arts, entering its sixth season on...

Aretha Franklin at The Music Center at Strathmore

Diamond-studded diva dazzles at The Strathmore The house was packed Wednesday night at Strathmore Hall in North Bethesda, MD. It was crammed with a diverse, ready to rock audience of seniors, Boomers...

Pianist Alon Goldstein at the Odeon Chamber Music Series

Franz Schubert’s Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor is a sprawling, at times even rambling composition that takes a full half hour to spin out. Not even one of the world’s greatest living pianists, András...

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC to Host Dialogue on Equality Following The 3 PM Performance of ‘Born This Way’ on Saturday, May 16th

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC to Host Dialogue on Equality DC Event Takes Place in Conjunction with Born This Way Concerts and Debut of LGBTQA Youth Chorus Demonstrating the power of music to...

Guitarist Orlando Roman on The National Chamber Ensemble’s ‘Musical Gems of Mexico’ on Sat May 9th at 7:30 PM

This Saturday, May 9th at 7:30 PM The National Chamber Ensemble will be hosting Guitarist Orlando Roman talks about the concert. What is your relationship with Mexican classical music? Mexican music...

‘From Moscow to Hollywood: Songs from the Movies” at Russian Chamber Art Society

Even today, a trip from Moscow to Hollywood is not one to be taken on the spur of the moment. What must it have meant for those in the early years of the last century, artists and musicians seeking...

Rosanne Cash: The River & The Thread at Strathmore

The smoky, soulful singer knows how to make an entrance and how to keep an audience mesmerized. Rosanne Cash played at The Music Center at Strathmore on Friday, April 17, 2015. Her two-hour set...

Eileen Ivers at Wolf Trap

Eileen Ivers returned to the Barns at Wolf Trap for a rollicking good show filled with her unique brand of Celtic fiddle and traditional roots music like bluegrass, Cajun, French Canadian, and...

Pianist Martin Kasik with the Embassy Series at the Czech Embassy

Czech pianist Martin Kasik has an important historic connection with Washington despite relatively infrequent visits here. He was a 1999 winner of the Young Concert Artists series, which launches...

Audra McDonald at the Music Center at Strathmore

The amazing vocal talent of Audra McDonald was a like a breath of the most enchanting spring air and perhaps the first real sign of spring in the DC area as Audra sang from the “Great American Song...

‘Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms’ at The National Chamber Ensemble

The National Chamber Ensemble continued its eight season on Saturday, March 14, 2015 with a concert titled The Three B’s for Three: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms. The event took place at the Spectrum...

Focus Events: Susan Greenbaum and John Flynn

Welcome to Focus‘ 100th birthday party where over 60 folk music fanatics were in the audience to help celebrate the group’s centennial concert in Alexandria, VA. This is DCMTA’s first review of Focus...

‘When You Wish’ at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

The seeming “spontaneity,” humor, and freshness of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC‘s (GMCW) repertoire and their current concert When You Wish, which is being presented at Washington, DC’s...

‘Mozart’s Great Mass’ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore

If I told you that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra may be the most dynamic classical music organization in our region, you’d probably expect me to prove it with a report on a daring program featuring...

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC presents ‘When You Wish’ Tomorrow at 8 PM and Saturday at 3 PM & 8 PM at The Lincoln Theatre

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC presents When You Wish, a campy salute to music from animated movies and TV shows. Music and animation – featuring the music of Disney, School House Rock, Saturday...

‘Altan’ at the Barns at Wolf Trap

Altan played a high-energy show of jigs and reels and American bluegrass at the Barns at Wolf Trap. They may have also invented a new genre of music called “Greengrass.” For their latest album, they...

Fantasy & Fate: Tchaikovsky Masterworks: Lang Lang in Recital at The Kennedy Center

Virtuosity of the highest caliber graced The Kennedy Center Concert Hall this past Saturday afternoon as renowned piano superstar Lang Lang returned to perform at the established Washington venue for...

Meet the Soloists of ‘West Side Story + Roméo et Juliette’ Part 3: Adalia Jimenez

This Sunday, March 8, 2015 at 4 PM, Young Artists of America and Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras will present West Side Story + Roméo et Juliette at The Music Center at Strathmore. In our final...

Meet the Soloists of ‘West Side Story + Roméo et Juliette’ Part 2: Hailey Giddings

This Sunday, March 8, 2015 at 4 PM, Young Artists of America and Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras will present West Side Story + Roméo et Juliette at The Music Center at Strathmore. In Part 2 of 3...

Today: Sunday, March 8th at 4 PM at Strathmore: Young Artists of America And MCYO Philharmonic & Symphony Orchestras Present ‘West Side Story and Romeo et Juliette’

THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 8TH AT 4 PM AT STRATHMORE!! Shakespeare’s great love story is transported to modern-day New York City and Verona, Italy through a unique pairing of the timeless music of Bernstein’s...

IBIS Free Concert Today at 4 PM: QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME A Free Chamber Music Concert at Clarendon United Methodist Church by Susan Robinson

TODAY AT 4 PM AND FREE!! QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME A Free Chamber Music Concert Sunday, February 22 at 4:00 pm Clarendon United Methodist Church 606 N Ivy Street, Arlington VA “The most ethereally...

‘Patti Austin Sings Ella and the Duke’ at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Grammy and Oscar-winning songwriter and vocalist Patti Austin returned to team up with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a spectacular performance of jazz classics, paying homage to the brilliance...

Duke Ellington Orchestra at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

Once Charlie Young, conductor of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, invited the audience to the dance floor last night, they needn’t be asked twice. The band played to a packed house at the Bethesda Blues...

Todd Ellison and Friends: ‘The Romance of Broadway’ at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts

Todd Ellison and Friends delivered an early Valentine to audiences at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts Sunday afternoon. The Romance of Broadway delivered a charming musical afternoon...

‘Arlo Guthrie: Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Tour’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Fifty years ago this coming Thanksgiving, Arlo Guthrie and company take a truck load of garbage out of a friend’s house near Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Finding the local dump closed for the holiday,...

Wynton Marsalis’ ‘Blues Symphony’ at Washington Performing Arts at Strathmore

Last night, thanks to the generosity of Washington Performing Arts, DC audiences had the rare opportunity to see Wynton Marsalis in the fullest sense – as consummate performer, as bandleader, and as...

The State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico at the George Mason Center for the Arts

World orchestras are at their most interesting when they bring a blend of their native musical language with the European tradition that defines “classical music.” With the help of two soloists, one...

Motion City Soundtrack at The Fillmore Silver Spring

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, an artist comes along who changes your life in an immeasurable way: their art shapes you, comforts you, inspires and excites you…for me, these artists are the members of...

National Symphony Orchestra with Violinist Arabella Steinbacher at The Kennedy Center

It’s almost a cliché to sit smugly in a 21st century theater or concert hall enjoying a work that some original critic destroyed to his everlasting infamy. And audiences at this week’s National...

Laura Benanti at The Barns at Wolf Trap

You know how it feels to reunite with a friend you haven’t seen in a while? I’m talking about a good friend, the kind of friend where you can let time go between meetings but you pick up right where...

The Canellakis-Brown Duo at The Barns at Wolf Trap

Chamber Music at The Barns at Wolf Trap is a special treat for those of us who remember what music appreciation used to imply before enormous venues and well-dressed audiences prevailed. An intimate...

‘An Evening with Jason Alexander’ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore

Jason Alexander famously known for his role as George Costanza in Seinfeld, is also a seasoned, Tony Award-winning (for Jerome Robbins’ Broadway) Broadway performer. Last night with the BSO at...

‘What I Wanted to Sing When I Grew Up’ at The In Series

What I Wanted to Sing When I Grew Up is pure indulgence for audience and singer Fleta Hylton, a soprano powerhouse and DC institution. Billed as a lounge-opera-cabaret, Hylton basically picked all of...

Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Will Chase

With a vigorous veneer of Broadway polish and a subtle touch of “down-home” country warm –heartedness, acclaimed singer/actor (Broadway, television’s Smash and Nashville) Will Chase captivated the...

Watch Out, Washington: Here Comes Beethoven’s Ninth

Everybody knows about Walter Cronkite and his impact on television news. Fewer people remember or know about Cronkite’s great rival on NBC during the 1960s, The Huntley-Brinkley Report. Pairing the...

The Choral Arts Society of Washington Presents:’ A Family Christmas’

The young boy behind me had just celebrated his 10th birthday the day before and Mom and Dad took him to the ultra-entertaining holiday concert: A Family Christmas by The Choral Arts Society at The...

National Chamber Ensemble’s ‘Annual Holiday Concert’

It’s my favorite holiday concert and again this year I attended National Chamber Ensemble’s Annual Holiday Concert on Sunday, December 14, 2014. It was one heck of a fun sleigh ride filled with works...

‘A Capital Christmas’ at The Choral Arts Society of Washington at The Kennedy Center

According to Artistic Director Scott Tucker, music is what makes it truly feel like Christmas. The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s splendid performance of A Capital Christmas filled The Kennedy...

The Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic at the Church of the Epiphany

The sheer number of mid-rank orchestras in the Washington area guarantees a wide variety of musical approaches to holiday concerts. But the prize for the most boundary-expanding holiday program has to...

‘NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

There are many types of applause one hears in a concert hall—polite clapping, raucous applause, the awkward slow clap. Felix Contreras, the host of last night’s cheerful NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas,...

‘5 Minutes with Leo Sushansky’ and National Chamber Ensemble’s Holiday Concert is This Sunday, December 14th at 4:30 PM at Artisphere Spectrum Theatre

Leonid (“Leo”) Sushansky is a critically acclaimed violinist and the Artistic Director of the National Chamber Ensemble, Artisphere’s ensemble-in-residence, was interviewed by The Rosslyn Bulletin....