Music

Review: Discovery Artist in The Kennedy Center Jazz Club: Elena and Samora Pinderhughes

Siblings Elena and Samora Pinderhughes are young, both in their early 20s. Samora is a composer and pianist and sister Elena is a vocalist and flutist. Despite their youth, the pair has been creating...

Review: Suitland High School’s ‘Mid-Winter Concert’

Prince George’s County Public Schools are filled with young talent. An excellent example of that talent is Suitland High School’s Center for the Visual and Performing Arts’ musicians and choirs. As...

Review: ‘koma’ at Solecalibur

It’s 2 a.m. His mind is racing, overwrought with memories of situations, conversations, and images of her. Music and film merge with poetry, rap, and movement to explore one half-hour inside one man’s...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Brahms’ Eleven Chorale Preludes, Bach’s Cantata No. 150, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4

The Philadelphia Orchestra set of concerts during the last weekend of February was one of the most imaginatively conceived in recent memory. The program consisted of selections from Brahms’ Eleven...

Review: LiveConnections Presents Harlem Quartet + Arturo Stable

Once again, LiveConnections Presents (“LCP”) curator Mary Wheelock Javian’s musical matchmaking has produced a lively evening of musical discovery. This time it was the pairing of the Harlem Quartet...

Review: ‘Famous Contemporaries: Music by Gliere, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tcherepnin’ at the Russian Chamber Art Society

As a novice opera aficionado, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Masterpieces of Russian Vocal Music: Famous Contemporaries, the Russian Chamber Art Society’s most recent offering at La Maison...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Mozart and Brahms

During the 44 years when Eugene Ormandy was music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra (1936 to 1980), he led almost every concert. There was scant need for guest conductors. Now the symphonic world...

Review: ‘Luther Re-Lives’ at the Publick Playhouse

The velvet voice and beautiful love ballads of one of the greatest R &B crooners of all time, Luther Vandross, lives on through the magnetic stage presence of William “Smooth” Wardlaw’s Luther...

Music with a Mission: Interview with Last Chance, a Great American Musical Duo

Last Chance, Philadelphia’s much-talked-about musical duo of singer-songwriter Jack Scott (vocals, banjo, and guitar) and Ingrid Rosenback (vocals, fiddle, and harmonica), has been performing as a duo...

Review: ‘Brooklyn Doo Wop Explosion’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre

Who put the bomp in the bomp be bomp bah bomp? Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? It these lyrics fill you with happiness in the remembrance of days gone by, then run to the Bristol Riverside...

Interview: Meet ‘The Duskwhales’

I first ran across the Duskwhales when they performed at the 9:30 Club on the Circus Life Podcast 3rd Anniversary Show in the Fall of 2016. I was mesmerized by their psychedelic dress, sound and...

Review: ‘Blues in the Night’ at Creative Cauldron

Ready for top-notch singing talent that brings the “blues” to vibrant, spicy full life? Then high tail-it to Creative Cauldron (Falls Church) to take-in a cabaret-like revue called Blues in the Night....

NSO: An Evening with Joshua Bell at The Kennedy Center

It has been said that Joshua Bell may be the greatest violinist active today. After listening to him play, as well as conduct, at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra...

Review: ‘RIN: Tales From the Life of a Troubadour’ Starring Rinde Eckert at The Kennedy Center

The acclaimed writer, composer, librettist, physician, performer, and director Rinde Eckert delighted and amazed the crowd on Friday evening at the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater. Eckert allowed the...

Maryland Opera Studio to Premiere University of MD’s Opera Composition Contest Winner ‘The Young King’ on Friday, 2/10@7:30 PM at The Clarice

The first-year members of the Maryland Opera Studio present a semi-staged New Work Reading every year, but this year’s reading is unique. On February 10, the Maryland Opera Studio premieres the...

Review: ‘Jerry Blavat’s Gospel, Soul and Doo Wop Reunion’ at The Kimmel Center

Jerry Blavat, “a Philadelphia borne dancer, radio and television disc jockey, performer, entertainer, producer and nightclub owner” (according to the program insert), produced his 38th show at The...

Review: LiveConnections Presents Nicholas Photinos + Florent Ghys at World Cafe Live

Nicholas Photinos’ and Florent Ghys’ evening of “string innovations” was another successful pairing for LiveConnections Presents’ ambitious curator Mary Wheelock Javian. Her 2016-17 season “is focused...

Review: ‘Surviving Twin’ at People’s Light

Well-known to audiences for his offbeat 1972 novelty song “Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road)” and his appearances as the singing guitar-playing Captain Calvin Spalding on the popular TV series...

Review: Washington Performing Arts Presents The Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Conductor

It is easy to understand why The Philadelphia Orchestra has tapped Yannick Nézet-Séguin to be their music director and conductor of such a prestigious institution. Yannick exudes charisma and delivers...

Review: ‘Broadway Up Close: Vanessa Williams’ at the Kimmel Center

Continuing the exciting season of Broadway Up Close concerts on Saturday at the Kimmel Center, Seth Rudetsky hosted Broadway and recording star Vanessa Williams for an evening of her career highlights...

Review: ‘An Acoustic Evening with Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt’ at Strathmore

There are very few things that could get me to uproot and move to Texas. Actually, there is just one thing, and his name is Lyle Lovett. Luckily, this long tall Texan graced the stage of Maryland’s...

Review and Article: The Dover Quartet at the Kennedy Center Family Theater

Lord knows there are a lot of young string quartets out there trying to make an impact on both classical music and the cultural scene generally. They even have their own competitions to try to sort...

Review #2: The American Pops Orchestra Presents ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade: 75 Years Of Streisand’ at Lisner Auditorium

8-track tape: It’s the only medium of Barbra Streisand recordings that I do not own. LP, cassette, VHS, CD, DVD, mp3, mp4 … I have purchased some of Streisand’s work in two or three (for some movie...

Review: National Symphony Orchestra: Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebird’ and Ravel’s ‘Left Hand’ Concerto

With a program packed with masterpieces from Russian and French composers, Sir Mark Elder conducted the National Symphony Orchestra. Sir Mark Elder opened the night sharing some words on the program...

Review #1: ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade: 75 Years of Streisand’ at The American Pops

Streisand came to DC for a quick pre-inauguration visit. Well almost, but not quite. Well, maybe my first sentence is a little bit of a “fake news” headline. I am writing about a blissful, musically...

Review: ‘Salute to Vienna: A New Year’s Concert’ by Strauss Symphony of America at The Music Center at Strathmore

The Music Center at Strathmore celebrated the start of 2017 with Salute to Vienna. This annual tour, produced by Attila Glatz Concert Productions, featured the Strauss Symphony of America, conducted...

Review: Handel’s ‘Messiah’ by NSO at The Kennedy Center

Messiah is perhaps the best known of the German-born but London-settled composer George Frideric Handel. Profoundly religious, the three-part Oratorio moves from the prophecy of Christ to his death...

Review #2: The Christmas Revels’ ‘A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice in Music, Dance, and Drama’ at Lisner Auditorium by Morgan Hoover

This Christmas Revels’ 2016 spectacle A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice in Music, Dance, and Drama revisits the wonderful culture, myths, songs, dances, regional costumes of Iceland, Norway,...

Review: The Christmas Revels’ ‘A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice in Music, Dance, and Drama’ at Lisner Auditorium

The Winter Solstice is still several days away, but that shortest and often darkest day of the year will be a great treat for anyone observing it, with the crowds who headed last weekend to a packed...

Review: ‘Mannheim Steamroller Christmas’ By Chip Davis at Strathmore

A large, stylish Christmas crowd was on hand Sunday night as Mannheim Steamroller “steamrolled” into Bethesda’s Music Center at Strathmore to perform Mannheim Steamroller Christmas By Chip Davis,...

Review: ‘Masterpieces of Russian Vocal Music: Enchanted Evening of Vocal & Piano Duets’ at Russian Chamber Art Society

If there is one thing that those of us in the DC metropolitan area can be sure of when it comes to classical music, it is that finding great examples of it on virtually any night of the week will not...

Review: ‘10 Synchronisms’ at A Change of Harp

Conceived and directed by Elizabeth Huston, the current two-night presentation of 10 Synchronisms by Argentine-American composer Mario Davidovsky–created between 1963 and 2006, and produced here by A...

Review: ‘A Merry Little Christmas with Megan Hilty’ at The Kennedy Center

If the slightly warmer weather than normal for this time of year is making it hard for you to get into the holiday mood, head to The Kennedy Center for A Merry Little Christmas with Megan Hilty and...

Review: The Capital Hearings at AMP by Strathmore

I came to review the venue as well as the performance so I need to share a bit about both. First of all AMP by Strathmore is a swanky nightclub nestled at the corner of Montrose Road and Rockville...

Review: ‘Diana Ross – All the Best of Times’ with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center

Singer extraordinaire Diana Ross is a musical legend and she proved it last night in a concert at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. Presenting a showcase full of golden oldies as well as some classic...

Review: ‘The Outer Space’ at SEI Innovation Studio at The Kimmel Center

The Outer Space, is a new musical by Ethan Lipton. This production, at SEI Innovation Studio at the Kimmel Center, is like a cabaret with a narrative, weaving humor, storytelling and music together....

Review: ‘SYBARITE5 and Jakub Ciupinski’ at LiveConnection at World Cafe

LiveConnection Presents’ evening of Sybarite5 + Jakub Ciupinski treated its World Cafe audience to two exciting young exemplars of new music. Sybarite5 is a string quintet that is rapidly gaining...

In the Moment: Interviews with the Cast, Composer, Director, and Artistic Director of The Hub Theatre’s ‘The Magi’ Opening This Weekend

The Hub Theatre will present a premiere musical, The Magi by local playwright Helen Murray Pafumi with music by singer/songwriter Eli Pafumi. This is a unique collaboration between them. The Magiis a...

Review: ‘Sly & The Family Stone’ Celebrate Their 50th Anniversary

Legendary soul group Sly & The Family Stone grooved and moved the audience with unfiltered funky beats and unparalleled energy at Montgomery College’s Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center in a...

Review: The Choral Arts Society of Washington Presents ‘Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5’ at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall

It was a chilly night, fitting for a change of pace, when the Choral Arts Society of Washington performed Hector Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5 Grande Messe des Morts to a buoyant crowd at The Kennedy Center...

Review: ‘Andrea Marcovicci: A Gershwin Valentine’ at The RRazz Room

The miraculous Andrea Marcovicci briefly returned to Philadelphia. One of the grandest divas of cabaret, Ms. Marcovicci seemed to own the fabled Oak Room in the Algonquin Hotel for over 25 years. That...

Review: ‘Metropolis’ at Constellation Theatre Company

Percussion and film enthusiasts, listen up! For five nights only, Constellation Theatre Company presents a unique combination of the silent-film Metropolis set to a new score by renowned percussionist...

Review: ‘One Singular Sensation – A Celebration of the Music of Marvin Hamlisch’ at Live Arts Maryland

One Singular Sensation, presented by Live Arts Maryland, was a loving tribute to the life and work of Broadway and film composer Marvin Hamlisch. J. Ernest Green led the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra...

Review: ‘Let’s Misbehave! True Confessions of GMCW’ at The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

I can’t vouch for the truth of the confessions, at Let’s Misbehave! True Confessions of GMCW (The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC), but having each performer bare a bit of his soul as lead in to...

Review #1: Washington National Opera’s ‘The Daughter of the Regiment’ (Opening Night Cast-11/12/16)

If your operatic desire is to hear one glorious aria after another sung by two operatic voices that would make the gods envious –set against a deliriously “light-as-air” comically sentimental soufflé...

Review: The American Pops Orchestra Presents ‘I’ll Be Seeing You: A World War II Love Story’ at Lisner Auditorium

I’ll Be Seeing You is a delightful portrait of the love and sacrifices of a newlywed couple separated by military service during World War II. The letters between Spark and Charley while Charlie is...

Review: BSO at Strathmore: Mahler Symphony No. 6

Some critics go to music performances as a modern day Shakespearean Brutus: They come to bury the performance, not praise it. And, bury it they do with raised pinky, off-putting, arcane phraseology...

The American Pops’ “I’ll Be Seeing You-A World War II Love Story” Tonight at 8 PM at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium

TONIGHT, Friday, November 11th at 8:00 PM LUKE FRAZIER AND THEAMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA PRESENT “I’LL BE SEEING YOU – A WORLD WAR II LOVE STORY” FOR VETERANS DAY TO OPEN THEIR ALL-STAR SECOND SEASON....

Review: Sheila Jordan at the KC Jazz Club

Sheila Jordan loves jazz. Sheila Jordan loves singing. Sheila Jordan really loves jazz singing. And we feel truly blessed to have spent an evening in the presence of that love. For those who have not...

Who’s in Town?: American Idol Winner Taylor Hicks, Performing at The Hamilton in DC on Friday, November 11th at 8pm

Taylor Hicks became a household name in 2006 when he won the fifth season of American Idol, becoming one of the most beloved winners of that iconic TV program. Over 200 million viewers watched the...