NSO

Concert Roundup: Wednesday Edition

For some reason I keep thinking it’s Thursday; I almost posted a viola joke. Wishful thinking, I guess.

• The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra breaks out the BSO Pops with “Music of the Baby Boomers.” So I’m not the target audience. Apparently Frankie Valli is happening; you mean it’s not spelled “Valley”? Live and learn, I guess. May 17 at Strathmore; May 18 – 20 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• The National Symphony Orchestra counters with a very classical program: a Haydn symphony, a Weill symphony, and the Brahms second piano concerto as performed by Nelson Freire. May 17 – 19. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore, we offer two counts of Debussy, a brass ensemble, and a talented soprano. [ See the calendar! ]

A Concert Roundup My Mom Won’t Like

She does NOT Rach around the clock.

• Oh, hey, look! It’s Rachmaninoff! Fancy that. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra offers Andre Watts, who in turn offers the Rach Piano Concerto No. 2. That plus Elgar’s first symphony, which is less famous but Elgar’s actually pretty nifty if you can get past your personal memory of your high school band murdering Pomp and Circumstance. May 12 at Strathmore; May 10, 11, & 13 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• Hey, National Symphony Orchestra! Will you send me tickets to your NSO Pops concert with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy? I love Big Bad Voodoo Daddy! And fedoras! I’ll totally wear a fedora if you do. May 10 – 12. [ See it! ]
• Also this week at the NSO: a kiddie concert for Saint-Saens‘ Carnival of the Animals. How come these are always for kids? I like it too, you know! Are you saying that makes me a ki – oh. I see your point. May 13. [ See it! ]
• Don’t forget to check out the Strathmore – some interesting stuff on there, like a class on how to get and keep jazz singing gigs. [ See the calendar! ]

The Legend of the Concert Roundup

No, seriously… what’s going on?

• The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is making it short but very sweet this week: the Ravel Piano Concerto for Left Hand and Shostakovich‘s seventh symphony (that’s “Leningrad” to you, bub). Oh, hey, guess who’s dropping in to play the Ravel? Oh, some guy named Leon Fleisher. No biggie. May 3 & 6 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• Or if you prefer, the BSO offers its Off the Cuff version of the Shostakovich; in addition to playing the symphony, Marin Alsop will explain its musical form and cultural context. May 4 at Strathmore; May 5 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• I said hey-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah! The National Symphony Orchestra‘s NSO Pops take on a Marvin Gaye program, because why the hell not? With John Legend, no less. Now that’s some competitive booking. May 3 & 4. [ See it! ]
• The NSO also offers a children’s concert this week, focusing on brass instruments with Brass of Peace. Is that a pun? None of the ones I’m coming up with are appropriate for children. May 5. [ See it! ]
• The University of Maryland is performing Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, but for the life of me I can’t find the info. UMD, if you’re out there, ping me the details and I’ll update this post.
• This week at Strathmore, we’ve got jazz singers John Pizzarelli and Kurt Elling, an all-Debussy piano program, country-rock singer Owen Danoff, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. [ See the calendar! ]

A Concert Roundup is a Joy Forever

That’s all… something something, and all you need to know. Or whatever. Mary Poppins only says the first bit so I don’t remember.

• This week at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Arabella Steinbacher proves she has excellent taste, assuming she made the call to perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto. If that isn’t enough for you (weirdo), perhaps you’ll be swayed by Weber‘s Euryanthe overture and Schumann’s “Rhenish” symphony (that’s number 3). April 26 at Strathmore; April 27 & 28 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• Why we’re on the subject of the BSO, the annual Decorator’s Show House opens April 29. Wander through a fully decorated home and pick out what you want like some kinda high-class Ikea, only instead of sending your money to the Swedes a portion of the proceeds will benefit the BSO. [ See it! ]
• No National Symphony Orchestra concert for a couple weeks as far as I can tell.
• This week at Strathmore, we’ve got Turkish music, gypsy jazz, Tin Pan Alley jazz songs, Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra with Yuri Bashmet and Mischa Maisky, Sarah Chang playing everyone’s favorite Mendelssohn violin concert (personal note to concert violinists: CEASE AND DESIST), and more. [ See the calendar! ]

One Concert Roundup More

Who cares about your lonely soul? We strive toward a larger goal: awesome music.

• You know what musical theater version of a character really rubs me the wrong way? Marius Pontmercy. What a wishy-washy starry-eyed compound-word-drip. And yet I love Les Miserables (the musical) (the book was okay) just the same. Enjolras gets my seal of approval. And that is why I applaud the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra‘s BSO SuperPops for this week’s concert, which is all Les Miz, all the time! April 19 at Strathmore; April 20 – 22 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• If your small child isn’t ready for really sickening declarations of love and French people killing each other, skip Les Miz and stick with Babar. Yes, the elephant! Apparently his life has been scored by Poulenc. Who knew? April 21 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• The National Symphony Orchestra, by contrast, remains strictly classical this week, with Rachmaninoff‘s first piano concerto, Elgar‘s first symphony, and a suite by Bridge. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore, William Bolcom and Joan Morris hang together and assortment of pop stars and jazz vocalists swing on by. [ See the calendar! ]

Concert Roundup, Partially Rewound

Because I’m only 33% kind.

• Hey, remember that time I wasn’t paying attention and posted a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert a week early? Of course you do; it was last week. Tchaikovsky and stuff. April 13 & 15 at the Meyerhoff; April 14 at Strathmore. [ See it! ]
  
• The National Symphony Orchestra hauls out some big guns this week — not only does their concert guest star Sweet Honey in the Rock, but they’re also premiering a co-commission by Bill Banfield. There are a couple other works on the program, by Bernstein, Ellington, Tchaikovsky, and more, although I don’t know how liberally they’re seasoned with Honey (rim shot). April 13 & 14.  [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore, you can catch a Brazilian dance, song, and martial arts group in a pseudo Carnaval, try to see Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields but probably not because I think there are like two tickets left, mix it up with electric violinist Chelsey Green and the Green Project, investigate what CityDance is up to, take in a lecture on jazz percussion, soak in all the bluegrass your ears can handle with a tribute to Bill Monroe, and get your Spanish guitar on with Paco de Lucia. [ See the calendar! ]

Concert Roundup: Some Will Be Pardoned and Some Punish-ed

Go forth and have more talk of these musical things.

• Oh, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. You raise me to the highest highs only to plunge me into the lowest lows. I see a concert entitled “Romeo and Juliet” and immediately I think, PROKOFIEV! SQUEE! And what do I get? Berlioz? NOT EVEN. I get TCHAIKOVSKY. I love almost all Tchaikovsky — EXCEPT HIS R&J. Ugh. What are you trying to do, kill me and then bring me back to life with Mussourgsky‘s Night on Bald Mountain, my boy Khachaturian‘s violin concerto, and no less an adrenalin shot to the heart than Stravinsky‘s Firebird Suite? It’s an emotional roller coaster, I tell you! April 13 & 15 at the Meyerhoff; April 14 at Strathmore. [ See it! ]
  Edited to add: Whoops, jumped the gun. That’s NEXT week’s concert. Unfortunately I built the theme of this post around it, so I can’t take it out. You’re just super-prepared for next week. Hush.
• The National Symphony Orchestra has no time for roller coasters. They prefer a steady, even keel with ONE composer only, thank you very much. That composer is Mendelssohn, and the piece is Elijah. April 5 – 7. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore, we have Kevin Costner. No, seriously, Kevin Costner is coming! Do you have ANY IDEA how I feel about Field of Dreams?! But he’s not playing baseball; he’s singing with his band, Modern West. So there’s that, and there’s Video Games Live which I talked about on Monday (you should come and say hi and check out the costume contest and play some Guitar Hero), and a wind ensemble called Flutopia of all things. [ See the calendar! ]

Concert Roundup Lite

There aren’t too many concerts this week. I guess everyone’s on spring break, which is fundamentally wrong because I don’t get a spring break. Therefore no one should. Sulk mode activated.

• NO BSO CONCERT FOR YOU. Or for anyone – there’s no BSO concert this week.
• But I must admit the National Symphony Orchestra‘s NSO Pops made this week’s concert extra awesome to make up for the void. Guess who’s headlining? Guess! Why, it’s none other than Wayne Brady! And if you ever saw a “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Greatest Hits segment, you know he can in fact sing (although my favorite ever Greatest Hits was the time Colin and Ryan made up a song title so hysterical Wayne just cracked up the whole time he was supposed to be singing. It kills me that I can’t remember which episode it was; if you can find that video for me, I will love you forever). Program is apparently of “the Sammys,” by which they mean Sammy Davis Jr. and Sam Cooke, not sandwiches. More’s the pity. Steve Reineke conducts this one. March 29 – 31. [ See it! ]
• Over at Strathmore this coming week there’s a lecture called “Arts and the Brain: Music Cognition and Perception,” which you clearly need to attend; also Patti LaBelle, Afropop by Elikeh, and gypsy jazz vocalist Mary Alouette (think Django Reinhardt as a girl). [ See the calendar! ]

Fanfare for the Concert Roundup

Buh buh baaaaah… buh bah baaaaaah… baaaah baaaah buuuuuuuh… BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH. (I speak fluent onomatopoeia.)

• Get ready to [insert alcohol joke here], because this week’s Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert is “Tchaikovsky’s Fifth.” Colin Currie will leave my apartment long enough to solo on your two favorite fanfares: Copland‘s Fanfare for the Common Man and Tower‘s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, plus the premier of a Higdon percussion concerto. And then you purists can have your eponymous Tchaik. March 22 at Strathmore; March 23 & 24 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• Not concerts in the strictest sense, but of note: the BSO‘s subscription packages for next season are now available. They’re also accepting applications to audition in the 2012 O Say Can You Sing? national anthem competition, and if you don’t sing, maybe you play? The BSO Academy is still taking applications.
• The National Symphony Orchestra believes you should hear Dvorak‘s Stabat Mater and ONLY Dvorak’s Stabat Mater. You may do so on March 22 – 24. [ See it! ]
• No, wait! The NSO is just kidding. The NSO believes that sometimes your Dvorak should be fortified with some vitamin Janacek. Get your weekly allowance with Dvorak serenades in D minor and E major; then add a Janacek concertina and capriccio. March 23. [ See it! ]
• This Week at Strathmore! Piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick (if you come to that one, stop by the concierge desk and say hi!), a heavy metal cello ensemble that isn’t Apocalyptica, an all-Mozart program (blehhh), a soul electric guitarist, a Russian military and folk song and dance troupe. [ See the calendar! ]

Concert Roundup: Signature Edition

Actually, there’s nothing particularly signature about this concert roundup. I was just having trouble thinking up a title and it says “Signature Edition” on my copy of Dragon Age 2 (because I pre-ordered it and got the Black Emporium for free, that’s why).

• Aha! The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is trying to placate me. Why else would they title their concert “Beethoven and Dvorak“? Ludwig’s fourth piano concerto features, plus Antonin’s Carnival Overture (fun!), Kodaly‘s Dances of Galanta (Hungary represent!) and Janacek (I’ll give you three guesses as to which piece and the first two don’t count because it’s Taras Bulba, duh). March 16 & 18 at the Meyerhoff and March 17 at Strathmore. [ See it! ]
• Oh, hey! The National Symphony Orchestra wants to please me, too. They’re performing a concert opera version of Beethoven’s Fidelio! Don’t worry, there’ll be subtitles; you can read while you’re also trying to see things, right? March 15 – 17. [ See it! ]
• During matinees, however, the NSO is All Strauss, all the time. Ya got your overtures, ya got your waltzes, ya got your polkas; you couldn’t pay me to go.* But my dad just LOVES that beautiful blue Danube, so maybe you do too. March 16. [ See it! ]
• A smattering of upcoming Strathmore performances: a rock violinist, a NOT rock violinist, DC a capella groups, a classical pianist. [ See the schedule! ]

* This is a lie. Make me an offer.