Press contact: Erin Allen (202) 707-7302
Public contact: Solomon HaileSelassie (202) 707-5347
Website: http://www.loc.gov/concerts/

August 15, 2011

Library of Congress Announces 2011-2012 Concert Season

Highlights Include Franz Liszt Bicentenary Project, BachFest, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Celebration, and the Inauguration of a New Fund for Contemporary Music

The 2011-2012 season of concerts from the Library of Congress presents a 30-event roster of stellar classical, jazz, pop, country, folk and world music. Concerts kick off on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 8 p.m., with an exciting opening-night show celebrating two great American entertainers, comedienne Lucille Ball and composer and bandleader Desi Arnaz.

"BABALU! Celebrating the Library’s Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Collection" is an homage to two of America’s legendary entertainers and icons of American popular culture. Featuring their children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr., the evening spotlights orchestrations of the Desi Arnaz Orchestra and salutes both Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday and the 60th anniversary of one of the best-loved shows in television history.

The Franz Liszt Bicentenary Project showcases the Library’s substantial Liszt holdings. A season-long BachFest brings exceptional artists for memorable performances and master classes, including a marathon day of concerts, instrument demonstrations and performance practice sessions with the Juilliard School’s resident early music ensemble, Juilliard Baroque.

Continuing an 86-year tradition of strong support for contemporary music, the Library announces a new endowment, the Dina Koston and Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music. Two special concerts inaugurate the fund: a theater-and-music evening incorporating a play by Samuel Beckett and a chamber-music evening featuring pianist Leon Fleisher. To mark the John Cage centennial, violinist Irvine Arditti and pianist Stephen Drury perform another Library commission, Cage’s "Two4." The Cygnus Ensemble will premiere a new Library of Congress McKim Fund commission by Harold Meltzer, founder of the Sequitur ensemble.

The Library continues its residence at the Atlas Performing Arts Center with a trio of exciting jazz and world music concerts: Gretchen Parlato shares the stage with Gerald Clayton; Nguyên Lê’s Saiyuki Trio imagines an "Asia without borders"; and singer José James deconstructs the definitions of jazz, hip-hop and performance art.

The Library’s concert series is presented free of charge to the public but requires tickets for admission. Tickets are distributed by TicketMaster at (202) 397-7328, (410) 547-7328 and (703) 573-7328. Each ticket carries a nominal service charge, with additional charges for phone orders and handling. Tickets are also available at TicketMaster outlets and online at www.TicketMaster.com (external link). Although the supply of tickets may be exhausted, there are often empty seats at concert time. Interested patrons are encouraged to come to the Library by 6 p.m. on concert nights to wait in the standby line for no-show tickets. Tickets for events at the Atlas Performing Arts Center will be available through the Atlas Box Office, 202-399-7993. For further information on concerts, call the Concert Information Line at (202) 707-5502 or visit www.loc.gov/concerts/.

2011-2012 SEASON

Unless otherwise noted, all concerts will be held at 8 p.m. in the Coolidge Auditorium located on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. Pre-concert presentations will be at 6:15 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion unless otherwise noted, and these presentations do not require tickets. All programs are subject to change without notice.

Saturday, Sept. 10, at noon
Lecture
WILLIAM MEREDITH, director of The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, presents a lecture titled "What the Autograph Can Tell Us: Beethoven’s Sonata in E Major, opus 109."
No tickets are required.

Saturday, Oct. 1, from 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Symposium and manuscript display: DVOŘÁK IN THE NEW WORLD
For the first time in more than a century, Antonín Dvořák’s original manuscript for Symphony No. 9, "From the New World," will return to the United States for a special one-day display at the Library of Congress. Dvořák scholar Michael Beckerman speaks on the role of African-American sources in the composer’s conception of an American music. Eva Velická, the director of the Dvořák Museum, joins him for a discussion on "Manuscripts as Storytellers."
Reservations are required; call (202) 274-9105.

3:30 p.m.: Tenor Reginald Bouknight sings arrangements of spirituals by Henry Burleigh, as well as other fragments of African-American music that Dvořák encountered during his years in America, with commentary by Beckerman.
No tickets are required.

Saturday, Oct. 15
"BABALU! Celebrating the Library’s Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Collection"
Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr., with Raúl Esparza, Valarie Pettiford and the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. Arnaz headlines an evening that brings to life her father’s snazzy orchestrations of the 1940s and ‘50s.
Ticket sale date: Sept. 7

Wednesday, Oct. 19
Franz Liszt Bicentenary Project: LOUIS LORTIE, piano
Liszt: "Années de pèlerinage" ("Years of Pilgrimage"). A post-concert discussion with the artist will follow the performance.
Ticket sale date: Sept. 14

*Pre-concert presentation: Mathieu Deflem of the University of South Carolina, Denise Gallo of the Music Division and Robert Aubrey Davis of WETA present a panel discussion titled "On the Nature of Celebrity: Franz Liszt, Niccolò Paganini, Lady Gaga."

Saturday, Oct. 22
Franz Liszt Bicentenary Project: MARTIN BRUNS, baritone, CHRISTOPH HAMMER, fortepiano
Liszt 200th Birthday Liederabend.
Ticket sale date: Sept. 14

*Pre-concert presentation: Music Division curator Raymond White introduces a display of Liszt manuscripts, letters, photographs and memorabilia.

Tuesday, Oct. 25
Franz Liszt Bicentenary Project: THE LISZT LEGACY AND BÉLA BARTÓK
Soloists from the Budapest Festival Orchestra, with Jenő Jandó, piano. Bartók: Duos for two violins – excerpts from 44 Duos; Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Piano; Bartók: Contrasts for clarinet, piano and violin; Bartók: Piano Quintet
Ticket sale date: Sept. 21

*Pre-concert presentation: Karoly Dan, consul general of Hungary, discusses Liszt, Bartók, and music in modern Hungarian culture.

Friday, Oct. 28
East Meets West: DANIEL HOPE, violin
De Falla: Popular Spanish Songs; Takemitsu: Distance de Fée; Ravel: "Tzigane" and "Alborada del gracioso," from "Miroirs," op. 43; Kaddish, (arr. Hope); Mazumdar: "Homage to Ravi Shankar"; "Homage to Yehudi Menuhin"; Bartók: "Romanian Folk Dances"
Ticket sale date: Sept. 21

Saturday, October 29, at 2 p.m.
Franz Liszt Bicentenary Project: GRAY CLOUDS: LATE CHAMBER MUSIC OF FRANZ LISZT
Featuring cellist Tamás Zétényi. Liszt: transcriptions of "Angelus!," "R.W. – Venezia" and "Am Grabe Richard Wagners"; "Unstern: sinister, disastro, Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth" (Elegie); "Nuages gris"; "Schaflos"; "Frage und Antwort" Wagner/Liszt: "O du, mein holder Abendstern"; "La lugubre gondola," I and II.
Tickets: TBA

Saturday, October 29
Founder’s Day Concert (Honoring Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge): AGLIKA GENOVA & LIUBEN DIMITROV, piano duo
Schubert: Fantasy in F minor, op. 103, for piano, four hands; Arensky: Suite no. 1, op. 15; Liszt: "Concerto Pathétique"; Milhaud: "Scaramouche"; Liszt: "Reminiscences de Don Juan," S656 – "Fantaisie on Mozart’s Don Giovanni"
Ticket sale date: Sept. 21

*Pre-concert presentation: Denise Gallo of the Music Division presents "Franz Liszt: Staging Opera at the Keyboard."

Friday, Nov. 4
MOZART PIANO QUARTET
Mozart: Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478; Mahler: Piano Quartet Movement in A minor; Saint-Saëns: Piano Quartet in B-flat major, op. 41
Ticket sale date: Sept. 28

Saturday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m.
ROBERTO DÍAZ, viola and KWAN YI, piano
Featuring the Tuscan-Medici Stradivarius viola, this remarkable 1690 instrument -- one of only 14 existing Stradivarius violas -- is on loan to the Library of Congress from the Tuscan Corporation. Liszt: Romance oubliée; Brahms: Sonata for viola and piano in F minor, op. 120, No. 1; Sonata for Viola and Piano in E-flat major, op. 120, No. 2; Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, arr. for viola
Ticket sale date: Sept. 28

Wednesday, Nov. 16
COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION SONGWRITERS SERIES
Bob DiPiero returns to host another evening of country music from some of the nation’s great country artists.
Ticket sale date: Oct. 5

Friday, Dec. 2, Atlas Performing Arts Center
GRETCHEN PARLATO and THE GERALD CLAYTON TRIO
Ticket sale date: Nov. 2, Atlas Performing Arts Center Box Office, 1333 H Street NE, (202) 399-7993

*Pre-concert conversation: Gretchen Parlato and Gerald Clayton talk with Larry Appelbaum, Music Division specialist and jazz curator.

Saturday, Dec. 17
Stradivari Memorial Concert: BORROMEO STRING QUARTET with SEYMOUR LIPKIN, piano
Celebrating the birthday of Antonio Stradivari, they will play the Stradivarius instruments given to the Library by Gertrude Clarke Whittall in 1935. Schuller: String Quartet No. 4; Beethoven: Sonata no. 7 for violin and piano in C minor, op. 30; Schubert: Quartet in D minor, D. 810 ("Death and the Maiden")
Ticket sale date: Nov. 9

*Pre-concert presentation: Violinist Nicholas Kitchen talks with composer Gunther Schuller.

Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, at 2 p.m.
BachFest: PAOLO PANDOLFO, viola da gamba
Featuring the Library’s 1708 viola da gamba, by Pieter Rombouts. J. S. Bach: "Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello"
Ticket sale date: Dec. 21

Friday, Feb. 3, 2012
CYGNUS ENSEMBLE, Featuring Fritz Kreisler’s Guarneri del Gesù violin.
Kreisler: violin and piano pieces; String Quartet in A minor; Harold Meltzer: "Kreisleriana" (World Premiere – Library of Congress McKim Fund commission); Brion (first Washington performance)
Ticket sale date: Dec. 28

*Pre-concert presentation: Harold Meltzer talks about his new work with Cygnus founder William Anderson.

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, Atlas Performing Arts Center
THE U.S. ARMY BAND "Pershing’s Own"
Explorations of big band music from the era of Ella Fitzgerald and Nelson Riddle with the U.S. Army Blues.
Ticket sale date: TBA, Atlas Performing Arts Center Box Office, 1333 H Street NE, (202) 399-7993

Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012, at 2 p.m.
THE CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS
The Drops perform jigs, reels, ballads, blues and worksongs from the pre-Civil War South to songs by Tom Waits and Blue Cantrell.
Ticket sale date: TBA

Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, Atlas Performing Arts Center
THE SAIYUKI TRIO with Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto saxophone
Influences from Jimi Hendrix to the traditional music of Viêtnam meld harmonies from East and West to paint "an Asia without borders."
Ticket sale date: Jan. 24, Atlas Performing Arts Center Box Office, 1333 H Street NE, (202) 399-7993

*Pre-concert presentation: The Music Division’s Larry Appelbaum dialogues with the members of the Saiyuki Trio.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012
"OHIO IMPROMPTU," by Samuel Beckett
Featuring actor Ted Van Griethuysen and the Cygnus Ensemble. Dina Koston: "Distant Intervals"; and "A Short Tale"; Chester Bisardi: "Resisting Stillness"; Ferruccio Busoni: "Berceuse élégiaque"; David Claman: "Gone for Foreign"; Mario Davidovsky: "Ladino Songs" (World Premiere)
Ticket sale Date: Feb. 1

*Pre-concert presentation: Joy Zinoman talks about Samuel Beckett and the genesis of the Library’s special production of "Ohio Impromptu."

Thursday, March 8, 2012
LEON FLEISHER, piano & conductor, KATHERINE JACOBSON FLEISHER, piano
Musicians from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Brahms: "Liebeslieder" Waltzes for vocal quartet and piano, four hands, op. 52; Dina Koston: "Messages," for solo piano (written for Leon Fleisher); Ligeti: "Aventures" for 3 voices and 7 instruments; Ligeti: "Nouvelles Aventures" for 3 voices and 7 instruments
Ticket sale date: Feb. 1

*Pre-concert presentation: Leon Fleisher and soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson talk about their long friendship with Dina Koston and the history of the Theater Chamber Players.

Friday, March 9, 2012
CON GIOIA with soprano Julianne Baird and Preethi de Silva, harpsichord and fortepiano
Commemorating an "Originalgenie: A Birthday Tribute to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach"

Part I – harpsichord
C.P.E. Bach: Fantasia in A, H. 278; Sonata in G minor, H. 47; Handel: Selected songs from operas and oratorios, arr. John Walsh

Part II – fortepiano
C.P.E. Bach: "Hamlet" Fantasia with voice; Sonata in A, H. 186; Haydn: Cantata "Arianna a Naxos"
Ticket sale date: Feb. 1

*Pre-concert presentation: The Music Division’s Daniel Boomhower discusses chamber music in Berlin, ca. 1750.

Monday, March 19, 2012
L’ARPEGGIATA
With Christina Pluhar, artistic director, and vocalist Lucilla Galeazzi. Pluhar brings her ensemble to Washington for a performance of her mostly early music work "La Tarantella," which explores the familiar southern Italian myth that the bite of the tarantula could be cured only when the sufferer was exposed to certain types of music. The program includes a broad range of pieces from that tradition, including pastoral songs and passacaglias, as well as the manic dances generally associated with the effects of tarantism.
Ticket sale date: Feb. 8

*Pre-concert presentation: Alberto Manai, director of the Italian Cultural Institute, is the featured guest speaker.

Friday, March 23, 2012
MODIGLIANI STRING QUARTET
Arriaga: Quartet No. 3; Beethoven: Quartet in F Major, op. 18, No. 1; Dohnányi: Quartet No. 3 in a minor, op. 33
Ticket sale date: Feb. 15

Wednesday March 28, 2012
ELIAS QUARTET with Jonathan Biss, piano
Suk: "Meditation," for quartet; Janácek: "Selections from On an Overgrown Path," for solo piano; Janácek: String Quartet No. 1 ("Kreutzer Sonata"); Dvorák: Piano Quintet in A minor, op. 81
Ticket sale date: February 22

*Pre-concert presentation: Daniel Walshaw and Barbara Karpetova of the Embassy of the Czech Republic present "Czech Music Then and Now."

Tuesday, April 10, 2012, at 7 p.m.
John Cage Centennial: THE ARDITTI STRING QUARTET with guest artist Stephen Drury, piano
Cage: "Two4" (McKim Fund commission); Berg: String Quartet No. 3; Bartók: Quartet No. 4 in C Major; Adès: "Four Quarters"; Beethoven: Grosse Fuge, op. 133
Ticket sale date: March 7

Friday, April 13, 2012
QUATUOR DIOTIMA
Schubert: Quartet No. 7 in D Major, D.94; Beethoven: String Quartet in C sharp minor, op. 131; Smetana: String Quartet in E minor ("From My Life")
Ticket sale date: March 7

Saturday, April 14, 2012
BachFest: JUILLIARD BAROQUE
J.S. Bach: Concerto in A minor for flute, violin and harpsichord, BWV 1044; from "A Musical Offering," BWV 1079: 3-part ricercare for solo harpsichord; canons; 6-part ricercare; Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050
Ticket sale date: March 7

*Pre-concert performance, Coolidge Auditorium: Marimbist Pius Cheung. No tickets required for this one-hour performance.

Friday, April 20, 2012
BachFest: CONCERTO KÖLN with Jan Freiheit, cello soloist
Dall’Abaco: Concerto op. 5 no. 3 in E minor; Vivaldi: Concerto for cello, strings and basso continuo in D minor, no. 23, RV 407; J.S. Bach: Suite for Orchestra in C major, BWV 1066; Concerto for oboe d’amore, strings and basso continuo, BWV 1055 (reconstruction after the harpsichord concerto BWV 1055); "Brandenburg" Concerto no. 4 in G major, BWV 1049; Sammartini: Sinfonie in A major
Ticket sale date: March 14

*Pre-concert presentation: Martin Sandhoff, flutist and artistic director of Concerto Köln, is featured guest speaker.

Saturday, April 28, 2012
BachFest: TANYA TOMKINS, Baroque cello
Part 1: Noon – 1:30 p.m.
J.S. Bach: Suite no. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007; Suite no. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010; Suite no. 5 in C minor, BW 1011

Part II: 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
J.S. Back: Suite no. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008; Suite no. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009; Suite no. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012
Ticket sale date: March 21

*Pre-concert presentation at 2 p.m.: Daniel Boomhower of the Music Division presents "The Many Rooms of Bach’s Suites."

Saturday, May 5, 2012, at 2 p.m.
THE U.S. ARMY BAND "Pershing’s Own"
Music by American Mavericks – Charles Ives, George Antheil, Alan Hovhaness, Henry Cowell and others.
Ticket sale date: TBA

Saturday, May 12, 2012, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center
JOSÉ JAMES
For this appearance, James and his colleagues explore the universe of underground beats, soul, jazz standards and the legacy of John Coltrane.
Ticket sale date: April 12, Atlas Performing Arts Center Box Office, 1333 H Street NE, (202) 399-7993

*Pre-concert presentation: José James talks with Larry Appelbaum of the Music Division.

Saturday, May 19, 2012 at 2 p.m.
NAREK HAHKNAZARYAN, cello
This concert is being presented in conjunction with a special exhibit, "To Know Wisdom and Instruction: The Armenian Literary Tradition at the Library of Congress," opening April 19, 2012.
Ticket sale date: April 18

THURSDAY NOONTIME LECTURES

Presented at noon in the Whittall Pavilion, unless otherwise noted. No tickets required.

Oct. 6
Music for Film: How It's Done and the People Who Do It
Loras Schissel, Music Division

Nov. 3
Muzio Clementi: Father of Modern Piano Technique
Robin Rausch, Music Division

Nov. 17
Coolidge Commissions of Roy Harris
James Wintle, Music Division

Feb. 9, 2012
Music of the Russian Imperial Collection
Kevin LaVine, Music Division

Feb. 23, 2012
It’s Show Time: Sheet Music From Stage and Screen
Sharon McKinley, Music Division

March 8, 2012
Dance and Democracy: Politics and Protest, World War I through the Cold War
Elizabeth Aldrich, Music Division, and Victoria Phillips Geduld

March 22, 2012
Schoenberg and Early Music
Daniel Walshaw, Music Division

March 29, 2012, in the Coolidge Auditorium
"Louis Armstrong, Composer of King Oliver's 'Dipper Mouth Blues' "
Thomas Brothers, professor of Music at Duke University

April 5, 2012
Chamber Music in Berlin, ca. 1750
Daniel Boomhower, Music Division

April 19, 2012
Graham and Copland's Appalachian Spring
Loras Schissel and Elizabeth Aldrich, Music Division

May 3, 2012
History and Reconstruction of Native American Flutes in the Library’s Dayton C. Miller Collection
Steve Bliven, researcher, and Barry Higgins, instrument maker and performer

FILMS AT THE PICKFORD THEATER

7 p.m., Mary Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C.

No reservations are required for Music Division film screenings. Free tickets will be distributed on the night of each screening on a first-come, first served basis. Seating is limited and patrons are encourage to arrive early. Programs are subject to change without notice.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012
"Bach & Friends," by Michael Lawrence
This beautifully photographed two-hour documentary is not only for Bach lovers but anyone who loves music. Featured are reflections and performances by more than two dozen world-class artists, including Philip Glass, Joshua Bell, Simone Dinnerstein, Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Jake Shimabukuro, Chris Thile and Hilary Hahn

American Musical Theater at the Library of Congress Film Series:
Concerts from the Archives
Curated by Mark Horowitz, Senior Music Specialist, Music Division

Thursday, April 5, 2012
"Stephen Sondheim 70th Birthday Concert" (presented 5/22/2000)
Hosted by Nathan Lane, and featuring Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Debra Monk, and an orchestra of 25 playing new orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, this extraordinary concert featured Sondheim’s rarely performed "The Frogs," followed by 13 songs by other writers selected by Sondheim – "Songs I Wish I’d Written (At Least in Part)" and closing with 5 songs "I’m Glad I Wrote."

Thursday, April 12
"American Creativity: The Composer-Lyricist Jonathan Larson" (presented 10/23/2006)
Celebrating the Library’s acquisition of Jonathan Larson’s papers, this concert presented songs from throughout Larson’s too-brief career, including several early versions of songs from "Rent" The company brought together "Rent’s" original musical director, Tim Weil and original "Rent" performers Anthony Rapp and Gwen Stewart

Thursday, April 19
"Life Begins at 8:40 – A Revue" (presented 3/22/2010)
This special concert marked the Library’s reconstruction of this mostly forgotten score from 1934 and prepared the way for its first-ever recording. Bursting with an eclectic collection of songs, this concert featured the wildly talented Kate Baldwin, Christopher Fitzgerald, Rebecca Luker, Brad Oscar and Faith Prince.

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PR 11-142
08/15/11
ISSN 0731-3527

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