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2012-2013 Schedule of Events

Most Library of Congress concerts are presented in the Coolidge Auditorium at 8:00 pm, unless otherwise noted below. All concerts are free, but require tickets. PLEASE NOTE: programs and dates are subject to change without prior notice.

Season-at-a-Glance  2012: October | November | December  2013: February | March | April | May

OCTOBER

“…an amazing sound –– unusually rich, melodically powerful and extremely sincere.” The Guardian

The Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir, hailing from the landmark monastery founded in 1395, performs a concert of sacred music from the Orthodox liturgy. From the Vatican and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris to Lincoln Center, these singers now epitomize the glorious Russian choral tradition for a global audience.

Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:00 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.

“A big, rich sound…phrasing breathes with great purpose. Even single notes don’t leave the strings without meaning.” The Philadelphia Inquirer

This critic’s assessment of Pamela Frank’s artistry definitely applies to all six colleagues in this intimate circle of players, admired as stellar chamber musicians. Hear what should be a benchmark performance of two masterworks from our Brahms and Schoenberg collections – and check out the composers’ manuscripts on display this evening in our foyer. (Photo credit: Tania Mara)

DVORÁK: Miniatures for two violins and viola, op. 75a
SCHOENBERG: Verklärte Nacht, op. 4
BRAHMS: Sextett in B-flat major, op. 18

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Developing Variations: Brahms, Schoenberg, and Verklärte Nacht David Plylar, with David Plylar, Music Division

“…remarkable chamber music playing from a spectacular duo.” The Vancouver Sun

With longtime chamber music partner Jeffrey Kahane, conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Hope returns to the Library to open a year of great new music performances. They unwrap the first performance of a new work by Nico Muhly – “the hottest talent in contemporary classical music,” according to The Guardian – commissioned by the Library of Congress. (Photo credit for Daniel Hope: Harald Hoffmann)

RAVEL: Sonata no. 1 in A minor, op. posthumous
BRAHMS: Sonata no. 1 in G major, op. 78
MUHLY: Compare Notes, world premiere (McKim Fund commission)
MENDELSSOHN: Sonata in F major, MWV Q26

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Conversation with Nico Muhly and Daniel Hope

GRAMMY Museum® Executive Director and author of This Land Is Your Land: Woody Guthrie and the Journey of an American Folk Song, Bob Santelli will host a performance and conversation celebrating “the
nation’s greatest folk troubadour and songwriter.” In songs like “Talking Dust Bowl Blues,” and “Goin’
Down That Road Feelin’ Bad,” recorded in his historic 1940 Library of Congress sessions with Alan Lomax,
Guthrie evoked the outlines of the American landscape, natural and political. The Woody Guthrie Manuscript Collection in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress holds correspondence, essays, prose, doodles, and song lyrics between 1935 and 1951.

Pre-Concert Presentation – 1:00 pm – Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Todd Harvey, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Presented by the Music Division and the American Folklife Center, in cooperation with the Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration and the GRAMMY Museum®

“…one of the most influential and widely recorded bassists in jazz history.” A Blog Supreme/NPR Jazz

At 75, a coolly elegant senior statesman, Ron Carter is a GRAMMY®-winning performer, composer, and educator, a master musician at the top of his form. His astonishing roster of more than 2,000 recordings ––with collaborators that include Lena Horne, B.B. King, and Miles Davis ––is a thread that runs through jazz history, connecting blues, swing, bebop, hip-hop and funk. An all-acoustic appearance with guitarist Russell Malone and pianist Donald Vega. (Photo credit: Beti Niemeyer)

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: The Art of Ensemble: Techniques for Jazz Performers
Workshop with the Ron Carter Trio
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 4:00 pm – Coolidge Auditorium
Free & Open to the Public

Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:00 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.

“Not to be missed.” Norman Lebrecht

An afternoon of Americana from the stunning, widely acclaimed Rose of Sharon project, which enjoyed a well-deserved spot in the Billboard Top 10 for 2011. Echoing some of the earliest voices in American music, Frederiksen and his colleagues weave a beautiful tapestry tracing the nation’s history and heritage in ballads, folksongs, Shaker hymns and spirituals, music from revival meetings and battlefields – and the new products of America’s first composers, Francis Hopkinson and William Billings. (Photo credit for Joel Frederiksen: Eric Larrayadieu)

The Rose of Sharon, William Billings, The Singing Master’s Assistant, 1778, Music Division, Library of Congress (to be on display at this concert).

“Wispelwey’s playing is at once supremely lyrical and furiously intense.” The Guardian
“Shapiro produces and inspires musical magic…” The Boston Globe

A profound musical integrity is the hallmark of a performance by this fine Dutch cellist, whose “incomparable technical and musical accomplishment” garners him regular appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

BEETHOVEN: Sonata no. 3 in A major, op. 69
LIGETI: Sonata for solo cello
STRAVINSKY: Suite italienne for violoncello and piano
BEETHOVEN: Twelve Variations in F major on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” (from Die Zauberflöte), op. 66
SHOSTAKOVICH: Sonata for cello and piano in D minor, op. 40

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
John Moran, President, Kindler Cello Society

Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:00 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.

Out of concern for our patrons safety and in consideration of the forecast of extreme weather in the Washington area, the Library of Congress will be postponing and has rescheduled the concert originally scheduled for Tuesday, 10/30/12. LUCY: Song & Dance, an opera without words and has been rescheduled to November 9. Please check back on this Web site for updates.

NOVEMBER

Due to an unexpected illness the Prazak Quartet has withdrawn from their scheduled tour of the United States; they will be replaced by the Escher String Quartet at the Library of Congress on Saturday, November 3 at 2:00 p.m.

“…excellent” The New York Times

Acclaimed for its individual sound, unparalleled artistry and unique cohesiveness, the Escher String Quartet will present a program entitled “Through the Looking Glass” in their Coolidge Auditorium debut. The quartet has performed at prestigious venues and festivals around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Kennedy Center, the Louvre, Ravinia and Caramoor. The BBC named the them “New Generation Artists” for 2010-2012. Within months of its inception in 2005, the Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be quartet-in-residence at their respective summer festivals.

PURCELL (arr. Britten): Chacony in G minor
BRITTEN: String quartet no. 2 in C major, op. 36
GESUALDO (arr. Pierre Lapointe): “Se la mia morte brami” from Madrigals Book VI and “Illumina faciem tuam” from Sacrae Cantiones I
BEETHOVEN: Quartet for two violins, viola and violoncello in A minor, op. 132

John Philip Sousa’s music is unequivocally a cornerstone of American musical identity. The native Washingtonian’s greatgrandson, John Philip Sousa, IV is joined by scholar and conductor Loras Schissel for a discussion of the legend’s life and legacy, plus a screening of Henry Koston’s classic film “Stars and Stripes Forever” (1952). Afterwards the speakers will sign copies of their new book, John Philip Sousa’s America: A Patriot’s Life in Images and Words. Join them at the new Hill Center, a few blocks from both the Library and Sousa’s Capitol Hill home.

FOUNDER’S DAY CONCERT - Celebrating the birthday of the founder of the concert series, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, with a special concert!

The pioneering work of American electronic music composer Morton Subotnick spans the past five decades, producing now-classic pieces like Silver Apples of the Moon through his ground-breaking work with the Buchla modular synthesizer. Trembling, an early foray into “Ghost” electronics, is the opener for the world premiere of a new Subotnick work, a 30 minute opera without words. Conceived for Joan La Barbara, “the queen of vocal experimentation” (The Wire), it’s an extraordinary aural and visual experience: the composer’s voice interacts with and controls the Buchla, in a “performed” light-and-image environment created live by German light/video artist Lillevan. (Photo credit for Joan LaBarbara: Mark Mahaney)

The Music of Morton Subotnick
Movements from The Other Piano, for solo piano
Trembling, for violin, piano, voice and electronics
LUCY: Song and Dance, for computer, live electronics, female voice and live video (world premiere)

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Conversation with Morton Subotnick

“The Takács stands at the peak of its powers–– at the peak of its profession.” The Boston Globe

2012 finds the Takács named Wigmore Hall’s first Associate Artists, and the first quartet inducted into Gramophone’s Hall of Fame. This fall, a meeting of masters: “the quartet of quartets” partners with a pianist regarded as “a poet among virtuosos” (The Sunday Times). (Photo credit for the Takács Quartet: Ellen Appel; and for Hamelin, Fran Kaufman)

SCHUBERT: Quartet no. 13 in A minor, D. 804, “Rosamunde”
BRITTEN: String Quartet no. 1 in D major, op. 25 (Coolidge Foundation Commission)
SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Quintet in G minor, op. 57

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
20th Century Masters: Britten’s Coolidge Commission and Shostakovich’s Soviet Redemption with Nicholas A. Brown, Music Division

Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for "sold out" concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:00 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.

“highly cultivated…” Badisches Tagblatt

New to Washington audiences, this excellent young Polish group has appeared at prestigious European concert venues like the Louvre, Vienna’s
Musikverein and Berlin’s Philharmonie. Winners of the First Prize at the ARD International Music Competition, they are named for a 1928 ballet by Igor Stravinsky – one of the earliest Library of Congress Coolidge Foundation commissions.

HAYDN: Quartet in C major, op. 76, no. 3, “Emperor”
SZYMANOWSKI: Quartet no. 1 in C major, op. 37
SUK: Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale “Saint Wenceslas”, op. 35a
MENDELSSOHN: Quartet no. 2 in A minor, op. 13

“…playing and direction of the absolute highest order.” Gramophone

Praised for “state-of-the-art Handel” (Sunday Times) –– with two Gramophone awards and the Stanley Sadie Prize for its remarkable recordings –– La Risonanza makes its American debut at the Library, performing Vivaldi concertos and Handel chamber cantatas from the composer’s years in Rome.

VIVALDI: Dorilla in Tempe: Sinfonia, RV 709
VIVALDI: Concerto for violin and cello in B-flat major, RV 547  
VIVALDI: Concerto for violin in G minor, RV 315, op. 8, No. 2, “L’estate” (Summer) from The Four Seasons
HANDEL: Notte placida e cheta, HWV 142
VIVALDI: Concerto for flute and orchestra in G major, RV 437, op. 10, No. 6
HANDEL: Dietro l’orme fugaci (Armida abbandonata) for soprano, strings and continuo, HWV 105
HANDEL: Rodrigo: Passacaille, HWV 5
HANDEL: Haec est regina virginum for soprano, strings and continuo, HWV 235

Presented in cooperation with the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute, Washington, DC

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
A conversation with Fabio Bonizzoni and Alberto Manai, Director, Italian Cultural Institute, Washington, DC

“tight, viscerally powerful…”  (Acme) The New York Times
“six hip virtuosi”  (yMusic) Time Out New York

Two brilliant new music groups, inhabitants of a number of interesting and intersecting sound worlds, come together with “all the attitude and energy of an indie rock band” (Paste Magazine). Meet artists like Caleb Burhans, Nadia Sirota, and Clarice Jensen – veterans of venues and series like Wordless Music, Grizzly Bear, Carnegie Hall and the Tribeca New Music Festival – between sets in the Atlas’s 108-seat, café-style Sprenger Theater. Featuring music by composers under the age of thirty-five.

BYRON: Spin
SHAW: Limestone and Felt, for viola and cello
BARR: Acmed for string trio
CAGE: String Quartet in Four Parts
Additional Selections To Be Announced

DECEMBER 2012

Spend an intimate evening sampling Herbert’s operetta classics, including Babes in Toyland, Naughty Marietta, and moments from the Ziegfield Follies. Rediscover an important composer and cellist who influenced Antonín Dvořák, and later, great American musical theater figures like Irving Berlin and the Gershwins.

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
A conversation with Loras John Schissel, Music Division and Alyce Mott

On Display: THE MUSICAL WORLDS OF VICTOR HERBERT
August 16, 2012 - January 26, 2013 / Monday through Saturday, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Performing Arts Reading Room, LM-113, James Madison Building

Explore the work and legacy of Victor Herbert, the grandfather of American musical theater, founder of the organization that protects the rights of composers (ASCAP), and the creator of some of America’s best loved classics. He set the stage for the legendary creators of Broadway, making the work of Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Stephen Sondheim possible. EXHIBIT DESIGN: SHVEIMA ASSOCIATES

Polymathic and ever-curious British violinist Peter Sheppard-Skærved delves into the Library’s fascinating Niccolò Paganini collection. Examining posters, playbills, letters, manuscripts and memorabilia collected by Paganini himself, he reveals how the virtuoso created his own mystique as a violinist and musical innovator. From his “Secret Red Book” containing recipes, prescriptions, tour dates, a laundry list and financial notes, to clues about the virtuoso’s alleged use of a steel bow, our Paganini Project deciphers some of the myths and mysteries surrounding the 19th-century icon. Visit www.peter-sheppard-skaerved.com for a preview.

See the “Secret Red Book” and other rare items, from the Gertrude Clarke Whittall Collection, on display at the Coolidge Auditorium.

“Throughout the concert, the Miró gave lessons in the art of the string quartet, shaping each of the night’s scores with a blend of refinement and vibrancy…” The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Utterly natural musical grace” The New York Times on Ricardo Morales

Taking a clean sweep of the major chamber music awards gave the Miró an enviable start: the Coleman, Fischoff, Naumburg and Cleveland Quartet awards, plus the first Avery Fisher career grant for chamber ensemble. Today, between stops at the Concertgebouw and Madrid’s Palacio Real, the Miró partners with top-drawer colleagues like Ricardo Morales, principal
clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

SCHUBERT: String Quartet no. 15 in G major, D. 887
BRAHMS: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, op. 115

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
David Schoenbaum talks about his new book, The Violin: A Social History of the World’s Most Versatile Instrument, chronicling the life, times, and travels of a remarkable instrument and the people who have made, sold, played, and cherished it. A book-signing will follow the lecture.

FEBRUARY 2013

1:00 pm - PANEL DISCUSSION & BOOK-SIGNING
3:00 pm - CONCERT “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band (Colonel Michael J. Colburn, Director)

Before John Philip Sousa there was Francis Maria Scala, an Italian immigrant who was the first musician designated leader of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. Scala transformed the Marine Band into a significant musical organization, which served the nation during a tenuous era and was the principal cultural force in President Lincoln’s White House. On display will be manuscripts, printed photographs and other special items from the Library’s Francis Maria Scala Collection.

Presented in cooperation with the White House Historical Association.

Hailed as “terrific, joyous, funny, [and] unabashedly emotional” by Roger Ebert, Say Amen, Somebody tells the uplifting story of how gospel got its roots in America, focusing on two of the movement’s pioneers, Thomas A. Dorsey and Willie May Ford Smith. The high-energy Ministers of Music offer gospel with a contemporary spin, having performed at The White House and sharing the stage with Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey and Shakira.

Presented in cooperation with the Daniel A.P. Murray African American Culture Association of the Library of Congress.

“A vocalist of inventive instinct and assiduous musicality” The New York Times

“impeccable craftsmanship, technical dexterity and way left of center originality” San Diego Union Tribune on Ben Monder

A singer and new music composer of eclectic tastes and prodigious gifts, Theo Bleckmann operates from a “boldly dynamic bandwidth” (NPR) covering jazz, cabaret, classical, experimental and improvised
music. His partnership with guitarist Ben Monder – traversing a sound spectrum that embraces John Mercer, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Webb, and original works from both artists – draws comments like “otherworldly” and “frighteningly beautiful.” (Photo credit: Jörg Grosse-Geldermann/Next)

Presented as part of Intersections: A New American Arts Festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.

MARCH 2013

“…it’s the kind of playing, in fact, where comparisons cease to matter...” Gramophone

Following the nearly decade-long Beethoven project that brought him worldwide critical acclaim, English pianist Paul Lewis embarked on a two-year international tour focusing on the mature piano works of
Franz Schubert. Masterful performances, cited for “luminous clarity and poetic insight” (The Telegraph) and an indefinable quality very suited to Schubert: “radiance.” (Photo credit: Harmonia Mundi)

SCHUBERT: Sonata in C minor, D. 958
SCHUBERT: Sonata in A major, D. 959

Pre-concert presentation - 1:00 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
The Virtuoso Schubert, Lawrence Kramer, Distinguished Professor of English and Music, Fordham University, and Editor, 19th-Century Music.

THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK
The first of two lively evenings showcasing treasures from the Library’s unmatched American musical theater collections. On March 15 the Concert Band will play music of George & Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Stephen Sondheim and others. Later this spring, a big-band evening with the Army Blues ––
classics by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Gil Evans, on May 25 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.

Learn more about the May 25th Army Blues concert

Hosting a roundup of great country stars for the Library, singer-songwriter Bob DiPiero (“Take Me As I Am,” “Till You Love Me”) is one of a handful of performers setting the bar for songwriter-entertainers.

 

APRIL 2013

“Gabriel Kahane pushes the musical envelope but only does so to compel his audience towards more sophisticated–and therefore rewarding–listening.” American Songwriter

“Andres is unquestionably a distinctive talent, with a fine teasing ear for texture and harmony.” The Guardian

Two composer-performers who take an extraordinarily broad view of the modern musician’s life, Andres and Kahane write and play for orchestras, chamber groups, pop bands, theatrical productions and themselves, in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Hall to tiny bars, and critical acclaim from publications both august and alternative. In this rare appearance together, they will perform piano music and songs of their own and others, including Hanns Eisler and Charles Ives. (Photo credit for Kahane: Josh Goleman; and for Andres: Mingzhe Wang)

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Conversation with the artists

“Rousset commands a huge talent…” Gramophone

A keyboard travelogue from French Baroque expert Christophe Rousset, the director of Les Talens lyriques. Rousset’s formidable skills as harpsichordist, chamber musician, conductor and scholar have made him a force in the early music world. Enlightened exoticism, impressions of worlds old and new-from Peru to China and the Far East.

COUPERIN: Quatrième Livre de Pièces de clavecin
     Vingt-septième ordre (si mineur)
     L’Exquise; Les Pavots; Les Chinois; Saillie
RAMEAU: Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de clavecin
     Suite en sol
     Les Tricotets; L’Indifférente; La Poule; Menuets I & II; Les Triolets; Les Sauvages; L’Enharmonique; L’Egyptienne;
     Les Indes galantes, Suite de ballet transcrite pour clavecin
RAMEAU: Les Indes galantes, Suite de ballet transcrite pour clavecin
     Quatrième Concert (do mineur)
     Les Incas du Pérou; Vivement; Ritournelle; Air Grave pour les Incas du Pérou; Adoration du Soleil; Loure en Rondeau sans lenteur;
     Rondeaux gracieux; Gavottes I and II

Presented in cooperation with the Maison Française at the Embassy of France and the French-American Cultural Foundation.

“An ensemble of breathtaking freshness, vitality and balance” The New York Times

A sensational ensemble of young British singers performing masterpieces from the golden age of choral music. Stile Antico took the international early music scene by storm, winning Diapason d’or and Choc du monde awards for bold, dynamic interpretations, expressive lucidity and an imaginative response to text. At the heart of the program is British composer John McCabe’s Woefully Arrayed, a tour-de-force of choral textures. (Photo Credit: Marco Boggreve)

GOMBERT: Magnificat primi toni
CLEMENS NON PAPA: Ego flos campi
LASSUS: Veni dilecte mi
BYRD: Laetentur coeli, Vigilate
TALLIS: O Sacrum convivium, Why fum’th in fight
McCABE: Woefully arrayed
SHEPPARD: The Lord’s Prayer
TOMKINS: O Praise the Lord
GIBBONS: I am the resurrection and the life
PALESTRINA: Exultate Deo
de CEBALLOS: Hortus Conclusus
de VIVANCO: Veni, dilecti mi
de VICTORIA: O magnum mysterium
PRAETORIUS: Tota pulchra es

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
The Music Division’s Susan Clermont talks about and displays a collection of the Library’s rare, first-edition Renaissance part books and anthologies.

"In a class of their own" The Strad

An all-Russian program by this superb Czech quartet, sought after in the world’s major music capitals. Collecting praise for “extraordinary” and “matchless” performances and tributes like Gramophone’s 2011 Recording of the Year award, the Pavel Haas is now in the very top echelon of chamber music ensembles.(Photo Credit: Marco Boggreve)

SCHNITTKE: Quartet No. 3
SHOSTAKOVICH: Quartet No. 8 in C minor, op. 110
TCHAIKOVSKY: Quartet No. 1 in D major, op. 11

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
“Print me a Stradivarius?” Panel discussion: Top American instrument makers talk about the impressive results of a recent project to copy the Library’s superb “Betts” violin, from the Golden Period of master instrument maker Antonio Stradivari.

Presented in cooperation with the Embassy of Italy.

“…an exciting smorgasbord of new and old.” The Washington Post

Metro-Washington’s Left Bank Concert Society offers a Brahms masterwork–his G major string quintet–alongside compositions from George Walker and Dina Koston. Patricia Green, a singer of “exquisite style, [and] emotional power” (The Washington Post), delivers T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men,” in Walker’s Poem for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble.

KOSTON: In Two Parts, for violin and piano (McKim Fund commission)
WALKER: String Quartet no. 1
WALKER: Poem for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble, “The Hollow Men”
BRAHMS: String Quintet no. 2 in G major, op. 111

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Coolidge Auditorium - (no tickets required)
Meet the Washington-born, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker in a pre-concert talk about his seven-decade career – and hear the world premiere of the newest Walker composition, performed by his son Gregory: Bleu, for solo violin.

MAY 2013

[Orchestra 2001 has] “ ..a profound understanding of my musical intentions and the ability to realize these in beautiful sound.” George Crumb

“George Crumb hears the heartbeat of America,” states the Los Angeles Times. Experience the final volume of his epic seven-volume American Songbook. Voices, amplified piano, and a hundred percussion instruments evoke “landscapes of sounds undreamed of…the spirituals of slaves, the lullabies of American Indians, the congregational singing of the English settlers and songs of the Civil War...a shared musical patrimony.” (David Patrick Stearns). Orchestra 2001 also unveils a new Library of Congress commission from American composer Chaya Czernowin, whose music has been performed by such notable new-music forces as the Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, IRCAM, and the Salzburg Festival. (Photo Credit for Chaya Czernowin: Astrid Achekermann)

CRUMB: Night of the Four Moons
CZERNOWIN: Slow Summer Stay II: Lakes (world premiere, commissioned by the Dina Koston and Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music)
CRUMB: Voices from the Heartland (American Songbook VII)

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Coolidge Auditorium - (no tickets required)
Conversation with George Crumb and Chaya Czernowin.

“in a word, sensational.” The New York Times

Winners of the Osaka and Melbourne chamber music competitions in 2011, and currently Juilliard’s Graduate Resident String Quartet, these rising stars bring passion, vibrancy and precision to their Washington debut. Saluting John Adams, with whom they have collaborated and worked since 2009, the Attaca offers an Adams quartet sampler, plus works by Janáček and his favorite composer Beethoven.

JANÁČEK: String Quartet no. 2, “Intimate Letters”
TIMOTHY ANDRES: World Premiere, title to be announced (Library of Congress Dina Koston and Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music)
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in F major, op. 18, no. 1
ADAMS: String Quartet

“Ms. Koh and Ms. Uchida seem always to be of one mind about the works at hand, and the interaction between them has an enlivening vibrancy.“ The New York Times

An intriguing mix of masterpieces from past and present, from “a risk-taking, high-octane player [Koh] of the kind who grabs the listener by the ears and refuses to let go.” Music from contemporary masters Esa-Pekka Salonen and John Adams is paired with selections by Janáček, Schubert and Bartók. (Photo Credit: Janette Beckman)

JANÁČEK: Sonata
SALONEN: Lachen verlernt
SCHUBERT: Sonata in A major, D. 574, op. 162
ADAMS: Road Movies (McKim Fund commission)

“Provocative” Chicago Tribune

Schoenberg and Stravinsky from John Adams and the superlative ICE, plus the world premiere of a new Library of Congress commission. Relentlessly innovative, the crack instrumentalists on ICE’s roster are dedicated to reshaping the way music is created and experienced. Performer, presenter and educator, the group creates CELAB residencies for six emerging composers each year, documentedonline through its new online venue, digitICE. Unmissable. (Photo Credit: Carie Schneider)

STRAVINSKY: L’Histoire du soldat
SCHOENBERG: Chamber Symphony no. 1, op. 9 (1906)
ADAMS: Son of Chamber Symphony
Di CASTRI: Lo Forma della Spazio

Pre-concert presentation - 6:15 pm - Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Conversation with John Adams

One of the nation’s premier jazz ensembles traces John Adams’ musical lineage back to the era of swing bands and his grandfather’s New Hampshire dance hall. From Duke Ellington’s big band music of the golden age of swing and Charles Mingus’ avant-garde to the free jazz of Gil Evans, the U.S. Army Blues bring their experience at the world’s greatest jazz festivals to the Atlas.

 

 

Concerts are prsented in the Library’s historic Coolidge Auditorium, located in the Thomas Jefferson Building (1st and Independence, S.E.) unless otherwise noted. All events are free of charge to the public, but tickets are required, available through Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com) or (202) 397-7328. For “special ticketing policy” events please email nbrown@loc.gov or call (202) 707-8437. Tickets for events at the Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H Street, N.E.) are available through the Atlas Box Office (www.atlasarts.org) or (202) 399-7993. Tickets for events at the Hill Center (921 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE) are available through the Hill Center Box Office (hillcenterdc.org) or (202) 549-4172.

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