Washington Performing Arts 50th Anniversary Season brochure by Elayna Speight

Lift for Season Calendar

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Infocus Direct 20187

2016/17 Season Venues Baird Auditorium - Smithsonian Museum of Natural History 1001 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20224 Parking: Limited Street Parking Metrorail: Metrorail: Federal Triangle (Blue/Orange/Silver lines), 12th Street exit; Archives-Navy Memorial – Penn Quarter (Yellow/Green lines)

Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club 7719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814 Parking: Cheltenham Parking Garage (take elevator in garage to the Whitney Lobby) Metrorail: Bethesda (Red line)

DAR Constitution Hall 1776 D Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20006 Parking: Colonial Parking at 1800 G Street Metrorail: 10-15 minute walk from Farragut North (Red line and Farragut West (Blue/Orange /Silver lines)

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 2700 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20566 Parking: Kennedy Center, Watergate, and Columbia Plaza garages Metrorail: Foggy Bottom/GWU (Blue/Orange/Silver lines), free shuttle available from station to venue

GW Lisner Auditorium 730 21st Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20052

1400 K Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20005

Parking: Area garages and street parking Metrorail: Foggy Bottom/GWU (Blue/Orange/Silver lines)

Sidney Harman Hall 610 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20004

Parking: Area garages and street parking Metrorail: Gallery Place-Chinatown (Red, Green/Yellow lines), 7th & F Street exit

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue 600 I Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

Parking: Limited street and garage parking in area Metrorail: Gallery Place-Chinatown (Red, Green/Yellow lines), 7th & H Street exit

Music Center at Strathmore 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD 20852 Parking: Complimentary parking at the Grosvenor Metro station Metrorail: Grosvenor-Strathmore (Red line)

University of the District of Columbia (UDC) Theatre of the Arts 4200 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20008 Parking: Parking in the UDC garage (garage entrance on Van Ness Street, NW) Metrorail: Van Ness-UDC (Red line), West exit

2016/17 50th Anniversary Season Complete subscription info inside!

Become a “Friend” for highest seating priority and other benefits!

2016/17

50th Anniversary Season

— Patrick Hayes, founder

QUICK START

Fixed package series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-11 Custom series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13 “Friends” donor program (Enjoy seating priority & more!) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56-57 Venue information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover Season Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fold-Out Back Cover V

TOMER GEWIRTZMAN, piano

SAT, DEC 3, 2pm

DECEMBER

Semyon Bychkov, conductor

ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA

TUE, NOV 29, 8pm

BRITTEN - A Ceremony of Carols

with Rob Kapilow

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?

SUN, NOV 20, 6pm

Myra Huang, piano

ERIC OWENS, bass-baritone SUSANNA PHILLIPS, soprano

SUN, NOV 13, 4pm

LUCAS DEBARGUE, piano

SAT, NOV 12, 2pm

CHUCHO VALDÉS JOE LOVANO QUINTET

SAT, NOV 5, 8pm

NOVEMBER

THE SONGS OF HAROLD ARLEN

with Rob Kapilow

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?

SUN, OCT 30, 6pm

CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT

SAT, OCT 29, 7pm SUN, OCT 30, 7:30pm

SAT, OCT 29, 2pm H LLYˆR WILLIAMS, piano

Robert Levin, piano

HILARY HAHN, violin

FRI, OCT 28, 8pm

BÉLA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN

SAT, OCT 22, 8pm

ZAKIR HUSSAIN & NILADRI KUMAR

THU, OCT 20, 8pm

ALISA WEILERSTEIN, cello

SUN, OCT 16, 4pm

DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM

FRI, OCT 14, 8pm SAT, OCT 15, 2pm & 8pm

JOEY ALEXANDER TRIO

SAT, OCT 8, 7pm SUN, OCT 9, 7:30pm

BROOKLYN RIDER & ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER

SAT, OCT 8, 8pm

VELOCITYDC DANCE FESTIVAL

FRI, OCT 7, 8pm SAT, OCT 8, 8pm

STEP AFRIKA! THE MIGRATION

SAT, OCT 1 8pm SUN, OCT 2, 4pm

OCTOBER

STEP AFRIKA! THE MIGRATION

FRI, SEP 30, 8pm

Orchestra Series Celebrity Series Stars Series Piano Masters Series What Makes It Great? Hayes Piano Series Virtuoso Series

All programs and artists subject to change

O C S P W H V

SUBSCRIPTION SERIES KEY

Stanley Thurston, artistic director Michele Fowlin, director, Children of the Gospel Choir

MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN OF THE GOSPEL CHOIR

FRI, JUN 2, 8pm

JUNE

KIRILL GERSTEIN, piano

SUN, MAY 21, 4pm

MURRAY PERAHIA, piano

SUN, MAY 14, 5pm

The United States Air Force Band David Robertson, guest conductor

MESSIAEN: FROM THE CANYONS TO THE STARS

FRI, MAY 12, 8pm

JOYCE DIDONATO, mezzosoprano & THE ENGLISH CONCERT

TUE, MAY 2, 8pm

LEIF OVE ANDSNES & MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN, pianos

MON, MAY 1, 8pm

MAY

JAVIER PERIANES, piano

SAT, APR 29, 2pm

YEFIM BRONFMAN, piano

TUE, APR 25, 8pm

BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 7

with Rob Kapilow

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?

SUN, APR 9, 6pm

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR

SAT, APR 8, 7pm & 9:30pm

ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER, violin Lambert Orkis, piano

SAT, APR 8, 3pm

DANIIL TRIFONOV, piano

TUE, APR 4, 8pm

Eric Jacobsen, conductor San Francisco Girls Chorus Lisa Bielawa, artistic director

SHIFT FESTIVAL: THE KNIGHTS

SAT, APR 1, 8pm

APRIL

Robert Spano, music director Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus

SHIFT FESTIVAL: ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

FRI, MAR 31, 8pm

Grant Llewellyn, conductor Caroline Shaw, violin

SHIFT FESTIVAL: NORTH CAROLINA SYMPHONY

WED, MAR 29, 8pm

WashingtonPerformingArts.org 202.785.9727

TO SUBSCRIBE OR DONATE:

Michael Butterman, music director Jeff Midkiff, mandolin Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Theatre

SHIFT FESTIVAL: BOULDER PHILHARMONIC

TUE, MAR 28, 8pm

AVI AVITAL & OMER AVITAL

SAT, MAR 25, 8pm

JCT TRIO ( Stefan Jackiw, Jay Campbell & Conrad Tao)

FRI, MAR 24, 8pm

NUFONIA MUST FALL

SAT, MAR 18, 8pm

BRAD MEHLDAU

THU, MAR 16, 8pm

RICHARD GOODE, piano

SUN, MAR 12, 4pm

SIR ANDRÁS SCHIFF, piano

TUE, MAR 7, 8pm

KRONOS QUARTET

SAT, MAR 4, 8pm

CAMERON CARPENTER, organ

FRI, MAR 3, 8pm

MARCH

Yuri Temirkanov, music director Nikolai Lugansky, piano

ST. PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC

MON, FEB 27, 8pm

Washington Performing Arts Gospel Choirs Stanley Thurston, artistic director Choral Arts Society of Washington Scott Tucker, artistic director

SUN, FEB 19, 7pm LIVING THE DREAM… SINGING THE DREAM

COLIN CURRIE, percussion

SAT, FEB 11, 8pm

IGOR LEVIT, piano

SAT, FEB 11, 2pm

Sam Haywood, piano

JOSHUA BELL, violin

FRI, FEB 10, 8pm

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, violin & YUJA WANG, piano

TUE, FEB 7, 8pm

CARLOS HENRIQUEZ SEXTET

SAT, FEB 4, 8pm

DANISH STRING QUARTET

THU, FEB 2, 8pm

FEBRUARY

DVOˇRÁK - Piano Quintet No. 2

with Rob Kapilow

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?

SUN, JAN 29, 6pm

PILOBOLUS: Shadowland

SAT, JAN 28, 8pm SAT, JAN 29, 2pm

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director Louis Lortie, piano

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

TUE, JAN 24, 8pm

JANUARY

ATTACCA QUARTET

SUN, DEC 4, 4pm

The 2016/17 Season

Nobody Out” SEPTEMBER

“Everybody In

Contents The First 50 Years................................................ 4 Benefits of Subscribing & Donating................... 8 Fixed Package Series .......................................... 9 Custom Series & Season Themes.......................12 SEPTEMBER Step Afrika! -The Migration (Sep 30-Oct 2)...........14

Attacca Quartet (Dec 4)..........................................27 JANUARY The Philadelphia Orchestra (Jan 24).....................28 Pilobolus: Shadowland (Jan 28-29).......................29

What Makes It Great? - Dvoˇrák Piano Quintet No. 2 (Jan 29)......................................................29

SHIFT Festival: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Mar 31)..............................................................43 APRIL SHIFT Festival: The Knights (Apr 1).......................43 Daniil Trifonov, piano (Apr 4).................................44 Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin (Apr 8)........................45 Anoushka Shankar (Apr 8).....................................46

OCTOBER

FEBRUARY

Brooklyn Rider & Anne Sofie von Otter (Oct 8)......15 Joey Alexander Trio (Oct 8-9) ................................16 VelocityDC Dance Festival (Oct 7-8).......................17 Dance Theatre of Harlem (Oct 14-15)....................17

Danish String Quartet (Feb 2)................................30

What Makes It Great? - Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (Apr 9)..................................................................46

Carlos Henriquez Sextet (Feb 4)............................30

Yefim Bronfman, piano (Apr 25).............................47

Leonidas Kavakos, violin & Yuja Wang, piano (Feb 7)..................................................................31

Javier Perianes, piano (Apr 29).............................47

Alisa Weilerstein, cello (Oct 16).............................18

Joshua Bell, violin (Feb 10)....................................32

Zakir Hussain & Niladri Kumar (Oct 20)................19

Igor Levit, piano (Feb 11).......................................32

Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn (Oct 22)...............20

Colin Currie, percussion (Feb 11)..........................33

Hilary Hahn, violin (Oct 28)....................................21

Living the Dream…Singing the Dream (Feb 19) ...34

Llˆyr Williams, piano (Oct 29).................................22

St. Petersburg Philharmonic (Feb 27)...................35

Cécile McLorin Salvant (Oct 29-30).......................22

What Makes It Great? - The Songs of Harold Arlen (Oct 30)................................................................23 NOVEMBER Chucho Valdés Joe Lovano Quintet (Nov 5)...........23 Lucas Debargue, piano (Nov 12)............................24 Eric Owens, bass-baritone & Susanna Phillips, soprano (Nov 13)................25

What Makes It Great? - Britten: A Ceremony of Carols (Nov 20)....................................................25 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Nov 29).............26 DECEMBER Tomer Gewirtzman, piano (Dec 3).........................27

MARCH Cameron Carpenter, organ (Mar 3).......................36 Kronos Quartet (Mar 4)..........................................37

MAY Leif Ove Andsnes & Marc-André Hamelin, pianos (May 1).................................................................48

Ariodante: Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano & The English Concert (May 2)...........................49 Messiaen: From the Canyons to the Stars (May 12)...............................................................50 Murray Perahia, piano (May 14).............................52 Kirill Gerstein, piano (May 21)...............................52

Sir András Schiff, piano (Mar 7).............................38

JUNE

Richard Goode, piano (Mar 12)..............................39

Men, Women, and Children of the Gospel Choir (Jun 2)..................................................................53

Brad Mehldau (Mar 16)..........................................39

Nufonia Must Fall (Mar 18)....................................40 JCT Trio (Stefan Jackiw, Jay Campbell, & Conrad Tao) (Mar 24).......................................41

Avital Meets Avital (Mar 25)...................................41 SHIFT Festival: Boulder Philharmonic (Mar 28)...42 SHIFT Festival: North Carolina Symphony (Mar 29)..............................................................42

Education & Community Programs.......................54 Mars Urban Arts Initiative.....................................55 Friends of Washington Performing Arts...............56 About Washington Performing Arts......................58 2016/17 Season Venues............... Inside Back Cover Fold-out Season Calendar........... Inside Back Cover All programs and artists subject to change

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The First 50 Years

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50 Years, Countless Stories… Among the things I love most about Washington Performing Arts are the stories people share with me. Some go back to our beginning 50 years ago: our founder, Patrick Hayes, inviting an eager patron for a visit backstage—instilling a lasting memory of his warmth and generosity. Other stories are more recent, such as the “aha” moment of hearing an artist for the first time—from a renowned international orchestra to a D.C.-based Mars Urban Arts Initiative performer to one of our resident gospel ensembles. Or being a witness to history, at the world premiere of a newly commissioned work. Or a witness to a newly kindled love of the arts, at a performance by our summer camp students. What you’ve so clearly signaled to me—to us—through your stories is that Washington Performing Arts has made a difference in your lives. And it’s our pleasure, in this anniversary season, to share some of these stories with you. Peppered throughout this brochure are text excerpts from 50 Years, 50 Stories, a forthcoming video project in which our audience members, artists, donors, and other partners share their favorite Washington Performing Arts memories and reflect on the organization’s ongoing role in their lives and in our community.

Your stories continue to inspire all of us on the staff and Board of Washington Performing Arts. Thank you for being part of a community that treasures the performing arts on-stage and off, and for making Washington Performing Arts part of your own life story—past, present, and future. * * * In planning our 50th Anniversary Season, we focused on performances that would be intriguing to imagine and exciting to experience, that would be reflective of our half-century history while looking resolutely toward the future. Extending this theme, we’ve given the title “The Future @ 50” to a suite of behind-the-scenes initiatives (which you’ll learn about soon) that will help ensure that our treasured education, community, and performance programs will flourish in the long term. In these pages, we present the fruit of years of partnering with artists, from long-standing subscription series to new collaborations on pioneering projects at the intersection of dance, music, and theater (plus puppetry, painting, and film). Among our key new collaborations are the debut of SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras, in partnership with the Kennedy Center (pages 42–43); and a multi-year residency with the Kronos Quartet (page 37) featuring newly commissioned works and woven into our Embassy Adoption Program with the D.C. Public Schools. We are thrilled to open the season with The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence (page 14), a monumental work by our longstanding educational and performance partner Step Afrika!, featuring our Men and Women of the Gospel Choir.

Captions: 1) President Emeritus Douglas Wheeler with Wynton Marsalis (ca. 1987) 2) Article in the Sunday Star, January 2, 1966 3) Brochure headlines from 1968-69 season brochure

As you plan your own season with us, I invite you both to return to beloved artists and to take a chance on enticing-yet-unfamiliar programs that pique your interest. Let this be the season where cherished experiences and new horizons meet. And as we go along, please share your impressions and reflections with us, and we’ll write the story of this 50th Anniversary Season together! Jenny Bilfield, President & CEO

4) Founder Patrick Hayes and pianist Van Cliburn (ca. 1960) 5) Washington Performing Arts’ Men & Women of the Gospel Choir (ca. 1991) 6) Washington Performing Arts’ Women’s Committee with President Emeritus Doug Wheeler 7) Performance program: Paul Taylor Dance Company (1978) 8) Performance program: pianist Vladimir Horowitz (1979) 9) Founder Patrick Hayes with first Board Chairman, Todd Duncan 10) Cellist Yo-Yo Ma leads a class at Fletcher Johnson Education Center (ca. 1987)

202.785.9727 | 5

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23 Captions: 11) Jazz for Young People concert with Capital Jazz Project students (2010)

12) Child tries out a violin at a Fall Arts Fair (2013)

13) Student conducts at a Concerts In Schools event (2006)

19) Men & Women of the Gospel Choir performs at the White House Tree Lighting Ceremony (2012)

14) Sweden’s Prince Daniel greets students at Sweden’s Embassy Adoption Program partner school (2011)

20) Gospel Camp participants (2003)

15) Program from world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Suite for Human Nature (2004) 16) National Medal of Arts, awarded to Washington Performing Arts by President Barack Obama (2012) 17) Conductor Gustavo Dudamel and President & CEO Jenny Bilfield (2014) 18) Jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding performs at Warner Theatre (2013)

21) Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and ballet star Damian Woetzel work with students at Savoy Elementary School (2012) 22) Soloman Howard, Annisse Murillo, Alyson Cambridge, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and Billie Allen Henderson applaud host Jessye Norman at Of Thee We Sing: The Marian Anderson 75th Anniversary Celebration (2014) 23) Women’s Committee founder Barbara Mackenzie Gordon, President Emeritus Neale Perl, and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter (2008)

YEARS STORIES See our website in the coming months for the debut of 50 Years, 50 Stories, a series of video interviews reflecting on our first half century. As an early taste of the project, quotations from interviewees appear in sidebars throughout this book.

Y E A R202.785.9727 S |7

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The more you choose, the more you save! Select a pre-packaged Subscription Series (see pages 9-11), or select three (3) or more performances to create your own Custom Series (see pages 12-13).

Want the highest seating priority? Subscribers who are also Washington Performing Arts Friends (formerly Members) are seated ahead of non-Friend subscribers. Become a Friend or renew your support to have access to the best seats for the concerts you want to attend.

How To Order: WashingtonPerformingArts.org • 202.785.9727 Subscription + Friends donation* FIXED SERIES

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8 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

Daniil Trifonov (p.44)

Fixed Package Series...

Select a pre-packaged subscription series, receive priority seating, and save up to 20%!

ORCHESTRA SERIES at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall

A hallmark of Washington Performing Arts’ programming, bringing the world’s finest orchestras to D.C. audiences

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam (Nov 29).................................................................... 26 Semyon Bychkov, conductor

The Philadelphia Orchestra (Jan 24)......................................................................................................... 28 Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director Louis Lortie, piano St. Petersburg Philharmonic (Feb 27)................................................................................................. 35

Yuri Temirkanov, music director Nikolai Lugansky, piano

STARS SERIES at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Made possible by Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather Featuring today’s most in-demand, celebrated recitalists at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Hilary Hahn, violin (Oct 28)...................................................................................................... 21 Robert Levin, piano

The Philadelphia Orchestra (p.28) Joshua Bell (p.32)

Joshua Bell, violin (Feb 10)..................................................................................................32 Sam Haywood, piano

Daniil Trifonov, piano (Apr 4)...........................................................................................44 Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin (Apr 8).............................................................................45 Lambert Orkis, piano

Handel’s Ariodante: Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano & The English Concert (May 2)..............................................................................49 202.785.9727 | 9

Cameron Carpenter (p.36)

Fixed Package Series Continued

CELEBRITY SERIES at the Music Center at Strathmore

World-renowned instrumentalists in the spectacular Strathmore concert hall

Leonidas Kavakos, violin & Yuja Wang, piano (Feb 7).............................................................................. 31 Cameron Carpenter, organ (Mar 3).............................................................................................................. 36 Sir András Schiff, piano (Mar 7).................................................................................................................. 38 Leif Ove Andsnes, piano & Marc-André Hamelin, piano (May 1)................................................... 48 Murray Perahia, piano (May 14).............................................................................................................. 52

PIANO MASTERS SERIES at the UDC Theatre of the Arts Distinguished pianists in recital—new venue this season!

Richard Goode, piano (Mar 12)........................................................................................................ 39 Kirill Gerstein (p.52)

Yefim Bronfman, piano (Apr 25)................................................................................................... 47 Kirill Gerstein, piano (May 21).................................................................................................... 52

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT? with Rob Kapilow at the Smithsonian Baird Auditorium

In his acclaimed series, former NPR music commentator Rob Kapilow explores musical masterpieces.

The Songs of Harold Arlen (Oct 30).............................................................................. 23 Britten: A Ceremony of Carols (Nov 20)................................................................... 25 Dvoˇrák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81 (Jan 29)................................. 29 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (Apr 9).................................................................... 46 10 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

Fixed Package Series Continued

HAYES PIANO SERIES at the UDC Theatre of the Arts

Established in 1966 in honor of Washington Performing Arts founder Patrick Hayes and his wife, Evelyn Swarthout Hayes, this series features recitals by some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest emerging pianists. From Pollini to Perahia, Brendel to Bronfman, virtually every notable pianist today made a Kennedy Center debut on this extraordinary series. (For 2016/17, the series moves to UDC during the renovation of the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.)

LlË&#x2020;yr Williams, piano (Oct 29)........................................................................................................................... 22 Lucas Debargue, piano (Nov 12)................................................................................................................. 24 Tomer Gewirtzman, piano (Dec 3)............................................................................................................27 Igor Levit, piano (Feb 11)...........................................................................................................................32 Javier Perianes, piano (Apr 29)........................................................................................................... 47

VIRTUOSO SERIES at the UDC Theatre of the Arts

Now in its fifth season, the expanded Virtuoso Series offers a platform for emerging and established classical artists.

Alisa Weilerstein (p.18) Igor Levit (p.32)

Alisa Weilerstein, cello (Oct 16)............................................................................................ 18 Eric Owens, bass-baritone (Nov 13).................................................................................25 Susanna Phillips, soprano Attacca Quartet (Dec 4).....................................................................................................27 Danish String Quartet (Feb 2).......................................................................................30 JCT Trio (Mar 24)............................................................................................................41 Stefan Jackiw, violin; Jay Campbell, cello; and Conrad Tao, piano

202.785.9727 202.785.9727||11 11

Create a Custom Series

Explore some of this season’s exciting themes, or choose any three performances to save up to 10% or five or more to save up to 15%.

Pilobolus (p.2

JAZZ GENERATIONS CHEMISTRY

The art of collaboration Brooklyn Rider & Anne Sofie von Otter (Oct 8) .............. 15 Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn (Oct 22)........................ 20 Chucho Valdés Joe Lovano Quintet (Nov 5).................. 23 Leonidas Kavakos, violin & Yuja Wang, cello (Feb 7)... 31

Nufonia Must Fall (Mar 18)......................................... 40 Avital Meets Avital (Mar 25)....................................... 41 Leif Ove Andsnes & Marc-André Hamelin, pianos (May 1)................................................................... 48

From rising stars to grand masters Joey Alexander Trio (Oct 8-9).............................................. 16 Cécile McLorin Salvant (Oct 29-30).................................... 22 Chucho Valdés Joe Lovano Quintet (Nov 5)........................ 23 Carlos Henriquez Sextet (Feb 4)......................................... 30 Brad Mehldau (Mar 16)....................................................... 39

Avital Meets Avital (Mar 25)................................................ 41

THE WORLD IN OUR CITY

Artistic explorers crossing borders and genres Zakir Hussain & Niladri Kumar (Oct 20)............................. 19 Colin Currie, percussion (Feb 11)....................................... 33 Kronos Quartet (Mar 4)....................................................... 37

Avital Meets Avital (Mar 25) ............................................... 41 Anoushka Shankar (Apr 8).................................................. 46 12 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

.15)

r (p Brooklyn Ride

20)

Abigail Washburn (p.

DANCE PLUS

D.C. debuts, immersive festivals, and more Step Afrika!: The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence (Sep 30-Oct 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 VelocityDC Dance Festival (Oct 7-8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Dance Theatre of Harlem (Oct 14-15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Pilobolus: Shadowland (Jan 28-29) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

THE VOICE

From past to present, the seminal sound of the human spirit Brooklyn Rider & Anne Sofie von Otter (Oct 8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CĂŠcile McLorin Salvant (Oct 29-30) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Eric Owens, bass-baritone & Susanna Phillips, soprano (Nov 13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Living the Dream, Singing the Dream (Feb 19) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano & The English Concert: Ariodante (May 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Washington Performing Artsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Men, Women, and Children of the Gospel Choirs (Jun 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

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The 2016/17 Season

“Step Afrika! ... has elevated stepping to a high art.” – The Washington Post

SEASON OPENER! FRI, SEP 30 – SUN, OCT 2

STEP AFRIKA!

The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence

featuring members of Washington Performing Arts’ Men & Women of the Gospel Choir

UDC Theatre of the Arts Step Afrika!, the D.C.-based, global ambassador for the tradition of step dance, debuts a new and expanded production of its signature work, The Migration, based on American painter Jacob Lawrence’s iconic series (displayed at the Phillips Collection and at MoMA in New York). The acclaimed company viscerally blends body percussion, dance, spoken word, projected images of Lawrence’s paintings, and live and recorded music to chart the story of African-American migrants moving from the South to the North in the early 1900s. The use of step dance is a perfect pairing, as the U.S. tradition originated in the same time period captured in Lawrence’s paintings. The program, which launches Washington Performing Arts’ 50th anniversary season, features members of the Men and Women of the Gospel Choir. Co-presented with Step Afrika! The opening night of The Migration and commissioned choreography are made possible through the generous support of Reginald Van Lee.

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Special thanks to the Phillips Collection.

SAT, OCT 8, 8pm

BROOKLYN RIDER ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER, mezzo-soprano

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Perennial favorites Brooklyn Rider are known for their “unique voice, which they skillfully deploy across a dazzling array of styles” (Washington Post). The quartet have brought friends from across the musical spectrum for performances at Sixth & I and return this fall with mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter with a program ranging from the Beatles to Björk. The collaborators are wellsuited: with a clear, unaffected tone, von Otter is able “to fit into a range of styles without a lot of fuss,” in the Washington Post’s words. “She’s like the singer next door; she seems as though she just happens to be sharing with you a couple of songs she likes.”

Brooklyn Rider

von Otter 202.785.9727 | 15

SAT, OCT 8 – SUN, OCT 9

JOEY ALEXANDER TRIO Y E A R SBethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

STORIES

Now making his sophomore appearance with Washington Performing Arts—although, at age 12, he is still younger than virtually all high school sophomores—jazz piano phenom Joey Alexander has shot to international stardom YEARS seemingly overnight. Finding early champions in the likes of Wynton Marsalis and Herbie STORIES Hancock, Alexander released his debut CD, My Favorite Things, in 2015, earning two Grammy nominations and performing to a standing “I’ve performed so many times ovation at the televised awards ceremony. with Washington Performing The New York Times has praised not just his Arts, in so many education formidable technique but his “sophisticated events and concerts. Whenever harmonic palette and dynamic sensitivity”—all I come here, I think about quality, of which will be showcased beautifully in this two-show run amid the Art Deco elegance of about soul. Washington Performing the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club. Arts is about bringing first class

performances to people from all aspects of the city. We must insist on making arts available to everyone and never lose this type of missionary zeal that we need in the arts.”

– Wynton Marsalis, trumpeter, composer, educator, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center

16 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

Co-presented with Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club. VENUE NOTES: • The Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club offers dinner service at tables and light bites for theater seating, along with a full bar. No additional dinner reservations are necessary. See menu at bethesdabluesjazz.com/menu. • Per club policy, there is a $10 per person food/ beverage minimum, in addition to concert ticket price, to be collected the night of the performance. • All patrons ages 5 and above are welcome.

FRI, OCT 7 – SAT, OCT 8

Sidney Harman Hall

CMYK Grey: C=0 M=2 Y=0 K=68

Orange:

C=0 Featuring the city’s best-known ensembles, undiscovered gems, and M=80 everyone in between, the VelocityDC Dance Festival has become one of Y=95 K=0 the highlights of Washington’s dance season, returning for its eighth Text is Century Gothic Bold and Century Gothic Regular. season with a broad range of styles ranging from ballet to flamenco, tap to hip hop.

Co-presented with the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Shakespeare Theatre Company.

FRI, OCT 14 – SAT, OCT 15 For black backgrounds The grey becomes a K=40

DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM with the Attacca Quartet Sidney Harman Hall Experience power en pointe when the Dance Theatre of Harlem returns to D.C. this fall! First presented by Washington Performing Arts in 1972 and known for exploring the full depth and breadth of ballet with a commitment to diversity, DTH presents a program including the D.C. premiere of a piece by internationally acclaimed choreographer Francesca Harper, set to the music of John Adams and performed live by the Attacca Quartet. Framed by the stunning ambiance of Sidney Harman Hall, a perfect space for dance, this is one you won’t want to miss. Co presented with CityDance. The Attacca Quartet also performs in recital on December 4 (see page 27). The presentation of Dance Theatre of Harlem was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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SUN, OCT 16, 4pm

ALISA WEILERSTEIN, cello UDC Theatre of the Arts BACH - Complete solo cello suites With performances ranging from the BBC Proms to YEARS the Verbier Festival to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,

STORIESAlisa Weilerstein plays with passion in every phrase,

YEARS STORIES

transporting audiences to the musical world she creates. Here, the MacArthur “Genius” Award-winner performs a feat few attempt: the complete Bach solo cello suites in one evening. If you can only see one cello performance this year, this is it. “Weilerstein’s cello is her id,” the Los Angeles Times wrote. “She doesn’t give the impression that making music involves will at all. She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same.”

“Inclusivity was something that my father lived every day, and he’d be pleased by how Washington Performing Arts has become part of the community, by the continuation of presenting known and young artists, and by the extent that Washington Performing Arts’ presence and participation around D.C. has continued and broadened. It has become an organization that plays an important role in the lives of many, many people.” – Elisabeth Hayes, daughter of founder Patrick Hayes

Moran 18 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

THU, OCT 20, 8pm

ZAKIR HUSSAIN, tabla

with NILADRI KUMAR, sitar

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Last season featured tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on the grand scale, fronting a full ensemble in the spacious setting of the Kennedy Center. This season, Hussain takes a turn toward the intimate, performing at cozy Sixth & I in duet with Niladri Kumar, a virtuoso of the sitar and of his own invention, the zitar—a fivestringed electric sitar. What to expect this October? Kumar himself put it best, in an essay for the Times of India: “Zakirji’s music is futuristic, full of perfection, improvisation, creativity, newness, flair, connectivity, knowledge, skill, dexterity, prayer, and passion.”

Hussain

Kumar 202.785.9727 | 19

McBride

SAT, OCT 22, 8pm

BÉLA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN Washburn

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue It took a decade as a couple for “banjo royalty” Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn to officially team up musically, on a 2016 Grammy Award–winning album and tour. It was worth the wait. Said the Guardian, “In the duo’s hands, their combined total of ten strings can span the range of a piano, a blues band, or an entire symphony orchestra.” The pair blend their divergent techniques—Washburn uses the traditional claw hammer picking method, Fleck the three-finger Scruggs style—into an unforgettable evening, “[trading] ad-libbed lines like jazz veterans, sparring with enviable crispness” (NPR).

Fleck

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FRI, OCT 28, 8pm

HILARY HAHN, violin Robert Levin, piano Kennedy Center Concert Hall Program to include the world premiere of three solo partitas by ANTÓN GARCÍA ABRIL, commissioned by Washington Performing Arts Three-time Grammy-winner Hilary Hahn’s interpretations of classic violin literature are matched only by her commitment to the future of the art form and its repertoire. In this concert, she conjoins these two major currents of her career, performing timeless works alongside three new partitas by Spanish composer Antón García Abril, commissioned by Washington Performing Arts (completing a set of six whose first three parts Hahn performed last season). As in all her previous Washington Performing Arts appearances, her audience this fall can expect “playing…at once impetuous and authoritative, brilliant and beautiful” (New York Times). The 50th Anniversary Stars Series is made possible through the generous support of Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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SAT, OCT 29, 2pm

ˆ WILLIAMS, piano LLYR UDC Theatre of the Arts Welsh pianist Llˆyr Williams is widely admired for his profound musical intelligence and for the expressive and communicative nature of his interpretations. In 2014, he embarked on a complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle spread over three years, both at the Wigmore Hall (where he is a piano series regular) and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. The Guardian wrote, “Williams has that precious ability to shed new light on the most familiar music, and a nonchalant technical mastery and singing tone that transform the simplest of melodies into something exceptional.”

SAT, OCT 29 – SUN, OCT 30

CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club Each year since Cécile McLorin Salvant’s D.C. debut in 2013, Washington Performing Arts audiences have treasured the singular sound and presence of a jazz rising star—the dizzying vocal range, the warmth radiating from the stage, the way she inhabits a lyric like a great dramatic actress. But this fall, we leave behind the “rising” and welcome a full-fledged star, boasting a freshly minted “Jazz Vocal Album” Grammy Award for her 2015 CD, For One To Love. The final words of the Los Angeles Times’ review of this disc also apply to the Salvant concert experience: “It’s powerful enough to give you pause before you listen again. But you will.”

Williams

Co-presented with Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club.

Salvant 22 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

VENUE NOTES: • The Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club offers dinner service at tables and light bites for theater seating, along with a full bar. No additional dinner reservations are necessary. See menu at bethesdabluesjazz.com/menu. • Per club policy, there is a $10 per person food/beverage minimum, in addition to concert ticket price, to be collected the night of the performance. • All patrons ages 5 and above are welcome.

SUN, OCT 30, 6pm

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?TM with Rob Kapilow

OVER THE RAINBOW: The Songs of Harold Arlen Smithsonian Baird Auditorium (Venue subject to change, TBA by Sep 19)

Valdés

In his acclaimed What Makes It Great? series, beloved educator and former NPR music commentator Rob Kapilow “gets audiences in tune with classical music at a deeper level than they ever thought possible” (Los Angeles Times). In a three-part format, Kapilow explores a great musical masterpiece with the audience. Next, the piece is performed in its entirety, followed by a Q&A with the audience and performers. As the Kansas City Star proclaimed, “Not since Leonard Bernstein has classical music had a combination salesman-teacher as irresistible as Kapilow.” For this event, he explores the music of Harold Arlen, composer of “Get Happy,” “Stormy Weather,” “Over the Rainbow,” and more. See pages 25, 29, and 46 for additional What Makes It Great? events. Co-presented with the Smithsonian Associates.

SAT, NOV 5, 8pm

CHUCHO VALDÉS JOE LOVANO QUINTET Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

Kapilow

It’s a match made in jazz heaven: Afro-Cuban piano legend, Irakere founder, and five-time Grammy-winner Jesús “Chucho” Valdés and the ever-versatile sax virtuoso and multiple DownBeat “Jazz Artist of the Year” poll-winner Joe Lovano, co-leading a quintet featuring a stellar Cuban rhythm section. As the New York Times put it, Valdés “[makes] the piano talk with great, hard, ringing chords and single notes like rapid-fire arrow shots.” For his part, “Joe Lovano is more than a dominant figure in jazz,” wrote the Wall Street Journal. “He’s jazz’s answer to George Clooney or Jeff Bridges, a vibrant player who delivers an award-worthy performance every time out.”

Lovano 202.785.9727 | 23

SAT, NOV 12, 2pm

LUCAS DEBARGUE, piano UDC Theatre of the Arts SCARLATTI - Sonata in A Major, K. 208 Sonata in A Major, K. 24 Sonata in C Major, K. 132 Sonata in D minor, K. 141, (toccata) BEETHOVEN - Sonata No. 7 in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3 CHOPIN - Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 RAVEL - Gaspard de la Nuit Largely self-taught until the age of 20, 25-year old French pianist Lucas Debargue created an immediate sensation at the 15th Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 2015, outplaying most other competitors who had studied rigorously since their youth. As the Telegraph marveled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;A self-taught Frenchman took the Russian music establishment by storm and upended every orthodoxy in this passionate piano nation in the process.â&#x20AC;? This wide-ranging program for his Washington Performing Arts debut, featuring much of the repertoire from his Sony Classical debut disc, released earlier this year, promises to foreground both the confidence and vulnerability that have already become hallmarks of his playing.

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SUN, NOV 13, 4pm

ERIC OWENS, bass-baritone SUSANNA PHILLIPS, soprano Myra Huang, piano UDC Theatre of the Arts “Eric Owens speaks to you even in his silences…. and shakes you when he sings,” raved the Chicago Sun Times. The acclaimed bass-baritone, a regular at the world’s great opera houses and a favorite of local audiences for his roles in Porgy and Bess, The Flying Dutchman, and Lost in the Stars at Washington National Opera, is joined by soprano Susanna Phillips, recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award, for a program of works by Schubert. The concert is co-curated by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, recipient of Washington Performing Arts’ 2015 Ambassador of the Arts Award.

SUN, NOV 20, 6pm

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?TM with Rob Kapilow

BRITTEN - A Ceremony of Carols

Children’s Chorus of Washington Smithsonian Baird Auditorium (Venue subject to change, TBA by Oct 10)

See pages 23, 29, and 46 for additional What Makes It Great? events.

Owens

Co-presented with the Smithsonian Associates.

Phillips 202.785.9727 | 25

TUE, NOV 29, 8pm

ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA Semyon Bychkov, conductor

Kennedy Center Concert Hall DETLEV GLANERT - Theatrum Bestiarum MAHLER - Symphony No. 5 “The world’s greatest orchestra” (Gramophone) returns to Washington with one of the repertoire’s most monumental works, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, as well as a work by an eminent German composer deeply influenced by Mahler, Detlev Glanert. Washington Performing Arts audiences will hear the symphony for YEARS the second time this year (the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra performed it in April 2016), offering a rare, STORIES apples-to-apples comparison of two consummate Mahler orchestras. The RCO is conductedPby Russian “My personal experience with maestro Semyon Bychkov, who “produced pure magic” Washington Performing Arts is (Leipziger Volkszeitung) in a recent Mahler cycle in through those pieces of art that only New York. WPA can bring to the city through its Y E A R S national, indispensible network—global, and local—of the best artists, from STORIES different disciplines, coming to venues in our community. And for me, it’s about orchestras from around the world who are here only because we have Washington Performing Arts.” – Anthony Williams, former mayor of Washington, D.C. (1999-2007), CEO & Executive Director, Federal City Council

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Tocco

Bychkov

SAT, DEC 3, 2PM

TOMER GEWIRTZMAN, piano UDC Theatre of the Arts Program includes works by LISZT, SCHUMANN, COUPERIN, and CORIGLIANO It was clear from the moment we heard Israeli-born pianist Tomer Gewirtzman at the 2015 Young Concert Artist auditions that we’d be paying attention him to for years to come. A pianist of superb control, thoughtfulness, and curiosity, he has amassed numerous competition prizes and other honors in Israel and throughout the U.S. Said the Washington Post of his 2015 Embassy Series appearance, “His concert highlighted both formidable virtuosity and stylistic sensitivity.” Co-presented with Young Concert Artists.

Gewirtzman

SUN, DEC 4, 4pm

ATTACCA QUARTET UDC Theatre of the Arts CAROLINE SHAW - Entr’acte MENDELSSOHN - Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 BEETHOVEN - Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 First introduced to our audiences performing alongside Spectrum Dance Theater, the Attacca Quartet is a string ensemble well-versed in pushing the boundaries of chamber music. Currently the Quartet-in-Residence for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the group was formed at the Juilliard School in 2003 and quickly became equated with passion, precision, and intentionality. The New York Times says it best: Attacca is “exuberant, funky, and exactingly nuanced.”

Attacca Quartet

The Attacca Quartet also performs with Dance Theatre of Harlem on October 14-15 (see page 17).

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TUE, JAN 24, 8pm

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor Louis Lortie, piano

Kennedy Center Concert Hall CHOPIN - Piano Concerto No. 1 STRAVINSKY - Petrouchka “The Philadelphia Sound is born of the deep musicality, the generosity of spirit, and the incomparable commitment to ensemble playing of our orchestra musicians,” says music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The New York Times, in turn, offers high praise for Nézet-Séguin: “The ensemble… has never sounded better.... The Philadelphia Orchestra seems to have found its ideal music director.” The orchestra’s famously glowing string section and rich sound are the perfect match for Stravinsky’s spirited Petrouchka, and guest soloist Louis Lortie brings his Chopin expertise to the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for a spectacular evening. In the words of the Times (London), Lortie is “ever immaculate, ever imaginative” with a “combination of total spontaneity and meditated ripeness that only great pianists have.” This performance is made possible through the support of the Funger Foundation – Norma Lee and Morton Funger.

Nézet-Séguin 28 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

Lortie

SAT, JAN 28 – SUN, JAN 29

PILOBOLUS

“It’s a colorful, big, entertaining, and completely wacky evening.”

Shadowland

GW Lisner Auditorium Experience the mind-bending world of the company the Huffington Post hailed as “a triumph of ingenuity” with the D.C. premiere of Pilobolus’s Shadowland, an evening-length piece following the dreamlike world of a young girl. Equal parts dramatic and comedic, Shadowland incorporates moving screens, projected images, and front-of-screen choreography all set to a rhythmic original score by American film composer David Poe.

- Time Out London

Co presented with CityDance.

SUN, JAN 29, 6pm

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?TM with Rob Kapilow

ˇ ÁK - Piano Quintet DVOR No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81

Musicians from the Curtis Institute of Music Smithsonian Baird Auditorium (Venue subject to change, TBA by Dec 19)

See pages 23, 25, and 46 for additional What Makes It Great? events. Co-presented with the Smithsonian Associates.

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THU, FEB 2, 8pm

Danish String Quartet

DANISH STRING QUARTET UDC Theatre of the Arts BEETHOVEN - Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18 SCHNITTKE - Quartet No. 3 BEETHOVEN - Quartet No. 18, Op. 130 + Grosse fuge, Op.133 The members of the Danish Quartet have self-effacingly described themselves as “simply your friendly neighborhood string quartet with above average amounts of beard.” But the critical press takes a more elevated view: the Washington Post dubbed the youthful Danes “one of the best quartets before the public today,” and NPR declared, “These Nordic lads possess warmth, wit, a beautiful tone, and technical prowess second to none.” In their return to D.C., they present an intriguing and thematically linked program including Beethoven’s Opus 130 quartet, the singlemovement Opus 133 Grosse Fuge (or Great Fugue—originally the finale to Op. 130), and 20th-century Russian composer Alfred Schnittke’s third quartet, which quotes the Grosse Fuge and other classic works in a kaleidoscope of reinvention.

SAT, FEB 4, 8pm

CARLOS HENRIQUEZ SEXTET Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Well-known to our audiences as the veteran bassist of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Carlos Henriquez headlines for the first time in our season with this sureto-be-hot outing. Born and raised in the Bronx, Henriquez gigged in his teens with the likes of Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri before joining JLCO in the ’90s. As heard on his acclaimed debut disc, The Bronx Pyramid (2015), both his playing and his compositions are as culturally rich as his home borough, melding influences from ’60s-era hard bop, Afro-Cuban salsa, classical music, and more. “Nearly every note from Carlos Henriquez… is cool, clear, judicious,” the New York Times wrote. “He waits for his moment, then delivers with concision.” 30 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

Henriquez

TUE, FEB 7, 8pm

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, violin YUJA WANG, piano The Music Center at Strathmore MEDTNER - 2 Canzonas with Dances, Op. 43 SCHUBERT - Fantasia in C Major, D 934 DEBUSSY - Violin Sonata in G Major, L. 140 BARTÓK - Violin Sonata No. 1 in C-sharp minor, Sz. 75, BB 84 Visually, this star duo is a study in opposites: she slight yet fiery, he tall and brooding. But the frequent partners, who performed together at the 2013 Verbier Festival, soon followed by an acclaimed recording, are a perfect musical pairing. “When they play together, said the Financial Times, “they sound like a single organism.” Known for his “balance of pyrotechnics and lyricsm” (New York Times), Kavakos joins Wang, “quite simply the most dazzlingly, uncannily gifted pianist in the concert world today” (San Francisco Chronicle), for a rare joint recital.

“Kavakos is a spectacular artist.”

- Philadelphia Inquirer

Wang possesses “a nonchalant, brilliant keyboard virtuosity that would have made both Prokofiev (who was a great pianist) and even the fabled Horowitz jealous.”

- Los Angeles Times

Wang

Kavakos 202.785.9727 | 31

FRI, FEB 10, 8pm

JOSHUA BELL, violin Sam Haywood, piano Kennedy Center Concert Hall The “trademark glowing sound, effortless virtuosity, and improvisatory freedom” (New York Times) of Joshua Bell is known and loved worldwide. A musician’s musician, Bell is constantly traveling in his twin roles as solo artist and music director of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields—his week-long, 2017 residency in D.C. is quite a rarity. In addition to repertoire of beloved classics in this exclusive recital appearance, Joshua Bell and Sam Haywood pay homage to John F. Kennedy’s 100th birthday with the reading of Robert Frost’s poem “Dedication” (written for JFK’s inauguration), set to Air by Aaron Jay Kernis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Music. This Washington Performing Arts recital is part of Joshua Bell’s residency with the Kennedy Center and National Symphony Orchestra from February 7-12, 2017. The 50th Anniversary Stars Series is made possible through the generous support of Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather.

SAT, FEB 11, 2pm

IGOR LEVIT, piano UDC Theatre of the Arts SHOSTAKOVICH - 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 No. 10 C-sharp minor No. 4 E minor No. 12 G-sharp minor RZEWSKI - Dreams II BEETHOVEN - Diabelli Variations, Op. 120

Levit 32 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

After his planned Hayes Series debut in 2015 was cancelled due to illness, audiences hoping to hear Russian-German pianist Igor Levit in recital now get their chance. Since last season, Levit has become one of the most buzzed-about young pianists. He made his debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, and D.C.’s own National Symphony Orchestra. The Los Angeles Times raved, “I have never known a young Russian pianist with a promise like Levit’s. He is the future.”

Bell

SAT, FEB 11, 8PM

COLIN CURRIE, percussion Sixth & I Historic Synagogue ELLIOTT CARTER - Figment V PER NØRGÅRD - “Fire over Water” from I Ching TOSHIO HOSOKAWA - Reminiscence BRUNO MANTOVANI - Bruno: Moi, Jeu IANNIS XENAKIS - Rebonds B KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN - Vibra-Elufa ROLF WALLIN - Realismos Magicos A performance by Scotland’s Colin Currie, “the world’s finest and most daring percussionist” (Spectator), is a pulse-quickening journey through both artistic styles and physical space. Currie has commissioned and/or premiered works from a wealth of composers of wide-ranging cultures and traditions, earning 2015’s “Instrumentalist of the Year” honors from Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Society for his achievements. But beyond this artistic expansiveness, Currie makes a literal excursion over the course of a concert, navigating his way around a stage brimming with instruments: vibraphone and marimba, drums from around the world, gongs, rare inventions, and even his own body.

“Thrillingly athletic...a joy to watch as well as to hear.”

-The Guardian

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SUN, FEB 19, 7pm

LIVING THE DREAM… SINGING THE DREAM Performing Arts Y E A RWashington S Gospel Choirs

STORIESStanley Thurston, artistic director

Choral Arts Society of Washington Scott Tucker, artistic director

Kennedy Center Concert Hall

YEARS STORIES

For 25 years, the Washington Performing Arts Gospel Choirs have shared the inspirational gift of gospel music with audiences throughout the D.C. region and beyond. The choirs’ annual concert with the Choral Arts Chorus, honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is a joyful celebration of the power of music and the human spirit.

“Over the last 25 years, I have been a member of the Men and Women of the Gospel Choir. I was blessed to be a founding member of a group of singers that has sought to inspire and unite all people through music, to find a common bond, and to provide moments of happiness in a world that needs a daily reminder that we are here to promote joy, peace, and happiness in the world.”

Co-presented with the Choral Arts Society of Washington.

– Rebecca Powell, Men and Women of the Gospel Choir

34 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

MON, FEB 27, 8pm

ST. PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC

Yuri Temirkanov, music director Nikolai Lugansky, piano

Kennedy Center Concert Hall RACHMANINOFF - Piano Concerto No. 2 SHOSTAKOVICH - Symphony No. 5 Beloved former Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Yuri Temirkanov returns with his St. Petersburg Philharmonic, which Washington Performing Arts has presented since its prePerestroika days as the Leningrad Philharmonic. “The orchestra is a Russian national treasure,” said the Washington Post, and “conductor Yuri Temirkanov one of the best in the world.” The ensemble, known for its performances of the Russian masters, is joined by noted interpreter Nikolai Lugansky, about whom the Guardian wrote, “Rachmaninoff just doesn’t get any better than this.”

“[Lugansky’s] performance blazes with conviction, a propulsion and energy finely complemented with an innate sense of poetry.” – Gramophone

Lugansky

Temirkanov Fleisher

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FRI, MAR 3, 8pm

CAMERON CARPENTER, organ The Music Center at Strathmore From his vast repertoire to his unique stage presence, Cameron Carpenter smashes the stereotypes of organists and organ music wherever he goes. In fact, when he is in town, the only thing you can expect is the unexpected. Performed in the stunning Music Center at Strathmore on his International Touring Organ—a monumental digital organ of his own design—Carpenter’s concert will feature everything from Bach to rock.

“Extravagantly talented… the audience’s response was raucous.… Everything he touches turns fantastical and memorable.” –New York Times

36 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

SAT, MAR 4, 8pm

KRONOS QUARTET Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Based in San Francisco and revered around the globe, the Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet has redefined and re-energized the YEARS sound of the string quartet for more than 40 years. With more than 850 commissioned STORIES works and arrangements to its credit, representing composers from five continents, “Working with Washington Kronos is an unrivaled innovator in the Performing Arts and D.C. Western classical tradition and an everPublic Schools in the Embassy curious explorer of other idioms ranging Adoption Program has been from jazz, blues, and indie rock to the folk, Y E and A RI have S a great experience, classical, and traditional musics of many really enjoyed meeting with the other cultures. children in the STORIES D.C. public school system and introducing them to my In this, Kronos’s first Washington Performing country. Oftentimes, they surprise Arts concert in 15 years, the quartet performs me with their rapid learning. EAP repertoire from around the world, including is my most favorite mission.” new works co-commissioned by Washington Performing Arts as a partner in the multi– Takaaki Nemoto, year Kronos commissioning, residency, and Embassy of Japan educational initiative Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Not only “Washington Performing Arts has performing on our main stage season, Kronos been so helpful in the preparation will be part of a five-year collaboration and execution of school visits. Meeting with our Embassy Adoption Program, a students from D.C. Public Schools has been partnership with the D.C. Public Schools. a great way to spread and share different cultures and create a more global society.” – Julia Ford, Embassy of Japan

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TUE, MAR 7, 8pm

SIR ANDRÁS SCHIFF, piano The Music Center at Strathmore SCHUBERT - Sonata in A minor, D. 845 Sonata in G major, D. 894 Three Klavierstücke, D. 946 Four Impromptus, D. 935 It’s the rare pianist who can build a career without the works of Chopin or Ravel, Rachmaninoff or Liszt. Yet András Schiff has enjoyed an extraordinary career as a specialist in the Austro-German musical canon (exemplified in his Last Sonatas project over the last two seasons). Following an incredibly popular lecture/demonstration in 2015, he takes a deep dive into the works of Schubert, a composer whose works showcase Schiff’s prodigious talent at its finest.

“Even as he applies lessons learned from the lighter action of the fortepiano, he makes uninhibited use of the full symphonic power of the modern grand.” - The New Yorker “The power of his musical intellect filled the hall and brought an exhausted audience to its feet.” - The Washington Post

38 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

SUN, MAR 12, 4pm

RICHARD GOODE, piano UDC Theatre of the Arts BACH - 3 Preludes & Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier French Overture in B minor CHOPIN - Ballade No. 3, Op. 47 Nocturne in E minor, Op. posth. Nocturne in B Major, Op. 9, No. 3 Four Mazurkas, Op. 24 Nocturne in E Major, Op. 62, No. 2 Ballade No. 4, Op. 52 “Richard Goode is one of the finest pianists in the world,” the Washington Post wrote. “Few can match his unfailingly beautiful tone, effortless technical command, interpretive insight and total emotional commitment to the music he plays.”In this program, Goode juxtaposes two virtuoso piano composers whose works place dramatically different demands on the artist and showcase his exceptional technique.

THU, MAR 16, 8pm

BRAD MEHLDAU, piano Three Pieces After Bach

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

Mehldau

One of the great jazz improvisers of our era, Brad Mehldau has long been cited for a “classical” or “contrapuntal” inflection in his signature style. As the Guardian put it, “[Mehldau is] a superb classical technician…who can turn jazz standards into Bach-like fugues.” In this solo program, the piano master explores his relationship to Bach from several angles, juxtaposing his own new composition, Three Pieces After Bach, with several canonical pieces from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and a selection of earlier Mehldau jazz compositions.

Goode 202.785.9727 | 39

SAT, MAR 18, 8PM

NUFONIA MUST FALL

composed and performed by DJ Kid Koala with the Afiara Quartet GW Lisner Auditorium A tender love story between a robot and a human comes magically to life through the imagination of scratch DJ/music producer Kid Koala. Mixing live puppet theater, video, string quartet, electric ukulele, turntables, percussion, and sound effects, Koala has adapted his own, beloved graphic novel for a multi-sensory experience. Directed by K.K. Barrett (Oscar-nominated as production designer for Her), this live adaptation unfolds via real-time video capture of more than a dozen miniature stages and a cast of puppets, all with live scoring courtesy of multi-instrumentalist Koala and the Afiara Quartet. Co-presented with GW Lisner Auditorium.

“The story itself feels like a mix of Chaplin follies and Pixar charm… the simplicity and sweetness of its characters serve to amplify the complexity of the production”

- Boston Globe

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FRI, MAR 24, 8pm

JCT TRIO

Stefan Jackiw, violin Jay Campbell, cello Conrad Tao, piano

UDC Theatre of the Arts Program includes works by DVOˇRÀK, IVES, and MOZART

Jackiw

Each a commended soloist in his own right, Avery Fisher Career Grant winners Stefan Jackiw, Jay Campbell, and Conrad Tao join forces in JCT (pronounced “junction”) Trio. As the name implies, the collective result of this assembled virtuosity and sensitivity is even greater than the sum of its highly impressive parts.

Campbell

Tao

SAT, MAR 25, 8pm

Avital Meets Avital AVI AVITAL & OMER AVITAL Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

A. Avital

O. Avital

The coincidentally shared surname only scratches the surface of the deep affinity between these two accomplished musicians, both born in Israel yet representing different (though highly complementary) musical paths: the classically trained, stylistically omnivorous mandolin wizard Avi Avital, praised by the New York Times for his “exquisitely sensitive playing” and “stunning agility”; and the virtuoso bassist and oud player Omer Avital, “one of the most exciting musicians to come onto the jazz scene in the last 20 years” (DownBeat). In “Avital Meets Avital,” they co-lead a blazing quartet that unites jazz with influences from Israel, Morocco, and beyond. 202.785.9727 | 41

SHIFT A FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS AT THE KENNEDY CENTER CONCERT HALL Co-presented by Washington Performing Arts and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

TUE, MAR 28, 8pm

WED, MAR 29, 8pm

BOULDER PHILHARMONIC

NORTH CAROLINA SYMPHONY

Michael Butterman, music director Jeff Midkiff, mandolin Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Theatre

Grant Llewellyn, conductor Caroline Shaw, violin

The Boulder Philharmonic’s program, Nature & Music, is anchored by a Boulder Philharmonic commission of a work by Stephen Lias, with projected photographic images of the Rockies, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Virginia-based virtuoso mandolinist and composer Jeff Midkiff performs his concerto From the Blue Ridge. The concert finale is Copland’s beloved and evocative Appalachian Spring, presented with projections and the Boulder-based aerialist dance troupe Frequent Flyers. Stay for a post-concert talk with Stephen Lias about his work with national parks. This performance is made possible through the support of the Funger Foundation – Norma Lee and Morton Funger.

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The Raleigh-based North Carolina Symphony’s program is deeply reminiscent of its home state, represented by composers with local ties: Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw’s Lo (with the composer herself on violin); Sarah Kirkland Snider, whose NCS commission Hiraeth is a multimedia meditation on her family’s home in rural North Carolina; Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates, whose piece reflects on teenage summers spent in the South; and long-time North Carolina resident Robert Ward, showcasing a World War Two–era overture and a 2010 celebration of the city of Raleigh.

SHIFT celebrates the vitality, identity, and extraordinary artistry of orchestras and chamber orchestras in an immersive festival experience in the nation’s capital. The week-long festival is composed of mini-residencies, with each participating orchestra presenting education and community events in venues around Washington, D.C., along with full-orchestra performances in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. As the title suggests, SHIFT is about change: the evolution of the art form, the leaving behind of preconceived notions, and the welcoming of new audiences to symphonic music. In keeping with the latter, all tickets for SHIFT’s concerts at the Kennedy Center are priced at a flat $25, and many companion events will be offered free of charge (some with advance reservations required; schedule and details will be announced in the coming months).

ALL TICKETS

$25

Generous support is provided through a matching grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. SHIFT is presented in cooperation with the League of American Orchestras.

FRI, MAR 31, 8pm

SAT, APR 1, 8pm

ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

THE KNIGHTS

Robert Spano, music director Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus

Eric Jacobsen, conductor San Francisco Girls Chorus Lisa Bielawa, artistic director

Commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony, Christopher Theofanidis’s Creation/Creator is a theatrical and multimedia oratorio with soloists, 80-piece choir, and full orchestra. The work explores creation and the creative process using texts from philosophy, science, religion, poetry, and literature. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution raved of the premiere, “The great strength of the work is Theofanidis’s imaginative score, an extravagant tapestry of very different sounds over the course of 15 movements. And if there was a mid-20th century neo-romantic feel to his sounds, with echoes of composers like Samuel Barber, Theofanidis brought his own voice, or voices, to the mix.”

A self-declared “orchestral collective” based in Brooklyn, the Knights are joined by the San Francisco Girls Chorus to bring the glorious sound of Vivaldi’s choral work to life as it was originally intended—for female choir and orchestra. Commissioned works by American composers Aaron Jay Kernis and Lisa Bielawa explore new sonic possibilities for children’s choir and orchestra, and …the ground beneath our feet, a musical celebration created collaboratively by several members of The Knights, is based on a Renaissance-era chaconne bass line, culminating with an original song by Knights violinist/singer-songwriter Christina Courtin. The New Yorker hails, “Few ensembles are as adept at mixing old music with new as the dynamic young Brooklyn orchestra.”

SHIFT performances are not part of the Washington Performing Arts’ Orchestra Series, so we are unable to seat Orchestra Series subscribers in their subscription seats for SHIFT events. SHIFT tickets may be applied toward Custom 3 and 5 subscriptions or may be purchased as add-ons to fixed subscriptions. No subscription discounts apply to SHIFT tickets— all seats are $25.

202.785.9727 | 43

TUE, APR 4, 8pm

DANIIL TRIFONOV, piano Kennedy Center Concert Hall SCHUMANN - Kinderszenen, Op. 15 Toccata, Op. 7 Kreisleriana, Op. 16 SHOSTAKOVICH - Selections from 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 STRAVINSKY - Three Movements from Petrouchka

“Trifonov seared his way onto the scene a few years ago and has retained every bit of the spark that brought him to the ‘it’ spot in the hot-young-soloist pantheon.”

The heir apparent to the Russian piano dynasty forged by the likes of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Evgeny Kissin, Daniil Trifonov catapulted onto the classical music scene when he won the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition, the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, and numerous prizes at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in the span of only two years. He also thrilled Washington Performing Arts audiences at the Kennedy Center last season, appearing with the Montreal Symphony, and returns next spring for his first solo recital since his Hayes Series debut in 2013. Simply put, he’s “a knockout” (Washington Post). The 50th Anniversary Stars Series is made possible through the generous support of Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather.

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- Washington Post

SAT, APR 8, 3pm

ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER, violin Lambert Orkis, piano

Kennedy Center Concert Hall

YEARS

CURRIER - Clockwork for Violin and Piano (1989) MOZART - Violin Sonata in A major, K. 526 RESPIGHI - Violin Sonata in B minor SAINT-SAËNS - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28

One of the reigning violin virtuosos of our time, AnneSophie Mutter has enthralled audiences worldwide for four decades with her technical mastery and transfixing tone, along with an expansive approach to repertoire ranging “When I moved to from the Baroque to myriad new works commissioned in Washington, D.C., 35 years her honor. Joined by longtime duet partner and National ago, by lucky circumstance Symphony Orchestra principal keyboardist Lambert Orkis, WPAS founder Patrick Mutter presents a program of trademark breadth: a beloved Y E A R S Hayes and I lived in the late sonata by Mozart; a breathtaking work by Saint-Saëns; same KaloramaSTORIES building. A Respighi’s passionate and rhythmically inventive sonata, lovely side benefit was joining which, in Mutter’s words, “sets you dreaming of Brahms him and his wife Evelyn in and Italy”; and the self-descriptive Clockwork by Sebastian their Kennedy Center box for an Currier, one of Mutter’s favorite contemporary composers occasional performance. Pat’s and a winner of the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. charm and the organization’s vibrant The 50th Anniversary Stars Series is made possible through the programming prompted me to become generous support of Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather. a WPAS member, which I have remained since we met. I want to ensure that the organization’s contribution to our city, especially its vitally important outreach to younger generations, continues.”

STORIES

– N. Ruth

202.785.9727 | 45

SAT, APR 8, 7pm & 9:30pm

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Washington Performing Arts audiences have been fortunate to witness many sides of sitarist Anoushka Shankar’s everexpanding talentfrom the fresh protégée (and prodigy), playing at the elbow of her legendary father, Ravi Shankar, to the world music adventurer, combining Indian musical currents with jazz, pop, flamenco, and more. Now, Shankar returns to both her cultural and familial roots, leading a virtuoso septet in a program devoted to North Indian classical music. Reviewing Shankar’s 2015 all-classical disc, Home, London’s Songlines magazine praised “Shankar’s sublime playing,” adding, “There’s a tangible feeling of the warm evening air, scents and heightened emotions. It’s something to bask and revel in.”

SUN, APR 9, 6pm

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?TM with Rob Kapilow

BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 7 Peabody Chamber Orchestra

Smithsonian Baird Auditorium (Venue subject to change, TBA by Feb 26)

See pages 23, 25, and 29 for additional What Makes It Great? events. Co-presented with the Smithsonian Associates.

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TUE, APR 25, 8pm

YEFIM BRONFMAN, piano UDC Theatre of the Arts BARTÓK - Suite Op. 14 SCHUMANN - Humoreske, Op. 20 DEBUSSY - Suite Bergamasque STRAVINSKY - Three Movements from Petrouchka An undisputed piano legend, Yefim Bronfman’s pedagogical lineage includes Rudolf Firkušný, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. The Avery Fisher Prize winner’s powerful interpretations of classic literature are on full display in his solo recitals. Said the Chicago Tribune, “[Bronfman is] a marvel of digital dexterity, warmly romantic sentiment, and jaw-dropping bravura.”

SAT, APR 29, 2pm

Bronfman

JAVIER PERIANES, piano UDC Theatre of the Arts SCHUBERT - Sonata No. 13 in A Major, D. 664 Three Klavierstücke, D. 946 RAVEL - Le Tombeau de Couperin DE FALLA - L’Amour sorcier

Perianes

In the years since he was awarded the 2012 National Music Prize by the Ministry of Culture of Spain, pianist Javier Perianes has become enormously busy, debuting with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra—the latter with three hours notice on another pianist’s cancellation! “The Spanish pianist has a bright touch, breezy virtuosity, and a knack for arresting intimacy in quiet passages that earned a huge cheer from the audience,” wrote the Guardian. His D.C. debut features classics of the piano repertoire, along with his countryman Manuel de Falla’s fiery L’Amour sorcier. 202.785.9727 | 47

MON, MAY 1, 8pm

LEIF OVE ANDSNES, piano MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN, piano The Music Center at Strathmore MOZART - Larghetto and Allegro in E-flat (completion by Paul Badura-Skoda) STRAVINSKY - Concerto for Two Pianos DEBUSSY - En blanc et noir STRAVINSKY - The Rite of Spring Hearing a truly great pianist perform is a joy. When two of the world’s most celebrated perform together, it’s an embarrassment of riches. Leif Ove Andsnes unites his ability to “make nanoseconds indelibly memorable” (Washington Post) with Marc-André Hamelin’s reputation for “drawing the maximum amount of color from the instrument” (Boston Globe) in a rare evening of works for two pianos amid Strathmore’s sparkling acoustics. The program will include Stravinsky’s own fiendishly difficult, four-hand scoring of The Rite of Spring, showcasing the piece’s pounding rhythms and riotous harmonies.

Andsnes

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This performance is made possible in part by the generous support of an anonymous donor.

Hamelin

TUE, MAY 2, 8pm

JOYCE DIDONATO, mezzo-soprano

THE ENGLISH CONCERT

DiDonato is “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation.”

Handel’s Ariodante Y E A R SKennedy Center Concert Hall

- The New Yorker

STORIES“Joyce sings, and the world is suddenly brighter,”

YEARS

composer Jake Heggie has said. And indeed, Grammy Award–winning opera star Joyce DiDonato can do it all, dazzling audiences from the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala to fans at Game 7 of the 2014 World Series and becoming one of the most beloved singers of her generation.

STORIES “The effect that Washington Performance Arts and (teaching artists) Reverb have on our school population is infectious. Students work hard to become a part of the choir, staff works hard to make the program work, parents beam with pride, and other students show pride in the accomplishments of their peers. The culminating concert has become everyone’s celebration—the talk of the year.“

DiDonato is joined by the acclaimed period instrument ensemble the English Concert for a concert performance of Handel’s tale of obsession and betrayal, Ariodante. The New York Times deemed a similar Carnegie Hall performance one of the “Ten Best Classical Music Events of 2014,” remarking, “The English Concert ... presented an elegant, dramatically riveting concert performance with a splendid cast headed by the superb mezzosoprano Joyce DiDonato.” We can’t wait to hear them together here!

– Helen Watson, teacher Savoy Elementary School

Co-presented with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Vocal Arts DC. The 50th Anniversary Stars Series is made possible through the generous support of Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather. NOTE: To ensure an intimate performance, Tiers 1 and 2 and the Chorister section of the Concert Hall will be closed for this concert. Stars Series subscribers with seats in these sections will be reseated in the Orchestra for this performance.

202.785.9727 | 49

FRI, MAY 12, 8pm

OLIVIER MESSIAEN’S FROM THE CANYONS TO THE STARS (DES CANYONS AUX ÉTOILES) Deborah O’Grady, production director and photographer David Robertson, guest conductor The United States Air Force Band Colonel Larry H. Lang, commander and conductor

with Peter Henderson, piano DAR Constitution Hall East Coast premiere; Co-commissioned by Washington Performing Arts Described by Alex Ross of The New Yorker as a “cult work of twentieth-century music,” this towering, 90-minute, 12-movement orchestral masterpiece was commissioned by Alice Tully to commemorate the bicentennial of the United States. Performed by one of America’s premier service ensembles and led, on this occasion, by the renowned conductor and Messiaen champion David Robertson, the production features a stunning new visual treatment commissioned from photographer Deborah O’Grady and has packed houses world-wide from the Barbican in London to the Sydney Opera House. Through still and moving images of Southwestern Utah, O’Grady visually brings to life Messiaen’s musical responses to the bird calls, landscape, colors, and geology that he experienced: a fitting celebration, in our nation’s capital, of the National Park Service’s 2016 centenary. This performance is presented free to the public. Details for attending will be announced in the coming months. Co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Cal Performances; University of California, Berkeley; St. Louis Symphony; Sydney Symphony; and Washington Performing Arts. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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FRE

E TO

THE

“‘Canyons,’ which takes inspiration from the rock formations, birdsong, and night sky of Utah, has become a cult work of twentieth-century music… the composer is destined to be the next Mahler—a cult figure who becomes a repertory staple.”

PUB

LIC

– The New Yorker (Feb 2015)

202.785.9727 | 51

SUN, MAY 14, 5pm

“One of the most satisfying, illuminating, and all-around impressive pianists of any generation.”

MURRAY PERAHIA, piano The Music Center at Strathmore

Program to be announced

In the more than 40 years he has been performing, pianist Murray Perahia has left audiences around the world breathless. Recognized worldwide as a musician of rare musical sensitivity, the Grammy Award–winner has been dubbed “one of the piano’s most lyrical contemporary poets” by the Times (London).

SUN, MAY 21, 4pm

– Los Angeles Times

Perahia

KIRILL GERSTEIN, piano UDC Theatre of the Arts BRAHMS - Sonata No. 2 LISZT - Transcendental Etudes (complete)

Gerstein

52 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

It’s been 12 years since Kirill Gerstein’s Hayes Piano Series debut, which came on the heels of his first prize win at the 2001 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition and the 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award. In addition to receiving an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2010, Gerstein has earned a reputation for his wide-ranging musical curiosity and intelligence. Here, he performs his calling card work: Liszt’s complete Transcendental Etudes, among the most challenging music in the piano repertoire, and a piece rarely performed in its entirety. The New York Times raved of his 2015 Zankel Hall recital, “[it was] a dazzling performance.... The audience seemed stunned, deliriously so.”

FRI, JUN 2, 8pm

WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS’ MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN OF THE YEARS GOSPEL CHOIR

STORIESStanley J. Thurston, artistic director Michele Fowlin, director, Children of the Gospel Choir

The Music Center at Strathmore

YEARS STORIES “Washington Performing Arts provided our daughter with an extraordinary experience through the Children of the Gospel Choir. We believe that it takes a village to raise a child, and WPA has assisted us with raising a confident, mature young lady who has a respect and passion for the arts.”

Program to include the world premieres of works by TOSHI REAGON and STANLEY THURSTON Washington Performing Arts’ gospel choirs unite in song with a program featuring world premiere works by American folk/blues musician (and daughter of Sweet Honey in the Rock founder Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon) Toshi Reagon and by Washington Performing Arts Director of Gospel Programs Stanley Thurston, both commissioned by Washington Performing Arts.

– Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Embrack, parents of COTG alum Jordan Embrack

Performances by the Children of the Gospel Choir are made possible through the generous support of Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated. This performance is made possible through support from the Reginald Van Lee Rainmaker Club. The work by Toshi Reagon was commissioned by friends of Jenny Bilfield in celebration of her 50th birthday.

202.785.9727 | 53

Capital Voices

Children of the Gospel Choir Feder Memorial String Competition

Concerts In Schools

Education & Community Programs Make It Happen! • The Embassy Adoption Program fosters cultural exchange by pairing embassies and other global entities with classrooms in all D.C. wards. Students learn about the arts, culture, customs, and history of their embassy partner’s home country through visits with diplomats from around the world as well as local and international artists like the U.S. Air Force Band and the Kronos Quartet. A partnership with D.C. Public Schools. • Men, Women, and Children of the Gospel Choirs, our two resident, nondenominational gospel performance ensembles, were formed to celebrate the heritage of gospel music with energetic and inspirational performances. In 2016/17, the Men and Women of the Gospel Choir will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a main stage performance at Strathmore Music Center (page 53), featuring world premieres of pieces by Toshi Reagon and Stanley Thurston, and both choirs will be featured in the annual Living the Dream…Singing the Dream concert (page 34). • Capital Arts Partnerships—Capital Jazz, Capital Strings, Capital Dance, and Capital Voices—are award-winning programs that develop students’ music reading, writing, listening, improvisation, and performance skills. Washington Performing Arts’ talented cadre of teaching artists lead these residencies in collaboration with D.C. Public School music and arts teachers. We are proud to loan instruments to students who wouldn’t otherwise have access!

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Capital Jazz

Summer Steps with Step Afrika!

Mars Urban Arts Initiative

The Mars Urban Arts Initiative was created in 2014 to fuel collaboration on performances and other events between Washington Performing Arts and grassroots neighborhood arts makers, local businesses, arts institutions, and local • Summer Camps for D.C. area youth offer instruction in voice, strings, jazz, and dance. Each week-long camp residents. The program also supports experience is filled with music, dance, fun, and friendship. The talented artists who make up our faculty help performances by students and partner the students grow and make memories for a lifetime. school ensembles, including the Children of the Gospel Choir and ensembles from • Enriching Experiences for Seniors (EES) fulfills our mission to promote lifelong learning at any age. Washington Performing Arts camps and Professional artists serve more than 3,000 residents of regional nursing homes and senior centers each school programs. 2016/17 highlights will include year through immersive EES performances that promote social engagement and life enhancement across an exploration of the theme of migration through generations. music and storytelling, the 3rd Annual Anacostia River Festival, and the 3rd Annual Politics & Art: • Joseph and Goldie Feder Memorial String Competition and Misbin Chamber Music Competition A Jam Session at the Wilson Building event in (in partnership with Levine Music) help D.C.-area musicians develop confidence and focus as they partnership with D.C. Councilmember compete before professional judges. While most participants are hoping to elevate their performance David Grosso. skills, scholarships, monetary prizes, and performance opportunities are also benefits of competing. • Concerts In Schools (CIS), a mainstay of Washington Performing Arts since its founding 50 years ago, provides free in-school music, dance, and storytelling performances, visual arts workshops, and lectures/demonstrations to students in D.C., MD, and VA. Washington Performing Arts expresses gratitude to our Women’s Committee for its many years of dedication to our education and community programs.

For more information, visit WashingtonPerformingArts. org/education/mars-urban-arts-initiative. Washington Performing Arts’ Mars Urban Arts Initiative is generously supported by Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated.

Yo-Yo Ma with local artists

For more information, visit WashingtonPerformingArts.org/education. To support our education and community programs, see the Friends information on pages 56-57 or visit our website, WashingtonPerformingArts.org. 202.785.9727 | 55

Friends Make It Happen!

In so many ways...

Annual Support

Board Chairman Reginald Van Lee with members of Dance Theatre of Harlem

Annual donations are vital to sustaining Washington Performing Arts’ mission all year long. Without annual gifts, we would not be able to produce the award-winning education programming and unforgettable performances that enhance the culture and community of Washington, D.C.

Joshua Bell and young musicians

With your gift, YOU: • Champion artists, both emerging and established, who bring unforgettable performances in music and dance. •

Unleash the creativity of thousands of D.C. Public School children through programs like Capital Arts Partnerships and the Embassy Adoption Program.

• Spark innovation with new commissions, artist-driven projects, and collaborations that you won’t see anywhere else.

Renew your annual support or join as a new Friend of Washington Performing Arts today with your subscription order by making a gift of any size! Learn more and donate at WashingtonPerformingArts.org/support.

56 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

Jenny Bilfield

with Leon Flei

sher Pink Pearls

Legacy Society Washington Performing Arts’ Legacy Society honors friends who make a planned gift benefiting the organization through a will, bequest, trust, or other estate planning vehicle. Gifts from Legacy Society members sustain Washington Performing Arts’ artistic and educational programs and can be designated to enhance the annual fund, endowment, or donor-designated programs. There is no minimum required financial commitment to join. Legacy Society members also enjoy uncommon opportunities to share and stay connected with the Washington Performing Arts family, including an annual Legacy Society dinner and recital at a private home or Ambassador’s residence. To learn more, contact Douglas H. Wheeler, President Emeritus, at 202.533.1874 or dwheeler@WashingtonPerformingArts.org.

Sponsorship Opportunities Prestige Sponsorships enable individual supporters to underwrite mainstage performances and educational programs. In thanks for this invaluable support, Prestige Sponsors receive personalized benefits tailored to their wishes. The Rainmakers Club offers small donor groups the opportunity to champion performances and programs, linking their names to outstanding artists and unforgettable experiences. Rainmakers receive special recognition in programs VIP experiences; shown above, the Pink Pearls Rainmakers Club backstage with Dance Theatre of Harlem artistic director Virginia Johnson and company members. For more information, contact Heather Frank at 202.533.1878 or hfrank@WashingtonPerformingArts.org. 202.785.9727 | 57

nny Bilfield nt & CEO Je de si re P d of Arts an nal Medal p students Arts’ Natio g in Gospel Cam rm fo er ngton P with Washi

About Washington Performing Arts Since 1965, Washington Performing Arts has had a foundational role in the arts in our nation’s capital, creating profound opportunities that connect community and artists, in both education and performance. Through live events in nine venues that span the D.C. metropolitan area, the careers of emerging artists are launched and nurtured, and established artists return to develop closer relationships with Washington Performing Arts audiences and creative partners. As one of the leading presenters in the nation, Washington Performing Arts embraces a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including classical and contemporary music, jazz, gospel, contemporary dance, international music, spoken word, and new work.

Engage with us on social media:

@WashPerformArts

@WashingtonPerformingArts

search: Washington Performing Arts

58 | WashingtonPerformingArts.org

Dynamic education programs in the public schools and beyond are hallmarks of Washington Performing Arts, as are the Embassy Adoption Program and two resident gospel choirs. Washington Performing Arts has been honored for its work at the intersection of arts presenting and education. The organization has received Mayor’s Arts Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education (2015) and Excellence in Service to the Arts (2012) and was honored by President Barack Obama with a 2012 National Medal of Arts (becoming only the fourth D.C.-based arts group and the first arts presenter of its kind to be so honored). Washington Performing Arts is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing the national capital region with performing arts presentations of the highest quality and to providing lifelong learning opportunities through arts education. Washington Performing Arts is exempt from Federal income tax as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

— Patrick Hayes, founder

QUICK START

TOMER GEWIRTZMAN, piano

SAT, DEC 3, 2pm

DECEMBER

Semyon Bychkov, conductor

ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA

TUE, NOV 29, 8pm

BRITTEN - A Ceremony of Carols

with Rob Kapilow

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?

SUN, NOV 20, 6pm

Myra Huang, piano

ERIC OWENS, bass-baritone SUSANNA PHILLIPS, soprano

SUN, NOV 13, 4pm

LUCAS DEBARGUE, piano

SAT, NOV 12, 2pm

CHUCHO VALDÉS JOE LOVANO QUINTET

SAT, NOV 5, 8pm

NOVEMBER

THE SONGS OF HAROLD ARLEN

with Rob Kapilow

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?

SUN, OCT 30, 6pm

CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT

SAT, OCT 29, 7pm SUN, OCT 30, 7:30pm

SAT, OCT 29, 2pm H LLYˆR WILLIAMS, piano

Robert Levin, piano

HILARY HAHN, violin

FRI, OCT 28, 8pm

BÉLA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN

SAT, OCT 22, 8pm

ZAKIR HUSSAIN & NILADRI KUMAR

THU, OCT 20, 8pm

ALISA WEILERSTEIN, cello

SUN, OCT 16, 4pm

DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM

FRI, OCT 14, 8pm SAT, OCT 15, 2pm & 8pm

JOEY ALEXANDER TRIO

SAT, OCT 8, 7pm SUN, OCT 9, 7:30pm

BROOKLYN RIDER & ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER

SAT, OCT 8, 8pm

VELOCITYDC DANCE FESTIVAL

FRI, OCT 7, 8pm SAT, OCT 8, 8pm

STEP AFRIKA! THE MIGRATION

SAT, OCT 1 8pm SUN, OCT 2, 4pm

OCTOBER

STEP AFRIKA! THE MIGRATION

FRI, SEP 30, 8pm

Orchestra Series Celebrity Series Stars Series Piano Masters Series What Makes It Great? Hayes Piano Series Virtuoso Series

All programs and artists subject to change

O C S P W H V

SUBSCRIPTION SERIES KEY

Stanley Thurston, artistic director Michele Fowlin, director, Children of the Gospel Choir

MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN OF THE GOSPEL CHOIR

FRI, JUN 2, 8pm

JUNE

KIRILL GERSTEIN, piano

SUN, MAY 21, 4pm

MURRAY PERAHIA, piano

SUN, MAY 14, 5pm

The United States Air Force Band David Robertson, guest conductor

MESSIAEN: FROM THE CANYONS TO THE STARS

FRI, MAY 12, 8pm

JOYCE DIDONATO, mezzosoprano & THE ENGLISH CONCERT

TUE, MAY 2, 8pm

LEIF OVE ANDSNES & MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN, pianos

MON, MAY 1, 8pm

MAY

JAVIER PERIANES, piano

SAT, APR 29, 2pm

YEFIM BRONFMAN, piano

TUE, APR 25, 8pm

BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 7

with Rob Kapilow

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?

SUN, APR 9, 6pm

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR

SAT, APR 8, 7pm & 9:30pm

ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER, violin Lambert Orkis, piano

SAT, APR 8, 3pm

DANIIL TRIFONOV, piano

TUE, APR 4, 8pm

Eric Jacobsen, conductor San Francisco Girls Chorus Lisa Bielawa, artistic director

SHIFT FESTIVAL: THE KNIGHTS

SAT, APR 1, 8pm

APRIL

Robert Spano, music director Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus

SHIFT FESTIVAL: ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

FRI, MAR 31, 8pm

Grant Llewellyn, conductor Caroline Shaw, violin

SHIFT FESTIVAL: NORTH CAROLINA SYMPHONY

WED, MAR 29, 8pm

WashingtonPerformingArts.org 202.785.9727

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Michael Butterman, music director Jeff Midkiff, mandolin Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Theatre

SHIFT FESTIVAL: BOULDER PHILHARMONIC

TUE, MAR 28, 8pm

AVI AVITAL & OMER AVITAL

SAT, MAR 25, 8pm

JCT TRIO ( Stefan Jackiw, Jay Campbell & Conrad Tao)

FRI, MAR 24, 8pm

NUFONIA MUST FALL

SAT, MAR 18, 8pm

BRAD MEHLDAU

THU, MAR 16, 8pm

RICHARD GOODE, piano

SUN, MAR 12, 4pm

SIR ANDRÁS SCHIFF, piano

TUE, MAR 7, 8pm

KRONOS QUARTET

SAT, MAR 4, 8pm

CAMERON CARPENTER, organ

FRI, MAR 3, 8pm

MARCH

Yuri Temirkanov, music director Nikolai Lugansky, piano

ST. PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC

MON, FEB 27, 8pm

Washington Performing Arts Gospel Choirs Stanley Thurston, artistic director Choral Arts Society of Washington Scott Tucker, artistic director

SUN, FEB 19, 7pm LIVING THE DREAM… SINGING THE DREAM

COLIN CURRIE, percussion

SAT, FEB 11, 8pm

IGOR LEVIT, piano

SAT, FEB 11, 2pm

Sam Haywood, piano

JOSHUA BELL, violin

FRI, FEB 10, 8pm

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, violin & YUJA WANG, piano

TUE, FEB 7, 8pm

CARLOS HENRIQUEZ SEXTET

SAT, FEB 4, 8pm

DANISH STRING QUARTET

THU, FEB 2, 8pm

FEBRUARY

DVOˇRÁK - Piano Quintet No. 2

with Rob Kapilow

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?

SUN, JAN 29, 6pm

PILOBOLUS: Shadowland

SAT, JAN 28, 8pm SAT, JAN 29, 2pm

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director Louis Lortie, piano

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

TUE, JAN 24, 8pm

JANUARY

ATTACCA QUARTET

SUN, DEC 4, 4pm

The 2016/17 Season

Nobody Out” SEPTEMBER

“Everybody In

Lift for Season Calendar

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Infocus Direct 20187

Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club 7719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814 Parking: Cheltenham Parking Garage (take elevator in garage to the Whitney Lobby) Metrorail: Bethesda (Red line)

GW Lisner Auditorium 730 21st Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20052

1400 K Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20005

Parking: Area garages and street parking Metrorail: Foggy Bottom/GWU (Blue/Orange/Silver lines)

Sidney Harman Hall 610 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20004

Parking: Area garages and street parking Metrorail: Gallery Place-Chinatown (Red, Green/Yellow lines), 7th & F Street exit

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue 600 I Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

Parking: Limited street and garage parking in area Metrorail: Gallery Place-Chinatown (Red, Green/Yellow lines), 7th & H Street exit

Music Center at Strathmore 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD 20852 Parking: Complimentary parking at the Grosvenor Metro station Metrorail: Grosvenor-Strathmore (Red line)

2016/17 50th Anniversary Season Complete subscription info inside!

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2016/17

50th Anniversary Season