“It’s a Grand Night for Singing” with Rodgers and Hammerstein, and the Washington Savoyards (photos)
• May 17, 2012

The Washington Savoyards, the professional light opera company, begin their 40th Season performing the music of the celebrated team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to positive reviews at the Atlas Theater in Washington DC. Performances continue thru May 6. For information about performance times and ticket prices, visit the Savoyards website at http://www.savoyards.org/

The careers of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II parallel the coming of age of the American Musical Theater. From their first collaboration, Oklahoma! in 1943, to Carousel, South Pacific, Flower Drum Song, Cinderella and the Sound of Music, the pair continued to break new ground with innovative plots and exotic settings. Prior to Oklahoma, most hit shows were essentially vehicles to showcase the talents of its stars. They had little serious to say and there was no need to integrate the songs, dances, comedy routines and the spectacular chorus girl numbers. In “Oklahoma!” the musical found a new form. This “integrated musical” marked a revolution in American theater. “Oklahoma!” was the complete synthesis of music, libretto, lyrics, dancing and staging.

The heart of every R&H show are of course the songs, many of which became American standards, including the title song of this production which was written for the movie musical “State Fair”. This Savoyards musical review includes many of R&H’s well know tunes, mixed in with some relatively obscure gems from lesser know works such as Me and Juliet, Allegro and Pipe Dream. The cast of three women and two men includes Scott Russell, Emily Levey, Nick Lehan, Dorea Schmidt and Maria Egler.

View our photos of the show by clicking on the photo icons below.

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Preppy Pink Party Benefits Komen Race for the Cure
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Running and walking enthusiasts, supporters of breast health and breast cancer research and generally fun individuals gathered at Hudson Restaurant on M Street May 2 to support the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and register for the June 2 event if they had not yet. At and around the National Mall, the 5K race will raise funds for breast health and breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs and involve more than 40,000 participants from across the country, including more than 3,000 breast cancer survivors.

The Preppy Pink Party, sponsored by Miss A aka Andrea Rodgers, offered prizes from Neiman Marcus, Washington Nationals, SimplySoles, Coup de Foudre, Sylene and Sushiko along free food and refreshments and a performance by the Joke’s Wild.

www.GlobalRacefortheCure.org](http://globalrace.info-komen.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HQ_GR_Homepage)

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Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” at Folger Theatre (photos)
• May 15, 2012

The Folger Theatre’s current production of William Shakespeare’s classic, “The Taming Of The Shrew” is set in the American Wild West. The elaborate stage, from designer Tony Cisek, has been modeled as a western saloon, repleat with bar, swinging doors, chandolier, and a staircase that leads to an upstairs balcony.

The main plot of the play depicts the courtship of Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, and the headstrong Katherine. At first, Katherine is an unwilling participant in the relationship, but Petruchio “tames” her using various forms of psychological warfare until she becomes compliant. The subplot features a competition between the suitors of Katherine’s more desirable sister, Bianca.

The leading rolls of Petruchio and Katherine are performed by the real life husband and wife team of Cody Nickell and Kate Eastwood Norris. Further color has been added in the form of recording artist Cliff Eberhardt performing original music in the role of the ‘Blind Baladeer’.

The Taming of The Shrew plays through June 10, 2012 at Folger Theatre, at The Folger Shakespeare Library which is located at 201 East Capitol Street, SE, in Washington, DC. For tickets, call 202-544-7077, or order them online.

View our photos of the Folger’s Taming of the Shrew by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="100791,124257,124265,124274,124282,124290,124299,124308,124316,124325,124333,124248,124239,124370,124186,124364,124194,124356,124203,124350,124213,124221,124229,124342" nav="thumbs"]

D.C. Theater Gets Nod from Broadway; Shakespeare Theatre to Receive Tony Award
• May 10, 2012

Washington theater folks often complain that D.C. theater doesn’t get respect in New York.

It’s true that New Yorkers tend to get culturally snooty about D.C., mainly because, you sometimes suspect, the Broadway theater tickets are astronomical (as opposed to just outrageous in D.C.), because you have to take a loan out to go to the Metropolitan Opera, because where else is a musical about Bonnie and Clyde a good idea and because there is no such thing as a free museum in New York. Mama MOMA, indeed.

But, Gothamites, beware. D.C. theater is no slouch. Look what’s up for Tonys for best drama: Bruce Norris’s comedy-drama about gentrification, “Clybourne Park,” and wonder-writer-adapter David Ives’s “Venus in Fur.” We should be so lucky to see such plays. Hmm, wait . . . we are so lucky. “Clybourne Park” was staged twice at Woolly Mammoth, no less, where Norris is a particularly favorite playwright. “Venus in Fur” was last seen at the Studio Theatre, where Ives is a favorite there.

And look what may win a Tony for best revival of a musical and best performance by an actor (Danny Burstein) and an actress (Jan Maxwell) in a musical: the Kennedy Center production of “Follies,” directed by Eric Schaeffer (Signature Theatre) and studiously ignored by the Helen Hayes Awards here. “Follies” premiered at the Kennedy Center in a dazzling and difficult production, was tinkered with and made a big impression in its Broadway debut. It is now preparing for an Los Angeles run. All in all, “Follies” was nominated for eight Tonys.

Also, “Master Class,” starring Tyne Daly, is up for a best dramatic revival Tony. It began life at the Kennedy Center.

If that’s not enough to stand up and take notice of Washington theater, there’s the fact that the Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company, headed by artistic director Michael Kahn, received this year’s special Regional Theatre Tony. The award, which Kahn will receive at the Tony Awards ceremonies in New York June 10, marks a kind of climax of his 25-year tenure as artistic director. [gallery ids="100783,123754,123744,123749" nav="thumbs"]

Embassy Series Brings Iraqi Music to D.C. Audiences
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The sounds of the great Western composers, such as Mozart, Beethoven and Bach, performed by internationally acclaimed musicians. The food, the socializing and networking, the kibitzing, the receptions at embassies, ambassadorial residences and international cultural centers. They’re all perfectly good reasons to check out the Embassy Series, Washington’s unique musical series.

But Embassy Series founder Jerome Barry had something additional in mind when he began and developed the series. It’s called cultural diplomacy by way of musical diplomacy, a vision which has allowed him to enlarge the series to embrace a truly international vista.

The Iraqi Cultural Center at 1630 Connecticut Ave., N.W., in Dupont Circle provides an ideal setting and example for conducting that sort of cultural diplomacy Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. when the Two Rivers Eastern Ensemble, a six-piece group of Middle Eastern and Western artists combine their talents to produce an evening of jazz fused with Maqam, a 400-year-old genre of Arab music which originated in ancient Iraq. The Two Rivers Eastern Ensemble will perform using both folkloric (the santour) and modern (the trumpet) instruments, singing in Arabic, and dressed in traditional ethnic outfits.

“Many instruments such as al-oud, a-santur and the tambourine were invented in ancient Mesopotamia,” said Jabir Habeb, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the United States. “The Sumerians were the first to compose the musical system. This ancient music was shared by many ethnic groups who lived in this region including Arabs, Assyrians, Kurds, Armenians and Turks. The Maqams were considered by many to be the foundation of Eastern music.”

“These unique artists are meant to emphasize Iraq’s music , history and cultural influence,” Barry said. The artists are unique to the American scene while many are of Iraqi origin. In terms of the Embassy Series, “this is what we mean when we talk about uniting people through musical diplomacy,” Barry said. “We provide a forum–through concerts–that combines music with information about a country’s culture and history.”

In 2010, with the long, grinding effects of the war in Iraq still being felt by both nations, the first such concert at the Iraqi Cultural Center provided an electric evening of different cultures meeting–and often whistling with approval–on a musical playing field. Audiences used to the rapt listening atmosphere of classical music concerts also provided by the Embassy Series soon joined in the more participatory atmosphere of the concert of Iraq music using ancient musical instruments which created rhythmic, soulful sounds and songs.

In its 18-year history, the Embassy Series has performed in more than 60 embassies, residences, chanceries, diplomatic chanceries and cultural institutions, opening up the world of countries and cultures not encountered on such an intimate level. The series was the first to perform at the newly opened embassies of many former Soviet-bloc, Eastern European countries in the 1990s, and performed at the Cuban Interests Section, the Vietnamese Embassy and the opening of the new (and huge) Chinese Embassy in 2010.

Tickets are $80, which includes a post-concert reception. For more information, visit www.embassyseries.org.
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Heads Up: ‘Street Art Across America’ From the Kennedy Center
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Look up! Look out!

If you’re out and about in the city between May 6 and 12, whether you’re walking, reading a newspaper or texting on the Metro or bus, or on a bench or eating at your favorite restaurant across the city, check it out. Look up! Look out!

Look out is probably the operating phrase because May 6 through 12 marks the duration of the Kennedy Center’s “Look Both Ways: Street Arts Across America,” featuring dozens of artists of all kinds and genres popping up and sideways, doing their special thing at far-flung locations throughout the city.

Between May 6 and 12, you won’t have to go to Capitol Hill to see fools in action. The free festival celebrates the now-and-new energy of live right there beside you or up above you interactive performance. You may stumble upon or plan to see a circus-punk marching band, political puppet theater, jugglers, contortionists, stunt dogs, dancers, acrobats and fly-by-nighters, for all we know, throughout the city.

You can find them at such locations as Eastern Market, the Half Street Fair Grounds, Woodrow Wilson Plaza, Farragut Square, the Old Post Office Pavilion (Look up!) and Yards Park as well as the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.

You will see, hear, feel and be dazzled and amazed by:

Acrobuffos, Ambush, Karen Beriss, Bert the Nerd, the Bread and Puppet Theater, Nick Cave, Circolombia, Entomo, the Exit Studio’s Edwon Fontanez, Happenstance Theater, Oesole’s Dance Project, Midnight Circus, Mutts Gone Nuts, Valesa Aaria Populoh, the Project Bandaloop, the Red Trouser Show, Mamomanem and Yo-Yo People, among others.

“Look Both Ways: Street Arts Across America” is one in a series of festivals produced and sponsored by the Kennedy Center, which have included “Country: A Celebration of America’s Music,” “A Cappella: Singing Solo” and “Gospel Across America.”

On May 6, Bert the Nerd, Happenstance Theatre, Mouth Monster and Nana Projects will kicks things off by invading Eastern Market at 225 7th St., S.E. On May 11 between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., there will be action at the Old Post Office Pavilion, up and down the building as a matter of fact. Performers that night include Ambush, Bert the Nerd, Entomo, Paolo Garbanzo, Project Bandaloop and Rob Torres.

Pretty much all of the performers will show up at noon at the Yards Park (entrances at 3rd, 4th and Water Streets, S.E.) on May 12. [gallery ids="100784,123766,123750,123758" nav="thumbs"]

Celebrating Washington Theater and More, Tonight Through April 29
• May 3, 2012

Everybody in Washington’s theater community will show up tonight for the 28th annual Helen Hayes Awards at the Warner Theatre, but that’s only the beginning for what this year is theatreWeek in Washington, which would be April 23-29.

Sponsored and spearheaded by theatreWashington, the D.C. group that supports, promotes and represents Washington area theatres, artists and audiences, theatreWeek will make its debut with a series of special events including Playtime, a series of events aimed squarely at children.

The Helen Hayes Awards and Ovation Gala at the Warner Theatre and J.W. Marriott Hotel kicks everything off, featuring awards that showcase the general and specific excellence of Washington’s theatre world, with special honors going to two-time, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey.

On Wednesday, D.C. professionals and Washington theater-lovers hook up with “Show Tunes and Cocktails with Joshua Morgan” from 7 to 8 p.m. at Napoleon Bistro and Lounge in Adams Morgan.

On Thursday, it’s time for “Theatre Critics: It’s Only Their Opinion, What They Do and How They Do It.” (While not attending, I can be reached at The Georgetowner, if you want my opinion). Actually, it’s a conversation with Washington Post Critic Peter Marks and other critics from 7 to 8 p.m. (Location to be announced)

On Friday, you get a sneak peek at “In Rehearsal,” a new book by actor and director Gary Sloan, 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Bus Boys and Poets at 14th and V Streets, N.W.

And then there’s Playtime, with workshops, classes and tours for kids at 13 theatres throughout the region on April 22, 27, 28 and 29. Participating are Adventure Theatre, Compass Rose Studio Theater, Faction of Fools Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Imagination Stage, National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, the National Theatre, the Puppet Company, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, the Theatre Lab and Toby’s Dinner Theatre.

Summer Show Stopper
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Who would have thought that fur—event thinking about it, let alone wearing it—would be so popular in town, especially in this weather?

But when it’s “Venus In Fur,” playwright David Ives’ witty, hot – yes, hot – and, if you’ll pardon the expression, whip-smart take on Sacher-Masoch’s shocking 19th century novel about a stage audition, sexual and creative power struggles between an actress and director, people just can’t stop talking and going.

The production—one of the best and beguiling of the year anywhere—has been extended yet again on final time to July 31 at the Studio Theatre where you can watch a breakout performance by Erica Sullivan, in assorted nasty getups and with a range that creates whiplash in the audience. If you haven’t seen this show, by all means go. If you’ve already seen it, go again. David Muse, the Studio’s new artistic director is in charge here, and he handles matters with a deft, intelligent manner.

There’s more reason than “Venus” to visit the Studio these days. There’s the appropriately entitled “Pop,” a new musical-mystery-pop-show by Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K. Jacobs focusing on the heady (and final) days of Andy Warhol’s New York Factory scene, where Andy reigned supreme in his pursuit of putting sizzle in all things mundane and plain. If you’re interested in all things Warhol and pop art, this is your cup of tea (no sugar please), and if not it’s an education on a number of American obsessions, not the least of which is Warhol, who turned greenbacks and tomato soup into high and low art, and once made a day-long movie which had nothing but the Empire State building as its focus.

Warhol will be talked about and written about forever, so why not a musical? Especially if it has Warhol staple members in it like Candy Darling, Ondine and assorted would-be and not artists, hangers-on, feminists and girlies and whatever lies in between. Keith Alan Baker, the Studio’s pop-meister, directs with Hunter Styles and Jennifer Harris. “Pop” runs through July 31.

And speaking of the Studio Theater, we would be remiss if we did note the recent departure of David Cale’s “The History of Kisses,” a sweet, lovely string of pearls and tales performed by the one-man-show and playwright that is Cale. Less fraught with tensions and puzzles and less flamboyant than some of his previous work, this saw Cale pondering the puzzles of how people meet, love – or not – bounce and stumble into and out of other people’s lives.

An ocean theme—one of the characters was a man attending a gathering of sea shanty aficionados in California—carried the tide, so to speak, saw one woman meet an inarticulate Portuguese sailor for ship-board encounter that produced a son, if not lasting love, two gay men meeting cute and ending up deliriously in awe in front of a fish tank, an Australian land-wrecked at a seaside motel and a man remembering a wistful encounter with Judy Garland during a beach walk.

These stories pop up in my mind occasionally during a land-locked, hot summer. So sing a shanty to Mr. Cale.

The Millennium Stage, the Kennedy Center’s nightly series of free performances of music and dance has added something new for the hot month of August—it will offer a Happy Hour Series every Monday night at 6 p.m. On August 1, 8, 22 and 29, the Kennedy Center’s Atrium on the Roof Terrace will become a summer lounge with couches, a dance floor and a full bar. The Lounge will continue on August 15 at the Kennedy Center’s Grand Foyer.

It’s a different way to catch entirely characteristic performances that have been the hallmark of the Millennium Series. The Happy Hour Series includes singer Badi Assad, who presents a world flavor with an exotic mixture of ethnic sounds on August 1. DeboBand presents Ethiopian flavored music August 8. New Orleans singer/songwriter Mia Borders blends funk, soul and contemporary styles August 15. August 22 brings Alma Tropicalia and a tribute to the classic BrazilianTropicalia movement of the 1960s. On August 29, Rahim AlHash and the Little Earth Orchestra are on hand with its group of world musicians from Iraq, Brazil, Africa, Palestine and America.

And now for something completely different. At Georgetown University’s Davis Performing Arts Center and its Devine Studio Theatre, there’s a chance to see “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” a world premiere production of an adaptation of Michael Pollan’s famed non-fiction book about how, why, where and what people eat in the modern world. It’s written, conceived and directed by Natsu Onada Power of Georgetown University, and can be seen July 27-29 and July 30 and 31. Check PerformingArts.Georgetown.edu for details.

Want to find something to laugh about—and God knows we all do? Check out the opening of D.C.’s new Riot Act Comedy Theater with a grand opening celebration of the city’s own star comedians, Big Al Goodwin, Tony Woods and Charles Fleischer, who perform at 801 E St. beginning August 11-13.
And we would also be remiss without mentioning, although we do it with some trepidation, the impending last performance of Cherry Red Productions, arguably the city’s filthiest—in a good way—theater company ever. We could produce some of the more memorable titles from the Cherry Red past as offered, but can’t. Suffice to say that Cherry Red offered—often in small and dark places—dark plays that had the whiff of a zeitgeist that combined the American 1980s with the worst and best times of Weimar Berlin. I think.

In any case, founders Ian Allen and Chris Griffin are closing out with a production of “The Aristocrats,” a stage version of what’s described as the dirtiest joke of all time. Cherry Red’s promised to do bad things to the joke, which also came in movie form with an all-star cast of potty-mouths like Sarah Silverman.

Look for it at the Warehouse Theater August 27 at 8:30 and 11 p.m.
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Fall Performance Art Preview 2011: Part 2
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What is a place, a city, a town, a region, but its people and their culture?
In Washington, D.C.—and the surrounding area lumped under the Beltway which gets us to Maryland and Virginia and vice versa—the idea and execution of culture manifests itself in ways that reflect the complicated identity of the city. There is always talk of a political culture, because politics defines the city’s raison d’etre, the only city in America to house so many elected officials as well as ambassadors from the world, a status which all but demands the presence of high and low cultural institutions and venues.
The nature of the city as the seat of national and international power often obscures the local nature of the city: its neighborhoods, its history, its presence as a functioning city and wanna-be-state, not to mention its own peculiar ethnic, racial, political and cultural history. That history runs deep into the roots of trees, cracks in sidewalks, corner delis and homes of the city’s neighborhoods, and reflects the greater national history. On the National Mall, with its monuments new and old, the great national story is memorialized and remembered.
Culture, reflected in the arts both fine and popular, is where all the city’s identities and factions meet to co-celebrate, co-mingle. In our museums, our theaters and our performing arts venues, the nation meets its citizens. Locals, visitors and temporary inhabitants share the expressions of dreams in works of art, plays, dance and music.
These are difficult times for the arts and its institutions and leaders, who must find ways to make so called “high” and “elite” performance arts like opera, symphonic music and ballet accessible to everyone through education and affordability. This is a tricky dilemma facing artistic directors of orchestras, theater companies, dance companies and a variety of venues —it’s the conflict of art and commerce, a lessening of governmental assistance through grants and other issues. Sometimes, this is a fight for survival and not everyone makes it; witness the recent loss of the CityDance troupe in Washington.
How do the performing arts express themselves through music and dance in Washington? Let us count the ways or at least some of them in this preview of events, concerts, performances and festivals in the coming season.

The Kennedy Center
Before you make any sort of plans, check out this date: Sept. 19, 2011.
That Monday is the day the Kennedy Center celebrates its 40th birthday and the day of the 40th Anniversary Ticket Giveaway, which will award two free tickets to every Kennedy Center-presented performance taking place over the 2011-2012 season. The giveaway also launches the MyTIX program, which is designed to increase access to performances for people ages 18-30, the underserved, and members of the armed forces. The program is funded by Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein and his wife Alice as part of the Rubenstein Arts Access Program. For more information, go to the Kennedy Center website or register for the giveaway at. kennedy-center.org/kc40.
That being said, here are some other things at the Kennedy Center to look forward to.
On the jazz front, there’s a very special program, Nov. 11 through 16, called “Swing, Swing, Swing” focusing on the rhythmic beat which is the heart and soul of jazz, and which was the core of American popular music from the 1920s through the 1950s. Like the Duke said: “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”
A highlight of the swing celebration is “Jazz on the Elevens: A Tribute to Billy Taylor” on Nov. 11, when some of the world’s top jazz musicians will gather to pay tribute to Taylor, the leader of the center’s jazz program for years and a legendary jazz pianist in his own right. Taylor passed away last year. On board at the Eisenhower Theater will be Ramsey Lewis, Danilo Perez, Terence Blanchad, Winard Harper and Christian Sands among others.
The National Pops Orchestra, under new director Steven Reineke, will join NEA Jazz Master George Benson in “George Benson: An Unforgettable Tribute to Nat King Cole” at the Concert Hall, Nov. 25 to 26.
On top of that, you can dance, dance, dance to the music of the Firecracker Jazz Band, Asleep at the Wheel and the Eric Felton Jazz Orchestra on the Millennium Stage. Swing dancing will be encouraged on the Grand Foyer, transformed into the KC Dance Hall for the duration of the festival.
NSO Time—The National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach, in his second year as NSO conductor, will get the 2011-2012 season rolling for its season opening ball concert featuring violin super star Joshua Bell with works that include the National Anthem, Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bell), and Ravel’s “Bolero” among other selections on Sept. 25.
Not to be missed is Thursday’s “9/11: 10 Years Later, An Evening of Remembrance and Reflection,” a tribute concert with performances by Denyce Graves, Emmylou Harris, Wynton Marsalis and the NSO, with remarks by Colin Powell, Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice, and hosted by broadcaster Christiane Amanpour in the Concert Hall.
Reineke’s first pops venture will be “Some Enchanted Evening: The Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein,” Oct. 13 through 15, featuring Kelli O’Hara of “South Pacific” fame.

THE WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY
The Washington Performing Arts Society has been in the forefront of bringing in world-class, diverse musical artists and groups for more than 40 years as a non-profit performing arts presenting organization with a strong educational and community presence. As such, its thumb prints in terms of venues and performers are all over the Washington area in places both big and small, including the Kennedy Center, the Music Center at Strathmore, Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University, the Harman Center for the Arts, the Warner Theater and the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue.
Its presenting activities range across the whole spectrum of the performing arts, from classical music, individuals and groups, to jazz, pop music and world music and dance performers and groups.
It features a variety of series—the Orchestra Series, the Hayes Piano Series, the Kreeger String Series, the Jazz Legends Series and others, including producing the Velocity D.C. Dance Festival at Sidney Harman Hall Oct. 20 to 23.
Here are some early WPAS highlights:
The Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton of conductor Ivan Fischer will be at the Kennedy Center Oct. 26 with a program of Hungarian peasant songs by Bela Bartok and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9, otherwise known as “The Great.”
The Hayes Piano Series begins Oct. 1 at the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center with a recital of the works of Haydn, Armstrong, Schumann and Liszt by the rising piano star Till Fellner, who appeared last year at the Embassy of Austria and with the Embassy Series.
The incomparable saxophone player Sonny Rollins will perform in the Jazz Legends Series Oct. 10 followed on Nov. 9 by Dave Brubeck, both at the KC Concert Hall.
Four-time Tony Award winner (for “Carousel,” “Master Class,” “Ragtime” and “A Raisin in the Sun”) Audra McDonald brings her vocal talents to the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall, making her way through selections from the great American songbook.

THE MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE
Keb’ Mo’ – a multiple Grammy Award winner, blues man, singer-songwriter and a modern link to classic Mississippi Delta Blues – kicks of the 2011-2012 season for the Music Center at Strathmore on Sept. 15.
That would be Keb’ Mo’, once Kevin Moore, and his band, celebrating the release of “The Reflections,” his first studio album in three years, a work that includes collaborations with country star Vince Gill, soul singer India Arie, saxophonist Dave Koz and session guitarist David T Walker.
Coming up—Madeleine Peroux, also with a new release out called “Standing on the Rooftop,” will bring her unique song styling of blues and jazz Sept. 30. She’s a true world-singer, having lived in Georgia, Southern California, Brooklyn and New York.
Pop, jazz and cabaret singer Nellie McKay’s opens the show.
Also on tap on Oct. 4 is Pat Metheney with Larry Grenadier, a Strathmore presentation in collaboration with Blues Alley. The enduring jazz guitarist has collected seven Grammies.
Strathmore is also celebrating American composers with several events surrounding the career of Charles Ives, considered one of America’s greatest composers of the 20th Century, alongside Aaron Copeland and Duke Ellington (who will get the focus treatment at Strathmore in spring of 2012). Of special interest is “Charles Ives: A Life in Music,” a program at the Music Center featuring Jeremy Denk on piano, baritone William Sharp, D.C. actor Floyd King and the Post-Classical Ensemble on Nov. 3.

DANCE, DANCE, DANCE
The Suzanne Farrell Ballet will celebrate its 10th anniversary at the Kennedy Center with two performances featuring nothing but the works of George Balanchine, the great American choreographer who was Farrell’s mentor and inspiration. The company is dedicated to preserving the Balanchine legacy under the leadership of the legendary ballerina.
The company returns to the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater, Oct. 12 through 16, accompanied by the KC Opera House Orchestra. Among the highlights is “Diamonds,” a work taken from Balanchine’s full-length work “Jewels,” done in collaboration with the Sarasota Ballet.
Washington Ballet artistic director Septime Webre is bringing back its hit ballet, a stylish adaptation of one of the most enduring and characteristically American works of literature: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” Nov. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower. The production, called “crazily ambitious” (very like Jay Gatsby and the enchanting Daisy), by one critic, includes music by Billy Novick’s Blue Syncopators, vocals by E. Faye Butler and Will Garthshore and tap dancing by Ryan Johnson.
The Washington Ballet will also hold its inaugural ball and soiree built along the lines of “The Great Gatsby Prohibition Party” at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 30.
The 2011 Velocity Dance Festival will be held at Harman Hall Oct. 20 through 23, presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Shakespeare Theatre Company and DanceMetro D.C. Participants include the Jane Franklin Dance Company, Urban Artistry, Flamenco Aparidio Run Quina and the Edgeworth Dance Theatre, among others.
In a double bill, the Dana Tai Soon Burgess troupe will present the world premiere of “Becoming American,” a work exploring the experience of a Korean child uprooted from her birthplace when she is adopted by American parents.
The highly original Burgess, dubbed “the poet laureate of Washington Dance,” will also include the company’s popular “Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love, color black.” Performances are Oct. 14 through 16 at the Dance Place.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD
The Embassy Series continues to operate at the crossroads of the international community and the city, providing opportunities for interaction and windows on the rest of the world for its patrons. Jerome Barry is now entering the 18th year of the series he founded, starting with a core of embassies from European and Eastern European countries, presenting rising young classical musicians and groups, and spreading out to other parts of the world, presenting music and performers from the Middle East.
The latter has proven to be even more important today, given the upheavals still going on the region and the American presence there. “I think the concerts on that level offer opportunities for exchanges for seeing those countries in terms of their culture and people,” Barry said. “We had a concert with Egypt only weeks after the uprising there.”
The Series opens its 2011-2012 season with “Songs of the Vilna Ghetto Experience” at the Embassy of Lithuania Sept. 16 with Barry, a baritone, singing songs played and listened to by Jewish residents of the Vilna ghetto during the Holocaust.
That concert is followed by “High Strings, Deep Voice,” with Katharina Radlberger-Bergmann on violin, Susanne Friedrich on cello, Bill Merrill on Piano and bass-baritone Rupert Bergman performing the music of Schubert, Bottenberg, Wagner, Wolf and Haydn at the Embassy of Austria Sept. 16.
The Embassy of the Czech Republic has announced the “Mutual Inspiration Festival 2011 – Antonin Dvorak,” beginning Sept. 8 and running through Oct. 28, celebrating the 170th birthday of the legendary Czech classical music composer.
The festival, spearheaded by the patronage of Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg, features over 500 local and international artists and takes place all over Washington, including venues like the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Art, the Embassy of the Czech Republic, the Phillips Collection and others. The festival features a variety of concerts, lectures films and exhibitions focusing on Dvorak’s work and his sources and inspirations.
With more than 200 free events featuring European entertainers and artists for children, the Kid Euro Festival is back Oct. 14 through Nov. 10. It is being staged with the cooperation of 27 European Union Embassies and more than 20 local cultural institutions. There will be puppetry, dance, music, theater, storytelling and acts of magic along with children’s films and workshops.
Teatro de La Luna, one of the area’s premier Hispanic theatrical organizations, is presenting its annual Latin American Harp Festival at the Gunston Arts Center Theater Sept. 16 and 17.
Featured are artists Hildo Aguire of Colombia, Pedro Gaona from Paraguay, and Angel Tolosa from Venezuela.

2011 Fall Opera Preview
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Washington experienced a wrenching and rare one-two weather punch in one week — an unprecedented earthquake followed by a hurricane.
The Washington National Opera Company had a year that was almost as momentous and earthshaking, but with much more salutatory results. In 2011, the company saw the resignation of its long-time maestro, Artistic Director Placido Domingo. This was followed this summer by the announcement of an Affiliation Plan by the WNO with the Kennedy Center, a far-reaching development that brings a great deal of stability, while adding the musical jewel that is the WNO to the Center. In addition it was announced that Francesca Zambello, a renowned director familiar to Washington audiences, was appointed the WNO’s artistic Advisor. No replacement has yet been named for Domingo.
That’s a lot of change and upheaval for any artistic institution, yet the WNO is preparing to start the 2011-2012 season with its production of Puccini’s “Tosca” Sept. 10 in an upbeat, high-energy mood.
“Obviously, the affiliation is a win-win for everyone,” said Christina Scheppelman, director of artistic operations for the WNO. “It’s been in the works and talked about for a long time and that makes it an exciting time for us. But the 2010-2011 season has been planned four to five years in advance and was in place already before all of this came about.”
With “Tosca” to be followed by Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” in November, the WNO starts its season with two operas that are more operatic than most. “They’re very dramatic operas, they’re full of the kinds of devices and characters with over-the-top situations with grand, familiar, classic music and singing and arias,” Scheppelman said. In other words, they’re full of murder, tragedy, great passion and sacrifice and larger-than-life heroines and villains, not to mention suicide, madness and other sundry deeds on wind-swept battlements.
It’s familiar stuff, to be sure, and familiarity and popularity sometimes grates on critics who want to see more cutting edge stuff. “Our first responsibility,” Scheppelman said, “is to our audiences, and to make sure that we deliver artistic productions of the highest quality. So, yes, you’re going to see a ‘Madame Butterfly,’ but people forget that we’ve also, successfully I might add, done terrific productions of ‘A View from the Bridge’ and ‘Billy Budd’ among other more contemporary operas.”
Michael Mael, the newly appointed executive director, hailed WNO’s new affiliation. “It gives us all the resources which the Kennedy Center can bring to bear, plus we have the center’s president, Michael Kaiser, who has run an opera company, who has a great passion for opera, who is an exceptional representative and leader for the arts world-wide.”
“My responsibility is to make sure we have a world-class company and that we never sacrifice artistic excellence,” Mael said. “I came to opera relatively late, but when it happened, I fell in love with it”
Many of the programs put in place by Domingo remain including the Celebrity Artist series, which won’t begin until March with soprano Angela Gheorghiu. Domingo himself has not disappeared—he returns to conduct “Tosca” which will be directed by Dzvid Kneuss.
“Tosca” will also be part of the WNO’s hugely popular “Opera in the Outfield” series, in which a live performance of the opera will be simulcast to audiences at the Washington Nationals Park for free on Sept. 22.
“Tosca” is why Puccini, as a composer of classic opera, is the king, all Wagner devotees aside. Puccini has the three most popular, most enduring and tear-stained, high-drama operas ever written. And the music that goes with them lives outside them in familiar forms. Giacomo Puccini, as the composer of “La Boheme,” “Madama Butterfly” and “Tosca,” made an achievement something on the order of hitting 60 home runs three season in a row without the aid of steroids.
The promos call “Tosca” an “irresistible combination of passion, pathos and despair,” the trifecta of tragic opera. It includes the classic arias “Vissi d’arte” and “E lucevan le stele.” It stars the country’s top singing actors in soprano Patricai Racette as Floria Tosca, a hot-blooded singer placed in impossible situations trying to save her lover from the double-crossing, impassioned and lust-struck Baron Scarpio, performed by bass-baritone Alan Held. (Natalia Ushakova will sing Tosca Sept. 23).
There are nine performances on Sept. 10, 12, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23 and 24 and one matinee Sept. 18.
Donizetti may not have had as many super-legendary hits as Puccini (who has?), but he came up with one of opera’s most hysterical, hugely dramatic, over-the-top and, well, operatic, operas in “Lucia di Lammemoor.” Famous for its mad scene (see the late Joan Sutherland), a challenge to any living, high-note soprano in the world willing to take on the role. It’s directed by David Alden and double-cast with Russian soprano Lyubov Petrova and Sarah Coburn as the Lucias. There are eight performances Nov. 10 through 19.
Let the season begin.
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