Note: All submitted events must be approved before they appear in the calendar.
Music responds to the world around us. Join us for a series of performances with music spanning from 1930s Germany to the present-day United States.
The Anxious Ear is planned alongside The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy. The exhibition explores how German expressionists sought to interpret the dramatic changes in the world of their time (1900–1920), with later artists inviting us to compare social, political, and cultural transformations taking place in our own societies today.
Phoenixes (Sunday, February 11, 3:00 p.m.)
Achievement and transformation are often born in the fires of adversity. In this concert, the U.S. Army Band Chamber Players celebrate those challenges and the growth that comes from them, elements integral to Army service and to our shared human experience. Join us for a powerful program, featuring works by Stravinsky and contemporary American composers.
Ciné-Concert: The Hands of Orlac (Sunday, February 18, 2:00 p.m.)
Live accompaniment by Andrew Simpson, solo piano. Four years after his famous The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinett des Dr. Caligari), German director Robert Wiene completed The Hands of Orlac (Orlacs Hände), a potent psychological drama based on a literary work by Maurice Renard. The film stars Conrad Veidt as a virtuoso pianist who, following an accident, receives the hands of a condemned murderer—or so he believes. Though its sets are more traditional than those of the expressionistic Caligari, Orlac employs other design strategies to convey the characters’ seething emotions. Andrew Simpson is a composer, pianist, and organist, and professor of music at The Catholic University of America. This event is programmed in conjunction with the exhibition The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy. (Robert Wiene, 1924, English language subtitles, 113 minutes)
Seven Deadly Sins (Sunday, February 25, 3:00 p.m.)
Hear a story through music. Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins is performed by Washington, DC’s own PostClassical Ensemble. The piece is the tale of a young woman named Anna, sent on a seven-year journey to help her family raise enough money to build a house. Stopping in seven cities throughout the United States, she encounters a struggle with each of the deadly sins, preventing her from accomplishing her goal. Featuring soprano Melissa Wimbish as Anna, the program also includes Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon.
All programs are free. No registration required.
