Letter V

Four premieres, two major symphonies and a new concerto by Black composers and a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem highlight the 2023-24 Symphony Series, the mainstage programs of the Richmond Symphony.

In addition to the Verdi, familiar repertory in the coming season includes Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony, Johannes Brahms’ Second Symphony, Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony (No. 6), Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, Maurice Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite No. 2 and George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.”

Concertos and soloists include the premiere of a Violin Concerto by the contemporary Italian composer Andrea Portera, featuring Daisuke Yamamoto, the symphony’s concertmaster; Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto, played by Paul Neubauer; the premiere of a Piano Concerto by the Virginia-based composer Adolphus Hailstork, played by Lara Downes; Ferrucio Busoni’s Violin Concerto in D major, played by Francesca Dego; Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, played by Dinara Klinton; and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4, played by Dominic Rotella, the orchestra’s principal French horn player.

The premieres, in addition to the Portera and Hailstork concertos, are as as-yet untitled works by Zachary Wadsworth and Damien Geter, both natives of Chesterfield County. Geter is currently in residencies with the symphony and Virginia Opera.

The Hailstork concerto joins Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 and William Levi Dawson’s “Negro Folk Symphony” among works by Black composers on the season’s schedule.

Guest conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto will lead a program that presents the Gershwin tone poem and “Three Dance Episodes from ‘On the Town’ ” by Leonard Bernstein along with works by three Latin-American composers, Argentina’s Alberto Ginastera and Mexico’s Silvestre Revueltas and José Pablo Moncayo.

Ticket subscriptions for the 2023-24 Symphony Series are now open for renewal. For more information, call (804) 788-1212 or visit http://richmondsymphony.com

Sept. 30 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 1 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Andrea Portera: Violin Concerto (premiere)
Daisuke Yamamoto, violin
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major

Oct. 21 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 22 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Richard Strauss: “Don Juan”
Bartók: Viola Concerto
Paul Neubauer, viola
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor (“Pathétique”)

Nov. 11 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 12 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi & Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
Roxanna Panufnik: “Across the Line of Dreams”
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Adolphus Hailstork: Piano Concerto (premiere)
Lara Downes, piano
William Levi Dawson: “Negro Folk Symphony”

Jan. 20 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 21 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Damien Geter: new work TBA (premiere)
Ferruccio Busoni: Violin Concerto in D major
Francesca Dego, violin
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major

Feb. 24 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 25 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor
Dinara Klinton, piano
Zachary Wadsworth: new work TBA (premiere)
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Ravel: “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite No. 2

April 6 (8 p.m.)
April 7 (3 p.m.)
Carlos Miguel Prieto conducting
Gershwin: “An American in Paris”
Silvestre Revueltas: “Redes” Suite
Bernstein: “Three Dance Episodes from ‘On the Town’ ”
Alberto Ginastera: “Estancia” Suite
José Pablo Moncayo: “Huapango”

May 4 (8 p.m.)
May 5 (3 p.m.)
Anthony Parnther conducting
Florence Beatrice Price: Symphony No. 3
Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495
Dominic Rotella, French horn
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F major

June 1 (8 p.m.)
June 2 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Verdi: Requiem
Jennifer Rowley, soprano
Guadalupe Barrientos, mezzo-soprano
Rodrick Dixon, tenor
David Leigh, bass
Richmond Symphony Chorus

Gustavo Dudamel, the conductor who became a worldwide celebrity leading the young musicians of Venezuela’s Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, leading to the then-26-year-old’s appointment as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007, has been named music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic.

The New York appointment is effective in the 2026-27 season, after Dudamel’s Los Angeles contract expires. (He will serve as the New York Philharmonic’s music director-designate in 2025-26.) He also is music director of Opéra national de Paris, contracted to lead the ensemble until 2027.

The son of musicians who took up the violin when he was 10 and began to study conducting at 14, Dudamel, now 42, has led the Venezuelan youth orchestra since 1999. He won the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in 2004, following a stint as Simon Rattle’s assistant when Rattle was chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Dudamel spent the 2007-08 season as principal conductor of Sweden’s Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and guest-conducted a number of major ensembles, including the Vienna Philharmonic and La Scala, the opera company in Milan, before his appointment in Los Angeles.

The New York Philharmonic’s president and CEO, Deborah Borda, who was the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s administrative chief when Dudamel came to LA, had actively courted the conductor to take over in New York since Jaap van Zweden, the philharmonic’s current music director, announced that he would leave after the 2023-24 season, The New York Times’ Javier C. Hernández reports.

Dudamel’s work in Los Angeles has extended from its classical concert venues to performances at popular events such as the 2016 Super Bowl and in films, notably “Star Wars: the Force Awakens” and Stephen Spielberg’s production of Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” He also built an LA analogue to El Sistema, the Venezuelan training and mentoring program for young musicians. (Dudamel is the program’s most prominent alumnus.)

The conductor said that in New York “he would champion new music and work to develop the orchestra’s sound,” Hernández writes. “There are no limits, especially in an orchestra with such a history,” Dudamel said. “I see an incredible infinite potential of building something unique for the world.”

Contemporary music, especially works by women and composers of color, swept most of this year’s classical Grammy Awards. In the eight awards categories, only one, a song recital by soprano Renée Fleming, featured music by dead Europeans (alongside those of live Americans).

Noteworthy winners include Terence Blanchard’s opera “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” staged by the Metropolitan Opera and issued on a DVD. Its cast includes baritone Will Liverman, currently in residence with Virginia Opera and returning to the Met in a fall 2023 production of Anthony Davis’ “X: the Life and Times of Malcolm X.”

Another composer with Virginia connections, Richmond-bred Mason Bates, is represented in an engineering Grammy for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra recording of his “Philharmonia Fantastique: the Making of an Orchestra.”

The most striking award may be for a disc by the teenagers of the New York Youth Symphony, who with pianist Michelle Cann recorded works by three Black female composers, Florence Price, Valerie Coleman and Jessie Montgomery, winning in the best orchestral performance category.

Other classical awards went to collections with works by seven living composers: Caroline Shaw, Kevin Puts, Jennifer Higdon, Nico Muhly, Edie Hill, Michael Gilbertson and Kitt Wakeley.

The 2023 classical Grammy winners:

Orchestral performance: Florence Price: Piano Concerto, “Ethiopia’s Shadow in America;” Jessie Montgomery: “Soul Force;” Valerie Coleman: “Umoja – Anthem of Unity” – Michelle Cann, piano; New York Youth Symphony/Michael Repper (Avie).

Opera recording: Terence Blanchard: “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” – Angel Blue, Will Liverman, Latonia Moore & Walter Russell III, vocalists; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus/Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Metropolitan Opera, DVD).

Choral performance: “Born” (works by Michael Gilbertson & Edie Hill) – The Crossing/Donald Nally (Navona).

Chamber music/small ensemble performance: Caroline Shaw: “Evergreen” – Caroline Shaw, vocals; Attacca Quartet (Nonesuch).

Classical instrumental solo: “Letters for the Future” (works by Kevin Puts & Jennifer Higdon) – Time for Three; Philadelphia Orchestra/Xian Zhang (Deutsche Grammophon).

Classical solo vocal album: “Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene” (works by Liszt, Grieg, Fauré, Reynaldo Hahn, Kevin Puts, Nico Muhly & Caroline Shaw) – Renée Fleming, soprano; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, pianist (Decca).

Classical compendium: Starr Parodi & Kitt Wakeley: “An Adoption Story” – London Symphony Orchestra, et al. (independent EP).

Engineered classical album: Mason Bates: “Philharmonia fantastique: the Making of an Orchestra” – Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Edwin Outwater. Shawn Murphy, Charlie Post & Gary Rydstrom, engineers; Michael Romanowski, mastering engineer (Sony).

During his stay in the US in the 1890s, Antonín Dvořák said, “In the [N]egro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music.” The country’s White musical establishment dismissed the idea, but Black composers took it to heart. In this program celebrating Black History Month, we’ll hear Dvořák’s observation realized by two generations of composers.

1-3 p.m. EST
1800-2000 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://wdce.org

Dvořák: Sonatina in G major, Op. 100
Randall Goosby, violin
Zhu Wang, piano
(Decca)

Harry T. Burleigh: “From the Southland” Suite
Rochelle Sennet, piano
(Albany)

Florence Beatrice Price: Violin Concerto No. 2
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Jonathon Heyward
(Çedille)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: “Hiawatha” Overture
RTE Concert Orchestra/Adrian Leaper
(Naxos)

Adolphus Hailstork: “Three Spirituals for Orchestra”
Virginia Symphony Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta
(Naxos)

William Grant Still: Symphony No. 2 (“Song of a New Race”)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi
(Chandos)

I am medically advised to avoid crowded public events, and so cannot attend concerts. The Richmond Symphony is making video streams of its mainstage concerts available to ticket-holders. The stream of this program became accessible on Feb. 2.

Valentina Peleggi conducting
with Inbal Segev, cello
Courtney Collier & Michael Dunton, dancers
Jan. 28-29, Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center

“DANCE,” a cello concerto by the English composer Anna Clyne, written for and introduced in 2019 by the Israeli-American cellist Inbal Segev, was the centerpiece of the latest mainstage program by the Richmond Symphony – and quite a piece it was in this staging. Two dancers from the Richmond Ballet physically responded to Segev’s performance of Clyne’s music, which was inspired by a poem by the 13th-century Persian Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi:

Dance, when you’re broken open.
Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of the fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance, when you’re perfectly free.

The symbology and/or metaphysics of that verse seem rather open-ended, at least to a 21st-century Westerner, and may or may not be useful in assessing Clyne’s score or the choreography, by Malcolm Burn, for this performance. For what it’s worth, I saw the dance of “DANCE” as interactive between the two dancers (a physical realization of the ups and downs of a relationship?) and between them and the cello, which served as kind of sonic beacon.

Segev’s fluency in Clyne’s score and its expressive potential were audible throughout the concerto, whose five movements, each titled after a line of the poem, exploit most every technical resource of the cello and the wide range of lyrical and dramatic voices the instrument can produce.

Unusually for a contemporary piece that isn’t minimalist, “DANCE” is tuneful and traditionally tonal for most of its nearly half-hour duration. Until some orchestral dissonance arises in the final movement, listeners might imagine that the work was written around the same time, and from a similar stylistic vantage, as the piece it followed in this program, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis,” which dates from 1910.

Like the Vaughan Williams, Clyne’s work is built on slow, somber melodies – but neither English nor Persian, sounding instead to emanate from the Balkan/Jewish/Romani/Turkic musical melting pot of southeastern Europe. The most memorable tunes, from the first and last movements, are among the most soulful given to a cello in the concerto repertory.

Segev’s and the orchestra’s treatment of more rhythmic and animated sections of the piece were earthy, with abundant and gritty double-stopping on the cello, weighty bass lines and bright interjections from the winds.

New and recent compositions typically don’t leave non-specialist listeners hankering for repeat performances. “DANCE” is an exception, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it enter the standard repertory of cello concertos sooner rather than later.

In the Vaughan Williams fantasia and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” Valentina Peleggi, the symphony’s music director, led accounts with measured tempos and rather soft-edged rhythms, emphasizing tonal beauty from the strings and highly expressive solo playing from the winds.

“Scheherazade” can benefit from this kind of interpretation – all kinds of enticing details emerge from Rimsky’s orchestration that might be barely noticed at a brisker pace. The score’s lyrical solos and lush orchestral sonorities are enhanced. More upbeat sections, especially in the final movement (“Festival at Baghdad” – “The Sea” – “The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman”) sounded more blunt than eruptive in this reading.

Daisuke Yamamoto, the orchestra’s concertmaster, nicely contrasted silver and bronze tone in the solo violin’s introductory and culminating solos in each movement, sensitively and colorfully partnered by harpist Alicia Romeo. Neal Cary, the symphony’s principal cellist, made richly lyrical work of the instrument’s less frequent but expressively potent solos.

Among the winds, standout solos came from bassoonist Thomas Schneider, clarinetist David Lemelin, flutist Mary Boodell and oboist Victoria Chung. The orchestra’s trumpets and trombones scored high both for massed sonority and pinpoint detailing, and did not overpower the strings (at least in the audio mix for the online stream). Percussion sounded a bit recessed.

The “Tallis Fantasia,” scored for a string orchestra and a separate string ensemble – originally situated at the opposite end of a cathedral nave, here placed in the hall’s balcony and led by Chia-Hsuan Lin, the symphony’s associate conductor – showcased rich tonal beauty, a gratifying approach to be sure, but at the expense of the more austere beauty of the 16th-century liturgical melody on which the fantasia is based.

The review has been revised to credit Alicia Romeo, the harpist in this program.

Classical performances in and around Richmond, with selected events elsewhere in Virginia and the Washington area. Program information, provided by presenters, is updated as details become available. Adult ticket prices are listed; senior, student/youth, military, group and other discounts may be offered. Service fees may be added.

Contact presenters or venues for Covid-19 safety protocols.

Feb. 1 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Richard Becker, piano
Becker: “Nine Inventions for the Muses”
works TBA by Ravel, Albéniz, Chopin
poetry readings from Becker’s “Fates,” “On Sunday Afternoons,” “Scylla”
free
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
First Baptist Church, Monument Avenue at Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Valentina Peleggi directing
Dan Forrest: “Good Night, Dear Heart: Requiem for the Living”
other works TBA
$25
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://richmondsymphony.com

Feb. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Williamsburg Community Chapel, 3899 John Tyler Highway
Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra
Michael Butterman conducting
Michael Abels: “Global Warming”
Xavier Foley: “For Justice and Peace”
Xavier Foley, double-bass
Bottesini: “Gran Duo concertante”
Xavier Foley, double-bass
Eunice Kim, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
$60
(757) 229-9857
http://williamsburgsymphony.org

Feb. 2 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan conducting
Mozart: “Idomeneo” – ballet music
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor
Beatrice Rana, piano
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor
$15-$109
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Opera Lafayette
Patrick Dupré-Quigley conducting
Gwendoline Blondeel & Hannah De Priest, sopranos
Sarah Mesko, mezzo-soprano
Patrick Kilbride, tenor
Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone
Pergolesi: “La Servante Maîtresse”
Nick Olcott, stage direction
Pergolesi: “Stabat Mater”
$90-$135
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 2 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Kwamé Ryan conducting
John Luther Adams: “Become Ocean”
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor
Pablo Ferrández, cello
$35-$90
(877) 276-1444
http://strathmore.org

Feb. 3 (7 p.m.)
Holy Comforter Episcopal Church, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Cramer String Quartet
James Wilson, cello
“La Vida Notturna”
Boccherini: Guitar Quintet in G major (“Fandango”)
Brian Nabors: “Soul Bop”
Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga: Quartet No. 3 in E flat major
Boccherini: String Quintet in C major (“La musica notturno della strade di Madrid”)
Boccherini: String Quintet in E major – Minuetto
$30
(804) 304-6312
http://cmscva.org

Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan conducting
Mozart: “Idomeneo” – ballet music
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor
$25-$40
(202) 888-0020
http://theanthemdc.com

Feb. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Rachmaninoff: “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”
Claire Huangci, piano
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E minor
$19-$99
(877) 276-1444
http://strathmore.org

Feb. 4 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Cramer Quartet
Haydn: “The Seven Last Words of Christ” (excerpts)
Jessica Meyer: “Father, Forgive Them”
Caroline Shaw: “Seven”
Haydn: Quartet in D major, Op. 71, No. 2 (“Apponyi”)
free
(804) 646-7223
http://rvalibrary.org/events/gellman-concerts/

Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Grace streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Pops
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
“Classic Hollywood Love Songs”
songs TBA from “West Side Story,” “Ben Hur,” “Dr. Zhivago,” “Titanic,” other films
$15-$85
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://richmondsymphony.com

Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 5 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Adam Turner conducting
Gregory Spears & Greg Pierce: “Fellow Travelers”
Joseph Lattanzi (Hawkins Fuller)
Andres Acosta (Timothy Laughlin)
Katherine Pracht (Mary Johnson)
Katrina Thurman (Miss Lightfoot)
Joshua Jeremiah (Sen. Joseph McCarthy/Estonian Frank/Interrogator)
John Fulton (Sen. Charles Potter/General Arlie/Bartender)
Kaileigh Riess (Lucy)
Kyle White (Tommy McIntyre)
Jeremy Harr (Sen. Potter’s Assistant/Bookseller/Technician/French Priest/Party Guest)
Kevin Newbury, stage director
in English, English captions
$45-$115
(866) 673-7282
http://vaopera.org

Feb. 5 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Anthony McGill, clarinet
Gloria Chien, piano
Telemann: Fantasias for solo clarinet
Jessie Montgomery: “Peace”
Brahms: Clarinet Sonata in F minor, Op. 120, No. 1
Deng Yu-Hsien: “Pining for the Spring Breeze” (Stephen Hough arrangement)
James Lee III: “Ad Anah?”
Weber: “Grand Duo Concertant”
$35
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 5 (5 p.m.)
Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Arthur Ashe Boulevard at Kensington Avenue, Richmond
Richmond Symphony String Ensemble
“History Notes: an Intimate Evening of History & Music”
program TBA
$48
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://richmondsymphony.com

Feb. 5 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Washington Performing Arts Gospel Choirs
Michele Fowlin & Theodore Thorpe III directing
Choral Arts Society of Washington
Jace Kaholokula Saplan directing
“Living the Dream . . . Singing the Dream”
program TBA, in tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.
$25-$75
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Lang Lang, piano
Schumann: Arabeske in C major, Op. 18
J.S. Bach: “Goldberg Variations,” BWV 988
$79-$139
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Young Concert Artists:
Aristo Sham, piano
works TBA by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla, Barber
$20-$45
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 8 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Joshua Bell, violin
Peter Dugan, piano
Beethoven: Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 12
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80
Franck: Violin Sonata in A major
$30-$130
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

Feb. 8 (8 p.m.)
Great Hall, Jefferson Building, Library of Congress, 10 First St. SE, Washington
Quatuor Van Kuijk
Benjamin Attahir: “Al Dhikrâ”
Debussy: “Petite Suite” (Emmanuel François arrangement)
Poulenc: 7 mélodies (Jean-Christophe Masson arrangements)
Fauré: 4 mélodies (Gildas Guillon arrangements)
Mendelssohn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 80
free; reservation required via http://blackbaud.com
(202) 707-5502
http://www.loc.gov/events/concerts-from-the-library-of-congress/concerts/upcoming-concerts/

Feb. 9 (6:30 p.m.)
Feb. 10 (6:30 p.m.)
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Overbrook Road at Ownby Lane, Richmond
Richmond Symphony
Valentina Peleggi conducting
program TBA
$30
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://richmondsymphony.com

Feb. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Feb. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Eric Jacobsen conducting
J.S. Bach: Concerto in C minor, BWV 1060, for violin and oboe
Vahn Armstrong, violin
Sherie Aguirre, oboe
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor
$25-$114
(757) 892-6366
http://virginiasymphony.org

Feb. 9 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 10 (11:30 a.m.)
Feb. 11 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Krzysztof Urbański conducting
Wojciech Kilar: “Krzesany”
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor
Francesca Dego, violin
Stravinsky: “Le sacre du printemps”
$15-$109
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 10 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 12 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Grace streets, Richmond
Virginia Opera
Adam Turner conducting
Gregory Spears & Greg Pierce: “Fellow Travelers”
Joseph Lattanzi (Hawkins Fuller)
Andres Acosta (Timothy Laughlin)
Katherine Pracht (Mary Johnson)
Katrina Thurman (Miss Lightfoot)
Joshua Jeremiah (Sen. Joseph McCarthy/Estonian Frank/Interrogator)
John Fulton (Sen. Charles Potter/General Arlie/Bartender)
Kaileigh Riess (Lucy)
Kyle White (Tommy McIntyre)
Jeremy Harr (Sen. Potter’s Assistant/Bookseller/Technician/French Priest/Party Guest)
Kevin Newbury, stage director
in English, English captions
$20-$110
(866) 673-7282
http://vaopera.org

Feb. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Jacqueline Echols, soprano
Justin Austin, baritone
Griot String Quartet
Damien Sneed, piano & director
“Our Song, Our Story”
works TBA by Sneed, Margaret Bonds, Harry T. Burleigh, Richard Smallwood, Handel, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Gershwin, Richard Strauss
$30-$75
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

Feb. 10 (8 p.m.)
Eisenhower Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Renée Fleming VOICES:
Ute Lemper, chanteuse
works TBA by Kurt Weill & Bertholt Brecht, Hanns Eisler & Brecht, others
$49-$79
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 11 (4 p.m.)
All Saints Episcopal Church, 8787 River Road, Richmond
chamber ensemble
Charles Staples & Daniel Stipe, pianos
Christopher Reynolds, organ
Scott Hayes conducting
Britten: “Noyes Fludde”
John Bitsas (Noye)
Jenna Anderson (Mrs. Noye)
All Saints Boy & Girl Choristers
in English
$10
(804) 288-7811
http://allsaintsvamusic.com/noyesfludde

Feb. 11 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Xavier Foley, double-bass
program TBA
$35
(804) 828-1169
http://arts.vcu.edu/events

Feb. 11 (7 p.m.)
Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, 2880 Mountain Road
Richmond Symphony
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
Tribute Gospel Ensemble of First African Baptist Church
Michelle Lightfoot directing
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: “Bamboula, Rhapsodic Dance No. 1”
William Grant Still: “Three Dances”
Still: “Lenox Avenue: Blues”
$40
(804) 261-2787
http://www.artsglenallen.com/performances-and-special-events/shows-and-special-events

Feb. 11 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Feb. 12 (3:30 p.m.)
Martin Luther King Jr. Arts Center, Charlottesville High School, 1400 Melbourne Road
Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia
Benjamin Rous conducting
Anna Thorvaldsdóttir: “Metacosmos”
Ravel: “Alborada del gracioso”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”)
$10-$45
(434) 924-3376
http://music.virginia.edu/events

Feb. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg
PUBLIQuartet
Vijay Iyer: “Dig the Say”
Fats Waller: “Pavement Pounding Rose” (Curtis Stewart arrangement)
“MIND | THE | GAP,” improvisations on works by Ornette Coleman, Alice Coltrane, Ida Cox, Betty Davis, Tina Turner & Dvořák’s “American” Quartet
Rhiannon Giddens: “At the Purchaser’s Option”
$20-$45
(540) 231-5300
http://artscenter.vt.edu/performances

Feb. 11 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
Florence Price: Violin Concerto No. 2
Sarasate: “Carmen Fantasy”
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor
$45-$70
(703) 563-1990
http://fairfaxsymphony.org

Feb. 11 (8 p.m.)
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 301 A St. SE, Washington
Concerts from the Library of Congress:
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki conducting
Roderick Williams, baritone
J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
Johann Gottlieb Janitsch: Sonata da camera in G minor (“O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden”)
Telemann: Cantata, “Der am Ölberg zagende Jesus,” TWV 1:364
Telemann: “Paris” Quartet in D major, TWV 43:D3
J.S. Bach: Cantata, “Ich habe genug,” BWV 82
free; reservation required via http://blackbaud.com
(202) 707-5502
http://www.loc.gov/events/concerts-from-the-library-of-congress/concerts/upcoming-concerts/

Feb. 12 (7 p.m.)
Marburg House, 3102 Bute Lane, Richmond
Belvedere Series:
Elisabeth Marshall, soprano
Domenic Salerni, violin
Schuyler Slack, cello
Andrew Sommer, double-bass
Tiffany Valvo, clarinet
Ingrid Keller, piano
“Schubertiade II: An die Musik”
Schubert: “The Shepherd on the Rock,” D. 965
Schubert: Sonata in A minor, D. 821
Schubert: Piano Trio in B flat major, D. 898
$33 (waiting list)
(804) 833-1481
http://belvedereseries.org

Feb. 12 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Steven Mercurio conducting
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major
Robert McDuffie, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major
$50-$75
(703) 993-2787
http://cfa.gmu.edu

Feb. 12 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Marian Anderson Vocal Award Recital:
Leah Hawkins, soprano
pianist TBA
Jacqueline Hairston: “Guide My Feet”
Wagner: “Wesendonck Lieder”
Poulenc: “Les chemins de l’amour”
Copland: “12 Poems of Emily Dickinson”
William Grant Still: “Songs of Separation”
Julian Barnes: “Proverb”
Peter Ashbourne: “5 Songs” for soprano & piano
$39-$49
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Kaufman Theater, Chrysler Museum of Art, 1 Memorial Place, Norfolk
Feldman Chamber Music Society:
Verona Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Grażyna Bacewicz: Quartet No. 3
Beethoven: Quartet in in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 (“Razumovsky”)
$30
(757) 552-1630
http://feldmanchambermusic.org

Feb. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Verona Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Grażyna Bacewicz: Quartet No. 3
Beethoven: Quartet in in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 (“Razumovsky”)
$30 (waiting list)
(757) 741-3300 (Williamsburg Regional Library)
http://chambermusicwilliamsburg.org

Feb. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Fortas Chamber Music Concerts:
Calidore String Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 135
Anna Clyne: “Breathing Statues”
George Walker: “Lyric for Strings”
Janáček: Quartet No. 2 (“Intimate Letters”)
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 16 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 18 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 19 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Mark Elder conducting
Mahler: Symphony No. 9
$15-$109
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Feb. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Symphony Pops
conductor TBA
Byron Stripling, guest star
“Gospel According to Swing”
$25-$114
(757) 892-6366
http://virginiasymphony.org

Feb. 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Feb. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
All Saints Episcopal Church, 8787 River Road, Richmond
Feb. 19 (4 p.m.)
Grace Episcopal Church, 5607 Gordonsville Road, Keswick
Three Notch’d Road: the Virginia Baroque Ensemble:
Sheila Dietrich, soprano
Benjamin Geier, tenor
Peter Walker, bass, baroque guitar, säckpipa (Swedish bagpipe), seljefløyte (willow flute), & kantele (Finnish psaltery)
Fiona Hughes, baroque violin & alto
Christa Patton, triple harp, recorder, baroque flute
Philip Spray, violone & lirone
“Northern Lights: Scandinavian & Nordic”
works TBA by John Dowland, Johan Helmich Roman, Edvard Grieg, Johann Schop, Mogens Pedersøn
$25
(844) 376-6061 (Ticketbud)
http://tnrbaroque.org/concerts

Feb. 18 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orcherstra
Marin Alsop conducting
Huang Ruo: “Tipping Point”
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Titan”)
$35-$90
(877) 276-1444
http://strathmore.org

Feb. 19 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Third Coast Percussion
Flutronix
program TBA
$35
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 19 (7 p.m.)
Gallery5, 200 W. Marshall St., Richmond
Classical Revolution RVA:
artists TBA
program TBA
donation requested
(804) 678-8863 (Gallery5)
http://classicalrevolutionrva.com/events

Feb. 19 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Emily Pogorelc, soprano
Chris Reynolds, piano
works TBA by Hugo Wolf, Lili Boulanger, Joseph Schwantner
$50
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Respighi: “Ancient Airs and Dances” Suite No. 3
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor
Alessio Bax, piano
Dvořák: Serenade in E major, Op. 22
$12-$39
(434) 924-3376
http://tecs.org

Feb. 22 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Terry Austin directing
program TBA
free
(804) 828-1169
http://arts.vcu.edu/events

Feb. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Beethoven: Piano Trio in E flat major, Op. 1, No. 1
Dohnányi: Serenade in C major, Op. 10, for string trio
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
$35
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Eric Jacobsen conducting
Enescu: “Romanian Rhapsody” No. 1
Richard Strauss: “Don Juan”
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
$84-$104
(757) 892-6366
http://virginiasymphony.org

Feb. 23 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 24 (11:30 a.m.)
Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Mozart: “The Marriage of Figaro” Overture
Mozart: “Exsultate, jubilate,” K. 165
Mozart: “The Marriage of Figaro” – “Dove sono”
Mozart: “Don Giovanni” – “Non mi dir”
Chen Reiss, soprano
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major
$15-$109
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 24 (7:30 p.m.)
Feb. 26 (2:30 p.m.)
Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Opera Roanoke
Steven White conducting
Tom Cipullo: “Glory Denied”
Peter Kendall Clark (older Thompson)
John Riesen (younger Thompson)
Caroline Worra (older Alyce)
Emma Marhefka (younger Alyce)
in English
$20-$120
(540) 982-2742
http://operaroanoke.org

Feb. 25 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Greater Richmond Children’s Choir
Crystal Jonkman directing
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://rvalibrary.org/events/gellman-concerts

Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 26 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Grace streets,Richmond
Richmond Symphony
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Juan Pablo Contreras: “MeChicano”
Lalo: “Symphonie espagnole”
María Dueñas, violin
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major
$15-$85
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://richmondsymphony.com

Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Brian Ganz, piano
works TBA by Chopin
$19-$99
(877) 276-1444
http://strathmore.org

Feb. 26 (2:30 p.m.)
River Road Church, Baptist, River and Ridge roads, Richmond
Washington & Lee University Singers
Shane M. Lynch directing
program TBA
free; tickets required via http://eventbrite.com
(804) 288-1131
http://rrcb.org/e-carl-freeman-concert-series/

Feb. 26 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh (Iranian spiked fiddle)
Persian classical works TBA
$35
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 26 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Music Series:
Nathaniel Lee, trombone
program TBA
$15
(434) 924-3376
http://music.virginia.edu/events

Feb. 26 (7 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Jeffrey Siegel, piano & speaker
“Keyboard Conversations: Musical Valentines”
works TBA by Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin
$29-$50
(703) 993-2787
http://cfa.gmu.edu

Feb. 27 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Fortas Chamber Music Concerts:
Dover Quartet
Haydn: Quartet in C major, Op. 76, No. 3 (“Emperor”)
Mason Bates: “Suite for String Quartet”
Dvořák: Quartet in E flat major, Op. 51
$49
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Feb. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
Justin Austin, baritone
Laura Ward, piano
Damien Geter: “Cotton”
$30-$75
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

March 1 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Myssyk directing
program TBA
free
(804) 828-1169
http://arts.vcu.edu/events

March 2 (7 p.m.)
March 4 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska conducting
Jessie Montgomery: “Hymn for Everyone”
Shostakovich: Concerto in C minor for piano, trumpet & strings
Conrad Tao, piano
William Gerlach, trumpet
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D major
$15-$109
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

March 2 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Christian Reid conducting
Elizabeth Ogoneck: new work TBA
Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor
Jonathan Carney, violin
Dariusz Krzyzewskis, cello
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B flat major
$35-$90
(877) 276-1444
http://strathmore.org

March 3 (8 p.m.)
March 4 (7:30 p.m.)
March 5 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Adam Turner conducting
Verdi: “La Traviata”
Brandie Sutton (Violetta)
Won Whi Choi (Alfredo)
Grant Youngblood (Germont)
Fran Daniel Laucerica (Gastone)
Jeremy Harr (Doctor Grenville)
Taylor-Alexis DuPont (Flora)
Kaileigh Riess (Annina)
Ryan Lustgarten (Giuseppe)
Kyle White (Flora’s servant)
Erik Grendahl (Baron Douphol)
Conner Grieff (Marchese d’Obigny)
Tara Faircloth, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$130
(866) 673-7282
http://vaopera.org

March 3 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, 10 First St. SE, Washington
Escher Quartet
Jason Vieaux, guitar
Beethoven: Quartet in B flat major, Op. 18, No. 6
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Guitar Quintet, Op. 143
Pat Metheny: “Four Paths of Light” – movement II
J.S. Bach: Violin Sonata in G minor, BWV 1001 – Siciliano & Presto
Boccherini: Guitar Quintet in D major, G. 448 (“Fandango”)
free; reservation required via http://blackbaud.com
(202) 707-5502
http://www.loc.gov/events/concerts-from-the-library-of-congress/concerts/upcoming-concerts/

March 6 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Rafael Payare conducting
Dorothy Chang: “Precipice”
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor
$30-$110
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://washingtonperformingarts.org

Where are the concert reviews?

As I posted in December, I’m being medicated with several immunosuppressant drugs, leaving me more vulnerable to infection during the flu season and the rise of a new strain of Covid-19. My doctor specifically advises against my being in crowded public spaces. So, no concertgoing.

I look forward to attending live performances, as soon as I safely can.

The Canadian pop star Justin Bieber has become the latest songwriter to sell the rights to royalties from his catalogue of published tunes to an investment fund, following the likes of Bob Dylan and the late Leonard Cohen. Bieber’s deal is said to be worth about $200 million.

The songwriters “are selling the rights to their work – in other words, to collect royalties largely from streaming of their back catalogue,” Anya Wassenberg reports on the website Ludwig van Toronto. “About 70 percent of the music consumed today is older music,” making these songs, some decades old, valuable assets.

All the more valuable as lawmakers in various countries keep extending the periods of copyright protection. In this country, per the US Copyright Office, works “created and fixed in a tangible medium of expression” after Jan. 1, 1978, remain under copyright protection for the lifetime of the author or longest-living co-author, plus 70 years. The term of protection ranges from 70 to 120 years for works copyrighted before 1978.

If Bieber, who was born in 1994, lives 86 years (the current statistical life expectancy of male Canadians), the catalogue he has sold will remain under US copyright protection until 2150. Dylan is 81; if he were to die now, his pre-1978 works – the likely basis of his being awarded the Nobel Prize in literature – could remain under protection until 2143.

Now, it seems there’s a budding market for “music futures,” in which investors bet on tunes or musical genres likely to produce high royalty payments in years to come, Wassenberg reports. Clouty, a Chicago-based firm “re-imagining the value of music by making it a tradable asset,” last summer launched MUSIQ, a music-trading index that could be the basis of “an exchange-traded fund to make it easy for investors to jump into the game.”

FEATURE | Music Finance: Where The Real Money Is Being Made

(via http://www.artsjournal.com)

Gambling on whose current hits will be royalty-rich 20 or 30 years from now? That makes sports betting look pretty lame.

The rights to works of “classical” composers – in quotes because the definition is so open-ended now – are not as lucrative as those for pop songs, with the notable exceptions of some film and television scores. (Imagine the bidding war for the John Williams catalogue.)

Betting on a classical work’s future financial value is probably more speculative than it would be in pop. It’s certainly more long-term: Few pieces composed since the 1970s have entered the canon of widely acclaimed, regularly performed concert music or opera, thus generating reliable royalty income; so the bet is on a composer’s stature a generation or more in the future.

Classical and pop music have this in common: One generation’s hits and masterworks may be future generations’ historical novelties or hoary relics.

Had today’s copyright laws been in effect and a music-futures market been up and running in the 19th century, rights to Giacomo Meyerbeer’s then-popular operas would have been a hot commodity. Not so hot in 1934, 70 years after his death, and not even lukewarm by 1984, had post-mortem protection lasted 120 years. Conversely, rights to Anton Bruckner’s symphonies, rarely performed in his lifetime, would have skyrocketed in value. (The steady-income bet would have been Johann Strauss II.)

Care to bet on the royalty value of music by Philip Glass, John Corigliano, Arvo Pärt or Rodion Shchedrin, let alone compositions by younger fry such as Anna Clyne, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Mason Bates or Jessie Montgomery, in the 2080s? I wouldn’t – but, then, I don’t frequent roulette tables or buy lottery tickets.

1-3 p.m. EST
1800-2000 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://wdce.org

Bohuslav Martinů: “La revue de cuisine”
The Dartington Ensemble
(Hyperion)

Mozart: Oboe Quartet in F major, K. 370
Robin Williams, oboe
Scottish Chamber Orchestra members
(Linn)

Stravinsky: “L’histoire du soldat” Suite
Orchestra of St. Luke’s members/Robert Craft
(Naxos)

Louise Farrenc: Sextet in C minor, Op. 40, for piano & winds
Éric Le Sage, piano
Les Vents Français
(Erato)

Brahms: Horn Trio in E flat major, Op. 40
Jane Coop, piano
Martin Beaver, violin
Martin Hackleman, French horn
(CBC Musica Viva)

Updated Sept. 29

Pianist Yuja Wang, who at 20, in 2007, dazzled a University of Richmond audience with her performances of Maurice Ravel’s “La valse” and Alexander Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor, went on to become a globally celebrated virtuoso, excelling especially in the concertos of Sergei Rachmaninoff. (Also noteworthy/notorious for her fashion choices and lifestyle, which have made her a face in celeb “news.”)

Now a seasoned 35-year-old, Wang is playing all four Rachmaninoff concertos and his “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” with the Philadelphia Orchestra and its music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in pairs of programs between Jan. 26 and Feb. 5 at Philly’s Verizon Hall, and in a single marathon performance, expected to run 3½ hours, on Jan. 28 at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

A star-studded celebration of the composer’s 150th anniversary year: Philly has been “Rachmaninoff’s orchestra” since he recorded the concertos and rhapsody with them in the late-1920s and early ’30s, and Wang currently is one of the best-known pianists playing them. (One of the best? It’s a crowded and accomplished field.)

Star power aside, this will be a hard-core undertaking for performers and audiences alike.

Rachmaninoff’s two best-known concertos, the Second and Third, are sufficiently long, eventful and note-heavy to satisfy any healthy appetite for the composer and/or piano-playing. The rhapsody, while shorter, is also a plateful. Add the lesser-known First and Fourth concertos, each running half an hour or so. Presumably, there will be an intermission or two (or three?). Even with breaks, though, I would anticipate a musical event not unlike one of those all-you-can-eat competitions popular in the future diabetic and stroke-victim communities.

From the performer’s perspective, Wang, speaking to The New York Times’ Javier C. Hernández, opts for a combat metaphor: “Let’s see where this kamikaze run is going to go. I can’t even control it, so I’m just going to go with the flow.”

UPDATE: Wang “brought both clarity and poetry. She played with heft but not bombast, sentiment but not schmaltz. Her touch can certainly be firm, but not a single note was harsh or overly heavy; her prevailing style is sprightly, which is why the concert didn’t feel like eating five slices of chocolate cake in a row,” The Times’ Zachary Wolfe writes in his review of the concert: