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Washington Performing Arts Society announces 2009-2010 season
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The Washington Performing Arts Society has announced its 2009-2010 schedule. I got a press release from WPAS and have included it in its entirety below. There is lot of information so I did not want to delete anything one person might want to see. Enjoy.
Washington Performing Arts Society has just announced its 2009-2010 Season featuring the best of the best in classical, jazz, world music and more, extending our commitment to present a diverse array of internationally-celebrated artists as well as the finest emerging talent from around the world. We also introduce two new series, Sessions @ Sixth, featuring up-and-coming jazz and world music talents, and the Encore Series, expanding our mission of cultivating young talent by presenting artists who are advancing rapidly in their careers, many of whom have appeared on our Hayes and Kreeger series at the Kennedy Center. Both new series take place at a new performance venue for WPAS, Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in downtown Washington.
In this time of economic uncertainty, we have tailored our season to continue to bring the best artists to Washington. We have decreased the size of some of our series, held prices steady, and in a number of cases have even reduced prices. WPAS is also introducing a convenient payment plan that allows subscribers to spread payments over four months.
The Orchestra Series at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall begins with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Riccardo Muti on November 21 and continues with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, music director Mariss Jansons and violinist Janine Jansen on February 15. The San Francisco Symphony comes to town on March 24, when they will be conducted by music director Michael Tilson Thomas with Christian Tetzlaff performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major. Finally, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with their newly appointed music director Gustavo Dudamel, performs on May 17.
The 2009-2010 season Stars Series at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall begins on October 17 with a recital by Murray Perahia, followed on November 14 with a concert by soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and WPAS’ Fall Celebration. Then on March 29, baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and tenor Ramón Vargas are joined by the National Philharmonic for an unforgettable evening of song. Finally, piano star Maurizio Pollini performs an all-Chopin recital on April 15.
Next season’s Piano Masters Series at The Music Center at Strathmore begins on December 3 with a recital of the Goldberg Variations by leading Bach interpreter Angela Hewitt. This is followed on January 27 by a concert by Radu Lupu in his first Washington recital in 16 years. Then on March 26, Vladimir Feltsman performs works by Haydn, Beethoven and Mussorgsky. The Piano Masters Series ends on April 21 with a performance by Mitsuko Uchida of two works by Schumann.
The 2009-2010 Celebrity Series at The Music Center at Strathmore features the Vienna Chamber Orchestra with Philippe Entremont conducting and performing at the piano on November 22, followed by a recital by Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk on February 9. Mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves performs on March 7 and then the Takács String Quartet with pianist Joyce Yang plays a recital of works by Haydn, Beethoven and Schumann on April 16. The Celebrity Series winds up with a performance on May 26 by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit with Nikolai Lugansky performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor.
This season’s Hayes Piano Series at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater features five of the world’s finest emerging artists. Established in 1966 in honor of founder Patrick Hayes and his wife, pianist and teacher Evelyn Swarthout Hayes, virtually every notable pianist today–from Pollini to Perahia, Brendel to Bronfman—made a Kennedy Center debut on this extraordinary series. The 2009-2010 performers are the BBC’s New Generation Artist Cedric Tiberghien on September 26, Bulgarian pianist and a top winner of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition Plamena Magova on December 5, and winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and esteemed Avery Fisher Career Grant holder Jeremy Denk on January 23. On February 27, the unanimous winner of the 2005 Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition and the first Polish pianist to win since 1975, pianist Rafal Blechacz, also performs at the Terrace Theater. The Series culminates with a May 1 performance by the Van Cliburn Competition Gold Medalist, who will be selected on June 7, 2009.
Performers on this year’s Kreeger String Series at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater include Viviane Hagner, violin, and Shai Wosner, piano, on November 24, the Ebène Quartet on February 23 and Zuill Bailey, cello, accompanied by Robert Koenig on the piano on May 4. The Kreeger String Series began in 1987 and features the world’s finest emerging string musicians who follow in the footsteps of renowned Kreeger Series alumni, including violinists Gil Shaham and Hilary Hahn, many of whom have gone on to perform main stage recitals with WPAS. A discussion with the artists and WPAS President Neale Perl follows each performance.
The upcoming season’s new Encore Series at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue features classical artists returning to D.C. after stellar debuts. This season’s performers are Alisa Weilerstein, cello, and Inon Barnatan, piano, who perform works by Beethoven, Britten, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff on February 6; violinist Julia Fisher performing Bach Partitas on April 3, and pianist Yuja Wang, playing a program of works by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Debussy and Prokofiev on May 22.
The upcoming season’s Jazz Legends performances feature famed saxophonist Sonny Rollins performing at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on December 2, Blind Boys of Alabama with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band performing at the Warner Theatre on January 9, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on March 1, and the Ramsey Lewis Trio with Ann Hampton Callaway, renowned for her starring role in the Broadway musical Swing!, in a performance at the Warner Theatre on May 15.
The new Sessions @ Sixth series at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in vibrant downtown Washington features the ideal backdrop for emerging artists at the forefront of jazz and world music. Next season’s artists include bassist/vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding, who performs on December 5, the Miguel Zenón Quartet with the Aaron Parks Trio on February 20, and sitar artist Anoushka Shankar on April 17.
Our Global Roots performances feature Sweet Honey In The Rock and Friends 35th Anniversary Celebration at the Warner Theatre on October 23 and the Sweet Honey In The Rock Annual Children’s Concert at Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ on January 16. WPAS Men, Women and Children of the Gospel Choir, Stanley J. Thurston, artistic director, performs at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on January 31. The series ends with a performance by two of the most important figures in Persian classical music who are touring with the next generation of musical masters Kayhan Kalhor and Hossein Alizadeh. Their program, titled Masters of Persian Music takes place at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on February 28.
Finally, two special events of note take place when four-time Grammy Award nominee Michael Feinstein swings into town on November 8 with The Sinatra Project, a big-band tribute to that eponymous icon of the American songbook at The Music Center at Strathmore. Later that month, international piano star Leif Ove Andsnes performs a special, multi-sensory tour through Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and other works in a performance entitled Pictures Reframed at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on November 20.
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