As the weekend arrives and cabin fever pressure reaches dangerously high levels, let me assure you that musical relief awaits in the world beyond your immediate snow mountains. Several events originally planned for the next few days have NOT been canceled. How cool is that?
Yes, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra had to scrap Thursday's scheduled performance at Strathmore, but the concerts at Meyerhoff Friday are still on. Friday night, Marin Alsop conducts the East Coast premiere of the multi-media work "Ansel Adams: America" by Dave and Chris Brubeck, as well as Hindemith's Symphony "Mathis der Maler" and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." Saturday morning's casual concert includes the Brubeck and Hindemith works; Saturday evening's "off the cuff" concert focuses on the Brubeck and Mussorgsky pieces.
The Baltimore Chamber Orchestra will proceed with its Valentine's Day concert at Goucher College featuring concertmaster Madeline Adkins in the perennially popular
"Four Seasons" by Vivaldi. The program includes the equally popular "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber, along with a choral work by another fine American composer, Randall Thompson: "Place of the Blest," with the Peabody Children's Chorus.
Also on Sunday, Concert Artists of Baltimore will present a chamber music program devoted, since it's Valentine's Day, to highly romantic pieces by Brahms, Dvorak and Kreisler. The performance will be at the Engineer's Club.
Speaking of romantic (if you forget about the downer ending), there's Bizet's "Carmen" Sunday afternoon at the Lyric, starring Kirstin Chavez and Richard Lynch. This Opera New Jersey production, with concept and direction by Bernard Uzan and conducted by Joseph Rescigno, is proceeding as planned. The former Baltimore Opera Chorus, which will be onstage for the performance, is making up on Saturday for rehearsals lost to the snow this week.
I'll add more to this the-show-must-go-on list as I get confirmation.
Meanwhile, note that the Peabody Symphony Orchestra concert with Mahler's Fourth that was postponed from Feb. 6 to Feb. 12 has been postponed again, to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 17. and the Peabody Concert Orchestra program with Shostakovich's Sixth scheduled for Feb. 12 has been postponed to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 18. Both will be free to the public.
BALTIMORE SUN FILE PHOTO OF MADELINE ADKINS