The music season will be here in a flash. The weekend after Labor Day will see the BSO presenting opening gala; the Peabody Conservatory launching its concert series with a pair of recitals; Washington National Opera opening its production of "A Masked Ball," and more. By the 19th, things will really be in full swing.
On that Sunday afternoon, Community Concerts at Second (as in Second Presbyterian Church) will kick off its 24th season of performances with a recital by Joel Fan. This extraordinary pianist studied with Leon Fleisher at Peabody, where he earned his master's degree, and has quickly established a name for himself in the business, especially in the area of contemporary music.
I was lucky to hear Fan play a hefty program of Carter, Bolcom and Kirchner with startling command last December at An die Musik (I do mean lucky -- given the ever so modest turnout, it's remarkable that he didn't cancel), and I hope to catch the pianist's return to the area.
For his Community Concerts at Second appearance, he's chosen a wide range of repertoire. There will be sonatas by Beethoven (Op. 110), Chopin ("Funeral March") and Scriabin, along with works much less exposed works around here by the likes of
Scriabin, Schoenberg, Margaret Bonds, Ernesto Nazareth, Villa-Lobos and Dia Succari -- my kind of program.
The rest of the Community Concerts season looks as varied and appealing as ever. The Aspen String Trio, Monument Piano Trio and Brass Roots Trio (an unusual fusion of brass instruments, piano and voice) are on the lineup. Pianist Lura Johnson, BSO concertmaster Jonathan Carney and former BSO principal cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn (now principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony) will collaborate on a program.
In addition to the Sunday afternoon concerts, there will again be the Chamber Music by Candlelight series on Sunday evenings featuring members of the BSO in all sorts of instrumental combinations. And, as usual, those programs will cover a lot of territory -- from Mozart, Mendelssohn and Brahms to Szymanowski, Honegger, Harbison,Takemitsu and Gubaidulina.
One new thing this season will be the performance space. While renovations are being made in the sanctuary of Second Presbyterian, concerts will be held in a hall at the church.