Lorin Maazel's
seems to get classier every year. It's also spreading more often beyond the enveloping beauty of the conductor's estate in Rappahannock County, Virginia.
One of those stretches will find Maazel leading the Castelton Festival Orchestra -- made up of top-notch young professionals -- in "Music Inspired by Shakespeare" on June 30 at Strathmore.
In addition to "Romeo and Juliet"-inspired music by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev and Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," there will be ...
readings of Shakespeare by two of the most admired actors of our day: Dame Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons.
Tickets are $25-$150 and will be available through Strathmore's Web site or by phone, 301-581-5100. Proceeds support the Lorin and Dietlinde Maazel's Châteauville Foundation, which supports the festival and provides fellowships for participants from this country and abroad.
The Virginia portion of the festival, which runs June 25-July 24, includes productions of operas by Puccini, Ravel and Weill, among others, and several concerts.
PHOTO OF HELEN MIRREN (by Stephen Lovekin)/GETTY IMAGES