March 1st is the beginning of meteorological spring. And right on cue, nature has responded. There are leaf buds on the trees and green shoots everywhere, including at the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts.
On March 11, Fortas Chamber Music Concerts presents the Balourdet Quartet, part of their “Green Shoots” initiative created by the late Joseph “Yossi” Kalichstein. Green Shoots features up-and-coming chamber artists. Artistic Director Jennifer Koh, a strong advocate of mentorship, is proud to continue the mission.
The Balourdet Quartet is a dynamic ensemble, who share a love of fine music and fine dining! They named themselves after Chef Antoine Balourdet, a beloved member of their Taos School of Music community. They will perform the D.C. premiere of a new commission with Paul Novak, Impossible Inventions as well as Mozart’s Quartet No.23 and Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartet No.1.
The National Symphony Orchestra opens the month with their March 1st concert featuring Marin Alsop conducting the orchestra in Julia Wolfe’s Her Story and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.
March 6-8 in the Concert Hall, Gianandrea Noseda conducts a program that I hope will inspire my 10-year-old grandson to practice his trombone! The concert features Nino Rota’s lively Trombone concerto and Decisamente allegro by Nicola Campogrande, “one of the most interesting Italian composers of the young generation” (OperaWire). Debussy’s delightful Images for orchestra and Ravel’s Boléro complete the concert.
The following week, March 13-15, Gianandrea Noseda shows off his mastery of Russian masterpieces in Stravinsky’s dazzling ballet score to Petrushka. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos returns to play the “explosive” Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.2, one of the composer’s most complex and unpredictable pieces.
Oh, and by the way, if you love to sing, don’t miss the Friday Morning Sing presented by The City Choir of Washington from 10 to 11 just before the March 14th NSO matinee. Erin Freeman conducts a short performance by choir members, after which she leads the audience in a singalong in music illustrating some of the themes of the NSO’s performance. It’s free but be sure to register with the NSO.
March 16, at 4:30, the Kennedy Center Chamber Players made up of titled NSO musicians: violinists Marissa Regni and Ying Fu, violist Daniel Foster, cellist David Hardy and pianist Lambert Orkis, will present an epic afternoon featuring six Brahms sonatas for strings including the gorgeous first violin sonata, the “Regensonata.”
On March 19th through the 24th, the National Symphony Orchestra departs for a 5-city Florida tour taking them to Fort Myers, Vero Beach, Miami, West Palm Beach and Sarasota. Gianandrea Noseda will lead the orchestra in a program featuring Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances, Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Hilary Hahn and Beethoven’s Symphony No.5.
Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon’s 2023 Four Black American Dances opens the program. As the composer writes, “Dance has always been a part of any culture. Particularly in Black American communities, dance is and has been the fabric of social gatherings. There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands of dances created over the span of American history...This piece is an orchestral study of the music that is associated with the Ring Shout, the Waltz, Tap Dance and the Holy Dance.
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