Saxophonist Steven Banks played with the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Xian Zhang Thursday night. Photo: Scott Suchman Since the National Symphony Orchestra debut of Xian Zhang, in 2010, the Chinese-born conductor has been appointed music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. With that ensemble she has made a point of raising the profile of music by women and composers of color. For her latest NSO podium appearance Thursday night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, she did the same, leading lesser-known works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Billy Childs, alongside a more ..read more

The Quatuor Ébène performed Sunday evening at Shriver Hall. Photo: WCR The Quatuor Ébène was last heard locally in 2014 at the Library of Congress. In the decade since that appearance, the group has switched out half of its former personnel. Their Baltimore debut, heard Sunday evening at Shriver Hall, offered the first chance to hear the new formation, with Marie Chilemme, violist since 2017, and cellist Yuya Okamoto, who joined just this year. Okamoto, born in Japan but now based in Munich, is the first non-French member of this celebrated quartet. He replaces Raphaël Merlin, who left the g ..read more

Violinist Geneva Lewis, cellist Gabriel Martins and pianist Evren Ozel performed Beethoven’s “Archduke”  Trio Saturday night in Columbia for the Candlelight Concert Society. Photo: Bernie Carrieri Musicians, like many people, often form their closest friendships in college. New Zealand-born violinist Geneva Lewis’s collaborative bond with pianist Evren Ozel and cellist Gabriel Martins was audible in their performance Saturday evening at a Candlelight Concert Society concert at the Horowitz Center in Columbia. All three were once students at New England Conservatory of Music, who have go ..read more

Bernard Labadie conducted the National Symphony Orchestra Thursday night in music of Fauré, Mozart and Rigel. Photo: Dario Acosta Since stepping down as music director of Les Violons du Roy in 2014, Bernard Labadie has turned more and more to music after the 18th century. Currently principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, until the end of next season, the Quebec-born Labadie made his debut Thursday night at the podium of the National Symphony Orchestra, in a Paris-centered program heard in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Labadie made his BSO debut in 2018 with a velvet-gloved all ..read more

Amy Williams performed Morton Feldman’s Triadic Memories Wednesday night at Linehan Concert Hall at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Photo: WCR If any composer’s music might benefit from an occasional loud surprise, it is that of Morton Feldman. Toward the end of a performance of his Triadic Memories, heard Wednesday night in Linehan Concert Hall at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, pianist Amy Williams got one. This slow-moving exploration of repeated dissonant patterns, lasting over an hour while never exceeding the dynamic marking of ppp, was interrupted by a fire ..read more

The Catalyst Quartet played in Studio K at the Kennedy Center. Photo: WCR The Catalyst Quartet returned to the Kennedy Center Thursday evening for its debut performance in the “club” at Studio K. Jennifer Koh, new director of the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series, has made greater use of the annex known as The Reach. The move is echoed in the more recent repertory often being programmed, as well as in the unfortunate prevalence of amplification. Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, composed in 1903, stood as the oldest work on this contemporary-leaning concert. The four musicians made a coh ..read more

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Jonathon Heyward, conductor Mahler: Symphony No. 6 7:30 p.m. Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Catalyst Quartet Ravel: String Quartet in F major Riley: Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector Webern: Langsamer Satz Cage: 4’33” 7:30 p.m. Kennedy Center Studio K kennedy-center.org March 22 Washington Bach Consort Paulina Francisco, soprano Paula Maust, harpsichordist Joanna Blendulf, viola da gambist Deborah Fox, lutenist Canoro pianto di Maria Vergine sopra la faccia di Christo estinto (selections) 7 p.m. Live at 10th and G Alexandria Symphony Orchestra James Ross, conductor ..read more

The Thirteen performed Bach’s Mass in B minor Sunday at National City Christian Church. Photo: WCR Among J.S. Bach’s greatest achievements, the Mass in B minor comes second only to the St. Matthew Passion, largely because the latter, unlike the former, was composed as a unified work. Matthew Robertson led his chamber choir The Thirteen in a grand interpretation of the Mass Sunday night. For this performance, the second of two at National City Christian Church, the choir partnered with an accomplished orchestra of historic-instrument specialists. Bach, a Lutheran, initially limited himself to ..read more

Carlos Simon and Hub New Music performed Thursday night at the Kennedy Center Reach’s Studio K. Photo: WCR On Thursday evening, new music brought the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series back to Studio K, the bar-like venue in the Kennedy Center Reach. The main event was the moving Requiem for the Enslaved, composed by Carlos Simon. (He recorded the work with Hub New Music, released by Decca in 2022.) Hub is an unusual ensemble combining flute and clarinet with violin and cello. On the concert’s first half were four pieces composed specifically for them, commissioned to be part of the record ..read more

Sondra Radvanovsky stars in concert performances of Samuel’s Barber’s Vanessa, with Gianandrea Noseda leading the  National Symphony Orchestra in the Kennedy Center’s 2024-25 season. Photo: Andrew Eccles The National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, the flagship organizations of the Kennedy Center, announced their 2024-2025 seasons Thursday.  Gianandrea Noseda will open his eighth season as NSO music director with the local debut of pianist Yunchan Lim, gold medal winner at the Van Cliburn Competition in 2022, as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (Sept ..read more