News from the Library of Congress

Press Contact: Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940
Public Contact: Concert Line (202) 707-5502

August 12, 1999

Library of Congress Announces 1999-2000 Concert Season

Kickoff for Three-Year Bicentennial Musical Series "I Hear America Singing"

October 1 is the kickoff date for a special commemorative series of Library of Congress concerts, broadcasts, recordings, and educational programs that will be presented in celebration of the 200th birthday of the Library of Congress, which occurs on April 24, 2000.

Taking its theme from a Walt Whitman poem, "I Hear America Singing," the three-year series encompasses classical and popular compositions, sacred and secular pieces, music from America's cities and songs from its heartland. Exploring the breadth and significance of American musical heritage from Colonial days to the end of the 20th century, the Bicentennial music project, "I Hear America Singing," will be presented by the Library's Music Division, which won the ASCAP-Chamber Music America Award for Adventuresome Programming in 1998.

The American Classical Music Hall of Fame named the Library's Music Division an institutional member in 1999. Its long-running internationally recognized chamber music series was initiated in 1925 by philanthropist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. "Mrs. Coolidge was a visionary philanthropist who built the Library's renowned concert hall, the Coolidge Auditorium, and endowed a foundation to support our concert series and the creation of new compositions," said Jon Newsom, the Music Division's chief. "She was responsible for an extraordinary musical legacy that we honor today by continuing the distinguished performing and commissioning traditions she established in chamber music and dance."

The Martha Graham Dance Company will return to the Library of Congress in November for three performances of one of the most important Coolidge commissions, the classic 1944 Martha Graham-Aaron Copland ballet, Appalachian Spring. Through the generous support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Library will also present and document for its newly established Martha Graham Collection a program of major Graham works that also includes early works and solos, among them Heretic, Frontier and Deep Song.

World premieres of two Library of Congress commissions are slated for 1999-2000. San Francisco-based jazz composer and pianist Jon Jang will perform his composition for piano and erhu (Chinese violin), The Temple of a Drum, written in honor of drummer Max Roach; and violinist Rolf Schulte and pianist Alan Feinberg unveil Duo in Two Parts by Dina Koston, Washington composer and co-artistic director of the Theater Chamber Players.

Framing the season are two concerts that illuminate the rich Library of Congress holdings in the field of American musical theater: a concert by master song stylist Bobby Short and his Orchestra opens the series on October 1, and a 70th birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim closes the season on May 22.

For chamber music aficionados, season highlights include concerts by a quartet of superb string quartets, American, German, and British: the Juilliard, the Hagen, the Artemis and the Eroica. Ensemble Sarband, called "the most original ensemble in early music" by Neue Musikzeitung, brings together musicians from Bulgaria, Lebanon, Germany, and Turkey for Sefarad, a program tracing music of Sephardic Jews in the Mediterranean and the Ottoman Empire.

Concerto Italiano, with acclaimed conductor and harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini, programs Monteverdi's Lamento D'Arianna, with contralto Sara Mingardo; the 22-person Concerto Köln offers Mendelssohn's String Symphony No. 9 and Mozart's Concerto for Piano and Strings, K. 414. And violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo celebrates the 40th anniversary of his Carnegie Hall debut in a special program of Bach and Mozart concertos with the Brandenburg Ensemble and the young American violinist Leila Josefowicz.

For further information about the Library of Congress concert series, call (202) 707-5502; or visit "Concerts from the Library of Congress" on the Library's Web site at www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert.

Tickets are required for all Library of Congress concerts, and they will be distributed by TicketMaster, at (301) 808-6900 or (202) 432-SEAT, for a nominal service charge of $2 per ticket, with additional charges for phone orders and handling. Callers outside the Washington, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia area may dial (800) 551-SEAT. Tickets are also available at TicketMaster outlets; for a complete list of outlets, call TicketMaster at (202) 432-SEAT or visit TicketMaster Washington/Baltimore on the Web at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets will be available approximately five weeks before each concert. Please note one exception: the sale date for Bobby Short's October 1 appearance is August 30.

Tickets for Library of Congress events sell out quickly, but there are often empty seats at concert time. Patrons are encouraged to try for no-show tickets by appearing at the will-call desk by 6:30 p.m. on concerts nights. All concerts are presented in the Library's Coolidge Auditorium, located on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, First Street and Independence Avenue S.E.

1999-2000 SEASON CALENDAR

All concerts take place in the Coolidge Auditorium, Jefferson Building, at 8 p.m.
(Programs subject to change without notice.)

Friday, October 1
BOBBY SHORT & HIS ORCHESTRA
Songs both unknown and familiar by Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, and other popular songwriters, with some rarities from the Library's collections
Ticket sale date: August 30

Thursday-Friday, October 7-8
THE JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
Haydn: Quartet in C Major, op. 76, no. 3 "Emperor"; Webern: Six Bagatelles, op. 9; Stravinsky: Three Pieces for String Quartet; Beethoven: Quartet in A Minor, op. 132
Ticket sale date: September 13

Friday, October 29
STEPHEN SALTERS, Baritone
Winner of the 1999 Walter W. Naumburg Vocal Competition
Ticket sale date: September 20

Saturday, October 30
DA CAMERA OF HOUSTON
Coolidge Anniversary Concert
Ravel: Chansons Madécasses, for mezzo-soprano, flute, cello, and piano (Coolidge Foundation commission); Tsontakis: Heartsounds, for violin, viola, doublebass, piano; Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Ticket sale date: September 20

Saturday, November 13
THE BEIJING TRIO
World premiere performance, "The Temple of a Drum," commissioned by the Library of Congress McKim Fund
Jon Jang, pianist-composer; JieBing Chen, erhu (Chinese violin); Max Roach, trapset drums
Ticket sale date: October 4

Wednesday-Friday, November 17-19
THE MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY
Key works from the 1930s, including the legendary Heretic and Frontier, Deep Song and other solos. A dramatic staging of selected letters of the Graham-Copland correspondence for Appalachian Spring will precede the performance of this classic ballet, commissioned by the Library of Congress in 1944.
Ticket sale date: October 11

Thursday, December 2
THE EROICA STRING QUARTET
U.S. Debut concert for an acclaimed British period-instrument ensemble
Mendelssohn: Quartet no. 1 in E-Flat Major, op. 12; Beethoven: Quartet in E-Flat Major, op. 74 "Harp"; Schumann: Quartet in A Major, op. 41, no. 3
Ticket sale date: November 1

Friday, December 3
THE AMERICAN CHAMBER PLAYERS
Miles Hoffman, Artistic Director
Schubert: Octet in F-Major, D. 803, with other works to be announced
Ticket sale date: November 1

Friday, December 10
THE NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG
Michael Barrett and Stephen Blier, co-artistic directors
The Great American Songwriting Teams: the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Lieber and Stoller, Kander and Eb
Ticket sale date: November 8

Friday, December 17
THE JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
The program will include Mendelssohn's Quartet no. 3 in D Major, op. 44, no. 1, and Bartók's Quartet No. 2
Ticket sale date: November 15

Mondays/Thursdays, January 10-24
JAZZ FILM SERIES
Mary Pickford Theater, Madison Building, LM 302
Presented in cooperation with the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. For the screening schedule, visit the Web site, "Concerts from the Library of Congress" at www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert or call (202) 707-5677.
No tickets required.

Thursday, February 3
THE ARTEMIS QUARTET
Mozart: Quartet in D Minor, K. 421; Ligeti: Quartet no. 2; Beethoven: Quartet in F Major, op. 135
Ticket sale date: December 27

Wednesday, February 9
BRANDENBURG ENSEMBLE
with Jaime Laredo, violin and viola; Leila Josefowicz, violin; and Reiko Uchida, piano
J. S. Bach: Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins; Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante; Zwilich: Romance for violin and piano
Ticket sale date: January 3

Thursday-Friday, February 24-25
THE JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
Mendelssohn: Quartet no. 4 in E Minor, op. 44,no.2; Shostakovich: Quartet no. 15 in E-flat Minor, op. 144; Beethoven: Quartet in F Major, op. 135
Ticket sale date: January 17

Friday, March 3
ENSEMBLE SARBAND
Sefarad: Music of Spanish Jews in the Mediterranean and the Ottoman Empire
Fadia el-Hage, voice; Ahmet Kadri Rizeli, kemenge, percussion; Ihsan Özer, kanun; Vladimir Ivanoff, percussion, oud, and musical direction
Ticket sale date: January 24

Friday, March 10
ROLF SCHULTE, violin; ALAN FEINBERG, piano; WILLIAM PURVIS, French horn
Brahms: Sonata in E flat Major, Op. 120, No. 2; Ligeti: Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano; Dina Koston: Duo in Two Parts (commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress, World Premiere); Bartók: Second Sonata
Ticket sale date: February 7

Friday, March 24
CONCERTO KÖLN
Period-instrument orchestra from Germany; with soloists Sylvie Kraus, violin, and Ludwig Semerjian, piano
Dall'abaco: Concerto à più istrumenti, op. 5, no. 6; J. S. Bach: Concerto for Violin and Strings, BWV 1042; Mozart: Concerto for Piano and Strings, K. 414; Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 9
Ticket sale date: February 14

Friday, March 31
CONCERTO ITALIANO
Sara Mingardo, contralto; Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor, harpsichord
Castello: Two Sonatas for Strings; Marini: Passacaglia for Strings; Monteverdi: Lamento d'Arianna; Farina: Capriccio Stravagante; Bononcini: Sinfonia da Chiesa; Pergolesi: Salve Regina; Legrenzi: Sonata from La Cetra; Corelli: Concerto Grosso, op. 6, no.4
Ticket sale date: February 21

Friday, April 7
LA LUNA ENSEMBLE FOR 17TH CENTURY MUSIC
Sprezzatura: Virtuoso Variations, Sonatas & Fantasias
Ingrid Matthews and Scott Metcalfe, violins; Emily Walhout, viola da gamba, cello; Byron Schenkman, harpsichord,organ
Presented under the auspices of the Mae and Irving Jurow Fund
Ticket sale date: February 28

Friday, April 21
CARTER BREY, cello, and CHRISTOPHER O'RILEY, piano
Program to be announced.
Ticket sale date: March 6

Thursday-Friday, April 27-28
THE BEAUX ARTS TRIO
Program to be announced.
Ticket sale date: March 13

Monday, May 1
THE HAGEN QUARTET
Ravel: Quartet in F Major; Webern: Five Pieces, Op. 5; Beethoven: Quartet in B-flat Major, op. 130
Ticket sale date: March 20

Thursday-Friday, May 11-12
THE JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
with Warren Jones, piano
Haydn: Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 3; Sur: Berceuse, for violin and piano; Schumann: Piano Quintet
Ticket sale date: March 27

Friday, May 19
ROBERT TAUB, piano
Haydn: Sonata in E-flat Major, Hob. XVI:52; Beethoven: Sonata in E Major, Op. 109; Babbitt: Canonic Forms
Ticket sale date: April 10

Monday, May 22
STEPHEN SONDHEIM SALUTE
70th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Paul Gemigniani, Music Director
A special 70th birthday tribute to a titanic figure in the history of the American musical theater: a concert version of his rarely heard 1974 musical, The Frogs, based on the comedy by Aristophanes, and a selection of Sondheim's favorite songs by other writers, offered with the composer's personal commentary.
Ticket sale date: April 17

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PR 99-123
8/12/99
ISSN 0731-3527

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