Events/Things To Do

Early Music Seminar: Tastes of the Mediterranean

Led by Robert Eisenstein, this lively seminar offers a sneak peek at the upcoming concert Tastes of the Mediterranean: Music of 16^th-Century Spain and Italy. Wine reception included.

Location: Folger Haskell Center

Hours: 6pm

Tickets: $20

Info: www.folger.edu/events or (202) 544-7077

The DC Public Library Foundation invites you to the 4th Annual Story Time Gala Reception, celebrating libraries and learning.

Cellist Amanda Gookin takes a major step forward in her mission to make classical music an active force for political good with her Forward Music Project on March 29 at 9:00 p.m. inside Dupont Underground.  Praised for “Gookin’s focus and ferocity—coupled with expert technical work” (The Strad), Forward Music Project is presented by National Sawdust Projects—the producing arm of National Sawdust. As part of DIRECT CURRENT’s initiative to take Kennedy Center artists and programming out into the world beyond the traditional concert hall, Forward Music Project reaches new Washington-area audiences at Dupont Underground, a reclaimed 75,000-square-foot art exhibition and performance space built inside the only underground station in D.C.’s old streetcar system.

Forward Music Project commissions seven original multimedia works for cello by some of today’s most forward-thinking composers: Leila Adu, Angélica Negrón,Amanda Feery, Allison Loggins-Hull, Nathalie Joachim, Jessica Meyer, andMorgan Krauss. Pushing the boundaries of traditional writing for cello, Gookin’s performance incorporates singing, chanting, staging effects, and projection art in collaboration with video and projections designer S. Katy Tucker (NSO Pops: West Side Story, the Ring Cycle). The stylistically contrasting compositions focus on the first-person perspectives of women, highlighting issues from the LGBTQ+ community and reproductive rights to harassment and human trafficking.

Ticket Information

Amanda Gookin’s Forward Music Project will be performed on Friday, March 29 at 9 p.m. at Dupont Underground. Tickets ($20) are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, on the Kennedy Center website, and via phone through Instant Charge, (202) 467-4700; toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquires, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540

Washington Performing Arts hosts its 2019 annual Gala & Auction on March 30, 2019 at the National Building Museum (401 F St. NW). Tickets begin at $750; Young Sponsor tickets (for guests 40 and under) start at $200. Tables start at $15,000.

This year’s Gala, “Sizzle & Swing,” is a grand celebration of the art of jazz, from the classic big-band era to today’s up-to-the-minute expressions, fitting perfectly with Washington Performing Arts’ stellar spring lineup of jazz programming from Chucho Valdés and Cécile McLorin Salvant to an all-star tribute to Glenn Miller.

Gala performers include:

• Vocalists Veronica Swift (familiar to Washington Performing Arts audiences through her work with Chris Botti and Wynton Marsalis) and Stephen Scott Wormley (an alumnus of the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir, recently seen in the D.C. area as one of the stars of Signature Theatre’s The Scottsboro Boys);
• Mars Urban Arts Initiative Ensemble-in-Residence DuPont Brass;
• The Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir under the direction of Michele Fowlin; and
• The Sizzle & Swing Band

Gala guests will also be treated to a special preview of a newly commissioned transcription of a big band chart by Hazel Scott, the luminary American pianist, cultural icon, and civil rights advocate. This premiere anticipates Washington Performing Arts’ commemoration of Scott’s 100^th birthday in 2020.

The Gala kicks off at 6:30 pm with cocktails and the Silent Auction, sponsored by Urban Winery, with the dinner and performance program starting at 8:00 pm. Stage, television, and film actress Tamara Tunie serves as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. The Afterparty Speakeasy with DJ Dimmy is co-sponsored by Daimler and the Washington Performing Arts Junior Board.

“Washington Performing Arts has a long legacy of presenting both emerging and leading jazz musicians and amplifying jazz as a vital American art form,” said Washington Performing Arts President and CEO Jenny Bilfield. “Whether it is through our Capital Jazz program in partnership with D.C. Public Schools, master classes with artists like Cécile McLorin Salvant, or commissions by Wynton Marsalis and now this new arrangement of a Hazel Scott chart, Washington Performing Arts remains committed to spotlighting this vibrant genre in every dimension of our programs, onstage and off.”

All proceeds raised at the Annual Gala and Auction will support Washington Performing Arts’ arts education initiatives. These include Capital Arts Partnerships and the Embassy Adoption Program (both in partnership with the DC Public Schools); In-School Artist Residencies; the Washington Performing Arts Men, Women, and Children of the Gospel Choirs; master classes and lectures; and stipends for professional development teachers and Washington Performing Arts teaching artists.

The 2019 Gala Co-Chairs are Lyn & Barry Chasen and Tom Gallagher & Barbara Myers. The Junior Board Gala Chairs are Rebecca Allen, Cassidy Grunninger, and Wesley Thomas. The Washington Performing Arts Women’s Committee Gala Chair is Denise Rollins, and the Women’s Committee Silent Auction Chair is Njambi. The Gala Committee comprises Paul Ashe, C. Wallace DeWitt, Adam Farra, Jay and Robin Hammer, Susan Hepner, Jordan Hepner and Nina Damato, Margaret Hurwitz, Angela C.Y. King, Grace Lin, Christina Co Mather and Gary Mather, Haley Morrison, Michelle Nelson, Ami Scott and Lucius Outlaw, Jan and Marike Paulsson, Kerrien Suarez, Ebony Thomas, Lindsey Woody, and The Washington Performing Arts Women’s Committee.

For more information about Washington Performing Arts and the Annual Gala and Auction, visit www.washingtonperformingarts.org.