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 100th 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.
Washington Bach Consort will continue to offer their original Downtown Cantata Series at the Church of the Epiphany on the first Tuesday of each month during their season.
Monday, April 1, 12:10pm
Washington Bach Consort will continue to offer their original Downtown Cantata Series at the Church of the Epiphany on the first Tuesday of each month during their season.
The 6th Annual Best Buddies PROM – two parties with one purpose – is a dynamic twist on the DC gala that features both student and adult receptions. It will be held Friday, April 5 at The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. This joyous night of music, friendship, fundraising, and making memories for young people with and without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) will be the highlight of DC’s spring event season. PROM2019 will treat students of all abilities to a spectacular evening which is also a fundraising event for adults who believe in the mission of inclusion. Best Buddies was founded 30 years ago by Anthony Kennedy Shriver at Georgetown University. Tickets are on sale now at www.BestBuddiesProm.org.
“This year’s PROM will push us to surpass one million dollars in monies raised since we began PROM in DC in 2013… enabling us to open 64 friendship chapters in Virginia and Washington DC schools, support 25 (adult) Jobs participants at integrated workplaces, and facilitate leadership development opportunities for nearly 200 individuals with IDD,” said Karen Glasser, Regional Director of Best Buddies Capital Region. “We can’t wait to celebrate this $1M milestone with our Best Buddies family!”
The lively evening will be hosted by Tommy McFly, Best Buddies Capital Region Advisory Board Chairman and host of The Tommy Show. Music and Entertainment will be provided by crowd favorite, DJ Neekola, and performers from the Pelonkey Agency. The Reagan Building’s beauty will be on display with decor by Design Foundry elevating the PROM goers’ experience.
Students are the stars of the evening. Adults will also enjoy their own celebration, including a complimentary open bar, delicious passed hors d’oeuvres by Reagan Building Executive, Chef Xavier Deshayes, and an exciting live and silent auction. In addition, some of the region’s most celebrated chefs will lend their time and culinary creations to an exclusive VIP reception prior to the event. PROM is the perfect place to witness Best Buddies’ mission of social inclusion first-hand.
The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s Chamber Singers and Youth Choir, together with the New Orchestra of Washington (NOW) and the Aeolus Quartet, will immerse their audience with soundscapes and projections in a subterranean musical experience for Into the Light. Presented on Friday, April 5th and Saturday, April 6th at 8:00pm at Dupont Underground, this unique concert will make use of the shimmering acoustics of the space. The program will present Steve Reich’s Different Trains, a choral and double string quartet arrangement of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and a new piece by Choral Arts’ Artistic Director Scott Tucker inspired by the acoustics of the venue, amongst others.
The performance will use the entirety of the Dupont Underground, a former belowground streetcar station which has been transformed into a public artspace. The setting will be particularly apt for the presentation of Reich’s Different Trains, a three-movement piece composed for string quartet (Aeolus Quartet, NOW’s Quartet-in-Residence) and sound effects, inspired by Reich’s train travel while living as a young American Jew during the time of the Holocaust.
For this production, the performers will begin on one end of the underground space and gradually move toward the other, emphasizing the transition from darkness into light. Simultaneously, lighting effects and projections by Production Designer JD Madsen will reflect on the musical content. Further immersing the audience, movable barriers will be used to guide the audience through the performance space.
In addition to Reich’s Different Trains, the concert will present works by Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorio Allegri, Samuel Barber, Ben Parry, R. Murray Schafer, Sarah Hopkins, and Knut Nystedt. Scott Tucker’s latest composition, The Moon and Her Maidens is inspired by the acoustics of the Dupont Underground and composed to pair with R. Murray Schafer’s Epitaph for Moonlight .
“I have been looking for opportunities to present choral music in a more interactive and immersive way,” says Choral Arts Artistic Director, Scott Tucker. “We visited Dupont Underground soon after it opened. The acoustics of the space, and the theme of light and darkness are what inspired the musical program. The collaboration with Jay Brock (Production Director) and JD Madsen (Production Designer) have helped us create a full-sensory experience that will allow the audience to engage with the music with more intensity than they would find in a traditional concert.”
“We are thrilled to bring together so many organizations and artists we have long admired for this unique collaboration,” says Tad Czyzewski, Choral Arts Executive Director, of the collaboration with NOW and the Aeolus Quartet.
More information and tickets ($20) can be found online at https://choralarts.org/events/
The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s Chamber Singers and Youth Choir, together with the New Orchestra of Washington (NOW) and the Aeolus Quartet, will immerse their audience with soundscapes and projections in a subterranean musical experience for Into the Light. Presented on Friday, April 5th and Saturday, April 6th at 8:00pm at Dupont Underground, this unique concert will make use of the shimmering acoustics of the space. The program will present Steve Reich’s Different Trains, a choral and double string quartet arrangement of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and a new piece by Choral Arts’ Artistic Director Scott Tucker inspired by the acoustics of the venue, amongst others.
The performance will use the entirety of the Dupont Underground, a former belowground streetcar station which has been transformed into a public artspace. The setting will be particularly apt for the presentation of Reich’s Different Trains, a three-movement piece composed for string quartet (Aeolus Quartet, NOW’s Quartet-in-Residence) and sound effects, inspired by Reich’s train travel while living as a young American Jew during the time of the Holocaust.
For this production, the performers will begin on one end of the underground space and gradually move toward the other, emphasizing the transition from darkness into light. Simultaneously, lighting effects and projections by Production Designer JD Madsen will reflect on the musical content. Further immersing the audience, movable barriers will be used to guide the audience through the performance space.
In addition to Reich’s Different Trains, the concert will present works by Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorio Allegri, Samuel Barber, Ben Parry, R. Murray Schafer, Sarah Hopkins, and Knut Nystedt. Scott Tucker’s latest composition, The Moon and Her Maidens is inspired by the acoustics of the Dupont Underground and composed to pair with R. Murray Schafer’s Epitaph for Moonlight .
“I have been looking for opportunities to present choral music in a more interactive and immersive way,” says Choral Arts Artistic Director, Scott Tucker. “We visited Dupont Underground soon after it opened. The acoustics of the space, and the theme of light and darkness are what inspired the musical program. The collaboration with Jay Brock (Production Director) and JD Madsen (Production Designer) have helped us create a full-sensory experience that will allow the audience to engage with the music with more intensity than they would find in a traditional concert.”
“We are thrilled to bring together so many organizations and artists we have long admired for this unique collaboration,” says Tad Czyzewski, Choral Arts Executive Director, of the collaboration with NOW and the Aeolus Quartet.
More information and tickets ($20) can be found online at https://choralarts.org/events/
When Lisa Fischer last performed at Strathmore she brought the house down to a thunderous standing ovation. Fischer and her band return to Strathmore, this time for a fully orchestrated performance. Featured in the Oscar-winning documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom, Fischer stepped into the spotlight after a successful career as a back-up singer for the likes of the Rolling Stones and Sting. This special evening brings together Fischer and her band, Grand Baton, with musicians from the National Philharmonic to perform powerful renditions of pop favorites by Luther Vandross, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones, and Sting.