The DC Chocolate Festival is back this Saturday, May 4, 2019 from 10:00 am till 5:00 pm.
This event brings together over 30 chocolate vendors and thousands of chocolate lovers for a day of tasting, talking and learning.
A celebration of artisan and fine chocolate from the Mid-Atlantic and beyond, the DC Chocolate Festival is at La Maison Francaise, Embassy of France (4101 Reservoir Road NW).
And it will bring together both chocolate makers and chocolate enthusiasts for a day of tastings and educational micro workshops.
The DC Chocolate Festival features over 30 chocolate vendors with incredible chocolate confections, treats, beverages, and craft chocolate bars from across the local area and the world!
In addition to delectable tastings, the DC Chocolate Festival offers chocolate documentaries & film screenings, books signing, talks, workshops for kids and adults and many more!
Click here for tickets.
Party with a cause and come support one of the District’s newest non-profits, the DMP, and their mission to provide affordable music education to adults! Come as you are or dressed to the nines, but be ready for a night of all things ’80s! Themed drinks and snacks, karaoke, live music, ’80s games, and a costume contest are all on deck, plus you’ll be treated to a very special performance by the District Music Project Chorus!
WHEN: Saturday, May 4, 8-11 pm (7 pm VIP access)
WHERE: The Airedale, 3605 14th Street NW
WHY: Benefit for The District Music Project, a local non-profit supporting affordable adult education
COST: $40 advance/$45 door/$60 VIP (includes a private concert and prosecco before the party gets going!)
WHO: Open to the public and press is welcome
All proceeds benefit the District Music Project and help us continue to provide music education to adults in the District.
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.
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.
Boasting the city’s best restaurants, one-of-a-kind animal demonstrations and inspiring conservation stories, ZooFari: Bite Night, a benefit for wildlife sponsored by GEICO, returns to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo on May 16 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Hosted by Friends of the National Zoo, this year’s event promises to be a glamorous night of dining, drinking, bidding and dancing—all to support the Zoo’s important mission to save species.
“We love hosting ZooFari every year,” said Lynn Mento, executive director of FONZ. “What makes it so special and popular is not just that the food and drink are amazing, but that you’re enjoying the restaurant tastings in this beautiful setting where you have the chance to see animals, and meet some of the world’s leading conservation scientists. It’s a unique combination of great food, great drink and helping to save the planet … that’s a pretty good night!”
Most animal houses will be open, and the VIP Lounge, hosted by Charles Schwab & Co., will be at Great Cats Circle, where there also will be exclusive animal demonstrations. The only DJ to spin beats and cook at the same time, DJ Chef, will entertain all attendees, as will electric violinist Ben Hoyt, Bobby McKey’s Dueling Piano Bar and a food sculptor.
In addition to providing a unique dining and entertainment experience, the event will celebrate conservation work around the globe. Smithsonian scientists will be on hand to share stories with guests about how they’re saving endangered animals. Special stations will showcase five wildlife projects supported by Conservation Nation, an initiative of Friends of the National Zoo.
A silent auction is open to the public before and during the event. The auction features conservation-themed prizes, including animal paintings, behind-the-scenes tours at the Zoo and even the opportunity to name a wild tapir.
General admission tickets include access to the general event area, as well as complimentary food tastings, beer, wine, soft drinks and water, plus live entertainment and animal experiences. Four extravagant VIP packages include access to an exclusive VIP Lounge with the finest food and cocktails, as well as special parking opportunities, express check-in and more.
Platinum-selling country songstress Suzy Bogguss is set to return to The City Winery in downtown DC Friday, May 17 at 8:00pm. Audiences can expect an intimate night of music backed by her new trio Craig Smith (guitar) and Elio Giordano (upright bass), two of Nashville’s finest players. The show will include Suzy’s memorable radio hits such as “Outbound Plane,” “Drive South,” “Hey Cinderella,” and “Aces,” as well as songs from her latest albums Lucky, celebrating the songwriting of Merle Haggard, and American Folk Songbook. Fans can look forward to hearing new material, with Suzy debuting originals for the first time since her top 5 jazz album Sweet Danger.
Bogguss performed in DC March of 2018 and has been looking forward to returning to the East Coast on this run, “I can’t wait to play in DC! I just love performing at The City Winery; it’s such a cool venue with a really intimate space.”
What’s on the horizon? Bogguss is currently writing and preparing for her next album as well as continuing to play with her trio and Chicks with Hits – a new tour with fellow queens of country Pam Tillis and Terri Clark.
Tickets for The City Winery are on sale now with a variety of seating options for $25-$30. “My show is very spontaneous. Each one is unique. The guys in my band say that my set list is just a suggestion,” she laughs. “It’s very fluid. If I feel like the audience wants to hear a particular song or if there’s a request I am happy to shift gears. I’m just loving these intimate rooms and interacting with the crowd.”
To purchase tickets, please visit: www.CityWinery.com/
Tony Award®-Winning Actress
Christine Ebersole to Host
Washington National Opera Gala
Saturday, May 18, 2019, at 6 p.m.
in the Kennedy Center Opera House
Washington National Opera (WNO) announces the addition of Tony Award®-winning actress Christine Ebersole as host and special guest artist for its 2019 Gala on Saturday, May 18, in the Kennedy Center Opera House.
Ebersole, an iconic artist of the stage and screen—who appeared in Francesca Zambello’s 2018 production of Candide at LA Opera—joins the WNO gala cast, along with previously announced headliner Christine Goerke, another iconic American voice who is currently starring as Brunnhilde in the Ring Cycle at the Met. This year’s WNO gala concert program explores the beauty and vitality of the human voice through music ranging from Wagner to Gershwin to Irving Berlin.
Christine Ebersole is known for her wide artistic range and versatility, perhaps most notably for her work on Broadway, where she won the Tony Award® twice for her work in Grey Gardens and 42nd Street. She has a distinguished list of television and film credits to her name, including The Wolf of Wall Street, Amadeus, Tootsie, andRichie Rich on the big screen, as well as Sullivan and Son, Royal Pains, Madame Secretary, and Blue Bloods. Her concert and stage credits have taken her to renowned venues across the country, and she has made numerous recordings.
Also added to the roster of talent for the gala evening are soprano Latonia Moore, who appears in the title role in two performances of WNO’s upcoming run of Tosca.Moore joins Ebersole, Goerke, and Washingtonian bass Soloman Howard.
The Gala is WNO’s largest fundraising event and one of Washington’s most anticipated events of the year. Proceeds from the Gala play a crucial role in advancing WNO’s artistic, educational, and community engagement programs. The 2019 WNO Gala honors local entrepreneur John J. Pohanka for his outstanding contributions to the organization, features Evan Rogister leading the WNO Orchestrain his inaugural performance as WNO’s Principal Conductor.
The Co-Chairs of the WNO Gala are Jacqueline Badger Mars and Camille Biros.
Tickets for the Gala concert only, starting at $45, are on sale now.
Special packages to attend all Gala festivities are available. The Gala evening will begin with a cocktail reception on the Kennedy Center’s River Terrace at 4:30 p.m., followed by the 6 p.m. Gala concert performance. The event concludes with elegant black-tie dinners hosted by Ambassadors and foreign dignitaries at embassies and residences throughout Washington, a longtime tradition of the Opera’s season-ending social gathering.
Gala Ticket Information
Tickets to the WNO Gala concert, which start at $45, are available online, in person at the Kennedy Center Box Office, and by calling (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.
Gala ticket packages start at $500 and include the VIP cocktail party and priority seating for the Gala concert. Packages that also include seating at the private embassy dinners following the performance start at $1,000. Information is available online or by contacting the Special Events office at (202) 416-8496 or operagala@kennedy-center.org.
What happens when you combine a “Trading Spaces” star with a madcap musical about trying to trade one’s identity? Or a “Drag Race” contestant with songs about the larger than life “Mame”? It promises to be an incredible evening of entertainment as The American Pops Orchestra presents “I Am What I Am: The Music of Jerry Herman,” starring some of today’s freshest voices.
Paige Davis (TLC’s “Trading Spaces”), Alexis Michelle (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”), Mauricio Martinez (“On Your Feet!”), Tracy Lynn Olivera (“Ragtime”), and Paul Roeckell from APO’s NextGen competition, are all set to take center stage Saturday, May 18 beginning at 8 p.m. at Arena Stage, 1101 6th St., SW, Washington, D.C.
“Jerry Herman created earworms before we even started using that word,” says Luke Frazier, conductor, APO. “We love his classics from ‘Hello, Dolly!,’ ‘La Cage aux Folles,’ ‘Mack and Mabel,’ and many others. But no one has ever heard or seen them perform like we will! Most of all, Jerry Herman represents telling your truth through his incredible compositions and lyrics. Those are messages that resonate as strongly today as they did when they were first performed.”
Some of the songs APO will perform include:
- “Before the Parade Passes By”
- “Bosom Buddies”
- “We Need a Little Christmas”
- “Put On Your Sunday Clothes”
Herman has won two Tony Awards, received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, and is a Kennedy Center Honoree.
Tickets are available at http://bit.ly/JHermanAPO.
The Choral Arts Society of Washington will present Gabriel Fauré: Requiem on Sunday, May 19th at 5:00 pm at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Concert Hall. The program is a stunning example of how, in a span of 25 years, musical styles can seem centuries apart all because of mentors who inspire individuality.
Artistic Director and Conductor Scott Tucker will lead the chorus and 67-person orchestra through these transcendent and rarely-heard compositions. The concert will also feature solos from treasured soprano, Laura Choi Stuart, rising star and Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist, Alexandria Shiner (soprano), and critically-acclaimed Trevor Scheunemann (baritone).
Choral Arts’ program features Fauré’s transcendent Requiem alongside the chorus’ first performances of Schmitt’s triumphant Psalm 47 and Boulanger’s exuberant Psalm 24. It has been nearly two decades since the beloved Schmitt composition has been performed in Washington, DC. Camille Saint-Saëns’ Sarabande Op. 93 will complete the evening.
“After recently hearing a recording of Schmitt’s Psalm 47 for the first time, I was so moved by its unbridled joy that I knew we had to build an entire concert around it,” said Tucker. “It was the most thrilling piece I’d heard in years.”
The program invites the audience to follow the musical lineage of four composers whose lives were inextricably linked during the early 20th Century in Paris, France. Schmitt credited Fauré as his greatest influence and Boulanger knew Fauré as a family friend from childhood. Fauré’s influence on Schmitt and Boulanger can be heard in their psalm settings and paved the way for future generations of composers.
More information and tickets ($15 and up) can be found online at https://choralarts.org/events/
WHO: The Choral Arts Society of Washington
WHAT: Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
WHEN: Sunday, May 19th at 5:00 pm
WHERE: Kennedy Center Concert Hall
TICKETS: ($15 and up) https://choralarts.org/events/
