May
17
Fri
Suzy Bogguss at The City Winery @ City Winery
May 17 @ 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM

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/WashingtonDC

May
18
Sat
Washington National Opera Gala @ Kennedy Center
May 18 @ 4:30 PM – 11:30 PM

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.

WNO Opera Gala and Concert @ Kennedy Center
May 18 @ 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
The 2019 WNO Gala pays tribute to John J. Pohanka for his legacy and leadership with Washington National Opera. Serving nearly 30 years as a member of the Board of Trustees, including a term as Chairman from 2003–2005, Pohanka has been influential in building the company’s success, including playing a central role in negotiating WNO’s artistic affiliation with the Kennedy Center in 2011. His longstanding relationship with and institutional knowledge of WNO proves to be a valuable historical resource, which guides the Board in its decision-making. An opera aficionado and founding member of D.C.’s Wagner Society, Pohanka’s financial support over the decades has been instrumental for WNO. His generous contributions have empowered Artistic Director Francesca Zambello to mount three full cycles of Richard Wagner’s epic four-part Ring of the Nibelung in 2016, while also producing WNO’s educational recordings with musicologist Saul Lilienstein; these CDs have provided musical analysis and historical context on every opera presented by WNO for thousands of listeners for the past 22 years.
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.
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 for the Gala concert, starting at $45, are on sale starting February 19 at 10 a.m. to Kennedy Center members. Tickets go on sale to the general public on February 20 at 10 a.m.
 
Tickets will be 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.
American Pops: A Tribute to the Legendary Jerry Herman and His Music @ Arena Stage
May 18 @ 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM

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.

May
19
Sun
The Choral Arts Society of Washington presents Gabriel Fauré: Requiem @ Kennedy Center Concert Hall
May 19 @ 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

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/gabriel-faure-requiem/.

 

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/gabriel-faure-requiem

May
21
Tue
MICHAEL BOLTON: The Symphony Sessions: powered by OmegaXL TOUR @ Kennedy Center Concert Hall
May 21 @ 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Grammy Award® winner Michael Bolton joins the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) for a one-night-only performance this spring, led by NSO Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke. The concert takes place on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at 8 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

From “When a Man Loves a Woman” to “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” and more, Michael Bolton’s time, love, and tenderness has created the soundtrack of our lives. Join the Grammy Award®-winner with the NSO for an evening of timeless hits and a musical journey through pop, rock, soul, standards, and even classical, specially arranged for symphony orchestra.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets ($29-$119) are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, online at kennedy-center.org, and via phone (202) 467-4600; toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquires, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

Jun
8
Sat
CapitalBop @ Sandlot SW
Jun 8 @ 5:30 PM – 11:59 PM

CapitalBop returns to the DC Jazz Festival on June 8 with present::futures, the most talent-packed single show in this DIY organization’s history. Six of the most forward-thinking acts in music will appear across two stages, surrounded by visual art and pop-up vendors selling homemade food and drink.

For 2019, CapitalBop has opted to compress its usual run of concerts at the DC JazzFest into one jam-packed, evening-long celebration of musical innovation, with live painting, food, drink and more.

More information available at presentfutures.eventbrite.com

Headlining the festival are separate bands led by West Coast singer/songwriter/emcee Georgia Anne Muldrow and New York-based drummer/bandleader Justin Brown. Muldrow is a prolific performer with an uncommonly deep catalogue, including multiple collaborations with rap legend Madlib, and she has recently broken into the mainstream with the release of her most recent album, Overload.

Brown, a giant of modern jazz who plays with Thundercat, Ambrose Akinmusire, Esperanza Spalding and others, is one of the most important emerging artists in music today. His debut album as a leader, NYEUSI, has turned heads and drawn attention from music writers and fans all over the world.

Miles Okazaki, one of the most distinctive young guitarists alive, gained a new level of attention last year when he released WORK, a six-disc album featuring his interpretations of every song in Thelonious Monk’s catalogue.

Saxophonist Brent Birckhead, a D.C. native now living in New York, is riding the momentum of his acclaimed debut release, BIRCKHEAD. Composer, clarinetist and vocalist Angel Bat Dawid also released her debut album this year, The Oracle, and has earned praise from such press outlets as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. Other deep-thinking DMV mainstays, including Jamal Moore’s Organix Trio and DJ John Murph, will round out the evening’s lineup.

The event takes place at the Sandlot Southwest, an open, outdoor space located just south of Audi Stadium at Buzzard Point, at 1800 Half St. SW. Doors open at 6:30, directly preceded by an hour-long meet-and-greet for package and VIP ticket-holders. Tickets are $18 early advance (before May 27), $25 advance and $30 at the door; students get $5 off the price of their admission. Special ticket packages are available for $40, and VIP-level reserved seating for donors starts at $100. The show is all-ages.

5:30 PM: VIP meet-and-greet

6:30 PM: Doors

7:15 PM: Angel Bat Dawid (stage 2)

7:30 PM: Brent Birckhead (stage 1)

8:15: Miles Okazaki (stage 2)

9:15 PM: Justin Brown’s Nyeusi (stage 1)

10:15 PM: Jamal Moore’s Organix Trio (stage 2)

11:00 PM: Georgia Anne Muldrow (stage 1)

Jun
15
Sat
DC JazzPrix @ Pearl Street Warehouse
Jun 15 @ 2:30 PM – 6:30 PM
The annual DCJazzPrix is back this year at Pearl Street Warehouse! In celebration with the 15thanniversary of the DC Jazz Festival, the DCJazzPrix band competition boasts a free, family-friendly event for everyone to enjoy. This year the show is hosted by Aaron Myers, world-class jazz artist and host of Mr. Henry’s weekly Jazz Jam.
Finalists include AmyAna – blending the sounds of the US and Brazil, the Ernest Turner Trio – re-imagining jazz and pop music, and MIXCLA + 1 – presenting a unique blend of Afro-Cuban Jazz.
Tickets to this event are FREE but you must RSVP to enter – TICKETSDCJAZZPRIX
Location: Pearl Street Warehouse 
33 Pearl Street SW, Washington, DC 20004
DOORS: 2:00PM
SHOW: 2:30PM
Jun
28
Fri
50 Years Over the Rainbow: A Judy Garland Celebration  @ Kennedy Center Concert Hall
Jun 28 @ 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Three musicians and celebrated Broadway stars will join the National Symphony Orchestra for 50 Years Over the Rainbow: A Judy Garland Celebration on Friday and Saturday, June 28 and 29, 2019 at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Laura Osnes, Capathia Jenkins, and Jimmie Herrod join Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke and the NSO in recreating many songs from Judy Garland’s 1961 famed Carnegie Hall performance.  These concerts honor the cultural impact that the iconic Garland made, from The Wizard of Oz and Easter Parade to Meet Me in St. Louis, A Star Is Born, and countless others.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets ($24–$99) are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, online atkennedy-center.org, and via phone through Instant Charge, (202) 467-4600; toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquires, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

Jun
29
Sat
50 Years Over the Rainbow: A Judy Garland Celebration  @ Kennedy Center Concert Hall
Jun 29 @ 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Three musicians and celebrated Broadway stars will join the National Symphony Orchestra for 50 Years Over the Rainbow: A Judy Garland Celebration on Friday and Saturday, June 28 and 29, 2019 at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Laura Osnes, Capathia Jenkins, and Jimmie Herrod join Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke and the NSO in recreating many songs from Judy Garland’s 1961 famed Carnegie Hall performance.  These concerts honor the cultural impact that the iconic Garland made, from The Wizard of Oz and Easter Parade to Meet Me in St. Louis, A Star Is Born, and countless others.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets ($24–$99) are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, online atkennedy-center.org, and via phone through Instant Charge, (202) 467-4600; toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquires, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.