BSO Pops

O’er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Concert Roundup

Naturally, everything this week is patriotic. As it should be! Myself, I’m proud to be an American; I’m just ashamed of American cheese.

• The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra skips off to Oregon Ridge for their annual Star-Spangled Spectacular. No program listed on the web site, but I’m sure no cannons will be injured in the performance. July 3 & 4. [ See it! ]
• Meanwhile, the National Symphony Orchestra scurries over to the west lawn of the Capitol building to take part in A Capitol Fourth, which I refuse to watch until they bring back Barry Bostwick as host. Those were the BEST DAYS, guys! Duplicate the best days! Anyway, John Williams is going to conduct something, as well as, in an interesting twist, the BSO Pops conductor Jack Everly. Huh. Go figure. Plus a bunch of pop stars or something… guys, I don’t know who are lot of these people are, in either chronological direction. I’m getting old/young. You can also watch this one live on PBS, of course. July 4. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore: Free summer outdoor concerts continue! [ See the calendar! ]

If you’d like your concert included in next week’s roundup, leave a comment or drop me a line.

A Concert Roundup In Which I Sing a Bunch of Unrelated Songs

• Hey, the guys with the awesome jackets are back! Yes, this week the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra breaks out the BSO Super Pops for an all-Motown concert. On a related note, were you aware that I can turn a gray sky blue? I can make it rain whenever I want it to. To acquire similar powers: May 30 at Strathmore; May 31 – June 2 at the Meyerhoff.[ See it! ]
• Mr. Adams! But, Mr. Adams! You’re obnoxious and disliked, that cannot be denied – oh, wait, wrong John Adams. The National Symphony Orchestra must mean composers John Adams is conducting this week (although if William Daniels is doing it I will BREAK DOWN THE DOOR to get in). Respighi! Ravel! And (wait for it) Adams! With Jeremy Denk on the piano.May 30 – June 1. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore: Spanish festival. [ See the calendar! ]

If you’d like your concert included in next week’s roundup, leave a comment or drop me a line.

Concert Roundup, Shaken Not Stirred

• The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra offers you multiple options this week! Item one? A performance in Frederick on April 12, with a very interesting combination of violin, viola, and bassoon. I don’t even know what repertoire there is for that – intrigue, anyone? [ See it! ]
• Or perhaps the BSO Pops are more your speed – or maybe James Bond is? The Pops play a concert featuring extracts from fifty year’s worth of Bond soundtracks. April 11 at Strathmore, April 12 – 14 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• OR! Perhaps you have one of those “small child” things I keep hearing about? The BSO performs a special concert just for them, featuring works by composers such as Mozart and Haydn. No word on whether the musicians will watch your kid while you sneak off to the bar, but at least the music should be good. Two performances on April 13 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• By contrast, the National Symphony Orchestra has nothing for you. SO FAR.
• This week at Strathmore: Revolutionary organist Cameron Carpenter; legendary pianist Maurizio Pollini. [ See the calendar! ]

If you’d like your concert included in next week’s roundup, leave a comment or drop me a line.

You Can’t Stop the Concert Roundup

• GOOD MORNING, BALTIMORE! This week the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra‘s BSO Pops bring in none other than Baltimore’s favorite son John Waters to narrate a semi-staged version of his musical Hairspray. Miss Baltimore Crabs, anyone? January 24 at Strathmore, January 25 – 27 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• The National Symphony Orchestra counters with Mozart (fifth violin concerto performed by Dan Zhu), which is just silly until you notice that the program also features Beethoven (Gross Fuge) and Bartok (Concerto for Orchestra). January 24 – 26.[ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, progressive soul. [ See the calendar! ]

If you’d like your concert included in next week’s roundup, leave a comment or drop me a line.

Concert Roundup IS Holiday Pops

I swear I’m not really this cynical; I LOVE the holiday season! But it makes me giggle, the way the concerts all seem to match up at the same time. 🙂

• You’re going to be so super-incredibly surprised when I tell you what the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert is about this week! Why, it’s a Holiday Pops performance! NO! This one promised carols, handbells, and Santa Claus, so if those are your collective bag, you better grab some tickets. Don’t worry, there are plenty of opportunities: December 12 at Strathmore; December 13, 14, 15 & 16 at the Meyerhoff. There’s even a ticketed post-concert reception after the second show on December 14 if that would interest you. [ See it! ] [ Reception! ]
• Ooh! Ooh! And! You’ll never guess what this week’s National Symphony Orchestra concert is about! Why, it’s Happy Holiday Pops! This one promises carols and Santa Claus but no handbells (which is not to say that there won’t be any, they just didn’t promise them), although if I’m reading the description properly maybe there’ll be snow? Nifty! December 13 – 16. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore: fiddler Mark O’Connor, klezmer, Mannheim Steamroller, a production of The Nutcracker, jazz holiday music; really just a ton of seasonal stuff. Check it out [ See the calendar! ]

If you’d like your concert included in next week’s roundup, leave a comment or drop me a line.

Leave It to the Councert Roundup

Because the Andy Griffith whistle wouldn’t’ve translated into text.

• This week the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s BSO SuperPops pays tribute to a better time, where everyone wore a fedora (this is only vaguely relevant but I like the old fedora look). Anyway, the concert is called “The Golden Age of Black and White” and features music of the ’50s. October 11 at Strathmore; October 12-14 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• Or if you prefer something a little more, y’know, classical, a small collection of musicians from the BSO swing by the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick on October 13 to perform some chamber pieces. [ See it! ]
• Or if you want to get loud about your classical, the National Symphony Orchestra is busting out the Wagner lieder, plus Bruckner‘s seventh symphony. October 11 – 13. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore: Hindustani music, classical guitarists Duo Amaral, and roots rock. [ See the calendar! ]
• Also at Strathmore – check out this online auction to benefit the My First Ticket program! All proceeds go to exposing children to the arts. [ Get bidding! ]

If you’d like your concert included in next week’s roundup, leave a comment or drop me a line.

Concert Roundup: Wednesday Edition

For some reason I keep thinking it’s Thursday; I almost posted a viola joke. Wishful thinking, I guess.

• The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra breaks out the BSO Pops with “Music of the Baby Boomers.” So I’m not the target audience. Apparently Frankie Valli is happening; you mean it’s not spelled “Valley”? Live and learn, I guess. May 17 at Strathmore; May 18 – 20 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• The National Symphony Orchestra counters with a very classical program: a Haydn symphony, a Weill symphony, and the Brahms second piano concerto as performed by Nelson Freire. May 17 – 19. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore, we offer two counts of Debussy, a brass ensemble, and a talented soprano. [ See the calendar! ]

One Concert Roundup More

Who cares about your lonely soul? We strive toward a larger goal: awesome music.

• You know what musical theater version of a character really rubs me the wrong way? Marius Pontmercy. What a wishy-washy starry-eyed compound-word-drip. And yet I love Les Miserables (the musical) (the book was okay) just the same. Enjolras gets my seal of approval. And that is why I applaud the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra‘s BSO SuperPops for this week’s concert, which is all Les Miz, all the time! April 19 at Strathmore; April 20 – 22 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• If your small child isn’t ready for really sickening declarations of love and French people killing each other, skip Les Miz and stick with Babar. Yes, the elephant! Apparently his life has been scored by Poulenc. Who knew? April 21 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• The National Symphony Orchestra, by contrast, remains strictly classical this week, with Rachmaninoff‘s first piano concerto, Elgar‘s first symphony, and a suite by Bridge. [ See it! ]
• This week at Strathmore, William Bolcom and Joan Morris hang together and assortment of pop stars and jazz vocalists swing on by. [ See the calendar! ]

Concert Roundup: Hearts and Flowers Edition

Got a hot date planned for Valentine’s Day? I do! I’m having a threesome with a bottle of chocolate Zin and the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle version of Pride and Prejudice. Scandalous! Ah, tradition.

But maybe you haven’t been able to concoct a plan as perfect as mine. Maybe you need an orchestral assist. Alternatively, you could just bake this heart-shaped pizza and call it a day, but I’d select a concert as backup.

• Jack Everly conducts the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra SuperPops in a Valentine-themed concert featuring singer/pianist Tony DeSare belting out shmoopy favorite like “Moon River,” “That Old Black Magic,” “One For My Baby,” etc. etc. For another $20 they’ll give you champagne and a chocolate dessert to share, too. February 9 at Strathmore; February 10 -12 at the Meyerhoff. [ See it! ]
• The National Symphony Orchestra made me love them like Judy Garland loved Clark Gable — Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg!!!!! Playing!!!!! Shostakovich!!!!! Also: Bruckner. Most mostly: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg!!!!!!! And there’s a free discussion with her after the Thursday concert. Dear NSO: please send me tickets. Or make the tickets you offer cheaper. Either one of those would be a perfect Valentine. February 9 – 11. [ See it! ]
• Or! Ladino singer Yasmin Levy takes the stage at Strathmore on Valentine’s Day proper (Ladino, it seems, is Judeo-Spanish music; learn and grow!). They’ll even serve you dinner beforehand if you like. [ See it and/or eat it! ]

If you’d like me to include your upcoming concert in next week’s roundup, leave a comment or drop me a line.

The hillllllls are aliiiiiiiiive

But I’m not telling you with WHAT.

Alternately: in my own little corner, in my own little chair, I can be whatever I want to be.

Alternately: You’ve got to be taught, before it’s too late, before you are six or seven or eight, to hate all of those who your relatives hate; you’ve got to be carefully taught.

Alternately: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plaaaaaaaain!

But mostly: High on a hill was a lonely goatherd, LADYODLELADYODLELAY-HEE-HOO!

Not that you could tell or anything, but this week’s BSO concert is a Pops affair entitled “Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Movies,” featuring music and movie clips. I think this largely speaks for itself (not that I let it), but I do want to issue a warning:

There are people out there who harbor an irrational hatred for The Sound of Music. These are mostly boys. Girls, these boys are soulless jerks. Don’t date them.

But maybe they deserve a chance. If you want to give them one, try showing them this:

And when you’re done, see it at Strathmore on Thursday, May 19 at 8 pm, or at the Meyerhoff on Friday, May 20 at 8 pm, Saturday, May 21 at 8 pm, or Sunday, May 22 at 3 pm. And enjoy being a girl.