January Events - Opera, Jazz, & Beer!

Bel Cantanti Opera

Bach - Coffee Cantata
Menotti - Amahl and the Night Visitors

Sunday 1/2 at 3pm
Saturday 1/8 at 7:30pm
Sunday 1/9 at 3pm

Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington
6125 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD

Tickets
On line: Adult - $38, Children under 12: $15
At the door: Adult - $40, Children under 12: $15
Groups of 10 and more: $30

http://www.belcantanti.com/

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DOUG BOWLES & ALEX HASSAN

CD Release Concert & Party!
at the Lyceum in Alexandria

Sunday, January 9, 2011
4:00-6:00pm

"New Deal Rhythm: Songs to relieve those depression blues," a new CD by Alex Hassan, pianist extraordinaire and SingoCo Music's own crooner, Doug Bowles.

A fantastic selection of amazing music from and about the American Depression. PERFECT for these times. If you replace Depression with Recession, and Roosevelt with Obama, and Communism with Socialism, it's the same darn thing! This music is one bit of history we are not doomed, but blessed to repeat.

FREE event. Seating is first come first served.

Concert 4:00-5:30pm with intermission.

Post show light reception and CD signing from 5:30-6:00 pm.

CD Price 15 bucks. Bring cash or checks - not credit card capable yet.

Sponsored by the Alexandria Performing Arts Association
At The Lyceum, 201 South Washington St., Alexandria, VA

SingcoMusic.com

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CAPITAL CITY SYMPHONY

Happy Hour Fundraiser

Thursday, January 20^th
6pm-9pm

The Red & the Black Bar
1212 H St. NE, Washington, DC

$10 suggested donation at the door,
all proceeds benefit the Capital City Symphony.

Come support the orchestra, mingle with the players, and take advantage of great drink specials!

$3 Rail Drinks
$3 Beers: PBR, Miller Lite, Yuengling, Abita

CapitalCitySymphony.org

2010 Christmas Revels in Washington, DC - Final Weekend!

Washington Revels presents
5 more performances of
THE CHRISTMAS REVELS

Now in its 28th season, one of the Washington area’s most popular holiday celebrations – The Christmas Revels – will play at GW’s Lisner Auditorium, 21st & H Streets, NW for five more performances, this weekend, December 10-12, 2010.

Check out some great reviews!

"Christmas Revels’ performances defy neat, tidy descriptions. Part chorale concert, part comedic play, part dance, part storytelling of the period and culture, this holiday staple for some simply refuses to fit in with other seasonal events."
(Read More)

"Though I’m a Buddhist, I have learned to love and embrace the Christmas season, and part of that is due to annual performances by Christmas Revels." (Read More)

"The Revels are part play, part concert, and a tremendous value." (Read More)

See what audience members have to say on WashingtonPost.com and Yelp!

Check out some great photos!

Each year Revels explores how the Winter Solstice has been celebrated in a different time or place. This year's show transports us back in time to novelist Thomas Hardy’s beloved Wessex and his fictional village of Mellstock in 19th-century England, with glorious music, rousing Morris dance, and the ever-popular audience sing-alongs!

Join a lively cast of adults and children for the show that the Washington Post says "should become part of every family's holiday festivities."

WHEN:
Friday Dec. 10 at 7:30pm - Family Friday: 25% off all youth tickets!
Saturday Dec. 11 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm
Sunday Dec. 12 at 1:00pm & 5:00pm

WHERE: Lisner Auditorium, GW University, 21st & H Streets, NW, Washington, DC

Directions & Parking information: http://www.lisner.org/directions.asp

COST: $12-$45 (discounts for Youth under 18 and for groups of 10 or more)

BOX OFFICE: www.revelsdc.org or call 800-595-4849. Group Sales call 301-587-3835.

ADA SERVICES: Wheelchair spaces, Braille and large-print programs available at all performances. For ADA seating, call 301-587-3835.

2010 Christmas Revels in Washington, DC - Who's Who

WHO'S WHO in Washington Revels' 2010 "Christmas Revels"

For Washington Revels' 28th annual Christmas Revels in Washington, DC, come travel to novelist Thomas Hardy’s beloved “Wessex” to the little town of Mellstock in the countryside of nineteenth-century England. Celebrate an English Country Christmas with traditional carols, anthems, rounds, country dancing, and a hilarious mummer’s play. Characters and story-line are based on Thomas Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree.

It takes a A LOT of people to put on a Christmas Revels production, both on and off stage! Here are just a few of the key personnel working on Washington Revels' 2010 Christmas Revels:

Specialty Performers

The Mellstock Band, from Oxford, England, present the genuine sound of English traditional folk music - merry and majestic tunes, songs of love and laughter, carols and original harmonies.

Why “Mellstock”? Mellstock was the fictional name the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy gave to his native village of Higher Bockhampton in Dorset. His family were leading local musicians, who led the church band and played for dances. Hardy’s vivid descriptions, the players’ own manuscript books, and music from local tradition were the initial inspiration for the formation of The Mellstock Band in 1986.

* Dave Townsend (Concertina, Violin, Voice) is the founder and director of The Mellstock Band. He is an acknowledged master of the concertina, composer, researcher and collector of musical traditions, who has provided music for film, television and radio, published books, produced albums, and taught and lectured on many aspects of traditional music.

* Tim Hill (Clarinets, Voice) is an amazing wind player with roots in jazz and contemporary music. He runs the band Tongues of Fire, and performance groups Rag and Bone and Leviathan Whispers, creating myriad haunting musical and multimedia experiences.

* Phil Humphries (Serpent, Voice) studied at Trinity College of Music (London) and later became trombonist with the Andy Ross Band, which played for BBC TV’s Come Dancing. His interest in early music led him to the serpent. He is currently playing in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas around the world, with the New London Consort directed by Philip Pickett.

* Pete Cooper (fiddle) plays, teaches, composes, records and writes about fiddle music. After years of performing, travelling and playing in too many late-night sessions, he brings a relaxed, good-humoured approach to his workshops and concerts alike. He also sings, backing himself on fiddle, and plays the mandolin.

Rachel Carlson (Fancy Day) enjoys a versatile career as a soprano soloist, chamber ensemble singer, conductor, and voice teacher based in the Washington, DC area. Ms. Carlson has appeared as a soloist with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Tucson Chamber Artists, Festival Chorus of Madison, Potomac River Chorale, and Washington Revels.

Accomplished as a choral musician as well as a soloist, Ms. Carlson is a member of some of the finest ensembles in the United States, including Conspirare (Austin, TX), the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Tucson Chamber Artists, Washington Bach Consort, Potomac River Chorale, Woodley Ensemble, and the professional octet at St. Paul’s Rock Creek Parish. She performs extensively at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra and has sung under Helmuth Rilling, Simon Carrington, Emil de Cou, Iván Fischer, and Paul Goodwin. Ms. Carlson performs widely at ACDA and NCCO regional and national conventions around the United States and in 2007 made her first international choral tour. In Wales, she competed as an alumna with the University of Maryland Chamber Singers at the prestigious International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen and the ensemble was awarded Second Prize in the Mixed Choirs division.

As a teacher and choral conductor, Ms. Carlson maintains a private voice studio and directs the “Six Degree Singers,” a community chorus in Silver Spring, Maryland. She acts as assistant music director for the Washington Revels and is in demand as a vocal coach and adjudicator in the Washington, DC area. Ms. Carlson holds Bachelor’s degrees in both vocal performance and music education from the University of Maryland, as well as a Master’s degree in choral conducting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Danny Pushkin (Parson Maybold), tenor, returns to Washington Revels, this time as a performer, after serving as Assistant Director for the 2009 Christmas Revels. Mr. Pushkin is a Resident Artist at Adventure Theatre. His credits include Toothfairy (Goodnight, Moon); Albert (The Red Balloon), Magician (Spot's Birthday Party), Caldwell B. Cladwell (Urinetown), Red Dog (Go Dog Go), Barnaby (Babes in Toyland), Stinky Cheese Man (The Stinky Cheese Man...), Frank Butler (Annie Get Your Gun), Njegus (The Merry Widow), and Tony (West Side Story). Mr. Pushkin has a degree in Theatre Performance from Montgomery College.

Josh Sticklin (Dick Dewey), tenor, recently appeared in The Red Balloon (Pasquale) at Adventure Theatre, and in How I Became a Pirate (Jeremy) at Imagination State. Other credits include: Red Noses (Scarron) at Washington Shakespeare Company; Kit Marlow (Young Actor) and Myth-Appropriation: Creation Stories (Actor) at Rorschach Theatre; They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (Robert Syverton) at the Volkov International Theatre Festival in Yaroslavl, Russia; and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (William Cartwright), Into the Woods (The Baker), Godspell (John the Baptist/Judas), The Country Wife (Master Horner), and Our Country's Good (Lieutenant Ralph Clark) at American University. Mr. Sticklin is a graduate of American University's Political Science and Musical Theatre programs.

The Quire (the West Gallery church musicians who are being displaced by Fancy Day and her harmonium): Bill Hoffman, Jim Lazar, Alden Michaels, Alan Peel, Jamie Sandel, and Will Wurzel.


Washington Revels Production Staff

Roberta Gasbarre (Stage Director) serves as Artistic Director of Washington Revels as well as Stage Director for the Christmas Revels. Roberta is also the Director of the Smithsonian Institute's Discovery Theater. Roberta’s professional theatre career includes work at most Washington, DC-area theaters. She worked with the groundbreaking Living Stage Company, Arena Stage’s outreach company; served as choreographer or movement stylist for six seasons with Michael Kahn at The Shakespeare Theater; and styled dances and movement for such theaters as Roundhouse Theater, Woolly Mammoth, Studio Theatre, and Washington Jewish Theatre.

With more than 35 years in the field of educational theatre, Roberta Gasbarre is recognized as a Washington leader in all aspects of arts-based learning. A Fulbright Scholar (touring Central and South America and doing her residency in Poland) whose primary interest is in heritage and traditional arts, she has created a museum theatre form that weaves the factual and the imaginative into exciting, interactive experiences for audiences of all ages. Fluent in sign language, she served on the faculty at Gallaudet University, and has also taught at George Washington University, American University, Montgomery College (Rockville, MD), and in Poland at the University of Poznan. Her dedication to educational theatre is evident in her extensive experience with the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts field trip program and Kaiser Permanente’s AIDS and health education initiative, among other programs.

Roberta received her BA from the Catholic University of America and an MFA from Towson University, specializing in interdisciplinary world experimental theatre and art. She is an active member of the International Museum Theater Alliance, the Association of American Museums, and ASSITEJ-USA (The United States Center for the International Association of Theater for Children and Young People). Roberta has served on grants panels in educational theatre for many years, including the NEA, DC Commission on the Arts, and Prince George’s County Arts Council. Roberta is married to Oran Sandel, local actor and master drama teacher, and has two sons. They live in Silver Spring, MD.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Miller (Music Director) has performed with Washington Revels since 1993 and served as its Music Director since 2004. In addition to providing music direction for the annual Christmas Revels, she also directs or oversees the direction of all other Revels productions, including outreach performances, and personally directs the Washington Revels Singers, a small ensemble that has performed at numerous venues. Betsy is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM '80 and MM '82), where she performed roles in many operas, oratorios and chamber works. She was awarded three separate fellowships to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School in the areas of choral music, vocal chamber music and opera theater. An active professional singer in the D.C. area, Betsy performs as soloist in local concerts and events, sings as a professional chorister with the National Master Chorale, and serves as section leader and cantor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, DC. She has also sung with many local groups, including the Wolftap Chamber Singers, Washington Bach Consort, Master Chorale of Washington, Washington National Opera Chorus, and the Choral Arts Society of Washington.

By day, a librarian and Webmaster at the Library of Congress, Betsy also designs and maintains many Web sites for local artists and musicians, including the Washington Revels (www.revelsdc.org). She and her husband Bruce, an active Revels volunteer who often portrays "the Green Man" in Spring Revels events, live in Alexandria, Virginia with their son, Austin.

Colin K. Bills (Set & Lighting Design) is a Helen Hayes Award winning lighting designer based in the Washington, DC area. His designs have been seen at The Berkshire Theater Festival, CENTERSTAGE, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Didactic Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Forum Theatre, Imagination Stage, Intiman Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Maryland Stage, Metro Stage, Olney Theatre Center, Round House Theatre, The Smithsonian Institution, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Synetic Theatre, Theatre for the First Amendment, Theater J, Tsunami Theatre, Vermont's Northern Stage, the Washington Revels, and The Williamstown Theatre Festival. He is an Associate Artist with the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Mr. Bills has won two Helen Hayes Awards, for his designs of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Dead Man's Cell Phone. He is a 2009 recipient of a Princess Grace Fellowship in Theater and was a TCG/NEA Career Development Grant Finalist. Mr. Bills has taught design at American University and as a visiting designer has worked with students at Dartmouth College, George Washington University, and Loyola College of Baltimore. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Matthew M Nielson (Sound Design) is a Helen Hayes Award winning sound designer and composer based in the Washington, DC area. Mr. Nielson has been involved with Washington Revels for many years as both a sound designer and performer. His designs have garnered two Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Sound Design, Resident Production (one for A Prayer For Owen Meany with Round House Theatre and another for 1984 with Catalyst). Area credits include: Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Olney Theatre Center, Franklin Park Arts Center, the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, The Kennedy Center, Rorschach Theatre, the Washington Revels, Imagination Stage, Discovery Theatre, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington Shakespeare Company, Barrington Theatre Company, Very Special Arts, Studio Theatre, TFA, ArtStream, Philadelphia Theatre Company. Off-Broadway sound design credits include the Joseph Papp Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival. He is the owner of Some Random Sound, providing sound design and composition. Mr. Nielson is a graduate of Montgomery College.

Rosemary Pardee (Costume Designer) is a Helen Hayes Award winning costume designer. Her career has spanned thirty-three years, almost five hundred productions, dozens of theatre and film companies and little sleep. Her work has been seen at The Kennedy Center, the National Theatre, Arena Stage, the Folger Theatre, Washington Revels, and the Smithsonian Institute. She holds resident design positions at the Round House Theatre, InterACT Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre, and Gallaudet University's Department of Theatre. Rosemary also adjudicates the Maryland State Theatre Scholarship Program. She has designed costumes for national tours of The Importance of Being Earnest, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, Frankenstein, and A Few Good Men. Ms. Pardee is a recipient (and eight-time nominee) of the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Costume Design. She has designed a number of shows for the Kennedy Center's Youth and Family Programs.

SHOW DETAILS

Washington Revels will offer eight performances of The Christmas Revels over two weekends, December 4-5 and 10-12, 2010

at GW’s Lisner Auditorium, 21st & H Streets, NW, Washington, DC.

Tickets $12 - $45. Discounts for youth under 18 and groups of 10 or more.

* Family Friday 12/10: all youth tickets 25% off! *

www.revelsdc.org or 1-800-595-4849

Group Sales 301-587-3835

The Christmas Revels

The Washington Revels presents
THE CHRISTMAS REVELS

This year featuring English country music and dance

Enjoyed by 10,000 of your neighbors every year!

Now in its 28th season, one of the Washington area’s most popular holiday celebrations – The Christmas Revels – will play at GW’s Lisner Auditorium, 21st & H Streets, NW for two weekends, December 4-5 and December 10-12, 2010.

Each year Revels explores how the Winter Solstice has been celebrated in a different time or place. This year's show transports us back in time to novelist Thomas Hardy’s beloved Wessex and his fictional village of Mellstock in 19th-century England, with glorious music, rousing Morris dance, and the ever-popular audience sing-alongs!

This year’s holiday celebration features our special guests from England, The Mellstock Band – four extraordinary musicians. Performing on string and wind period instruments – including the haunting “serpent,” a snake-shaped ancestor of the tuba – they capture the genuine sound of a 19th-century village band.

Joining them will be our acclaimed Revels company (over 75 performers of all ages) as the village “quire,” the Washington Revels Brass, and the Cutting Edge Sword and Foggy Bottom Morris Men providing some exciting traditional dance.

Some of the tunes and carols may seem familiar, but this is a rare opportunity to hear them as they might have sounded in an England all but disappeared now, sung in a robust, even raucous style that drew no distinction between sacred and secular, and with a joy that is inspiring to a modern ear.

Revels’ shows include an unbeatable combination of elements: time-honored rituals, traditional dances, folk plays, holiday music performed by a lively and talented cast of adults and children, and the singing of carols with a brass quintet. This mixture of volunteer choristers with professional actors and musicians helps to create the exuberance and vitality that define a Revels performance.

Professionally staged and directed, Christmas Revels productions create an on-stage community of local adults, teens and children together with professional actors, musicians, and “tradition-bearers.” Open auditions for adults and teens are held every summer, and singers from throughout the Washington Metro area eagerly vie for one of 40 or so spaces to be cast. Separate auditions are held in September for 3rd-5th graders, and as many as 100 children try out for one of 15 or so spaces.

The celebration of the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice, is at the heart of Revels. Despite “Christmas” in the title, this is not a religious pageant, but rather a unique seasonal celebration that is inclusive and meaningful to the community at large, regardless of background.

Join a lively cast of adults and children for the show that the Washington Post says "should become part of every family's holiday festivities."

WHEN:
Saturday Dec. 4 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm
Sunday Dec. 5 at 2:00pm
Friday Dec. 10 at 7:30pm
Saturday Dec. 11 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm
Sunday Dec. 12 at 1:00pm and 5:00pm

WHERE: Lisner Auditorium, GW University, 21st & H Streets, NW, Washington, DC
Directions & Parking information: http://www.lisner.org/directions.asp

COST: $12-$45 (discounts for Youth under 18 and for groups of 10 or more);
Family Friday: 25% off regular price for youth tickets on Friday Dec. 10.

BOX OFFICE: www.revelsdc.org or call 800-595-4849. Group Sales call 301-587-3835.

ADA SERVICES: ASL and Audio Description, Sunday Dec. 5 at 2pm; Wheelchair spaces, Braille and large-print programs available at all performances. For ADA seating, call 301-587-3835.

CCS Family Concert 11/14

Capital City Symphony
SYMPHONY MYSTERY!
Annual Family Concert

Sunday, November 14 at 2:30pm & 4:30pm
(instrument petting zoo at 2pm & 4pm for ticket-holders)

Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002

Tickets for Children 16 and under are FREE for all Capital City Symphony main season concerts! Adults tickets $20/$25; Senior/Student tickets $16/$20.

This concert is recommended for children ages 3 and up (or able to sit through an hour-long program).

These concerts often sell out, so advance purchase is strongly recommended!

BUY TICKETS NOW!
or visit capitalcitysymphony.org
or call the Atlas Box Office at 202-399-7993

Each performance is preceded by an instrument petting zoo, with members of the orchestra displaying their instruments and even letting the children try them! The concert itself includes a special program book just for the younger set and lots of audience interaction.

This year's Family Concert will explore "The Case of the Missing Melody." Maestro Victoria Gau will lead the audience on a search for clues in works by Adolphe, Rossini, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky.

* Adolphe, Three Pieces for Kids and Chamber Orchestra
* Rossini, Barber of Seville Overture
* Wagner, Flying Dutchman Overture
* Tchaikovsky, Sleeping Beauty Waltz

Learn more about the Capital City Symphony at capitalcitysymphony.org.

Discounts for final performance of PIRATES OF PENZANCE

WASHINGTON SAVOYARDS present THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

Get 20% off Pirates tix for this weekend's shows with the code ORPHAN!

PLUS...Student rush tickets only $20 at the door (with valid student ID)

Sunday 11/7 at 2:30pm you can catch the final performances of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, presented by Washington Savoyards. At the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street NE.

Plan your visit at http://atlasarts.org.

Details and Tickets at http://savoyards.org.

"a near-perfect mixture of good singing and choreography leavened by an optimal amount of humorous stage shtick ... an overall sense of fun and lightness" —Terry Ponick in DC Theatre Scene

This "production has no comparison ... as a top theatrical delight. ... It is 140 minutes of smash family fun. Every number gets better than the previous one." —Bob Anthony in All Arts Review 4U

"The staging is bold and fresh; the singing is fine; the costumes are outstanding, and the orchestra is flawless." —Jack L. B. Gohn in Baltimore Broadway World

Halloween Fun with the PIRATES OF PENZANCE!

Halloween fun at the PIRATES OF PENZANCE this weekend!
at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC

Street Parking (it’s fine to park in the surrounding neighborhoods; I’ve never had any problems)
Lots of nearby restaurants. Directions & info at http://www.atlasarts.org/plan.php.

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Washington Savoyards PIRATES OF PENZANCE
Performances now through November 7th

Tickets $15-$45
at http://www.savoyards.org/buytickets.htm

Saturday, October 30th 7:30 PM
-- adults' night
and
Sunday, October 31 2:30 pm
-- kids' special matinee

Come dressed as your favorite Pirate, Daughter, Policeman, or Wench!

The Washington Savoyards will hold a contest for the best costumes and the winners will join the cast on stage for that performance!

The audience gets to sing, " Hail, Poetry," "I am the Pirate King," and "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General."

What better way to celebrate Halloween than in costume with the cast of The Pirates of Penzance!

At the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC

Pirates of Penzance

The Washington Savoyards present a fun, frolicking, very physical Broadway approach to the classic melodramatic Gilbert & Sullivan operetta.

Special Halloween events October 30 & 31: costume contests (adults Saturday evening, kids Sunday afternoon), winners go onstage during the performance; PLUS audience singalongs. Dress as your favorite pirate, wench, or daughter!

Oct 29 at 7:30pm
Oct 30 at 2:30pm and
Oct 30 at 7:30pm <--7:30pm/Adults - Halloween costume contest! Winner gets a walk-on role!
Oct 31 at 2:30pm <--Kids - Halloween costume contest! Winner gets a walk-on role!

Nov 4 at 7:30pm
Nov 5 at 7:30pm
Nov 6 at 2:30pm and
Nov 6 at 7:30pm
Nov 7 at 2:30pm

At the Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC

Get Tickets!

AUDITIONS for "La Belle Helene"

AUDITIONS for LA BELLE HELENE (Offenbach)
Victorian Lyric Opera Company,Rockville, Maryland

Directed by Debbie Grossman
Music Directed by Joseph Sorge

Auditions 10/22 & 10/24; Callbacks 10/28
Performance 2/25-3/6, 2011
All roles open. This production will be in English. No pay.
List of roles
Audition Info (very bottom of the page for audition contact)
or on Facebook

LA BELLE HELENE The second - and equally famous - of Offenbach's highly diverting satires on a well-known legend. The action takes place (without any regard for credibility) in unspecified ancient times in a unlikely ancient Greece, and concerns the abduction of the fair Helen by the Prince of Troy - aided and abetted by a wily oracle-worker, who outwits Helen's much deceived husband and an assortment of royal Grecian heroes. The score includes some of Offenbach's best-loved melodies.

SYMPHONY DANCE! Teen pianist to play with Capital City Symphony

CAPITAL CITY SYMPHONY
Fall Concerts 2010

The Capital City Symphony fall concerts both hold special appeal for young people, as well as for adults. Every other year the Capital City Symphony features the winner of the Ylda Novik Memorial Piano Competition. This year's winner, 15-year-old pianist Sarah Barham, will be the guest artist for the October 17th concert, playing Liszt's Totentanz.

The October concert takes the idea of the dance through some twists, from Liszt's “Dance of Death” to the dead dancing on Bald Mountain, and concluding with Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, which Wagner referred to as “the apotheosis of the dance” because of its lively rhythms. The program will include Liszt, Totentanz, with pianist Sarah Barham; Mussorgsky/Rimsky-Korsakov, Night on Bald Mountain; and Beethoven, Symphony No. 7.

Capital City Symphony
SYMPHONY DANCE!
With guest artist Sarah Barham, piano
Sunday, October 17 at 5:00pm
Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
Tickets: $20/25 Adult; $16/20 Senior/Student;
Free for age 16 and under (ticket required).
Tickets are available at capitalcitysymphony.org or call the Atlas Box Office at 202-399-7993.


Then, in November, CCS will once again offer two performances of its popular Family Concert, Sunday November 14 at 2:30pm and 4:30pm. Each performance is preceded by an instrument petting zoo, with members of the orchestra displaying their instruments and even letting the children try them! The concert itself includes a special program book just for the younger set and lots of audience interaction.

This year's Family Concert will explore "The Case of the Missing Melody." Maestro Victoria Gau will lead the audience on a search for clues in works by Adolphe, Rossini, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky.

Tickets for Children 16 and under are FREE for all Capital City Symphony main season concerts!

Capital City Symphony
SYMPHONY MYSTERY!
Annual Family Concert
Sunday, November 14 at 2:30pm and 4:30pm
(instrument petting zoo at 2pm and 4pm for ticket-holders)
Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
Tickets: $20/25 Adult; $16/20 Senior/Student;
Free for age 16 and under (ticket required).
This concert is recommended for children ages 3 and up (or able to sit through an hour-long program).
Tickets are available at capitalcitysymphony.org or call the Atlas Box Office at 202-399-7993.

Art Deco Society of Washington Fundraiser

Retro-Politans to Present Program of 1930s World’s Fair Songs

October 1 at 7:30pm
The Sumner School, 1201 17th Street NW

The Retro-Politans, whose popular Shakin’ the Blues Away show pleased crowds at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage and venues throughout the mid-Atlantic region, will introduce a new program--Dawn of a New Day: World’s Fair Songs of the 1930s--at the historic Charles Sumner School October 1, 2010.

Sponsored by the Art Deco Society of Washington as part of its World’s Fair Weekend, the 7:30 PM performance will be preceded by a reception. The Sumner School is located at 1201 17^th Street NW just blocks from the Farragut North Metro station.

Proceeds from the concert will support restoration of the Belgian Friendship Pavilion from the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair. Dismantled and moved to Virginia Union University in Richmond as a gift from the Belgian Government following the closure of the New York World’s Fair, the Pavilion is one of only two major buildings surviving from the New York fair. It is the only building in the United States designed by famed Belgian modernist architect Henry van de Velde. The Belgian Friendship Pavilion requires significant exterior restoration and lacks a carillon for its bell tower, the original bells having been donated to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

The Retro-Politans consists of three of the finest musicians in the Washington, DC area— Doug Bowles, vocals, Cindy Hutchins, vocals, and Alex Hassan, piano. Each has travelled around the world performing in shows, concerts, and cabarets. Their expertise in the style and repertoire of the 1920s - 40s is unparalleled.

•Doug Bowles leads a 12-piece 1920s-40s big band—The SingCo Rhythm Orchestra-- playing original charts and arrangements of the period. He has sung throughout the world in opera, operetta, musical theatre, popular, jazz and big band styles. He has also directed and/or conducted over 100 musical productions.

•Cindy Hutchins, featured female vocalist with the SingCo Rhythm Orchestra, has toured the United States performing big band music of the 30s and 40s, performed in numerous concerts for the Smithsonian, and appeared in most of the major theatre venues in Washington. In addition to Washington, she has performed in Europe, New York and China.

•Alex Hassan is one of a very few torch bearers for the style known as "novelty piano" and is a sought after performer at venues around the world. Alex has numerous CD recordings and an active concert schedule both in the United States and abroad. He is president of the Northern Virginia Ragtime Society.

Dawn of a New Day will take the audience on a musical tour through America’s world’s fairs of the 1930s, including songs introduced at the 1933-34 Chicago “Century of Progress” World’s Fair, the 1936 Ft. Worth Frontier Centennial Exposition, the 1937-38 Great Lakes Exposition in Cleveland, the1939-40 New York World’s Fair, and the 1939-40 Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco. It also includes songs from two movies filmed on location at the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas. Songs by some of America’s finest composers, such as George and Ira Gershwin, Dana Suesse (“the female Gershwin”), and Nobel Sissle, are included in the program

In addition to Dawn of a New Day, the Art Deco Society of Washington’s World’s Fair Weekend includes a bus tour of Washington’s Art Deco Architecture including a visit to the New Deal town of Greenbelt, Maryland and other activities.

For tickets or additional details about the concert and other weekend activities go to www.adsw.org or phone 703-568-3745. Concert tickets are tax deductible.

Washington Revels HARVEST DANCE

WASHINGTON REVELS

September 25, 2010 * HARVEST DANCE & DINNER at GLEN ECHO PARK

Kick Up Your Heels at Our 5th Annual Dance! Celebrate the bounty of the season and the joys of community. Anticipating this year’s English country Christmas Revels set in Thomas Hardy’s beloved Wessex, our event begins with a rustic buffet dinner from Red Hot & Blue with vegetarian options, too. Then join in 19th- and 20th-century English village dances with nationally renowned caller Brad Foster* and The Serpentine Band.**

No partner or prior experience is necessary – learning new dances is part of the fun. You’re welcome to invite friends or bring the entire family – kids can join the dancing, with special activities for the younger set.

Date/Time: Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 6:30 – 10:30pm

Location: Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Boulevard,Glen Echo, MD 20812 [directions]

Tickets: Advance ticket purchase required (Adults $40, Youth (18 and under) $15) [order tickets online (no service fees)]

*Brad Foster from Amherst, MA, has been dancing and teaching English country, contras and squares, and morris and sword for over 40 years. He is well known for sharing the joy found in dance, and has taught throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, including at Berea, Pinewoods, Mendocino, John C. Campbell Folk School and Augusta. He is Executive and Artistic Director of the Country Dance and Song Society, a post he has held for over 25 years. He is also a founder of the Bay Area Country Dance Society as well as co-founder of their Mendocino English and American dance weeks.

**The Serpentine Band features award-winning musicians – and local favorites – Andrea Hoag (fiddle), Leigh Pilzer (soprano sax, bass clarinet, cello) and Charlie Pilzer (bass, piano).

Washington Revels website

SYMPHONY LOUNGE 9/25/10 at 8pm - Capital City Symphony + Chaise Lounge

The Capital City Symphony presents
a special encore presentation of
SYMPHONY LOUNGE
a special collaboration with
Charlie Barnett and Chaise Lounge

It's jazz! It's classical! It's SYMPHONY LOUNGE

This unique joint venture of the Capital City Symphony and Charlie Barnett's Chaise Lounge was a huge hit in March, with a sold-out house.

If you missed that performance, or just want to experience it again, join us on Saturday, September 25 at 8:00pm
at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC.

Charlie Barnett's ultra-cool jazz band,Chaise Lounge, will be performing with the full Capital City Symphony under the baton of Maestra Victoria Gau. The concert will also include Charlie Barnett's Orchestral Suite The Tarot.

Followed by a CD release party for Chaise Lounge: Symphony Lounge, recorded at the March concert. Free noshes, cash bar, CDs for sale, shmoozing!

Tickets $20-$30

For more information, and to buy tickets, visit CapitalCitySymphony.org
or call 202-399-7993.

Award-winning music program at SSIMS

The Silver Spring International Middle School instrumental and choral music groups participated in the Music in the Parks competition held at Hershey Park on May 28, 2010. Music In The Parks is a national organization that provides amusement park music competitions and student music festivals for student bands, student orchestras, student choirs and other student music groups.

* Treble Choir received a 1st place trophy

* Jazz Ensemble received a 1st place trophy and "Best Overall"

* String Orchestra received a 3rd place trophy with a rating of Excellent

* Combined Concert Band (Intermediate & Advanced Band) received a 3rd place trophy with a rating of Excellent

* Sixth-grader Rowyn Peel was awarded "Outstanding Vocalist 2010" for her Treble Choir solo

Congratulations to all of the SSIMS musicians for their participation and their terrific showing! And congratulations and thank yous to Dr. Dillon (chorus) and Mr. Dawson (instrumental) for all their hard work and dedication to our young musicians.

Washington Revels Auditions

Adult Chorus Auditions for three productions
in the 2010-2011 season:

* The Christmas Revels
* ‘Songs of the Sea and Shore’
* New Civil War-era (including African-American) programs

Fri., May 28, 5:00-9:00pm
Sat., May 29, 9:30am-12:00pm

While Revels uses a number of professional performers in its productions, its volunteer choruses – adults, teens and children – are at its core. Although a number of adult singers from previous productions return to audition for new shows, we value the presence of new faces in our choruses every year.

Washington Revels also look for a variety of ages, ancestries, sizes and personalities to create a realistic “village” on stage. People of diverse cultural backgrounds are encouraged to audition.

For more information and to schedule an audition time,
please view the audition information page:
http://revelsdc.org/auditions.html

CCS Season Finale Concert on May 16

CAPITAL CITY SYMPHONY
2009-2010 Season Finale

Concerto, Encore! Johansen Young Artist

Sunday May 16 at 5:00pm

Walton, Viola Concerto ~ with Matthew Lipman,
Johansen International String Competition Winner

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4

Tickets $16-$25. Kids 16 and under FREE! (ticket required)

http://capitalcitysymphony.tix.com/Event.asp?Event=216559

At the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street, NE, Washington, DC

Followed by a meet-the-artist reception at SOVA Espresso & Wine Bar, 1359 H Street NE
Heavy hors d'oeuvres, cash bar - suggested donation $5

About the Artist:

Matthew Lipman is a gifted young violist who won first-prize viola and $10,000 at the 2009 Johansen International String Competition at the age of 17.

Now 18, Mr. Lipman is a scholarship recipient and member of the Music Institute of Chicago's Academy program for gifted pre-college musicians where he studies privately with MIC artist faculty member Roland Vamos. He started his music studies on the viola at age ten in a public school string program. He is a current recipient of a Career Grant from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation and a 2007 Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.

REVELS FESTIVAL DAY at Rachel Carson Meadow

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Picnic and perform with Washington Revels in the midst of this celebration of the benefits of a neighborhood park.

We gather, rehearse, and perform a “mini-Revels” all in one day – no auditions or experience necessary! Come by yourself, with a friend, or bring the whole family – all ages welcome.

Register by MAY 10 to select your performance or production activity.

Everyone 13 and older can choose to sing in the chorus, dance English country-style, act in the Mummer’s play, play in the band, craft props and decorations, help with setup/sign-in/organization, serve as photographers/videographers, or lend a hand with schlepping/assembling large props, etc.

Children ages 6-12 may either learn and perform their own set, or work on props and decorations. A parent must accompany children ages 6-7 during activities, and parents are responsible for supervising children ages 5 and under.

We hope to be able to accommodate all who register, but space is limited, particularly for those who want to dance.

At 1:00pm, all learn 2-3 songs that everyone may sing. We then separate into activity groups to prepare. After a snack break, we review everything and put it all together. At 4:00pm, we have the Grand Procession and perform our mini-Revels.

Can’t come for the full afternoon? Then join the audience at 4:00pm, when we share our performance with local residents at the Rachel Carson Meadow Festival.

Cost: Free! Register by May 10: Register using our online form

Time: 1:00-5:00pm (informal picnic at noon; public performance at 4:00pm)

Event Web Site: Rachel Carson Meadow Festival

Location: North Four Corners Park, 211 Southwood Avenue, Silver Spring, MD view map>

Swing into Spring! Atlas Arts Partners Gala & Silent Auction

A Swing Dance Party to Benefit the Atlas Arts Partners*
with Doug Bowles and his SingCo Rhythm Orchestra

Saturday, May 1, 2010
7:00 - 11:00pm
Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H Street, NE, Washington, DC

~ Buffet Dinner & Desserts
~ Swing Dancing with Live Band - PLUS a free dance lesson
~ Cash Bar (first drink on the house!)
~ Silent Auction

Tickets $85 / two for $150
Available online or at 202-399-7993.

*Benefiting Capital City Symphony, Joy of Motion Dance Studio, Washington Savoyards, and the In Series. Learn more about all the Atlas Arts Partners, and this event, at http://www.atlasarts.org/perform_special.php.

Symphony Lounge: Jazz Band meets Classical Orchestra

The Capital City Symphony presents
SYMPHONY LOUNGE
a special collaboration with
Charlie Barnett and Chaise Lounge

It's jazz! It's classical! It's SYMPHONY LOUNGE – a unique joint venture of the Capital City Symphony and Charlie Barnett's Chaise Lounge.

Sunday, March 21^st at 5:00pm
at the Atlas Performing Arts Center,
1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC.
Tickets $16-$25. Ages 16 and under FREE (ticket required).
202-399-7993 or capitalcitysymphony.tix.com.

CCS and Charlie Barnett collaborated several years ago on Mr. Barnett's symphony “The Blue Chevrolet.” Ever since then, Mr. Barnett and CCS Artistic Director Victoria Gau have been exploring the possibility of a larger collaboration. Mr. Barnett proposed two halves to the program. First, a world premier of his new orchestral work “The Tarot.” Second, full orchestrations of his jazz arrangements for Chaise Lounge and the Capital City Symphony.

As a film composer, Mr. Barnett’s scores have appeared in more than four hundred television and theatrical films. His concert music career includes worldwide performances of his orchestral and chamber works. He has also arranged and produced pop and jazz records for countless artists; and he continues to proudly play with the eclectic lounge band, Chaise Lounge, whose second album was released in early 2009. Mr. Barnett can also be heard as an occasional commentator on NPR. [Read more at http://www.charliebarnett.com/about.html.]

Chaise Lounge performs a blend of music that sounds like it was recorded at Capitol Recording Studios in 1962 and somehow found its way to today’s pop charts. You might call it “Early Stereo.” Or perhaps Lounge with a capital “L.” Or maybe just plain enjoyable. It is the combination of five of the Washington area’s top jazz musicians playing sparkling arrangements of standards and original tunes and featuring the soft, luminous vocals of Marilyn Older. Her voice is truly an American Original. An evening spent with her is an evening spent in the warm, inviting glow of the one of the wonderful voices singing in America right now.

Now in its 42^nd season, the Capital City Symphony, one of the original Arts Partners at the Atlas, makes music approachable by presenting affordable concerts to the public, performing creative programs in a relaxed concert format, and providing appealing performance opportunities for talented amateur as well as professional players.