 A
LITTLE BIT OF BLUES
Thursday, September 11 at Noon
Neptune Plaza (rain location Coolidge Auditorium)
Little Bit of Blues combines the warm vocals and piedmont guitar-picking
of Warner Williams with Jay Summerour's soaring harmonica to produce
some of the finest blues anywhere. The pair, both area natives,
have played together for more than a decade. Their credits include
the Smithsonian's Festival of American Folklife, the National
Folk Festival, the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, and the
nationally broadcast American Roots 4th of July Festival on the
Mall. No tickets required.
Part of Capitol Roots Concert Series 2003. See Special
Programs
ROBERTO and LORENZO MARTINEZ
and Family
Wednesday, September 18 at Noon
Neptune Plaza (rain location Coolidge Auditorium)
Presenting Hispanic music from New Mexico, Roberto and Lorenzo
-- father and son -- are receiving a National Heritage fellowship
from the National Endowment for the arts this week for their contributions
to preserving New Mexican culture. The Martinezes specialize in
the Spanish Colonial music of Northern New Mexico and Southern
Colorado, while also playing the more familiar form of mariachi
and composing new corridos. No tickets required.
Part of Homegrown: The Music of America. See Special
Programs
  BRUBECK
INSTITUTE WORKSHOP
Tuesday, September 30, at 7 pm
Coolidge Auditorium
No tickets required, see Special Programs
Dave Brubeck "was and is unique and that's
what jazz is all about."
Legendary jazz pianist-composer whose work embodies "the
optimism and spirit of this uniquely American music" leads
his famed quartet and six gifted young musicians of the Brubeck
Institute joined by the Institute's artistic director, bassist
Christian McBride.
 WYLIE
and the WILD WEST
Wednesday, October 8 at Noon
Neptune Plaza (rain location Coolidge Auditorium)
One of the country's finest Cowboy and Western ensembles, led
by Wylie Gustafson, rancher and champion yodeler from Dusty, Washington.
Perennial favorites at the Cowboy Poetry gathering in Elko Nevada,
Wylie & the Wild West have earned an international reputation
through their recordings and concert appearances. Folklorist,
Jens Lund will journey from Washington state to introduce the
band.
Part of Homegrown: The Music of America. See Special
Programs
 ETHEL
Thursday, October 16 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"...hippest bunch of vibrating strings, taking
the new music world by storm."
A string quartet that transcends taste, genre, and style to
embrace a music of our time and with irreverence and panache,
takes the audience on an intense and muscular ride of arena-rock
proportions.
 GONZALO
RUBALCABA TRIO
Friday, October 17 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
" ...exquisite texture...thrilling and poignant..."
Winner of the 2002 Best Latin Jazz Grammy, Afro-Cuban jazz pianist-composer
Gonzalo Rubalcaba--with Ignacio Berroa on drums and Armando Gola
on bass--interweaves musical idioms from the rhythms of rumba
and the batá to strongly classical components.
SPAELIMENNINIR
Tuesday, October 21 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
 "unadulterated
good feeling...blue mystery...and pure beauty"
Based in the Faeroe Islands between Iceland and Norway, Spaelimenninir
("the folk musicians")--a native Faeroese, a Swede,
two Americans, and two Danes--perform traditional and contemporary
folk music and song from Scandinavia and America on fiddle, recorder,
piano, guitar, mandolin, and acoustic bass.
JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
with Christopher Oldfather, Piano
 Wednesday,
October 22 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"...the overall style of the Juilliard remains
large, generous, and aggressive..."
Bach: Contrapuncti I-IV from The Art of Fugue
Babbitt: Joy of More Sextets (McKim Commission)
Beethoven cycle (Part II): String Quartet in
B-flat Major, op. 130/
Grosse Fuge, op. 133
 TATIANA
SARBINSKA
Thursday, October 23, 2003 at noon
Madison Hall, James Madison Building
World-renowned Balkan singer Tatiana Sarbinska will be joined
by a group of outstanding musicians. Ms. Sarbinska, world-renowned
Balkan singer, has had a long and illustrious career spanning
East and West and is regarded as one of the preeminent soloists
of her generation. Born in the village of Rila in Bulgaria, she
was, for many years the featured soloist of the internationally
acclaimed Pirin Ensemble. She toured and recorded extensively
with Pirin, earning "national treasure" status and renown
as "the voice of Bulgaria." Her extensive repertoire
includes music form all of Bulgaria's folklore regions. A Boston
Herald reviewer wrote, "Tatiana Sarbinska performs with a
brilliant style, with a rich vocal technique, a wide vocal range,
and a lively artistic presence." Sarbinska currently lives
in New Market, Maryland. No tickets are required.
Part of Capital Roots Concert Series 2003
 JUILLIARD
STRING QUARTET
with Charles Neidich, Clarinet
Friday, October 24 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"Babbitt is a superb musical craftsman...an
authentically great composer...in some ways hard to take, but he's
also zany, wild, and...more than a little bit mad."
Bartók: String Quartet no. 1, op. 7
Babbitt: Clarinet Quintet
Beethoven cycle (Part II): String Quartet in
C-sharp
Minor, op. 131
CHILINGIRIAN STRING
QUARTET
 Tuesday,
October 28 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"...known to provoke whoops and cheers out of
ordinarily staid audiences."
Mozart: String Quartet in C Major, K. 465 ("Dissonance")
Bartók: String Quartet no. 5 (Coolidge
Commission)
Dvorák: String Quartet in D Major, op.
106
 MUSIC
FROM CHINA
Annual Founder's Day Concert
Thursday, October 30 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"...emotional language that cuts through any
cultural barrier"
Founder's Day An extraordinary world-class ensemble offers the
sights and sounds of "silk strings and bamboo winds"
with fiddles and flutes; the ancient sounds of the pipa and erhu;
and the percussive strength of gongs and woodblocks--in works
by Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Zhou Qinru, and James Mobberley.
 KODÁLY
QUARTET
Friday, November 7 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"Enchantingly warm...Olympian breadth and intensity..."
Haydn: String Quartet in E Major, op. 2, no.
2
Haydn: String Quartet in D Major, op. 20, no.4
Haydn: String Quartet in B Minor, op. 33, no.1
Mozart: String Quartet in G Major, K. 387 (Dedicated
to Haydn)
 CHANO
DOMÍNGUEZ SEPTET
Saturday, November 8 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"...a rapid-fire ninja...transferring the energy
of flamenco guitar to the keyboard."
"Cádiz in the soul and Monk in the fingers," pianist
Domínguez and his trio joined by three accompanying musicians
(a player of the Afro-Peruvian cajon, a singer, and a dancer--all
three clapping) create hybrid music that merges an ancient tradition
with the leading edge of jazz.
CHUNA McINTYRE, Yup'ik song & dance
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 at noon
Coolidge Auditorium
Chuna McIntyre, who was featured at this year's National Book
Festival, will bring the Nunumpta Yup'ik (eskimo) singers and
dancers to present a program of stories, songs and dances from
native Alaska. Born in the tiny village of Eek on the coast of
the Bering Sea, McIntyre uses traditional stories learned from
his grandmother to create contemporary stories, sounds, and images
of Yup'ik culture. Folklorist Suzi Jones will present the group.
No tickets are required.
Part of Homegrown: The Music of America.
ODETTA
 Thursday,
November 13 at 8 pm
75th Anniversary of the Archive of Folk Culture
Coolidge Auditorium (No tickets required)
Odetta, "Queen of American Folk Music" and "Mother
Goddess of Folk/Blues" will receive a Living Legend Award
from the Library and perform songs from the Archive of Folk Culture.
No tickets are required.
Co-sponsored by the American Folklife Center
RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT
Friday, November 14 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"A remarkable aural imagination of an uncommonly
rarefied kind."
Composer of symphonies, operas, and ballets, three-time Oscar
nominee for his film scores, and jazz pianist, Sir Richard Rodney
Bennett, one of the most versatile composer-performers of today--in
a cabaret featuring his own works and selections from the American
Songbook.
JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
with Masao Kawasaki, Viola
Wednesday, November 19 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
Beethoven: String Quintet in C Major, op. 29
Beethoven cycle (Part II): String Quartet in
A Minor, op. 132
GANGA
Thursday, November 20, 2003 at 12:00 noon
 Madison Hall, James Madison Building
The Roy family ensemble Ganga will present the music of their
native Bengal, reflecting the history and continuity of the myriad
traditions that form the regional folk traditions of the Indian
sub-continent. Ganga's repertoire is drawn from the tea plantations
of the lush countryside, from the foothills of the Himalayas,
and particularly from the rivers of Bengal which have been especially
fertile ground for the songs sung by peasants and boatman. Formed
in 1984, Ganga, named for the holy river Ganges, has performed
at festivals and concerts all over the United States, and in other
parts of the world. No tickets are required.
Part of Capital Roots Concert Series 2003
 JUILLIARD
STRING QUARTET
with Brent McMunn, Piano
Friday, November 21 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"Hoiby's music--permeated by an unashamedly
gentle and vulnerable sensibility and ... a subtle sweetness."
Haydn: String Quartet in F Minor, op. 55, no.
2 ("The Razor")
Hoiby: Serenade for Violin and Piano (McKim Commission)
Beethoven cycle (Part II): String Quartet, op.
135
 NEW
YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG
Michael Barrett and Steven Blier,
Artistic Directors
Friday, December 5 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"...superb performances [and] terrific
songs rescued from oblivion..."
Celebrating its fifteenth anniversary, the New York Festival
of Song with Jennifer Aylmer, Judy Kaye, Joseph Kaiser, and pianist
Steven Blier features music from the Vernon Duke and the Richard
Rodgers collections in the Library of Congress.
SENSACIÓN VALLENATA
con GUSTAVO NIETO
Thursday, December 11, 2003 at 12:00 noon
 Madison Hall, James Madison Building
Sensación Vallenata con Gustavo Nieto will bring the
lively regional dance music of Columbia's coastal region to the
Library. Vallenata is a traditional, acoustic form of dance music,
surrounded by local legend and enriched by multi-ethnic roots,
that has become one of Columbia's most popular styles. Accordionist
Gustavo Nieto, who grew up with the older traditional style of
vallenato, moved to the United States some time ago and lived
in New York and Chicago before settling in the Washington, D.C.
area in the early 1990s and forming his group. They regularly
play for "Columbian Night" at a club in Wheaton, Maryland,
and always manage to pack the house. No tickets are required.
Part of Capital Roots Concert Series 2003
 HESPERUS
and Friends
Friday, December 12 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
"... constantly lively, colorful, inventive...performed
with energy..."
Hesperus members--co-directors Scott Reiss and Tina Chancey,
Grant Herreid, Bruce Hutton, Rosa Lamoreaux--are joined by Peter
Sutherland, Elke Baker, and a trio of cloggers in Winter Light--a
heartwarming celebration of the winter season with music that
crosses cultural and historical boundaries.
MENAHEM PRESSLER, Piano
Tuesday, December 16 at 8:00pm
Coolidge Auditorium
 "Phrase
after phrase left you smiling with its sensitivity, its impudence,
its joy."
On this day of Beethoven's birth, the quintessential chamber
musician and founding pianist of the renowned Beaux Arts Trio
celebrates his own 80th birthday with a solo recital on the Coolidge
stage.
JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
with Marcy Rosen, Cello
Stradivari Anniversary
Thursday, December 18 at 8:00pm
Schubert: Quintet in C Major, D. 956
Beethoven cycle (conclusion): String Quartet
in B-flat Major, op. 13
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