Events at the Library of Congress
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Event | concerts and performancesBig Band Evening with Russell Malone, guitar
Saturday
June 10, 2023
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm EDT
Add to calendar Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A) Saxophonist and conductor Loren Schoenberg, Senior Scholar at The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, has delved into the Library’s archives to design a standout big band evening bringing to life both great Strayhorn classics and a few rediscovered gems. -
Event | film and video screeningsParis Blues
Saturday
June 10, 2023
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT
Add to calendar Pickford Theater (LM-302) Paris Blues is a classic love story about American expatriate jazz musicians in Paris, with memorable performances by figures including Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier and Louis Armstrong. Billy Strayhorn’s significant contributions to Paris Blues went uncredited, with an Oscar nomination going instead to Duke Ellington for Best Music and Scoring. Presented through the generous support of the Revada Foundation of the Logan... -
Event | lectures and symposiaStrayhorn Symposium: Known and Unknown
Saturday
June 10, 2023
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm EDT
Add to calendar Kluge Center (LJ-119) Join us to hear experts on Strayhorn and his legacy celebrate this important figure and his collection at the Library of Congress with a lecture and panel discussion.. Keynote Lecture: David Hajdu, author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn 4pm, Whittall Pavilion Panel Discussion: Strayhorn: Known and Unknown 5pm, Whittall Pavilion Presented through the generous support of the Revada Foundation of the... -
Event | film and video screeningsAnatomy of a Murder
Friday
June 9, 2023
7:00 pm - 9:40 pm EDT
Add to calendar Pickford Theater (LM-302) Otto Preminger’s epic courtroom drama featuring a stellar cast led by James Stewart, Lee Remick, George C. Scott and Ben Gazarra was nominated for seven Academy Awards. The music of Strayhorn and Ellington plays an important role in the film, which was one of the first blockbusters to highlight jazz and African American composers. Presented through the generous support of the Revada Foundation of... -
Event | concerts and performancesBill Charlap Trio with Jon Faddis, Trumpet
Thursday
June 8, 2023
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm EDT
Add to calendar Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A) Bill Charlap and his Trio appear with two terrific partners for a charming, close-focus encounter with Strayhorn’s unforgettable songs—and some scintillating piano solos. Trumpeter Jon Faddis is an artist known for “…making the practically impossible seem effortless” (Time Out New York). Joining them is rising star Samara Joy, newly signed to Verve Records and a recent headliner for the Jazz Society of Lincoln Center. -
Event | lectures and symposiaHow Do You Measure a Year? Jonathan Larson and the Creation of the Musical Rent, 1995–1996
Wednesday
May 24, 2023
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm EDT
Add to calendar Montpelier Room (LM-619) In a lecture co-presented with the American Musicological Society, Alex Bádue discusses his research on Jonathan Larson’s "Rent," based on lyric sketches, letters and scripts held in the Library’s Larson collection. -
Event | concerts and performancesSignum Quartet
Tuesday
May 16, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EDT
Add to calendar St. Mark's Episcopal Church The Signum Quartet’s performance of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden has been called “as boldly imagined as a symphony” (The Times, London). The exciting German ensemble plays Schubert's emotional masterpiece, a robust Haydn quartet, the enchanting and rarely heard Quartet for Strings by South African–British composer Priaulx Rainier (“a revelation,” according to The Independent), and a striking contemplation on mortality by South African composer... -
Event | lectures and symposiaNew Musical Discoveries from the Era of Madame de Pompadour (1745-1764)
Friday
May 5, 2023
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EDT
Add to calendar LJ 119 The Library hosts a symposium in collaboration with Opera Lafayette presenting distinguished French and American scholars involved with the rediscovery, completion and premieres of two significant 18th-century opéra-ballets: Jean-Philippe Rameau’s "Io" and Pierre de la Garde’s "Léandre et Héro." -
Event | concerts and performancesOrpheus Chamber Orchestra with Chad Hoopes, violin
Thursday
May 4, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EDT
Add to calendar St. Mark's Episcopal Church An exciting evening with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra honors the legacy of conductor Andre Kostelanetz, a champion for a remarkable range of American composers that included Aaron Copland, William Schuman and Jerome Kern. -
Event | concerts and performancesHarlem Quartet with Michael Brown, Piano
Friday
April 21, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EDT
Add to calendar St. Mark's Episcopal Church The Grammy-winning New York-based Harlem Quartet and pianist-composer Michael Brown come to the Library with a fierce program that features the beauty and versatility of the string quartet and piano. Known for its concept of cross-pollination, the idea that there are common factors across different musical styles, the Harlem Quartet brings together a diverse program drawn from composers of different times and backgrounds. -
Event | concerts and performancesMingus@100: Mingus Dynasty Quintet
Friday
April 14, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EDT
Add to calendar Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater The Library of Congress joins forces with DC JazzFest to celebrate the 100th birth year and the legacy and contributions of the virtuoso bassist, bandleader and prolific composer Charles Mingus. On an evening filled with musical magic, the Mingus Dynasty Quintet and pianist Helen Sung will pay tribute to the icon, one of the most significant jazz composers of the twentieth century. -
Event | concerts and performancesImmanuel Wilkins Quartet
Friday
March 31, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EDT Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater Saxophonist, composer and arranger, Blue Note artist and Downbeat Rising Star, Immanuel Wilkins is a vital voice in a new generation of jazz thinkers. “His sound is most often silky and lush…with a gorgeous tone and phrasing… but he can shift into a grittier gospel feel or an airier whisper as the art requires.” (Pop Matters.com). -
Event | concerts and performancesStephen Hough, Piano
Tuesday
March 21, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EDT St. Mark's Episcopal Church Sir Stephen Hough brings his eloquence and precision to a recital filled with music by composers close to his heart. From the mystical realms of Mompou and Scriabin to the evocative imagery of Debussy and his own Partita, Hough leaves a stamp on all of this repertoire. His recital closes with pieces selected from the second volume of Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage—the famous Petrarch... -
Event | concerts and performancesArs Nova Copenhagen
Monday
March 20, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EDT St. Mark's Episcopal Church With “My end is my beginning,” the gorgeous voices of Ars Nova Copenhagen link the worlds of Machaut and Gibbons to those of the 20th-century and beyond. -
Event | concerts and performancesWashington Men's Camerata
Tuesday
February 21, 2023
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST Online Only Watch Frank Albinder and the Washington Men’s Camerata take us through a survey of music by Barber, Beach, Fine, Foote, Weber, Wagner and more. BONUS: You can join James Wintle of the Music Division in a webinar for a special behind-the-scenes look at this music. -
Event | lectures and symposia
Behind the Scenes: Music from the Washington Men's Camerata
Tuesday
February 21, 2023
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST Online Only Join James Wintle of the Music Division in a webinar for a special behind-the-scenes look at the music performed by the Washington Men's Camerata in special online concert.This event will be livestreamed on zoomgov.com External. -
Event | concerts and performancesBach Collegium Japan
Saturday
February 11, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EST St. Mark's Episcopal Church Join us for a special performance by Masaaki Suzuki. Suzuki leads an ensemble of 11 stellar musicians from the illustrious Bach Collegium Japan, joined by British baritone Roderick Williams, a distinguished figure on opera and concert stages worldwide. -
Event | concerts and performancesQuatuor Van Kuijk
Wednesday
February 8, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EST Great Hall "Style, energy, and a sense of risk. These four young Frenchman made the music smile" (The Guardian). The Paris-based Quatuor Van Kuijk comes to the Library to present an impressive program that includes a U.S. premiere by the French composer Benjamin Attahir. -
Event | concerts and performancesKlangforum Wien
Tuesday
February 7, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm EST St. Mark's Episcopal Church Klangforum Wien, one of Europe’s great contemporary music ensembles, opens the Library’s 2023 concert series with a fresh burst of recent and established new music. Beginning with a work by Beat Furrer, one of the founders of Klangforum Wien, the group traces the horizon and then peeks beyond. -
Event | concerts and performancesStradivari Anniversary: Aizuri Quartet
Saturday
December 17, 2022
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm EST Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A) Winners of the coveted Cleveland Quartet Award, the Aizuri Quartet delights with a bold program featuring a soulful, beautiful and surprising collection of songs from diverse time periods, traditions and styles, written and arranged for string quartet. The quartet draws its name from aizuri-e, a style of predominantly blue Japanese wood-block printing notable for its vibrancy and striking detail. Join for a preconcert conversation... -
Event | concerts and performancesGonzalo Rubalcaba, Piano & Aymée Nuviola, Voice
Friday
December 9, 2022
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm EST Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A) Winners of multiple GRAMMY and LATIN GRAMMY awards, Cuban pianist and composer Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Cuban singer Aymée Nuviola-- known as “La Sonera del Mundo”—present their project Live in Marciac. -
Event | concerts and performancesThomas Dunford, Lute
Saturday
December 3, 2022
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm EST Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A) Lutenist Thomas Dunford is a passionate advocate for the sound of the solo lute, and his powerful but intimate program features music by composers from England to Italy, across the span of centuries, in a survey of remarkable lute literature. Join for a preconcert conversation with the artist at 12:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion. -
Event | concerts and performancesBenjamin Alard, Harpsichord
Friday
December 2, 2022
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm EST Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A) Benjamin Alard offers a second concert, this time on the harpsichord. Alard is currently recording the entirety of Bach’s music for solo organ and harpsichord (with an occasional appearance of the clavichord), and recently released the sixth volume of this ambitious project. Join for a preconcert lecture by David Plylar, of the Library’s Music Division, at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion. -
Event | concerts and performances
Benjamin Alard: The Clavichord Experience
Thursday
December 1, 2022
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EST Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A) The versatile keyboardist Benjamin Alard will put his flexibility on display in a rare encounter with Wanda Landowska’s Challis clavichord. This intimate performance will include works that take advantage of the clavichord’s special qualities of touch and sound. -
Event | concerts and performancesMargaret Leng Tan, Piano
Saturday
November 19, 2022
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm EST Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A) The incomparable Margaret Leng Tan, champion of the American avant-garde and renowned advocate of the music of John Cage and works for toy piano, offers a program of works new to the Coolidge stage. Join for a preconcert lecture by Steven Bruns, Trego Family Faculty Fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion. A conversation with the artist...