August 6, 2003 Pop, Folk, Jazz and Hip-Hop Add Variety to 2003-2004 Library of Congress Concert Series

A wonderfully eclectic mix of artists from the classical, jazz, pop, folk, hip-hop and world music fields will make the 2003-2004 Library of Congress concert series one of the most widely diverse and memorable in the series’ history. With performers ranging from the Juilliard String Quartet, jazz chanteuse Shirley Horn, and flamenco/jazz pianist Chano Domínguez, to break dancers, Chinese percussionists, and bluegrass pioneer Hazel Dickens (co-presented with the American Folklife Center), the season promises to take listeners on a vast array of musical journeys.

The series kicks off at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 30, with a special workshop and jam session honoring jazz great Dave Brubeck, who will receive the Library’s “Living Legend” award. The following evening, the Brubeck Institute’s sextet of talented young musicians will appear with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and bassist Christian McBride. Future highlights include performances by the period ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, a solo recital by pianist Menahem Pressler, composer-performer Richard Rodney Bennett, singer-songwriters Buddy and Julie Miller and Laura Cantrell.

In May 2004, the Library will host “Man About Town,” a program of works from its Leonard Bernstein Collection. The same month will feature the Dave Holland Quintet; the explosive stylings of Full Circle Souljahs, a group of performers exploring the “full circle” of hip-hop culture; as well as the authentic folk sounds of Hazel Dickens and Helen Schneyer, living links to the mountain and bluegrass traditions.

Concerts from the Library of Congress will also present Ethel, an amplified string quartet that infuses classical music with a rock-and-roll edge. World music enthusiasts can tune their ears to SpFlimenninir, a folk group based in the Faeroe Islands between Iceland and Norway, and The Spirit of FPs, a program of Moroccan, Algerian and American artists from the Festival of World Sacred Music.

A special miniseries, “Jazz at the Nation’s Library,” will bring veteran vocalist Jimmy Scott and the Jazz Expressions, singer Meredith D’Ambrosio, and the Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio to perform in the Library’s renowned Coolidge Auditorium.

The Library’s concerts are offered under the auspices of a major program initiative, I Hear America Singing. Taking its theme from a Walt Whitman poem, the series encompasses concerts, lectures, master classes, symposia, educational outreach projects and a Web site celebrating the American musical heritage—classical and popular, sacred and secular, music from America’s cities, and songs from its heartland.

All Library of Congress concerts and other public programs are presented free of charge to the public but require tickets for admission. No tickets are required for noontime events in this series, which are offered from noon to 1 p.m. in the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium or on the Jefferson Building’s Neptune Plaza. Tickets are distributed by Ticketmaster at (301) 808-6900, (410) 752-1200 or, for out-of-state residents, (800) 551-7328. Each ticket carries a nominal service charge of $2, with additional charges for phone orders and handling. Tickets are also available at Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.com. Although the supply of tickets may be exhausted, there are often empty seats at concert time. Interested patrons are encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert nights to wait in the standby line for no-show tickets.

Unless otherwise noted, all concerts will be held in the Coolidge Auditorium, located on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., in Washington, D.C. For further information about Concerts from the Library of Congress, please call the Concert Information Line, at (202) 707-5502, or visit the Web site at www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert.

The concert schedule for the 2003-2004 season follows.

CONCERTS FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 2003-2004

(All programs take place at 8 p.m. in the Coolidge Auditorium unless otherwise noted; programs subject to change without notice)

Sept. 30:
Workshop and jam session honoring Dave Brubeck
7 p.m. in Coolidge; no tickets required.

Oct. 1:
Dave Brubeck and his Quartet, with the Brubeck Institute Sextet
The legendary jazz pianist-composer leads his famed quartet, joined by six gifted young musicians from the Brubeck Institute under the direction of bassist Christian McBride. Tickets available Sept. 10.

Oct. 16:
Ethel
A string quartet that transcends taste, genre and style to embrace music of our time, Ethel takes the audience on an intense and muscular ride of arena-rock proportions. Tickets available Sept. 10.

Oct. 17:
Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio
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 to strongly classical components. Tickets available Sept. 10.

Oct. 21:
SpFlimenninir
Based in the Faeroe Islands between Iceland and Norway, SpFlimenninir (“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. Tickets available Sept. 17.

Oct. 22:
Juilliard String Quartet with Christopher Oldfather, piano
Bach: Contrapuncti I-IV from The Art of Fugue
Babbitt: Joy of More Sextets (McKim Commission)
Beethoven cycle (Part II): String Quartet, op. 130 / Grosse
Fuge, op. 133
Tickets available Sept. 17.

Oct. 24:
Juilliard String Quartet with Charles Neidich, clarinet
Bartók: String Quartet no. 1, op. 7
Babbitt: Clarinet Quintet
Beethoven cycle (Part II): String Quartet in B-flat Major, op. 131
Tickets available Sept. 17.

Oct. 28:
Chilingirian String Quartet
Mozart: String Quartet in C Major, K. 465 (“Dissonance”)
Bartók: String Quartet no. 5 (Coolidge Commission)
Dvorák: String Quartet in D Major, op. 106
Tickets available Sept. 17.

Oct. 30:
Music from China
An ensemble that 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. Tickets available Sept. 24.

Nov. 7:
Kodály String Quartet
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)
Tickets available Sept. 24.

Nov. 8:
Chano Domínguez Septet
“Cádiz in the soul and Monk in the fingers,” pianist Domínguez and his trio are joined by three accompanying performers (a player of the Afro-Peruvian cajon, a singer, and a dancer) for hybrid music that merges the old gypsy tradition with the leading edge of jazz. Tickets available Sept. 24.

Nov. 14:
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett
Composer of symphonies, operas and ballets, three-time Oscar nominee for his film scores, and jazz pianist, and one of the most versatile British composer-performers of today, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett invites the audience to a cabaret featuring his own works and selections from the American songbook. Tickets available Oct. 1.

Nov. 19:
Juilliard String Quartet with Masao Kawasaki, viola
Beethoven: String Quintet in C Major, op. 29
Beethoven cycle (Part II): String Quartet in A Minor, op. 132
Tickets available Oct. 8.

Nov. 21:
Juilliard String Quartet with Brent McMunn, piano
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 in F Major, op. 135
Tickets available Oct. 8.

Dec. 5:
New York Festival of Song
Michael Barrett and Steven Blier, Artistic Directors
Celebrating its 15th anniversary, the New York Festival of Song showcases singers Sylvia McNair, Judy Kaye, Joseph Kaiser and pianist Steve Blier in music from the Vernon Duke and the Richard Rodgers collections in the Library of Congress.Tickets available Oct. 22.

Dec. 12:
Hesperus & Friends
Hesperus members––co-directors Scott Reiss and Tina Chancey, Grant Herreid, Bruce Hutton and Rosa Lamoreaux––are joined by fiddlers 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. Tickets available Oct. 29.

Dec. 16:
Menahem Pressler, piano
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. The program includes Schubert and Chopin. Tickets available Nov. 5.

Dec. 18:
Juilliard String Quartet with Marcy Rosen, cello
Schubert: Quintet in C Major, D. 956
Beethoven cycle (conclusion): String Quartet in B-flat major, op. 130
Tickets available Nov. 5.

Feb. 13:
Díaz Trio with Luz Manriquez, piano
Ysale: String Trio "Le Chimay"
Sierra: Kandinsky—world premiere commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress
Beethoven: String Trio in G Major, op. 9, no. 1
Tickets available Dec. 31.

Feb. 20:
Brodsky Quartet
Britten: String Quartet no. 1 in D Major, op. 25 (Coolidge Commission)
Schubert: String Quartet in A Minor, D. 804 (“Rosamunde”)
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet no. 1 in D Major, op. 11
Tickets available Jan. 7.

Feb. 27:
Buddy & Julie Miller
This husband-and-wife singer-songwriter duo from Nashville offers a broad brush of songs––country and folk ballads, hybrids and out-and-out rock, pop and “gutbucket honky-tonk,” and their own special brand of “non-urban art songs”––bridging country’s deepest roots in old-time mountain music with today’s more rocking country. Tickets available Jan. 7.

March 5:
Mendelssohn String Quartet
Haydn: String Quartet in C Major, op. 76, no. 3 (“Emperor”)
Bolcom: String Quartet (Washington premiere)
Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 44, no. 3
Tickets available Jan. 21.

March 6:
The Spirit of FPs
From the highly acclaimed Festival of World Sacred Music held in the Moroccan city of FPs, music, song, and dance from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions featuring the Algerian-Jewish singer Françoise Atlan, the Women’s Hadra Ensemble from the Taroudant region of southern Morocco, and the Anointed Jackson Sisters gospel group from Goldsboro, N.C. Tickets available Jan. 21.

March 10:
Jimmy Scott and the Jazz Expressions
With his distinctive high range and one of the most original and exceptional voices in the history of popular song, the elder statesman of jazz vocalists is joined by his trio—bassist “Hill” Greene, pianist Mike Kanan and drummer “Cook” Broadnax—for a glimpse of what an evening in a mid-1950s show club must have been like. Tickets available Jan. 28.

March 12:
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Beethoven: Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, op.11
Poulenc: Sonata for Flute and Piano (Coolidge Commission)
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G Minor, op. 25
Tickets available Jan. 28.

March 19:
GloriF dei Cantores
Elizabeth Patterson, Director
Music of the Americas from songs sung aboard the ship of Columbus to contemporary works, performed by a choir of men and women ranging in age from 18 to 60, from diverse occupations and musical backgrounds. Tickets available Feb. 4.

March 26:
Robert Mann Tribute
Winners of the Naumburg Competitions
Top winners of the Walter W. Naumburg International Competitions: the Biava String Quartet, violinist Frank Huang, and pianist Gilles Vonsattel make their Library of Congress debut in a concert honoring the founder of the Juilliard String Quartet. Tickets available Feb. 11.

March 31:
Meredith D’Ambrosio
Jazz singer-pianist, calligrapher, watercolorist, creator of eggshell mosaics, composer, lyricist, recording artist and teacher––with a distinctive “dusky, sensuous voice” and understated style: performances of “quiet passion” and “meditative intimacy.” Tickets available Feb. 18.

April 2:
Leipzig String Quartet with Karl Leister, clarinet
Mendelssohn: String Quartet no. 6 in F Minor, op. 80
Ives: String Quartet no. 1 (“A Revival Service”)
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, op. 115
Tickets available Feb. 18.

April 21:
Les Talens Lyrique
Christophe Rousset, Conductor/Harpsichord
Anna-Maria Panzarella, Soprano
A superb French period instrument ensemble specializing in French and Italian repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries performs instrumental and vocal works by Handel, A. Scarlatti, Lully, Leclair, Lambert and Montéclair. Tickets available March 10. April 23:
Olivier Baumont, harpsichord
Works by ChambonniPres, F. Couperin, Daquin, Handel, J. C. Bach, Reinagle, and James Hewitt’s “Yankee Doodle Variations.” Tickets available March 10.

April 24:
Meridian Arts Ensemble and Alexander String Quartet
“A brash bunch of brass wizards...” shares an evening with a vibrant and “thrillingly cogent” string quartet. Boundary-stretching” works by Richard Shemaria, Kirk Nurock, Elliott Sharp and Frank Zappa, followed by Beethoven and Shostakovich string quartets. Tickets available March 10.

May 6:
Laura Cantrell
Nashville-born, New York City-based, longtime disc jockey of the weekly Radio Thrift Shop, and “country-blues” singer-songwriter whose music has resonated with critics and fans on both sides of the Atlantic––in a program of vintage country music and original country-pop gems. Tickets available March 24.

May 7:
Pacifica Quartet
Haydn: String Quartet in D Major, op. 64, no. 5 (“Lark”)
Larsen: “Schoenberg, Schenker, and Schillinger”
Mozart: Adagio & Fugue in C Minor, K. 546
Mendelssohn: String Quartet in D Major, op. 44, no. 1
Tickets available March 24.

May 8:
Shirley Horn
A “romantic chanteuse without peer” and “straight-ahead swinger” sings “heart-stopping” ballads with “exquisitely unhurried pace” and the ability to render a song like an intimate confession or conversation with a best friend—“inviting listeners into an elegant and sincere musical embrace.” Tickets available March 24.

May 13:
Full Circle Souljahs
Created and led by Kwikstep and Rokafella, New York City’s preeminent b-boy and b-girl, this street-wise crew of break dancers celebrates the “full circle” of hip-hop culture in a flourish of Latin, African and urban dance styles punctuated by spoken word breaks. Noon in Coolidge; no tickets required.

May 14:
Dave Holland Quintet
Led by a widely respected jazz bass player-improviser, this unconventional contemporary jazz ensemble of saxophone, vibes, trombone, drums, and bass virtuosos at the top of their respective fields has gained popular and critical acclaim for its distinctive and innovative sound. Tickets available March 31.

May 15:
Hazel Dickens and Helen Schneyer
Two uniquely individual singer-songwriters appear on the Coolidge stage: Hazel Dickens, pioneer of bluegrass music and one of the greatest mountain and old-time singers of our time; and Helen Schneyer, one of the most powerful contraltos and intensely emotional singers in the folk song world and a frequent guest on “A Prairie Home Companion.” Co-presented with the American Folklife Center. 2 p.m. in Coolidge; no tickets required.

May 21:
Man About Town
Works from the Leonard Bernstein Collection in the Library of Congress—performed by mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle, baritone Kurt Ollmann, and pianist Scott Dunn, with assisting pianist Lucy Mauro—display the range of the charismatic composer’s oeuvre, which crossed traditional boundaries between Broadway musicals and classical song. Tickets available April 7.