Classical Music

The Chang-Cole Duo and Con Brio Trio perform from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday in the ballroom of Historic Oakland Manor, 5430 Vantage Point Road. Admission is free; however, a donation is suggested. Program includes selections from Bach, Vivaldi and Joplin, as well as holiday music. For more information, call 410-730-4744.

Great music has been happening at the Parkville Senior Center. On April 3, members were treated to a wonderful concert when tenor Rodrigo Garciarroyo and pianist Richard Dowling presented well-known opera and stage musical selections in the center's dining room This hourlong program, sponsored by the Baltimore County Department of Aging, was made possible by the Piatigorsky Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is...

These dog days of summer, when concert halls are terribly quiet around here, are a perfect time for classical music fans to do a little homework that will pay off in the new season. Folks who have never heard, say, Leonard Bernstein's "Kaddish" Symphony, or any other off-the-beaten-path works scheduled in the months ahead can get a lot more out of those experiences with some preparation now. Let's face it: Audiences don't spend much time diligently reading their program books before a performance starts.

When Meyerhoff Symphony Hall was built back in the early 1980s, there was space for a proper pipe organ to be installed, which would have made the facility even more valuable. Too bad there wasn't any money. Since then, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has had to bring in an electronic substitute whenever programming music that calls for organ. The result invariably falls short of what the real sonic deal would be like. Unless some amazing benefactor drops a whole lot of money on the hall for a pipe organ, this situation will continue.

In the latest example of the trend of spinning off movies, music and more from books, author E.L. James has selected an album of classical music featured in her "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy. Baltimore Sun music critic Tim Smth says it's sure to bring a much wider audience to masterworks. Smith notes that one of the pieces mentioned in "Fifty Shades," a years-old recording of music from Thomas Tallis, has hit No. 1 on the UK Classical Singles Chart. James chose 15 pieces for the album, which will be released digitally on Aug. 15; the CD will be released Sept.

You can expect the music to sound fresh during the Leipzig String Quartet's concert on Saturday, March 2, at 8 p.m., in Howard Community College's Smith Theatre. Like the sponsoring Candlelight Concert Society, this chamber music quartet often likes to introduce audiences to contemporary classical music. The only 19th-century piece on the upcoming program is Brahms' Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2. If that selection by a great German composer seems like a natural choice for a quartet hailing from Leipzig, the rest of the program features much more recently minted music from around the world.

The syncopated inflections of ragtime and jazz gave the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra's program this week an extra kick. It provided a good opportunity to trace the influences of popular idioms on Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland, two giants who helped define classical music in the 20th century. Stravinsky's Ragtime, scored for 11 instruments, suggests a cubist take on Scott Joplin. Melodic fragments are tossed around, ending up in odd places and falling on odd beats; dynamic levels are quirky.

Folks attending open-mike night at The Funk Box tomorrow may be startled to find a string quartet onstage. That will be the first surprise. Instead of Mozart or Brahms, the Dallas-based ensemble Neo Camerata will be playing original music that founder/composer/violist Mark Landson calls "new classical." Unlike traditional classical chamber music, it will be played on amplified strings and from memory. With his Eastman School of Music training and experience as a violist in an orchestra in Spain, Landson could easily have stayed in the classical realm, but he always felt a strong pull toward pop music.

TO MY MIND, ONE of the most charming classical music programs is National Public Radio's "Performance Today," with host Martin Goldsmith. Among the show's many delights is a weekly commentary titled, appropriately enough, "Coming to Terms."The segment features author and musician Miles Hoffman, who chats knowledgeably about musical terminology and concepts.For listeners who don't instantly know what expressions like "adagio ma non troppo" mean (slow, but not too slow), Hoffman's commentary is a painless alternative to a college-level music appreciation course, served up in bite-sized pieces.

Baltimore radio listeners have a taste for classical music.Both WBJC-FM (91.5) and WJHU-FM (88.1), the local listener-supported stations that principally play the fine-music format, report they had their biggest audiences ever in the Arbitron ratings for the fall quarter."

You can expect the music to sound fresh during the Leipzig String Quartet's concert on Saturday, March 2, at 8 p.m., in Howard Community College's Smith Theatre. Like the sponsoring Candlelight Concert Society, this chamber music quartet often likes to introduce audiences to contemporary classical music. The only 19th-century piece on the upcoming program is Brahms' Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2. If that selection by a great German composer seems like a natural choice for a quartet hailing from Leipzig, the rest of the program features much more recently minted music from around the world.

Theater The Columbia Jewish Congregation presents "An Afternoon with Theater J" at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 3, at the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center, 5885 Robert Oliver Place. Theater J will present a preview of scenes from its coming production of "Andy and the Shadows," written by Ari Roth. A discussion with the actors and playwright follows the performance. Tickets are $10. Information: 443-722-7101. Children's puppet show Rainbow Theatre presents "Circus on Strings" at 10 a.m. Friday, March 8, in the Slayton House Theatre, 10400 Cross Fox Lane.

The 19th-century German classical music repertory is not directly represented on the Columbia Orchestra's next concert, but its romantic influence will be heard in the program scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m., in the Jim Rouse Theatre, at Wilde Lake High School. On the upcoming program are Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 5, Benjamin Britten's "Four Sea Interludes" from his opera "Peter Grimes" and Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto. "They're all 20th-century composers, but rather than breaking with traditions they're extending traditions," observes Columbia Orchestra Music Director Jason Love.

Today Benefit concert The Tanzanian Children's Project presents an Irish music concert featuring the Tanzania Ceili Band, Dileab Phriseal and Ellis Island, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, 10431 Twin Rivers Road. Tickets are $15; $120 for a table of 10. Complimentary coffee and dessert will be served. Proceeds will be used to purchase medical equipment and supplies for the Malowa Medical Clinic in Tanzania. Information: tanzaniakids.orghttp://tanzaniakids.org.

You might not want to spend a lot of time in Norway in January, but listening to a couple of hours of Norwegian music in a Howard County church sounds inviting. The Orchestra of St. John's vicariously takes you to Norway with "A Winter's Concert - Norwegian Moods," being performed on Sunday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ellicott City. "Everybody thinks of Norway as a cold place with fjords and icy scenery, but not as one of the most important centers of music," observes Ronald Mutchnik, artistic director of the Orchestra of St. John's.

With all the usual fresh-look-forward talk prompted by the new year, it's a good time to consider broadening your musical horizons to include performances presented by groups that might have been off your radar. Baltimore is not just fortunate to have a major orchestra, but also several smaller organizations that provide a good deal of musical value. The area is also rich in academic campuses — Peabody Institute, Towson University, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, etc. — where a lot of classical music activity takes place.

TOKYO -- In this city's chic Roppongi district, a record store known as The Wave is a beacon to the young, announcing its presence in neon letters 10 feet tall. Yesterday, at rush hour, as music blared from loud speakers, it was packed with fashionably dressed young men and women poring over its seemingly inexhaustible stock.It could have been a scene from any U.S. metropolis such as New York or Los Angeles -- except that the music booming through the store was Wagner's opera Tannhauser and the CDs of choice for the hip were classical, not pop.The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which begins a three-week swing through Japan with a concert in Fuji tonight, is discovering on its Asia tour that there is far more interest in classical music here than in the United States, particularly among the young.

Lovers of choral music don't need any prodding to catch the Boston Camerata's performance for the Candlelight Concerts series in Columbia. Under the direction of Joel Cohen, the exceptional, much-recorded ensemble has made a particularly vivid impression unearthing the rich heritage of American hymns and spirituals. For this appearance, the six-voice Camerata and a small instrumental group will recall both the secular and religious side of early American music, from William Billings' 1794 "Thomas-Town" and Shaker and Mennonite hymns to traditional folk songs and anthems.

Some might see an odd destiny - if not exactly Jerry Garcia's “long strange trip” - in the formation of the 3-year-old Jazz Docs band. Its five members form a sort of Venn diagram - with Ellicott City dentist Hank Fasteau somewhere in the middle - with a complexity approaching the jazz compositions they practice every Wednesday at the Damon Foreman Music Academy in Glenwood. Fasteau on drums and fellow dentist Gary Anderberg on trumpet are joined by Glenwood internal medicine specialist Scott Maurer on bass, retired piano teacher Kathy McGinn of Columbia back on her instrument, and guitarist Damon Foreman of the eponymous music academy on guitar.