Concert Hall

THE OPENING of the Carl G. Murphy Fine Arts Center is a major improvement to Morgan State University's facilities for students and a great addition to Baltimore's arts venues. Tonight's inaugural recital by the soprano Jessye Norman introduces Baltimore to the 2,036-seat, full-staged Gilliam Concert Hall, which should offer the community many outstanding performances in the future. Now East Baltimore has a first-class concert hall that is both a little more intimate and more versatile than midtown's Meyerhoff Hall.

The holiday season calendar tends to fill up pretty quickly, so it's not too soon to start your shopping for classical music concerts in December. One classy upcoming program to keep in mind is the Columbia Orchestra's next concert on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Jim Rouse Theatre at Wilde Lake High School. Just as chestnuts are roasting on an open fire at this time of year, the program ignites with beloved musical chestnuts by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. However, it also includes the Maryland premiere of a short piece by New York-based composer Nkeiru Okoye.

SYMPHONIC MUSIC, it turns out, could prove a potent political weapon. It could achieve what mere mortal officeholders have failed to accomplish: a unity of purpose for Maryland's impoverished urban center (Baltimore) and Maryland's most affluent suburban county (Montgomery).What promises to bring the two groups together is a planned $50 million concert hall on the grounds of Strathmore Hall near Rockville, Montgomery's county seat. It would serve as a "second home" for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, giving culturally underserved residents of this Washington suburb a world-class orchestra and musical events year-round.

The first Women of the World-Baltimore Festival drew about 1,700 people to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall during the three-day run that ended Sunday. An additional 1,000 patrons attended a concert Saturday night featuring singer Mary Chapin Carpenter and comedienne Rain Pryor. Modeled after the Women of the World-London festival held in 2011, WOW Baltimore was organized by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and its music director, Marin Alsop, to celebrate achievements by women in a wide range of fields.

Concerts don't begin with the first played note. The preamble - arrival at the hall, taking a seat, waiting for the music - can contribute substantially to the total experience. For the past few years, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has been addressing ways to improve that experience for its audiences. There has been a lot of talk about giving patrons a good time from the moment they find a parking space. At the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the most obvious manifestations of this focus are the proliferating refreshment stands in the lobby.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's second home in North Bethesda has been approved for construction by the Montgomery County Council. By unanimous vote, the nine-member council agreed Wednesday night to share evenly with the state the $89 million cost of building a 2,000-seat concert auditorium at Strathmore Hall, an 11-acre historic estate on Rockville Pike. The state agreed in April to pay its half of the Strathmore Arts Center, which will include the concert hall and a performing arts school.

The opening of a new concert hall is like a pre-ultrasound-era birth - you never know in advance what you're going to get. In the case of the rooftop Performing Arts Theater at the University of Baltimore's angular, glass-wrapped, $20 million Student Center on Mount Royal Avenue, preliminary indications were positive for a distinctive acoustical space. With only 200 seats and a slender, unfussy, high-ceilinged design, the hall looks like it can deliver a superior sonic experience. After Tuesday night's inaugural concert, I'd say it has fallen a little short, but remains promising.

IS MUSIC a necessity or a frill? Can Montgomery County taxpayers afford to help fund construction of a "world class" concert hall when schools and libraries need capital funds as well? Should construction be 100 percent publicly funded, or should private contributions be solicited too? Those are a few of the issues that Montgomery County Council members are debating as they decide whether to allocate construction funds for a proposed 2,000-seat concert hall and education center at Strathmore Hall in North Bethesda.

VIENNA -- If there is such a thing as a sacred concert hall, the Musikverein is surely one of the most hallowed. Home to the Vienna Philharmonic, which continues to set a sublime standard in the orchestral world, the ornate hall itself radiates history, tradition, style. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra honored those qualities in a pair of concerts that appeared to impress the discriminating Viennese public each night. No wonder. The ensemble, still on a high after its rock-solid performances in Paris and, especially, Berlin earlier in the week, once again offered impassioned, cohesive work under Yuri Temirkanov's dynamic direction.

For many Baltimoreans, the name Hammerjacks evokes the big-hair, hard rockin' '80s, a time of spandex and torn jeans, mascara and mousse, black leather and pink lace. Hammerjacks was home to glam bands and hard-rock honeys, where Guns N' Roses made its local debut and Bret Michaels of Poison went to hang. It was the place to see Kix, Ratt, Skid Row or Extreme. Well, get over it, Baltimore. The new Hammerjacks is a different experience altogether. "Hammerjacks 1980 was then, and Hammerjacks 2000 is now," says Louie Principio, owner of the new club, which celebrates its grand opening tonight.

In "Learning to live with the ringing" (Jan. 22), Tim Smith quotes Baltimore Symphony Orchestra director Marin Alsop as saying, "No one does these things [allows cell phones to ring during performances] intentionally. ... We have to try to be kind and humane. " Maestra Alsop is too kind. No one has to bring a cell phone into a concert hall or theater. Leave them home or in the glove compartment. Henry Cohen, Baltimore

Four decades ago, "Company" opened on Broadway, putting Stephen Sondheim firmly on the music theater map. The show left an indelible impression on a young person who saw the premiere in 1970. "I was taken to the show when I was 11 years old for my birthday," said actor and director Lonny Price. "'Company' has one of the best collections of theater songs ever. This show never gets old for me. It never disappoints me. " Back in April, Price directed a starry concert version of the Sondheim classic presented by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center.

As a child, Heather Patterson played the piano. She's always loved opera and classical music. But that was a long time ago, before she wound up in prison on drug charges. Yet those memories came back Friday as renowned classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein performed selections of Schubert and Bach for about 46 inmates of the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup. "Listening to you play brought me back to a good time in my life," Patterson, 32 and originally of Hagerstown, told Dinnerstein.

There is a realm where Light Warriors roam, not to mention the likes of Lukahn, Kraken and Tiamat, a world with places called Gurgu Volcano and Melmond. In this strange and virtual universe can be experienced something known as Final Fantasy - assuming you're into video games. On Saturday night, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, joined by the Handel Choir of Baltimore, will explore this exotic territory in a program called Distant Worlds: Music from "Final Fantasy." That music will be accompanied by high-def video and stills from the game, which was created in Japan by Hironobu Sakaguchi and introduced to the U.S. nearly two decades ago. Several series of the game have been released over the years.

It's a wonder the fire alarms didn't go off at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Thursday night. The incendiary matchup of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, guest conductor Vasily Petrenko and piano soloist Stephen Hough produced one of the most memorable concerts of the season. Tonight's repeat should be just as gripping. The Russian-born Petrenko, who became principal conductor of England's Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005 at age 29, put together a hefty program: Shostakovich's daunting Symphony No. 8; Tchaikovsky's sweeping Piano Concerto No. 1; and a rarity (on these shores)

HENRY BRANT, 94 Avant-garde composer Henry Brant, an avant-garde composer whose works placed musicians throughout a concert hall - and sometimes throughout an entire city - died Saturday at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif. Over a career spanning half a century, Mr. Brant created exuberant works that took into account the acoustics of a performance space and musical styles from folk to classical.

Winner's recitalBarrie Cooper won this year's William Marbury Violin Competition at the Peabody Institute. Part of her prize is her public recital in Friedberg Concert Hall on Tuesday evening.Her interesting program includes Franck's popular A Major Sonata and Saint-Saens "Introduction and Rondo," as well as music by Korngold and Leclain.The concert hall is at 1 E. Mount Vernon Place. The performance is at 7: 30 p.m. Tuesday. Admission is free. Call (410) 659-8124 for more information.Pub Date: 4/04/96

All concerts during the International Double Reed Society convention are open to the public. All seating is limited, however. The ticket price for a weekday concert is $10. Concerts on Saturday are free. For details and reservations, call 830-2836.Today 4-5:30 p.m.: Pennsylvania Quintet performs in Towson State University's Fine Arts Concert Hall; trio concert in Fine Arts Building's main theater.Friday 10:30 a.m.-noon: concert in main theater.1-4 p.m.: F. Gillet Competition for oboists in concert hall.

The opening of a new concert hall is like a pre-ultrasound-era birth - you never know in advance what you're going to get. In the case of the rooftop Performing Arts Theater at the University of Baltimore's angular, glass-wrapped, $20 million Student Center on Mount Royal Avenue, preliminary indications were positive for a distinctive acoustical space. With only 200 seats and a slender, unfussy, high-ceilinged design, the hall looks like it can deliver a superior sonic experience. After Tuesday night's inaugural concert, I'd say it has fallen a little short, but remains promising.

LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS / / May 2 / / Concert with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis and Odadaa (percussionists and dancers from Ghana) with their leader and drummer Yacub Addy, 8 p.m. at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Concert Hall, 2700 F St. N.W., Washington. $40-$85. 800-444-1324 or kennedy-center .org.