Shriver Hall

Yesterday's Live section listed the wrong phone number for information on the Leon Fleisher concert at Shriver Hall on Sunday at 7: 30 p.m. The correct number is (410) 516-7164.The Sun regrets the errors.Piano great and local favorite Leon Fleisher will be performing at Johns Hopkins University's Shriver Hall this Sunday.In the program are works by Bach, Takacs, Sessions, Kirchner, ** Saxton, Lipatti, Hasse, Blumenfeld and Godowsky.The concert is Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at Shriver Hall at Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St. Tickets are $21-$25 general admission; $11-$13 students.

Sunday's musical splendors, for me, started with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society's season finale in the afternoon at Grace United Methodist Church. The cleverly constructed program gave audiences a chance to compare different settings of the same texts. Tom Hall, longtime artistic director of the chorus, chose a good number of pieces with spiritual texts, mixing in a little Shakespeare along the way. The composers represented were decidedly tonal in orientation, and several shared a rather generic style (I would have loved at least one walk on the wild side)

Peter Serkin is a pianist who has never been afraid to take risks: He performs demanding contemporary pieces, many of which he has himself commissioned; and he also follows the formidable footsteps of his famous father, Rudolf, in the Austro-Germanic repertory. The program for his recital Sunday evening in Shriver Hall contains two familiar works closely associated with Rudolf Serkin -- Beethoven's fiery "Appassionata" Sonata and Brahms' monumental "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel."

The Shriver Hall Concert Series has another lineup of notable classical artists in store for the 2013-14 season. Mischa Maisky, said to be the only cellist who studied with two legendary cellists, Piatigorsky and Rostropovich, will open the season with a recital saluting longtime Shriver Hall Concert Series board president Jephta Drachman and her father -- Piatigorsky. Accompanied at the piano by his daughter Lily, Maisky will perform works by Beethoven, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and others.

If the name Pieter Wispelwey doesn't ring a bell, it should - loudly and clearly - after you catch his recital for the Shriver Hall Concert Series this weekend. The Dutch cellist has emerged over the past decade or so as an unusually imaginative artist, forever rethinking music of the past and happily, incisively exploring the music of today. Wispelwey will tackle all five of Beethoven's cello sonatas in this visit, accompanied by pianist Dejan Lazic. It's a great opportunity to dig into a major portion of the cello repertoire, with a telling guide leading the way. The sonatas provide effective mileposts for various points in Beethoven's creative life, from his early, new-kid-on-the-block days to his years of anguish over deafness and other personal problems.

For its 42nd season, the Shriver Hall Concert Series will present a lineup that, even by this organization's perennially high standards, looks exceptional. The 2007-2008 roster of visiting artists ranges from leading pianists and singers to a famed marionette company and even a high-profile jazz band. The subscription series, held at Shriver Hall on the campus of the Johns Hopkins University, will open Sept. 30 with the excellent Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet playing music by Samuel Barber, Darius Milhaud and others.

EVEN THOUGH The BoDeans' latest album is titled "Black And White," don't be misled to believe that race is the only issue being addressed."It's not all about colors and whites and blacks," said singer/songwriter Kurt Neumann, whose band appears at Shriver Hall at Johns Hopkins University tonight at 8 p.m. "It's also about religion, men vs. women, old vs. young. It's actually about people, any people, isolating themselves. I have a feeling that people aren't looking out for each other in general, and that's not a good thing."

Throw together a distinguished group of players and chances are the results won't be as good as they might be with with less brilliant stars who have performed together longer. There are occasions, however, when such temporary constellations are brilliant indeed. One of them took place Saturday evening in Shriver Hall when four young virtuosi with substantial solo careers -- pianist Christopher O'Riley, violinist Pamela Frank, violist Paul Neubauer and cellist Carter Brey -- got together to perform three piano quartets.

Mozart's "Kegelstatt" Trio derives its name from the game of skittles -- at which the great composer was presumably playing when he composed this work for his friend, the clarinetist Anton Stadler, for himself (on viola) and for a favorite piano pupil.The origin suggested by the name suggests, in turn, a slight and playful work. And, in truth, for late Mozart (it was composed in the summer of 1786), the "Kegelstatt" Trio is exactly that. But the superb performance it received last night in Shriver Hall from clarinetist David Shifrin, violist Paul Neubauer and pianist Margo Garett suggested depths beneath its small-scaled and intimate surfaces.

It has taken a little time -- 28 years and 22 albums -- but The Chieftains are finally receiving the same kind of reception around the world that they've enjoyed in their Irish home for most of their existence.Of course it helps to have many of their homeland's more popular performers like U2, Midge Ure, Bob Geldof, Sinead O'Connor and Van Morrison within their fan base."We've been very fortunate to have made good friends along the way," said Paddy Moloney, the chief Chieftain. "Of course, when you stick around for as long as we have you hope somebody has been listening."

Vocal recitals are rare enough in Baltimore that even a program of familiar lieder would qualify as a novelty. A program of way-off-the-beaten-path songs? That's beyond cool. Magdalena Kozena, the high-profile, Czech mezzo-soprano, and her equally high-profile accompanist, the Russian-born, Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman, chose a fascinating sample of repertoire for their recital Sunday night presented by the  Shriver Hall Concert Series . Four of the five composers on the bill came from the mainstream, but the works selected for this occasion did not.  In Mussorgsky's song cycle "The Nursery," which evokes the alternately animated, awed and mischievous mindset of a child, Kozena offered an abundance of colorful vocal touches -- even a nose-thumbing gesture for good measure.

There is no shortage of pianists with pristine techniques today. There is even a decent supply of polished pianists who possess the rarer attribute of musicality. But Marc-Andre Hamelin still stands out from the pack. Critics have been known to sound more like fan club presidents when describing Hamelin performances, tossing off adjectives like "legendary," "fearless" and "electrifying," or even giving him the title "piano superhero. " Baltimore will get a chance to sample Hamelin's artistry when he makes his Shriver Hall Concert Series debut on Sunday.

I grew up in Baltimore, attended school here, and after graduating Hopkins, moved to New York City. I've spent my adult life working in New York, and I'm thinking of retirement in several years. The excitement and glamour of New York are counterbalanced by the high cost of participating in that excitement and glamour. Then there's the astronomical rents. Rents in Baltimore are retiree-friendly. There's the symphony, art museums and my extended family who live here. I am seriously considering Baltimore.

SUNDAY MEDUSA'S DAUGHTER: TODAY'S HEROINE IN GRAPHIC NOVELS: Author Jonathon Scott Fuqua and illustrator Steven Parke discuss their book about a teenage Medusa in the 1970s. It was simultaneously published as a novel, graphic novel and book for learning-challenged children. The discussion and signing takes place at 3 p.m. at The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. Members are free, student tickets are $5 and non-members are $10. Call 410-547-9000 or go to thewalters.org. ADDICTION & ART: FLIP SIDES OF MADNESS AND OBSESSION: In this program, artists, performers and medical experts come together to explore the role art plays in addiction and recovery.

theater 'Fabulation': Though Fabulation is written by Lynn Nottage, author of Intimate Apparel, this satiric comedy about an upwardly mobile black woman who gets her comeuppance couldn't be more different in tone. Once the title character becomes bankrupt and pregnant, the story couldn't be more timely. See Fabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine, through March 8 at Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St. Tickets are $15-$60. Call 410-332-0033 or go to centerstage.org. Mary Carole McCauley history A slice of black Baltimore: Baltimore historian and author Philip J. Merrill shares his vast collection of African-American artifacts and memorabilia in A Slice of Historic Black Baltimore, an exhibit on display through March 1 at the Top of the World Observation Level, on the 27th floor of Baltimore's World Trade Center, 401 E. Pratt St. Merrill's exhibit highlights Baltimore residents, churches, schools and entertainment spots.

Almost every year, the Shriver Hall Concert Series presents an exceptional roster of artists, but the 2008-2009 roster looks even starrier than usual. The 80th birthday (it's in July) of nearly legendary pianist Leon Fleisher will be celebrated in several places and several ways next season. One of the most festive may well be at Shriver Hall on Oct. 5, when he'll collaborate in four-hand music with three former students - his gifted wife, Katherine Jacobson, playing Ravel; the formidable Yefim Bronfman, playing Dvorak; and one of best younger-generation pianists, Jonathan Biss, playing Schubert.

It certainly wasn't the most glamorous way to make a name in the music business, but for the Violent Femmes, being discovered on the streets of Milwaukee while performing for a crowd in line for a Pretenders' concert was as good a beginning as any."It's been kind of romanticized a bit," lead singer Gordon Gano says. "We had been trying to get gigs anywhere -- to play for free just so people would hear the music -- and no one wanted us because we were a three piece band. It was just so unusual at the time."

The music season heated up some more over the weekend, with the help of interesting, effectively delivered repertoire. After an early-September, nonsubscription event featuring Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Shriver Hall Concert Series opened its annual classical series Sunday evening at the Johns Hopkins University with the superb Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. The program provided an immersion course in French music for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn.

Not many pianists perform music of Bach, Beethoven and daunting contemporary fare by the likes of Pierre Boulez, Elliott Carter and Gyorgy Ligeti with equal mastery and insight. Not many pianists have collaborated with nearly all the world's A-list conductors and orchestras, as well as AKA Pygmies, the Sub-Saharan world music group. But Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who makes his Baltimore debut today for the Shriver Hall Concert Series, has always stood out. In Concert Pierre-Laurent Aimard, 5:30 p.m. today.

It's a season of farewell for Austrian musicians. Eminent pianist Alfred Brendel, 77, is on his final concert tour -- the Music Center at Strathmore is one of the stops in March. And the much-admired Alban Berg Quartet will disband this summer after 37 years (and a few personnel changes). That quartet included Baltimore on its final rounds, giving a riveting performance Sunday for the Shriver Hall Concert Series. Finality provided a musical theme for the program -- the introduction from Haydn's meditation on The Seven Last Words of Christ; Schubert's String Quartet No. 15, his parting work in that genre; and the Lyric Suite by the group's namesake, a score infused with the toll of a complicated love affair.