The Post-Classical Ensemble's Celebration of Composer Lou Harrison

Lou  Harrison  (1917-­2003)  is  a  great  California  composer whose  music  is  little  heard  in the Eastern  U.S.  The Post-Classical Ensemble is celebrating his life and work through a festival set to start on February 26th.

The festival's main concert, at Lisner Auditorium on March 5th, features a range of Harrison's work, including compositions for the gamelan, the Indonesian percussion orchestra, but its highlight for the conductor, Angel Gil-Ordonez, is Harrison's piano concerto, composed from 1983 to 1985. To him, it's one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.

When: Saturday, March 5, 2011, 8PM
Tickets: $25-$55 ($15 for students)
Where: Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St., NW, Washington, DC

Box Office: 202-­397-­SEAT
http://www.lisner.org/

The Washington Post published a great review last week: 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020403413.html

Concierto Andalouse and Gala Flamenca

The Pan American Symphony Orchestra (PASO) presents the U.S. premiere of Suite Andalouse by world renowned oud (Arabic lute) player, Marcel Khalifé, with Bachar Khalifé on riq (Arabic tambourine) on March 12, 2011 at the George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium.

In Suite Andalouse, Khalife evokes a shared past with Spain that goes back to the ninth century, when the Andalusian courts were major world centers of learning in the sciences, philosophy, literature and music. This work includes both the traditions of early Arabic-Andalusian music and of the later 19th century southern Andalusian gypsy flamenco music.

The concert opens with Danza Española from the opera, La Vida Breve by Manuel de Falla, which demonstrates de Falla’s strong preference for the traditional Andalusian cante jondo of gypsy flamenco music. Isaac Albeniz's masterpiece, Suite Iberia, follows, with Triana, and El Albaicin, a melancholy vision of the gypsy district of Granada. PASO also performs three pieces from Albeniz's Suite Española, based on the musical form of the dance from Córdoba (nocturna), Asturias (leyenda), and Granada (serenade).

Carmela Greco, daughter of the celebrated Spanish dancer, Jose Greco, brings together with Eliezer Truco Pinillos, Pepa Molina, and Maria Juncal from Spain, an expressive, dramatic authenticity to the performance.

Details: March 12th at 8:00 PM at GW's Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St NW, Washington, DC

General Admission: $25-$45, reserved seating. For tickets/information, call 240-242-8032, visit

www.panamsymphony.org, or contact TicketMaster at (202) 397-SEAT.

Opening of Picasso: Guitars 1912-1914 Exhibit at MoMA

Sometime between October and December 1912, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) made a guitar. Cobbled together from cardboard, paper, string, and wire, materials that he cut, folded, threaded, and glued, Picasso’s silent instrument resembled no sculpture ever seen before. In 1914 the artist reiterated his fragile papery construction in a more fixed and durable sheet metal form. 

These two Guitars, both gifts from the artist to MoMA, bracket an incandescent period of material and structural experimentation in Picasso’s work. Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914 explores this breakthrough moment in 20th-century art, and the Guitars’ place within it.

The exhibit is made up of 70 smallish, thematically related objects borrowed from hither and yon: paintings, drawings, collages and combinations thereof, along with two renowned sculptures, one seen complete for the first time since it left Picasso’s studio after his death.

For more information see: http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1101

Check out a recent review by the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/arts/design/11picasso.html