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The Barns Go British

Lute Song Dress

A sumptuous romantic quartet. Elegant classical arias. A bawdy lute song. Frothy G&S. Iconic Elgar and Vaughan Williams. Sophisticated jazz. Beautiful ballads. And Lennon & McCartney. Delivered by Summer, Clarissa, Jonas and Shea. Oh, and illuminated by the encyclopedic wisdom, signature wit and astonishing musicianship that is Steven Blier. Tomorrow and Sunday (May 28/29) at The Barns.

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Death by Aria!

Death by Aria 2016

Imagine this. You arrive at your new job and have barely figured out who is who and what is where. And one of the first things you do is stand up in front of your new colleagues and bosses to deliver 5 minutes of what you believe to be your best work. Welcome to Death by Aria.

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Lunch in the British Isles

British Isles Lunch Music

Today boasted the first entry in “A Little Lunch Music: – our noontime series of short concerts for Wolf Trap Foundation staff. Our guest artist Steven Blier and his cast offered a tantalizing preview of this weekend’s From Lute Song to the Beatles. Sunday is sold out, but there are still some tickets left for Saturday!

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Spring at Evermay

Evermay 2016

Yesterday was a wonderful day of feeling connected to the DC-area arts community. The afternoon was spent in discussions with colleagues about the upcoming 2017-2018 Leonard Bernstein centennial. (Lots of exciting things, likely to be announced by this time next year.) And the evening was devoted to our new partnership with the S&R Foundation, which does

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BonjourHi, Montréal!

I just returned from a quick trip to the Opera America conference in beautiful Montréal. Since my stay was limited to 21 hours, it was pretty much just a lovely French-inflected operatic blur. ‘Twas a shame to turn around and come home so soon, but things are heating up here, and (as my OA colleague

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WTO at Evermay on Friday

WTO at Evermay Rehearsal

An exciting concert at the Evermay Estate will kick off our season (and our new partnership with the S&R Foundation) this Friday night. Sarah Larsen and Reginald Smith, Jr. will collaborate with S&R’s Artist in Residence Ryo Yanagitani for Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Ravel, Quilter and Mahler. When Sarah and Reggie arrived last week, I had the privilege of playing

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Hojotoho Trappers!

Trappers in the Ring

On the eve of the third and final cycle of #RingDC, I want to thank WNO for bringing this singular opera experience to DC-area audiences, and I’m so proud that 13 former Trappers are singing 19 different roles in the production. Their Wolf Trap Opera experiences span the length of my own career – from Gordon Hawkins (with whom I

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2 Weeks till Blier!

Blier 2016

If you’re a fan of Steven Blier’s concerts at The Barns (and let’s be serious, if you’re not, you should be…), please note that Steve is performing in May this year! Yes, he arrives for rehearsals this Monday, and he will join with Clarissa, Summer, Jonas and Shea for From Lute Song to the Beatles: Songs of the British Isles on May

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Figaro on the Airwaves

Figaro on WETA

We’re on the radio! This Saturday afternoon at 1pm EDT. Tune in to 90.9 FM or listen live at weta.org. Last summer we kicked off a new partnership with Classical WETA 90.9 FM, and this weekend, they’re broadcasting our 2015 Marriage of Figaro as part of their Saturday afternoon Classical WETA Opera House. It’s a fabulous new opportunity to

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#allthefeels, Rhinegold Style

Former Trappers in #ringdc

The first time I heard “#allthefeels”, I laughed and dismissed it as another silly meme. But it’s a surprisingly useful way to describe things like my experience at WNO’s Rhinegold dress rehearsal last night at the Kennedy Center. Now, I don’t review any performance (let alone dress rehearsals…) on this platform, so you can stop reading now if

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