April 2 at 8:00 PM
Lutheran Church of the Reformation, Washington, DC

Stile Antico
Song of Songs: Sumptuous Continental Song of Songs Settings

Folger Consort presents acclaimed British early music vocal ensemble Stile Antico in their inaugural Washington, DC performance. Stile Antico will perform Song of Songs, a collection of Renaissance compositions using texts from the Song of Solomon, the biblical collection of love poetry traditionally attributed to King Solomon. Their 2009 recording of Song of Songs won the 2009 Gramophone Award for Early Music and reached the top of the U.S. Classical Chart. This rich selection traces an emotional arc from the intensity of the Flemish masters to the most vivid, madrigalian motets by Vivanco and Victoria.

April 3 at 3:00 PM
St. Peter’s Church, Oak Grove, Virginia

Washington’s Camerata
“How Sweet the Sound”
Music for Flute and Voice

For more information, call (703) 362-0836.

April 3 at 4:00 PM
Christ Lutheran Church, Baltimore, Maryland

The Bach Concert Series
Bach B Minor Mass

For more information, call 410-752-7179.

April 3 at 4:00 PM
Atlas Performing Arts Center, Washington, DC

Opera Lafayette
Preview Performance of Handel’s Acis and Galatea

For more information, call (202) 399-7993.

April 5 at 12:10 PM
Tuesday Concert Series, The Church of the Epiphany, Washington, DC

The Washington Bach Consort
Noontime Cantata

For more information, call (202) 429-2121.

April 5 at 7:30 PM
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, Washington, DC

Opera Lafayette
Handel’s Acis and Galatea

With pastoral English poetry by Alexander Pope and John Gay, Opera Lafayette musically transforms the Terrace Theater into the Duke of Chandos’ home at Cannons with Handel’s 1718 chamber version of Ovid’s amorous mythological tale of metamorphosis. The acclaimed tenor Thomas Michael Allen makes his Opera Lafayette debut as the ardent and impulsive Acis; Washington favorite Rosa Lamoreaux sings ‘Hush, ye pretty warbling Quire’ and the flowing liquid lines of the nymph Galatea; the irrepressible bass-baritone Peter Becker charms as the monster Polyphemus (’O ruddier than the cherry, sweeter than the Berry”), and the golden-voiced Robert Getchell, as Damon, counsels reason, all to the dulcet tones of principal players from the Opera Lafayette Orchestra.

For more information, call 202-546-9332.

April 6 at 6:00 PM
Elizabethan Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC

Folger Consort Early Music Seminar
Fête d’Eté:
French Cantatas and Suites

For its final concert of the 2010/11 season, the Folger Consort performs elegant and virtuosic instrumental music and witty amorous cantatas by Rameau, Marais, and others. Robert Eisenstein will discuss the prevalence of pastoral conceits in baroque France, providing details on the delightful late 17th- and early 18th-century songs about every balmy breezes and the warmth of mythic summers.

For more information, call (202) 675-0379.

April 8 at 8:00 PM
April 9 at 5:00 PM
April 9 at 8:00 PM
April 10 at 2:00 PM
Elizabethan Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC

The Folger Consort
With soprano Jolle Greenleaf

Fête d’Été:
18th-century French Cantatas and Suites

Sophisticated gentlemen and ladies of baroque France were fond of pastoral conceits. Countless late 17th- and early 18th-century songs are rhapsodic about ever-balmy breezes and the warmth of mythic summers. Celebrating the temperate season, Folger Consort performs elegant and virtuosic instrumental music and witty and amorous cantatas by Rameau, Marais, and others.

For more information, call (202) 675-0379.

April 17 at 3:30 PM

Pro Musica Rara
Pro Musica Americana: Music from a Young Nation

With Julianne Baird, soprano.
Works by Alexander Reinagle and James Hewitt; Music from the milieus of Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.

Pre-concert talk one hour before performance.

For more information, call 410-728-2820.

April 17 at 4:00 PM
Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC

The Washington National Cathedral Combined Choirs and Baroque Orchestra
Bach’s St. John Passion

On Palm Sunday, the Cathedral Choir once again turns to the uniquely moving St. John Passion. This masterwork tells the story of Christ’s betrayal, death, and resurrection, vividly and affectingly pointing to the deepest meaning of the Passion.

April 28 at 7:30 PM
April 29 at 7:30 PM
Leith Symington Griswold Hall, Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Maryland

Peabody Renaissance Ensemble

For more information, call (410) 234-4800.

April 29 at 3:00 PM
Fairfax Old Town Hall, Fairfax, Virginia

Carmina

Carmina will perform selections from its spring concerts with commentary by director and harpsichordist, Vera Kochanowsky.

For more information, call (703) 503-3384.