Department of Performing Arts

The Music Program’s Friday Music Series is a free concert series featuring artists of regional, national and international acclaim. Concerts take place Fridays at 1:15 in McNeir Hall on Georgetown University's main campus.

Georgetown University Music Program
Friday Music Series Spring Events


Friday, January 29 at 1:15 p.m.
Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program
Micaëla Oeste, soprano
Brandy Hawkins, mezzo-soprano
José Ortega, tenor
Michael Spassov, piano
Singers from the distinguished Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, designed for young artists on the verge of international careers, perform arias and duets from popular operas.

Friday, February 5, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
(postponed due to winter storm warning; please check back for date of rescheduled performance)
Apex Winds
Elisabeth Plunk, flute
Shawn Welk, oboe
Kathleen Mulcahy, clarinet
Geoffrey Pilkington, horn
Christopher Jewell, bassoon
Comprised of members of the US Marine Band, the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony, Apex Winds will perform La Cenerentola by Giacomo Rossini, arr. Willett; Quintette No. 1 by Jean Françaix; and Quintett by August Klughardt, Op. 79.

Friday, February 12, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
Interpreting Liszt
Part of the “Interpreting Liszt” festival that runs Feb. 12-13 and is co-presented by the Georgetown University Department of Performing Arts and Post-Classical Ensemble, this session is dedicated to historic Liszt recordings (Lamond, Stavenhagen, Rosenthal, etc), with commentary by Stanford University musicologists/pianists George Barth and Kumaran Arul, plus Ukrainian pianist Mykola Suk and music historian/author Joseph Horowitz (host). Arul will also improvise on Liszt’s Legends.

Friday, February 19, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
Jennifer Jackson, piano
A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, Jennifer Jackson Jennifer Jackson has played at the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Art, and the Harman Center for the Arts. This program features her performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations and a brief lecture on how Bach's religious beliefs infused his musical compositions, both in what he chose to write and how he wrote it.

Friday, February 26, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
Potomac Trio
Carole Tafoya Evans, violin
Mark Evans, cello
Cecilia Cho, piano
The Potomac Trio was formed in 2001 and was awarded a grant from the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities. Since then they have performed on the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center for the National Symphony Orchestra's Prelude Series, as well as the Alden Theater, the Tuesday Concert Series at the Church of the Epiphany, and with the Fessenden Ensemble. They will perform Haydn’s Trio in G Major Hob XV:25 “Gypsy” and Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11.

Friday, March 19, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
Yvonne Lam, violin
David Jones, clarinet
Wenyin Chan, piano
The principal clarinetist, David Jones, and assistant concertmaster, Yvonne Lam, of the Washington National Opera Orchestra team up with pianist Wenyin Chan to present a program including Béla Bartók’s Contrasts, (a work written for Benny Goodman and Joseph Szigeti that melds the folk traditions for which Bartok is well-known with American jazz culture), and Darius Milhaud’s Suite for violin, clarinet, and piano.

Friday, March 26, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
Chatham Baroque
Andrew Fouts, baroque violin
Patricia Halverson, viola da gamba and recorders
Scott Pauley, theorbo and baroque guitar
Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "a splendid period-instruments ensemble," Chatham Baroque was honored as "Breakthrough Artist of the Year" by National Public Radio and the National Association of Recording Merchandisers. “Alchemy for Three” is a program featuring music that shows the three instrumentalists of Chatham Baroque in different roles: as soloists, accompanists, and equal partners in duos and trios. The program includes gems by well-known baroque masters such as J.S. Bach, Arcangelo Corelli, and Marin Marais, and with works by Castaldi, Becker and Biber it also ventures into wonderful terrain unknown to many music enthusiasts.

 
Friday, April 9, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
Patrick Lundy & The Ministers of Music
This dynamic community gospel choir based in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area was founded/directed by Howard University alumnus Patrick P. Lundy in 1994. Appearances have included Black Entertainment Television’s “Bobby Jones Gospel;” the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and the Colors of Christmas Tour featuring Peabo Bryson, Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester and Aaron Neville. The group participated in the Opening Ceremony celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama, singing with Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce, and accompanied Mariah Carey and Shakira at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, the first of the 10 official balls attended by the President and First Lady Obama. Members of the ensemble also appeared with Springsteen during the 43rd NFL Super Bowl held in Tampa, Florida.

Friday, April 16, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
João Paulo Figueirôa, guitar
co-presented with the Brazilian Studies Program
Guitarist João Paulo Figueirôa has performed as a soloist and chamber musician around his native Brazil, Argentina, Europe and the U.S., including a recital at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He won the national first prize at the 2004 Music Teacher’s National Association Collegiate Artist Competition. This program features music from the Brazilian classical repertory. 

Friday, April 23, 2010 at 1:15 p.m.
Sunny Wilkinson/Ron Newman Duo
Vocalist Sunny Wilkinson and pianist Ron Newman are a husband and wife jazz duo that have been performing together since they first met 18 years ago. They play a wide variety of music including jazz and Brazilian standards, contemporary and original pieces and can be heard on numerous recordings. Their work together has been called “intimate, intuitive and magical,” and they have played with The Count Basie Orchestra, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry, Curtis Fuller, and Eddie Daniels. Both on the faculty at Michigan State University, Ron is the former head of jazz studies and is now professor of music theory, while Sunny is the head of the vocal jazz program.