Department of Performing Arts

The Music Program’s Friday Music Series features acclaimed artists in FREE concerts on select Fridays at 1:15 p.m. in McNeir Hall (*unless otherwise noted), on Georgetown’s main campus.

Friday, January 25 at 1:15 p.m.
Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program
Singers from the distinguished Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program perform a program of arias and duets from popular operas. The program, founded in 2002 by Plácido Domingo, is designed for young singers, coach/accompanists, conductors, and stage directors on the verge of international careers, and its participants have been seen onstage at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, the National Symphony Orchestra, Weill Recital Hall, and the Los Angeles Opera.
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE

Friday, February 1 at 1:15 p.m.
Modern Musick
Part of Jesuit Heritage Week, this concert includes 17th- and 18th-century instrumental and vocal music composed for Jesuit Schools, featuring the acclaimed period-instrument ensemble Modern Musick, which is in residence in the Georgetown University Music Program.
DAHLGREN CHAPEL
FREE

Friday, February 8 at 1:15 p.m.
Richard Giarusso, baritone
Sean Gallagher, piano
Baritone Richard Giarusso, praised by the Washington Post for his "expressive and perfectly controlled voice," returns to the Friday Music Series for a recital of Schubert lieder with his friend and frequent collaborator, pianist Sean Gallagher of Boston. Focusing on some of the most exceptional self-standing songs that the composer wrote during the last years of his life, the program includes the extraordinary late Leitner settings ("Der Winterabend" and "Die Sterne") and "Die Taubenpost," the very last song that Schubert wrote.

Full program includes the following:

Der Wanderer an den Mond, D. 870
Die Sterne, D. 939
Im Frühling, D. 882
Fischerweise, D. 881

Der Einsame, D. 800
Der Winterabend, D. 938

Im Abendrot, D. 799
Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren, D. 360
Totengräbers Heimweh, D. 842
Die Taubenpost, D. 965A

McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE

 
Friday, February 15 at 1:15 p.m.
Gerdan
An energetic and virtuosic program in the musical traditions of Eastern Europe, featuring original arrangements of traditional songs alongside classical and modern compositions by composers such as Dvořák, Skoryk, Monti and Gershwin. Three exceptional musicians perform in diverse combinations of acoustic folk art instruments. 
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE

Friday, February 22 at 1:15 p.m.
Kevin Deas, bass-baritone
Lura Johnson, piano
Dvořák and Harry Burleigh
Dvořák's African-American assistant Harry Burleigh was the first composer to arrange spirituals as art songs, and the first singer to perform them. Bass-baritone Kevin Deas, who has been lauded for his "burnished sound, clarity of diction and sincerity of expression" and "fervent intensity" by the Chicago Tribune, performs with Lura Johnson, hailed as “brilliant” by the Washington Post, in a program including the following: Burleigh (arr.): Deep River, Swing Low, and other spirituals; Dvořák /Fisher: "Goin' Home"; Dvořák: Humoresques in F and G-flat Major; and Dvořák: American Suite: Andante. This recital is offered in conjunction with PostClassical Ensemble's "Dvořák in America" festival.
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE

Friday, March 15 at 1:15 p.m.
Leo Lucini and Friends
Co-presented by the Center for Latin American Studies
Brazilian-born bassist Leo Lucini, who is also a member of the band Origem, performs this program.
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE

Friday, March 22 at 1:15 p.m.
Sara MacKimmie, soprano
Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano
Mark Janello, organ
This program features “Leçons de Ténèbres (Music for Holy Week)” by François Couperin plus other French Baroque works for organ and viola da gamba.
DAHLGREN CHAPEL
FREE

Friday, April 5 at 1:15 p.m.
Al Caldwell, banjo and bass
I Call It Music
Multi-instrumentalist and storyteller Al Caldwell, “The Travelin’ Black Hillbilly,” performs a range of music including country, blues, R&B, and jazz. He has worked as singer Vanessa Williams’ bassist for more than a decade, playing venues including Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and Madison Square Garden.
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE

Friday, April 12 at 1:15 p.m.
David and Ginger Hildebrand
Music of the War of 1812 in America
Using period instruments and in appropriate attire, David and Ginger Hildebrand will speak about and perform the ballads, marches, and dance tunes of this forgotten era of history. This music celebrates the politics, battles on land and sea, and the heroes we associate with them. Musicologist Dr. David Hildebrand has written and narrated a public radio program on this topic, issued a CD of this music, and both Ginger and David are prominently featured in Anthem, a documentary about "The Star-Spangled Banner," on public television. The Washington Post has praised their work as “first-class” with an “expertly researched and performed selection of music.”
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE

Friday, April 19 at 1:15 p.m.
Gary Louie, saxophone
Kirsten Taylor, piano
Saxophonist Gary Louie, who has been presented by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Alice Tully Hall, the La Jolla Chamber Music Society, and the Kennedy Center, performs with pianist Kirsten Taylor, whose playing has been described by the New York Times as “varied, colorful and impressive.” The husband-wife duo’s program includes Sonata in C-sharp for alto saxophone and piano by Fernande Decruck, Sonata for soprano saxophone (oboe) and piano by Francis Poulenc, and Sonata for alto saxophone and piano by William Albright.
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE