For classical music lovers, August — not dreary February — can feel like the longest month of the year. It’s midway between the end of the 2023-24 performing season and the beginning of the next one. Temperatures are soaring and performance calendars are depressingly blank.
What’s a Maryland-based fan of Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms or Bruckner to do? Don’t worry. The Baltimore Sun has identified a handful of in-person classical concerts you can attend without crossing state lines or venturing into Washington or Philadelphia. It might take a willingness to travel and a flexible attitude about the definition of “classical music”, but it can be done.
Best of all, some of these offerings are low-cost or free. Lesser music organizations might close up shop for summer vacation, but charming, eclectic An Die Musik never shuts its doors. “During the summer, I like to program music that is very light-hearted,” the venue’s owner, Henry Wong, said.
“And I like to have music that is not the run-of-the-mill music you will find at the festivals, but that is still approachable.” On Aug. 4, the Virginia-based group Quintango will breeze into town to perform what they describe as “the heartbeat of classical Argentinian tango” with two violins, one bass, one piano and a bandoneon, which resembles a small, handheld accordion.
According to the group’s website, the quintet performs “chamber tango” pieces written specifically for them that combine classical techniques, jazz harmonies, and intimate arrangements and that tell stories about the grief of losing a father, or the thrill of deep-sea fishing. Tickets cost $10-$30. On Aug.
9, violinist Bartholomew Fortino-Shields (a graduate of the Peabody Insititute) and pianist Chan Mi Jean will perform three pieces in preparation for their soon-to-be-recorded debut album: Johannes Brahms’ “Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major”, Gabriel Fauré’s “Romance for Violin and Piano” and César Franck’s “Violin Sonata.” “They’ve played here before, and they’re amazing,” Wong said.
“And as soon as they leave Baltimore, they’re off to London to record the same program for the Sheva record label.” Though the new album eventually will be available for purchase from the BBC Music Magazine and Naxos Music Library, Baltimore audiences can hear it first. Tickets cost $10-$20.
For the past three summers, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has been taking its act on the road for its statewide “Music for Maryland” tours, giving the cultural powerhouse a chance to meet new audiences and showcase featured musicians. Still to come for this summer are performances in Caroline County (Aug. 1), Charles County (Aug.
2), Talbot County (Aug. 3), and Worcester County (Aug. 11.
) “A full-time orchestra never stops,” said Mark Hanson, the orchestra’s president and CEO. The full orchestra will perform three concerts of repertoire ranging from Italian composer Gioachino Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” overture to the contemporary American composer Jessie Montgomery’s “Strum.” These performances will highlight the talents of two symphony stalwarts: violist Lisa Steltenpohl and bass player Nina DeCesare.
The Talbot County performance, however, will consist of a quartet lead by BSO principal oboist Katherine Needleman in the Oxford Community Center. “When we set the goal of taking the BSO to all 24 Maryland counties in three years, we realized that some counties have beautiful performing spaces that are more suited for chamber music than a full orchestra,” Hanson said. While all these concerts are about a half day’s drive from Charm City, three of the four are being held on Maryland’s Eastern Shore — never a bad place to find yourself on a summer weekend.
The Music for Maryland concerts don’t have a set admission price, but are pay what you wish. For details, visit . Where else can you pair a little Monteverdi with your manicotti? Sotto Sopra, the venerable white-tablecloth Italian neighborhood in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood, has been hosting monthly “opera nights” for much of its 28-year history.
For $85, guests dine on a five-course meal while listening to a live performance of the greatest hits from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. According to restaurant general manager Jose Romero, owner Riccardo Bosio’s mother “encouraged her son to have opera at his restaurant” because the art form remains beloved in her native Italy. Not only did Bosio take her advice, he incorporated some of her recipes into the menu.
The next opera night is Aug. 18. The menu features octopus salad, yellow corn risotto with pancetta, passion fruit sorbet, grilled rack of lamb with garlic mashed potatoes and vanilla panacota.
On tap are soprano Karen Myers Rhodovi, tenor Paul McIlvaine and pianist Tom Hetrick. Rhodovi said that the singers “perform off-book, crafting an impromptu program based almost entirely on audience requests” and added that “the improvisational flair keeps us on our toes and creates a fresh and exhilarating experience for the audience.” To make reservations, visit .
It’s good to have a goal, and the performing duo of the violinist Ahreum Kim and pianist HyeSung Hwang have been immersed for the past year in what they call “The Beethoven Project,” an exploration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s artistic evolution over ten violin sonatas. They’ll present a free concert of Beethoven’s sixth, seventh and eighth sonatas on Aug. 3 in the Peabody Institute’s Griswold Hall.
The sonatas blend “piano and violin seamlessly to create pieces that are both harmonious and emotionally resonant,” Hwang wrote on her website. The pair met as students at Peabody. Kim is on the faculty of the Peabody Preparatory community school for the performing arts, while Hwang teaches at York College of Pennsylvania.
To find out more, visit ..
