Music & Concerts

SPRING ARTS 2018 CONCERTS: Todrick, Meshell, Lorde, k.d. oh — and Britney this summer

Region teeming with queer acts at the Anthem, Fillmore, Jiffy and more

Published

7 years ago

March 2, 2018

concerts DC spring 2018, gay news, Washington Blade

Singers coming to the region this spring include Ani DiFranco, Brandi Carlile, Justin Timberlake and Lorde. (DiFranco photo courtesy of Righteous Babe Records; Carlile photo by David McClister, courtesy ATO Records; Timberlake photo courtesy RCA Records: and Lorde photo courtesy High Rise PR)

Washington boasts some of the best music venues in the country and there’s no shortage of fabulous concerts to see at them this spring.

DJ Snake, the French producer and DJ responsible for massive hits like “Turn Down for What” and “Let Me Love You,” spins at Echostage (2135 Queens Chapel Rd., N.E.) on Saturday, March 3. Details at echostage.com.

Bisexual feminist icon, Ani DiFranco, plays the 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) on Saturday, March 5. The show will be opened by chamber pop duo Gracie and Rachel. Details at 930.com.

Master pianist and Wolf Trap favorite, John Eaton, presents “Indiana On Our Minds: the Music of Cole Porter & Hoagy Carmichael” on Friday, March 9 at the Barns at Wolf Trap (1635 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va.). Tickets at wolftrap.org.

The original Wonder Woman herself, Lynda Carter, returns to the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) for her “Red, Rock N’ Blues” show on Saturday, March 17. Details at kennedy-center.org.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington presents “Make America Gay Again” at the Lincoln Theatre (1215 U St., N.W.) on Saturday, March 17. For tickets, visit thelincolndc.com.

Perennial pop titan and veteran gender bender, P!nk, brings her “Beautiful Trauma World Tour” to Capital One Arena (601 F St., N.W.) on Tuesday, March 17. For tickets, visit capitalonearena.monumentalsportsnetwork.com.

Justin Timberlake may have received tepid reviews for his Super Bowl performance, but his stop on the “Man of the Woods Tour” at Capital One Arena (601 F St., N.W.) on Sunday, March 18 is sure to be a spectacle. For tickets, visit capitalonearena.monumentalsportsnetwork.com.

If you’re feeling wistful for her stellar 2014 Capital Pride performance, Betty Who plays the 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) on Wednesday, March 21. Pretty Sister and Spencer Ludwig open the show. Details at 930.com.

Porches, a New York-based synth pop band, play the Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) on Thursday, March 22. The group’s lead vocalist, Aaron Maine, identifies as straight but has earned himself a queer following with his painted nails and spaghetti strap tops. Details at blackcatdc.com.

Queer-fronted Baltimore Indie band, Snail Mail, play Ottobar (2549 N. Howard St., Baltimore) with British rock group Shame on Thursday, March 22. Details at theottobar.com.

R&B pioneer and everyone’s favorite Cinderella, Brandy, performs at the Howard Theatre (620 T St., N.W.) on Thursday, March 22. More info at thehowardthreatre.com.

Vocal LGBT ally LeeAnn Womack hopes you dance at the Birchmere (3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Va.) on Friday, March 23. The country crooner will perform her latest album, “All The Trouble,” as well as old hits. Details at birchmere.com.

Openly bisexual pop princess Demi Lovato performs alongside the ever-popular DJ Khaled at the Capital One Arena (601 F St., N.W.) on Saturday, March 24. Details at capitalonearena.monumentalsportsnetwork.com.

k.d. lang brings the 25th anniversary tour of her breakthrough album “Ingénue” to the Music Center at Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Ln., North Bethesda, Md.) on Sunday, March 25. Details at strathmore.org.

Yo La Tengo play their Indie cult classics at the 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) on Wednesday, April 4. Tickets at 930.com.

Meshell Ndegeocello, a Native Washingtonian and queer critical darling since the early ‘90s, is back to perform her latest album “Ventriloquism” at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) on Thursday, April 6. Details at kennedy-center.org.

Legendary soul singer and timeless gay icon Patti LaBelle performs at the Warner Theatre (513 13th St., N.W.) on Saturday, April 7. For more info, visit birchmere.com.

Lorde brings her “Melodrama World Tour” to the Anthem (901 Wharf St., S.W.) on Sunday, April 8. Hip-hop duo Run the Jewels and indie rocker Mitski open the show. Details at theanthemdc.com.

The Washington Symphony Players host a spring benefit concert for the Maryland Heroin Awareness Advocates on Tuesday, April 17 at the Music Center at Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Ln., North Bethesda, Md.). For details and more information about the cause, visit strathmore.org.

Pritam, an Indian composer and singer famous for his Bollywood records, performs live at DAR Constitution Hall (1776 D St., N.W.) on Friday, April 20. Details at dar.org/constitution-hall.

Todrick Hall, the multitalented singer, drag queen, Broadway star and choreographer to none other than Beyoncé, appears at the Fillmore (8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring, Md.) on Thursday, April 26. Details at fillmoresilverspring.com.

Nancy and Beth, featuring “Will & Grace’s” Megan Mullally and “Friday Night Lights’” Stephanie Hunt, bring their eponymous “punk show-biz” tour to the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (600 I St., N.W.) on Sunday, April 29. Tickets at sixthandi.org.

HAIM perform at the Anthem (901 Wharf St., N.W.) on May 1, opened by rising feminist rapper and singer, Lizzo. For more information, visit theanthemdc.com.

Michael Feinstein, an openly gay singer and pianist, headlines the Strathmore Annual Spring Gala at the Music Center at Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Ln., North Bethesda, Md.) on May 12. Tickets at strathmore.org.

Lesbian alt-country queen Brandi Carlile performs her latest album “By The Way, I Forgive You” and old favorites at the Anthem (901 Wharf St., S.W.) on Saturday, May 19. Details at theanthemdc.com.

Soul powerhouse, Bettye LaVette, performs her latest record, all Bob Dylan interpretations, “Things Have Changed,” at the Hamilton (600 14th St., N.W.) on Saturday, May 19. Details at thehamiltondc.com.

Rising pop sensation Hayley Kiyoko, whose devout fans refer to her as “Lesbian Jesus,” performs at the Fillmore (8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring, Md.) on Friday, June 1. Tickets at fillmoresilverspring.com.

Twelve-time Grammy winner, Kendrick Lamar performs with Sza and Schoolboy Q at Jiffy Lube Live (7800 Cellar Door Dr, Bristow, Va.) on Friday, June 1. Details at pavilionbristow.com.

It’s a ways off, but always better to plan ahead for Britney Spears, who makes her East Coast return at MGM National Harbor (101 MGM National Ave, Oxon Hill, Md.) on Thursday, July 12. The zeitgeisty gay icon will whip out choreo to all her classics from her “Piece of Me” Vegas residency. Details at mgmnationalharbor.com.

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Music & Concerts

Gay Men’s Chorus starting the year with a cabaret

‘Postcards’ to be performed at CAMP Rehoboth

Published

2 weeks ago

January 10, 2025

Tinashe Chingarande

The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington performs 'Postcards' in Rehoboth Beach, Del. on Jan. 18. (Photos courtesy of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington)

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington will perform “Postcards,” a cabaret, on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 5:00p.m. and 8:00p.m. at CAMP Rehoboth Elkins-Archibald Atrium.

In this performance, the choir will share hilarious and heart-warming stories and songs about the travel adventures they’ve had and hope to have. Songs include “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Streets of Dublin,” “Magic To Do,” “Home,” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Tickets cost $35 and can be purchased on Camp Rehoboth’s website.

Music & Concerts

WMC’s ‘Comfort and Joy’ fuses drama, well-being, light

Soloist describes production as ‘reverent and beautiful’

Published

1 month ago

December 20, 2024

Patrick Folliard

Opal Clyburn-Miller (Photo courtesy Clyburn-Miller)

‘Comfort and Joy’
Washington Master Chorale
Sunday, Dec. 22, 5 p.m.
Church of the Epiphany
1317 G St., N.W.
washingtonmasterchorale.org

With its warmth and unfettered imagination, it’s no surprise that the Washington Master Chorale’s enduringly popular winter program remains a holiday favorite.

This December the Washington Master Chorale (WMC), helmed by out artistic director Thomas Colohan presents “Comfort and Joy” a selection of British and American works like “Lute-Book Lullaby,” “I Saw Three Ships,” “Puer Natus” by Samuel Scheidt and “Hosanna to the Son of David” by Orlando Gibbons.

In addition to these Christmas classics, WMC will perform 2022 Florence Price Commission Winner Mason Bynes’s “Ephiphanytide” and Ēriks Ešenvalds’ “Northern Lights,” the firsthand accounts of arctic explorers Charles Francis Hall and Fridtjof Nansen and their experiences surrounding the fabled aurora borealis.

Described as “reverent and beautiful” by “Northern Lights” tenor soloist Opal Clyburn-Miller, “Comfort and Joy” fuses drama and well-being, and the import of light.

And as an artist who uses they/them pronouns, Clyburn-Miller says where classical music is concerned, “it seems people are put in their boxes and that’s where they stay.” They add, “there’s been some progress. It’s pretty much a traditional art form.”

With regard to their career, Clyburn-Miller, the Baltimore based Peabody Conservatory student, says the work usually comes through word of mouth: “You show up, you’re a good colleague and people want to work with you again.”

The solo piece, according to Colohan, is perfect for Clyburn-Miller. The soloist says in response: “Maybe I have the imagination to think of what Northern Lights might look like in Eastern Europe. I’ve never been that far north but I can put myself in that sense of wonder and astonishment.”

But the gig hasn’t been entirely without its tests. The lyrics are in Latvian, a new language for the meticulous singer.

“It’s been a bit tricky getting the Latvian down,” they say. “Usually in my singing experience, it’s been German, Italian and French, and I’m familiar with Spanish and some Hungarian and Russian, but this is entirely new.”

A perfect chorale venue requires easy parking; good acoustics; a concert level Steinway, and an excellent organ; a sanctuary wide enough to accommodate a 50-person chorale; and audience friendly loos, says Colohan.

The Church of Epiphany meets most if not all of these requirements.

Raised Catholic in Richmond, Colohan came out at Ohio’s progressive Oberlin Conservatory. Around this time, he remembers visiting Washington for a music educator’s conference and partying at JR.’s, Badlands, and other bars. He says, “I saw that D.C. had a huge population of clean-cut gay boys. That journey which started with me being gay, prompted me to ask questions.”

As WMC artistic director since 2009, Colohan, who lives with his partner in Silver Spring, became increasingly interested in secular poetry and literature, especially the ways in which it intersects with chorale music. For him, that became the heart of the art form.

“My secular approach is wider than some. I’m like the curator of the museum going down to the basement to bring some stuff up. You cannot hear the music if we don’t sing it.”

He’s remained conservative as an aesthetic but not an ethos. “I can wear a blazer and not be crazy right wing. Spiritually speaking, I’m Zen Buddhist now.”

A lot of the concert is about darkness and light. Colohan says, “In ancient times when the world became darker, the days leading to the solstice were scary and then on the 22nd they saw that days were getting longer and it was lighter.”

“Comfort and Joy” closes with a candle lit chorale memorably singing “Silent Night.”

Music & Concerts

Pianist Jeremy Denk to play George Mason

Soloist performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 alongside FSO

Published

2 months ago

November 16, 2024

Tinashe Chingarande

Pianist Jeremy Denk (Photo by Shervin Lainez)

The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra (FSO) and the Center for the Arts at George Mason University co-present Jeremy Denk — one of America’s foremost pianists—on Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. Denk joins the FSO as soloist for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. The concert, conducted by FSO Music Director Christopher Zimmerman, also includes the regional premiere of “She Dreams of Flying” by American composer Quinn Mason, and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. Tickets are available through the Fairfax Symphony and the Center for the Arts: $65, $55, $40 and half-price for youth through grade 12 (service fees may apply).

A pre-performance discussion with Denk and Maestro Christopher Zimmerman, moderated by Mason Dewberry School of Music Professor John Healey, will take place in Monson Grand Tier, located on the third level of the Center for the Arts Lobby, 45 minutes prior to curtain.