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FALL ARTS 2018 CLASSICAL: Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and beyond

Regional symphonies, opera companies have busy concert season planned

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dc classical 2018, gay news, Washington Blade

Jacqueline Echols (Violetta in the second cast) and Joshua_Guerreo (Alfredo in the main cast) in Washington National Opera’s ‘La traviata.’ (Photo by Cade Martin; courtesy WNO)

Washington National Opera presents Verdi’s “La traviata” Oct. 6-21 in the Kennedy Center Opera House (2700 F St., N.W.) in a new production directed by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, a lesbian. Tickets range from $25-300. Details at kennedy-center.org.

Other WNO fall highlights are “Opera in the Outfield” with “The Barber of Seville (Sept. 29), Ryan Speedo Green in recital (Oct. 4), “Silent Night” (Nov. 10-25) and holiday family opera “The Lion, the Unicorn and Me” (Dec. 14-16).

The NSO Pops performs the score to the movie “Get Out” on Sept. 20. Tickets are $29-99.

The National Symphony’s season-opening gala concert is Sept. 22. Tickets are $65-175.

Among other NSO fall highlights are “Pictures from an Exhibition” (Sept. 27-29), Tchaikovsky’s Fifth & Ax plays Mozart (Oct. 4-6), Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto (Oct. 11-13), The Kennedy Center Chamber Players: Works of Dvorak, Strauss and Brahms (Oct. 14), NSO Pops perform the score to “The Empire Strikes Back” (Oct. 23-25), NSO Pops with Andrew Bird and Gabriel Kahane (Oct. 26-27), Gaffigan conducts Russian Masterpieces (Nov. 1-3), “Declassified: Ben Folds Presents Regina Spektor and Caleb Teicher” (Nov. 2), Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (Nov. 15-17), NSO Pops perform Disney scores from the last decade (Nov. 23-25), Britten’s “War Requiem” (Nov. 29-Dec.1) and more. Full details at kennedy-center.org.

Christopher Jackson (“Hamilton,” “In the Heights”) performs as part of Renee Fleming’s Voices series in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater Sept. 29. The series continues with Robert Fairchild performing music from “An American in Paris” Oct. 12 and Youssou Ndour in the Concert Hall Oct. 30.

Vocal Arts presents Brian Mulligan (baritone) and Timothy Long in recital performing a new work by openly gay American composer Gregory Spears, who will conduct, on Sunday, Sept. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre. Tickets are $80. Details at vocalartsdc.org.

Urban Arias presents “The Last American Hammer” by Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi Sept. 22-29. The company is dedicated to contemporary opera. Tickets are $45. Details at urbanarias.org.

Washington Concert Opera opens its fall season with Gounod’s opera “Sapho” Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. at The G.W. Lisner Auditorium. Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey will sing the lead. Tickets are $40-110. Details at concertopera.org.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra kicks off its 36th season Saturday night (Sept. 15) at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore). Gala tickets are $500; concert tickets start at $50. The program includes works by Gershwin, Strauss and Broadway favorites. British singer Cynthia Erivo (“The Color Purple”) will perform.

The BSO performs Beethoven’s “Eroica Symphony” (Sept. 21-23), “Star Wars: a New Hope” in concert (Sept. 28-30), Sibelius symphonies (Oct. 4-7), Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” (Oct. 18-20), a Grieg piano concerto performed by Freddy Kempf (Oct. 27-28), the score to “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (Nov. 2-3) and more. Details at bsomusic.org.

Baltimore Concert Opera, founded in 2009, opens its season with “Don Giovanni” (in Italian with English supertitles) Sept. 28 and 30 in the Engineers Club Grand Ballroom (11 W. Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore). Tickets are $21.50-71.50 at baltimoreconcertopera.com.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington presents “The Best Worst Thing,” an evening of cabaret stories and songs” Nov. 17 at Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H St., N.E.) and “The Holiday Show” Dec. 8-16 at Lincoln Theatre (1215 U St., N.W.). Details at gmcw.org.

The Washington Bach Consort presents “Handel & Bach: Sing a New Song” Sept. 16 at 3 p.m. at National Presbyterian Church (4101 Nebraska Ave., N.W.). Tickets are $10-69. New Artistic Director Dana Marsh is gay. The Chamber Series will perform “Bach to Mozart” with The Franklin Quartet Nov. 2, the Noontime Cantata Series presents “Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben (BWV 8) Oct. 1-2 and “Christmas with the Consort” Dec. 16. Details at bachconsort.org.

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 Sept. 29-30 at the George Washington Masonic Memorial (101 Callahan Dr., Alexandria). Tickets are $5-80. They’ll also perform Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony No. 3 Nov. 3-4. Details at alexsym.org.

The D.C. Different Drummers Capitol Pride Symphonic Band has its fall concert on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. at Church of the Epiphany (1317 G St., N.W.). Its jazz ensemble D.C. Swing! will perform Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. at Columbia Pike Library (816 S. Walter Reed Dr., Arlington). Its holiday concert will be Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. at Lutheran Church of the Reformation (212 E. Capitol St., N.E.). Details at dcdd.org.

Virginia Opera performs Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene” Oct. 6-7 at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts (4373 Mason Pond Dr., Fairfax). Tickets are $54-110. The company returns with “Don Giovanni” Nov. 10-11. Details at vaopera.org.

The National Symphony Orchestra at its home in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. (Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy NSO)

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Music & Concerts

Underdog glorious: a personal remembrance of Jill Sobule

Talented singer, songwriter died in house fire on May 1

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Writer Gregg Shapiro with Jill Sobule in 2000. (Photo courtesy Shapiro)

I’ve always prided myself on being the kind of music consumer who purchased music on impulse. When I stumbled across “Things Here Are Different,” Jill Sobule’s 1990 MCA Records debut album on vinyl in a favorite Chicago record store, I bought it without knowing anything about her. This was at a time when we didn’t have our phones in our pockets to search for information about the artist on the internet. The LP stayed in my collection until, as vinyl was falling out of fashion, I replaced it with a CD a few years later.

Early in my career as an entertainment journalist, I received a promo copy of Jill’s eponymous 1995 Atlantic Records album. That year, Atlantic Records was one of the labels at the forefront of signing and heavily promoting queer artists, including Melissa Ferrick and Extra Fancy, and its roster included the self-titled album by Jill. It was a smart move, as the single “I Kissed A Girl” became a hit on radio and its accompanying video (featuring Fabio!) was in heavy rotation on MTV (when they still played videos).

Unfortunately for Jill, she was a victim of record label missteps. When 1997’s wonderful “Happy Town” failed to repeat the success, Atlantic dumped her. That was Atlantic’s loss, because her next album, the superb “Pink Pearl” contained “Heroes” and “Mexican Wrestler,” two of her most beloved songs. Sadly, Beyond Music, the label that released that album ceased to exist after just a few years. To her credit, the savvy Jill had also started independently releasing music (2004’s “The Folk Years”). That was a smart move because her next major-label release, the brilliant “Underdog Victorious” on Artemis Records, met a similar fate when that label folded.

With her 2009 album “California Years,” Jill launched her own indie label, Pinko Records, on which she would release two more outstanding full-length discs, 2014’s “Dottie’s Charms” (on which she collaborated with some of her favorite writers, including David Hadju, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, and Jonathan Lethem), and 2018’s stunning “Nostalgia Kills.” Jill’s cover of the late Warren Zevon’s “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” on “Nostalgia Kills” was particularly poignant as she had toured with him as an opening act.

Jill was a road warrior, constantly on tour, and her live shows were something to behold. My first interview with Jill took place at the Double Door in Chicago in early August of 1995, when she was the opening act for legendary punk band X. She had thrown her back out the previous day and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. To be comfortable, she was lying down on a fabulous-‘50s sofa. “I feel like I’m at my shrink’s,” she said to me, “Do you want me to talk about my mother?”

That sense of humor, which permeated and enriched her music, was one of many reasons to love Jill. I was privileged to interview her for seven of her albums. Everything you would want to know about her was right there in her honest lyrics, in which she balanced her distinctive brand of humor with serious subject matter. Drawing on her life experiences in songs such as “Bitter,” “Underachiever,” “One of These Days,” “Freshman,” “Jetpack,” “Nothing To Prove,” “Forbidden Thoughts of Youth,” “Island of Lost Things,” “Where Do I Begin,” “Almost Great,” and “Big Shoes,” made her songs as personal as they were universal, elicited genuine affection and concern from her devoted fans.

While she was a consummate songwriter, Jill also felt equally comfortable covering songs made famous by others, including “Just A Little Lovin’” (on the 2000 Dusty Springfield tribute album “Forever Dusty”) and “Stoned Soul Picnic” (from the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album “Time and Love”). Jill also didn’t shy away from political subject matter in her music with “Resistance Song,” “Soldiers of Christ,” “Attic,” “Heroes,” “Under the Disco Ball,” and the incredible “America Back” as prime examples.

Here’s something else worth mentioning about Jill. She was known for collaboration skills. As a songwriter, she maintained a multi-year creative partnership with Robin Eaton (“I Kissed A Girl” and many others), as well as Richard Barone, the gay frontman of the renowned band The Bongos. Jill’s history with Barone includes performing together at a queer Octoberfest event in Chicago in 1996. Writer and comedian Julie Sweeney, of “SNL” and “Work in Progress” fame was another Chicago collaborator with Sobule (Sweeney lives in a Chicago suburb), where they frequently performed their delightful “The Jill and Julia Show.” John Doe, of the aforementioned band X, also collaborated with Jill in the studio (“Tomorrow Is Breaking” from “Nostalgia Kills”), as well as in live performances.

On a very personal note, in 2019, when I was in the process of arranging a reading at the fabulous NYC gay bookstore Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, I reached out to Jill and asked her if she would like to be on the bill with me. We alternated performing; I would read a couple of poems, and Jill would sing a couple of songs. She even set one of my poems to music, on the spot.

Jill had an abundance of talent, and when she turned her attention to musical theater, it paid off in a big way. Her stage musical “F*ck 7th Grade,” a theatrical piece that seemed like the next logical step in her career, had its premiere at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in the fall of 2020, during the height of the pandemic. The unique staging (an outdoor drive-in stage at which audience members watched from their cars) was truly inspired. “F*ck 7th Grade” went on to become a New York Times Critic’s pick, as well as earning a Drama Desk nomination.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Jill’s eponymous 1995 album, reissue label Rhino Records is re-releasing it on red vinyl. Jill and I had been emailing each other to arrange a time for an interview. We even had a date on the books for the third week of May.

When she died in a house fire in Minnesota on May 1 at age 66, Jill received mentions on network and cable news shows. She was showered with attention from major news outlets, including obits in the New York Times and Rolling Stone (but not Pitchfork, who couldn’t be bothered to review her music when she was alive). Is it wrong to think that if she’d gotten this much attention when she was alive she could have been as big as Taylor Swift? I don’t think so.

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Music & Concerts

Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’

Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

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Singer Tom Goss is back. (Photo by Dusti Cunningham)

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co. 

Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.

For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

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Music & Concerts

Kylie brings ‘Tension’ tour to D.C.

Performance on Tuesday at Capital One Arena

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Kylie Minogue visits D.C. on Tuesday.

Aussie pop icon Kylie Minogue brings her acclaimed “Tension” world tour to D.C. next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Capital One Arena. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.

The show features songs spanning her long career, from 1987 debut single, “The Loco-Motion,” to “Padam, Padam” from her album, “Tension.”

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