2024/2025

The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater

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The year 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Brazil. Join PCE this November for a bicentennial celebration that showcases two centuries of incredible music from South America, from the earliest works by composers native to Brazil to a world premiere commission by André Mehmari, a leading figure on the Brazilian classical scene today. Presented by guest curator Flávio Chamis (composer, conductor, and educator), the concert offers a panoramic view of Brazilian concert music. The program includes a tempestuous classical overture by José Maurício Nunes, the modern and US premiere of Francisco Mignone’s Quadros Amazônicos (an orchestral suite based on myths from the Amazon), Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Bachiana Brasileiras no. 4, a set of popular Brazilian songs performed by DC’s own Elin Melgarejo, and chamber music featuring Latin GRAMMY-nominated violist, Tatjana Mead Chamis.

In this special preview of PostClassical Ensemble's upcoming concert, Amazing Grace: Fire and Light,  PCE Music Director, Angel Gil-Ordóñez, is joined in conversation by Amazing Grace guest curator, composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and soprano Kirsten C. Kunkle. A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, Tate's work express his heritage through music.

Join us for this free event!

Honoring composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate with PCE's American Roots Artist Award

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PCE’s seasonal tradition ringing in the New Year, Amazing Grace, returns with a stirring program of music for chamber orchestra and vocal soloists. Celebrating the universal expression of the human spirit through music, PCE’s annual Amazing Grace prompts a living BIPOC composer to curate a concert of music they connect with deeply, as well as sharing their own work. In January, American Indian composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate takes PCE on a journey of fire and light in a program featuring selections from his moving cantata Standing Bear and Lowak Shoppala’ (Fire and Light), a work expressing Tate’s Chickasaw heritage through music, among others. The concert also includes Samuel Barber’s dreamlike Knoxville: Summer of 1915 performed by Mvskoke soprano, Kirsten C. Kunkle.

Oboist James Austin Smith, praised by the New York Times for his "virtuosic, dazzling, and brilliant performances," joins members of PostClassical Ensemble in a program of virtuoso works for oboe and strings. Conducted by Angel Gil-Ordóñez, the program includes oboe repertoire from the Baroque to today, with music by Tomaso Albinoni, Florence Price, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Luciano Berio. PCE's string ensemble will also perform DC native George Walker’s deeply moving Lyric for Strings and Smith will present a stirring solo piece by Guggenheim Fellow and Rome Prize winner Suzanne Farrin. The program concludes with GRAMMY award-winning composer Kevin Puts’s Oboe Concerto No. 1.

The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater

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Italian composer Nino Rota is perhaps best known for his unforgettable Academy Award-winning original score composed for Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic masterpiece The Godfather. Our season finale will celebrate this gem as well as others from La Strada, Amarcord, and Romeo and Juliet. However, Rota’s 150 film scores are just one side of his extraordinarily prolific compositional output. This spring, PCE will paint a full picture of of Rota’s artistry including remarkable yet little-known concert works, such as Concerto for Strings, music from the ballet Le Moliére imaginaire, his Nonetto for chamber ensemble, and his virtuosic concert piece for french horn and orchestra, Castel del monte. This will be a concert you can’t refuse.