Concerts from the Library of Congress continue a major, 18-month centennial celebration in the 2024-2025 season.
Presenting a vivid and diverse array of concerts and conversations, lectures and film screenings that range across genre and style to mark a century of extraordinary music at the nation’s library.
“Our concerts reinforce our 100-year history and heritage as a significant presenter of the performing arts,” said Susan H. Vita, chief of the Library’s Music Division. “This season brings exceptional artists to the Library of Congress, with vanguard projects that reflect the richness of our collections and connect our past to the audiences and music of today.”
All events are presented free of charge to the public. Fall 2024 events will be listed on the Concerts from the Library of Congress website on Aug. 7 at 10 a.m. ET., with public registration available for September and October on Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. ET. Registration for November and December events will be available Oct. 2 at 10 a.m. ET. After a successful pilot of the Library’s new ticketing system in the spring, concertgoers will receive seat assignments when they register for events beginning this fall.
Space-available admission will continue to be available for each concert with the RUSH pass program. The RUSH program provides space-available admission to concertgoers who were unable to book tickets in advance. RUSH passes are distributed on site two hours prior to concerts and provide space-available seating. Visit loc.gov/concerts for complete ticketing and program information.
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The Library’s Dina Koston and Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music has co-commissioned a work from 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey, to be premiered on Nov. 22 by the Tyshawn Sorey Trio and Sandbox Percussion. Joining an impressive roster of nearly 700 Library of Congress commissions today, his composition is one of a group of commissions marking the centennial, with others to be announced in spring 2025. The work is an homage to the legacy of drummer, composer, and civil rights leader Max Roach, whose collection is held among the Library’s many treasures.
“Henry Mancini at 100” kicks off the season in a sparkling weekend minifestival Sept. 26-28. A spectacular evening with vocalist Monica Mancini (the composer’s daughter), saxophonist Tom Scott, pianist Shelly Berg and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, will share a sampling of Mancini’s unforgettable music for the cinema, television and recordings, performed with excerpts from classic movies like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Victor/Victoria” and “The Pink Panther.” Fans can also experience the Mancini magic in screenings of 15 films during the month of September, to be presented at the Library’s Mary Pickford Theater, James Madison Building, and at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center’s Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia.
“Schoenberg at 150” honors a seminal 20th century figure, presenting several chamber works whose manuscripts are part of the Library’s Arnold Schoenberg Collection. Concertgoers will hear the Quatuor Diotima in a two-day residency whose offerings will include two string quartets commissioned from the composer by the Library’s Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation. The adventurous, Grammy-winning Experiential Orchestra will perform his “Verklärte Nacht,” with text narrated by author and violinist Ling Ling Huang. Paired with these works, the orchestra and violinist Curtis Stewart will perform the Violin Concerto of African American composer Julia Perry, whose music they have championed with concerts and recordings to highlight her career in the centenary of her birth.
On Dec. 18 and 19, the Pacifica Quartet performs two concerts on the Library’s magnificent Stradivari instruments to celebrate the Library’s perennially popular Stradivari Anniversary celebration. The program is the same on both evenings, and the addition of the second performance will enable many more concertgoers to experience the historic instruments in action. The performances will feature George Crumb’s “Black Angels,” Samuel Barber’s Op. 11 quartet, which contains the famous “Adagio for strings” movement, Charles Ives’ String Quartet No. 2 — in celebration of Ives’ centennial — and the “American” quartet, Op. 96, of Antonín Dvořák.
The fall season will showcase a standout jazz lineup, made possible through the generous support of the Revada Foundation of the Logan family. Three concerts feature sensational composer-pianists. Latin jazz legend and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz master Eddie Palmieri appears with his sextet. Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara and her ensemble perform music from her recent “Sonicwonderland” album.
And the fast-rising star Julius Rodriguez, also known as OrangeJulius, will dazzle with virtuosic performances on piano and drums that meld influences from jazz, R&B, gospel and classical music.
The roster of events also brings the Belcea Quartet and the Quatuor Ébène, joining forces for octets by Felix Mendelssohn Octet and George Enescu. Flutist Emi Ferguson and the maverick early music ensemble Ruckus mark the 160th birthday of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge in a Founder’s Day program of music by Telemann and Ligeti. The Danish String Quartet plays Franz Schubert’s final string quartet and other works alongside pieces by the Irish harpist and composer Turlough O’Carolan. The five-voice vocal ensemble amarcord surveys music from Renaissance masters to Bruch and Schubert. Soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan and pianist Bertrand Chamayou partner in a recital of music by Olivier Messiaen, Alexander Scriabin and John Zorn.
And electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick will lead a talk and demonstration on the pathbreaking Buchla 100 synthesizer.
Fall 2024 Programs:
Thursday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m.: Live! at the Library: Screening of “Man’s Favorite Sport?”
The author of a bestselling book on fishing who has never fished is corralled into entering a major fishing tournament. Directed by Howard Hawks, this screwball comedy stars Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss, among others. Henry Mancini composed a score that relies on a sophisticated swinging theme introduced over the opening credits, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer answering the question in the film’s title (“… the favorite sport of man is girls.”) Part of “Henry Mancini at 100.” No tickets are required for this event.
Friday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m.: Screening of “Touch of Evil”
“Touch of Evil” is a 1958 film noir gem, the grim story of a murder in a Mexican border town, featuring Orson Welles – also the film’s director and one of its writers – with Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh. Part of “Henry Mancini at 100.”
Saturday, Sept. 28, 2 p.m.: Lecture: “Heard on the Small Screen: Music in Jack Arnold’s and Henry Mancini’s Episodes of “Peter Gunn””
In a lecture co-presented with the American Musicological Society, Reba Wissner explores how Henry Mancini’s music for “Peter Gunn” helped to shape the television series. Part of “Henry Mancini at 100.”
Saturday, Sept. 28, 4 p.m.: Screening of “Charade”
Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn star in this elegant, Hitchcock-esque romantic thriller featuring a sophisticated Henry Mancini score that vividly evokes the streets and cafés of Paris. Part of “Henry Mancini at 100.”
Saturday, Sept. 28, 8 p.m.: “Henry Mancini at 100”
Scott Flavin conducts a spectacular evening of memorable scores by the composer, performed with projections of excerpts from classic films like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Victor/Victoria” and “The Pink Panther.” Join for a preconcert conversation on the Mancini legacy and the Library’s Henry Mancini Papers at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion. Part of “Henry Mancini at 100.”
Friday, Oct. 18, 8 p.m.: Eddie Palmieri
Experience legendary Latin jazz pianist, born in Spanish Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Eddie Palmieri, a multi-Grammy winner renowned for his innovative blend of jazz and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The evening opens with a short documentary film, “Eddie Palmieri: A Revolution on Harlem River Drive,” that demonstrates how he masterfully fused Latin music with soul, funk and jazz to create a sound that was both politically charged and undeniably danceable.
Presented through the generous support of the Revada Foundation of the Logan family. There will be no pre-concert talk for this event.
Friday, Oct. 25, 8 p.m.: Schoenberg at 150: Quatuor Diotima, Program I
To honor the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s birth, Quatuor Diotima will perform works by Schoenberg and Alban Berg on the Library’s Stradivari instruments. Join for a preconcert lecture by Harvey Sachs, author of “Schoenberg: Why He Matters,” at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion.
Saturday, Oct. 26, 2 p.m.: Schoenberg at 150: Quatuor Diotima, Program II
Celebrate Schoenberg’s 150th birthday with Quatuor Diotima, performing Schoenberg and Korngold in the second of two concerts, performed on the Library’s Stradivari instruments. Join for a pre-concert conversation with the artists at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion.
Wednesday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m.: Emi Ferguson and Ruckus
Acclaimed flutist Emi Ferguson and the rollicking Baroque ensemble Ruckus partner in “By George!” to reimagine music by composers writing 200 years apart. The artists perform their own creative arrangements of Georg Philipp Telemann’s Fantasias, TWV 40:2-13, and György Ligeti’s “Musica ricercata.” Join for a pre-concert conversation with the artists at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion.
Friday, Nov. 8, 8 p.m.: Hiromi’s Sonicwonder
Join renowned Japanese jazz composer and pianist Hiromi Uehara and her ensemble for an electrifying night performing “Sonicwonderland” at the Library of Congress. Presented through the generous support of the Revada Foundation of the Logan family.
Friday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m.: amarcord
The five voices of amarcord take us on a journey half a millennium in the making. Founded over 30 years ago by graduates of the famed Thomanerchor in Leipzig, and equally at home with music old and new, the group performs music by Gabrieli, Marenzio, Josquin, Schütz, di Lasso, Schubert, Bruch, Sametz and others. Join for a pre-concert conversation with the artists at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion.
Saturday, Nov. 16, 8 p.m.: Belcea Quartet and Quatuor Ébène
Two of Europe’s most distinguished string quartets come together to perform monumental works of the chamber music repertoire. Written when both composers were still in their teens, the Mendelssohn and Enescu octets are prodigious creations, symphonic in concept and impact, with gorgeous melodies and rich, multilayered textures. Join for a pre-concert lecture by David Plylar of the Music Division, “Teen Eighngst: The Early String Octet Powerhouses by Felix Mendelssohn and George Enescu.” This concert inaugurates the Sally Hart and Bennett Tarlton McCallum Fund in the Library of Congress.
Wednesday, Nov. 20, 8 p.m.: Danish String Quartet
The exemplary Danish String Quartet performs works by Haydn, Mozart and Stravinsky to frame pieces written more than three centuries years earlier by the blind Irish harper and composer Turlough O’Carolan. Capping their concert is Franz Schubert’s transcendental last quartet. Join for a pre-concert conversation with the artists at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion. This concert is made possible through the generous support of the Sally Hart and Bennett Tarlton McCallum Fund in the Library of Congress.
Friday, Nov. 22, 8 p.m.: “Max Roach at 100: Tyshawn Sorey Trio + Sandbox Percussion”
In this special double-bill concert celebrating the legacy of drummer and composer Max Roach, The Tyshawn Sorey Trio and Sandbox Percussion will each play sets inspired by legendary recordings of Roach and his collaborators. After a break, the groups will join forces to perform a new work by 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tyshawn Sorey, co-commissioned by the Library. Pre-concert conversation with the artists at 6:30 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion.
Wednesday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m.: “Recovering the Extraordinary Life and Songs of Carrie Jacobs-Bond”
In a lecture co-presented with the American Musicological Society, Christopher Reynolds explores the career of Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1861-1946), one of the most successful songwriters in the first half of the 20th century.
Reserve tickets here.
Thursday, Dec. 5, 5 p.m.: Live! at the Library: Morton Subotnick and the Buchla 100
Composer and electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick offers some background and insights into his work with the famed Buchla 100, which he used to create the genre-defining album “Silver Apples of the Moon.” The recently restored Buchla 100 will be on display and demonstrated.
Friday, Dec. 6, 8 p.m.: Schoenberg at 150: Experiential Orchestra
The Experiential Orchestra and violinist Curtis Stewart bring out the eloquence of Julia Perry’s neglected violin concerto. Author and violinist Ling Ling Huang joins the stage as a speaker, presenting new text alongside Richard Dehmel’s original in Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht.” Other works include Irving Fine’s lush “Serious Song: A Lament for String Orchestra” and Alan Hovhaness’ “In Memory of an Artist.” Join for a pre-concert conversation with the artists at 6:30 p.m., Whittall Pavilion. Presented through the generous support of the Verna and Irving Fine Endowment in the Library of Congress.
Friday, Dec. 13, 8 p.m.: Julius Rodriguez
Julius Rodriguez, also known as “OrangeJulius,” at 25 is a prodigious jazz talent blending R&B and classical influences with virtuosic piano and drum performances praised by The New York Times. Presented through the generous support of the Revada Foundation of the Logan family. There will be no pre-concert conversation for this concert.
Monday, Dec. 16, 8 p.m.: Barbara Hannigan, soprano and Bertrand Chamayou, piano
Barbara Hannigan and Bertrand Chamayou perform a spellbinding recital pairing Scriabin piano works with dramatic song cycles by Olivier Messiaen and John Zorn that Hannigan describes as “deeply spiritual, mysterious, tender and ecstatic.” There will be no pre-concert conversation for this concert.
Wednesday, Dec. 18, 8 pm: Pacifica Quartet
The mighty Pacifica Quartet will celebrate the Library’s Antonio Stradivari Anniversary with a pair of concerts designed to give more listeners a chance to hear the fabled instruments in person. The program includes iconic works by Crumb, Barber, Ives, and Dvořák. Join for a pre-concert conversation with the artists at 6:30 p.m., Whittall Pavilion.
Thursday, Dec. 19, 8 p.m.: Pacifica Quartet
In the second of two concerts, the Pacifica repeats the program from Dec. 18. Join for a pre-concert conversation with the artists at 6:30 p.m., Whittall Pavilion.
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Photo credit: 1) Wiki, Eddie Palmieri. 2) Eddie Palmieri: Harlem River Drive Revisited. Youtube.
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