I finally availed myself of a bit of Washington culture that I had been ignoring too long. The Kennedy Center (you know the place - home of the National Symphony Orchestra, looks like it was decorated by Jackie Kennedy, makes you feel like you should be more well-dressed than you are, regardless of the formality of your attire) has something called a Millennium Stage, which hosts free shows every night of the year. You can catch anything from African drumming to Orthodox Jewish bluegrass (honest to goodness - they'll be there on Tuesday). I caught a string sextet made up of National Symphony Orchestra members, and it was terrific. Every note was precisely in place. Oddly, it was the only classical concert I've ever attended where the audience applauded after every movement. Although it's a slight breach of classical music etiquette, I took it as a sign that the audience was not your traditional stuffed shirts, so that means a lot of people are hearing music they wouldn't regularly get to.
And they have performance archive here in case you'd like to catch a peek at those Orthodox bluegrass musicians after Tuesday.
3 comments:
Wow that sounds awesome! I love string quartet music. I think Orthodox Jewish Bluegrass sounds less enticing. Probably means they can't use cat-gut on their strings because cats are kosher.
I don't know what Orthodox Jewish Bluegrass sounds like - thanks for the opportunity of finding out.
Orthodox Jewish Bluegrass...klezmer with a banjo and harmonica?
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