In Tuesday’s (3/17) Washington Post, Anne Midgette reports, “There are slightly fewer concerts on the Washington Performing Arts Society’s calendar for the 2009-10 season. There will be less jazz, less world music, and—as yet—no dance at all. Some of this is due, of course, to the recession. But on the classical side of the equation, WPAS’s core mission, the reductions also have to do with artists’ availability: Some performers are not touring next season, while other ensembles have been compelled to cancel planned tours altogether.” President Neale Perl’s “assertion that WPAS ‘would never cut back quality’ is supported by the four groups on the Orchestra Series at the Kennedy Center: the New York Philharmonic with Riccardo Muti; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, recently crowned the world’s best orchestra by Gramophone magazine, under Mariss Jansons; the San Francisco Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas; and, of course, wunderkind Gustavo Dudamel, returning for a third WPAS engagement in two seasons, this time with his brand-new orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic.” WPAS will also present The Philadelphia Orchestra at Strathmore under the direction of Charles Dutoit.
Posted March 18, 2009
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