Journeys along distinctive soundscapes

Composed in 1853, for her husband Robert’s forty-third birthday, a listener detects hints of personal glances and smiles between two people very much in love. The work opens with a wisp of gypsy pathos that glides into a nod to Robert’s first violin sonata, which he had dismissed as not equal to what he could aspire to. I admit to wondering what it is Robert thought about this ‘nod’ as the second romance, marked ‘Allegretto,’ becomes more wistful with a recurrence of energetic arpeggios, as piano and violin play against and along with each other. While the third movement echoes the first, we’re introduced to a remarkable set of melodies that allows us to enjoy the pianist’s bubbling accompaniment. Throughout, the melding of the two instruments is a pure example of Romanticism, representative of Clara’s songs that explore and share her emotions.

Park and Martin immediately looped into Florence Price's “Adoration,” originally written for organ in church services. Transcribed for violin and piano, their close playing enfolded us within the song’s lush, lyrical melodies.  An influential figure in Chicago's Black Renaissance, Price, as with Clara, is being rescued from an imposed obscurity. The Ronen has played a major role in programming under-the-radar works throughout its 39-year tenure. They’ve also brought our attention to works that have an intriguing backstories. 

Claude Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” composed in 1894, was Debussy’s first full-blown work of musical impressionism, inspired by Stephane Mallarmé’s poem, L’Apres-midi d’un Faune, initially published in 1875 and revised in 1876, “which had shocked the literary world with its emphasis on ambiguity, sensuousness, and symbolism,” cites Willard J. Hertz. 

But more so, it dismayed Mallarmé, who believed “it was a veritable crime as far as poetry was concerned to juxtapose poetry and music, even if it were the finest music there is.”

To the poet’s credit, he accepted the invitation to attend the premiere, after which Mallarmé wrote to Debussy: "I have just come out of the concert, deeply moved. The marvel! Your illustration of the Afternoon of a Faun, which presents no dissonance with my text, but goes much further, really, into nostalgia and into light, with finesse, with sensuality, with richness. I press your hand admiringly, Debussy. Yours, Mallarmé.”

Composer Pierre Boulez considered the score to be the beginning of modern music, because  "the flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music."[

With Joel Smirnoff conducting the ensemble, the opening flute solo by Alistair Howlett conjured up the languorous heat of a summer afternoon and set the scene for the subsequent musical themes introduced by woodwinds, followed by delicate but harmonically advanced accompaniment of muted horns, strings and harp, with the clarinet and oboes playing off the flute and in general creating scenes within scenes. 

The arrangement for eleven players from Debussy’s original small orchestra scoring came about in 1920 when Arnold Schoenberg designated his pupil Bruno Sachs to score a chamber orchestra arrangement.

Prior to that Vaslav Nijinsky created a ballet in 1912, followed by a new version by Jerome Robbins in 1958, that came after Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain, in which a recording of Debussy’s music leads the protagonist Hans Castorp to daydream about a faun…

Keep flute playing in mind …

Closing with Johannes Brahms’ Serenade No. 2 in A, Op. 16 for Winds and Strings, The Ronen looped us back to Clara and Robert Schumann and reminded me May 7, 2023 is Brahms 190th birthday. 

Composed during 1858 and 1859, Serenade No. 2, without violins, develops “a particularly warm, dusky—we might even say Brahmsian—tone; light, largely sunny, even folksy,” observed Jan Swafford, particularly bringing our attention to ’the Robert Schumann effect’ that ultimately changes everything for Brahms. (I commend Swafford’s excellent “Johannes Brahms: A Biography”)

In 1853, at age twenty, Brahms knocked on the door of Robert and Clara Schumann in Düsseldorf, introduced himself, and played them a few of his pieces, relating the biography. That night Robert wrote in his journal: “Visit from Brahms (a genius).” Shortly after, Schumann published an article that called this young student the coming savior of German music—saving it, that is, from what Schumann saw as the vandalisms of Wagner and Liszt, who had turned away from Classical forms and genres. Brahms, Schumann declared, is “a real Beethovener.”

The first movement, Allegro moderato, exudes charm; the second, Scherzo: Vivace, becomes jaunty; at the fulcrum, adagio non troppo turns somber, at times sorrowful; but the fourth takes us into a dance-like Quasi menuetto before closing as a dashing Rondo: Allegro.

The special treat with this chamber orchestra work was a gathering, on stage, of so many players from across the years appearing in small ensemble works. The entire program, on April 11, 2023, indeed exuded a celebratory “Spring Serenade” to applaud Ingrid and David Bellman for founding The Ronen Chamber Ensemble in the Fall of 1983. 

More on that awaits another column. For now, we’re committed to remark on the ISO programs on April 14-15, and the ICO program on April 15.

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James Johnson, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra CEO, introduced the Friday evening program as part of the ongoing Bicentennial Celebration of Diplomatic Relations between Mexico and the United States. [Presentado en alianza con el Consulado de México en Indianápolis como parte de la Celebración del Bicentenario de las relaciones diplomáticas entre México y Estados Unidos.]

This collective history goes back to December 2, 1823, when President James Monroe addressed Congress to articulate the United States’ policy on the new political order developing in ‘The Americas’ and the role of Europe in the Western Hemisphere. The three main concepts of what we refer to as “The Monroe Doctrine” defines separate spheres of influence for the Americas and Europe, namely: non-colonization and non-intervention. This doctrine was designed to signify a clear break between the New World and the autocratic realm of Europe. By the mid-1800s, Monroe’s declaration, combined with ideas of Manifest Destiny, provided precedent and support for US expansion on the American continent. Now, there are over 40 million US citizens of Mexican heritage living in the United States, and millions of Americans are living in and traveling to Mexico every year. Our countries enjoy a unique shared history, heritage, and culture. Two centuries later, Ken Salazar was sworn in as United States Ambassador to Mexico on September 2, 2021. In 1998, Mr. Salazar was elected as Colorado Attorney General and became the first Latino ever elected to statewide office in Colorado.

Indianapolis figures prominently within this story. The Indiana Historical Society blog relates:

“In November of 2002 at Union Station in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana’s first and only foreign consulate would open its doors to support Mexican citizens. However, this is not the first time in Indiana’s history that there existed a foreign consulate office in Indiana. On that day, no one realized this history began 95 years earlier. On October 7, 1907, Colonel Russell Benjamin Harrison of Indianapolis formally accepted his nomination from Mexican President General Porfirio Diaz to serve as vice-consul of Mexico. The exequatur was delivered by US President Theodore Roosevelt. 

Russell was from a prestigious political lineage as the son of President Benjamin Harrison, great-grandson of President William Henry Harrison; also served as governor of the Indiana Territory and great-great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison; signer of the Declaration of Independence. Additionally, he served during the Spanish-American War (April 21-December 10, 1898) and during that time was appointed the inspector general of Puerto Rico. His 1907 acceptance letter to General Porfirio Diaz was published in Indianapolis newspapers and surrounding areas.

[See: https://indianahistory.org/blog/the-early-beginnings-of-the-mexican-consulate-in-indiana-1907-1927/

Learn about Indiana’s 34 place names with a Mexico connection at Nicole Martinez-LeGrand’s Indiana Historical Society blog: https://indianahistory.org/blog/why-is-there-a-mexico-indiana-and-other-questions-answered/. Also read her recently published IHS Press book, Hoosier Latinos: A Century of Struggle, Service, and Success, co-authored with Daniel Gonzales.

When you are at The Hilbert Circle Theatre for your next ISO program, plan time to walk around the Soldiers Sailors Monument to read the inscription ‘Dedicated to Indiana Volunteers During the War with Mexico, 1902’ at one of the stations. This conflict followed the US 1846-1848 war with Mexico. Contention and community invite reflection.

The April 14 and 15 “Latin Fire” ISO POPS program continues forward as well from September 14, 2021, “Celebrating Our Bicentennials: The Consummation of Mexican Independence and the Establishment of the City of Indianapolis” event at Central Library, with Consul Luis Franco, Head Consul of Mexico in Indianapolis,  Governor Holcomb, and Mayor Hogsett.  The Consulate of Mexico in Indianapolis is a representation of the Government of Mexico based in our city since November 2002. Besides the Consular services given to the Mexican community abroad, the Consular Representation promotes culture, education, and civic celebrations. The event included presentations by the Flag Corps of the USA and Mexico and performances by the Marian University Orchestra, Mariachi Band, and Ballet Folclórico Macehuani.

The program opened with the ISO playing “El Cumbanchero," about a fun-loving bongo player whose ‘ri-ki-ti’ bom bom bom bom ba… engenders high school marching band routines, and immediately got us moving in our seats. The second act also opened with a Rafael Hernandez  rumbita, “Cachita.” Over the course of the program we met a gallery of composers whose songs share a sampling of humanity, brought forward by Jose Sibaja on an array of trumpets and by vocalist Mónica Ábrego, who can switch from operatic bravura to Latin Pop with nary a pause. 

Rafael Hernández, an early émigré to East Harlem from his native Puerto Rico, is credited with developing the Latin music community in America during the 1920s and '30s through his popular songwriting and his leading of a string quartet. In 1917, Hernández was working as a musician in North Carolina when the United States entered World War I. The jazz bandleader James Reese recruited brothers Rafael and Jesús Hernández and 16 more Puerto Ricans to join the United States Army's Harlem Hell Fighters musical band. Assigned to the US 369th Infantry Regiment, they served in France, gaining the French Croix de Guerre for battlefield gallantry. Hernández was the Honorary President of the Authors and Composers Association. He was also the founder of little league baseball in Puerto Rico. President John F. Kennedy christened him "Mr. Cumbanchero".

Each of the other twelve songs on the program lured me into fulsome stories as I checked them out online once home and, while in my seat at Circle Theatre, each sent me back to high school Spanish to decipher meanings and recall when first I heard them. Spanish Harlem was part of my childhood. Over the years, along with traditional songs and dances, new works have been created for the stage to distinctly represent every state of Mexico.

Mónica Ábrego brought this to our attention as she appeared in representative gowns, their fabric and styling delineating a definitive storytelling slant, including Juan S. Garrido’s 1945 story of  “Pelea de Gallos,” in praise of the famous Feria de San Marcos in the state of Aguascalientes and their famous cockfights. With "Júrame" (Promise Me), composed by María Grevera, Ábrego turned a habanera-bolero  cum love story into a full-scale adventure. She first appeared in a silver over blue gown to share the traditional “La Llorona” and Vinicio Mezo’s “Lucia.” 

José Sibaja at the top introduced us to the adventures of a sparrow raiding a stash of cornmeal, and brought us into further storytelling with Ary Barroso’s “Aquarela do Brasil” and the well-known Consuelo Velazquez  “Beseme Mucho,” joining with the ISO players and Abrego as he showcased a spectrum of trumpets all the way to the spectacular rendition of Bizet’s “Carmen Suite” with everyone on board, including conductor Enrico Lopez-Yanez with a zestful rendition of the bull in combat as part of his arrangement. Though not credited on the printed program, most of the works played are arrangements by either or by Lopez-Yañez or by José Sibaja, whose arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona’s sweeping “Malaguena” brought more rounds of applause. Sibaja most recently was at The Palladium as a member of Boston Brass, which includes  Jeff Conner on trumpet, Chris Castellanos on French horn, Lance LaDuke on trombone and euphonium and Andrew Hitz on tuba. 

Throughout, the ISO players were fully invested under Lopez-Yañez’s baton. 

Enrico Lopez-Yañez is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville Symphony, where he leads the Symphony’s Pops Series and Family Series, becoming known for his unique style of audience engagement. As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, Lopez-Yañez curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences. An enthusiastic proponent of innovating the education concert experience, his exciting concerts “breathe new, exuberant life into classical programming for kids and families,” as cited by Nashville Parent Magazine, and as “something that needs to become the new norm in educational programming,” according to the Lima Symphony.

See: https://www.enricolopezyanez.com/projects

This sentiment of expanding the audience base popped up again at the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra concert when students with El Sistema Indy filled a section of the lobby at the Schrott Center for the Arts.  A group of educators and musicians in Indianapolis joined together in December 2019 to launch a pilot program of free ensemble music education for children in the city.  The inspiration for this program, ”El Sistema," was founded by Jose Abreu in Venezuela in 1975, spreading worldwide.  In the United States, El Sistema USA 's mission is "to effect social change through music for children with the fewest resources and the greatest need." El Sistema Indianapolis is a member of El Sistema USA. “Our goal is to provide ensemble music education to youth in central Indiana who lack access to music education and to support their development of the social and emotional skills and habits of mind they need to lead successful lives,” reads the statement on this website:  https://www.elsistemaindianapolis.org/news

The players took us on several musical journeys, including a spirited rendition of of Duke Ellington’s ‘C Jam’ and a set of soloists improvising alongside ‘the band.’ 

With this upbeat interlude, and once again stopping to enjoy the ballet costumes on display, I was pumped for the “Musical Postcard” by the ICO players, promising a program that extended the dance-inspired Latin America touchdown from the evening before at the ISO. The program notes draw attention to Manuel de Falla’s compositions achieving “a masterful fusion of poetry, stoicism and panache that has become synonymous with the spirit of Spain, “ and connects his  “Tree-Cornered Hat Suite #1” with Sergei Diaghilev and a commissioned ballet in 1916. Sans dancers actually being on stage, the ICO players with Matthew Kraemer conducting, charmingly visualized the progression from suspense to enactments of characters who are thrust into something to which we must pay attention; it’s a tale about a Miller and his Wife and the ‘Vulgar Magistrate’ who believes he is above the law.

A century later, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, commissioned 2012 Pulitzer Prize recipient Kevin Puts to create a special work that Adam Walker premiered with the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. For us attending the ICO a decade later,  flutist Demarre McGill savored the opening melody, built on a simple three-note motive, and marked ‘with great sincerity and affection; flexible, with motion.’ While I am aware, it’s a song honoring Betty and Joe Hirsch, whose story is endearing, I admit to taking ownership, as well.

 McGill then guided us into the moderately slow ‘Andante’ that composer Puts describes as a glyph of Mozart, transforming into his own voice “a major chord repeated in triplets, a simple bass-line played pizzicato, and a melody floating above…” It was totally stunning in the seamless fusion between McGill and the ICO players. Brevity moved us into a more luxurious time frame  despite the marking for ‘very fast, with tremendous energy.’ The third movement dialogue between McGill and what I best can describe as a merry band of winds, brass, and percussion brought us to our feet. The ICO was ‘all in’. 

McGill closed the first half with a special encore, “Principal Brothers #1,” composed in 2020 by James Lee III, whose online program note reads: “The year 2020 has definitely been a very challenging year with many upheavals. During this time of the COVID-19 health crisis, wearing masks, and high racial tensions, I decided to compose four short solo woodwind works for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, which represent the core woodwind section in an orchestra. I was inspired to compose these short pieces after I first heard Igor Stravinsky’s three short pieces for clarinet, which totals a little more than four minutes in duration. I thought that it would be nice to highlight and honor my African-American male colleagues in the orchestral music world. I wanted to celebrate the fact that they are the principal player in the section of their respective orchestras. The short pieces are as follows: Principal Brother No. 1 for flute solo for Demarre McGill, Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Principal Brother No. 2 for oboe solo for Titus Underwood, Principal Oboe of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Principal Brother No. 3 for clarinet solo for Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, and Principal Brother No. 4 for bassoon solo for Bryan Young, Principal Bassoon of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. These works all begin with notes that are representative of their name; D for Demarre, B for Titus (ti in solfège starting on C), A for Anthony, and Bb for Bryan. There is also a rhythmic figure in the opening measures of each piece, which represent the utterance of their names. All four of these works are rhapsodic in nature with elements of improvisation.” 

Winner of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and a substantial list of more awards, Demarre McGill, is the principal flutist of the Seattle Symphony and associate professor of flute at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory. A Chicago native, In May 2012, McGill and his brother, Anthony McGill, performed the world premiere of Joel Puckett's Concerto Duo for Flute and Clarinet with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra where they began their musical careers. Anthony McGill is the principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic.

Find more here: https://thefluteview.com/2020/06/demarre-mcgill-artist-interview/ ]

ICO players opened the second half of the concert with Uruguayan-American composer Miguel del Aguila’s “Salón Buenos Aires.” Commissioned in 2005, it’s a nostalgic musical trip to 1950s Buenos Aires before social and political instability changed what was considered a joyful way of life. ICO players brought forward an upbeat Samba, a dusky Tango, and what the composer noted as an “Obsessed Milonga.” Once again I was moving in my seat, as a carry-over from the ISO concert.

And then ICO players shifted me to the interior of Europe, into the heart of Romania, where I am surrounded by the tall, steep cliffs of the Carpathians. ‘Transylvania’ conjures up an image of “on the other side of the woods,” a fictional, mysterious land of bloodthirsty vampires and howling wolves, or more recently associated with the film “Hotel Transylvania.”  However, it’s a real place, despite stories that make us think otherwise. 

Gyorgy Ligeti and his mother survived the Holocaust internment camp, which his father and brother did not. On his own, he gained an education and composed, building on the models of Bartók and the few other avant-garde composers of whose music he was able to listen to, but he kept his scores away from the Soviet censors. It was twenty years later, in 1971, that his “Romanian Concerto” finally premiered on August 21, 1971, at the Peninsula Music Festival in the Gibraltar Auditorium, Fish Creek, Wisconsin, with Thor Johnson conducting The Festival Orchestra. Played without separation, the work may be viewed as an autobiographical snapshot. “I grew up in a Hungarian-speaking environment in Transylvania,” he wrote in his notes. “While the official language was Romanian, it was only in secondary school that I learned to speak the language that had seemed so mysterious to me as a child. I was three when I first encountered Romanian folk music, an alpenhorn player in the Carpathian Mountains. . . .” He carries this memory into the second and third movements, with one horn player on stage while another horn player is off stage as an echo. At the Schrott it was thrilling. Opening with a dancerly Andantino, at points discordant. The second movement follows without a break, to draw us into a quick dance that swirls with infectious vigor, and where the layered voices of piccolo, solo violin and a variety of percussion instruments crop up to have us straining to find ‘where is this coming from’? The slow third movement, which is a considerably more complex and subtle composition, features the strings buzzing and ultimately ending with a resounding chord from the full orchestra. 

Thus closed a week of learning about our diverse cultures and our sameness as humanity via instrumental music.

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Coming up with POPS at the ISO:

May 12 & 13, at 8:00 p.m. at the Hilbert Circle Theatre; Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly, the ISO, and special guests Liz Callaway, Beth Leavel, Ben Crawford, Jim Hogan and Katie Swaney pay homage to Broadway’s master composer, Stephen Sondheim, by exploring his collection of music from Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Company, and more. Tickets & information here: https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/event/a-sondheim-tribute/

More events coming up around Indianapolis:

Indianapolis Opera, The Magic Flute, May 5 & 6, at 7:30 p.m., May 7 at 3:30 p.m. 2023, at The Toby Theater at Newfields, 4000 N Michigan Rd, Indianapolis 46208

Love and light always prevail.  Mozart’s enchanting classic, The Magic Flute, will grace The Toby stage this coming May. Follow the harrowing journey of Prince Tamino on his expedition to rescue his true love Pamina from the wrath of none other than dark sorcerer Sarastro. Armed only with a magical flute and bells, Tamino and his quirky comrade Papageno join together to triumph over evil mystic forces beyond their understanding. Featuring some of Mozart’s most cherished and recognizable melodies, The Magic Flute will bring joy to audience members of all ages. Our production will feature a world-class multicultural cast, gorgeous music, English dialogue, and plenty of fun! Just be sure to keep an eye out for the Queen of the Night as she hits those famous high notes.

Tickets and info: https://www.indyopera.org/themagicflute.html

Call: 317-283-3531 or email Kenna McWilliams at tickets@indyopera.org.

fyi: The oldest musical instrument in the world, a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal flute, is a treasure of global significance. It was discovered in Divje babe cave near Cerkno and has been declared by experts to have been made by Neanderthals. It is made from the left thigh bone of a young cave bear and has four pierced holes.

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Music and visual art at the Harrison Center at 1505 North Delaware Street, 46202, features “Papel Picado, a Mexican folkloric tradition of paper cutting,” with Beatriz Vasquez’s installation, Recuerdos de Papel, or Ancestral Memory. View it in the Harrison Gallery, read more about this exhibit here, and browse the available pieces on the online gallery.

In the Gallery Annex, Kristi Marsh Watson invites us into her world of experimental painting with 10 Years Gone, a show titled after a song by Led Zeppelin. 

KC King, a recording artist currently studying at Ball State University for her April residency at the Harrison Center, wrote, recorded, produced and performed a track inspired by the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood. "My time with the Greatriarchs inspired the message of the song "When We Commune.” Listen here

Danielle Harrell, a student at IUPUI, during her 2023 internship, created designs to help launch the rebrand of the Harrison Center annual summer music festival Bloombox, including hand-drawn, easy-to-read maps of the building. More here.

Call 317-396-3886; go to: http://harrisoncenter.org 

“Now Hear This” with host Scott Yoo, airs Fridays at 9:00 p.m., on WFYI-public tv. Scott Yoo, as a violinist, won the 1988 Josef Gingold International Violin Competition, now the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. 

April 19, 7:00 p.m., at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 North Meridian Street, 46260, “Join Dr. Michael Sells and Symphonic Choir Artistic Director Eric Stark for a presentation exploring the vivid musical landscape of "Toward a Secret Sky", commissioned by the ISC from world-renowned composer Augusta Read Thomas. Fusing the uplifting poetry of 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi with her vibrant musical palette, "Toward a Secret Sky" is a real “tour de force” for the chorus and symphony orchestra. Punctuated with recorded excerpts from ongoing ISC rehearsals, this presentation will offer a glimpse into Thomas’s musical effervescence, as well as the unique process of commissioning a major work for chorus and orchestra.” 

April 28, at 8:00 p.m., and April 29 at 5:30 p.m., at Hilbert Circle Theatre, 45 Monument Circle, 46204, The Indianapolis Symphonic Choir presents the World Premiere of “Toward A Secret Sky,” by Augusta Reed Thomas. Based on the texts of Rumi, in translations by Coleman Barks, “Toward A Secret Sky,” brings forward ‘the profound beauty and empathy of love.’ Tickets: 317-639-4300; more information: indychoir.org 

April 21, at 5:30 p.m., opening reception for the “Prismatic” art show [continues through May 11] at The Gallery at the Julia M. Carson Learning Resource Center, Ivy Tech Community College, at 2725 North Illinois Street. Free parking.

April  21-22 APA Cole Porter Fellowship Finals is showcasing Caelan Cardello, Esteban Castro, Paul Cornish, Thomas Linger, and Isaiah J. Thompson.  Past winners include Emmet Cohen (2019), Sullivan Fortner (2015), Aaron Diehl (2011), Dan Tepfer (2007), Adam Birnbaum (2004), Aaron Parks (2001), Jesse Green (1998), Rick Germanson (1996), Kevin Bales (1994) and Jim Pryor (1992).

April 21,  Club Finals are at 6:30 p.m. & 9:00 p.m., at The Cabaret, with Kenny Phelps on drums and Nick Tucker on bass.

April 22 at 8:00 p.m., for the Gala Finals at Hilbert Circle Theatre, the Five Finalists perform new arrangements with the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra and accompany three-time Grammy® Award-winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant.

 Find previous events posts here:

https://www.americanpianists.org/live?utm_source=88keys-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=202304-apr&bbeml=tp-ybCkWfJ08USfvsXgTH1-Ow.jgoDlupFa0US6hYUApSapsQ.rM41IpZECskGGs05LUyXEhQ.lKWlD6WDzPEWVIbgG8SHmuw

April 29, at 7:00 p.m., StorytellingArts and the Indiana Historical Society present “Mother Earth” featuring Heather Forst and Beth Horner. Tickets: www.StorytellingArts.org 

April 29, 8:00 p.m., Michael Feinstein “Celebrates the Judy Garland Centennial” at The Palladium at The Center for the Performing Arts, 1 Carter Green, Carmel, 46032. 

tickets: 317-843-3800

April 30, 2:30 p.m., at The Eugene and Marilyn Glick History Center, 450 West Ohio Street, 46202, Festival Music Society of Indianapolis Early Music, presents “Flights of Fancy: Virtuoso Music of the Seventh Century,” with Alan Choo, violin; Brian Kay, archlute; a Qin Ying Tan, Harpsichord. Free to attend.  For information about the 57th Indianapolis Early Music Festival, June 23-July 23, 2023, go to: www.IEMusic.orgor call 317-537-2458.

May 3, 7:30 p.m., at the History Center, 450 West Ohio Street, Ensemble Music Society of Indianapolis presents the Jerusalem Quartet playing Mendelssohn’s Quartet in E Minor, Webern’s Langsamer  Satz and Tchaikovsky’s Quartet No.1 in D Major. Tickets: ensemblemusic.org 

May 9, 7:30 p.m., at The Cabaret, 924 North Pennsylvania Street, International Violin Competition of Indianapolis presents “An Evening with violinist Charles Yang [2023 Grammy-winning trio Time for Three] and pianist Peter Dugan” in a cross-over of musical styles. Tickets: www.violin.org; 317-637-4574

May 13, 7:30 p.m., at Schrott Center for the Arts, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra presents a concert version of Beethoven’s opera “Fidelio.” Tickets: icomusic.org