2012 is only a week old, but Seattle’s classical music scene is off to a fantastic start for the year with dozens of events around the city. Classical music critics Phillippa Kiraly and Dana Wen weigh in with their picks for this month.
Jan. 13 & 14 — Pacific Musicworks presents a semi-staged performance of Carissimi’s opera The Prophets at St. James Cathedral. This is a rare chance to hear a rare work with a stellar cast.
Jan. 14 – 28 — Seattle Opera performs Verdi’s Attila at McCaw Hall, with the great bass John Relyea in the title role. Experience a modern staging of one of Verdi’s early operas.
Jan. 20 — Who doesn’t love Latin music? Viva la Música at Benaroya Hall features pianist Arnaldo Cohen and the Seattle Symphony performing works by Latin American composers.
Jan. 26 & 28 — Pianist Marc-André Hamelin joins the Seattle Symphony for Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. Also on the program is Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony and a world premiere of a work by Nico Muhly.
Jan. 27 — Marc-André Hamelin and members the Seattle Symphony present a program of Russian quintets at Nordstrom Recital Hall. This is a chance to hear pianist Hamelin performing chamber music.
Jan. 27 — Now in its second season, Seattle Modern Orchestra explores the theme “Layers of Time” at Cornish College of the Arts’ PONCHO Concert Hall.
Jan. 28 — Seattle Baroque Orchestra presents Common Ground at Town Hall, featuring Ingrid Matthews and Byron Schenkman, two of Seattle’s best early music performers. The duo will play a program of inventive 17th century music with repeating bass lines.
Jan. 29 — Innovative string quartet Brooklyn Rider returns to Town Hall with works by Beethoven, Philip Glass, and John Zorn.
