Concerts from the Library of Congress, 2013–2014

Extraordinary Artists. Extraordinary Audiences.

“Presenting the world's best artists” —The Washington Post

Memorable concerts in one of the world's best venues, inside one of the country's most beautiful public buildings, with the world's largest music collection as a guide. 2013-2014 offers an exciting year of stellar concerts—classical, pop, country, jazz, Americana, rock bluegrass and musical theater. A multichannel experience unavailable anywhere else—and it's free. Join us for an extraordinary season of great music at the Nation's Library.

Season 88 Highlights

Songs of AmericaOur two-year Songs of America project presents masters of the form, featuring intimate concerts and conversations, insights into the soungwriter's craft, and a look at the arts of the American song today—composer, singer, and pianist Randy Newman, Broadway legend Audra McDonald, rising jazz star Gregory Porter, rock great Graham Nash, bluegrass favorites Steep Canyon Rangers and Dailey & Vincent. And a 3-day Rosanne Cash Residency featuring concerts with her band, a conversation with Natasha Trethewey, the Library's Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, and the premiere of Cash's new album, The River and the Thread.

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Sample a wonderful lineup of superb chamber and keyboard artists: the Casals, Elias, Ebene, and Danish quartets... notable partnerships like the Parker Quartet with violist Kikuei Ikeda... the JACK Quartet and pianist Ursula Oppens... cellist Daniel Müller-Schott and pianist Simon Trpčeski... solo pianist Valentina Lisitsa... and the admirable Scharoun Ensemble Berlin performing the great Schubert Octet in F major.

Serge KoussevitzkyWe celebrate the legacy of conductor Serge Koussevitzky with a special concert including notable commissions from the Koussevitzky Foundation. Distinguished composer and conductor Oliver Knussen curates a brilliant week-long minifestival featuring the formidable Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. The Library premieres two new commissions: a new piano trio from Marc Neikrug and a string quintet from Einojuhani Rautavaara.

To mark the 300th birthday of C.P.E. Bach, the "staggeringly good players" (Los Angeles Times) of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin perform his harmonically inventive concerti against a backdrop of works by J.S. Bach and Handel. Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani plays sonatas from the Library's manuscript sources.

Several of the world's most distinguished period instrument orchestras and ensembles appear with us this year.  Don't miss a marathon performance of all six Bach Brandenburg concerti by the splendid Freiburger Barockorchester—and a unique Founder's Day event offering Gabrieli and Gesualdo from antiphonal brass choirs, followed by the excellent vocal ensemble Blue Heron and Piffaro, the Renaissance Band.CPE Bach 300th Birthday

Check out some new ventures that enliven the concert experience: A new mini-series tracks technology at the edge of science and sound, with guides like Stanford University faculty Mark Applebaum and Ge Wang. Our newly-expanded Counterpoints series highlights the riches of the Library's collections—lectures and conversations, interviews and panels, and noontime  talks by scholars and Music Division curators; Nightcap post-concert chats; and #Declassified, an intriguing series of close encounters with artifacts and ideas, offered in small-format Saturday morning sessions in our studio. Learn more about Counterpoints

Concerts from the Library of Congress

Download the 2013-2014 Concert Season Brochure
(PDF, 14MB)

Oliver Knussen Residency
April 7 - 12, 2014

Oliver Knussen

One of the barons of contemporary music world-wide, composer and conductor Oliver Knussen comes to the Library of Congress for a celebration of his music and career as an advocate of new music. Presently Artist-in-Association with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Knussen curates an eclectic week's worth of concerts and special programs. Learn more