Strathmore Unveils 2007-08 Lineup

Music Center Plans An Eclectic Mix for Its Third Season

La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra will make its area debut in October at the Music Center at Strathmore, the center announced yesterday.

The Italian orchestra is one of the highlights of Strathmore's 2007-08 season, its third in the concert hall. The programs range from the 5 Browns, a family of Juilliard-trained pianists, to the Argentine performance troupe Tango Buenos Aires.

The La Scala appearance on Oct. 10 -- part of the the group's first extended U.S. tour in 20 years -- is supported by several regional cultural organizations. "That was a pie-in-the-sky situation. But we approached the Washington Performing Arts Society and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and all [the] organizations put in resources," said Shelley Brown, Strathmore's vice president of programming.

Strathmore will host several Broadway stars. Patti LuPone will appear on Oct. 5; composer Neil Berg celebrates "100 Years of Broadway" with a revue on Jan. 5; Mandy Patinkin performs on March 1; and Brian Stokes Mitchell serenades on April 4.

This season, Strathmore has had about 48,000 patrons in 29 presentations in the nearly 2,000-seat concert hall and the 110-seat music room in the adjacent mansion.

Baby boomers are getting another chance to relive the past as Three Dog Night will perform on Nov. 2. Jethro Tull follows on Dec. 3. Then the award-winning "Rain: The Beatles Experience" is booked for Nov. 8-9.

This past season, Strathmore sold out every one of its education series offerings -- the programs that provide lessons, master classes and pre-concert chats for children and adults. Last year, it hosted three series with 10 programs in the concert hall. Next year, the center will sponsor at least 12 series with 55 programs.

"We have figured out there is a need that is not being met by the schools or other arts organizations, and that is for low-priced accessible art programs," Brown said. The education programs are being underwritten by a $1 million gift from Jim and Carol Trawick, who founded the Trawick Foundation, a Bethesda fund.

The educational offerings include "Strathmore Strums! With Joe Uehlein," a series on guitar technique. Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer and Betty Scott will show why their folk songs garner Grammys. And local jazz legend Dick Morgan will introduce a class of 15 people to the essentials of jazz singing on four Monday nights.

Strathmore is also producing new work: The center will present "Free to Sing: The Story of the First African-American Opera Company," an evening dedicated to a Washington ensemble that performed in the 1870s. Next month, Strathmore will hold auditions for the production, which is scheduled for February.

The center also will spotlight the work of Opera Lafayette. The local company has rediscovered the work "Zelindor, Roi des Sylphes" -- written by Francois Rebel and Francois Francoeur in 1745 -- and will present that piece on Oct. 4. The New York Baroque Dance Company will appear with the troupe, founded in Washington in 1985.

The 2007-08 season opens on Sept. 20 with a free concert by the recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship Awards, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts.