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PERFORMING ARTS
-- Ronni Reich
Wynonna
  Elizabeth Baber was "Her," Brian Cummings was "Him" in American Opera Theater's "Ground" at Georgetown University's Gonda Theater. (By Greg Mcleskey) E-Mail Newsletter
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To satisfy an audience: Perform a stylistic grab bag with something for everyone, or, even harder, show off a specialty so well that the uninitiated become converts. Wynonna did both Friday night at the Kennedy Center.
With 20 No. 1 hits and a loyal entourage of fans, Wynonna is an expert performer. Her banter with a crowd is easy, and her voice -- clear and penetrating with just enough growl to secure tough country gal status -- is instantly recognizable. Still, this was the "fancy schmancy" Kennedy Center, she said, an arena not quite used to twang. As she sent the raw, plaintive ballad "Is It Over Yet?" soaring through the Concert Hall, one wondered if a performance of "La Boheme" might have left more dry eyes. After she had to gently ask standing, cheering audience members to quiet down so she could continue.
Wynonna was truly in her element with signatures like "She Is His Only Need" and "Love Can Build a Bridge," which she had performed with her mother as part of the Judds. She was just as committed to cross-over material, notably standards such as "Almost Like Being in Love." "I Wanna Know What Love Is" taxed the extremes of Wynonna's range and a countrified "Change the World" was a bit hard to reconcile, but she nailed "At Last," milking the effect of harp glissandi for a bravura finish.
The concert opened with a preview of the NSO Pops season, led by Marvin Hamlisch in a gregarious, splashy style that suggested a score covered with exclamation points. The enthusiasm was infectious.
The next pops concert will be Sept. 27-29, with Roberta Flack.
-- Ronni Reich
Kronos Quartet
The University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center kicked off its fall season Friday evening with a performance by the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet, the first of several events the group will present during an extensive residency.
This concept concert, titled "Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11," featured 13 far-ranging numbers, old and new, played without pause. For three decades the Grammy-winning Kronos has been pushing envelopes; the ensemble is the gold standard of eclecticism and anything-goes experimentalism.
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