Brain Food
1. “Don Quixote”: The Washington Ballet presents this famous work, full of Spanish flair, passion and comedy. Based on the original Cervantes novel and originally choreographed by Marius Petipa, this work is a new staging by the internationally renowned Anna-Marie Holmes.
Where: Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 15 to 17; 2:30 p.m. Oct. 17; 1 and 5:30 p.m. Oct. 18
Info: $52 to $125; 202-467-4600; kennedy-center.org
2. Cornel West: The provocative Princeton University professor, culture critic, social justice advocate and author of “Race Matters” speaks about his new book, “Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.”
Where: Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St. NW
When: 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 15
Info: Free; 202-387-7638; busboysandpoets.com
3. “Les Arts Florissants”: Opera Lafayette performs Charpentier’s allegory in which Music, Poetry, Architecture and Painting are first threatened by Discord, and then allowed to flourish again with the arrival of Peace. Opera Lafayette’s concert performance with dance of this exquisite “Idyll en Musique” features soprano Nathalie Paulin and baritone William Sharp, with choreography by New York Baroque Dance Company Artistic Director Catherine Turocy. In French with English translations.
Where: Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE
When: 3 p.m. Oct. 18
Info: $2; kids free; 202-399-7993; atlasarts.org
4. “Next Generation Green Technologies”: Metropolis magazine challenged designers to “fix our energy addiction” in this year’s Next Generation competition. Susan Szenasy, Metropolis’s editor-in-chief, presents the prize-winning submissions and discusses the power of problem solving through design thinking.
Where: National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW
When: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20
Info: $12 members, $20 non-members, $12 students; 202-272-2448; nbm.org
5. ‘The Dead’: An adaptation of James Joyce’s famous short story, which follows Irishman Gabriel Conroy as he takes his wife to a lively holiday party hosted by his two aunts. As Conroy observes his surroundings and hears others’ tales of love, loss, change and longing, he meditates on what it means to be an Irishman and a human.
Where: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 16 and 23; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18; 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 and 22; 2 and 8 p.m. Oct. 24.
Info: $26, $9 students; 301-405-2787; claricesmithcenter.umd.edu
Galleries
1. Robert Bergman: Portraits 1986-1995: Portraitist Bergman switched from stark monochrome to color in the 1980s. These 33 monumental portraits, made without special lighting, are culled from a recent gift to the gallery of 90 color portraits, most of them never previously exhibited.
Where: National Gallery of Art, Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW
When: Through Jan. 10, 2010
Info: Free; 202-737-4215; nga.gov
2. Brain Storm: Chinese artist Jennifer Wen Ma, who worked on the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games among other high-profile projects, opens a new video projection with sound inspired by Chinese ink landscape painting. The viewer “walks” through different climates and seasons in a dynamic new take on time-based painting writ large.
Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW
When: Through Jan. 3, 2010
Info: $12, $10 for students and seniors 62 and older; phillipscollection.org
3. Edward Burtynsky: Oil: Fifty-six large-format color landscape photographs from Edward Burtynsky, the Canadian photojournalist who has traveled the globe for more than a decade to document the way our primary energy source has shaped the course of history.
Where: The Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW
When: Through Dec. 13
Info: $10, $8 students/seniors/military, $6 museum members and children ages 6 and under; 202-639-1700; corcoran.org
4. Andrew Wodzianski: House : William Caste’s 1959 horror film “The House on Haunted Hill” is the creative springboard for these paintings freely appropriating imagery as well as audience-participation gimmickry from that schlock classic. Gallery visitors can partake of a scavenger hunt, and on Friday, Oct. 30, a costume party will celebrate both Halloween and Wodzianski’s spooky triumph.
Where: Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW
When: Through Nov. 7
Info: Free; 202-315-1305; flashpointdc.org
5. Ron Haynie: Playing with Light:American University alumnus and former professor Haynie returns to demonstrate his mastery of paint as material, as light, as hue, space, gesture, potential energy and feeling in this extraordinary collection.
Where: The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
When: Through Oct. 25
Info: Free; 202-885-1300; american.edu/cas/katzen/museum
Gatherings
1. Bethesda Row Arts Festival: This is the 12th annual arts festival, where some of the nation’s finest artists and crafters gather, selected for their originality and the quality of their art. In addition to seeing 10,000 pieces of art — including photography, jewelry, ceramics, drawings, paintings, metalwork, fiber, prints and sculpture — you will be helping to benefit kids through the National Institutes of Health’s Children’s Charities.
Where: Bethesda Row, Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues, Bethesda
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 17 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 18
Info: Free; 301-816-6958; bethesdarowarts.org
2. Tall Tall Trees: Tall Tall Trees began in 2006 as a side project for singer/songwriter Mike Savino, drummer Mathias Kunzli and guitarist Kyle Sanna in New York City. The band crafts intricate arrangements around Savino’s songs, which tell stories of love, money, time and space.
Where: Millennium Stage, Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW
When: 6 p.m. Oct. 15
Info: $32; 202-467-4600; kennedy-center.org
3. The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise: One of the best known African-American art studios provides about 100 photographs taken locally over the last century. These photos form a vivid portrait of black Washington, D.C., in all its guises — its challenges and its victories, its dignity and its determination.
Where: National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
When: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; through Nov. 15
Info: Free; 202-633-1000; americanhistory.si.edu
4. “The Man from London”: Transforming a Georges Simenon mystery novel into a haunting art film is a task meant for virtuoso auteur Bela Tarr. A morose dock worker silently watches the clandestine transfer of a briefcase full of British bills. As his minimal plot unfolds, Tarr creates a series of mesmerizing tableaux.
Where: East Building Concourse Auditorium, National Gallery of Art, 600 Constitution Ave. NW
When: 4 p.m. Oct. 17
Info: Free; 202-737-4215; nga.gov
5. From Sheep to Shirt: Learn to card wool, spin yarn, use natural plant-based and fungi-based dyes, and the basics of weaving and crocheting as you explore many aspects of the fascinating fiber wool. Three consecutive classes.
Where: Fort C. F. Smith Park, 2411 N. 24th St., Arlington
When: 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 19, 26, Nov. 2
Info: $45, registration necessary at 703-228-4747; information at 703-228-3404.
Music
1. National Symphony Orchestra: Lorin Maazel conducts his composition “The Giving Tree,” with the Shel Silverstein text narrated by his wife, the actress Dietlinde Turban Maazel, in her NSO debut. Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg performs Barber’s Violin Concerto and the orchestra plays “Night on Bald Mountain” by Mussorgsky and Franck’s “Symphony in D minor.”
Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall
When: 7 p.m. Oct. 15, 8 p.m. Oct. 16 and 17
Info: $20 to $85; 202-456-4600; kennedy-center.org
2. Cathedral Choral Society: J. Reilly Lewis, celebrating his 25th year as CCS music director, conducts the choir and soloists in Verdi’s “Requiem.”
Where: Washington National Cathedral
When: 4 p.m. Oct. 18
Info: $20 to $80; 202-537-2228; cathedralchoralsociety.org. Free preconcert lecture by Paul Bachmann of Sirius XM Radio at 2:30 p.m. in Perry Auditorium on the seventh floor.
3. The Canadian Brass: The Discovery Series celebrates Founder’s Day with the classiest brass players around.
Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 16
Info: $40; 877-965-3872; wolftrap.org
4. Stanley Clarke Trio: The revolutionary bassist joins forces with musical icons drummer Lenny White and pianist Hiroimi Uehara for an evening of jazz fusion.
Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 15
Info: $45; 877-965-3872; wolftrap.org
5. Nick Lowe: The British songwriter/producer and pop-rock artist performs favorites from the “Brentford Trilogy” and “The Best of Nick Lowe” for an evening of wit sparked by a rollicking mix of country, pop, jazz and R&B.
Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18
Info: $30; 877-965-3872; wolftrap.org
Also worth noting:
6. Christopher O’Riley: NPR host of “From the Top” and versatile pianist interprets rock songs by Radiohead and Nirvana and classical crossover surprises with intrepid know-how.
Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17
Info: $25; 877-965-3872; wolftrap.org
7. Murray Perahia: WPAS presents the artistry of the pianist Time magazine calls “one of the century’s greatest” in works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin.
Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall
When: 4 p.m. Oct. 17
Info: $35 to $95; 202-785-9727
Theater
1. “Adding Machine: A Musical”: An adaptation of Elmer Rice’s 1923 Expressionist play, “The Adding Machine,” which is about Mr. Zero, who is stuck in a dead-end accounting job. After losing that job to a machine that can do his work faster and more cost-effectively, Mr. Zero’s life swirls into chaos. A collaboration by Joshua Schmidt and Jason Loewith, this musical reflects the original play’s period influences (early 20th-century Modernists, Tin Pan Alley and gospel), evoking a complex image of American life in the 1920s.
Where: Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW, Stage 4
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27; through Nov. 1
Info: $57 to $71; 202-332-3300; studiotheatre.org
2. International Festival of Hispanic Theatre: “El Insomnio Americano”: Teatro de la Luna begins its 12th International Festival of Hispanic Theatre with a comic and touching production starring Colombian actor Saulo Garcia, who portrays the arrival in the United States of thousands of immigrants from all over Latin America. Following productions come from Argentina, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and the U.S. Through Nov. 21. See Web site for details. In Spanish with English surtitles.
Where: Theater Two, Gunston Arts Center, 2700 S. Lang St., Arlington
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 15 to 17; 3 p.m. Oct. 17
Info: $25 to $30; festival pass: $60 to $150; teatrodelaluna.org
3. The Inkwell: 2009 Inkubator Festival: This festival shines light on new work from across the country, from first draft to 20th. Melissa Blackall’s biting play “The F Word” examines our body-obsessed culture. [Playwright Showcase: “Language on the Edge” featuring readings from five plays at 3 p.m. Oct. 17].
Where: H Street Playhouse, 1365 H St. NW
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 15 to 18; 2 p.m. Oct. 18
Info: $10 donation suggested; 202-256-9802; inkwelltheatre.org
4. “Dracula”: Synetic Theatre brings back its production of the famed Dracula story, envisioning it as a vision of “horror and the undying strength of the human spirit.”
Where: Synetic Theatre, Rosslyn Spectrum, 1611 N. Kent St., Rosslyn
When: Opens Oct. 16; 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; through Nov. 15
Info: $15 to $45; 800-494-8497; synetictheatre.org
5. “Red Roses and Petrol”: Fishamble’s monthly play-reading series presents the story of a family reunited for the funeral of the father-husband of the clan. A funny, poignant and honest exploration of one family’s secrets.
Where: Solas Nua, Flashpoint, 916 G St., NW
When: 7 p.m. Oct. 19
Info: Free; 202-315-1305; solasnua.org
