The first concert in the 1999-2000 “Smithsonian at Little Washington”

The first concert in the 1999-2000 “Smithsonian at Little Washington” season will take place on Sunday, Nov. 28, at 3 p.m. when The Theatre at Washington, presents a recital by The Smithsonian Chamber Players.

lb celebrate the “Bach Year” of 2000, the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, the Chambers Players will be presenting two all-Bach programs during this, their eighth season in residence at the Theatre. The November concert features sonatas for violin, oboe, and harpsichord by j.S. Bach, and will contain shorter selections by some of Bach’s sons, as well as a few pieces Bach composed for the instructional use of his family.

Taking place as it does on the last day of the holiday weekend, the concert is appropriately titled “Thanksgiving with the Bach Family.” Details pf three later concerts in the new “Smithsonian at Little Washington” season appear below.

The Nov. 28 concert marks the return to the Theatre of two virtuoso performers from New York, violinist Linda Quan and her oboist husband, Marc Schachman, who will join harpsichordist Kenneth Slowik.

Quan and Schachman were founding members in the 1970s of the Aulos Ensemble, with which they are still active today. They are both accomplished recording artists and teach at Vassar College. They play with several original instrument and other chamber ensembles on both the east and east coasts.

Kenneth Slowik is very familiar to Little Washington audiences. In addition to his keyboard appearances, for many years he has been'known primarily as a cellist and viola da gamba player, particularly for his work with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Castle Trio, Smithson String Quartet and Axelrod String Quartet. He is artistic director of the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin College conservatory, and is the conductor of the Santa Fe Bach Festival.

The second concert in the current season of the Smithsonian at Little Washington will be held Saturday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. The eminent Dutch baritone Max van Egmond, featured on the complete Bach Cantata CD cycle on Teldec records, joins forte pianist Kenneth Slowik in a tribute to Franz Schubert (bom Jari. 31, 1797). The program of songs includes the famous Schwanengesang, or “Swan Song,” a cycle published only after Schubert’s untimely death.

The third concert of the season, on Sunday, Feb. 20, at 3 p.m. is part of the “Brilliance of the Baroque” series by the Smithsonian Chamber Players. It marks the return to Little Washington of James Weaver, harpsichordist and founder of the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and cellist Kenneth Slowik. They will play highlights of their 1999-200Q traversal, at the Smithsonian, of the complete English Suites for Harpsichord and Unaccompanied Cello Suites of J.S. Bach.

The final concert in the series, on Saturday, March 4, at 8 p.m. features Kenneth Slowik as guest forte pianist in a Mozart and Haydn program by the Coolidge Quartet, an exciting young prize-winning ensemble, „ „ now in residence at the University of Maryland, which comprises talent*■- ' ed musicians from Denmark, Australia, Boston, and San Francisco. The program includes Haydn’s Quartet in G Major, Op. 76, No. 1, and two works by Mozart: the Piano Quartet in G minor, and the String Quartet

Edinburgh Quartet

canceled for Nov. 21

The U.S. tour by the Edinburgh Quartet, which was to have begun this month, has been canceled by the Quartet. Because of this cancellation, the concert by the Edinburgh Quartet which was to have taken place at the Theatre at Washington, on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 3 p.m. will not now be held. Chamber music will still be heard in Little Washington this November, however. On Sunday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m., the Theatre at Washington and the Smithsonian Chamber Players present an all Bach program, title “Thanksgiving with the Bach Family.” For further information, phone 675-1253 or send email to TheatreVA@aol.com.