Critic’s Choice
There are few true piano daredevils these days, and perhaps none sets the bar as high as Marc-André Hamelin. In his upcoming concert in the Barns at Wolf Trap, Hamelin takes several pages out of the Liszt playbook, playing that composer’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13, “Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude” from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, and Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H. He adds to that Samuil Feinberg’s Sonata No. 4, Debussy’s first book from Images, and Godowsky’s Strauss pastiche Wine, Women and Song 7:30 p.m. Friday. Wolftrap.org
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A chance meeting on a trans-Atlantic flight led to an unusual collaboration between actor Bill Murray and cellist Jan Vogler. They put together a program meant to give a glimpse into the creative life of America when it was premiered at the Dresden Music Festival last summer. Now they have taken their act on the road, with recited excerpts of Twain, Hemingway, Whitman, and Cooper alongside music by Bernstein, Gershwin, and Foster. Violinist Mira Wang, who happens to be married to Vogler, and pianist Vanessa Perez join for the Washington performance 8 p.m. Sunday in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. kennedy-center.org; 202-467-4600