Classical Seattle Symphony A premiere by Sebastian Currier, plus Grieg and Schumann.

April 22, 2015 12:33 am

Classical

Seattle Symphony A premiere by Sebastian Currier, plus Grieg and Schumann. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle, WA 98101 $20 and up Thursday, April 23, 2015, 7:30pm

Simone Dinnerstein Seattle last heard her playing Purcell and Leonard Cohen with Tift Merritt; here she offers Debussy, Poulenc, and Schubert.  Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, UW Campus, Seattle, WA 98105 $40 and up Thursday, April 23, 2015, 7:30pm

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Craig Sheppard In the through-the-looking-glass world of the Soviet Union under Stalin, Dmitri Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano were politically incendiary because they were politically noncommittal. What offended the Soviets so? The cycle’s seeming abstractness. This set of 24 fugues (works that present and develop musical themes via the layering of in[ter]dependent melodic lines), each in a different major or minor key and each prefaced by a free-form prelude, was condemned as “formalist.” But what perceptive listeners noticed in 1951, and what has engrossed pianists and audiences ever since, is the extraordinary wealth of expression Shostakovich evoked within structures of such dazzling complexity and craftsmanship-namely, “the irony, the sarcasm, the tragedy,” as UW pianist Sheppard describes it. Tonight he’ll play the entire set of 24-two and a half hours of music-which he unhesitatingly calls “the greatest solo piano pieces of the 20th century.” GAVIN BORCHERT Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, UW Campus, Seattle, WA 98105 $12-$20 Saturday, April 25, 2015, 7:30pm

Seattle Symphony A premiere by Sebastian Currier, plus Grieg and Schumann. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle, WA 98101 $20 and up Saturday, April 25, 2015, 8pm

Compline Services A half-hour meditation each week with the eight-voice Renaissance Singers. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E. Free Sunday, April 26, 2015, 9:30pm

Compline Services A half-hour meditation each week with the eight-voice Renaissance Singers. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E. Free Sunday, May 3, 2015, 9:30pm

Compline Services A half-hour meditation each week with the eight-voice Renaissance Singers. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E. Free Sunday, May 10, 2015, 9:30pm

Compline Services A half-hour meditation each week with the eight-voice Renaissance Singers. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E. Free Sunday, May 17, 2015, 9:30pm