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Join us for an unforgettable afternoon of classical music as Washington Performing Arts presents the renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin in a solo recital. This highly anticipated performance is set to take place on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at 2:00 PM in the prestigious Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Evgeny Kissin, celebrated for his expressive range and impressive skill, will grace the stage with a repertoire that showcases his renowned artistry. The program includes Beethoven’s lesser-known Sonata No. 27, Brahms’s intense yet beautiful Ballades, Prokofiev’s thrilling Piano Sonata No. 2, and Chopin’s Nocturne in F-sharp Minor and Fantaisie in F Minor. Each piece promises to highlight Kissin’s extraordinary virtuosity and deep musicality, making for an extraordinary experience for all attendees. Washington Performing Arts is committed to accessibility, ensuring that visitors of all abilities can experience this remarkable performance. Accommodations are available, and for specific questions about accessibility at Kennedy Center events, please visit the Kennedy Center's accessibility page or contact Washington Performing Arts directly. Don’t miss this opportunity to witness a master at work. Purchase your tickets now for an afternoon with Evgeny Kissin, a performance that promises to be a highlight of the classical music season in Washington, D.C.

Known for her emotional, thoughtful, and crowd-shaking reveals, critically acclaimed, gender-fluid drag queen, artist, and author Sasha Velour takes things to a whole new level in The Big Reveal Live Show. Combining high-concept lip sync performances, storytelling, childhood film footage, video art, politics and more, this dynamic event shows the drag superstar at her most playful and hilarious. With a whip-smart comedic script and surprising gags, Velour uses comedy as a way to disarm audiences and hit them with emotional truths. Loved by audiences and critics alike from San Francisco to Stockholm, The Big Reveal Live Show is an incredible work from a seminal artist.

Husband and wife duo Jaime Lozano and Florencia Cuenca create musical magic with Broadway en Spanglish. A fusion of their Mexican roots with their journey to the American Dream, this multi-lingual musical cabaret features fresh interpretations and new arrangements of contemporary musical theater songs from Hamilton, Waitress, Frozen, and more. Lozano is a musical theater storyteller considered by Lin-Manuel Miranda as the “next big thing” on Broadway. Cuenca has performed Off-Broadway in Children of Salt (NYMF 2016 Best of Fest) and A Never-Ending, and named Best New Jazz Artist by Hot House Jazz (2016). The two have performed to sold-out crowds at venues such as Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, and Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series. Stirring mariachi music, humorous stories, and Cuenca’s rousing vocals make for a memorable night celebrating cultural diversity.

When the power of the human voice meets the spirit of community and the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the result is guaranteed to be joyous and inspiring, filling the Kennedy Center with stirring narrative and sound. This concert is a must-see-and-hear annual highlight featuring the combined Men, Women, and Children of the Gospel choirs of Washington Performing Arts and the Choral Arts Society of Washington, with special guest Ralph Alan Herndon, in tribute both to Dr. King’s achievements and to his ongoing, indelible impact.

Praised as “one of the most outstanding artists of our epoch” (Le Monde), Nikolai Lugansky is a pianist of extraordinary depth and versatility. Regularly appearing with major orchestras across the globe, this is a special opportunity to experience Lugansky’s divine interpretations in the intimate Terrace Theater – his first return to Washington Performing Arts since his 1996 Hayes Piano Series debut. Often celebrated for the deftness by which he approaches Rachmaninov’s cannon, Lugansky offers an unconventionally special program rooted in the Romantic music of Mendelssohn and Wagner. Hear the rolling melodies of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, written while and influenced by the composers tour of Italy, Switzerland, and Germany; plus Wagner’s Brünnhilde and Siegfried’s love duet, Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, and Lugansky’s own transcription of Wagner’s 4 Scenes from Götterdämmerung.

Highly sought-after soloist and Artist-in-Residence of the Berlin Philharmonic, Seong-Jin Cho, made his recital debut on the Hayes Piano Series, followed by a sold-out concert series with the National Symphony Orchestra. His assertive, tender, and colorful playing will be on full display in this exciting program at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall as he performs Ravel’s full catalogue of solo piano works. Hear the delicately drawn Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn and Menuet antique, the suite of eight Valses nobles et sentimentales, and much more. The Guardian praises Cho: “… his passagework gleamingly precise, his sound ranging from staggering softness to luminous Steinway shine.”

Inspired by the energy of the eponymous borough, string quartet Brooklyn Rider expand the classical canon with unparalleled skill, creativity, and unexpected collaborations. With set-lists drawn of composers from Beethoven to Björk, every performance is a musically omnivorous adventure that coaxes new energy out of classical pieces and pushes the string quartet form into new territories of Americana, jazz, and global music. The foursome’s swaggering and accessible performance style are perennial favorites at NPR, which has frequently included their albums in the station’s yearly “Best Albums” lists. Hear Giovanni Sollima’s Four Quartets, plus works by Clarice Assad, Tyshawn Sorey, and Gabriel Kahane from the Brooklyn Rider Almanac, Book II, and more. Operatic soprano Ariadne Greif adds her “luminous, expressive voice” (New York Times) to this concert event at Sixth & I

Jazz vocalist and D.C. native Akua Allrich pays tribute to African-American women in music with a blend of blues, soul, jazz, and pan-African music. Accompanied by a live band, her performance honors the legacies of the legendary artists such as Miriam Makeba and Nina Simone, and others. Allrich’s electrifying presence and powerful voice promise to captivate and inspire.

Karen Slack is an operatic virtuoso who debuted the role of Billie in the 2019 world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and who has amassed a body of work highlighting living composers. Simultaneously she has developed a career as sought-after curator and collaborator and now brings her new commissioning project, African Queens, to its regional debut. The evening-length vocal recital of art songs celebrates the history and legacy of seven African queens, revered as rulers but not widely heralded in the western world. The program weaves historical narrative through new works by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson along with carefully selected traditional repertoire – further illuminated through passages of spoken text and thematic artwork.

Finalist in the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and 2022 Gilmore Young Artist Awardee Clayton Stephenson brings an innate musicality and exuberance to his Hayes Piano Series debut at the Terrace Theater. At age 10 he advanced to Juilliard’s elite Pre-College program, and he now studies in the Harvard-New England Conservatory Dual Degree Program, pursuing a bachelor’s in economics and a master’s degree in piano performance. Stephenson’s captivating artistry will be on full display in a recital program spanning works by Schubert, Stravinski, Gershwin, and more.