BmoreArt

The Community Concerts at 2nd Presbyterian Church

It may be seem odd to characterize a concert series that routinely draws hundreds of listeners to one of Baltimore’s oldest congregations as a “hidden gem,” but I’ve been surprised at the number of classical fans in town who aren’t aware that Community Concerts at Second, hosted at Second Presbyterian Church at 4200 Saint Paul Street, has for decades been holding completely free classical music concerts featuring world-class touring chamber ensembles, as well as an ongoing series with groups of musicians drawn from the Baltimore Symphony.

“We have never charged for a concert and we hope we never will,” says Chris Shannon, managing director of the CC2nd series. Church organist Margaret Budd began the series in 1987 because she “really believed a lot of great music was financially impossible for many people, especially for bringing a family,” Shannon says. Funded by grants and donations, the series “tries to hit that sweet spot” by seeking out great artists who are still relatively affordable, and passes that savings along to local fans.

The Sunday afternoon shows regularly feature contemporary works from living composers along with the classics, and often cross into other genres, as with a recent solo concert by Baltimore-born jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut and upcoming shows by The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass and the Morgan State University choir.

Next up is the American musicians’ collective ensemble132 on November 17th performing a new chamber music arrangement of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. “It’s a rare opportunity to see this on the east coast of the United States,” says Shannon. Then hear members of the BSO performing 20th-century wind pieces and an early Beethoven string quartet on December 1st.

“The Baltimore Symphony is one of the top 10 orchestras in the country,” Shannon says, “with highly capable solo and chamber musicians, but we rarely get to hear them play.”

Community Concerts at Second aims to fix that.

The Music Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

College music departments are great spots to check for surprisingly excellent free or low-cost concerts, and UMBC has been hitting on all cylinders this fall, including a stunning performance of contemporary works by the school’s faculty ensemble RUCKUS, along with a concert of provocative experimental works by guest composer Annea Lockwood, as part of the recent Livewire 14: Resounding festival of modern classical and electroacoustic music.

“We pride ourselves on embracing contemporary music,” says Dr. Linda Dusman, former music department chair and organizer of the festival. “We rebuilt the department centering on contemporary music, and centering faculty that have expertise in contemporary music.”

UMBC concerts are $5 for students, $10 for seniors age 55 and above (a generous cutoff), and $15 for everyone else. When asked about making the concerts free to increase their reach, Dusman is thoughtful:

“We’ve discussed not charging anything for tickets; we don’t get a lot of ticket revenue. But we’ve found the ticket prices don’t seem to make any difference in the size of the crowd. We use the ticket money we do get for students, to help a vocalist hire an accompanist, say, or for composers’ senior recitals when they need to hire a string quartet.”

“We just don’t have a huge marketing budget,” Dusman adds, then laughs. “In fact we have no marketing budget.”

It’s a common refrain, and a fair point. But it does seem a bit of a shame that one of the best performances I’ve seen this year, DC-based InScape Chamber Orchestra at UMBC last April playing a gorgeous Samuel Coleridge-Taylor nonet, had just 23 people in the audience. Perhaps a few judiciously placed flyers in high-traffic coffee shops and record stores might help by targeting folks like the music-lovers who regularly fill the Red Room at Normal’s Books to hear contemporary music.

Until then, you’ll have to keep an eye on UMBC Music’s event calendar. There’s great cheap music coming, including another chance to see InScape performing Shostakovich, Hindemith and Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov on November 10th, and the New Bartok Quartet on November 17th.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Passport program

I had to blink twice to make sure I was reading correctly when I first saw the BSO’s Passport deal on the symphony’s web site. $140 for an astonishing 28 symphony concerts? Choice of available seats on the orchestra floor? A plus-one ticket for only $25 for anyone I want to bring along to any of the included shows? It sounded much too good to be true.

“If you really use it, it is the best deal in town,” says Allison Burr-Livingstone, Chief Advancement Officer for the Baltimore Symphony. Passport was launched in 2012 as a discount program to draw young professionals, so for years was limited to folks under 40. That recently changed.

“We took a hard look,” Burr-Livingstone says. “Why are we doing this? We lifted the age restriction last year, raised the price point a bit [it was formerly $99], and at the $140 mark we’ve seen tremendous growth.”

The Passport allows you to see the majority of concerts on the BSO schedule, at either Meyerhoff Symphony Hall or the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, and the other 11 concerts that are excluded—mostly pops performances like Indiana Jones scores and a Brahms/Radiohead mashup, with a couple of warhorse events like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Holst’s The Planets—are available to Passport holders at a 15% discount.

There are few cultural moments as satisfying as reserving a seat for a world-class music performance and seeing $0.00 at checkout. I won’t get to all 23 of the remaining eligible concerts but I’ve already been to four BSO concerts of brilliant symphonic works I’d never had the chance to enjoy live before, along with new pieces from Composer in Residence James Lee III. If you make it to half of what’s on offer, your average price will be just $10 per concert. This is definitely one of the best music deals in town.

Burr-Livingstone points to other low-cost BSO programs as well, including the free Symphony in the City series, whose next concert will be held at the War Memorial building on November 20th, and Kids Listen Free, which offers up to 2 free tickets for kids age 7-17 with the purchase of each adult ticket.

“Kids Listen Free is so important,” she says. “We’re going to try to make it easier for people to find that, so you can reserve and register online. Price should never be a barrier.”

Emannuel Episcopal Church’s Music at Emmmanuel concerts

Another long-running series at a venerable Baltimore religious institution, Music at Emmanuel (811 Cathedral Street) offers a range of low-cost classical music options. All of the concerts by the church’s string ensemble-in-residence Mount Vernon Virtuosi are free, as are some of the offerings around religious holidays. Many other concerts start at $25 if you buy in advance ($35 at the door), but the church always offers a low-income ticket option of $10. According to the source, “Emmanuel Church is committed to ensuring all persons have access to its space and its musical offerings, regardless of income and ability to pay. Therefore, for most concerts, a limited number of Free Rush Tickets will be made available, online only, beginning 24 hours in advance of a concert’s start time.”

Emmanuel’s full 2024-2025 schedule includes more than classical, choral and liturgical sounds; there’s also folk music, vocal jazz and a New Orleans Mardi Gras concert. But fans of high-quality, low-cost classical music should watch for Baltimore Symphony principal violinist Qing Li on November 19th in a group performing Mendelssohn and Brahms piano trios. Advance tickets start at just $10.

The Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University recitals and special concerts

As you might expect towards the end of a semester, the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins has such a busy calendar of free concerts and recitals that there are often multiple events on the same day. While some student recitals and master classes may be an acquired taste for the casual classical fan, there are plenty of chances to hear both faculty and next-generation musicians shine.

Visit the calendar regularly and you’ll find things like the Peabody Concert Orchestra’s free performance on November 9th of works by Ravel, Brahms and contemporary composer YoungJun Lee, or last month’s amazing Polyaspora festival of new music, which don’t seem to get much publicity outside of the school. The “Composing While Black – Afrodiasporic New Music Today” evening at Polyaspora featured the International Contemporary Ensemble playing smart, accessible modern classical music.

It was a richly rewarding evening of music.

And it was completely free.