The 21st Century Consort's program at the Smithsonian's McEvoy Auditorium

Pianist Lisa Emenheiser earned every decibel of the ovation that erupted as she ended her marathon one-hour performance of Frederic Rzewski's variations on the Chilean protest song "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" that made up the first half of the 21st Century Consort's program at the Smithsonian's McEvoy Auditorium on Saturday. It was an hour of the most intense music-making and pianism -- six sets of six variations each, organized like a fractal, a geometric structure in which each...