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Bring in the May at the Theatre! As the 24th season of the Smithsonian at Little Washington concert series comes to a close, Kenneth Slowik will perform compositions by the great Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach on Sunday, May 1, at 3 p.m. Slowik will be playing the Unaccompanied Cello Suite in G Major, BWV 1007, and a series of harpsichord works including the English Suite in A Minor, BWV 807. Kenneth Slowik is an American cellist, viol player, and conductor, Curator of the Musical Instrument Collection at the National Museum of American History and Artistic Director of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society. He will be playing a German-styled harpsichord made in Bost on in 1986 by William Dowd, modelled on a harpsichord of about 1720 by the Berlin maker Michael Mietke. Slowik says, “We know that Bach was sent by his employer to Berlin to pick up a new Mietke instrument in 1719, so the Dowd copy, which is a beautiful instrument, sonorous, yet with wonderf ully clear articulation, is just about perfect, chronologically and sonically, for my all-Bach program.” A highly valued feature of all the concerts in the Smithsonian at Little Washington series is the commentary which Kenneth Slowik provides throughout the program. His remarks shed light on the glorious music and the life and times of the featured composers. Slowik was the recipient in 2011 of the Smithsonian Secretary’s Distinguished Research Lecture Award, and the remarks during the concerts at the Theatre at Washington, Virginia, are generally a shortened version of the talk which precedes each of the concerts heard in Washington D.C. Tickets for the May 1st event are $25 for adults, $10 under 18. To reserve or purchase tickets, please visit TheatreWashingtonVA.com or call (540) 675-1253. The Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA 22747.