Cleveland Classical

DIARY, Friday, January 17, 2025

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Minnesota’s Zeitgeist (“Spirit of the Times”), will join Cleveland’s No Exit for the second of three appearances tonight at 7 at the Bop Stop. On the agenda are world premieres by Christopher Goddard, Luis Daniel Jiménez, James Praznik & Timothy Beyer as well as works by John Cage and Jin Hi Kim.

And at 7:30, The Cleveland Orchestra welcomes violinist Augustin Hadelich (pictured) and conductor Elim Chan to Severance Music Center for the second of three performances of a program featuring Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Witold Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

In London’s Daily Advertiser on January 17, 1745, George Frideric Handel advertised the return of three-fourths of the costs to subscribers of his concert series, indicating that he can’t please them. They responded with renewed support, and concerts resumed a week later. [Read More…]

Cooper Violin Competition: final prizes announced

by Daniel Hathaway

Following Friday’s full concerto performances in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel with Norman Huynh and the Columbus-based ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, the panel of judges announced the three top winners in the 2025 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Violin Competition.

Taking first place with her performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto, 13-year-old Edna Unseld from Zurich, Switzerland (pictured, below) banked a cash prize of $20,000, plus a variety of professional opportunities. [Read on…]

See all previews

Cleveland Orchestra dazzles with French music, a tribute to Coltrane and Gershwin’s An American in Paris (Jan. 9)

by Daniel Hathaway

This article was originally posted on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — You might think that an orchestra that excels in the Austro-German repertoire could prove to be the wrong tool for the special demands of French music. But think again.

On Thursday evening, January 9, at Severance Music Center, guest conductor Stéphane Denève and The Cleveland Orchestra gave elegant, witty, and transparent accounts of works by Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc, worked with soloist Steven Banks in Guillaume Connesson’s wildly virtuosic saxophone concerto honoring John Coltrane, and explored George Gershwin’s ebullient An American in Paris from the point of view of a Frenchman on the podium. [Read on…]

Fireworks in the key of D Major: Cooper Violin Competition Finals (Jan. 10)

by Stephanie Manning

With light snow and a winter wind blowing outside Oberlin’s Finney Chapel, the Final Round of the 2025 Cooper Competition — the January edition of the usual August event — looked a bit different this year. And yet, there was also a healthy sense of déjà vu.

The final three violinists, narrowed down from an initial field of nineteen, presented concertos by Brahms (once) and Tchaikovsky (twice) — coincidentally, the same program from 2022, the last time the competition was held for violin.

Joined by the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and conductor Norman Huynh, this year’s finalists delivered an impressive evening of performances on January 10. [Read on…]

See all reviews

Cooper International Violin Competition Semi-Finals in Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall (Jan. 8)

After two days of impressive performances by the nineteen participants in the Cooper International Violin Competition, the Jury selected six to advance to Round Two. Yesterday at Oberlin Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall, the six contestants — each vying for a spot among the final three — presented 45-minute programs with piano. Here are our impressions. [Read on…]

The Kings Brass at Federated Church (Dec. 22)

by Kevin McLaughlin

The King’s Brass celebrated Christmas in bright and merry fashion with their trademark — pop-tinged arrangements of Christmas carols, hymns, and sing-alongs — on Sunday, December 22, as part of the Federated Church Performing Arts Series in Chagrin Falls.

The ensemble has been led for 47 years by Tim Zimmerman, who was a genial host and fine trumpeter. The well-blended group of nine musicians — Tim Zimmerman, Gregory Alley, Anthony Sanders (trumpet), Kyle Davidson, Kolbe Schnoebelen (trombone), Nate Petersen (bass trombone), Jacob Fulkerson (tuba), Colton Morris (percussion), and Rebecca Edmiston (piano/organ) — acquitted themselves well under Zimmerman’s leadership.

The arrangements, most of them by Zimmerman himself, suffered a little from sameness, but nevertheless supplied plenty of Holiday zip and opportunities for the brass to shine. [Read on…]

See all reviews

To•Day

DIARY, Friday, January 17, 2025

Pre•Views & Features

Cooper Violin Competition: final prizes announced

To•Day

Pre•Views & Features

Follow ClevelandClassical.com

Contact us