by Jarrett Hoffman
HAPPENING TODAY:
A McGaffin Carillon Holiday Lunchtime Concert at 12:15 pm at McGaffin Tower will feature guest carillonneur Sheryl Modlin. Email info@ucbells.org to make requests, and if you prefer to stay home, stream it here.
And 7:00 pm brings the first of two performances of the Chagrin Falls Studio Orchestra’s Annual Wassail Christmas Concerts, led by Stephan A. Eva at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. (The second performance takes place tomorrow.) Program to be announced. Get tickets here.
Since this is our last Diary entry until we return January 3, be sure to visit our Concert Listings for information about events happening between now and then.
ARTS IN THE PANDEMIC:
An article in The New York Times titled “The Pandemic Struck Orchestras With Underlying Conditions Hard,” by Javier C. Hernández, focuses in particular on the San Antonio Symphony, where budget woes are not new, and where musicians have been on strike since September.
Amidst the spread of the Omicron variant, news of cancelled performances on Broadway already arrived several days ago. And Jagged Little Pill, the musical inspired by Alanis Morisette’s popular album of the same name, will not reopen. “The causes are multiple,” Michael Paulson reports in The Times, noting the show’s “soft” tickets sales since its restart in October, and now multiple COVID-19 cases within the company.
And on a more positive note — albeit from eight days ago, when Omicron didn’t feel quite as immediately threatening — Anne Midgette investigates the good that came out of the COVID shutdown for some opera singers in an article for NPR. “During this period, I’ve seen my colleagues become insanely creative,” said soprano Christine Goerke.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Four important names, then one essential piece of music to honor with a spot in your Christmas playlist (I’m confident you’ll thank me).