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Archives for February 2022

Welcome to February: highlights of the shortest month

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by Daniel Hathaway

Shortest month? In terms of days, sure, but February can be psychologically endless. Here are just a handful of events to enjoy and take our minds off the fact that winter has dug in and the pandemic is still a daily concern.

New this month: fans of silent films from the era that required the services of live musicians will be delighted with the debut of the Cleveland Silent Film Festival, which launches from the Hermit Club on Sunday, February 13. Violinist Isabel Trautwein and other members of The Cleveland Orchestra will join Rodney Sauer, music director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, in presenting a concert of chamber works by Cleveland native and film music pioneer John Stepan Zamecnik (1872–1953) and his mentor, a fellow named Antonín Dvořák.

The Festival continues with the results of an Oberlin Winter Term class on the art of locating, choosing, arranging, and performing historic silent movie music. Several films will be screened at the Cleveland Cinematheque later in February with accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Opera fans can look forward to February student productions at Kent State (Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appetit (1989) that sets music to Julia Child’s own words from The French Chef television series, and Jacques Offenbach’s A Musical Evening at the Choufleuris) and the premiere of Matthew Recio & Royce Vavrek’s The Puppy Episode at Oberlin, directed by Christopher Mirto. [Read more…]

McDaniel and Kirkwood at the Bop Stop Feb. 11

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by Mike Telin

“When I was growing up in rural Mississippi my mother was very good about taking me to Jackson or New Orleans to see whatever the new, big art exhibition was,” composer and keyboardist Buck McDaniel said during a recent telephone interview from his home in New York. “It must have been in 2008 or 2009 that there was a retrospective of Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy. There were some of his paintings, and his textiles.”

On Friday, February 11 at 8:00 pm, McDaniel returns to the Bop Stop with his long-time collaborator, electronic producer Jacob Kirkwood. The evening celebrates the release of the Duo’s latest CD, Patterns on Dufy, featuring saxophonist Noa Even. The recording will be made available on all streaming platforms that same day. Click here for tickets to the in-person performance. The event will also be livestreamed on the venue’s Facebook page.

McDaniel noted that Dufy’s textiles are full of bright-colored patterns. “As an adult with a more advanced relationship with patterns, I saw how musical his textiles are. And how these small beautiful cells can, through repetition, become a beautiful dress.” [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, February 2, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

There’s very little brewing on the concert scene today, but February 2 is Candlemas for those who observe the Christian calendar, and Groundhog Day for those who like to poke hibernating celebrity rodents awake to see how long winter is likely to last (n.b.: it only seems to annoy them, and studies have shown no correlation between what the animal sees and the long-term weather forecast.)

Celebrate Candlemas with J.S. Bach’s solo cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82, for the Feast of the Purification, aka Candlemas, in which the vocal soloist takes the role of the aged Simeon, who is moved by the sight of Jesus in the Temple to invent the familiar Nunc dimittis hymn.

Two recordings: click here for a historic performance featuring oboist Marc Lifschey, who played principal in Cleveland under George Szell from 1950 to 1965, when a tiff with the maestro took him off to San Francisco. (Above, a photo of Lifschey (right) with his successor, John Mack). Visit the Cleveland Orchestra archives to learn more about the ensemble’s celebrated oboists in Sophie Benn’s article, A Tale of Three Oboists.

And go here to watch a more modern, historically informed performance of BWV 82 by the Netherlands Bach Society.

And — this just in — click here for the latest meteorological pronouncement from the famous Punxsutawney Phil, courtesy of NBC News. As one commentator wrote, “What a silly, outrageous and endearing tradition.” And another, “This is such a stupid tradition but I like it.”

CHANGES AND CANCELLATIONS:

The Cleveland Orchestra has issued this update:

“Due to the hazardous weather conditions forecast throughout Northeast Ohio, The Cleveland Orchestra’s Thursday, February 3 performance of Jeremy Denk Plays Adams will be rescheduled to Friday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m.

“All tickets and parking passes for Thursday will be valid for the Friday performance. Guests may also exchange their tickets into the Saturday or Sunday performances without charge. Please contact the Ticket Office at 216-231-1111 or email boxoffice@clevelandorchestra.com with questions or to make an exchange.”

Cuyahoga Community College has announced the cancellation of its February 3 concert, Tri-C Gallery All-Stars, due to COVID concerns.

PianoCleveland and the Maltz Performing Arts Center have announced the rescheduling of pianist Arseniy Gusev’s February 3 recital to Thursday, March 17.

DIARY: Tuesday, February 1, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

TODAY’S SCHEDULE:

Today’s Tuesday Noon concert at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle features Oberlin visiting organ professor Christa Rakich in the first of two programs of selections from J.S. Bach’s Art of Fugue. You can hear the music in person again beginning today, or enjoy it online.

IN THE NEWS:

Tuesday Musical is extending the deadline for its  66th annual Scholarship Competition. ​​Applications will now close at midnight on Sunday, February 6. Apply online here. The competition itself will be held in Akron on Saturday, March 19, “with significantly increased $ awards.”

Season 3, Episode 2 of the Canton Symphony’s Orchestrating Change podcast is now available. The featured guest is Jeri Lynne Johnson (pictured), founder of DEI Arts Consulting, and founder and artistic director of Philadelphia’s Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra — a model ensemble for issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion for over a decade. Listen here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

This date in history was an important one for Giacomo Puccini (below, left). The first of February brought the premieres of Manon Lescaut in 1893 and La bohème in 1896, the latter led by a young Arturo Toscanini, with both premieres taking place at the Teatro Regio in Turin.

Bohéme is one of the most frequently performed operas, but it’s interesting to note that at its premiere, critics were divided, and the audience was said to lack enthusiasm. Imagine if that had been the end of it. [Read more…]

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