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Archives for November 2022

DIARY: Wednesday, November 30, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. The Wednesday Noon Brownbag Concert at Trinity features Todd Wilson’s CIM organ studio & Ólafsson solo piano recital in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall at Severance

. Tuesday Musical announces annual scholarship competition

. Elizabethan madrigalist Thomas Weelkes passes in 1623

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12:00 pm – Trinity Brownbag Concert. Organist Todd Wilson & students of the Cleveland Institute of Music organ studio. Festive seasonal music played on Trinity’s two great pipe organs. Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Freewill offering.

At 7:30 pm – pianist Vìkingur Ólafsson (pictured above) will play a long list of short pieces by Mozart & his contemporaries in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Music Center, including works by Galuppi, C.P.E. Bach, Cimarosa, and Haydn and arrangements by Liszt and Ólafsson himself. Take a deep breath and order your tickets online.

IN THE NEWS:

Tuesday Musical’s 2023 Annual Scholarship Competition is Saturday, March 18, with significantly increased cash awards. Applications will be accepted online from January 1 through January 31, 2023. [Read more…]

Quire Cleveland — Carols for Quire XII: Angels and Shepherds

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by Mike Telin

For the past eleven years, Quire Cleveland’s Carols for Quire concerts have become a holiday tradition. Over the years, the program — which began with pairing old and new carols — has explored numerous facets of the festive songs that are sung around the world during the Christmas season.

“Carols for Quire VI” featured French Noëls while “Carols VIII” presented a multitude of languages including Finnish, Abenaki, Afro-Portuguese, Mohawk, and Wendat, as well as English, Latin, and Spanish. The ninth edition was titled “Carols of Yore,” and the tenth highlighted the “O Antiphons.” This year the program will examine the Christmas story from the point of view of the angels and shepherds.

On Thursday, December 1 at 7:30 pm at Our Lady of Peace Church in Cleveland, Jay White will conduct the ensemble in “Carols for Quire XII: Angels and Shepherds.” The program will be repeated on December 2 at 8:00 pm at St. John Cantius Church in Tremont, and on December 3 at 8:00 pm at St. Paschal Baylon Church in Highland Heights. The concerts are free. Click here to view the program booklet.

“Last year we focused on Mary,” White said during a telephone conversation. “We haven’t left Joseph out of the story — he’s been there every so often. But when I was looking at possible topics for this year, I started thinking about who received the message” — the news of the birth of Jesus — “after Mary had figured it out and she and Joseph went to Bethlehem. And it was the shepherds who received it from the angels. I was also thinking of how amazing it must have been for the shepherds to have witnessed this celestial event, with the angels telling them it was happening and they should go see it.” [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, November 29, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: organist Jonathan Moyer at the Covenant

•Tonight: Oberlin ensembles preview U.N. performance

•All-Italian Almanac: Donizetti’s joyful high C’s, a cavernous bass role from Monteverdi, and tearjerking Puccini

HAPPENING TODAY:

At noon, the Church of the Covenant’s Tuesday Noon Organ Plus series will feature Jonathan Moyer performing on both the Newberry Organ (music by J.S. Bach) and the Chancel Organ (works by C.H.H. Parry, David Conte, and Charles-Marie Widor). A freewill offering will be taken up.

And at 7:30, Raphael Jiménez will lead three Oberlin ensembles — the Orchestra, Musical Union, and College Choir — in music by Adolphus Hailstork, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven at Finney Chapel. It’s a program with a little extra significance in that it will be repeated for the 77th United Nations General Assembly at Carnegie Hall on December 2. It’s free.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, November 28, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky’s Ned Rorem tribute

. Jean-Baptiste Lully makes his debut

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today’s program from Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, hosted by Eric Charnofsky, commemorates the life of Ned Rorem (1923-2022) with selections of his music for voice and piano, choir, orchestral, and chamber ensemble, along with the reading of inspiring and incisive Rorem quotes. Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

LOOKING AHEAD TO MIDWEEK:

On Wednesday at 7:30 pm – pianist Vìkingur Ólafsson (pictured above) will play a wide-ranging program of music by Mozart and his contemporaries in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Music Center. [Read more…]

Cendrillon enchants at CIM Opera Theater (Nov. 13)    

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by Mike Telin

Whether you know her as Cendrillon, Aschenbrödel, La Cenerentola, La Cenicienta, Soluschka, or, most likely, Cinderella, the story of that downtrodden stepchild is an irresistible fairy tale. It’s been turned into many operas, but perhaps most magically by Jules Massenet in his Cendrillon, beautifully produced by CIM Opera Theater in Kulas Hall on November 13.

Supported by engagingly, yet simple staging by Cara Consilvio, a well-prepared cast of singers told the archetypal story of Cinderella with charm and flair. Framing the production was  a sparse but colorful set and wonderful lighting by Dave Brooks. [Read more…]

Genkin Philharmonic wows at the Bop Stop (Nov. 4) 

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by Mike Telin

We’ve all heard the hype —  “Trust me, you’ve never heard anything like this before.” At long last that cliché proved to be correct on November 4 when the Buffalo-based Genkin Philharmonic presented a jaw-dropping, undefinable show for a capacity audience at the Bop Stop .

What makes this ten-piece electroacoustic chamber ensemble distinct from other contemporary music ensembles? It’s what they play. The evening’s repertoire included brilliant arrangements by Genkin founder and trumpeter Jon Nelson of music by Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, classical compositions of Bartók and Prokofiev, as well as works written for the group by composers who are still very much alive.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend November 25-27, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Resident ensembles step up for Thanksgiving weekend

. A tangle of headlines to sort through

. Almanac: anniversary of a richly textured Bach cantata, revisiting piano works of Earl Wild

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

Cleveland’s major resident ensembles are holding down the fort on Thanksgiving weekend with the help of some distinguished guests.

Thomas Søndergård, recently named Osmo Vanska’s successor as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, will join The Cleveland Orchestra and violinist Stefan Jackiw for Benjamin Britten’ s Violin Concerto No. 1 & Igor Stravinsky’s complete Firebird ballet on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon at Severance Music Center. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: a conversation with Thomas Søndergård    

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by Mike Telin

Upon congratulating conductor Thomas Søndergård on making his Cleveland Orchestra debut, he had a quick and enthusiastic response — “Amazing isn’t it. Growing up, if you were interested in classical music you knew about Cleveland. It’s an orchestra with a rich history, and has made so many amazing recordings, and you feel that history in the walls. So it’s an institution with incredible pride for very good reasons.”

Tonight, November 25 at 7:30 pm, Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut at Severance Music Center. The concert will feature Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto with Stefan Jackiw as soloist, and Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird (complete ballet). The program will be repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

Speaking with the conductor by phone in Cleveland this past Wednesday, I began our conversation by telling him that I had a wonderful conversation with Stefan Jackiw, who was singing his praises (read the article here). Especially how sensitive the conductor’s ear is with regards to color, which Jackiw noted is quite important in the concerto’s passacaglia. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: power and passion at El Niño (Nov. 18)

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by Stephanie Manning

In the 22 years since it was written, John Adams’ El Niño has been programmed in all kinds of creative ways. The premiere of the oratorio was accompanied by a silent film, and the 2014 Spoleto Festival brought in a crew of puppeteers. But on November 18, The Cleveland Orchestra decided to keep it simple. The straightforward concert-style presentation, conducted by Adams, let the music speak for itself — and it had plenty to say.

El Niño, a modern retelling of the birth of Jesus, isn’t an easy work to explain. Commissioned at the turn of the millennium, the oratorio tells the Biblical story from new perspectives, primarily by centering women’s voices in the narrative. It combines traditional texts with the Wakefield Mystery Plays, Haggai, and ancient and contemporary Latin American poetry. Essentially, Adams set out to write his own Messiah — but while Handel’s work is unquestionably a celebration, Adams takes a more nuanced approach, tackling big questions about the nature of miracles, pregnancy, and motherhood. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, November 23, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Ohio Arts Council grant applications open

•Jeffrey Mumford (pictured) featured in a documentary series

•News from NY: a Ukrainian bassoonist playing with the Youth Symphony, and women outnumbering men in the Philharmonic

•Three pieces for Thanksgiving, from revelry to gratitude and (hopefully just) a few thunderclaps

[Read more…]

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