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Archives for November 2022

ACRONYM breathes life into 17th-century hidden gems (Nov. 15)

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by Stephanie Manning

Whatever piece ACRONYM is playing, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard it before. While the ensemble focuses on Baroque music, it’s not from composers the casual listener might know — instead, the group hones in on less-familiar tunes from the 17th century. Some of these pieces haven’t been heard in the 400 years since they were composed, but ACRONYM makes them sound refreshingly contemporary, bringing them to life in stunning splendor.

The Oberlin Artist Recital Series proved the perfect occasion for the group’s visit to Northeast Ohio on November 15. ACRONYM was founded by Oberlin alumni, and their first public performance in 2014 was held in the same venue: Warner Concert Hall. They hadn’t been back since, making Tuesday’s concert a long-overdue homecoming.

Warner was a fitting choice not just symbolically, but also sonically. The combination of Baroque strings, theorbo, harpsichord, and organ created a nice blend and balance, allowing the opportunity for softer instruments to stand out. In Johann Rosenmüller’s Sonata à 5 in g, Doug Balliett’s violone pizzicatos resonated beautifully, and in Johann Heinrich Schmelzer’s Sonata in d, harpsichordist Elliot Figg became an equal player in the texture with his clever improvisations. The slight exception was Joshua Stauffer on theorbo — despite the instrument’s big physical presence on stage, he received little time in the spotlight. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: a conversation with violinist Stefan Jackiw

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by Mike Telin

“I’m so excited about coming back to Cleveland,” violinist Stefan Jackiw said by phone from his home in New York. “I can’t wait to play the Britten with The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall. It doesn’t get more luxurious than that.”

On Friday, November 25 at 7:30 pm, Jackiw will perform Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Thomas Søndergård. The concert also includes 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.

I began our conversation by bringing up Jackiw’s last visit to Cleveland, in the summer of 2021 at Blossom, when he played Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

Mike Telin: This time you’re bringing the Britten, which is quite different from the Prokofiev. 

Stefan Jackiw: Oddly there are some similarities. They are both Spanish-influenced. Prokofiev partially wrote the 2nd while he was living in Spain. And Britten was a pacifist and had strong feelings about the violence that happened during the Spanish Civil War and the looming WWII.

MT: And Britten wrote the concerto in 1938 and 1939.

SJ: He did, and it’s a piece that is reflective of its time. It’s at times mournful and almost violently virtuosic. Sometimes hopeful, but guardedly so and sometimes whaling. And you hear its Spanish influences both in some of the rhythmic elements — there’s a moment that always reminds me of castanets — and there’s a seductive Spanish-tinged second theme in the Scherzo [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, November 22, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Tonight: CIM Orchestra at Severance

•News: celebrate Cleveland on Google Arts & Culture (pictured), and revisit the combination of orchestra and effects pedals from Akron Symphony and EarthQuaker Devices

•Almanac: the fourteen operas of Britten, and the fourteen operas of Gilbert & Sullivan

HAPPENING TODAY:

One event on our radar tonight. At 7:30 pm, Carlos Kalmar and the CIM Orchestra will perform Olivier Messiaen’s L’Ascension and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 at Severance Music Center. It’s free.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, November 21, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. COYO receives $5 million gift

. No Exit concert back online after silly snafu

. R.I.P. composer Ned Rorem at 99

. Henry Purcell neatly timed his all-too-early demise

TODAY’S EVENTS:

From 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm today it’s “Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music,” hosted by Eric Charnofsky. The playlist includes Ingolf Dahl’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone, several choral selections by Randall Thompson, Out Yonder by Terry Riley, Ernest John Moeran’s Fantasy Quartet, and orchestral music by Silvestre Revueltas and art songs by Edvard Grieg. Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

IN THE NEWS:

The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) announced on Saturday that it will receive a $5 million gift from Geoffrey and Sarah Gund to The Cleveland Orchestra’s endowment, helping to ensure that this unique musical training experience continues for generations of young people. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, November 18-20, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. The weekend is filled with chamber music and orchestra concerts

. The Music Settlement to celebrate Winter’s Solstice.

. Ernst Levy, Lawrence Moss, and the first concert to be preserved on magnetic tape celebrate birthdays.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Chamber Music:

On Friday at 7:00 pm at Praxis Fiber Workshop CityMusic Cleveland presents “Perspectives for String Quartet.” The program includes Arvo Pärt’s Psalom, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Pisachi (Reveal): Six Epitomes for String Quartet, Akua Dixon’s We the People (commissioned by CityMusic), and Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F. Free. Read a preview article here.

And on Sunday at 7:00 pm Daveed Buzaglo, tenor and Nara Avetisyan, piano will present a free recital at the Church of the Western Reserve. Program to be announced.  Click here for more information.

Orchestra Concerts: 

On Friday, November 18 at 7:30 pm The Cleveland Orchestra welcomes composer/conductor John Adams, Lauren Snouffer, soprano Josefina Maldonado, mezzo-soprano Davóne Tines, bass-baritone Daniel Bubeck, countertenors Brian Cummings and Nathan Medley,  Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus. The program is Adams’ El Niño (oratorio for solo voices and orchestra). Severance Music Center. The program is repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire: a dark and 
stormy afternoon (Nov. 13)

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by Stephanie Manning

On a recent chilly Sunday in Cleveland Heights, waves of sleet skittered down from the heavens, ricocheting off anything that stood in their way. But the real storm was brewing inside St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where Apollo’s Fire and director Jeannette Sorrell took the stage for their latest program. “Storms and Tempests” entertained a packed house on November 13, as the Baroque orchestra played up the drama of both nature and love.

The passionate mood of the afternoon was equally matched by its soloists, both familiar faces to the ensemble. The first was Alan Choo, concertmaster and Assistant Artistic Director, who brought a crackling intensity to Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in E-flat, Op. 8, No. 5. The whirling arpeggios and devilish technical passages lived up to the piece’s name: “Tempesta di Mare,” or “Storm at Sea.”

[Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, November 17, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Tonight: Black Violin, Cleveland Orchestra, and pianist Kathleen Supové

•News: Grammy nominations, and a new music director at H+H

•Almanac: Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, from its negative reception early on, to being sung by Sinatra, and being featured in an ad for cigarettes (?)

HAPPENING TODAY:

Three options tonight at 7:30.

The duo Black Violin — violinist Kev Marcus and violist Wil B. (pictured), who are known for combining classical arrangements with modern beats and vocals — will visit Powers Auditorium at DeYor Performing Arts Center in Youngstown as part of their Give Thanks tour. Joining the duo will be DJ SPS and drummer Nat Stokes in this program that includes music from their two most recent releases, including holiday tunes from the album Give Thanks. Online ticket sales stay open until 4:30.

The Cleveland Orchestra is joined by a bevy of guests tonight: conductor John Adams, soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Josefina Maldonado, bass-baritone Davóne Tines, and countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Nathan Medley, as well as the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus. The occasion? An oratorio by Adams himself, his El Niño. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, November 16, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Symphonic video game music at Trinity

. Fellowships announced at CIM

. Cleveland Jazz Orchestra Tickets

. Conference Report: Black and indigenous sounds in the Early Atlantic World

. Happy Birthday to Paul Hindemith  — Samuel Coleridge-Taylor makes first American tour —  Philadelphia Orchestra gives first concert at the Academy of Music

TODAY’S EVENTS:

At 12:00 pm, the Trinity Brownbag Concert series will present the Amethyst String Quartet. Their program focuses on symphonic video game music, illustrating how classical music has influenced this billion-dollar industry. Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Freewill offering.

IN THE NEWS:

The Cleveland Institute of Music has announced the twelve scholars named to its 2023 Future of Music Faculty Fellowship. Click here for more information.

The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra has announced that individual tickets are now on sale for all shows at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. Click here for more information.

INTERESTING READS:

Last month, scholars studying facets of early Black and indigenous sounds came together to share their research and ask a few big questions. Is this a new, interdisciplinary field of study, where sound is central to help understand life, culture, literature, and music? Click here to read Miguel Valerio’s interesting report in Early Music America. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, November 16, 2022

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IN THIS EDITION:

. Symphonic video game music at Trinity

. Fellowships announced at CIM

. Cleveland Jazz Orchestra Tickets

. Conference Report: Black and indigenous sounds in the Early Atlantic World

. Happy Birthday to Paul Hindemith  — Samuel Coleridge-Taylor makes first American tour —  Philadelphia Orchestra gives first concert at the Academy of Music

TODAY’S EVENTS:

At 12:00 pm, the Trinity Brownbag Concert series will present the Amethyst String Quartet. Their program focuses on symphonic video game music, illustrating how classical music has influenced this billion-dollar industry. Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Freewill offering.

IN THE NEWS:

The Cleveland Institute of Music has announced the twelve scholars named to its 2023 Future of Music Faculty Fellowship. Click here for more information.

The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra has announced that individual tickets are now on sale for all shows at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. Click here for more information.

INTERESTING READS:

Last month, scholars studying facets of early Black and indigenous sounds came together to share their research and ask a few big questions. Is this a new, interdisciplinary field of study, where sound is central to help understand life, culture, literature, and music? Click here to read Miguel Valerio’s interesting report in Early Music America. [Read more…]

CityMusic chamber series:
composer Akua Dixon on 
Justice, Equality & Freedom

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by Emmy Hensley

“I’ve been composing things, in a sense, all my life,” cellist and composer Akua Dixon said during a recent interview. “As an African American musician growing up studying classical music, I feel that I can offer a specific view that not many people have thought about.” 

Commissioned by CityMusic Cleveland, her string quartet We the People will be premiered on Friday, November 18 at 7:00 pm at Praxis Fiber Workshop by violinists Susan Britton and Eunho Kim, violist Yael Senamaud-Cohen, and cellist Trevor Kazarian.

The free concert, titled “Perspectives for String Quartet,” reflects on the theme of Justice, Equality, and Freedom. The program also includes Arvo Pärt’s Psalom, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Pisachi (Reveal): Six Epitomes for String Quartet, and Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F.

Writing We the People has served as an opportunity for Dixon to reevaluate what justice, equality, and freedom have meant throughout history. “Everything is a matter of opinion, and there are two sides to each coin,” she said. “When I started thinking about the theme, I looked into the Constitution’s Preamble. I read about the intent of setting up this particular democracy, as well as the interpretation of it by the people who founded it — and those who were not included in it. I feel that it’s a great time to have dialogue and to listen to the side of so many people of color and women — all the people that haven’t had a chance — and what they have to say about these topics.”

[Read more…]

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