The Diary will return on Monday, January 2, 2023.
Archives for December 2022
A December Message from Daniel Hathaway
Dear Friends,
We last wrote to you on March 20, just as Spring had arrived along with lengthening days of sunlight, the budding of trees, the burgeoning of tender shoots and a sudden balminess in the air — all heralding a new season of hopefulness.
Now that the days are growing shorter, the air chilly, and those once verdant leaves have taken on autumnal hues, fallen from the trees, and are waiting to be carted away, the new season is one of wistfulness and introspection.
We continue to live in strange and unpredictable times, but as Northeast Ohioans we have access to wonderful sources of classical music that can help see us through the dark moments that lie ahead.
DIARY: Thursday, December 22, 2022
by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Tonight: Apollo’s Fire’s Irish-Appalachian Christmas
•BGSU has openings to teach viola, oboe, voice & composition
•R.I.P. clarinetist Stanley Drucker (pictured)
•Holiday podcast listening
•Our almanac, including a long, important, and strange day in music history with Beethoven
HAPPENING TODAY:
Tonight at 7:30 pm at the Cleveland Play House, Apollo’s Fire concludes the two-day run of its Irish-Appalachian Christmas program “WASSAIL!” The concert, which celebrates the American immigrant experience, features such instruments as fiddle, Medieval harp, hammered dulcimer, and bagpipes. Get tickets here.
DIARY: Wednesday, December 21, 2022
by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. Today is the Winter Solstice
. Holiday music at the Atrium, a Winter Solstice Concert, and WASSAIL! from Apollo’s Fire
. Piano Cleveland Social Club
THE WINTER SOLSTICE is scheduled for today at 4:47 pm in the Northern Hemisphere. Despite a recent run of blazingly sunny days, this moment marks the point when we northerners are tilted as far away from the sun as possible, producing a Wednesday with the shortest daylight and longest night of the year. Just the thing to warm our hearts as the latest episode of the COVID-19 saga unfolds.
Given no alternative, we might as well enjoy our mutual planetary experience today, and as usual, music comes to the rescue.
Click here to listen to the carol commissioned for the 1998 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge. Gile Swayne set his own English text in his Winter Solstice Carol (it alternates with familiar Latin phrases from the Christmas Day antiphon to the Magnificat): [Read more…]
DIARY: Tuesday, December 20, 2022
by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Today: organist David Kazimir at the Covenant
•News: Cleveland Cello Society’s 2023 season, honors for Takács & Case Symphonic Winds, and a spotlight on OMEA prep at Beachwood High
•Almanac: birthdays for composer John Harbison and pianist Mitsuko Uchida
HAPPENING TODAY:
Organist David Kazimir’s program for today’s Tuesday Noon Organ Plus Concert at Church of the Covenant consists of North German settings of the Magnificat — music by Dietrich Buxtehude, Samuel Scheidt, and J.S. Bach. A freewill offering will be taken up.
DIARY Monday, December 19, 2022
by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. Online: Les Délices with Daphna Mor (pictured, Sue Yelanjian looking on) and rare finds by Eric Charnofsky
. Almanac: Clérambault, Christie & Isserlis
TODAYS EVENTS:
Beginning today, and continuing through June, Les Délices re-releases its SalonEra 3.3 program: Ottoman Influence. A Baroque musician, Ottoman music enthusiast, and multi-instrumentalist, Daphna Mor guest-curates this episode exploring connections between east and west. Oud player Kane Mathis helps us understand the building blocks of Ottoman music, and Turkish violinist and multi-instrumentalist Ceren Türkmenoğlu shares her fascinating and beautiful work, which inhabits both European and Turkish classical traditions. Available online and as a podcast. Click here.
From 2:00 – 4:00 pm today Eric Charnofsky’s Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music features a selection of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ sacred and secular choral songs, Charles Dodge’s Extensions (trumpet and tape), Vítězslav Novák’s Eternal Longing (orchestra), J.S. Bach’s Concerto in d arranged by Ilan Guetta for two electric guitars and strings, David Gompper’s Bailey’s Beads (double bass and piano), and Paula Matthusen’s Limerence (banjo and electronics). Click here to listen to the internet feed or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area. [Read more…]
DIARY: Weekend, December 16 – 18, 2022
by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. Multiple holiday concerts by area ensembles
. Thoughts about works by Tchaikovsky, Warlock & Stravinsky on the anniversaries of their debuts
THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:
Among the Holiday Events this weekend: Burning River Brass makes its annual appearance on the Arts Renaissance Tremont series (Friday, pictured in the series’ former venue — now moved to St. Wendelin Church), Summit Choral Society appears three times by candlelight at St. Bernard in Akron (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), Cleveland Chamber Choir presents a triptych of “Winter Carols and Lullabies” in Akron (Friday), Cleveland (Saturday) and Cleveland Heights (Sunday), Brett Mitchell conducts Cleveland Orchestra holiday concerts on Friday, twice on Saturday and Sunday, Peter Slowik leads Oberlin’s annual Messiah Sing on Sunday, and flutist Holly Hoffman plays at the Maltz on Sunday evening. [Read more…]
Víkingur Ólafsson brings
“Mozart & Contemporaries” to Severance (Nov. 30)
by Peter Feher
Mozart got top billing on pianist Víkingur Ólafsson’s November 30 recital in Reinberger Chamber Hall, but another composer should have had the honor. Haydn’s musical sensibility was the key to understanding the bold claims and idiosyncratic style of the evening’s program, “Mozart and Contemporaries.”
Happily, both composers — along with several lesser-known figures of the Classical era — featured in Ólafsson’s performance, the first in a series of high-profile piano recitals that The Cleveland Orchestra will present at Severance Music Center this season. It was an up-close look at one of classical music’s more thought-provoking soloists in recent years — and at one of his signature projects.
Contemporary Youth Orchestra to give world and U.S. premieres
by Mike Telin
The Contemporary Youth Orchestra has a long history of performing works that have been written especially for the ensemble, as well as providing its young musicians with opportunities to collaborate with professional musicians representing diverse musical genres.
That tradition will continue on Saturday, December 17 at 7:00 pm at Tri-C’s Metro Auditorium when music director Kristopher Morron will lead CYO in the world premiere of Pascal LeBoeuf’s Triple Concerto and the U.S. premiere of Vincent Mendoza’s Concerto for Orchestra. Soloists include Barbora Kolarova (violin), Garrett Arney and Ben Kipp (percussion), Dan Bruce (guitar), Joe Tomino (drum set), Chris Coles (tenor sax), Etienne Massicotte (trumpet), and Josiah Quarles (vocals). Tickets are available online.
During a recent conference call with Morron and Ben Kipp, CYO’s director of educational programming, Kipp explained that LeBoeuf’s Triple Concerto is a pre-COVID project that, until now, “has not had the opportunity to see the light of day.” [Read more…]
Cleveland Chamber Choir: Winter Carols & Lullabies
by Mike Telin
At this time of year, light takes on an important role in our lives. Hanukkah is known as the Festival of Lights. The Winter Solstice marks the beginning of longer days and shorter nights. And festive lights are always in abundance during the Christmas season. “The question behind the programmatic choices for this concert was: What does light truly sound like?” Jelani Watkins said during a recent telephone conversation.
On Friday December 16 at 7:30 pm at St. Sebastian Church in Akron, Watkins will lead the Cleveland Chamber Choir in Winter Carols and Lullabies. The concert features old and new works that offer hope during the holiday season. The program will be repeated on Saturday at 7:00 pm at St. Peter’s Church in Cleveland and Sunday at 4:00 pm at Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Heights. The performances are free.
“In various religions, traditions, and cultures, light is often used to symbolize hope,” Watkins said, “and I wanted to explore the many concepts of light, and how those concepts are told through stories and music during the holiday season. [Read more…]