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Archives for January 2023

Cleveland Orchestra with Gilbert & Yancich: Oliverio, Haydn & Nielsen pack a program (Jan. 5)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Rebounding with vigor on January 5 from its loaded holiday schedule while other ensembles were still in recovery mode, The Cleveland Orchestra gave a thoroughly enjoyable concert of completely unrelated works, including a new concerto by James Oliverio featuring principal timpani Paul Yancich, and not-so-often performed symphonies by Joseph Haydn and Carl Nielsen.

Presiding over this interesting stew like an adventurous chef, guest conductor Alan Gilbert threw in a surprising ingredient or two that the smallish audience of 800 lapped up as if hungry for something both piquant and nourishing after a diet of Noëls.

The Mandel Hall stage was full of drums — the normal number at the back of the orchestra, plus seven more set in a tight circle where the first violins usually hold forth — for the opening work, Oliverio’s Legacy Ascendant, Concerto for Timpani and Strings, commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra
MLK Celebration: a chat 
with emcee Peter Lawson Jones

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by Mike Telin 

“When I was ten or eleven, my father was going to an MLK march. He asked me if I wanted to go and I didn’t. And that has been a regret of mine for a very long time,” Peter Lawson Jones recalled during a recent telephone conversation. “But this night will celebrate all that Dr. King did and I look forward to being part of it.”

On Sunday, January 15 at 7:00 pm at Severance Music Center, Jones will act as narrator and emcee when The Cleveland Orchestra presents its free, annual concert in honor of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. under the direction of Daniel Reith. Jones will be joined by bass and narrator Soloman Howard and the all-volunteer Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Chorus, directed by William Henry Caldwell. Although the concert is sold out, it will be broadcast live on WCLV 90.3 and WKSU 89.7, with simultaneous streaming available at ideastream.org.

A Cleveland native, Jones is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. From 2002 through 2010, he was a member of the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners, and its president for three of those years. He previously served two and a half terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, where he was the ranking member of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee and second vice president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus. He has also been the Vice Mayor and a Councilman in the City of Shaker Heights.

[Read more…]

DIARY Wednesday, January 11, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Oltman obituary link

. NEA award for ENCORE Chamber Music Institute, TÁR to be screened in Canton, already critiqued by Marin Alsop

. Historic dates to remember: death of John Field (the other composer of Nocturnes), debut of Brahms’ Clarinet Sonata, birth of Duruflé, and the debuts of Copland’s Organ Symphony, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, and John Adams’ El Niño.

OLTMAN OBITUARY

Baldwin Wallace Conservatory has issued a link to the obituary for Dwight Oltman.

HAPPENING TODAY:

No concerts are scheduled today.

NEWS BRIEFS:

ENCORE Chamber Music Institute has received an award from the National Endowment for the Arts for its 2023 Music & Ideas Festival, “Creatures of Emotion”! [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, January 10, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•A programming change from The Cleveland Orchestra

•Registration open for Guitar Society’s guitar orchestras 

•Almanac: the stylistic breadth of Frank Bridge

NEWS BRIEFS:

Yesterday afternoon, The Cleveland Orchestra announced a change to its program scheduled for February 2-5. Cellist Truls Mørk has withdrawn due to a muscle injury, so Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto will be replaced by Andrew Norman’s Sustain, led by previously announced guest conductor Klaus Mäkelä. The rest of the program — Debussy’s Images and Ravel’s Boléro — remains unchanged. (Pictured: Norman and Mäkelä.)

Registration is open until January 23 for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s spring 2023 guitar orchestras. Those include one ensemble aimed at advanced guitarists, and another for beginner-to-intermediate players. Rehearsals begin in late February. More information here.

[Read more…]

DIARY Monday, January 9, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky’s Monday playlist

. Potter to join Les Délices, JazzFest plans jam sessions

. Almanac remembers Harvard professor/composers, The MET’s Rudolph Bing & some premieres

HAPPENING TODAY:

Join host Eric Charnofsky from 2:00 until 4:00 this afternoon for another edition of Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music. The playlist includes Jan Engel’s Symphony in B, Cindy McTee’s Einstein’s Dream (orchestra and computer sounds), Michael Daugherty’s Labyrinth of Love (soprano, winds, piano, contrabass, percussion), Leopold Mozart’s Trumpet Concerto, Joseph Fennimore’s two Sonatas for piano, four hands, and selected transcriptions of music by Vivaldi, featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Les Délices has announced the appointment of Laura Potter as its new Executive Director. [Read more…]

WEEKEND DIARY: January 6-8, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

LOOKING AHEAD IN JANUARY

Until administrators in Imperial Rome began fiddling with the calendar, the year very sensibly began in March with the reblooming of nature, rather than in January when “dogs are sticking to the sidewalks” and it can seem like the beginning of a new Ice Age, as in Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of our Teeth. But the Northeast Ohio concert calendar is already bustling with activity. Here’s a rundown for the next four weeks.

Apollo’s Fire and The Cleveland Orchestra are back in business early following the holidays, the former with two Baroque Bistros that promise to “Drive the Cold Winter Away (January 7 and 8), the latter with a guest appearance by conductor Alan Gilbert and the premiere by Paul Yancich of a new timpani concerto by James Oliverio and Nielsen’s somewhat obscure Sinfonia espansiva (second and last performance Jan. 7). Franz Welser-Möst returns to Severance Music Center with the Orchestra and Chorus for Schubert’s Mass in E-flat, flanked by Schubert’s 8th Symphony and Berg’s Lyric Suite (Jan. 12, 13 & 14).

Christopher Wilkins and the Akron Symphony are back early in the month as well on Jan. 14 for Julia Perry’s Pastoral, Xavier Foley’s Double Concerto “For Justice and Peace,” featuring bassist and composer Foley with violinist Eunice Kim (Foley also solos in Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto No. 2).

Peter Lawson Jones will emcee the annual Martin Luther King Birthday concert on Jan. 15 at Severance Music Center, with The Cleveland Orchestra and Celebration Chorus performing music by Black composers Florence Price and William L. Dawson, and an afternoon Music Settlement concert at the Bop Stop will celebrate King’s mission through music and the written word. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, January 5, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Tonight: Cleveland Orchestra with Gilbert and a trio of soloists

•News: Kent Blossom applications open, CIM’s Sara Daneshpour (pictured) appointed professor at CCM, and Dwight Oltman memoir available

•Almanac: a trio of famous pianists in Medtner, Brendel, and Pollini

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30 pm, Alan Gilbert leads The Cleveland Orchestra in a concert that includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 90, Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 (“Sinfonia espansiva”), featuring soprano Liv Redpath and baritone Justin Austin as soloists, and the world premiere of James Oliverio’s timpani concerto Legacy Ascendant, which will shine a spotlight on principal timpani Paul Yancich. The program will be repeated on Saturday. Tickets are available here, and you can read Mike Telin’s recent interview with Oliverio here.

[Read more…]

DIARY Wednesday, January 4, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway and Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

. Oltman tributes welcome

. Wax cylinders spin again & a January classical music diet

. Marking the birthdays of Pergolesi & the 33-⅓ rpm vinyl record

DWIGHT OLTMAN:

Although we haven’t yet received an official obituary for Dwight Oltman, who passed away in North Carolina on December 31, ClevelandClassical.com invites his many former students and colleagues to offer tributes in his honor to be archived on a special page in this website beginning in the near future. Please email them here.

INTERESTING READS FROM THE WEB:

Wax Cylinders Hold Audio From a Century Ago. The Library Is Listening.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts acquired a machine that transfers recordings from the fragile format of wax cylinders. Then a batch of cylinders from a Met Opera librarian arrived. Read the article from The New York Times here. [Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland: “Festive Sounds” (Dec. 9)

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by Stephanie Manning

“Colors,” the theme for CityMusic Cleveland’s current season, seemed a particularly apt descriptor for their concert on December 9. While Lakewood Congregational Church was decorated in holiday greenery, the musicians inside forewent traditional black attire for shades of festive red. But those two colors weren’t the only ones in play. Led by principal guest conductor Stefan Willich, the Chamber Orchestra provided all kinds of vivid imagery in the second program of their 19th season.

With its policy of free admission, CityMusic is a prime example of how the price of the ticket doesn’t always correlate to the quality of the performance. The centerpiece of the program, Mozart’s Symphony No. 4 in g,  proved the group particularly apt in the style of the Classical composer. Aided by clean and precise phrasing, the group gave off the rich sound of a larger ensemble. [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, January 3, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•News: Applications open for Tuesday Musical Scholarship Competition

•Almanac: a pair of living American composers in Beth Anderson and Kevin Puts (pictured)

NEWS BRIEFS:

As of the first of the new year, and until January 31, Tuesday Musical is accepting applications for its 2023 Scholarship Competition, the 67th edition. Twenty-three scholarships, ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 each, will be awarded to college students majoring in music performance and/or music education, provided they are Ohio residents, or they are studying with a music teacher at an Ohio college or university. The competition will be held in-person on March 18 at The University of Akron. Winners will then be invited to the Final Round/Winners Concert on May 21. Click here for more information.

[Read more…]

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