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Archives for March 2023

DIARY: Weekend, March 3-5, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Operas, Latin-flavored orchestra concerts, and an improvisation fest rise to the top of this weekend’s calendar.

. Almanac: three from the archives

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

On Friday, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra offers “Blues, Gospel, and the Abstract Truth” at the Maltz, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra feature Mussorgsky’s Pictures, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G (Víkingur Ólafsson) & Louise Farrenc’s Third Symphony (repeated Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 3), while CIM Opera stages Poulenc’s chilling Dialogues des Carmélites (also Sunday at 3) and the Oberlin Improv Fest continues with flutist Nicole Mitchell at the Birenbaum. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, March 2, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: Cleveland Orchestra with pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, and Oberlin Improv Fest with multi-instrumentalist Aurora Nealand and shakuhachi player / electronic musician Kojiro Umezaki (pictured)

•Announcements: changes coming to CIPC 2024, and Cleveland Arts Prize open for submissions

•Almanac: Smetana, Weill, and four distinct takes on “Mack the Knife” from Lotte Lenya, Sidney Bechet, Bobby Darin, and the Amsterdam Wind Quintet

HAPPENING TODAY:

The three-day Oberlin Improv Fest kicks off today with several events, including a recital at 8:30 pm featuring multi-instrumentalist Aurora Nealand with shakuhachi player and electronic musician Kojiro Umezaki at the Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space. The program will include selections from Nealand’s The Monocle (a solo project that brings together voice, accordion, saxophones, and found objects), Umezaki’s electroacoustic composition The Ghost of Autumn Winds (秋風の霊), and a duo improvisation. It’s free and will also be livestreamed.

And at 7:30 pm, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra will present a program that includes Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3, Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G — featuring Víkingur Ólafsson as soloist — and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Ravel). Get tickets here.

[Read more…]

Pianist Martín García García  to perform for Tuesday Musical

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by Mike Telin

Since winning first prize at the 2021 Cleveland International Piano Competition and 3rd Prize at XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition, as well as the special award for the best concerto performance, Spanish pianist Martín García García’s world has — in his words — changed drastically.

On Tuesday, March 7, at 7:30 pm in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical will welcome García García back to Northeast Ohio. His program includes Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 and Brahms’ Sonata No. 3 in f. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with the pianist by phone and began our conversation by asking him why he chose two large works rather than presenting a selection of smaller showpieces?

Martín García García: These are two great abstract works from the past which have not more musical value but more transcendent value.

Almost all the great composers have works like these. They don’t take any of the imagination away from their shorter pieces. But composers always put so much effort into the bigger works — the symphonies, sonatas, and operas — and I tend to lean toward these kinds of pieces.

[Read more…]

Stephen Haluska: Harpist, Improviser, and Experimentalist  

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This article is posted with the permission of No Exit

On Saturday, March 4 at 8:00 pm, at SPACES, No Exit Presents will host harpist Stephan Haluska in a free concert that will include music by Carol Finer, Yasunao Tone, Rhodri Davies, and Stephan Haluska.

No Exit’s Laura King caught up with the improviser and experimental musician.

Laura King: The harp has ancient origins and is such a unique instrument. Can you give us a short overview of its early manifestation in Mesopotamia and its evolution?

Stephan Haluska: What a question about the harp that I don’t get asked very often. Let’s simply define a harp. We might say it’s a plucked instrument with strings stretched between a resonating body and supported by some kind of post. Using this definition, anthropologists generally regard harps as one of the most primitive instruments invented. Harps were independently invented all over the world, in ancient Egypt, sub Saharan, East Asia, and I believe the oldest were found in Mesopotamia. Those Mesopotamian harps evolved into the harps described in the Bible and spread to ancient Greece, which then further spread throughout the European continent.

In medieval Europe, there was a desire to play more complex music on the harp and various developments were added—first they added more strings and then added sharpening levers. Pedal harps, the kind of harp used in classical music and seen in orchestras were developed by various instrument builders throughout the 18th century and by the end of the century, Sebastian Erard refined the design into what we consider to be the modern pedal harp.

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Published on ClevelandClassical.com March 1, 2023.   

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CIM Opera Theater: JJ Hudson directs Dialogues of the Carmelites

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by Mike Telin

Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites recounts a fictionalized version of the real-life story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, a group of Carmelite nuns who, during the closing days of the Reign of Terror, were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their vocation.

On Friday, March 3 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, March 5 at 3:00 pm, CIM Opera Theater will present Poulenc’s haunting opera directed by JJ Hudson. Harry Davidson conducts the CIM Orchestra. Tickets are available online.

Since 2021, JJ Hudson has been Professor of Opera at Georgia State University and was recently appointed Artistic Director of the Harrower Summer Opera Workshop. His upcoming productions include A Little Night Music for Opera in the Ozarks, Ariadne auf Naxos for Lakes Area Music Festival, and La serva padrona, Dido and Aeneas, and Our Town​ for Georgia State University Opera Theater.

I caught up with the director by phone and began our conversation by asking him about his history with Poulenc’s opera. [Read more…]

Akron Symphony delights with “Global Circus” (Feb. 25)

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by Stephanie Manning

Sometimes it can be easy to forget just how much classical music is loved worldwide. Thousands of miles away from the classical music strongholds in Europe and North America, musicians of all backgrounds compose and perform with passion — even at times in the face of difficult circumstances. But as Akron Symphony music director Christopher Wilkins reminded his audience on Saturday, this love is often unrequited, leaving works from places like the Middle East underrepresented on American stages.

With their latest program, “Global Circus,” the Symphony wanted to change that. On February 25, listeners heard works by composers from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, France, and Argentina in a multimedia program that was both memorable and emotionally moving. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, March 1, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Trinity Brownbag Concert

. Women’s History Month

. Almanac: Births, deaths, first performances, and a protest in Vienna

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today’s Brownbag Concert at 12 Noon at Trinity Cathedral features the Shaker Heights High School Chamber Orchestra in a preview of their upcoming concert in New York City. See our Concert Listings for details.

ALMANAC FOR MARCH 1:

March is Women’s History Month, which grew out of a national celebration launched in 1981, when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 authorizing and requesting the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week. Read more here. [Read more…]

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