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Archives for July 2025

DIARY, Wednesday, July 16, 2025

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

2:00 pm – Ohio Light Opera. Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster.

7:00 pm – Kent Blossom Music Festival. Miami String Quartet with Jerry Wong, piano, in Ludwig Recital Hall, Kent State University.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Belgian composer, violinist and conductor Eugène Ysaÿe was born on this date in 1858 in Liège. His solo sonatas are popular encore pieces, and you can see why in James Ehnes’ performance of his Third Sonata on an occasion that the YouTube uploader hasn’t bothered to identify. Any clues?

And Scottish composer James MacMillan was born on July 16, 1959 in Kilwinning, Ayrshire. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Patience, or Bunthorne’s Bride (July 2)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Of all the sacred Victorian oxen William Shenk Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan set out to gore in their fourteen Savoy Operas, their satire of the Aesthetic Movement and its medieval values is one of their cleverest.

Patience (1890) lampoons the literary excesses of the aesthetes and their followers with similar affectations of its own, and the G&S veterans of Ohio Light Opera miss few opportunities to demonstrate their individual virtuosity.

I saw the opening performance, a matinee, at Freedlander Theater at The College of Wooster on July 2. The production was expertly directed by veteran company member Julie Wright Costa, and choreographed by Spencer Reese, with Wilson Southerland conducting the fine-sounding OLO Orchestra. [Read more…]

DIARY, Tuesday, July 15, 2025

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

2:00 pm – Ohio Light Opera. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

We have two anniversaries to mark today. The first is that of Swiss American composer Ernest Bloch (pictured), who died on this date in 1959 in Portland, Oregon. Bloch served as founding director of the Cleveland Institute of Music from 1920-1925 before moving on to the San Francisco Conservatory. After a hiatus back in Switzerland, he helped found the Music Academy of the West, and taught in the summers at the University of California, Berkeley. [Read more…]

Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali returns to Severance Music Center

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by Mike Telin

After making his Cleveland Orchestra debut last November by stepping in for Franz Welser-Möst, Finnish conductor Santtu-Mathias Rouvali received a great honor — a return engagement.

On Thursday, July 17 at 7:00 pm, Rouvali will lead the second Summers at Severance concert in Mandel Concert Hall. The program includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, Stravinsky’s Jeu de cartes, and Ravel’s Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé. Tickets are available online.

“Hello!” Rouvali said enthusiastically, answering his phone from his farm outside of Tampere, Finland. I ask him if it’s still a good time to talk. “Yes, I was just cutting the grass before departing to America, because in one week the grass will be like a jungle if I don’t cut it now.”

[Read more…]

DIARY, Monday, July 14, 2025

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by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1789, Parisians stormed the infamous Bastille prison, liberating seven political prisoners as well as its cache of arms and munitions, creating what has become France’s Independence Day.

Six years later, the revolutionary song La Marseillaise was adopted as the French national anthem. Claude-Benigne Balbastre, a famous Parisian organist of the time, wrote a set of variations on the tune that might be considered the equivalent of Charles Ives’ playful Variations on ‘America’. 

Balbastre, who had served as organist of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the Royal Chapel and taught keyboard lessons to Marie Antoinette, somehow kept his head on his shoulders during the political upheaval of the Revolution. Click here to enjoy his La Marche des Marseillois et l’air “Ça ira” performed by Michel Chapuis on the organ at the church of St-Roch, where Balbastre played to great popular acclaim.

As Charles Burney reported, Balbastre introduced into his improvisations “minuets, fugues, imitations, and every species of music, even to hunting pieces and jigs, without surprising or offending the congregation.”

DIARY, Weekend, July 11-13, 2025

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

FRIDAY: Ohio Light Opera (2 pm, Brigadoon in Wooster)  | Stars in the Classics (6:30, A Summer Garden Concert in Orange | Piano Cleveland (6:30, Forte Fridays in Westlake | Chagrin Arts Blind Injustice (7:30 in Playhouse Square, sold out. Pictured: Brian Keith Johnson, Tim Culver & Marian Vogel).

SATURDAY: Athena String Quartet (12 Noon in Cain Park) | Ohio Light Opera (2 pm, Carousel in Wooster) | Cleveland Silent Film Festival (His People, 1925 with live score at Main Cleveland Public Library) | The Cleveland Opera (4 pm arias and duets at Darl Center in Cleveland) | The Cleveland Orchestra (7 pm Carmina Burana at Blossom) | Ohio Light Opera (7:30 Tip-toes in Wooster) | Chagrin Arts (7:30 Blind Injustice in Playhouse Square).

SUNDAY: Ohio Light Opera (2 pm, Brigadoon in Wooster) | Chagrin Arts (3 pm, Blind Injustice in Playhouse Square) | The Cleveland Opera (4 pm arias and duets at St Cyprian in Perry) | Stars in the Classics (4 pm, A Summer Garden Concert in Orange | Music at Bath (5 pm Hunter Skeens and the Forerunners. Original Bluegrass at The Bath Church).

For details visit our Concert Listings.

WEEKEND ALMANAC:

By Jarrett Hoffman

A 1,088-page book published a few years back is a timely — if time-intensive — way to celebrate lyricist, librettist, and musical theater icon Oscar Hammerstein II, who was born on July 13, 1895 in New York City. [Read more…]

ChamberFest takes its audience on a journey in “Songs, Signs, and Souvenirs” (June 28)

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by Stephanie Manning

During this year’s ChamberFest, the “Lost and Found” theme showed up in all kinds of ways. Sometimes that meant performing recently-unearthed works from historic composers like Mozart and Chopin. Sometimes it referred to an emotional resonance, as when Judith Markovich’s music told the story of the grief and loss of a son.

But the listener has a role to play in this as well. As ChamberFest’s past Board chair Rebecca Carmi reminded the audience on June 28, getting “lost” in the music is also an experience to strive for. Thankfully, the engrossing final concert of ChamberFest’s 2025 season — held in Severance Music Center’s Reinberger Chamber Hall — provided plenty of opportunities.

[Read more…]

Piano Days 2025: two weeks, six international pianists, and many creative performances

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by Stephanie Manning

As the hosts of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Piano Cleveland spends plenty of time promoting traditional classical repertoire. But their other programming, like the summer festival Piano Days, focus on celebrating the instrument in all its forms.

“ We say this all the time — piano is the most accessible instrument,” Piano Cleveland executive director Marissa Moore said. “Our real goal in programming a festival like this is always to push the boundaries of what people think of when they think about classical music.”

The 2025 edition of Piano Days, which will take place at venues across the area from July 20 through August 2, features six musicians who champion crossovers in genre, presentation, and cultural influence. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Blossom Festival Band spotlights new and old favorites in “Salute to America” (July 3)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — For an outdoor concert on July 3, you could hardly have asked for a nicer summer evening — or a more expert conductor.

“How about this weather!” Michelle Rakers cheerfully boomed from the podium, greeting the audience who had packed the lawn and pavilion at Blossom Music Center.

Under Rakers’ direction, the Blossom Festival Band presented “Salute to America,” a memorable take on the annual Fourth of July program that favored some lesser-known selections without ignoring the classics.

[Read more…]

Kent Blossom Music Festival: WindSync with Jon Kimura Parker (June 25)

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by Peter Feher

What do you call a concerto for six soloists? There’s no punchline here — just a delightful question posed by the first faculty concert of this year’s Kent Blossom Music Festival.

On Wednesday, June 25, in Ludwig Recital Hall, pianist Jon Kimura Parker and the five members of WindSync came together in a dynamic performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue that somewhat confounded categories.

“Piano sextet” is the usual name for this combination of instruments, and Gershwin’s composition could easily be subtitled “a concerto in one movement.” Yet neither designation would do justice to the spirit of this collaboration, in which every musician shone.

[Read more…]

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