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Archives for November 2025

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra with violinist David McCarroll in Rocky River (Nov. 23)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Let’s cut to the chase and simply say that it would be difficult to imagine a more perfect and moving performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto than the one David McCarroll gave with Daniel Meyer and BlueWater Chamber Orchestra on Sunday afternoon, November 23 at Rocky River Presbyterian Church. We’ll come back to that thought.

The straight-through performance preceded the Beethoven with works by Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer and a youngish Aaron Copland.

Brouwer’s engaging and popular The Art of Sailing at Dawn evokes memories of growing up on the Great Lakes. A flute conjures sonic images of gulls, and subtle waves support a lovely oboe solo before the wind kicks up and dark clouds assemble. A storm erupts, but soon passes, leading to a quiet ending. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra, conductor Dalia Stasevska celebrate music of North America (Nov. 20)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Although written by a European composer, Antonín Dvořák’s beloved “New World” Symphony represents a particularly “American” idea of music to many.

An audience favorite ever since its premiere in New York in 1893, this symphony is often performed together with works by American composers — an approach taken by The Cleveland Orchestra the last time they played it here in 2023.

This time around, the program expanded its scope to encompass the North American continent, pairing the Dvořák with a piece by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas. Conductor Dalia Stasevska led a memorable performance of both works on Thursday, Nov. 20 at Severance Music Center.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra delivers Fall Concert at Severance (Nov. 21)

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by Daniel Hathaway

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Untenured conductors can rejoice in rave reviews for their work with orchestras, but by far the sincerest of accolades they can receive is simply to be invited back for more.

On Friday, November 21, James Feddeck, who served as the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra’s music director for four seasons from 2009-2013 (the side gig that came with his job as assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra), made a triumphant return to Severance Music Center to lead the junior ensemble in super-sonorous performances of music by Sergei Prokofiev and César Franck.

[Read more…]

Steelpan virtuoso Victor Provost at Oberlin’s Birenbaum (Nov. 20)

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by Max Newman

Oberlin College and Conservatory is a school of sonic opportunity. No matter where you wander on its campus, no matter which of its corners you choose to explore, you are bound to find an abundance of music.

One of these many musical corners is the Birenbaum Performance Space, where on Thursday evening, November 20 in front of an intimately seated crowd, steelpan virtuoso Victor Provost strutted his stuff along with the Oberlin Performance and Improv (PI) Ensembles. The performance blended both genre and experience level in a delightful and holistic exploration of world music.

Considering the eclectic mix of instruments that were used, the spatial awareness of each member of the ensemble was impressive. Instruments seldom overlapped or obscured others. Indeed, there was a collective sound that could only be described as unbrokenly full.

 

[Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series presents the Danish String Quartet (Nov. 21)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

There’s an old adage about the Danes: they are an amiable people, quick to embrace hygge and humor, yet they hide a deep streak of seriousness when it matters. The Danish String Quartet has made a career out of embodying that balance. Their concerts feel open-hearted, even playful, but the music-making is etched with an intensity as real as an icy wind — one they would probably shrug off if you asked them about it later.

On Friday evening, November 21, in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel, three Danes (Frederik Øland & Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, violins and Asbjørn Nørgaard, viola) and a Norwegian (Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, cello) using, in their words, “four simple instruments made of wood” brought ease and gravity to a program that moved from Stravinsky and Jonny Greenwood to late Beethoven and to the folk traditions of their northern homes.

Their spoken introductions were casual in the best way: well-crafted, low-key, and quietly funny. In introducing the first half, Sørensen introduced Stravinsky’s Three Pieces and Jonny Greenwood’s Suite from There Will Be Blood, followed by the Beethoven, as if that were the most natural sequence in the world.

[Read more…]

Akron Symphony goes for glory in Handel’s Messiah (Nov. 15)

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by Peter Feher

The holiday season got off to an early start at E.J. Thomas Hall over the weekend, with the Akron Symphony and Chorus reveling in a performance of Handel’s Messiah.

In truth, it’s tradition for this great oratorio — which embraces the New Testament theme of Jesus as savior — to arrive ahead of schedule. Handel intended the work to be presented each year during Lent, when theaters were otherwise closed and only entertainment of the most ennobling character was allowed. But in the centuries following its 1742 premiere, Messiah crept up the concert calendar to become a Christmas favorite.

Never mind that the famous “Hallelujah” Chorus comes from Part 2 of the oratorio, which recounts Christ’s death and resurrection. Part 1 includes the Nativity, and it was to this opening section that the Akron Symphony and music director Christopher Wilkins devoted themselves on Saturday, November 15.

[Read more…]

DIARY, Thanksgiving Week, November 25-30, 2025

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HAPPENING THIS WEEK:

On Friday at 7:30, Petr Popelka conducts The Cleveland Orchestra with pianist Yuja Wang (pictured) in works by Ravel, Ligeti, and Mussorgsky at Severance Music Center (repeated on Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 3.)

On Saturday at 4 pm, The Cleveland Opera stages Georges Bizet’s Doctor Miracle, an hour-long, one-act comedy with sets and costumes, sung in English, and accompanied by chamber instrumentalists, at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland in Shaker Heights (repeated Sunday at 4 at Saint Cyprian Catholic Church, Perry.

On Sunday at 2 pm and 6 pm, Carl Topilow conducts the Cleveland Pops Orchestra and Chorus with vocalist Natalie Green and guests in Jingle Bell Jamboree at KeyBank State Theater in Playhouse Square.

On Sunday at 2 pm, Cleveland Cello Society presents its Scholarship Winners Recital in Judson Manor Ballroom.

On Sunday at 3 pm, Tuesday Musical presents Christmas with Cantus: Three Tales of Christmas at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, and at the same hour, Samuel Gordon conducts Singers Companye in The Call of Beauty at First United Methodist Church in Cuyahoga Falls.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING:

With nothing else on the concert calendar, we’ll send best wishes for a rejuvenating holiday weekend and safe and uncomplicated travel for those who are braving the airways and highways.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On November 25, 1731, Johann Sebastian Bach gave the first performance of his cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, in Leipzig on the 27th Sunday after Trinity, one of only two occasions during his tenure when an extra Sunday before Advent entered the calendar and required new music to be provided. [Read more…]

Pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi shows his support for Ukraine with a performance in Kyiv

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by Stephanie Manning

Pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi is no stranger to the life of a traveling musician. When I spoke with the pianist via Zoom earlier this month, he was wrapping up performances in his home country of Italy and preparing for a few days in Germany and then Cleveland, where he is Distinguished Professor of Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

But his next destination will bring some new challenges — and new rewards. On Saturday, November 29, Pompa-Baldi will perform Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine, conducted by Theodore Kuchar. The concert takes place in Kyiv’s historic Lysenko Hall, and getting there requires the pianist to fly to Warsaw before taking a 16-hour train ride across the border.

[Read more…]

DIARY, Monday, November 24, 2025

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HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7, The Cleveland Opera will stage Georges Bizet’s Doctor Miracle, an hour-long, one-act comedy,with sets and costumes, sung in English, and accompanied by chamber instrumentalists. Stewart Room of the Randall Campus Center, Malone University, Canton.

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On November 24, 1868, American composer and pianist Scott Joplin (pictured) was born near Marshall, Texas. Most famous for single-handedly inventing ragtime — a syncopated American genre revived by William Bolcom and William Albright, who introduced the young musicologist Joshua Rifin to Joplin’s music in 1968, and further popularized it in the movie The Sting — Joplin wrote two operas as well.

The materials for A Guest of Honor have been lost, probably seized by a rooming house owner in lieu of rent during a tour in 1904, but Treemonisha enjoyed a full production by Houston Grand Opera in May, 1975. Watch a video (with subtitles in Portuguese!) here. [Read more…]

DIARY, WEEKEND, Friday-Sunday, November 21-23, 2025

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by Daniel Hathaway

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

The Cleveland Orchestra celebrates the music of North America this weekend, as Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska (pictured) takes the podium to conduct Silvestre Revueltas’s La Noche de los Mayas and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” Severance Music Center Friday at 11:00 am (without the Revueltas), Saturday at 7:30 pm, and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets available online.

The 8 pm Friday evening slot at Severance Music Center goes to the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra this week, when conductor James Feddeck will lead a suite from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet and César Franck’s Symphony in d. Tickets available online.

Daniel Meyer will lead the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra in “Waves of Passion” at the Church of the Covenant on Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 3 pm at Rocky River Presbyterian church. Music by Aaron Copland and Margaret Brouwer, plus Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with soloist David McCarroll. Find ticket information for Saturday’s concert here.

Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series welcomes the Danish String Quartet to Finney Chapel on Friday at 7:30 pm. Music by Jonny Greenwood & Beethoven, plus original arrangements and compositions. Tickets available online.

Baroque ensemble Les Délices presents four family-friendly events throughout the weekend. “The Aesop Project,” featuring puppets created by Ian Petroni, visits the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Community Arts Center at 11:30 am on Saturday, and the Akron Public Library at 3:30 that afternoon. Arrive at 10:30 am to join art-making activities. The same program will be repeated at the Akron Public Library Main Branch at 3:30 pm that day. And Les Délices’ “Wild Things” visits the Rocky River Public Library (Friday at 7:00 pm) and Christ Church Episcopal in Hudson (Sunday at 5:00 pm).

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings. [Read more…]

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