Archives for November 2025

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING  TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30 The Cleveland Orchestra presents An Evening with Yo-Yo Ma, featuring the renowned cellist in Antonîn Dvořák’s Concerto in a program that includes Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Overture to Die Fledermaus, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni, and Dvořák’s Carnival Overture. James Feddeck is on the podium at Severance Music Center.

And tonight at 8 pm, Oberlin Opera Theater begins a four-performance run of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George’s L’amant anonyme in Hall Auditorium, directed by Fenlon Lamb, and conducted by Kelly Kuo. Premiered in 1780, this two-act opéra comique (run time: 90 minutes, no intermission) is the only Bologne opera to survive to the present day.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman

This date in music history has brought with it the deaths of German composer and organist Heinrich Schütz (1672 in Dresden), Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1893 in St. Petersburg), and French composer Edgar Varèse (1965 in New York), as well as the births of Belgian instrument inventor Adolphe Sax (pictured, 1814 in Dinant) and American composer and conductor John Philip Sousa (1854 in the nation’s capital). [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 6:00 pm, the Cleveland Museum of Art hosts young musicians from Case Western Reserve University’s Historical Performance Practice Program in the Donna and James Reid Gallery

Tonight at 7 pm, CityMusic Cleveland plays its November chamber concert at Praxis Fiber Workshop.

And at 7:30 pm, Joshua Gersen conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in Bernard Hermann’s score to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, performed live-to-picture at Severance Music Center.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1494, German Meistersinger Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg. A shoemaker by trade, he wrote over 4,000 Meisterlieder, poems, tragedies, comedies, fables, and religious tracts, having become an enthusiastic follower of Martin Luther. That earned him the opprobrium of the town council — until Nuremberg signed on to join the Reformation. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 Noon, organist Owen Metz will play works by Nicolaus Bruhns and Maurice Duruflé on the Tuesday Noon series at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle.

And tonight at 7:30, CIM “Insiders” Si-Yan Darren Li, cello, Steven Banks, saxophone, Stephen Tavani, violin, Wesley Collins, viola, and Anita Pontremoli, piano, will perform works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Hildegard von Bingen, and Antonín Dvořák in Kulas Hall.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Pianist Retires from Performing

The Violin Channel reports that the 81-year-old Portuguese pianist Maria João will officially step away from the stage.

Pernambuco Wood Ban

In another story today, the Violin Channel reports that musicians are petitioning governments to oppose Brazil’s Proposed Ban on an essential material for bow making.

Pierre Boulez Centenary at CMA

The Cleveland Orchestra, Museum of Art and Cleveland State University will celebrate Pierre Boulez’s centenary with a free concert on Nov. 14 at the Museum. Alex Darus previews the event on Cleveland.com that will feature modernist compositions and honor the renowned French composer. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

INTERESTING READS:

Writing in The New Yorker, Alex Ross notes that “At ninety, Arvo Pärt and Terry Riley still sound vital. Both composers remain intriguing outliers, notable for the stubbornness with which they have held to their youthful convictions.”

And in The Guardian, Emma Thompson speaks of her ‘intense irritation’ with AI. “The actor and screenwriter told late night talkshow host Stephen Colbert that she took issue with Microsoft’s Copilot offering to rewrite her scripts for her.” Although this article is about words, the issue affects all the arts.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

German organist and composer Samuel Scheidt was baptized on this date in 1587 in Halle, where he spent his whole career after studying in Amsterdam with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. [Read more…]