by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
• An extensive list of concerts to choose from.
• Oberlin Conservatory alumni receive Guggenheim Fellowships
• Anatoly Liadov and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich celebrate birthdays.
THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:
Live music in Northeast Ohio is back in full swing. Here’s a rundown of this weekend’s concert calendar. Check our Concert Listings page for details.
ORCHESTRA:
Tonight at 7:30 pm at Severance, The Cleveland Orchestra with guests — conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and cellist Gautier Capuçon — continues its series with works by Fauré, Britten, and Tchaikovsky. The program will be repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Purchase tickets here.
Also tonight at 7:30 pm, in Fridays at Finney, Raphael Jiménez leads the Oberlin Orchestra in Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante featuring cellist David Lee along with works by Mozart and Richard Strauss. Free.
On Saturday at 7:30 pm at Umstattd Hall, Gerhardt Zimmerman leads the Canton Symphony & Chorus in music by Joan Tower, Vaughan Williams, and Beethoven (the 9th Symphony). Tickets available online.
Also on Saturday, at 7:30 pm Victor Liva leads the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra at CSU’s Waetjen Auditorium with duo pianists Coren Mino and Ron Palk in music by Czerny and Schumann. The program will be repeated on Sunday at 3:00 pm at Westlake Performing Arts Center. Tickets available online.
Saturday at 8:00 pm, Christopher Wilkins conducts the Akron Symphony & Chorus at E.J. Thomas Hall in a program featuring Mabel Daniels’ Deep Forest and Haydn’s The Creation. E.J. Tickets available online.
And on Sunday at 3:30 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Yoon Jae Lee leads the Heights Chamber Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection,” transcription for chamber orchestra — without chorus — by Yoon Jae Lee). Free.
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Today, Friday at 12:15 pm, enjoy a McGaffin Carillon Springtime Concert & Live Stream. George Leggiero plays a Baroque prelude and a Baroque sonata, a Chaconne and Fugue on an Easter Hymn, and music of springtime by Mendelssohn and Morley. Free.
At 7:00 pm, Serenity Chamber Players present “An English Countryside,” featuring music by Finzi, Holst, and Vaughan Williams at Broadview Heights Baptist Church, Free.
And at 8:00 pm at SPACES, No Exit continues “The Big Cimbalom Thing,” featuring cimbalom virtuoso Chester Englander in music by Per Nørgård, Douglas Knehans, Hong-Da Chin, and Edward Smaldone. The program will be repeated on Saturday at 7:00 pm at Heights Arts. F ree.
On Saturday at 7:00 pm at St. Malachi Church, Fire & Grace & Ash, Edwin Huizinga, violin, William Coulter, guitar and Ashley Hoyer, mandolin, play music from the trio’s recent recording Partita Americana. Tickets available online.
At 2:00 pm on Sunday at Gartner Auditorium, pianist Daniel Shapiro performs Schubert’s Sonatas in A, D.959 and B-flat, D96 as part of the Tri-C Classical Piano Series. Free.
Also on Sunday at 2:00 pm, at Akron’s Main Library Auditorium, Urban Troubadour presents “The Art of French Music.” Free.
At 4:00 pm, Sherri Stoffer leads the Stow Heritage Ringers Ensemble at Fairlawn Lutheran Church. Free.
CHORAL MUSIC:
Tonight at 7:00 pm at Trinity Cathedral, the Singers Club of Cleveland with David Briggs, organ will present the premiere of Briggs’ Requiem in Honor of Lives Lost to COVID. Click here to reserve free tickets.
On Sunday at 7:00 pm catch the AGO Hymn Festival with Tom Trenney at the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls. Free.
And at 7:30 pm at Avon Lake High School Performing Arts Center, John Drotleff leads the West Shore Chorale in Fauré’s Requiem and J. S. Bach’s Magnificat. Tickets are $15, free for students.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Three Oberlin Conservatory alumni are recipients of 2022 Guggenheim Fellowships in support of future research or creative projects. Composer and sound artist Phyllis Chen and trumpeter-composer Peter Evans were awarded in the Composition category and playwright and composer César Alavarez was selected for Drama and Performance. Read Erich Burnett’s article here.
THIS WEEKEND’S ALMANAC:
On April 29, 1855 Russian composer, teacher, and conductor Anatoly Liadov was born in St. Petersburg. His best-known orchestral works include the tone poems Baba Yaga, Kikimora, and The Enchanted Lake. To hear a 1963 studio recording by George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra of The Enchanted Lake, click here.
On April 30 in 1939, American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich entered the world in Miami. One of America’s pioneering female composers, Taafe Zwilich was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Her 2008 Septet for piano trio and string quartet was written for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Miami Quartet, who play the unusual work on the 2014 recording, Passionate Diversions: a Celebration of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Listen here, or watch a 2012 video of a performance by the Newbury Tio and Amphion Quartet at the La Jolla Music Festival.