by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Today: organist Luca Cantone at the Covenant
•Announcements: a call for bands from Tri-C JazzFest, application deadline extended for Kent Blossom, and a webinar about Arts Economic Relief Grants
•Interesting read: artificial intelligence and music
•Almanac: Kalevala Day and Osmo Vänskä (pictured)
HAPPENING TODAY:
Today at 12, Oberlin student organist Luca Cantone will play music by Abraham van den Kerckhoven (Fantasia in F, W. 128), Eustache du Caurroy (Cinq Fantaisies sur Une jeune fillette), and J.S. Bach (Trio Sonata in C, BWV 529) on the Church of the Covenant’s Tuesday Noon Organ Plus series. A freewill offering will be taken up.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Tri-C JazzFest is looking for local and regional bands to perform on the Outdoor Stage as part of this year’s festival. A variety of genres will be considered — jazz, blues, R&B, funk, gospel, jam band, reggae — and fourteen acts will ultimately be selected to perform between 3:00 pm and midnight on Friday, June 23 and Saturday, June 24. Online applications are due by April 2.
Speaking of deadlines, the Kent Blossom Music Festival has extended the cut-off time for applications, which will now be accepted through March 5. More information here.
Interested in an Arts Economic Relief Grant? The Ohio Department of Development will host a webinar on Friday, March 3 at 11:00 am to discuss program parameters, eligibility, and the application. Register here.
INTERESTING READ:
An article in The Washington Post explores how music is now being “composed” via artificial intelligence. Read “How AI is changing classical music” here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On this Kalevala Day — named in honor of Finland’s national epic, the 19th-century work of epic poetry Kalevala — it’s only fitting to celebrate the culture of that country by wishing a happy 70th birthday to Osmo Vänskä.
Born in Sääminki, Vänskä began his musical career as a clarinetist in the Turku and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras before turning to conducting. And soon enough he had won the 1982 International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors and taken up his first position — principal guest conductor, then a few years later chief conductor — with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in his home country.
Among several over posts he has taken up since then, Vänskä has been most widely praised for his leadership of the Minnesota Orchestra, which he led from 2003-2022 — save for a span of six months, after he resigned in protest due to a long and acrimonious lockout, then returned.
Vänskä and Minnesota partnered on many acclaimed recordings, including the complete symphonies of his most musically famous countryman. Listen to them play Sibelius’s Symphony No. 4 here.
But let’s also shine a spotlight on his lesser-known talents: as an instrumentalist, and as a composer. Click here to listen to Vänskä on the clarinet — joined by his wife, Minnesota Orchestra concertmaster Erin Keefe — in one of his own compositions: the “Dialogue” from Duo for Clarinet and Violin.
Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco