By Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
On Friday at 12:15 noon, Sheryl Modlin, who usually plays the carillon at the Church of the Saviour in Cleveland Heights, will present a program of spooky music on the McGaffin Tower bells in University Circle. You can enjoy it in person, or online.
Also on Friday, Baldwin Wallace Opera will stage Handel’s Giulio Cesare at 8pm in the Helen Theatre in Playhouse Square.
And at midnight between Friday and Saturday in Finney Chapel, Oberlin organ majors will present the annual Halloween Edition of their celebrated Friday Night Organ Pump.
For details, visit our Concert Listings.
NEWS BRIEFS:
“CIM’s Black Student Union bridges critical support gap with new Student Assistance Fund.” Read the press release here.
Piano Cleveland has announced that Lang Lang will be its Honorary 2024 CIPC Ambassador. “We are excited to continue our collaboration with Lang Lang and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation to celebrate our 50th anniversary year!”
INTERESTING READ:
“Sister of the celebrated Felix, Fanny Mendelssohn’s own prodigious gifts were kept as quiet as possible and long remained unknown. A new film, by Fanny’s direct descendent, tells her story.”
Read the Guardian article by Sheila Hayman, “Music for you must only be an ornament:’ how Fanny Mendelssohn’s voice was stifled, then saved.”
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
By Jarrett Hoffman
Italian violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini was born on this date in 1782 in Genoa. The most famous virtuoso of his time — it was rumored that he acquired his talents through a pact with the devil — his skill as a player is plainly evident in his 24 Caprices for Solo Violin. Hilary Hahn, for one, dispels any wicked associations by playing the Caprice No. 24 in front of a large cross in this video, where you can also follow along with the score.
Where Paganini’s works push the limits of human ability, American-born Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow went even further through the use of automation. Nancarrow, who was born on this date in 1912 in Texarkana, Arkansas, was one of the first composers to write for self-playing instruments. The results can be fascinating, as in his famous Studies for Player Piano, a set of 49 etudes. Listen to No. 37 here — as performed by a Bösendorfer-Ampico instrument restored under the composer’s supervision — and watch the piano roll go by.
