by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 7:00 pm, Federated Church Performing Arts Series presents Voices From the Other Side with Steven Smith, conductor, Gabrielle Haigh, soprano, and eight Erie Coast Cellists. Read a preview here.
At 7:30 pm, LCCC Signature Series presents Annie Jacobs-Perkins, cello, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra joins Sameer Patel, conductor, and Viviana-Zarah Baudis, piano, in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center.
Visit our Concert Listings page for details and ticket information for these and other performances.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas’ brain tumor has returned, and the 80-year-old intends to lead his final performance in April. Read the story from the Associated Press here, and his personal statement here.
Roberta Flack, the magnetic singer and pianist whose intimate blend of soul, jazz and folk made her one of the most popular artists of the 1970s, died on Monday in Manhattan. She was 88. Read the New York Times article by Giovanni Russonello here.
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced that it will perform with Grammy-winning Icelandic jazz singer, composer, and producer Laufey on August 7, 2025, at Blossom Music Center. Her performance at Blossom will feature a selection of her original songs, as well as a surprises, led by conductor Ross Jamie Collins in his Cleveland Orchestra debut. Read the announcement here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On February 25, 1890, English pianist Myra Hess was born in South Hampstead, London. She made her professional debut in 1907 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham. Hess toured extensively throughout Britain, the Netherlands, and France and made her U.S. debut in New York City in 1922.
The pianist may be most remembered for her London performances during the Blitz of World War II. During that time Hess organized nearly 2,000 lunchtime concerts in Trafalgar Square’s National Gallery. The concerts were held every Monday and Friday for six-and-a-half years. And every performer was paid five guineas for their services. In 1941 King George VI made Hess a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
In addition to an active performing career, Hess was a dedicated teacher. One of her students was Clive Lythgoe, the long-time Dean of Faculty at Cleveland’s Music School Settlement.
Hess’s legacy lives on at Chicago’s Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, with its Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts. The free Wednesday lunchtime series is produced by Classical Music Chicago, and broadcast live on WFMT and streamed on WFMT.com.
Click here to listen to an interview with Hess, and here for a live, 1949 performance of Chopin’s Waltz No. 1 in E flat Op. 18.
