by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 12 noon on the Brownbag Concert Series at Trinity Cathedral, vocalist Naomi Columna and percussionist Katalin La Favre will perform early music by John Dowland, Claudin de Sermisy, Alfonso Ferrabosco, Guillaume de Machaut, and others.
And there’s a double-header tonight at the Art Museum: at 6 pm in the galleries, young artists from Case Western Reserve University’s Historical Performance Practice Program will play a variety of pieces surrounded by Italian Baroque artworks.
And at 7:30, YAGODY, the contemporary Ukrainian folk band, will feature theatrical singers supported by drums, percussion, guitar, bass, and accordion in Gartner Auditorium.
See our Concert Listings for more information about these and other events
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The Canton Symphony has released the latest podcast in its Orchestrating Change series. The episode (pictured above) features operatic baritone Brian Keith Johnson, a local hero in Northeast Ohio. In addition to his distinguished performing credits, Johnson taught vocal music in the Akron Public Schools for more than 34 years before retiring last spring. Listen here.
While bells and mechanisms of the McGaffin Carillon in University Circle are enjoying some R&R in the Netherlands, Friends of the McGaffin instrument have organized two Saturday morning tours of their sister instruments in Cleveland.
On Saturday, April 5, carillonneur Sheryl Modlin will host a visit to the Dutch carillon installed at the Church of the Saviour in Cleveland Heights in 1953-1954. Tickets include a continental breakfast, a tour of the tower and church with an organ demonstration, and a box lunch. More information here. A tour of the bells at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Hts. is scheduled for Saturday, May 3.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Just one historical event to spotlight today: the founding of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1842, making that ensemble the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States (some sources report that the founding took place on April 5). The first concert was given in New York’s Apollo Rooms in lower Manhattan in December of that year with some 600 in attendance. (Photo: Gustav Mahler rehearsing the orchestra during his tenure as music director).
The organization’s complex history, including mergers with the New York Symphony, the New/National Symphony, and its summer seasons at Lewisohn Stadium is richly chronicled in a Performance History database that documents “all known concerts of all of these organizations, amounting to more than 20,000 performances. The New York Philharmonic Leon Levy Digital Archives provides an additional interface for searching printed programs alongside other digitized items such as marked music scores, marked orchestral parts, business records, and photos.”
Start searching — or browsing — here.
