by Stephanie Manning
WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:
Ohio Light Opera’s schedule is intensifying. This weekend, The College of Wooster’s resident professional company (pictured) presents The Merry Widow (Friday at 2), My Fair Lady (Friday at 7:30), The Boys from Syracuse (Saturday at 2), Damn Yankees (Saturday at 7:30), and The Yeomen of the Guard (Sunday at 2) in Freedlander Theatre.
The Cleveland Orchestra welcomes conductor Semyon Bychkov and violinist Karen Gomyo at Blossom on Friday at 7, and Kent Blossom Music Festival Young Artists concerts are daily events in a variety of venues — see the concert listings.
Piano Cleveland Live presents local professional pianists in a 5:30 pm outdoor concert on Friday in the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights.
The Oberlin Organ Academy hosts a student recital on Saturday at 10 am in Finney Chapel.
And Akron Symphonic Winds wish a happy 250th Birthday to America on Sunday at 6:30 in Nathan Hale Park in Parma Heights.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Les Délices has announced their 2026-27 season, “Light on the Horizon.” The early music ensemble’s 18th season includes five subscription concerts, including the conclusion of the multi-year commissioning endeavor known as The Mythology Project. Tickets and subscriptions will go on sale August 15th. Read the press release here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Daniel Hathaway
On July 17, 1935, American composer Peter Schickele was born in Ames, Iowa. Schickele’s alter ego was the ill-fated composer P.D.Q. Bach (1807–1742?), the 21st of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 20 children, and his only-forgotten son.
Here’s an early performance where Schickele and Itzhak Perlman meet up at a Boston Pops concert led by John Williams. A second video preserves a performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2008 featuring Eric Charnofsky (banned instruments) and Zahari Metchkov (piano) playing P.D.Q.’s Erotica Variations.
