by Jarrett Hoffman
TODAY ON THE WEB:
Two virtual events tonight are built at least in part around conversation. The virtual “Vierne at 150” festival begins at 7 with an interview with Phillip Truckenbrod, author of the recent memoir Organists and Me about his half-century career as organists’ manager.
And at 7:30, Les Délices continues SalonEra with “Strike the Viol.” That series combines music and conversation — and perhaps as soon as tonight’s episode, some interesting visuals as well. (Nagy hinted during our recent conversation that interpretation will be one focus of the evening — audiences might see manuscript pages that require “some decoding” from the episode’s featured musicians, including Arnie Tanimoto, pictured above.)
See our Concert Listings for details and links.
LISTENING CHOICES DURING THE PANDEMIC:
When classical music organizations began to venture online in mid to late March, the editors of ClevelandClassical.com held a roundtable discussing different questions around that transition. One issue we brought up: what repertoire is appropriate for this moment? Josh Terry explores a similar topic in his article “Is Pandemic Brain Changing Your Taste in Music? You’re Not Alone” in Vice.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach died on this date in 1880 in Paris. His most famous work was his last one, the opera Tales of Hoffmann, which he left unfinished — he died four months before the premiere. But providing a better snapshot of his career are his nearly 100 operettas, which would go on to influence composers such as Johann Strauss Jr., Arthur Sullivan, and Franz Lehar.
That style is right up the alley of Ohio Light Opera, which in recent years has put on Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne and La Périchole, which Kelly Ferjutz described as “a screwball comedy disguised as an operetta” in her review of the production for ClevelandClassical.com. More recently, during OLO’s 2020 online season, members of the company came together virtually for performances of “Ne’er for a Trip” and “Love the Deceiver” from Offenbach’s Voyage to the Moon.