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About Daniel Hathaway

Daniel Hathaway founded ClevelandClassical.com in September, 2008, after a thirty-one year tenure as music director of Cleveland’s Trinity Cathedral, where he founded the Wednesday Noon Brownbag Concert Series and Trinity Chamber Orchestra. A graduate of Harvard College and the Episcopal Divinity School, he also studied historical musicology at Princeton and Harvard Universities. Before coming to Cleveland in 1977, he served as head of humanities at the Sunset Hill School in Kansas City and as head of arts at Groton School in Massachusetts. In Cleveland, he has served on the music staff of Cleveland Opera, Great Lakes Theater Festival, and the faculty of Laurel School. As an organist, Hathaway has played recitals in the U.S., England, France, Germany, and Austria. He team-teaches Music Journalism at Oberlin College and Conservatory and is a member of the Music Critics Association of North America.

DIARY: Weekend, March 31 – April 2, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Concerts and more concerts

. Almanac

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

This morning at 11 at Severance Music Center Thomas Adès leads The Cleveland Orchestra Thomas with Pekka Kuusisto, violin, in Sibelius’ Prelude & Suite No. 1 from The Tempest and Six Humoresques, Ades’ Märchentänze and The Tempest Symphony (United States Premiere, a Cleveland Orchestra co-commission). The program will be repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm.

At 12:15 pm the McGaffin Carillon Concert & Live Stream features Sheryl Modlin, Carillonneur in an eclectic program for spring at Church of the Savior.

And at 7 pm at BW’s Kulas Music Hall Jesse Blumberg, baritone & Martin Katz, piano perform a guest recital. Program to be announced.

[Read more…]

Composers Guild joins Cleveland Chamber Choir for Joint Concert

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by Daniel Hathaway

On Sunday, April 4 at 4 pm in Drinko Hall at Cleveland State University, Cleveland Composers Guild will join  Cleveland Chamber Choir for a program that combines new works by Northeast Ohio choral composers with masterworks from the last five centuries.

I recently met up on Zoom with Chamber Choir interim music director Gregory Ristow and Composers Guild chair Margi Griebling-Haigh to learn more about this Sunday’s concert.

Daniel Hathaway: It takes two to tango, but usually when two organizations end up collaborating, the original idea came from one of them. Who instigated this project?

Margi Griebling-Haigh: Neither of us was in a decision-making capacity when the idea first came up — which I believe was in a brainstorming session for the 2019 season. Probably somebody said, ‘Hey, I’ve heard that Cleveland Chamber Choir is terrific. Let’s work with them.’ So I’m pretty sure we approached them for the first concert. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera: Candide
(March 12)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Oberlin Opera’s wonderful mid-March production of Candide combined several layers of brilliance.

First, the source: the anonymous 1759 novella Candide, or the Optimist. Later owned up to by the French Enlightenment philosopher François-Marie Arouet — better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire — it was a deliciously wicked send-up of the absurd teachings of optimist philosophers like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who taught that everything was for the best “in this best of all possible worlds.”

Then in 1956 came the first staged version of Candide as a comic opera with a witty libretto by Lillian Hellman and a high-spirited score by Leonard Bernstein — originally conceived by Hellman as a play, but Bernstein’s intentions of making it an operetta won out. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, March 29, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Harps at noon & new jazz compositions this evening

. Remembering Beethoven

HAPPENING TODAY

At noon the ​​BrownBag Concerts present the Salzedo Harp Duo. Harpists Nancy Lendrim and Jody Guinn bring artistry and beauty in an inventive program for harp duo. Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave. Free.

At 7:00 pm the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra meets Cleveland Composers Guild. From the Cleveland Composers Guild, new music from: Karen Greibling, Bryan Kennard, William Rayer & Nicholas Underhill. From the CJO, new music from: Chas Baker, Aidan Plank & Brad Wagner. A swinging evening of eight brand new “3rd Stream” compositions that combine jazz and classical elements. Bop Stop, 2920 Detroit Avenue. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, March 28, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Chamber music concerts in Akron and Cleveland.

. Moussorgsky and Rachmaninoff make their exits.

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 7:30 pm the UA Kulas Concert Series presents Sandbox Percussion, contemporary percussion chamber music. In collaboration with Tuesday Musical and Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts. Guzzetta Recital Hall. Tickets are available online.

Also at 7:30 pm the Cleveland Chamber Music Society hosts Anthony McGill, clarinet, Elena Perrroni, Soprano, and Myra Huang, piano. (pictured) Their program features Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) and Sonata in a, “Arpeggione” arranged for clarinet and piano,Lee III’s Chavah’s Daughters Speak, and Still’s Romance. Disciples Christian Church. Read a preview article here. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

CIM Opera Theater: Dialogues des Carmélites (Mar. 5) 

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by Daniel Hathaway

CIM opera theater presented Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music twice earlier this month in a production directed by JJ Hudson with Harry Davidson and the CIM Orchestra in the pit. I attended the matinee performance on Sunday, March 5.

A theater piece based on such a true story — the mass execution of a convent of Carmelite Nuns at Compiègne during the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution — may seem an odd choice for a student production, but in practice, the piece is a gift for opera departments like CIM’s that are long on female voices.

The dark and serious subject matter may also seem an odd choice for the composer, whose musical style frequently leans toward the popular and theatrical (think of the ending of the “Laudamus te” from his Gloria, where the music seems about to morph into a Cha-Cha!).

[Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, March 27, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Uncommon music both on the airwaves and in concert

. Alisa Weilerstein’s Fragments project and Ravenna High School band kids

. Remembering Mistislav Rostropovich, Ferde Grofé, and Grant Johanneson (pictured)

HAPPENING TODAY:

From 2 pm to 4 pm, Eric Charnofsky continues his forays into Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music with Darius Milhaud’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 295 No. 4, Libby Larsen’s Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII (soprano and piano), Steven Burke’s Spring Fever for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano, Vincent d’Indy’s Tableaux de voyage (orchestrated), Leoš Janáček’s Little Queens (girls’ choir) & Amy Williams’ Cineshape 4 (solo piano). Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

8:00 pm – Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project presents Wisconsin-based percussionist Noah Depew & sound and visual designer Jon Muller at Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland. Suggested donation $15. Click here for more information.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, March 24-26, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Concerts and more concerts

. Stroud Classical Guitar Competition names young semifinalists (pictured), Music Settlement announces summer camps

. Almanac: royal dedications and the “Brandenburg Concertos,” Béla Bartók topics, forensic clues from Beethoven’s hair

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Here’s a selection of performances from this weekend’s packed schedule. For a complete list and details visit our Concert Listings page.

On Friday at 7 pm, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the Cleveland Cello Society will present i Cellisti! 2023, featuring Cleveland Orchestra principal Mark Kosower in solo works by Hans Werner Henze and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, and in a rarely-heard ensemble transcription of the Lalo Cello Concerto for six cellos. Read a preview article here. Tickets available online. [Read more…]

Stars in the Classics to visit Latin & South America March 26

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by Daniel Hathaway

Well-known in the last decade and a half for its intimate Salons and Garden concerts, M.U.S.i.C. — Stars in the Classics — will perform on a wider stage this weekend with a Spring Festival of Music from Latin and South America on Sunday afternoon, March 26 at 3:30 pm at the Church of the Western Reserve in Pepper Pike. Tickets are available here, and a reception will follow the concert.

I spoke with artistic director Jodi Kanter by telephone to find out more about this weekend’s program. The former fiber artist’s life and career changed dramatically fifteen years ago when a sideline turned into something of an obsession. “Peter Takács got me started. We were friends, and he mentioned that he wanted to play chamber music in people’s homes. I knew people with large homes so I started helping him,” she said. Then the Oberlin piano professor immersed himself in recording Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas.

“I kept the program going and kept meeting musicians who wanted to perform. Then, people wanted to make donations, so I decided to start a non-profit with the help of students in the Case Law School who needed experience in that area.”

Kanter also gave up her art studio after forty years, during which she fulfilled commissions from all over the country. “I needed something different. It became repetitive and it wasn’t new anymore.” Such activities as fundraising, promotion, and program design were new. “My art school background served me well.” she said.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, March 22, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Weiss & Jones give CIM faculty recital

. Akron Symphony to celebrate 70th season

. Almanac: a “slightly evil” take on the demise of Jean-Baptiste Lully

HAPPENING TODAY:

7:30 pm – CIM Faculty Recital: Richard Weiss, cello, Joela Jones, piano and accordion (pictured). De Falla’s Suite Popular Española, Errollyn Wallen’s Dervish (2001), Matyas Seiber’s Introduction & Allegro & Debussy’s Two Arabesques (arr. Choisnel/Roques), La Plus Que Lente Valse (arr. Kocsis) & Cello Sonata in d. Mixon Hall, 11021 East Blvd, Cleveland. Free, but a reservation is required.

IN THE NEWS:

The Akron Symphony Orchestra will open its 2023-2024 concert season with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on September 29. The program will celebrate the 50th anniversary of EJ Thomas Hall. “We are thrilled to be a part of EJ Thomas Hall’s 50th anniversary celebrations and honored to have the opportunity to open the Akron Symphony Orchestra’s 70th season at this historic venue. [Read more…]

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