by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS WEEKEND’S EDITION:
.Three days packed with concerts sure to satisfy every classical musical taste
. Orchestra openings at Ohio Light Opera
. Training songs that make Music Theory and Aural Skills fun
. Anniversaries of entrances and exits by Daniel Pinkham, Martha Argerich, Victoria Bond, Louis Andriessen, Serge Koussevitzky, Orlando Gibbons, and Carl Maria von Weber [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
After writing his doctoral dissertation for the University of Iowa on the subject of American composer George Frederick Bristow’s Mass in C, CSU’s director of choirs Brian Bailey decided that this previously unperformed work needed a full, formal premiere as well as the critical edition he created for the degree.
He scheduled that performance at Fairmount Presbyterian Church for mid-March of 2020 with Choral Arts Cleveland, the avocational chorus he has conducted since taking the position over from Martin Kessler. As we now know, due to the advent of COVID-19, most live performances began falling like dominoes around that time. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
If you see a sudden influx of cello cases on Cleveland streets and sidewalks this week, it’s because the Lev Aronson Cello Festival, usually held in Dallas, is convening here for a packed schedule of events that will mainly interest those who play the violoncello, but many of which will appeal to a wider audience as well.
The brainchild of founding artistic director and Cleveland Orchestra cellist Brian Thornton, the Festival honors his teacher, Holocaust survivor Lev Aronson, who played principal with the Dallas Symphony. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
WELCOME TO JUNE and the beginning of Summer in our hemisphere, with much in the way of outdoor chores to accomplish, as illustrated, left, by the Limbourg brothers in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1416). June has also become the month of music festivals in Northeast Ohio. Today’s newsletter features articles about some that begin this week.
Month-long celebrations in the U.S. make June African-American Music Appreciation Month, as well as Great Outdoors Month, LGBTQ+ Awareness and Pride Month, and National Oceans Month (time to do something about all that plastic).
And June is National Smile Month in the U.K., whose subjects also happen to be marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II — a nice coincidence for the first time that any British monarch has celebrated a platinum jubilee.
In recognition of the occasion, the U.K. will create a four-day Jubilee bank holiday from June 2-5 to include a “once-in-a-generation show” that will “mix the best of British ceremonial splendour and pageantry with cutting-edge artistic and technological displays.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
.Cleveland Orchestra appoints Concertmaster
. Vocal music highlights this weekend’s concerts
. Thea Musgrave and Nikoli Sokoloff celebrate birthdays, and our suggestions of music for Memorial Day
THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:
A lot of vocal music and related activities are on hand this weekend. Check our Concert Listings page for program details and ticket information.
At 10:30 am and 3:00 pm, the Art Song Festival will hold Master Classes with soprano Tamara Wilson and at 8:00 pm will present a recital by tenor David Portillo and pianist Craig Terry. All three events are in Mixon Hall at Cleveland Institute of Music. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
When COVID-19 crashed the party in March of 2020, it arrived just as musical organizations were putting final touches on their summer festival plans.
The famously disruptive pathogen caused the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival to make major alterations in its annual event at the Cleveland Institute of Music that June. What may look like the most practical solution — taking a whole festival online — poses problems of its own.
“Early on, and learning on the spot, we resorted to videos,” founder and artistic director Armin Kelly said during a recent phone conversation. “We were proud of what we were able to do on such short notice, but nothing beats the camaraderie of a live performance.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. Art Song Festival hosts a panel discussion about collaboration, two Bach cantatas in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel
. Almanac: Anniversaries of the debuts of two opera houses, and the birthday of soprano Beverly Sills
TODAY’S EVENTS:
At 1:00 pm the Art Song Festival will hold a Panel Discussion, “Let’s Talk About Collaboration!” led by pianist Warren Jones, including a Q&A. Mixon Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music. Free registration recommended.
Then at 7:30 pm on Wednesday evening, Ben Johns will direct the Oberlin Chamber Singers & Chamber Orchestra in J.S. Bach’s cantatas BWV 4, Christ lag in Todes Banden, & BWV 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme in Finney Chapel. Click here to view the program, and if you can’t attend in person, click here to access a live stream. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND:
On Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 8, The Cleveland Orchestra continues its Opera Festival with Vox Humana (works by Francis Poulenc, J.S. Bach, Galina Ustvolskaya, and Richard Strauss, with Franz Welser-Möst, conducting, Sarah Aristidou, soprano Tony Sias, narrator, and The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.
Also on Saturday, at 7:30 Carl Topilow leads the Firelands Symphony Orchestra in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, with Andrès Cárdenes, plus works by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and John Williams at Sawmill Creek Convention Center, in Huron. Tickets available online.
And on Sunday at 3 pm, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in the third and final performance of Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa.
Same day at the same hour, Cleveland Chamber Collective presents Music of America VIII, featuring works by Missy Mazzoli, Eric D. Gould, and Katherine Hoover, plus premieres of works by Ty Alan Emerson and Eric Charnofsky (Disciples Church in Cleveland Hts., free and live streamed here.)
On May 23, 1885, Paraguayan composer Agustín Barrios Mangoré was born in San Bautista de las Misiones. The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presented Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas in a 2020 online concert devoted to his music, including special guests Paquito D’Rivera (clarinet), Milagros Caliva (bandoneon), and Marcelo Enrique Barrios (the composer’s great-grandson).
Add Edmund Rubbra, born in 1901 in Northampton, to the list of underperformed British composers who should receive more exposure. Harry Christophers talks about a new recording he’s made of Rubbra’s music with The Sixteen here.
Mark the birthday of Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha, born on this date in 1923 with a special tribute filmed on the 91st anniversary of that event.
Finally, take note of the birthday in New York of American experimental composer Robert Moog on May 23, 1934, with a two-part Pacific Radio interview conducted in his studio that covers the invention of the synthesizer named after him, and the music written for it.
by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. A bulging weekend concert calendar
. Almanac: Clara Schumann dies, Verdi’s Requiem receives its first performance, and Richard Wagner is born
THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:
There appears to be something for everyone this weekend, which offers music from the very old to the very new performed by chamber groups, choruses, and orchestras. Check our Concert Listings page for program details and ticket information.
At 11:00 am Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in Berg’s Lyric Suite and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 at Mandel Concert Hall, and almost next door at 12:15 pm, the McGaffin Carillon Springtime Concert & Live Stream will feature George Leggiero performing an all-Dutch program from the 17th and 20th centuries. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
It’s been rough going for Art Song Festival for the past two years. Founder George Vassos passed away after a long teaching and entrepreneurial career in February of 2020, and although detailed plans were in place to hold the festival that year, concerns about the well-documented spread of COVID via aerosols among singers dictated a postponement.
“It feels like such a gift that the Art Song Festival is actually happening,” director Dean Southern said in a recent phone conversation. “It’s also time for reflection, and I find myself getting to a really reflective place.
“More than two years ago, George, Tamara Wilson, and Warren Jones were planning the 2020 Festival, The Cleveland Orchestra was going to do Otello, and we worked it out so that Tamara could do both, then that all got canceled. We postponed to 2021, when it all got canceled again. So it feels quite amazing that it’s all going to come back this year. For me, spring and Art Song Festival just go together.” [Read more…]