by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, Composer, pianist, and bandleader Omar Sosa (pictured) premieres his new trio, Outside the Box, featuring Yosvany Terry on saxophone and Julian Miltenberger on drums in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cleveland.com reports that EDWINS restaurant is bringing jazz back to the former Nighttown space in Cleveland Heights, with internationally acclaimed trumpeter Dominick Farinacci curating a new concert series.

INTERESTING READS:

5 Highlights From a Model Maestro’s Recording Career

Christoph von Dohnányi, who died on Saturday, was a conductor of clarity and poise, as evidenced especially in his output with the Cleveland Orchestra. (David Allen, NY Times)

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1684, German organist and composer Johann Rosenmüller died at Wolfenbüttel, where he ended his career as choirmaster at the ducal court. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

British organ virtuoso Edwin H. LeMare (pictured) was born on the Isle of Wight on this date in 1865. After establishing his credentials as a concert organist in England, he embarked on a 100-recital tour in the United States and Canada, and spent the rest of his career in North America. He died in Hollywood in 1934.

For a sampling of his performances of those adaptations as well as items from the standard organ literature, visit his family’s memorial website and listen to some rolls LeMare made on the Welte Philharmonic Organ.

LeMare stood head and shoulders among other performers in the era when huge crowds turned out to hear mainly transcriptions of orchestral music played on gigantic instruments often located in municipal halls. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

SEPTEMBER 5 – FRIDAY

7:00 pm – Japanese film and anime composer Joe Hisaishi will conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in an evening of his concert works including Viola Saga with Antoine Tamestit, a concert suite from The Boy and the Heron (U.S. premiere), and Symphony No. 3 in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center.

SEPTEMBER 7 – SUNDAY

2:00 pm – Wit’s Folly. Citizens, Subjects, and Survivors: Music of the French Revolution. Quartets and quintets by Georg Friedrich Fuchs, Luigi Boccherini, Luigi Cherubini, and more. Hudson Library and Historical Society.

2:00 pm – Song Recital Project. Echoes of the Heart. Jason Fuh, baritone, and John Simmons, piano. Selections of French mélodie written by Henri Duparc, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ song cycle The House of Life. Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art.

7:00 pm – The Cleveland Orchestra. Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony. Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor, and Katelyn Drye, Hollie Hammel, & Julie Williams, vocals. New orchestrations of Dolly’s hit songs accompanied by Dolly on screen. Blossom Music Center.

INTERESTING READ:

The Cultural Kingdom Where Classical Music Still Reigns

Every summer, Salzburg, Austria, becomes the center of the classical music world, attracting some 256,000 visitors for a star-studded festival. Read the New York Times article here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 6:30 pm, the Canton Symphony Summer Serenades presents a Brass Quintet concert in Alliance’s Silver Park.

And at 7 pm, in the first of two special events, Japanese film and anime composer Joe Hisaishi will conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in an evening of his concert works including Viola Saga with Antoine Tamestit, a concert suite from The Boy and the Heron (U.S. premiere), and Symphony No. 3 in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center. Repeated on Friday at 7.

TODAY’S ALMANAC: 

Anton Bruckner (pictured) was born in Ansfelden, Austria on this date in 1824. Before Mariss Jansons and Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra played three of his immense symphonies in London in 2014, Tom Service wrote in The Guardian that the Dutch visitors

will unleash sounds of orchestral ugliness and visions of existential disturbance that will – that should – have you quaking in your seats. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 Noon, the Amethyst String Quartet returns to open Trinity Cathedral’s 2025-2026 Brownbag Concert season. The program features Classical favorites by Mozart, Haydn, Ravel, and others. The selections are gems which continue to inspire modern composers and their movie and video game scores.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cleveland Orchestra and Marquee TV have announced a new global partnership featuring investments in original co-productions, special live-streamed events, and six digital productions set to debut on the streaming platform beginning August 29. Click here to read the press release.

TODAY’S ALMANAC: 

The famous Franco-American harpist, composer, and pedagogue Marcel Grandjany was born on this date in Paris in 1891, and continued his career in the U.S. beginning in 1940. In this documentary video, Grandjany shows us his approach to playing and teaching the instrument. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

NEWS BRIEFS:

Poiesis Quartet wins at Banff

The Violin Channel reports that the Poiesis Quartet has won first prize in the 2025 Banff String Quartet Competition.

“Comprising violinists Sarah Ying Ma and Max Ball, violist Jasper de Boor and cellist Drew Dansby, The Poiesis Quartet are former Grand Prize winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and winner of the 2024 Concert Artists Guild Competition.

“They currently serve as Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with the Ariel Quartet. As graduates of Oberlin Conservatory, they were previously mentored by Sibbi Bernhardsson of the Pacifica Quartet and the Verona Quartet.”

Read the story here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC: 

Today we look back on the life of Rudolf Bing (pictured below), who died on this date in 1997. The famed general manager of the Metropolitan Opera oversaw the company’s move to Lincoln Center in 1963. [Read more…]