by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

If you’re still working in an office, you can break up your evening commute with a 5:30 pm Rush Hour Concert at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights. Today’s performance features percussionist Ethan Strickland (pictured) in When Your Name Is Called,  “a program of invigorating new works.” Read about the artist here.

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced the addition of seven new events to the third edition of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival, which will take place at Severance Music Center and partner locations throughout Cleveland from May 16-25. View the schedule here.

In more news from Severance Music Center, The Cleveland Orchestra has released its first recordings of the season: a new spatial audio recording of Julius Eastman’s Symphony No. 2 and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.  [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Violin Channel reports that “Cellist Melissa Kraut has recently joined the faculty at DePaul University as a Professional Lecturer in the cello department … For the last nineteen years, Kraut served as co-head of the cello department at the Cleveland Institute of Music.”

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

With no performances on the agenda today in Northeast Ohio, we’ll jump backwards in classical music history to mark some important arrivals.

by Mike Telin

March 11 is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to celebrating birthdays. There’s composer Henry Cowell (Menlo Park, California) in 1897, accordionist and orchestra leader Lawrence Welk (Strasburg, North Dakota) in 1903, composer Xavier Montsalvatge (Girona, Spain) in 1912, composer and bandleader Mercer Ellington (Washington D.C.) in 1919, and vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin (New York, N.Y.) in 1950. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

NEWS BRIEFS:

Piano Cleveland will present Arts Alive: A Space Odyssey, featuring students from the Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School’s PianoLab on Wednesday, March 19, from 7-8 pm in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

“The students will guide audiences on an exhilarating journey, featuring musical works, dynamic choreography, captivating visual art, and evocative written word. As the stars align, you’ll travel to distant planets, get up close with a black hole, and witness the cosmos unfold in a breathtaking display of young talent.” The event is free, but tickets are required. More information here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Five years ago, The Cleveland Orchestra began the week by announcing that “due to ongoing developments related to coronavirus (COVID-19), the Orchestra will not travel to Europe (Linz, Vienna and Paris) and Abu Dhabi for the ensemble’s previously announced tour scheduled to take place during the next several weeks.”

That began a cascade of postponements and cancellations that effectively brought a halt to live music in Northeast Ohio, causing institutions, presenters and touring artists to come up with clever ways to cope with an uncertain future. (Photo above: Roger Mastroianni) [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

THIS WEEKEND:

Over these three days, Les Délices, The Cleveland Orchestra, Oberlin Opera Theater, Cleveland State University’s Keyboard Area and The Lakewood Project, Cleveland Chamber Symphony’s Young and Emerging Composers, the Stow Symphony, classical guitarist Marko Topchii, Canton Symphony with the Steel Wheels, pianist Jeffrey Siegel, and the Parma Symphony, will all contribute performances — some repeated — to Northeast Ohio’s busy schedule of classical concerts. Please visit our Concert Listings for details.

Reminder: Daylight Savings Time starts at 2 am on Sunday (clocks advance by one hour).

NEWS BRIEFS:

Msn.com reports that “the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music have ‘paused’ the Emerging Black Composers Project, citing a memo from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that called diversity efforts ‘repugnant’ and ‘shameful’ and directed schools to eliminate them or risk losing federal funding.”

The article adds that “representatives from the Conservatory and the Symphony said in a joint statement to the Chronicle that they’re trying to save the project. Among the workarounds, the organizations are floating the possibility that the Symphony, which is not subject to Department of Education orders, fully adopt the program.

And the Oberlin Conservatory reports that “Associate Professor of Jazz Studies Billy Hart was named a Mellon Foundation Jazz Legacies Fellow and recognized as a ‘hero of jazz rhythm and esteemed mentor.’ [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

This evening at 6 at Market Garden Brewery, Les Délices takes a break from its usual French Baroque fare to play a pirate-themed event including a costume contest and sea shanty singalongs, and at 7 at Heights Arts, violinist Emily Cornelius and percussionist Ross Karre join in a pay-what-you-can concert.

More this evening: at 7:30 in Mandel Hall at Severance, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole and Concerto in G with pianist Seong-Jin Cho (pictured), and at at 8 in Hall Auditorium, Oberlin Opera Theater opens a four-performance, double-cast run of Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, directed by Stephanie Havey and conducted by Christian Capocaccia.

INTERESTING CLIP:

Film concerts: Performing movie music live

“An increasingly popular symphony orchestra concert is a movie screening accompanied by a live performance of the film’s music—reeling in new audiences to the concert hall. CBS Sunday Morning correspondent David Pogue attends a New York Philharmonic screening of Jaws, featuring John Williams’ iconic score, and finds out how the technically complicated concert is managed.” Watch here (Tattled from The Cleveland Orchestra’s newsletter entry about the forthcoming screenings of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther with score led by expert film conductor Anthony Parnther.) [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At noon, the Trinity Cathedral Brownbag series presents tabla player Joe Culley in Cathedral Hall, and at 6 pm, the Cleveland Museum of Art hosts students from Case Western Reserve University’s Historical Performance Practice Program, who will perform in front of Italian Baroque artworks in the Donna and James Reid Gallery.

Also sponsored by the Art Museum: a 7 pm concert at Transformer Station by Paolo Angeli, modified guitar.

And at 7:30, the Oberlin Artist Recital Series presents violinist Midori in recital with pianist Özgür Aydin (pictured) in Finney Chapel.

And for Western Christians, today marks Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the 40-day penitential season of Lent. Traditional music for services today includes Gregorio Allegri’s Misereri, long the exclusive property of the Sistine Chapel Choir, until the young Wolfgang Mozart allegedly wrote it down from memory. Hear it in the context of Choral Evensong for Ash Wednesday from All Saints Cathedral in Halifax, Nova Scotia, sung by the University of King’s College Chapel Choir, directed by Paul Halley. Click here for the service bulletin.

Another view: “Roy Goodman travels to Rome to unravel the mysteries surrounding Allegri’s iconic work which, as a treble, he made so famous with the 1964 Argo recording ‘Evensong for Ash Wednesday.’ The programme was broadcast on BBC radio, 21 February 2006.’ [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Two concerts at Noon, and two tonight at 7:30.

Piano Cleveland presents Yaron Kohlberg, piano, and Toke Møldrup, cello, in the Atrium of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Duo CPE — Mikhail Grazhdanov, fortepiano & Andréa Walker, soprano, perform on the Tuesday noon series at the Church of the Covenant.

The evening events include the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble with Kenneth Bean conducting music by Jessie Montgomery, Francesca Neibel-Spruill, James MacMillan and Michael Frazier in Warner Concert Hall, and the Isidore String Quartet (pictured) with pianist Jeremy Denk on the Tuesday Musical Series in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall.

NEWS BRIEFS:

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that German violinist Christian Tetzlaff has canceled his upcoming U.S. tour, “citing deep concerns over President Donald Trump’s policies. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

NEWS BRIEFS:

On Friday, the Canton Symphony announced that Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz will step down as Music Director following the 2024-2025 season, “but will continue as conductor of the Canton Youth Symphony Advanced Orchestra, a position he has held since 2017.” He will also still conduct the remaining concerts of the season on March 8th and 22nd, and April 5th and 26th. Read the CSO’s announcement and the conductor’s statement here.

Violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson will spend the week of April 2-9 at Oberlin Conservatory as Distinguished Artists in Residence. The couple, who most recently have taught for a dozen years at the Cleveland Institute of Music, will give masterclasses, private lessons, and coachings, beginning with a recital on April 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Warner Concert Hall, when they will collaborate with Conservatory faculty. Read a preview article here.

The Violin Channel reports that American folk singer, instrumentalist and Oberlin alumna Rhiannon Giddens “has withdrawn her show — previously booked at The Kennedy Center on May 11 — and moved it to a nearby venue for the same concert date. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

A whopping 19 events are listed in our calendar from Friday through Sunday, including pairs of performances by BlueWater Chamber Orchestra (soloists Afendi Yusuf and Amy Zoloto pictured) and Cleveland Chamber Choir, ensembles that are celebrating their 15th and 10th anniversaries this season.

Click here to read an interview with Ladonna Woods, widow of BlueWater founder Carlton Woods, and here to watch a brief video of Cleveland Chamber Choir and youth choir HaZamir Cleveland rehearsing a Salamone Rossi psalm at Congregation Mishkan Or (concert preview here).

Let’s cut to the chase and send you directly to our Concert Listings page for details and ticket information for these and other performances this weekend. Enjoy the richness and depth of classical performances in Northeast Ohio!

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Cleveland Institute of Music announced on Thursday that Tito Muñoz, former music director of The Phoenix Symphony and former assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, has been appointed interim principal conductor of the CIM Orchestra from next fall through the 2026-27 academic year. Read a press release here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

• Kenneth Bean conducts Oberlin Sinfonietta in works by David Ludwig, Igor Stravinsky, and George Enescu (7:30, Warner Concert Hall)

• Tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes and violinist Alan Choo star in Apollo’s Fire’s Classical Sparks (7:30, First Methodist, Akron)

• Music Director Franz Welser-Möst (pictured) returns from medical leave to lead The Cleveland Orchestra in Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos and Beethoven’s Third Symphony (7:30, Severance Music Center)

• The CIM Black Student Union presents a Benefit Concert for the Black Student Union’s Student Assistance Fund (7:30, Mixon Hall).

Visit our Concert Listings page for details and ticket information for these and other performances.

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Cleveland Institute of Music has announced that Jessie Montgomery will headline the school’s 2025 Young Composers Program. Read more here. [Read more…]