by  Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Two items only!

On Friday evening at 7, the French harp-guitar duo of award-winning performers and composers Isabelle & Raphael Olivier will create a journey of soundscapes at Reithoffer’s Art, Spirits & Entertainment in Chagrin Falls.

And on Sunday at 7, Tony DeSare and the Blossom Band present “Sinatra and Beyond” at Blossom Music Center. Read a preview interview with DeSare here. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Music Settlement’s Kawai piano sale this weekend has been moved to the Kawai Piano Gallery in Beachwood’s Pinecrest Shopping Center. “The selection includes baby grands, studio grands, upright pianos, consoles, and performance level electronic digital pianos. Additional factory-crated new pianos will also be available. These instruments will be offered to the public at significantly reduced prices. Pianos have also been professionally maintained, and most include the original 10-year manufacturer’s warranty.” [Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 6:30 the Canton Symphony’s Summer Serenades presents a brass Quintet at the North Canton Civic Center.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Master Singers Chorale of Northeast Ohio invites interested singers to its first weekly rehearsal on Monday, September 9 at 7 pm at First Christian Church of Stow, following a 6 pm Meet & Greet with its new artistic director Marc Weagraff. The Chorale will be preparing Schubert’s Mass in E-flat for a concert in December.

INTERESTING READS:

Writing for the New York Times, Allan Kozinn reports the death on August 12 of composer Harold Meltzer. “His music, which was performed by many prominent ensembles, mixed melodic themes and rich textures with the sharp-edged angularity of modernism.” [Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Summit Choral Society invites singers to register for its 35th season. Click here for information about singing opportunities for adults and children.

The opening concert of the University of Akron’s Kulas Concert Series will be performed by Youngstown State University piano professor Caroline Oltmanns and German violinist Julia Kuhn (pictured), who is artistic director for the St. Blasius Early Music Summer Concert Series in Kaufbeuren. They will play Beethoven’s two last sonatas — No 9 in A, op. 47 (the “Kreutzer”) and No. 10 in G, op. 96 — on Sunday, September 8 at 3 pm in Guzzetta Recital Hall.

Members of Cleveland Chamber Choir will perform at Re:Source Cleveland’s annual fundraiser, RE:AP the Benefit 2024, which supports Cleveland’s newcomer communities. The event will take place on September 28 at the Re:Source home office on the Urban Community School Campus, and will include music, performances, awards, and an array of international cuisine by local chefs and restaurateurs.

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Meyer, artistic director, will celebrate its fifteenth season with concerts in various neighborhood venues throughout greater Cleveland, beginning with “Threads of Time, Struggle, and Hope,” to be presented October 5 and October 6 at the Church of the Covenant in Cleveland and St. Noel Church in Willoughby. [Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7, the West Shore Chorale will hold its 2024 Summer Sing at Rocky River Memorial Hall. All are welcome to sing through Beethoven’s Mass in C with Chorale members. Scores will be provided.

IN THE NEWS: 

On Monday afternoon, Cleveland.com reported that after 30 years on the job, “Victoria Bussert (pictured), the program director at Baldwin Wallace’s acclaimed Music Theatre program, is leaving the university at the end of the 2024-25 academic year to head up Oberlin College’s new Music Theater program, officials at both institutions announced on Monday.”

Susan Van Vorst, Dean of the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, told cleveland.com “she was shocked when informed of Bussert’s decision…Bussert’s departure begins a period of transition for the Baldwin Wallace program as music director Matthew Webb and acting/directing professor Laura Welsh Berg are headed to Oberlin, too.” [Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

HONORED:

Youngstown State University Dana School of Music has announced that its student Ryan Lamb has won the gold medal at the highly competitive Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, held from August 9-12 at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan. Read the press release here.

INTERESTING READS:

The New York Times has published a story by Pam Belluck about cellist Joshua Roman (pictured) and his continuing struggle to recover from Long Covid. A native of Oklahoma City, Roman studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Richard Aaron and Desmond Hoebig, and was appointed principal cello of the Seattle Symphony at the age of 22.

Princeton University musicology professor Simon Morrison challenges long-standing notions about Pyotr Tchaikovsky in his Guardian article, Tchaikovsky was not tragic but had a Monty Python sense of humor.

“His biography has been shamefully distorted by scholars — almost in a way you could say is homophobic — because they represent him as a tortured gay man who was unhappy in his life and his love, and his music is thus reduced to the sound of suffering.

“But he wasn’t any of those things. He was successful, had a lot of love from family and friends, wealth, boyfriends, girlfriends. He really had quite a fabulous life.” [Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Two events are on the docket today, both at 7 pm.

Gearing up for their forthcoming European tour, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra will play two Austrian symphonies on the Summers at Severance series — Mozart’s 35th and Bruckner’s 4th. From August 26 through September 7, the Orchestra will play eight performances in six European cities: Berlin, Helsinki, Lucerne, Ansfelden, Bratislava, and Vienna.

And the Cleveland Museum of Art will present a Third Thursday at Transformer Station concert by the Aidan Plank Ensemble hosted by Ideastream Public Media radio personality Dan Polletta.

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cleveland Orchestra has received a $5 million gift from The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation in support of the Kelvin Smith Family Chair held by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.

[Read more…]

CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION FINAL RANKINGS:

FIRST PLACE: Zijian Wei
SECOND PLACE: Evren Ozel
THIRD PLACE: Maxim Lando
FOURTH PLACE: Giuseppi Guarrera

Go to pianocleveland.org to view all prizes.

For details of classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Due to continuing power and Internet outages, the Diary, Almanac, and Newsletter will return on Thursday.