by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, conductor-composer John Adams and pianist Aaron Diehl join The Cleveland Orchestra for Adams’ Frenzy: a short symphony and his arrangements of Astor Piazzolla tangos, Charles Ives’ From Greenland’s Icy Mountains, and Timo Andres’ Made of Tunes. (Repeated on Friday at 11 & Saturday at 7:30.)

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

One of the few items to pop up on a search for events that took place on this day in classical music history was the death of Italian madrigalist Orazio Vecchi in 1605 at the age of 54 in Modena. That got me thinking about alternative ways of observing some historic milestones.

Normally, we recommend recordings as tributes to those who have begun and ended careers on the date in question, but Vecchi suggests a more interactive approach. How about a madrigal sing-along? [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the forty days of Lent for Western Christian communities. Click here to watch a service of Choral Evensong from Atlantic Canada (including the famous setting of Psalm 51 by Gregorio Allegri) sung by the University of King’s College Chapel Choir, directed by Paul Halley, in the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Today at 12 Noon, Trinity Cathedral’s Brownbag Concert Series hosts the Cleveland Celtic Ensemble in Trinity Cathedral Hall.

This evening at 6 pm, The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Chamber Music in the Atrium Series presents Oberlin’s annual Danenberg Honors Recital honorees, and at 7:30 in Gartner Auditorium, its Performing Arts Series presents Makaya McCraven, drums, Junius Paul, bass, and Marquis Hill, trumpet, in Jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music from Chicago.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Mike Telin

Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos was born on this date in 1896 in Athens.

The young Dimitri exhibited musical talents at an early age and by his early teens hosted Saturday afternoon concerts at his home. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

12 Noon – Tuesdays at the Covenant: organist Steven Plank (pictured) plays Gaspard Corrette’s movements from Messe du 8e Ton, Jan Pieterzoon Sweelinck’s Fantasia cromatica & Four variations on “Onder een Linde groen,” & Jan Bender’s Six Variations on a Theme by Hugo Distler, “Dedicated to Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg, who spoiled Hitler’s victorious entrance at Vienna.” Church of the Covenant, University Circle.

7:30 pm – Mao Fujita in Recital. The Japanese pianist plays works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Berg, and Wagner. Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center.

7:30 pm – CIM Insiders. Andrew Hosler, saxophone, Daniel Pereira, cello, Eric Charnofsky, piano, and Dylan Findley, electronics. Music by Pierre Boulez, Sami Seif, Jennifer Conner, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and John Mackey. Mixon Hall, 11021 East Blvd., Cleveland.

ANNOUNCEMENTS;

Cleveland Chamber Music Society will sponsor an Art of Ensemble Chamber Music workshop led by Mary K. Robinson on February 22 at 3 pm at Disciples Church in Cleveland Heights. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today is Presidents Day, a federal holiday that began as a celebration of the birthday of George Washington, to which Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was later added by Congress. TIME magazine sums up the history of presidential birthday celebrations here.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Music Settlement will offer a wide variety of summer classes and camps this year. Registration is now open. Read more here.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Helmuth Rilling, Who Recorded Huge Swaths of Bach, Dies at 92 (NY Times)

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1938, American composer John Corigliano was born in New York City, the son of John Sr., who served for 23 years as concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Although he came late to composition, Corigliano was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, the Grawemeyer Award, and an Oscar. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

FRIDAY

No Exit Presents pianist Jenny Lin & electronic artist Draka Andersen performing a new score to the 1984 restoration of Fritz Lang’s movie Metropolis (7 pm at Heights Arts) • the Helen D. Schubert Concert Series presents Siglo de Oro (pictured), the adventurous, London based early music vocal ensemble (7:30 at Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist).

SATURDAY

M.U.S.i.C Stars in the Classics features love songs, dances and Romantic music (7:30, Church of the Western Reserve) • Wit’s Folly plays Serenades for Flute and Strings (7 pm at Praxis Fiber Workshop, repeated Sunday at 4 at St. Noel, Willoughby Hills) • The Cleveland Orchestra plays an American music program including Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 conducted by Barbara Hannigan, with Johanna Wallroth, soprano (7;30 at Severance Music Center, repeated Sunday at 3).

SUNDAY

Tri-C Classical Piano Series hosts the Genova and Dimitrov Piano Duo (2 pm in Tri-C Metropolitan Campus Auditorium) • Heights Chamber Orchestra presents Travis Jürgens, conductor, and Kira McGirr, mezzo-soprano, program to include Stravinsky’s Octet & Libby Larsen’s Raspberry Island Dreaming (3:30 at St. Ann Church) • The Cleveland Opera & Cleveland Women’s Orchestra presents Triumphs and Tribulations of Love, Eric Benjamin, conducting, with Dorota Sobieska, soprano, and Andrzej Stec, tenor (4 pm at First Baptist, Shaker Heights) • Keith Fitch conducts the CIM New Music Ensemble with Andrew Rindfleisch, guest composer (4 pm in Kulas Hall) • and Arts at Holy Trinity features organist Rees Taylor Roberts, organ, in a program including works by the late Stephen Griebling (4 pm at Holy Trinity Lutheran, Akron).

For details of these and other classical music concerts, visit our Concert Listings.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Why classical music should stop trying to be pop (The Guardian)

Leonard Slatkin named music director in Nashville for the third time (Nashville Scene)  [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

The Akron Symphonic Winds Big Band in Sinatra: The Love Songs (7 pm, Celestia Theatre, Wadsworth) • The Cleveland Orchestra. Barbara Hannigan (pictured) conductor and Johanna Wallroth, soprano (7:30, Severance Music Center) • CIM Opera Theater, Judith Wier’s Blond Eckbert (pocket version, 7:30 in Mixon Hall).

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

TODAY’S HEADLINES FROM THE VIOLIN CHANNEL:

Composer Gabriela Lena Frank postpones premiere over ICE fears in Minnesota

University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance appoints Yolanda Kondonassis as new harp director

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Four musicians to raise up today: American composer Roy Harris, born in 1898 in Chandler, Oklahoma, French composer, conductor, and pianist Emile Waldteufel, who died in 1915 in Paris, French composer Henri Duparc, who died in Mont-de-Marsan in 1933, and American composer and inventor George Antheil, who died in NewYork in 1959. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12:15 Noon, organist Florence Mustric plays works by J.S. Bach, including two newly discovered early works on the Rudolf von Beckerath organ in Trinity Lutheran Church, in Ohio City.

This evening at 6 pm the Cleveland Museum of Art presents Chamber Music in the Atrium featuring Oberlin Danenberg Honors Recitals by some of Oberlin Conservatory’s most outstanding students.

And tonight at 7:30 in Mixon Hall, CIM Opera Theater will present a pocket version of Judith Wier’s (pictured) Blond Eckbert directed by JJ Hudson, with Anthony Parnther, guest conductor.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Mike Telin

On February 11, 1847 the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Milan, Ohio. Of course, Edison is responsible for inventing many things that make our lives more pleasant, including the incandescent light bulb, the motion picture camera, and the fluoroscope, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone. Click here for a list of his 1,093 patents.

Of all his inventions, Edison’s favorite was the phonograph, which came about from his work on the telegraph and the telephone when, in 1877, he discovered a way to record sound on tinfoil-coated cylinders. He set the invention aside for ten years, and when he returned to work on his phonograph, he began using wax cylinders. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today at Noon, organist Jonathan W. Moyer, organ, plays works by Matthias Weckmann, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dieterich Buxtehude, and his own O Nata Lux, Varied at the Church of the Covenant.

Tonight at 7:30, Tuesday Musical brings the Imani Winds and Boston Brass together onstage in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall in works by Arturo Sandoval, J.S. Bach, Astor Piazzolla, Paquito D’Rivera, and Lalo Schifrin.

SAVE THE DATES:

Lakewood’s Beck Center will collaborate with Oberlin College, to present Spring Awakening from February 13 to March 1 in Senney Theater, featuring young performers exploring teenage self-discovery and social issues in Lakewood’s Senney Theater. Read a story on Cleveland.com by John Benson here.

HEADLINES FROM THE VIOLIN CHANNEL:

Emerson String Quartet Documentary to Premiere in New York City

Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero Performs with Bad Bunny at Super Bowl Halftime Show. (The performance garnered over 34 million views on YouTube in 17 hours)

Click here to read a related story posted by Heather Cox Richardson in Letters from an American on February 9.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman [Read more…]