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DIARY: Wednesday, March 1, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Trinity Brownbag Concert

. Women’s History Month

. Almanac: Births, deaths, first performances, and a protest in Vienna

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today’s Brownbag Concert at 12 Noon at Trinity Cathedral features the Shaker Heights High School Chamber Orchestra in a preview of their upcoming concert in New York City. See our Concert Listings for details.

ALMANAC FOR MARCH 1:

March is Women’s History Month, which grew out of a national celebration launched in 1981, when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 authorizing and requesting the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week. Read more here. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, February 27, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky unveils more obscure works

. The Guardian continues its coverage of The Piano

. Listen to a live 1965 broadcast of Szell & The Cleveland Orchestra from Kviv

. Brief nods to Caruso, Borodin, Lehmann & Cliburn in today’s Almanac

HAPPENING TODAY:

Eric Charnofsky hosts two hours’ worth of not-so- often-heard repertoire today beginning at 2pm from the studios of WRUW radio. Today’s installment of Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, features Sergey Taneyev’s Symphony No. 3 in d, Francisco Tarrega’s Carnival of Venice (guitar), Paul Lansky’s Pieces of Advice (horn and piano) & Aaron Jay Kernis’s Still Movement with Hymn (piano quartet). Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, February 24-26, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A packed calendar and some tough choices

. The Almanac remembers the death of Leo Ornstein, the births of Dame Myra Hess, and Maryanne Amacher, and the demise of Howard Hanson and Marie-Claire Alain

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Many events to mention, tough choices to make.

On Friday, a Cleveland Orchestra matinee and an evening performance by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, the Music Settlement celebrates Black composers & artists, Cleveland Chamber Collective presents “After the Storm,” Les Délices features Sherezade Panthaki in “Enchanted Island,” Oberlin Orchestra teams up with a Jazz Division trio. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir: “Of Sound Mind” at the Maltz (Feb.19)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Since it made its impressive debut in 2015, Scott MacPherson’s Cleveland Chamber Choir has enlivened the choral music scene in Northeast Ohio with superb performances of carefully curated, interestingly-themed programs that so far have added more than 32 new commissioned works to the repertoire.

That tradition is now continuing under the leadership of Gregory Ristow, associate professor of conducting and director of vocal ensembles at Oberlin, who has been appointed acting artistic director of the ensemble following the mid-season announcement of MacPherson’s retirement.

At the Maltz Performing Arts Center on Sunday afternoon, February 19, the Choir, whose tagline is “more than music,” presented Of Sound Mind: From Darkness into Light, a program that “explores the universality of grief and sorrow, helping us to embrace our common humanity in the struggles we individually and collectively experience.” [Read more…]

National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine to play at Tri-C Metro on February 23

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by Daniel Hathaway

On Thursday, February 23 at 7pm, the Tri-C Classical Piano Series will deviate from its usual pattern of presenting solo pianists to welcome the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine to the stage of its Metropolitan Campus.

The orchestra will be led by Theodore Kuchar and Carl Topilow. Kuchar, a violist and 1982 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, became the Principal Guest Conductor of the Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra in 1992, and was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the ensemble in 1994, when it changed its name to the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. In 2000, he became Conductor Laureate for Life.

The National Symphony, based in Lviv,  is currently on an extended 40-concert tour aimed at promoting Ukrainian culture that included a stop at Carnegie Hall (read the New York Times article here). Its first-ever concert in Cleveland, which will feature duo-pianists Emanuela Friscioni and Antonio Pompa-Baldi, marks the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine — almost down to the minute.

In a Zoom conversation earlier this week, Kuchar said he had met for coffee with the American Ambassador to Ukraine last February in Lviv following a performance of the Dvořák Requiem. “I went home late on the 23rd and at about 4:20 the next morning, I heard sounds I had never heard before.” Those turned out to be World War II-era Soviet sirens screaming from atop telephone poles, announcing the Russian invasion. [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, February 21, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Live performances: solo organ, chamber music, uncommon sounds

. British Coronation music announced

. Stephen Hough podcast

. Remembering Widor, Alford, Segovia, Auden, the launching of a celebrated magazine, a troubled opera company, and the careers of two sopranos, plus a famous assassination and a state visit

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 12:00 pm the Tuesday Noon Organ Plus Concert hosts Chase Loomer. The program includes J.S. Bach’s Wir glauben all an einen Gott, BWV 680, Francisco Correa de Arauxo’s Quinto Tiento de medio registro, FO 29, Juan Cabanilles’ Tiento lleno séptimo tono por A la mi re, M386 no. 4 and Jean-Baptiste Robin’s Cinq Versets sur le “Veni Creator.” Church of the Covenant

At 7:30 pm Cleveland Chamber Music Society presents Paul Huang & Danbi Um, violins and Amy Yang, piano. Their fascinating program includes Leclair’s Sonata in e, Op. 3, No. 5, Moszkowski’s Suite, Op. 71, Ysaÿe’s Sonata, Rogerson’s Afterword, Barlowe’s Hebraïque Elegie and Sarasate’s Navarra. Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Hts. Tickets available online. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, February 20, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky visits some rare repertory

. Almanac tips a hat to Czerny, Grainger (pictured), Takemitsu

HAPPENING TODAY: 

From 2 to 4 this afternoon, on Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, Eric Charnofsky DeeJays Bohuslav Martinů’s Double Concerto for Strings, Piano, and Timpani, Steve Reich’s Triple Quartet, Mara Gibson’s Spark (trombone and piano), J.S. Bach’s Chaconne (violin and orchestra) arr. by Felix Mendelssohn and Julian Milone, Gioachino Rossini’s Wind Quartet in D, Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s Meditation on Two Themes from the Day of Existence (cello and piano) & selections from A Venetian Coronation, featuring works by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Click here to listen to the internet feed, or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, February 17-19, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A plethora of weekend performances

. News from Tri-C (National Orchestra of Ukraine next Thursday, pictured), Classical Guitar Society (appoints resident composer), and Violin Channel (homophobia cancels King’s Singers in Florida)

. Almanac remembers debut of Madama Butterfly, conductor Dimitri Metropolous, Cleveland’s own Arthur Shepherd

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Multiple performances include Herbert Blomstedt and Emanuel Ax with The Cleveland Orchestra (Fri & Sat) and Cleveland Chamber Choir in Willoughby Hills (Sat) and University Circle (Sun). [Read more…]

Cleveland Consort of Voices at Church of the Saviour (Feb. 12)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland has become something of a hotbed for chamber music, with a winter season sponsored by the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, two summer series curated by ChamberFest Cleveland and Encore Chamber Music Institute, and an orchestra famous for playing with the precision and nuance of a 90-piece string quartet.

What has been missing is vocal chamber music — the one-singer-on-a-part format that reaches such a high level in such European ensembles as Voces8 and the King’s Singers. But now enter the Cleveland Consort of Voices, a new group organized and led by Oberlin musicology professor and Collegium conductor Steven Plank. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir: a conversation with Gregory Ristow

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by Daniel Hathaway

The next pair of concerts by Cleveland Chamber Choir this weekend will be led by Gregory Ristow, associate professor of conducting and director of vocal ensembles at Oberlin Conservatory, who has been appointed acting artistic director of the ensemble following the mid-season announcement of founding director Scott MacPherson’s retirement.

The program, “Of Sound Mind: From Darkness into Light,” explores the universality of grief and sorrow, helping us to embrace our common humanity in the struggles we individually and collectively experience. Free performances will take place on Saturday, February 18 at 7:30 pm at St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills and on Sunday, February 19 at 3:00 pm at the Maltz Performing Arts Center in Cleveland. A pre-concert talk with Oberlin musicologist Charles Edward McGuire will begin 30 minutes prior to each performance.

After their Cleveland concerts, the Choir will perform at the 2023 National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in Cincinnati later this month. Of the hundreds of choirs from across the country that auditioned, CCC was one of 28 choirs invited to perform, and will send 32 singers to perform two 25-minute performances to thousands of attendees.

I reached Gregory Ristow by telephone to chat about the repertoire for this weekend, and began by asking how much input he had into the program. [Read more…]

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