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DIARY: Weekend, June 16-18, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Weekend openings and performances

. $15k from NEA to Les Délices, Apollo’s Fire’s local programs next season

. Almanac: Births of Ysaÿe, Stravinsky, and Sir Paul McCartney

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

This weekend finds Ohio Light Opera, ChamberFest Cleveland, and Encore Chamber Music Institute in full swing. There’s lots to sample and dabble in alongside more well-known music. Visit our Concert Listings page for robust listings of these and other events — with composers, titles, and performers’ names.

Ohio Light Opera continues its run of Camelot at Freedlander Theater at The College of Wooster on Saturday. Read preview articles here, here, and here. [Read more…]

James Stroud Classical Guitar Competition announces four winners for 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

The last event on the agenda of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival on Sunday, June 11 at the Cleveland Institute of Music was the final round of the James Stroud Classical Guitar Competition.

Four young guitarists who survived the semifinal round performed on the Mixon Hall stage in front of seven judges (Jonathan Leathwood, Matteo Mela, Lorenzo Micheli, Nigel North, Petra Poláčková, Mari Sato, and Jason Vieaux) and both a live and an online audience, to determine who would take away which of the generous cash prizes. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, June 14, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. New episodes from Ohio Light Opera & ChamberFest Cleveland

. Guitar Society announces International Series

. Almanac milestones for Theodore Bloomfield, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Lang Lang & Henry Mancini

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 2pm in the College of Wooster’s Freedlander Theater, Ohio Light Opera presents the second of thirteen performances of Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe’s Camelot (pictured), and at 7:30 in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance, ChamberFest Cleveland leads off its 2023 season with “Body and Soul,” bringing music by Purcell head-to-head with works by Carl Frühling and Dvořák. [Read more…]

A chat with Ohio Light Opera choreographer, director, singer, and dancer Spencer Reese

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by Daniel Hathaway

When I interviewed Ohio Light Opera artistic director Steven Daigle about the six shows the company is producing this summer in Freedlander Theater at The College of Wooster, he suggested that I also contact music director Michael Borowitz and choreographer Spencer Reese to find out what excites them about the 43rd season.

Reese has been with OLO since 2014, serving as assistant director and choreographer for more than 30 shows. I caught up with him early one morning for a fast-paced conversation that covered a lot of material in only ten minutes.

Daniel Hathaway: Thanks for agreeing to chat this early in the morning. I’m glad I got on your call board before other people did.

Spencer Reese: Thank you for letting it be early. Once nine o’clock hits, I’m not available again until 10 pm.

DH: I won’t take much of your time, but Steve Daigle thought I should talk to you because you turn out in many ways to be the MVP of the company.  [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, June 12, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. R.I.P. Gerhardt Zimmermann

. Eric Charnofsky broadcasts 500th edition of his classical music show on WRUW

. Marking the departures of John Ireland and Oliver Knussen & Benjamin Britten’s creation of a new musical fusion in Curlew River.

HAPPENING TODAY:

From 2-4 pm, Eric Charnofsky hosts the 500th edition of Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, broadcast from the studios of WRUW at Case Western Reserve University. View the playlist in our Concert Listings, and click here to listen to the internet feed (or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area).

And tonight at 7:30, Apollo’s Fire presents a performance of its summer show, The Fiddlers of Dublin, in Bath. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, June 9-11, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Summer seasons launch and continue

. Zimmerman enters Hospice care, R.I.P. pianist George Winston

. Almanac remembers Carl Nielsen and the Copenhagen Wind Quintet, Frederick Delius, George Frederick McKay & Théodore Dubois.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

These three days offer the continuation of a summer series sponsored by Apollo’s Fire, and summer festivals presented by Re:Sound, ENCORE, and Ohio Light Opera (pictured). Visit our Concert Listings page for robust listings of these and other events — composer names, composition titles, and performers.

Apollo’s Fire’s The Fiddlers of Dublin, created & directed by Jeannette Sorrell, plays at Holden Arboretum on June 9, 10 & 11 (four shows).

The Re:Sound New and Experimental Music Festival has scheduled seven events that run the gamut from A to Z (Alternative to Zany). Performances are at Convivium 33 Gallery unless otherwise noted: John Wiese // Brandon Lopez (Friday, June 9), Laura Potter + Ina McCormack // Douglas Farrand + Ryan Seward), AK Ensemble and guest Brandon Lopez (Saturday, June 10), Terminal Moraine // Kim Nucci // Emily Beisel (Saturday, June 10 at Crobar), and SLOWSPIN // Theresa May (Sunday, June 11). [Read more…]

A chat with Ohio Light Opera music director Michael Borowitz about the OLO Orchestra

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by Daniel Hathaway

Ohio Light Opera music director Michael Borowitz, who spends most of the year in Baton Rouge as assistant professor of opera at Louisiana State University, rejoined the Wooster company last summer. “I had taken a hiatus for a few years, and so this is my second year back,” he told me in a telephone conversation. He’s very pleased about that.

“The OLO Orchestra arrived yesterday, and I have to say that based on our auditions this year, which were really tremendous, we have some really fine artists who love to play in the pit. Some of them prefer playing in symphony orchestras, but the majority of our players here are really hungry to play all of these pit jobs,” Borowitz said. “And they love the festival atmosphere — being able to play Camelot in the afternoon, and then Orpheus in the Underworld in the evening. They like that challenge. I’m excited. I think it’s a good group of people.”

Borowitz added that the OLO Orchestra has built an extensive national reputation that results in referrals from the players’ teachers, many of whom have performed with the ensemble before. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, June 7, 2023

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DIARY: Wednesday, June 7, 2023

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Ipanema Girl passes, Guitar Society seeks extra hands, CSO players join “Listen @ the Library”

. Almanac: Saluting three “Princes” of Music (pictured)

HAPPENING TODAY:

No live performances to alert you to today, which makes it a good time to plan your upcoming weekend, where you’ll have to make some informed choices from an extensive first-week-of-summer list. Visit our Concert Listings page for robust listings of these and other events —composer names, composition titles, and performers.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Astrud Gilberto, 83

Gilberto shot to fame with The Girl From Ipanema, the first song she ever recorded. It played a key role in making the Brazilian sound known as bossa nova a phenomenon in the United States. Read an article in The New York Times. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, June 5, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Not live, but lively: Charnofsky’s two-hour WRUW program on the radio and web

. In memoriam Kaija Saariaho (pictured)

. Almanac: focus on a prolific New England composer

HAPPENING TODAY:

With no live concerts on the schedule, enjoy some unusual selections from Eric Charnofsky’s Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music playlist. Today’s program on WRUW from 2-4 pm features Laurie Altman’s Homage a Stravinsky for Instrumental Octet, Charles Villiers Stanford’s String Quintet No. 1 in F, John Corigliano’s Promenade Overture, Lili Boulanger’s D’un vieux jardin & D’un jardin clair (piano), Stanley Grill’s 6 Songs (soprano/piano), Pavel Vejvanovsky’s Sonata in g (trumpet/organ),& Paul Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 7 (organ/chamber orchestra). Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area. .

Visit our Concert Listings page for robust listings of these and other events —composer names, composition titles, and performers. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, June 2-4, 2023

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By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Guitar festival and youth competition at CIM through Sunday

. She Scores, three concerts of works by women composers in CSU’s Drinko Hall

. Almanac: remembering Edward Elgar, Serge Koussevitzky, Emile Berliner (inventor of the microphone), and the release of Radio Shack’s TRS-80 personal computer

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

On Friday, June 12, the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival continues its 23rd edition with recitals, master classes, and lectures in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. This year’s performances include duos (Solo Duo from Italy on Saturday at 7:30, and the Patterson/Sutton Duo on Sunday at 1), and solo recitals by Petra Polácková (pictured, Czech Republic, Friday at 7:30), lutenist Nigel North (England, Saturday at 4), and Hao Yang (China, Sunday at 4).

A special feature of this year’s guitar festival will be the live semi final and final rounds of the James Stroud National Classical Guitar Youth Competition in Mixon Hall. Semi-Finalists ages fourteen to eighteen will perform before the public and a panel of internationally acclaimed judges on Friday at 10 am and 1 pm, and four Finalists ages fourteen to eighteen will perform on Sunday at 6:30 (to be live streamed). Prizes will be announced at the close of this Round. [Read more…]

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