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DIARY Wednesday, February 1, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Four interesting events, all FREE!

. 91st BW Bach Festival

. Competition winners and chamber music encounters

. Giacomo Puccini and George Walker have premieres

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 12 Noon, the spring series of BrownBag Concerts at Trinity will feature Dancing Wheels — “Art in motion, celebrating the spirit of dance” (pictured). Trinity Cathedral. Free.

At 6:30, you can join Piano Cleveland Live at Phunkenship. Performers include Gastón Frydman, Yaron Kohlberg, and Rachel Brown,“The Honky Tonk Queen of Cleveland.” Free. [Read more…]

DIARY Monday, January 30, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky hosts two long works on Monday program

. The Almanac notes the demise of Franncis Poulenc

HAPPENING TODAY: 

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, hosted by Eric Charnofsky, featuring two major mid-20th century works: Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Symphony in F-sharp, Op. 40 & Herbert Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi. Click here to listen to the internet feed or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

ALMANAC FOR JANUARY 30:

January 30 marks the death of French composer Francis Poulenc (pictured) in Paris in 1963. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, January 27 – 29, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Repeating and one-off events including the world premiere of a new opera

. International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Gideon Klein

. Bits & pieces from classical music history

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

Keep an ear out for repeating events this weekend: you have three opportunities each to catch the debuts of Oberlin Winter Term Opera’s Alice Tierney and Trobár Medieval’s program, “Daughters of Light.”

CityMusic Cleveland’s Baroque Ensemble features “Music in the Time of Goya” on Friday, and Saturday’s lineup includes Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and the Musical Theater Project’s tribute to Johnny Mercer and his collaborators, and Cuban and Spanish music by René Izquierdo on the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s International Series. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera: a search for the real Alice Tierney

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by Mike Telin

When composer Melissa Dunphy and her husband purchased a Philadelphia property that was in foreclosure, they saw it as an opportunity to own what could become a small performing arts space in a prime location. “It’s only an eight-minute walk to the Liberty Bell,” Dunphy said during a telephone conversation. Little did they know that what lay beneath the foundation of the former Magic Theater would reveal a story worthy of a made-for-television cold case mystery. Or better yet, an opera.

On January 27 and 28 at 8:00 pm and January 29 at 6:30 pm in Finney Chapel, Oberlin Opera Theater will present the world premiere of Dunphy’s Alice Tierney. With a libretto by Jacqueline Goldfinger, the opera explores the fictionalized story surrounding the death of the real-life Alice. But who was Alice? And can four archeology grad students unveil the truth about her mysterious demise?

Stage direction is by Christopher Mirto, and Benjamin Martin conducts. The production is the Oberlin Opera Commissioning Program’s first world premiere. The one-hour performance is free but reservations are required.

Dunphy’s discovery of the real Alice Tierney began when she and her husband decided to build an apartment on top of the former theater. “In order to do that, they needed to dig into the foundation to strengthen it in order to support the added weight,” the composer said. [Read more…]

DIARY Monday, January 23, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A decade of “not necessarily standard repertoire” on WRUW

. In the Almanac: interesting dates to note in the lives of Dvořák, MacDowell, Ellington, John Luther Adams, Paul Robeson, Mason Bates & Samuel Barber, including a Barber premiere that drew Mike Telin deep into the Cleveland Orchestra archives

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today from 2 to 4pm, WRUW celebrates the 10th anniversary of Eric Charnofsky’s Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, with a selection of some of the programmer’s favorite works that are “not necessarily standard repertoire.” Featured music includes Paul Hindemith’s The Four Temperaments (piano and orchestra), Samuel Barber’s Excursions (solo piano), Igor Stravinsky’s Agon (orchestra), Aaron Copland’s Piano Variations, plus music by Lukas Foss and André Jolivet. Click here to listen to the internet feed or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area

ALMANAC FOR JANUARY 23:

This date in 1894 saw the first performance of Antonin Dvorák’s own arrangement of Stephen Foster’s Old Folks at Home with vocal soloists Sissierette Jones and Harry T. Burleigh at a  concert of African American choral music at Madison Square Concert Hall in NYC.  [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, January 20 – 22, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Five weekend events to recommend

. Cleveland Orchestra praised in NY Times review by Joshua Barone

. Almanac: Eva Jessye, Tallis and Byrd, Dowland, first national radio opera broadcast, Erich Leinsdorf, Victor Borge, Henri Dutilleux, Petr Eben, Marc Blitzstein, Apple’s Macintosh computer, John Donne

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

Only five events to call out, but a diverse group to choose from.

Never mind the weather — Friday’s event is performed al fresco, but the audience can enjoy the McGaffin Carillon (pictured) outdoors while walking through University Circle, or via live stream beginning at 12:15 Noon. This week, UC Carillonneur George Leggiero will draw Baroque music from the bells.

On Saturday evening, Joan Ellison channels Judy Garland in her appearance with Cleveland Pops Orchestra, who will play original orchestrations of her famous tunes.

Sunday afternoon’s choices include the Akron Youth Orchestras at Tallmadge High School, saxophonist Perry Roth and pianist Hana Chu at the Church of the Western Reserve, and in the evening, Gerhardt Zimmermann will host pianist Sheng Cai for Saint Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, and lead the Canton Symphony in a world premiere by Quinn Mason and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. [Read more…]

DIARY Wednesday, January 18, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Tuesday Musical Scholarship Competition deadline

. Scott MacPherson retires from Cleveland Chamber Choir & Kent

. Stravinsky at the White House

HAPPENING TODAY:

No concerts are scheduled today.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Students — Remember to apply for the Tuesday Musical’s Annual Scholarship Competition. Apply on-line here now and through January 31.

The Cleveland Chamber Choir has announced the retirement of its founding Artistic Director, Scott MacPherson. In a press release, CCC executive director Kira McGirr wrote that “As one of our founding members, Scott brought instant credibility to our organization, and has passionately arranged and conducted over 20 concert cycles since its inception, greatly bolstering our standing in the community. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, January 13 – 16, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. MLK Weekend events (pictured: Dr. King in Cleveland, July 29, 1967, Cleveland Press photo by Van Dillard)

. ​​Innovators: Did Denner invent the clarinet? Köchel did create a catalog of Mozart’s works, Schenker originated the Urlinie, and Schindler concocted quite a few facts about Beethoven

. Timeline dates to recognize: birthdays of McGegan & Horne, demises of Skinner, Toscanini, and Leonhardt

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

Today at 7:00 pm organist Nicholas Schmelter (First Presbyterian Church, Caro, MI) will play music by Georgi Mushel, Marcel Dupré, Georg Böhm, J.S. Bach, Louis Vierne, John Cook, and M. Searle Wright at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, Cleveland. Freewill offering.

At 7:30 pm Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in music by Berg and Schubert. Soloists include Joélle Harvey, soprano, Daryl Freedman, mezzo-soprano Julian Prégardien and Martin Mitterrutzner, tenor, and Dashon Burton, bass-baritone. The program is repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm. Severance Music Center. Tickets available online. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra with Gilbert & Yancich: Oliverio, Haydn & Nielsen pack a program (Jan. 5)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Rebounding with vigor on January 5 from its loaded holiday schedule while other ensembles were still in recovery mode, The Cleveland Orchestra gave a thoroughly enjoyable concert of completely unrelated works, including a new concerto by James Oliverio featuring principal timpani Paul Yancich, and not-so-often performed symphonies by Joseph Haydn and Carl Nielsen.

Presiding over this interesting stew like an adventurous chef, guest conductor Alan Gilbert threw in a surprising ingredient or two that the smallish audience of 800 lapped up as if hungry for something both piquant and nourishing after a diet of Noëls.

The Mandel Hall stage was full of drums — the normal number at the back of the orchestra, plus seven more set in a tight circle where the first violins usually hold forth — for the opening work, Oliverio’s Legacy Ascendant, Concerto for Timpani and Strings, commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]

DIARY Wednesday, January 11, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Oltman obituary link

. NEA award for ENCORE Chamber Music Institute, TÁR to be screened in Canton, already critiqued by Marin Alsop

. Historic dates to remember: death of John Field (the other composer of Nocturnes), debut of Brahms’ Clarinet Sonata, birth of Duruflé, and the debuts of Copland’s Organ Symphony, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, and John Adams’ El Niño.

OLTMAN OBITUARY

Baldwin Wallace Conservatory has issued a link to the obituary for Dwight Oltman.

HAPPENING TODAY:

No concerts are scheduled today.

NEWS BRIEFS:

ENCORE Chamber Music Institute has received an award from the National Endowment for the Arts for its 2023 Music & Ideas Festival, “Creatures of Emotion”! [Read more…]

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