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DIARY: Thursday, March 30, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Tonight: Cleveland Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony, and Renovare Music

•R.I.P. Dolores White, pictured

HAPPENING TODAY:

Three concerts tonight will take place at 7:30 pm.

The Cleveland Orchestra will be joined by conductor Thomas Adès and violinist Pekka Kuusisto in works by Sibelius (the Prelude and the Suite No. 1 from The Tempest, and the Six Humoresques) and by Adès himself (Märchentänze and The Tempest Symphony). Tickets are available here.

The Youngstown Symphony will present “A Night for Jazz,” featuring vocalist Brianna Thomas and led by conductor Dean Buck. Tickets here.

And at the Maltz Performing Arts Center, Renovare Music will put on a free concert composed of three different elements: string music, poetry by spoken word artist Vision, and African drumming by Ali Boyd, Rashon Blake and Derick Barnes. The program includes José Elizondo’s The Dawn of Hope, J.S. Bach’s Aria from the Goldberg Variations, Ludovico Einaudi’s Experience, Hirono Borter’s Goldberg Meditation, Sabrina Jean Louis’ Clair de Lune, William Travance’s Blood Runs Black, and more.

R.I.P. DOLORES WHITE:

ClevelandClassical.com mourns the passing of Cleveland-based composer and musical trailblazer Dolores White, who died on Friday at the age of 90.

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Cleveland Chamber Music Society:
an important second performance

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by Jarrett Hoffman

“First is the worst, second is the best…” It may not be the most profound of old sayings, but there might just be some slight bit of wisdom — I said slight — that can be gleaned from that schoolyard refrain. After all, when it comes to new music, premières get most of the attention, but the far-less-common deuxième performances (aren’t we fancy?) can be just as significant.

Perhaps that’s especially true when it comes to Chava’s Daughters Speak by James Lee III (left). Its premiere in May 2021 at New York City’s 92nd Street Y was presented virtually, with only a limited in-person audience due to the pandemic. And what was to have been the second performance, in Boston last year, was canceled at the last minute when soprano Susanna Phillips developed laryngitis.

That brings us to tomorrow, Tuesday, March 28, when the piece will receive that long-awaited second hearing — its first in front of a full audience — as part of a Cleveland Chamber Music Society concert at Disciples Christian Church. Two of the three performers are holdovers from the premiere: clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Myra Huang, who will be joined here by soprano Elena Perroni. Tickets are available here. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, March 23, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: Folk musician Ben Gage performs with Canton Symphony members, violist Eliesha Nelson (pictured) is featured on LCCC Signature Series, Chattanooga Guitar Duo visits the Dana School of Music, and BW Opera presents Pirates of Penzance 

•Announcement: audition appointments are open for the Cleveland Orchestra Choruses

•Almanac: two major works from the short life of composer Julius Reubke, and a preface to World Tuberculosis Day

[Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, March 21, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: organist Ralph Holzhauser makes a noon-time visit to Church of the Covenant

•Announcement: applications open for Assembly for the Arts’ Creative Impact Fund

•In the news: Met ordered to pay $200K to Netrebko, and a look at the “Violin Capital of China”

•Almanac: electronic music composer Ruth Anderson and one brilliant, funny sound collage

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today’s Tuesday Noon Organ Plus Concert from Church of the Covenant features organist Ralph Holzhauser, who will play music by J.S. Bach (Prelude and Fugue in C, BWV 547), Florence Price (Elf on a Moonbeam), Charles-Marie Widor (Final from Symphony No. 8), George Shearing (I Love Thee, Lord and There is a Happy Land), and Marcel Dupré (Prelude and Fugue in B, Op. 7, No. 3). A freewill offering will be taken up.

[Read more…]

Folk musician Ben Gage to visit
CSO’s Divergent Sounds series

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by Jarrett Hoffman

One of the unique offerings of crossover music in Northeast Ohio is the Canton Symphony Orchestra’s Divergent Sounds. The series pairs select bands and singer-songwriters from the area with their own hand-picked group of instruments from the Orchestra. Then arranger Kevin Martinez creates new chamber-ensemble versions of their songs to be performed at Zimmermann Symphony Center.

The next Divergent Sounds concert on Thursday, March 23 at 7:30 pm will feature the Ben Gage Band, led by Akron-based folk musician Ben Gage. Armed with guitar, harmonica, and his own voice, Gage will be joined by electric guitarist Dan Socha, double bassist Brant Novak, and drummer Spencer Cindia — plus an ensemble of clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and cello from the Canton Symphony. Also making appearances will be a trio of guest vocalists: Bethany Joy, Josee McGee, and Chrissy Strong. Tickets are available here.

Both contemplative and down-to-earth, Gage is an absorbing conversationalist, as I found out during an interview earlier this week. Among the topics we touched on: his choice of instruments from the orchestra (influenced by a recent trip to New Orleans), writing songs about the area, growing up in rural Ashtabula County, sharing early versions of his songs on his website, and the people he meets while out on tour.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, March 14, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: organist Keith Reas (pictured), Musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra, and the Bennewitz Quartet

•Announcements: a call for visual artists as part of a collaboration between Heights Arts and No Exit New Music, and a webinar about the Ohio Arts Economic Relief Grant program

•Almanac: Peter Maxwell Davies and musical funhouse mirrors

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12:00 pm, organist Keith Reas plays music from Nicolaus Bruhns, the Susanne van Soldt manuscript, Tarquinio Merulo, Heinrich Scheidemann, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Dietrich Buxtehude, and J.S. Bach (program details here) on the Church of the Covenant’s Tuesday Noon Organ Plus series. The recital will also be livestreamed. A freewill offering will be taken up.

At 7, Musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra will head to Severance Music Center’s Reinberger Chamber Hall for a concert to benefit UNICEF’s response to the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria. Click here for more information and here to purchase tickets.

And at 7:30 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will present the Bennewitz Quartet. Their program is bookended by C-Major string quartets — beginning with Haydn’s Op. 54, No. 2, and ending with Dvořák’s Op. 61 — with Hans Krása’s Theme and Variations for String Quartet and Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet in between. Tickets are available here.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, March 9, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: Apollo’s Fire, The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project, and Oberlin Opera Theater

•Announcements & job listings: Janet Barlow (pictured) retires from Stocker Arts Center, Credo Music seeks an executive director, and Lima Symphony holds horn and flute auditions

•Almanac: Zakir Hussain, Anna Clyne, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 7:30, you have your choice between Apollo’s Fire in a new program titled “Exile: Music of the Jewish & African Diasporas,” and The Cleveland Orchestra, who will be joined by the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus for a playlist that includes Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen and Mozart’s Requiem.

And at 8, you can check in with the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project for a program featuring The Evolution of the Arm (a quartet made up of oboe, piano, violin, and cello) with cellist Khari Joyner as the opener. Or you can head to Oberlin Opera Theater for Bernstein’s Candide in director Jonathon Field’s final production before retiring. (Read an interview with Field here.)

Ticket links and more details in our Concert Listings.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, March 7, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: recitals by organist Teddy Cheng and pianist Martín García García (pictured)

•Announcements: city of Cleveland plans new senior-level arts position, two Oberlin pianists take home prizes from Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition, and Music From The Western Reserve seeks a new Artistic Director & General Manager.

•Almanac: Ravel and Batiashvili, including her performance of Requiem for Ukraine

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12:00 pm, organist Teddy Cheng, a doctoral student at Juilliard, will play music by Giovanni de Macque, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Francesco Correa de Arauxo, William Walton, Robert Schumann, and Akira Nishimura for his recital as part of the Tuesday Noon Organ Plus series at the Church of the Covenant. See the full program here. A freewill offering will be taken up. The concert will also be livestreamed.

And at 7:30 pm, 2021 Cleveland International Piano Competition winner Martín García García will return to Northeast Ohio for a recital at E.J. Thomas Hall as part of the Tuesday Musical series. His program includes Schumann’s Op. 13 Symphonic Etudes and Brahms’ Sonata No. 3 in f. Tickets are available here. Read Mike Telin’s interview with the pianist here.

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Field Finds his Pasture After 26 years at Oberlin, innovative director Jonathon Field trades higher ed for Mister Ed.

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This article is posted with the permission of the author and Oberlin Conservatory 

by Jarrett Hoffman

You know the song from Rent that asks how to measure a year of life? Well, steering clear of doing the math for “525,600 minutes” times 26, how do you measure a career lasting over a quarter-century?

After joining the faculty of Oberlin Conservatory in 1997 and heading up the opera program for 26 years—in addition to directing productions with leading professional organizations nationally and internationally, and serving for six years as artistic director of Lyric Opera Cleveland—Jonathon Field will retire at the end of the academic year.

That leaves time for one more show: Field will direct Oberlin Opera Theater in four performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide from Thursday, March 9, through Sunday, March 12, at Hall Auditorium. The English-language operetta, based on the novella by Voltaire, will be performed with supertitles, and Raphael Jiménez will lead the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra.

It marks the end of an era, no doubt—and of course, there are numerous ways to reflect on it.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, March 2, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: Cleveland Orchestra with pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, and Oberlin Improv Fest with multi-instrumentalist Aurora Nealand and shakuhachi player / electronic musician Kojiro Umezaki (pictured)

•Announcements: changes coming to CIPC 2024, and Cleveland Arts Prize open for submissions

•Almanac: Smetana, Weill, and four distinct takes on “Mack the Knife” from Lotte Lenya, Sidney Bechet, Bobby Darin, and the Amsterdam Wind Quintet

HAPPENING TODAY:

The three-day Oberlin Improv Fest kicks off today with several events, including a recital at 8:30 pm featuring multi-instrumentalist Aurora Nealand with shakuhachi player and electronic musician Kojiro Umezaki at the Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space. The program will include selections from Nealand’s The Monocle (a solo project that brings together voice, accordion, saxophones, and found objects), Umezaki’s electroacoustic composition The Ghost of Autumn Winds (秋風の霊), and a duo improvisation. It’s free and will also be livestreamed.

And at 7:30 pm, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra will present a program that includes Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3, Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G — featuring Víkingur Ólafsson as soloist — and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Ravel). Get tickets here.

[Read more…]

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