by Jarrett Hoffman

TODAY’S SCHEDULE:

After the concert was postponed last week, organist Jonathan Moyer will get the chance to play the complete Nedêlní Hudba (“Sunday Music”) by Petr Eben today at noon in a livestream-only concert presented by the Church of the Covenant. Watch on YouTube.

And as a reminder, the concert by the Danish String Quartet on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series, previously scheduled for tonight, has been cancelled due to positive COVID-19 test results from one of the performers — wishing them a quick recovery. Ticketing questions? See yesterday’s Diary.

TODAY’S READING:

Three days ago, January 22, The Washington Post featured “22 for ‘22” — a list that Michael Andor Brodeur described as “a diverse variety of composers, performers and artists hitting their stride with work that resonates with the right now.” Click here to read about Carlos Simon, Kedrick Armstrong, Marcos Balter, Rohan Chander (a.k.a. AIYYER), James Diaz, Anthony R. Green, Sarah Hennies, Raquel Acevedo Klein, Eddy Kwon, Catherine Lamb, Charmaine Lee, Allison Loggins-Hull, Raven McMillion, Rob Moose, Emma O’Halloran, Tarik O’Regan, Kamala Sankaram, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Dale Trumbore, Dai Wei, and Paul Wiancko.

In more weighty news, The New York Times undergoes a self-evaluation: out of deference to its style guide, did the paper ever refer to the late rock singer Meat Loaf as Mr. Loaf ? Matt Stevens investigates here — click the arrows to discover the truth.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

The name Robert Burns has already come up in our pages a few times in recent weeks. That’s because Scotland’s national bard was the inspiration for Les Délices’ concert video “The Highland Lassie,” released five days ago as an early celebration of the anniversary of the poet’s birth on January 25, 1759 — 263 years ago today. Watch the concert here.

Speaking of that anniversary — on this date, you might celebrate Robert Burns Day, a.k.a. Rabbie Burns Day, Burns Day, and Burns Night. Whatever you name it, the party might include a Burns Supper, traditionally kicked off with a bagpiper greeting the guests, and continuing with a welcome speech, then the saying of grace — usually the Selkirk Grace, attributed to Burns and written in Scots:

Some Folk hae meat that canna eat,
And some can eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
So let the Lord be Thanket!

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by Jarrett Hoffman

ON THE SCHEDULE:

Two recitals bookend the day. Faculty cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman gives a free 12:15 pm concert on the Dana School of Music’s noontime series at the Butler Institute of American Art. And the Fine Arts Association hosts faculty trombonist Matthew Saunders in a performance of his own Twenty Views of the Trombone at 7:00 pm. Get tickets here.

ARTS FUNDING, A RESIGNATION, AND A PASSING:

Yesterday, the National Endowment for the Arts announced the recipients of 1,498 awards totaling $33.2 million. Ohio alone took home $1,065,000 over 45 grants, including funding for Apollo’s Fire, Case Western, CityMusic Cleveland, CIM, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Tri-C Foundation and Tri-C Jazz Fest, Les Délices, The Cleveland Orchestra, and many more. Read the press release here, and view the state-by-state listing here.

Meanwhile, the National Endowment for the Humanities has announced 208 projects receiving grants totalling $24.7 million. Projects related to music cover such topics as Indigenous hip-hop musicians, West African melody in African American music, preparing a critical edition of Mascagni’s opera Cavalleria rusticana, Medieval music at Worcester Benedictine Cathedral Priory, connections between music research and American zoology, the history of jazz and hip-hop in Queens, NY, and experimental scores by avant-garde composers of the mid-20th-century — projects centered in Riverside, CA, Atlanta, GA, Baton Rouge, LA, Waltham, MA, New Brunswick, NJ, Queens, NY, and Houston, TX, respectively. See the full list here.

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by Jarrett Hoffman

WHO WAS ROBBIE BURNS?

Five days before Burns Day, which celebrates that great Scottish poet of the late 18th century, Les Délices will honor Scotland’s national bard with the release of “The Highland Lassie.” The program — filmed at Dunham Tavern and premiering online on Thursday, January 20 — is a collection of Scots songs and reels from the 17th and 18th centuries ranging from folk music to art music, and evoking settings from the alehouse to the salon. Read about the life of Robert Burns in an article by Hannah De Priest here, and purchase tickets here.

CALENDAR REVISIONS:

Several events from the Canton Symphony previously scheduled for early 2022 have been postponed. “A Planets Odyssey” has been rescheduled for May 22, “Hey Monea Meets the Symphony” has been moved to June 9, and “Triumphant Tchaikovsky” will take place on June 25. Tickets will be honored on the new dates, or you can exchange them for other performances in the same series. Dates for “Community Jam Night” at Buzzbin and “Spirited Conversations” are still to be announced.

R.I.P. DALE CLEVENGER:

The principal horn of the Chicago Symphony for 47 years, and an accomplished horn teacher and conductor, Dale Clevenger passed away on January 5 of Waldenstrom’s disease. He was 81. Read an obituary by Frank Villella here on the CSO’s website. Upon his retirement from the Orchestra in 2013, several of his colleagues performed a concert in his honor — an event that also included a tribute video, which you can watch here.

INTERESTING READS:

Given the Omicron variant’s effect on live performance schedules in recent weeks, Jeff Lundlen of NPR shines a spotlight on the figures who have kept some Broadway shows afloat: substitutes, including swings, understudies, and standbys. Read the article here.

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