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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.

[Read more…]

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…]

DIARY: Tuesday, February 28, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: organist Luca Cantone at the Covenant

•Announcements: a call for bands from Tri-C JazzFest, application deadline extended for Kent Blossom, and a webinar about Arts Economic Relief Grants

•Interesting read: artificial intelligence and music

•Almanac: Kalevala Day and Osmo Vänskä (pictured)

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today at 12, Oberlin student organist Luca Cantone will play music by Abraham van den Kerckhoven (Fantasia in F, W. 128), Eustache du Caurroy (Cinq Fantaisies sur Une jeune fillette), and J.S. Bach (Trio Sonata in C, BWV 529) on the Church of the Covenant’s Tuesday Noon Organ Plus series. A freewill offering will be taken up.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, February 23, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: The Cleveland Orchestra, and the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine at Tri-C

•Job listing: choral management at The Cleveland Orchestra

•Interesting read: an exposé about abuse in the film scoring industry

•Almanac: Handel and Elgar, two sides of being English 

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 7:00 pm at Cuyahoga Community College’s Metro Auditorium, the Tri-C Classical Piano Series presents the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine in a program that includes Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Yevhen Stankovych’s Chamber Symphony No. 3, Mozart’s Concerto No. 10 in E-flat for two pianos, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9. Theodore Kuchar and Carl Topilow will conduct, and pianists Emanuela Friscioni and Antonio Pompa-Baldi (pictured) will be featured in the Mozart. Read Daniel Hathaway’s preview article here, and get tickets here.

And at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in Mozart’s Divertimento No. 2, Schoenberg’s Variations for Orchestra, and Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben. The program will be repeated on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are available here.

[Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland: three concerts with clarinetist Daniel Gilbert

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by Jarrett Hoffman

In three concerts over the next three months from CityMusic Cleveland, one particular instrument, and one particular player, crop up several times.

Clarinetist Daniel Gilbert will be featured in “Explorations for Clarinet, Strings and Piano” (February 25), “The Visionary Clarinet” (March 16-19), and “Clarinet Dialogues” (May 13) — the outer two programs being chamber music collaborations, the middle one a solo appearance with the CityMusic Orchestra. Details of times and locations can be found here.

As is often the case with the best chamber music gatherings, family and friends play an important role here. The February program was put together by Gilbert and his wife, pianist Donna Lee, and it features a commissioned work titled Recitations and Dedications by a longtime friend of his: Gregg August (pictured below).
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DIARY: Wednesday, February 22, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

. Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival announces 2023 line-up

. Almanac: Happy birthday James Reese Europe

HAPPENING TODAY:

No concerts on the horizon today, probably because it’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Christian calendar.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

The Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival has announced its 2023 line-up. To be held at the Cleveland Institute of Music on June 1-4,  the Festival will include concerts, master classes, lectures, guitar demonstrations, and the Stroud Youth Competition semi-final and final rounds. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, February 16, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: Mourning [A] BLKstar, an Oberlin Faculty Recital, Cleveland Orchestra & Youngstown Symphony

•News: Tri-C JazzFest announces 2023 lineup

•Interesting read: a profile of former Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Vinay Parameswaran

•Almanac: John Corigliano and his Symphony No. 1, memorializing friends lost to AIDS

HAPPENING TODAY:

You have four options tonight for your listening pleasure.

At 7:00 pm at Beachland Ballroom, Local 4 Music Fund presents Cleveland’s own Mourning [A] BLKstar, “a multi-generational, gender and genre non-conforming amalgam of Black Culture dedicated to servicing the stories and songs of the apocalyptic diaspora.” The group consists of James Longs, LaToya Kent, and Kyle Kidd (vocals), Dante Foley (drums), Theresa May (trumpet), Pete Saudek (guitar/keys), William Washington (trombone), and RA Washington (samplers/bass). The concert is free.

The next three are all at 7:30. A free Oberlin Faculty Recital at Kulas Recital Hall will feature David Bowlin (violin), Kirsten Docter (viola), Dmitry Kouzov (cello), and Tony Cho (piano) in works by Albert Roussel, including his string trio and both violin sonatas. The concert will also be live streamed here.

Moving over to Severance Music Center, Herbert Blomstedt leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18, which will feature Emanuel Ax as soloist. Performances continue Friday and Saturday. Tickets are available here.

And at Powers Auditorium, André Raphel will lead the Youngstown Symphony in a program titled “Blockbuster Broadway,” which includes songs from Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Annie, Jersey Boys, The Sound of Music, Chicago, Cats, The Lion King, and A Chorus Line. Joining the orchestra will be a cast of acclaimed vocalists from New York. Get tickets here.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, February 14, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: organist Abraham Ross at noon, and “A Romantic German Valentine” at 7:30

•News: Julia de Burgos Cultural Center announces a call for artists, while Cleveland Orchestra announces upcoming releases

•Almanac: Steven Mackey, Steven Stucky, Renée Fleming, and an amphibious Valentine’s Day

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 pm, the Church of the Covenant presents organist Abraham Ross (pictured) on the Tuesday Noon Organ Plus series — check out the program here. A freewill offering will be taken up.

And to celebrate the holiday, at 7:30 pm you can enjoy “A Romantic German Valentine,” a chamber program that includes music by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann as well as world premieres by Margi Griebling-Haigh. A freewill donation of $20 is suggested. Read a preview article here, and see our Concert Listings for details.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, February 9, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Tonight: Cleveland Orchestra with Mäkelä part two & Canton Symphony with singer-songwriter Bethany Joy (pictured)

•News: COYO applications open & program changes from The Cleveland Orchestra

•Almanac: Alban Berg, integrating tonality & serialism

HAPPENING TODAY:

There are two options for you tonight, both at 7:30 pm. Members of the Canton Symphony will join Cleveland-based indie soul/jazz singer-songwriter Bethany Joy at Zimmermann Symphony Center as part of the orchestra’s Divergent Sounds series — tickets here. Meanwhile guest conductor Klaus Mäkelä and The Cleveland Orchestra will play Unsuk Chin’s SPIRA – Concerto for Orchestra and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 at Severance Music Center. Read a preview article about that program here, and get tickets here. 

[Read more…]

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