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DIARY: Monday, February 12, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: BW faculty play Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time

•Announcements: David Byrd-Marrow (pictured) appointed horn professor at Oberlin, Transformative Arts Fund holds information sessions this month

•In Memoriam: Guitar Society pays tribute to Kathleen Mylecraine & Rhonda Harrell

•Almanac: Roy Harris, Emile Waldteufel, Henri Duparc, and George Antheil

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 7:00 pm in Gamble Auditorium, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory faculty members Steve Sang Koh (violin), Khari Joyner (cello), Daniel McKelway (clarinet), and Sungeun Kim (piano) will perform Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. It’s free.

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CelloGayageum at Cleveland Museum of Art: uniting cultures, blending styles & experimenting with sound

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by Jarrett Hoffman

“I grew up with the story of the separation of south and north in Korea,” cellist Sol Daniel Kim said during a recent interview. “And when I went to Berlin, of course I knew the history of the city, how it was separated into east and west.”

The parallel between German reunification and the hope for peaceful reunification of Korea took physical form in late 2015 with the construction of Berlin’s Pavillon der Einheit (Pavilion of Unity).

It was around that same time when Kim met Korean-born Dayoung Yoon, who plays the gayageum, a traditional Korean zither. They started talking at a concert organized by the Korean Cultural Center in Berlin, and hit it off over a shared interest in creating music.

“That was my first real encounter with a Korean traditional instrument,” said Kim, who was born in Austria, with Korean roots. “And actually she was having quite a hard time in Berlin, because it’s not easy for a Korean person to get used to the Berlin vibe. Then she met me, and everything turned around because we were making music together.”

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DIARY: Wednesday, February 7, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: Brahms love songs at Trinity Cathedral, organist Florence Mustric at Trinity Lutheran, Linking Legacies (pictured) in the galleries of CMA, and a double bill from Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project

•Announcements: applications open for Cleveland’s Transformative Arts Fund, this month’s schedule from Opus 216, and University Circle on the ballot for nation’s favorite arts district

•Interesting reads: Robert Spano named Music Director Designate at Washington National Opera

•Almanac: Lutosławski in Warsaw

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DIARY: Monday, February 5, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

A roundup of the classical categories from the 2024 Grammy Awards, presented last night in Los Angeles, can be found here from Philadelphia’s WRTI.

Among the notable highlights for Northeast Ohio: Shaker Heights’ Elaine Martone (pictured, left) won “Producer Of The Year, Classical” for a list of albums that included three from The Cleveland Orchestra and one from the ensemble Sirventés, which features several members of the Orchestra. And the award for “Best Classical Compendium” went to Passion for Bach and Coltrane, an album featuring Oberlin Conservatory horn professor Jeff Scott’s work of the same title, performed by orator and poet A.B. Spellman, the Imani Winds (founded by Oberlin alumni), the Harlem Quartet, and the jazz trio of Alex Brown, Edward Perez, and Neal Smith.

See the full list of winners here.

And Oberlin fourth-year soprano Elizabeth Hanje (above, right) has won First Prize and $10,000 at the Houston Grand Opera’s 36th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. This came after Friday night’s Concert of Arias, in which Hanje sang “Il est doux, il est bon” from Jules Massenet’s Hérodiade and “Ain’t it a Pretty Night” from Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. Friday’s performances and the awards ceremony were livestreamed and remain available to watch on YouTube.

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Linking Legacies to perform at CMA, Oberlin & TMS: celebrating Black performers & composers with local ties

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Think of the people from the past who lived in your town, crossing the same crosswalks, pushing open the same doors as you. Or, as the thought occurred to violist Chris Jenkins and pianist Dianna White-Gould, performing in the same room as them.

Collaborating in a piece by H. Leslie Adams in January 2020 for a concert at The Music Settlement honoring Martin Luther King, they realized that White-Gould’s parents — composer-pianist Dolores White and cellist Donald White — had performed together as a duo decades earlier in the very same space.

More ties came to mind between past and present, time and place. “We thought, it’s so interesting to be here,” Jenkins (pictured) said during a recent interview over Zoom. “Leslie is here, and Dianna’s parents have played in this space, and we’re here now. Leslie and Dianna went to Oberlin, and her mother went to Oberlin and CIM, and I work at Oberlin.” (Jenkins is the Associate Dean for Academic Support, Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology, and Liaison to the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). “All those connections — it was so interesting.”

The thought of those connections led to the creation of Linking Legacies, a chamber collective headed up by Jenkins that features multiple generations of African American classical musicians performing classical works by African American composers — with a focus on deep ties to the area for both performers and composers.

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DIARY: Wednesday, January 31, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: organist Linda Kempke at Trinity Lutheran (12:15), and the CIM Orchestra (7:30)

•Announcements: COYO applications open, soprano and Oberlin student Elizabeth Hanje (pictured) named a finalist in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition, and limited tickets available this morning at 10 am for Jon Batiste’s February visit to CMA

•Almanac: Schubert, Glass, Lanza, and a peek at next weekend’s double-dip of Schubert symphonies in the area

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12:15 pm, Trinity Lutheran Church’s Wednesday Noon Organ Concert series will feature Linda Kempke at the Beckerath organ. Program TBA. A freewill offering will be taken up.

And at 7:30 at CIM’s Kulas Hall, guest conductor Kazem Abdullah will lead the CIM Orchestra in George Lewis’ Weathering, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, and Alberto Ginastera’s Harp Concerto, featuring Rebekah Hou as soloist. It’s free, but reservations are required.

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DIARY: Monday, January 29, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: The Busch Trio (pictured) visits Rocky River Chamber Music Society from Amsterdam

•Announcements: application deadlines for the Suburban Symphony’s Young Soloists Concerto Competition and the Kent Blossom Music Festival, and Jeannette Sorrell receives Ursuline College’s Women Who Light The Way award

•R.I.P. Kathleen Mylecraine, 71

•Almanac: Frederick Delius, Havergal Brian, Luigi Nono, and Matthias Pintscher

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 7:30 pm at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the Rocky River Chamber Music Society hosts Amsterdam’s The Busch Trio (pianist Omri Epstein, violinist Mathieu van Bellen, and cellist Ori Epstein) in trios by Ravel, Mozart (B-flat major, K. 502), and Tchaikovsky (a minor, Op. 50). A freewill offering will be taken up. The concert will also be livestreamed.

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DIARY: Wednesday, January 24, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: organist Robert Myers, cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman with pianist Cicilia Yudha, and modern Italian folk group Alla Boara (left)

•Announcements: The Music Settlement’s new Creative Aging Department, and spring registration

•In the news: layoffs reported at Universal Music Group, particularly in the recorded-music division

•Almanac: a pair of American composers who won the Pulitzer Prize

HAPPENING TODAY:

First up, there are two lunchtime options.

At 12:15 pm, you can head to Trinity Lutheran Church in Cleveland to hear organist Robert Myers in music by Sweelinck, Pachelbel, and J.S. Bach as part of the Wednesday Noon Organ Concert series — a freewill offering will be taken up. Or you can make your way to the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown for YSU’s Music at Noon series, this week featuring faculty members Kivie Cahn-Lipman (cello) and Cicilia Yudha (piano). It’s free.

And at 7:30 pm, modern Italian folk group Alla Boara will celebrate the release of their second album with a concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium. The vision of drummer and composer Anthony Taddeo, Alla Boara features vocalist Amanda Powell, guitarist Dan Bruce, trumpeter Tommy Lehman, bassist Ian Kinnaman, and accordionist and keyboardist Clay Colley — plus tonight’s special guests, Patrick Graney on percussion and Caitlin Hedge on violin. Read Mike Telin’s recent interview with Taddeo here, and get tickets here.

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DIARY: Monday, January 22, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: BW hosts pianist Yaron Kohlberg (left)

•Announcements: Keith Fitch wins 2023 Composer Award, Assembly for the Arts releases list of “key learnings” after listening sessions and surveys

•Interesting read: a violin concerto by a “nearly forgotten” Ukrainian composer, revived by Joshua Bell, Dalia Stasevska, and the International Symphony Orchestra Lviv

•Almanac: Henri Dutilleux, Petr Eben, Marc Blitzstein, Mac computers, and John Donne’s Holy Sonnets

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 7, pianist Yaron Kohlberg plays a free Guest Artist Recital at BW’s Gamble Auditorium. (And tomorrow at 3 he leads a master class with BW Conservatory keyboard students, also in Gamble.)

[Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, January 17, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

HAPPENING TODAY:

12:15 pm – Wednesday Noon Organ Concert by Robert Myers. “Little beginnings,” music by Sweelinck, Pachelbel, and J.S. Bach. Beckerath organ. Trinity Lutheran Church, W. 30th & Lorain, Cleveland. Freewill offering.

6:00 pm – Piano Cleveland Live @ 50. Performers include the Preliminary Jury of the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition. Boss Dog Brewing, 2197 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights. Free.

7:30 pm – Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst, conducting. Sergei Prokoviev’s Symphonies No. 2 & 5 & Anton Webern’s Symphony. Concert Preview lecture by Eric Charnofsky. Severance Music Center, 11001 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland. Tickets available online.

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