by Jarrett Hoffman
A cave on the Scottish island of Staffa, the city of Rome, birdsong from Finnish bogs, and the vast landscapes of Antarctica provided key inspiration for four works — two of them among classical music’s Top 40, the other two rarely performed.
The Akron Symphony and music director Christopher Wilkins will bundle together those nature-themed compositions by Mendelssohn, Respighi, Rautavaara, and Vaughan Williams for “Planet Earth” on Friday, March 23 at 8:00 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall.
Projected visuals will join one of those composers’ sonic paintings. Thanks to Natural History New Zealand, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia antartica will be accompanied by a film created specifically for that symphony, focusing on the icy, mysterious, southernmost continent. The symphony, Vaughan Williams’ seventh, will also feature guest soprano Katherine Swift and the women of the Akron Symphony Chorus, directed by Marie Bucoy-Calavan.
As snow came down outside on Thursday, March 8, an absorbing evening of piano cornerstones warmed the inside of E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron. This performance by Andreas Haefliger was the 12th of Tuesday Musical Association’s annual concerts that honor the late pianist Margaret Baxtresser, a musical giant of Northeast Ohio.
Deep in the Huayin County in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, in a rural village at the foot of Mount Hua — it was there that pipa player Wu Man first heard the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band, a family of farmers with an artistic tradition over 300 years old, passed down through generations.
Although Andreas Haefliger’s repertoire list spans centuries, there is one composer who particularly fascinates him. “I have spent a tremendous amount of time with Beethoven,” the pianist said during a recent telephone conversation. “I also spend time putting him into programs that illuminate and bring out a different perspective on the sonatas that we know so well.”
How did the planets align so that Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti — three of the most eminent and prolific composers of the Baroque period — all came to be born in the same year? That defies explanation, but it makes for interesting concert programming. On Sunday, March 11 at 4:00 pm at Faith Lutheran Church in Fairlawn, Akron Baroque will raise a glass to “The Class of 1685” with a free concert devoted to music by these three luminaries.
“When I think of introducing the classical music that we love to young kids, 
Next week, a series of concerts by CityMusic Cleveland, led by music director Avner Dorman, will aim to unite the Jewish and Arab communities, promote togetherness in Greater Cleveland, and emphasize the value of preserving the arts — regardless of culture. Titled “Two Faiths: One Spirit,” the series was inspired by stories of priceless religious texts that were rescued by people of other faiths.
Chilling bones since 1898, Henry James’s ghostly novella 
Debra Nagy’s latest