by Mike Telin

STREAMED CONCERTS:

At 7:00 pm The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus Episode 11, debuts “Order & Disorder.” Led by Franz Welser-Möst, the concert features Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and Berg’s “Three Pieces” from Lyric Suite. The digital stream was filmed March 18-20 and April 14-16 at Severance Hall. Click here for more information.

At 7:00 pm, Local 4 Music Fund’s “Tuning In” features Rock Wehrmann, Evelyn Wright, Chris Coles, Dan Bruce and Jim Rpp. “Jazzy jazz jazz,” the final program in this season’s virtual concert series. Live streamed only. Click here at start time. It’s free, but donations are welcome.

There’s more happening in other parts of the country — check our Concert Listings page for details.

IN THE NEWS:

The inventive ensemble Burning River Baroque has announced the live broadcast of a concert from St. John’s Episcopal Church, Youngstown, Ohio on June 26, at 7 pm.  The environmental themed program — in English and Spanish —  will feature a new work by Dawn Sonntag set to poetry by Craig Santoz Perez. Click here for more information.

Tri-C JazzFest has announced that it will return to live and in-person performances this year on September 11 and 12 at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights. To accommodate those who still do not wish to attend in-person, the festival will once again offer a free live streaming option. The lineup will be announced on June 1.

Conductor Carl Topilow has announced that his new book, The Orchestral Conductor’s Career Handbook, is now available for purchase. Written during the pandemic, the book is designed both for aspiring and established conductors. Click here for more information.

Speaking of Carl Topilow, The Cleveland Pops Orchestra will resume their concert series at Severance Hall on November 12, 2021. Click here for details.

Events of the past year have taught us that meaningful change is possible even in dark times.

Oberlin College and Conservatory will host the Crafting Change Symposium, a fully virtual series of presentations, concerts, panel discussions, and workshops, through which teachers — from kindergarten through college level — and artist-makers from a wide array of disciplines share their creative approaches to exploring science, humanities, art, and more, with an emphasis on inclusion. Crafting Change is free and  runs from Tuesday, May 25 through Saturday, June 19. View a schedule of events here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

There are two notable passings today: In 1896, Clara Schumann, German pianist, composer, teacher, and wife of Robert, left the world in Frankfurt, Germany at the age of 76. And in 2000, French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, died of heart failure in Paris.

Now, on to the birthdays. It’s always interesting to scroll through the list of musicians born on any single day and see who catches your attention. Although I found today’s list to be a bit sparse, aside from singers Joe Cocker and Cher, one name particularly caught my eye. On May 20, 1927, composer and teacher Walter Aschaffenberg was born in Essen, Germany in 1927.

After immigrating to the United States with his family at age 11 — he became a  naturalized American citizen in 1944 — Aschaffenburg served in the U.S. Army counter-intelligence corps during World War II.

He began composing at an early age and would go on to study with Herbert Elwell at Oberlin College, Bernard Rogers at Eastman, and later with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence, Italy. During his career, Aschaffenburg was the recipient of two Guggenheim fellowships as well as awards from the Fromm Foundation and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1980 he was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize for Music. He joined the theory and composition faculty at Oberlin in 1952, a position he held For 35 years.

In her Cleveland Arts Prize tribute, Wilma Salisbury wrote, “Aschaffenburg, a meticulous composer whose technically challenging music often required a long gestation period, combined 12-tone technique with diatonic melodies and consonant harmonies.”

His expansive catalogue includes the short opera  Libertatem Apellant (1976), based on correspondence between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and an Oboe Concerto (1986) which longtime Philadelphia Orchestra principal John de Lancie called “the most impressive contemporary work for the oboe.” The piece was recorded by James Caldwell and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and by Elizaveta Zuyeva and the Russian State Philharmonic Capella. His Ozymandias and Three Dances for Orchestra received performances by The Cleveland Orchestra — the first under the direction of Leopold Stokowski, the second under James Levine.

But as Salisbury noted, his most frequently performed piece is a fanfare he wrote for Blossom Music Center. “The brief composition was one of two winners in a competition sponsored by the Junior League of Akron. Cleveland Arts Prize winner Donald Erb (1966) and Special Citation winner Louis Lane (1971) selected Aschaffenburg’s fanfare from more than 200 entries by 158 American composers. The festive piece was recorded by the Cleveland Orchestra brass, premiered June 23, 1970, and repeated on orchestra concerts at Blossom for the next two decades.”

by Mike Telin

STREAMED CONCERTS:

Today at 12:00 pm, it’s Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra on WCLV 104.9 Ideastream. Franz Welser-Möst leads performances of Johann Strauss Jr: “Waltz” from Tales from the Vienna Woods, Haydn’s Piano Concerto No. 11 in D (Emanuel Ax) and Wagner’s “Prelude & Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde. Listen on the web.

At 7:00 pm, Local 4 Music Fund’s “Tuning In” series features pianist Eric Charnofsky. His program includes Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capriccioso, J.S. Bach’s English Suite No. 2, BWV 807, Debussy’s Suite Pour le Piano, Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Two Preludes, Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ Prelude for a Pensive Pupil (1958), Chopin’s Scherzo #2 in b-flat, Op. and Stravinsky’s Piano-Rag-Music (1919). Online only. Click here at start time. The concert is free, but donations are welcome.

There’s more happening in other parts of the country — check our Concert Listings page for details.

NEWS: 

In honor of Baldwin Wallace University’s 175th anniversary, composer-in-residence and associate professor of composition Clint Needham has written a new fanfare  commemorating the milestone. Needham’s music always has a way of grabbing your attention, and Inspiring Light does that from the very first note. Click here to listen to a performance by BW faculty and students.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Today we celebrate the births of two British musical luminaries who made their debuts on May 13. Both will have a presence in Northeast Ohio’s classical music scene this summer.

In 1842 composer Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan came into the world in London. Sullivan exhibited his musical prowess early on — at the age of eight he composed his first anthem and soon after became a soloist in the boys’ choir of the Chapel Royal. At age 14 the Royal Academy of Music awarded Sullivan the first Mendelssohn Scholarship, allowing him to pursue his musical studies at the Academy as well as the Leipzig Conservatory. His early works include a ballet, a symphony, and a cello concerto. His early catalogue features 80 popular songs, parlour ballads and hymns including Onward, Christian Soldiers. In addition to composing, Sullivan was employed as a church organist and music teacher.

Today Sullivan is best known for his fourteen operatic collaborations with William Schwenck Gilbert —  their first being Thespis in 1871. Four years later Gilbert and Sullivan were commissioned to write a one-act piece, resulting in Trial by Jury. That opera will be presented this summer as part of Ohio Light Opera’s outdoor season. Click here for performance details.

In 1949 conductor Dame Jane Glover (pictured at top) was born in Helmsley, England. Glover’s first conducting experiences came while she was a student at Oxford.  She made her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in 1975 leading the first modern performance of Eritrea. In 1979, she began her association with the Glyndebourne Festival and served as music director of its touring company from 1981 to 1985.

Glover was a regular on  BBC Television during the1980s, hosting the series Orchestra with Jane Glover in 1983 and Mozart – His Life with Music in 1985. She served as music director of the London Mozart Players from 1984 to 1991 and since 2002, has been music director of the Chicago-based ensemble Music of the Baroque.

As an author, her book Mozart’s Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music delves into  influences of the women surrounding the composer, and her Handel in London: The Making of a Genius, looks at the composer’s work as “immigrant musical genius, composer, performer and impresario.”

In 2018 at Severance Hall, Glover led The Cleveland Orchestra in her 100th performance of Handel’s Messiah. On July 11 at 7:00 pm, Dame Glover will return to the Orchestra’s podium for an all-Mozart concert at Blossom Music Center. The program includes the Divertimento for Strings in D, Piano Concerto No. 20 with soloist Benjamin Grosvenor, and the Symphony No. 40 in g. Click here for details.

Click here to listen to Glover “break down” Mozart’s Gran Partita, K. 361, movement by movement.

by Mike Telin

STREAMED CONCERTS:

At 7:00 pm, The Cleveland Orchestra premieres In Focus Episode 10, “Style and Craft.” Vinay Parameswaran will lead Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge and principal oboe Frank Rosenwein and pianist Carolyn Gadiel Warner (pictured) are featured in Ravel’s Sonatine. Digital streaming premiere filmed April 8-10 at Severance Hall. Click here for details.

There’s plenty happening in other parts of the country — check our Concert Listings page for details.

NEWS: 

Earlier this week Juan Perez Floristan (Spain) was announced the winner of the 2021 Rubinstein Piano Competition. Second place went to Shiori Kuwahara from Japan, with third place going to Cunmo Yin from China.

As the first place winner, Floristan received a gold medal with a portrait of Rubinstein illustrated by Picasso, and a cash prize of $40,000. The pianist was also awarded Best Performance of an Israeli Piece ($3,000), Best Performance of a Beethoven Concerto ($ 5,000, awarded to mark the occasion of Beethoven’s 250th birthday), Best Chamber Music Performance ($6,000), and Audience Favourite ($3,000).

Applications for 2022 Cuyahoga Arts and Culture grants are being accepted.

The first step in the application process, the Eligibility Check, must be completed by Thursday, June 3, 2021 by 4:30 pm ET. All organizations seeking funding in 2022 must complete the Eligibility Check to be considered for funding. Click here for more information.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Today we celebrate the births of three Americans who made their debuts on May 6:  pianist/composer Alfred Humphreys Pease in Cleveland, Ohio in 1838, composer George Perle in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1915, and composer/conductor Victoria Bond in Los Angeles, California in 1945.

Although Alfred Humphreys Pease showed an aptitude for music and drawing at an early age, his parents had other career goals in mind for their son, and encouraged him to focus on classics. At the age of sixteen Pease entered Kenyon College where his paintings and drawings caught the attention of a young German artist who convinced Pease’s parents to allow him to move to Berlin where, in addition to languages, he studied piano with Theodor Kullak, composition with Richard Wüerst and orchestration with Wilhen Wieprecht and later with Hans von Bülow.

After returning to the United States, Pease toured the country as a pianist and was praised for his brilliant technique, quality of tone and musical expression. As a composer, Pease wrote nearly 100 songs as well as orchestral works and a piano concerto. Sadly, Pease died of alcoholism in 1882 in St. Louis.

After graduating from DePaul University, George Perle served in the United States Army during World War II and later earned his doctorate at New York University in 1956. As a composer, Perle employed his own technique that he called “twelve-tone tonality” —  which is somewhat related to the  technique used by composers of the Second Viennese School. In 1968, along with Igor Stravinsky and Hans F. Redlich, Perle co-founded the Alban Berg Society. His work on that composer’s music included documenting the third act of Lulu.

After retiring from Queens College Perle  became a professor emeritus at the Aaron Copland School of Music and in 1986 was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Fourth Wind Quintet as well as a MacArthur Fellowship. Perle also served a three-year appointment as composer-in-residence for the San Francisco Symphony, and authored several books including The Listening Composer. Click here to listen to the Dorian Wind Quintet’s performance of the fourth Wind Quintet, and pianist/composer Michael Brown performs Perle’s Toccata here.

Born into a musical family, Victoria Bond has long been a leading voice in classical music as a composer, conductor, lecturer, and artistic director of Cutting Edge Concerts. The first woman awarded a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the Juilliard School, her teachers included Ingolf Dahl and Roger Sessions (composition); William Vennard (voice); Jean Morel, James Conlon, Sixteen Ehrling, Leonard Slatkin, and Herbert Blomstedt (conducting).

In 1978 Bond became the  Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductor with the Pittsburgh Symphony and in 1986 was invited to conduct the Houston Symphony for the premiere of her work Ringing. She has served as artistic director of the Bel Canto Opera Company in New York, music director and conductor of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Southwest Virginia Opera, the Harrisburg Opera and the New Amsterdam Symphony. Her opera Mrs. President was premiered in 2012 in Anchorage, Alaska. Click here to visit her website and here to listen to Bond discuss her life in music.

by Mike Telin

IN-PERSON CONCERTS:

At 7:00 pm Steven Plank will lead the Oberlin Collegium Musicum in an outdoor performance at Mudd Learning Center’s Patio. The free concert includes  Palestrina’s Three Verses to the Magnificat, John Sheppard’s Christ Rising Again, Tallis’ Two Psalm Tunes from the Archbishop Parker Psalter and Sanctus & Gloria from the Mass for Four Voices. Click here for details.

At 8:00 pm the Dana School of Music will present a performance by students in the string orchestra, chamber orchestra, and large chamber group. The free concert in Youngstown’s Stambaugh Auditorium includes Darius Milhaud’s Creation of the World, Henryk Górecki’s Quasi una Fantasia, Arvo Pärt’s Fratres and Fion Gillespie’s Tam Lin. Facemasks and social distancing will be enforced.

STREAMED CONCERTS:

Today’s list includes concerts from San Francisco Performances, Colburn School, Adelphi University, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Detroit Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music, and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Check our Concert Listings for details

Interesting Reads: Today’s New York Times Arts Section highlights the “Scandinavian Cello School” in Lund, Denmark. Although the Headline —  When the Cellos Play the Cows Come Home — and the captivating photo might lead you the laugh it off, don’t. Founded by British cellist Jacob Shaw, the school offers residencies to students from around the world to hone the development of their musical and professional skills — all the things they don’t teach in conservatory. Yes, part of that does include playing for the cows.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

When researching births and passings for the Daily Diary it’s always interesting to see who pops up. Today, April 29, presented a list of seven interesting artists. What quickly became apparent is that the group presented the opportunity to create a playlist perfect for people whose musical tastes are all over the map — like mine.

First up is Russian composer, teacher, and conductor Anatoly Liadov, who was born on this day in 1855 in St. Petersburg. His best-known orchestral works include the tone poems Baba Yaga, Kikimora, and The Enchanted Lake. To hear a 1963 studio recording by George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra of The Enchanted Lake, click here.

In 1879 conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet graced the world with his presence in St. Helens, Lancashire, England. Born into a wealthy industrial family, Beecham used the family fortune to finance his passion for opera, staging seasons at Covent Garden and Drury Lane. A champion of works by composers he felt were neglected in Britain, he was a strong advocate for the music of Delius. Click here to listen to Beecham lead The Royal Philharmonic in the composer’s On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring.

Born in Washington D.C. in 1899, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington would go on to become a celebrated composer, pianist, and band leader. During his long career, Ellington garnered a national and international profile through his orchestra’s appearances at Harlem’s Cotton Club and on European tours.

In 1989 Gunther Schuller wrote: “….[Music was Ellington’s] total life and his commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable. In jazz he was a giant among giants. And in twentieth century music, he may yet one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of our time.” Click here to listen to Ella Fitzgerald sing Ellington’s Mood Indigo.

Next up is Belgian jazz harmonica player Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans, better known as Toots Thielemans. Born in 1922, his first professional performances were with Benny Goodman’s band when they toured Europe in 1949 and 1950. His list of collaborators is a Who’s-Who in jazz. In 2009 Thielemans was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. To listen to Thielemans perform Bluesette in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2009, click here.

Born in Abbott, Texas in 1933, musician, actor, and social activist Willie Hugh Nelson earned critical success for his albums Shotgun Willie (1973), Red Headed Stranger (1975), and Stardust (1978). Additionally, Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in promoting the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana. Click here to listen to Nelson’s version of Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies.

Conductor Zubin Mehta entered the world in Mumbai, India, in 1936. He received his early musical training from his father, the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. Mehta has served as music director of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. All in all, not a bad career. To listen to Zubin Mehta lead the New York Philharmonic in Offenbach’s Overture to “Orpheus in the Underworld,” click here.

Rounding out the list of April 29 birthdays is singer/songwriter China Forbes who entered the world in 1970 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While studying visual arts at Harvard University, Forbes met pianist Thomas Lauderdale. Later while he was living in Portland, Oregon, Lauderdale asked Forbes to sing with his new band Pink Martini, a group he  had created to perform at political fundraisers. Today she remains one of the ensemble’s lead singers. Click here to listen to Forbes perform her song Hey Eugene with Pink Martini.

by Mike Telin

EVENTS ON TODAY’S CALENDAR:

Today’s events begin at 7:00 pm with the Overtones, Cleveland State University’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble directed by Reginald Bowens. Live streamed from the Bop Stop, the program features original arrangements and classic standards. Click here at start time. The event is free but donations are welcome.

Also at 7:00 pm, The Cleveland Orchestra debuts In Focus Episode 9, “Musical Magicians.” Franz Welser-Möst leads John Corigliano’s Conjurer: Concerto for Percussion with Marc Damoulakis (pictured) as soloist, and Dvořák’s String Quintet No. 2 in G, performed by string orchestra. Filmed March 25-27 at Severance Hall, the concert is free to subscribers and patrons who have donated $300 or more to the Orchestra. Premium subscriptions are available. View on-demand through May 13. Click here to watch.

Check our Concert Listings page for more information.  

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Today we honor the births of four luminaries in music. On this day in 1916, violinist, conductor, and teacher Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York City. In 1922 jazz bassist Charles Mingus entered the world in Nogales, Arizona, and 22 years later in 1944, conductor and musicologist Joshua Rifkin also made his debut in New York City.

However — today we will turn our attention to a true maverick of the music world, Dame Ethel Mary Smyth. Born on this date in 1858 in Sidcup, Kent, England, Smyth was a noted composer during her lifetime. Her catalogue includes songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestra, chorus, and operas. Still her compositions were often criticised for not measuring up to those of her male counterparts. In spite of being marginalised, she was the first female composer to be granted a damehood, the equivalent for women of a knighthood.

Smyth began studying composition with Alexander Ewing at age seventeen. After a long battle with her father, she was granted permission to further her studies at the Leipzig Conservatory, where she became a student of Carl Reinecke and later privately with Heinrich von Herzogenberg. While in Leipzig she was introduced to  Dvořák, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Clara Schumann, and Brahms.

Smyth’s compositions of note include a Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra, the Mass in D and two operas. The Wreckers is thought to be the “most important English opera composed during the period between Purcell and Britten,” and for more than a century, Der Wald was the only work by a woman composer to be produced at the Metropolitan Opera.

In 1910, Smyth put composing aside and joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WPSU), which advocated for  women’s suffrage. Giving up music for two years to devote herself to the cause, she was often seen in the company of the movement’s leader, Emmeline Pankhurst. And Smyth’s The March of the Women became the anthem of the suffragette movement.

In 1912, Pankhurst incited WPSU members to throw stones at the windows of all politicians’ houses who opposed a woman’s right to vote, which led to the arrest and imprisonment of over 100 women.

Throughout her life Smyth was active in sports. An avid equestrian and tennis player in her youth, she was also a passionate golfer and a member of the ladies’ section of Woking Golf Club. After her death in 1944 at the age of 86, her brother spread her ashes in the woods near the club. Click here to watch The North American Co-Premiere of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison (A Mini-Documentary). It’s well worth ten minutes of your time.