by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

If you feel like making a joyful noise, Trinity Cathedral’s Brownbag Concert Series hosts a Messiah Sing-a-long at 12 Noon.

If you want to admire art and music simultaneously, visit Claude Monet’s Water Lilies (Agapanthus) at the Cleveland Museum of Art at 6:00 pm. The Chamber Music in the Galleries series presents guitarist Craig Slagh, violinists Jenny Cluggish and McKenna Glorioso, and violist Christopher Jenkins in works by Jules Massenet, Erik Satie, Antoine L’Hoyer, and Antonín Dvořák.

And if you were lucky enough to already snag your tickets, the first of two sold-out performances of The Cleveland Orchestra’s Muppet Christmas Carol in Concert (pictured) is tonight at 7:30 pm. Sarah Hicks conducts the complete score live-to-picture.

For more details, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cleveland Institute of Music has announced the honorees for its 2025 Alumni Awards. During next May’s commencement ceremony, the Distinguished Alumni Award will be presented to conductor and violinist John McLaughlin Williams (BM ’97, MM ’97), while the Alumni Achievement Award will be presented to violist and arts administrator Jennifer Arnold (BM ’03, PS ’05).

The institution also reaffirmed that renovations for Kulas Hall remain on track, with an expected grand reopening in fall 2025. Read the full press release here. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

Happy Monday! Believe it or not, December is now more than halfway over.

As The Cleveland Orchestra takes a break from their holiday programming today, The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight visits Severance Music Center. The 8:00 pm concert features 14 classical musicians in selections from rock and metal music, performed while surrounded by candles.

For more details on this concert and more, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READ:

Preparing for an opera role is already difficult enough — but for soprano Elza van den Heever (pictured), living with dyslexia makes things much harder. In this recent profile from The New York Times, the South African-born singer discusses the complex process that goes into mastering her roles, including the Empress in Strauss’s Die Frau Ohne Schatten. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

The holidays have officially arrived for The Cleveland Orchestra, which kicks off its 12-performance run of festive concerts tonight at 7:30 pm.

Vocalist Jimmie Herrod (pictured), The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and Blossom Festival Chorus will deliver some holiday cheer, conducted by Sarah Hicks.

Or, for those looking for something different this Wednesday evening, you have two other choices.

Head east to the Cleveland Museum of Art to hear jazz singer-songwriter Magos Herrera and her quartet — or head west to hear the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble play music by Elizabeth Ogonek and Jesse Jones. Both concerts are at 7:30.

For more details, visit our Concert Listings.

THE YEAR’S CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS:

If you heard The Cleveland Orchestra perform Mozart’s The Magic Flute in May, you were lucky enough to witness one of the best classical concerts of 2024, according to the New York Times. Chief critic Zachary Woolfe praised the production’s “fresh, youthful voices” and playing of “elegant transparency.”

Later in the article, Joshua Barone singled out Asmik Grigorian, “one of the fiercest sopranos on the European scene.” We can look forward to her Cleveland Orchestra debut this coming March, when she’ll perform Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs and the final scene from Puccini’s Suor Angelica. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

Two free seasonal offerings await this evening, both at 7:30.

At Judson Manor, the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra (pictured) presents their holiday concert, and at Painesville United Methodist Church, Matthew Saunders directs the Lakeland Civic Orchestra in a program of light classics and holiday favorites.

For more details and to check out what else is coming up this week, visit our Concert Listings.

ON THE RADIO:

Over the weekend, NPR’s Elissa Nadworny spoke to Rhiannon Giddens and Limmie Pulliam about performing Omar with Oberlin Conservatory. Listen to that interview here, which includes snippets from the opera.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Daniel Hathaway

German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was born on this date in 1915 and passed away in her sleep at age 90 in 2006. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

Plenty of concert options await at this week’s middle mark.

Tonight at 7:30 pm, pianist Kirill Gerstein (pictured) presents a recital with works by Francisco Coll, Robert Schumann, Ravel, and Liszt at Severance Music Center.

In terms of holiday concerts, Apollo’s Fire continues performances of “WASSAIL! An Irish-Appalachian Christmas” in Bath at 7:00 pm; the Cleveland Museum of Art hosts M.U.S.i.C. Stars in the Classics and dancers from the Cleveland Ballet at 6:00; and the Dana School of Music presents Carols & Cocoa and the Dana Holiday Concert at 7:00.

Rounding out today’s events are the Shaker Heights High School Chamber Orchestra at Trinity Cathedral’s Brownbag Concert (12:00 pm); the voice performance majors of BW Liederabend (7:00 pm); and an evening of duos with violinist Stephen Tavani and violist William Bender for a Cleveland State University Faculty Recital (7:00 pm).

For more details on these events and more, visit our Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Daniel Hathaway

On this date in 1976, England and the classical music world lost one of its greatest composers when Benjamin Britten died in Aldeburgh, Sussex, at the home he shared with his partner, tenor Peter Pears, and in the village where he and Pears had established the Aldeburgh Music Festival in 1948. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

LOOKING AHEAD:

December has arrived, and so have the concerts.

This week, Apollo’s Fire begins their “Wassail!” holiday concerts, while the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra presents “Have Yourself a Kate Reid Christmas.” Joyce DiDonato and Kings Return visit Tuesday Musical, while two pianists visit Severance Music Center: Kirill Gerstein, for a recital, and Emanuel Ax, for a concerto with The Cleveland Orchestra.

Plus, Oberlin Conservatory hosts a packed schedule of performances and events, all leading up to their presentation of the opera Omar this Friday and Sunday.

For more details on these events and more, visit our Concert Listings.

RECENT RECORDING:

Missed the Cuarteto Casals when they visited the Cleveland Chamber Music Society last month? Or want to hear their music-making again?

The string quartet’s latest album, Shostakovich: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1, has garnered praise from The New York Times. “These players let this music breathe a bit, and the results are bracing,” writes David Weininger. “The Casals should be commended for leaving a different aesthetic and emotional imprint.” Read the article here. [Read more…]