by Stephanie Manning

LOOKING AHEAD:

No performances on the schedule today, but the rest of this week includes offerings from groups like No Exit & Zeitgeist, CityMusic Cleveland, the Akron Symphony, and The Cleveland Orchestra.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Fans of The Princess Bride, rejoice — The Cleveland Orchestra has announced it will play the score to the film live-to-picture on Friday, February 21 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available online.

SUPPORT FOR MUSICIANS IN LA:

For those looking to give support to those in the music industry who have been affected by the devastating fires in southern California, consider donating to organizations like the Entertainment Community Fund, AGMA Relief Fund, and MusiCares.

[Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

Round 2 of the Cooper International Competition begins today, with the field now narrowed to six violinists. From 3:00 to 6:15 pm and again from 8:00 to 10:45 pm, each will perform a 45-minute recital in Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall. See our Concert Listings for contestants and their start times.

All rounds will also be streamed live at oberlin.edu and via The Violin Channel. You can learn more about this year’s competition here, in Mike Telin’s interview with competition director and jury chair Sibbi Bernhardsson.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Pianist Gerardo Teissonnière has been announced as one of nine winners of the 2025 Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio. These awards, conferred since 1971, celebrate exceptional Ohio artists, organizations, educators and beyond. Teissonnière, a Cleveland Institute of Music alum and faculty member, will be honored at the awards ceremony on May 28. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

The young violinists of the Cooper International Competition begin taking the stage at Oberlin Conservatory today. The annual competition, staged in January this year, kicks off with Round 1, Session 1 this afternoon and evening.

From 2:30 – 5:45 pm and again from 7:30 – 10:00 pm, the first half of the nineteen hopefuls will perform 30-minute recitals in Warner Concert Hall. All rounds will also be streamed live at oberlin.edu and via The Violin Channel.

Learn more about this year’s competition here, in Mike Telin’s interview with competition director and jury chair Sibbi Bernhardsson.

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

INTERESTING READS:

Two recent articles discuss how classical music is attracting younger audiences. For CBC News, this article by Jackson Weaver points to the appeal of cross-genre performances and the rise of classical streaming — with the latter mentioning The Cleveland Orchestra’s partnership with the boutique classical streamer IDAGIO.

Weaver also discusses the successes of social media, as does Michael Andor Brodeur for The Washington Post. Through 15-second clips of pieces like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Brodeur writes, classical music “has become part of the cultural fabric of TikTok, even as it’s shredded to bits.” Read that opinion piece here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Daniel Hathaway

In Western Christian communities, January 6 marks the Feast of the Epiphany or the visit of astrologers from the East to worship the baby Jesus, bringing symbolic gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The story, told only in the Gospel according to Matthew, has spawned a rich mythology and inspired multiple works of art. [Read more…]

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…]