by Stephanie Manning

A MID-WEEK PAUSE:

No concerts on the calendar this Wednesday — so no need to brave the bitterly cold temperatures, either. Perhaps this is a sign to spend the day cozied up indoors.

To check out what the rest of the week has in store, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Know a young singing actor looking to take the stage this summer? The Ohio Light Opera has announced auditions for performers ages 8-18 for its 2025 productions of Brigadoon and Carousel. Sign ups for slots on Friday, February 7 and info about what to prepare can be found here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this day in 1929, Baptist minister, activist, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta. And today, we’re looking back on Dan Hathaway’s write-up about the woman who stood at his side: his wife, Coretta Scott King (pictured, above). [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today at Noon, organist Jonathan Moyer plays a free recital using both organs in University Circle’s Church of the Covenant: works by Nico Muhly and Samuel Scheidt on the 17th-century North German-style gallery organ, and 20th-century French pieces on the chancel instrument. You can hear the performance online.

And at 7:00 pm, The Singers’ Club of Cleveland, one of the longest continuing men’s choirs in the country, welcomes interested singers to a two-hour open rehearsal led by artistic director Don Verkuijlen at the Church of the Saviour in Cleveland Heights.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Several sources claim that the clarinet was invented by German woodwind builder Johann Christoph Denner on this date in 1690 in Nürnberg. [Read more…]

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 Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Saxophonist Steven Banks, guest conductor Stéphane Denève, and The Cleveland Orchestra reprise their stunning performance of Guillaume Connesson’s A Kind of Trane at Severance Music Center on Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 3 — read our review of Thursday’s concert in the Plain Dealer on cleveland.com (photo by Roger Mastroianni). Other French delights fill out the program.

On Sunday at 2 pm, the Cleveland Cello Society hosts a lecture by Dr. Damir Janigro, son of virtuoso 20th-century cellist Antonio Janigro, who will share historic recordings, film clips, and his own personal anecdotes in a one-of-a-kind program at Judson Park Auditorium.

And Sunday at 3, Cleveland Chamber Collective continues its Music of America series with episode VII, featuring music by Reena Esmail, Ellen Ruth Harrison, Gabriela Lena Frank, Ty Alan Emerson, Missy Mazzoli, Lou Harrison, and Astor Piazzolla at Disciples Christian Church.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, in the final event of the Cooper International Violin Competition, Julia Xiaozhuo Wang, Edna Unseld, and Tiantian Lu perform complete concertos with the Columbus ProMusica Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Norman Huynh in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel. Free and streamed live at oberlin.edu and via The Violin Channel.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READ:

The Controversial Hams That Helped a French Cathedral Save Its Organ

Read Emily Monaco’s article in Atlas Obscura about a bell tower in the Saint-Pierre cathedral that hides a meaty secret.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

The great American baritone Sherrill Milnes, a native of Downer’s Grove, Illinois, turns 90 today. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, French conductor Stéphane Denève and The Cleveland Orchestra take the Severance Music Center audience on a guided tour of the City of Light, featuring George Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Elsewhere on the all-French program, saxophonist Steven Banks solos in the Cleveland premiere of Guillaume Connesson’s A Kind of Trane, a tribute to John Coltrane, and the Orchestra fills out the program with Darius Milhaud’s jazz-inspired La création du monde, and Francis Poulenc’s Suite from Les biches.

Also tonight at 7:30, the next-to-last event of the Cooper International Violin Competition is an Honors Recital featuring outstanding performances selected from the first three days of competition. It’s live in Oberlin’s Warner Concert but you can log into webcasts at oberlin.edu and The Violin Channel.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cooper Violin Competition announced this morning on Facebook: “Last night, Thomas and Evon Cooper joined the judges in congratulating participants and presented awards at the conclusion of round two of the competition. Receiving awards and congratulations were Jinan Laurentia Woo (4th place), Emrik Revermann (5th place and audience prize), and Lauren Yoon (6th place). Continuing to the Concerto Finals are Julia Xiaozhuo Wang, Edna Unseld, and Tiantian Lu.” The final round takes place on Friday at 7:30 in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel with the Columbus Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced that violinist Augustin Hadelich will step in for Hilary Hahn in concerts at Severance Music Center from January 16-18. Hahn continues to recover from injuries sustained last summer. Hadelich will be featured in the Brahms concerto, and Witold Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra will be led by the previously announced conductor Elim Chan. [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 Daniel Hathaway

Thanks to construction, Oberlin’s Cooper International Violin Competition has moved — perhaps more than temporarily – from the late summer to early January, with opening rounds continuing this afternoon and evening in Warner Concert Hall. Read a preview interview with director Sibbi Bernhardsson here and enjoy hearing young violinists ages 13-18 play 30-minute programs live or via webcasts at oberlin.edu and The Violin Channel beginning at 2:30 and continuing at 7:30.

And at 2 pm, Congregation Mishkan Or in Beachwood presents the Acadia Trio (pictured), Maude Cloutier, violin, Ari Peraza-Webb, cello, and Jude Giddens, piano. For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Akron’s Tuesday Musical reports that its forthcoming performance by the Czech National Philharmonic on February 11 has been canceled, as has the orchestra’s entire U.S. tour, due to work visa problems. Details here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

French composer Francis Poulenc was born on this date in 1899, making January 7 a good occasion to revisit his Flute Sonata. [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 Daniel Hathaway

On Saturday at 2 pm and Sunday at 3:30, The Cleveland Opera presents “Mozart, Still, and Christmas” a one-hour, costumed, semi-staged concert at Kent’s Faith Lutheran Church (Saturday) and Cleveland’s St. Casimir Church (Sunday).

And on Sunday at 4 pm, Church of the Western Reserve Concert Series presents the Acadia Trio in piano trios by Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READ:

In a New York Times guest essay published on December 28, pianist Jonathan Biss (pictured) discusses Franz Schubert’s last three piano sonatas, written in 1828, just two months before the composer died. Read “Schubert Is the Best Cure I Know for Loneliness” here, and don’t skip the reader comments.

WEEKEND ALMANAC by Jarrett Hoffman

January 4:

On this date in 1950, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) announced that it would produce LPs — 33 1/3 rpm long playing records — following the lead established by Columbia Records in 1948. [Read more…]