by Daniel Hathaway

WELCOME TO JUNE and the beginning of Summer in our hemisphere, with much in the way of outdoor chores to accomplish, as illustrated, left, by the Limbourg brothers in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1416). June has also become the month of music festivals in Northeast Ohio. Today’s newsletter features articles about some that begin this week.

Month-long celebrations in the U.S. make June African-American Music Appreciation Month, as well as Great Outdoors Month, LGBTQ+ Awareness and Pride Month, and National Oceans Month (time to do something about all that plastic).

And June is National Smile Month in the U.K., whose subjects also happen to be marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II  — a nice coincidence for the first time that any British monarch has celebrated a platinum jubilee.

In recognition of the occasion, the U.K. will create a four-day Jubilee bank holiday from June 2-5 to include a “once-in-a-generation show” that will “mix the best of British ceremonial splendour and pageantry with cutting-edge artistic and technological displays.” [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

.Cleveland Orchestra appoints Concertmaster

. Vocal music highlights this weekend’s concerts

. Thea Musgrave and Nikoli Sokoloff celebrate birthdays, and our suggestions of music for Memorial Day

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

A lot of vocal music and related activities are on hand this weekend. Check our Concert Listings page for program details and ticket information.

May 27 – Friday

At 10:30 am and 3:00 pm, the Art Song Festival will hold Master Classes with soprano Tamara Wilson and at 8:00 pm will present a recital by tenor David Portillo and pianist Craig Terry. All three events are in Mixon Hall at Cleveland Institute of Music. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Art Song Festival hosts a panel discussion about collaboration, two Bach cantatas in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel

. Almanac: Anniversaries of the debuts of two opera houses, and the birthday of soprano Beverly Sills

TODAY’S EVENTS:

At 1:00 pm the Art Song Festival will hold a Panel Discussion, “Let’s Talk About Collaboration!” led by pianist Warren Jones, including a Q&A. Mixon Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music.  Free registration recommended.

Then at 7:30 pm on Wednesday evening, Ben Johns will direct the Oberlin Chamber Singers & Chamber Orchestra in  J.S. Bach’s cantatas BWV 4, Christ lag in Todes Banden, & BWV 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme in Finney Chapel. Click here to view the program, and if you can’t attend in person, click here to access a live stream. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND:

On Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 8,  The Cleveland Orchestra continues its Opera Festival with Vox Humana (works by Francis Poulenc, J.S. Bach, Galina Ustvolskaya, and Richard Strauss, with Franz Welser-Möst, conducting, Sarah Aristidou, soprano Tony Sias, narrator, and The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

Also on Saturday, at 7:30 Carl Topilow leads the Firelands Symphony Orchestra in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, with Andrès Cárdenes, plus works by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and John Williams at Sawmill Creek Convention Center, in Huron. Tickets available online.

And on Sunday at 3 pm, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in the third and final performance of Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa.

Same day at the same hour, Cleveland Chamber Collective presents Music of America VIII, featuring works by Missy Mazzoli, Eric D. Gould, and Katherine Hoover, plus premieres of works by Ty Alan Emerson and Eric Charnofsky (Disciples Church in Cleveland Hts., free and live streamed here.)

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND ALMANAC:

On May 23, 1885, Paraguayan composer Agustín Barrios Mangoré was born in San Bautista de las Misiones. The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presented Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas in a 2020 online concert devoted to his music, including special guests Paquito D’Rivera (clarinet), Milagros Caliva (bandoneon), and Marcelo Enrique Barrios (the composer’s great-grandson).

Add Edmund Rubbra, born in 1901 in Northampton, to the list of underperformed British composers who should receive more exposure. Harry Christophers talks about a new recording he’s made of Rubbra’s music with The Sixteen here.

Mark the birthday of Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha, born on this date in 1923 with a special tribute filmed on the 91st anniversary of that event.

Finally, take note of the birthday in New York of American experimental composer Robert Moog on May 23, 1934, with a two-part Pacific Radio interview conducted in his studio that covers the invention of the synthesizer named after him, and the music written for it.

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A bulging weekend concert calendar

. Almanac: Clara Schumann dies, Verdi’s Requiem receives its first performance, and Richard Wagner is born

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

There appears to be something for everyone this weekend, which offers music from the very old to the very new performed by chamber groups, choruses, and orchestras. Check our Concert Listings page for program details and ticket information.

MAY 20 – FRIDAY

At 11:00 am Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in Berg’s Lyric Suite and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 at Mandel Concert Hall, and almost next door at 12:15 pm, the McGaffin Carillon Springtime Concert & Live Stream will feature George Leggiero performing an all-Dutch program from the 17th and 20th centuries. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Third FranckFest Brownbag Concert caps the Noontime Concert Series at Trinity Cathedral & WCLV broadcasts joint April 5 ChamberFest Cleveland & Cleveland Chamber Music Society collaboration

. British organist and choirmaster Simon Preston dies at 83

. Interesting read: Composer Brett Dean discusses his Hamlet chord

. Almanac: Froberger, Böhm, Pinza, Fischer-Dieskau make debuts while Mahler and Anderson exit.

TODAY’S EVENTS:

At 12:00 pm the Trinity Cathedral Brownbag Concert Series wraps up its season as well as its three-concert César FranckFest with music in celebration of the Belgian composer’s 200th birthday. Nicole Keller & Todd Wilson, organ, Mark Laseter, tenor & Pam Kelly, cello. Chorale in b minor (Keller), Panis angelicus, Pastorale, Sortie l’Organiste & Chorale in E. Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Freewill offering. Hybrid concert will also be livestreamed and archived. [Read more…]