by Mike Telin
In This Edition:
•Today’s events: There are four orchestra concerts, three new Micro Operas and a classic silent film to choose from.
•Interesting Read: Celebrated composer and Oberlin Alum Nkeiru Okoye talks to Ms.
•In the news: Concert Artist Guild announces semi-finalists and the Meg Quigley Bassoon Competition announces 2023 repertoire. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Today’s events: Apollo’s Fire, Oberlin Winter Term Opera, and The Cleveland Orchestra
•Calendar additions and revisions: BW and Steinway, Sacred Heart Concert Series, Opus 216, and Urban Troubadour
•Opportunities for students: Sphinx Performance Academy at CIM and Double Reed Day at Cleveland State
•Byrdle: a choral-music-themed variation on Wordle
•Almanac: the failed premiere of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
• Today’s events: the YSU flute studio, Duo Anime, Marginalized Composers at Oberlin, Classical Revolution Cleveland returns to the Happy Dog, CSU Composition Students, Buster Keaton Silent Film Classic Steamboat Bill, Jr. with Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and the world premiere of Matthew Recio’s new opera The Puppy Episode
• More about the Cooper Competition, and the premiere of a Holocaust opera eighty years later
• A new book about the life of a professional percussionist and businessman with sage career advice for young musicians
• The Almanac: more information about John Corigliano and Healey Willan. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Concerts from organist Rowan Draper and the Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium
•Cooper Competition returns
•Applications for Kent Blossom Music Festival and camps from The Music Settlement
•In the news: Beethoven’s Fidelio reimagined in light of Black Lives Matter, and an emphasis on Florence Price at Carnegie Hall
•The almanac: Mikhail Glinka and The Czar’s Guitars
by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY: Happy Valentine’s Day, that feast day in the early Christian calendar that originally celebrated two martyrs, but through mysterious processes like the medieval tradition of courtly love, has transmogrified into a festival celebrating human love and passion — and has become a boon for the greeting card, chocolate, and flower industry. Eric Charnofsky promises some Valentine’s Day surprises on today’s Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music. Click here to listen to the WRUW internet feed.
Sweetest Day, a related celebration that casts a wider net and has probably become a boon for dentists, was established in 1922 in Cleveland. That’s when a dozen candy companies conspired “to make the day a little sweeter for some of the city’s most vulnerable people” by distributing some 20,000 boxes of candy “to newsboys, orphans, old folks, and the poor.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway.
THIS WEEKEND:
On Saturday, the U. of Akron highlights faculty saxophonist Todd Gaffke, Standing Rock sponsors a video by sitarist Hasu Patel, a Julia Child sendup and an Offenbach comedy continue their run at Kent Opera, and The Cleveland Orchestra winds up its trio of concerts led by Herbert Blomstedt.
Sunday sees the final Kent Opera performances, pianist Jeffrey Siegel holds forth on Beethoven, Suburban Symphony hosts four teenage concerto competition winners, and Stars in the Classics plays an early Valentine’s Day show (tickets were still available last we checked). Details in the Concert Listings.
NEWS BRIEFS:
The Cleveland Chamber Music Society announced on Friday that Cuarteto Casals has cut their U.S. tour short due to a medical emergency. Pianist Richard Goode will step in on February 22 at Disciples Christian Church with a program of works by Schumann, Schubert, Bartók, and Beethoven. Details here. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
HAPPENING TODAY:
Bells at Noon: The McGaffin Carillon Concert & Live Stream features guest carillonneur Sheryl Modlin (pictured) in spirituals, hymns, and music by Black composers to mark Black History Month. Tonight’s agenda includes Opera at Kent (a Julia Child sendup and an Offenbach comedy), Symphonies at Severance (Herbert Blomstedt leads Beethoven’s Fifth and Nielsen’s Fourth), and a CD release party (McDaniel & Kirkwood’s new single, Patterns on Dufy) at the Bop Stops. Details in the Concert Listings.
IN THE NEWS:
For Black History Month, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra will highlight some of the jazz artists who created music as a way to protest. Their latest newsletter tells you more about the artists and their songs. Access it on CJO’s Facebook page or view the newsletter here. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
TODAY’S SCHEDULE:
At 7:30 pm at Severance, Herbert Blomstedt begins a three-day run leading The Cleveland Orchestra in a pair of symphonies: Carl Nielsen’s Fourth and Beethoven’s Fifth. Tickets are available here.
IN THE NEWS:
Brothers Lounge has announced that it will reopen on March 20, just over two years after the Detroit Avenue venue closed in mid-March of 2020. Read the story by Anne Nickoloff for Cleveland.com here.
CityMusic Cleveland has announced a Diversity Fellowship for the 2022-23 season. Violinists, violists, and cellists of African American, Latin American, and/or Native American descent are invited to apply by April 30. More information here.
The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus is looking for singers to attend its mid-season auditions on February 12. Find out more here.
by Daniel Hathaway
TODAY’S EVENTS:
The noon hour on Wednesday will feature Shaker Heights High School Chamber Orchestra on the Trinity Cathedral Brownbag Series (both in person and online), and Youngstown State faculty pianist Cicilia Yudha at the Butler Institute of Art. This evening, Cleveland Orchestra double bassist Scott Dixon joins pianist Alicja Basinska for a CIM Faculty Recital of music by J.S. Bach and Serge Koussevitzky (himself a bass player), including orchestral excerpts by Mozart, Beethoven, and Britten, and back to Youngstown, the Dana Ensemble will play fourteen selections from the mythical Great American Songbook arranged by Dave Morgan and featuring guest vocalist Evelyn Wright and trumpeter James Suggs. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
HAPPENING TODAY:
At noon, head to the Church of the Covenant in Cleveland or go online to hear a free program by organist Christa Rakich, who will play selections from J.S. Bach’s Art of Fugue (program details here, streaming link here).
The hour of 7:30 pm brings two in-person options. One is in Elyria, where Duo Anime — percussionists Andrew Pongracz and Mell Csicsila, pictured — will be featured on the LCCC Signature Series at Cirigliano Studio Theatre in the Stocker Center for the Arts. It’s free, and you can survey the program here.
The other is in Akron, where violinist Joshua Bell and soprano Larisa Martinez will be joined by pianist Peter Dugan in “Voice and the Violin” on the Tuesday Musical series. Check out the program, read Mike Telin’s preview article, then shop for tickets.