by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S EVENTS:

Friday’s postponed CIM Orchestra Concert led by JoAnn Faletta reappears on Saturday at 7, and on both days, The Cleveland Orchestra features conductor John Adams (pictured) and pianist Jeremy Denk (Saturday at 8, Sunday at 3), and New Music Guild performances in Youngstown with duo pianists Roman Rudnytsky and Ben Malkevitch, violinist Gwyneth Rollin, and composer and pianist Robert Rollin are scheduled for 4 pm on Saturday and 3 pm on Sunday.

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Cleveland Museum of Art has released dates and details of its performing arts events for the spring. Events include the Philadelphia-based chamber choir The Crossing with guest organist Scott Dettra, Indian classical music by tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, contemporary African music by Fatoumata Diawara, a concert by Chinese sheng virtuoso Wu Wei and a recital on the organ in Gartner Auditorium by Nicole Keller. There’s also a performance in the Atrium of an elaborate work by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov inspired by the museum’s 15th century Icon of the Mother of God and Infant Christ (Virgin Eleousa). Read the press release here.

Cleveland Chamber Choir, Scott MacPherson, artistic director, has sent details about its February concerts, Cecilia and Her World: Music of Cecilia McDowall, which will bring the British composer to town for two free performances on February 26 (Amasa Stone Chapel at CWRU) & 27 (Waetjen Auditorium at CSU). Download the press release here.

The Cleveland Institute of Music has announced that violinist Jennifer Koh will receive an honorary doctorate and speak at its 94th Commencement Ceremony on May 14. Read more here.

On Friday, The Catalyst Quartet and pianist Michelle Cann released the second CD in its UNCOVERED series on the Azica label, featuring four premiere recordings of the half-dozen known chamber works by Florence B. Price. Read the press release here.

WEEKEND ALMANAC:

We’ll choose two anniversaries to call out this weekend: the debut of Giuseppi Verdi’s Otello at La Scala in Milan on February 5, 1887, and the passing of German-American musicologist, radio host, and pianist Karl Haas in Royal Oak, Michigan on February 6, 2005. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S EVENTS:

Before the megastorm arrived, eleven events were scheduled for Friday.

Most of them have now either been cancelled or postponed, with the exception of The Cleveland Orchestra’s performance with guest conductor John Adams and pianist Jeremy Denk (pictured)— already rescheduled from Thursday to today.

There may be more changes! Keep an eye on this space and on our Concert Listings for further updates.

ONLINE TODAY:

The second season of The Cleveland Orchestra’s In Focus series begins on the ensemble’s Adella streaming platform tonight at 7. Aftersilence features conductor Franz Welser-Möst, and pianist Igor Levit in the premiere recording of Hans Abrahamsen’s Vers le Silence, along with Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat. The episode includes interviews with Welser-Möst, principal horn Nathaniel Silberschlag and tracks Abrahamsen from his composing base in Denmark through the first performance in Cleveland.

ALMANAC FOR FEBRUARY 4:

One anniversary today comes with interesting archival recordings.

On this date in 1912, conductor Erich Leinsdorf was born in Vienna. The vicissitudes of history took him to New York’s Metropolitan Opera in November, 1937, a few months before Hitler’s Anschluss made a return to Austria impossible. Freshman U.S. Representative Lyndon B Johnson took Leinsdorf under his wing and he eventually became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in 1942. (Read the oral history transcript of an interview where Leinsdorf recalls his experiences with Johnson and the federal government.)

He became the third conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1943 by vote of the board of directors (who chose him over another candidate, Georg Szell). But Leinsdorf received and decided not to challenge a draft notice in October of that year, and joined the U.S. Army for barely a year. By the time he was discharged  in September, 1944, sentiments in Cleveland had changed, and Szell had made an impressive debut with the Orchestra. Leinsdorf, still under contract, submitted his resignation. After Szell died, Leinsdorf began appearing frequently as guest conductor in the 1980s. He died

Here are three live Cleveland Orchestra performances led by Erich Leinsdorf: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, Schumann’s Third Symphony, and the conductor’s own suite from Debussy’s opera, Pelleas et Melisande. 

I can’t resist telling a Leinsdorf story. When I was in college in the 60s, the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society frequently sang with the Boston Symphony under his direction. One memorable performance was Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s ‘Faust’ in 1966 with the New England Conservatory Chorus and a starry cast of soloists: Hermann Prey, Beverly Sills, Charles Bressler, Thomas Paul, Veronica Tyler, Tatiana Troyanos, Florence Kopleff, and Batyah Godfrey. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

There’s very little brewing on the concert scene today, but February 2 is Candlemas for those who observe the Christian calendar, and Groundhog Day for those who like to poke hibernating celebrity rodents awake to see how long winter is likely to last (n.b.: it only seems to annoy them, and studies have shown no correlation between what the animal sees and the long-term weather forecast.)

Celebrate Candlemas with J.S. Bach’s solo cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82, for the Feast of the Purification, aka Candlemas, in which the vocal soloist takes the role of the aged Simeon, who is moved by the sight of Jesus in the Temple to invent the familiar Nunc dimittis hymn.

Two recordings: click here for a historic performance featuring oboist Marc Lifschey, who played principal in Cleveland under George Szell from 1950 to 1965, when a tiff with the maestro took him off to San Francisco. (Above, a photo of Lifschey (right) with his successor, John Mack). Visit the Cleveland Orchestra archives to learn more about the ensemble’s celebrated oboists in Sophie Benn’s article, A Tale of Three Oboists.

And go here to watch a more modern, historically informed performance of BWV 82 by the Netherlands Bach Society.

And — this just in — click here for the latest meteorological pronouncement from the famous Punxsutawney Phil, courtesy of NBC News. As one commentator wrote, “What a silly, outrageous and endearing tradition.” And another, “This is such a stupid tradition but I like it.”

CHANGES AND CANCELLATIONS:

The Cleveland Orchestra has issued this update:

“Due to the hazardous weather conditions forecast throughout Northeast Ohio, The Cleveland Orchestra’s Thursday, February 3 performance of Jeremy Denk Plays Adams will be rescheduled to Friday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m.

“All tickets and parking passes for Thursday will be valid for the Friday performance. Guests may also exchange their tickets into the Saturday or Sunday performances without charge. Please contact the Ticket Office at 216-231-1111 or email boxoffice@clevelandorchestra.com with questions or to make an exchange.”

Cuyahoga Community College has announced the cancellation of its February 3 concert, Tri-C Gallery All-Stars, due to COVID concerns.

PianoCleveland and the Maltz Performing Arts Center have announced the rescheduling of pianist Arseniy Gusev’s February 3 recital to Thursday, March 17.

by Jarrett Hoffman

TODAY’S SCHEDULE:

Today’s Tuesday Noon concert at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle features Oberlin visiting organ professor Christa Rakich in the first of two programs of selections from J.S. Bach’s Art of Fugue. You can hear the music in person again beginning today, or enjoy it online.

IN THE NEWS:

Tuesday Musical is extending the deadline for its  66th annual Scholarship Competition. ​​Applications will now close at midnight on Sunday, February 6. Apply online here. The competition itself will be held in Akron on Saturday, March 19, “with significantly increased $ awards.”

Season 3, Episode 2 of the Canton Symphony’s Orchestrating Change podcast is now available. The featured guest is Jeri Lynne Johnson (pictured), founder of DEI Arts Consulting, and founder and artistic director of Philadelphia’s Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra — a model ensemble for issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion for over a decade. Listen here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

This date in history was an important one for Giacomo Puccini (below, left). The first of February brought the premieres of Manon Lescaut in 1893 and La bohème in 1896, the latter led by a young Arturo Toscanini, with both premieres taking place at the Teatro Regio in Turin.

Bohéme is one of the most frequently performed operas, but it’s interesting to note that at its premiere, critics were divided, and the audience was said to lack enthusiasm. Imagine if that had been the end of it. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Stay home today and enjoy the latest episode of Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, hosted by Eric Charnofsky and broadcast online from WRUW, Case Western Reserve University, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Host Eric Charnofsky celebrates the birthdays of Franz Schubert and Philip Glass with an arrangement of a Schubert Piano and Violin Sonata for flute and strings, and Glass’s orchestral piece The Light, written on commission from CWRU. Other music includes Gian Carlo Menotti’s Violin Concerto, and George Tsontakis’s Ghost Variations for piano. Click here to listen to the internet feed.

And at 7:30 pm, the latest episode of Les Délices’ SalonEra will be guest hosted by multi-instrumentalist Daphna Mor. “Ottoman Influence” explores eastern cultural influences on western music in the 17th and 18th centuries and beyond and features oud player Kane Matthis and Turkish violinist Ceren Turkmenoglu. Watch a trailer here. Register and watch online free (donations welcome). Available on-demand after debut.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Double bassist Kebra-Seyoun Charles and violinist Jonathan Okseniuk have placed first in the senior and junior divisions of the 25th Annual Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latinx String Players. The finals were streamed online from Detroit on January 29. Charles, from Miami, studies at Juilliard with Joseph Conyers. Okseniuk is a student of Jing Zeng at the Arete Preparatory Academy in Mesa, Arizona. Read the press release here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

The big names to remember today are Austrian composer Franz Schubert and American minimalist composer Philip Glass, both born on the last day of January, in Vienna (1797) and Baltimore (1937), respectively.

Glass is topical in Cleveland this week: John Adams will lead the “Facades” movement from his 1982 suite, Glassworks, on Cleveland Orchestra concerts this weekend. Scored  for two soprano saxophones, synthesizer, viola, and cello, it was originally intended for the film score of Koyaanisqatsi. Ultimately omitted, it’s frequently performed as a separate piece.

After his larger concert and stage works, the composer was interested in creating what he called a more popular, “Walkman-Suitable” work, “specially mixed for your personal cassette player.” Click here to listen to Louisiana State University percussion professor Brett William Dietz play his own solo version of “Facades.”

From what are myriad possibilities, let’s choose to salute Schubert with settings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Gesang der Geister über den Wassern (“The soul of mankind is like water”), a poem which seems both to have obsessed him and proved problematic. One is for unaccompanied male chorus, an entirely different setting that the composer left unfinished adds piano, and the remarkable third version — again completely different — adds an ensemble of low strings. Listen to No. 3 as performed in 2011 by the Norwegian Soloist Choir and the Oslo Camerata, directed by Grete Pedersen.

And does anybody remember the American tenor Mario Lanza? Born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza on this date in 1921 in Philadelphia, he was discovered by Louis B. Mayer, who made him a movie star in the 1940s, and nearly simultaneously by Serge Koussevitzky, who groomed him as an opera singer. Click here to watch a centennial celebration of Lanza’s vocal talent created in 2021.