R.I.P. SHIRLEY MORGENSTERN TOPILOW

Conductor Carl Topilow announced on social media over the weekend that his wife, Shirley Morgenstern Topilow, with whom he co-founded the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, passed away at home on Saturday at the age of 79. Read more here.

A memorial service and celebration of her life will be held on Wednesday, October 15 at 11 am at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights.

HAPPENING TODAY:

12 Noon – Tuesdays at the Covenant: organist Mikhail Grazhdanov plays music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Juan Bautista José Cabanilles, Bernardo Storace & François Couperin at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES BOARD CHANGES:

“Following its annual meeting on October 9, The Cleveland Orchestra announced the election of Richard J. Kramer, former Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, as Chair of its Board of Trustees. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

German violinist, clarino trumpet player and composer Johann Christoph Pezel departed this life on October 13, 1694, having served as Stadtpfeifer and Stadtmusicus (a member of the municipal wind band) in Leipzig and Bautzen. (Pictured: the Nuremberg band) 

His music is frequently played these days by modern brass ensembles, but ensembles were more complex in Pezel’s time. As an example, listen to his Sonata Ciacona a 6 in a performance by the Baroque string band ACRONYM here (there’s a score to follow).

In 1912 on this date, Moravian-American composer Hugo Weisgall was born in Ivancice, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He moved with his family to the U.S. at the age of eight, studying at Peabody and Curtis, and completing a doctorate in German literature at Johns Hopkins — which made him a valuable aide-de-camp to General George S. Patton during World War II. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

On Friday, October 10, the Miró Quartet (Daniel Ching & William Fedkenheuer, violins, John Largess, viola, and Joshua Gindele, cello) will continue its Complete Beethoven String Quartet Cycle celebrating the 30th anniversary of the quartet’s founding at Oberlin Conservatory. After the first two concerts on Thursday, the remaining nine quartets in this marathon will be performed over the weekend.

On Friday and Saturday at 7:30 at Severance Music Center, pianist Daniil Trifonov will join Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra for performances of Johannes Brahms’ Second Concerto, and the Orchestra will fill out the program with Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7.

And Henry Purcell’s popular 17th-century opera Dido and Aeneas will be staged simultaneously by two organizations:

Apollo’s Fire’s period instrument version led from the harpsichord by Jeannette Sorrell, will feature Aryssa Leigh Burrs, mezzo-soprano (Dido), Edward Vogel, baritone (Aeneas), Andréa Walker, soprano (Belinda), Cody Bowers, countertenor (Sorceress), and Apollo’s Singers at the Tudor Arms Hotel (Friday at 7:30), at the Cleveland Institute of Music (Saturday at 7:30) and in Gamble Auditorium at Baldwin Wallace (Sunday at 4).

Baldwin Wallace will present its take on Dido in “a reimagined telling set within the dystopian framework of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale” at The Helen in Playhouse Square on Friday at 8 pm, and Saturday at 3 pm and 8 pm.

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings. [Read more…]

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 5 pm, the Miró Quartet (Daniel Ching & William Fedkenheuer, violins, John Largess, viola, and Joshua Gindele, cello) embarks on a Complete Beethoven Quartet Cycle celebrating the 30th anniversary of the quartet’s founding at Oberlin Conservatory. The first of two concerts today in Kulas Recital Hall will open with Quartet Nos. 1-3, followed by Nos. 4-6 at 7:30. The remaining nine quartets will be performed over the weekend.

At 7:30 at Severance Music Center, pianist Daniil Trifonov will join Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra for Johannes Brahms’ Second Concerto, and the Orchestra will fill out the evening with Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7.

And Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas will be staged simultaneously tonight by two organizations: at 7:30 by Apollo’s Fire on period instruments at Morley Music Hall in Painesville, and at 8 pm by Baldwin Wallace, in a reimagined telling  set within the dystopian framework of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale at The Helen in Playhouse Square.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Cleveland.com reports that Cleveland State University’s abrupt transfer of WCSB FM/89.3 to Ideastream Public Media has sparked a protest. “Students and community members demanded the return of the station’s student-run content instead of a 24/7 jazz format.” [Read more…]

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, Country GongBang, South Korea’s first and only bluegrass band performs a distinctive blend of contemporary bluegrass and K-pop sentiments in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

INTERESTING READ:

The Guardian reports that a previously unknown printed song and a collection of keyboard music by Henry Purcell have recently surfaced in local authority archives  in Worcestershire and Norfolk… “‘As soon as day began to peep” was written for a character called Monsieur le Prate, a French fop, in a 1691 play titled Love for Money, which lampooned a girls’ boarding school. Its author was Thomas D’Urfey, a frequent collaborator of Purcell.

“…in this song, the fop is ‘not quite in control of his emotions’ in trying to woo a woman: ‘He comically compares himself to a cat howling and scratching at the door of his beloved, with Purcell representing the miaows in music.” [Read more…]

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 Noon, Organist Joel Stoppenhagen plays music by Dietrich Buxtehude, Samuel Scheidt and Giovanni Salvatore at the Church of the Covenant.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Mike Telin

Today we celebrate cellist, cultural ambassador, and humanitarian Yo-Yo Ma, born on this date in 1955 in Paris. Since his days as a child prodigy, Ma has carved out a remarkably diverse career — one need look no further than his expansive discography to understand why he is a household name around the world. [Read more…]

There are no events in our Concert Listings for today.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman

On this date in 1882 in the village of Tymoszówka, now in Ukraine, Karol Szymanowski, one of the great Polish composers was born. Beloved in his home country, he has received a slew of state honors, both during his life and after it.

Among the more fun facts in that arena, a whole year was given to his name. Thanks to a resolution by the Polish Parliament, 2007, the 125th anniversary of his birth, was decreed “The Year of Karol Szymanowski.” And later that year he reached truly rarefied air among composers: he appeared on commemorative currency, pictured above. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

• The Cleveland Institute of Music will inaugurate its renovated Kulas Hall (pictured) on Friday at 7:30 with a Grand Re-opening program by the CIM Orchestra conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto and starring Gabriela Montero both as composer and piano soloist. On the playlist: Montero’s Concerto No. 1, “Latin,” Jerod Tate’s “Fani’ (Squirrel)” from Woodland Songs, Silvestre Revueltas’ Sensemayá, Carlos Chávez’s Symphony No. 2, “Sinfonía India,” and José Pablo Moncayo’s Huapango. 
• BlueWater Chamber Orchestra will open its season on Saturday at 7:30 in Lakewood Civic Auditorium in collaboration with Ohio Contemporary Ballet. Daniel Meyer will conduct three dance pieces —  Nicholas Rose’s Sehnsucht (music from Elgar’s Serenade for Strings), Heinz Poll’s Adagio for Two (music from Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor), and Paul Taylor’s Airs (music by George Frideric Handel) — as well as Schubert’s Symphony No. 5.
• Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth) featuring tenor Limmie Puilliam and baritone Iurii Samoilov and Arthur Honegger’s symphony liturgique on Sunday at 3 at Severance.

For ticket and venue details, please consult our Concert Listings  [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today at Noon, Youngstown State’s Dana School of Music’s Music at Noon Series presents the Ficocelli Trio — Erick Ramos, violin, Heewon Jeon, cello, and Allison Hillier, piano — in Haydn’s Piano Trio in G, “Gypsy,” and Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 4 in e, “Dumky” at the McDonough Museum of Art.

Tonight at 8 at Severance, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth) featuring tenor Limmie Puilliam (pictured) and baritone Iurii Samoilov, and Arthur Honegger’s symphony liturgique.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

German composer Max Bruch died on this date in Berlin-Friedenau in 1920. Inspired by Brahms and mostly known as a choral composer during his lifetime, Bruch is now celebrated for a few instrumental works that have remained popular. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 noon, the Cleveland Museum of Art hosts Chamber Music in the Galleries featuring young artists from Case Western Reserve University’s Historical Performance Practice Program in the Donna and James Reid Gallery.

NEW — WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

Beginning this week, we’ll publish a select list of weekend classical music events that we believe have special merit and shouldn’t be missed. Look for those in the Wednesday Diary and the Thursday Newsletter. (If you’re not receiving our newsletter, sign up here. It’s free!)

This week’s recommendations are all orchestra concerts.

• Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von die Erde (Song of the Earth) featuring tenor Limmie Puilliam and baritone Iurii Samoilov and Arthur Honegger’s symphony liturgique on Thursday at 8 and Saturday at 3 at Severance.
• The Cleveland Institute of Music will inaugurate its renovated Kulas Hall (pictured) on Friday at 7:30 with a Grand Re-opening program by the CIM Orchestra conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto and starring Gabriela Montero both as composer and piano soloist. On the playlist: Montero’s Concerto No. 1, “Latin,” Jerod Tate’s “Fani’ (Squirrel)” from Woodland Songs, Silvestre Revueltas’ Sensemayá, Carlos Chávez’s Symphony No. 2, “Sinfonía India,” and José Pablo Moncayo’s Huapango. 
• BlueWater Chamber Orchestra will open its season on Saturday at 7:30 in Lakewood Civic Auditorium in collaboration with Ohio Contemporary Ballet. Daniel Meyer will conduct three dance pieces —  Nicholas Rose’s Sehnsucht (music from Elgar’s Serenade for Strings), Heinz Poll’s Adagio for Two (music from Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor), and Paul Taylor’s Airs (music by George Frideric Handel) — as well as Schubert’s Symphony No. 5.

[Read more…]