by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

The Witcher in Concert: Tonight at 7:30 in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, a live orchestra will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the open-world RPG (Role-Playing Game) with a performance of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.  The evening will feature a special performance by the Polish folk metal band Percival (pictured), the original co-composers of the game’s soundtrack.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

There are only a handful of obscure candidates for tributes today, so let’s focus on another aspect of September 29: Michaelmas, or the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, falls on this date each year, and marks the beginning of autumn in many Christian cultures.

It lends its name to the fall term in British universities, and gives rise to a number of folk customs, including making Michaelmas Bannock on the eve of the Feast of Saint Michael from equal parts of barley, oats, and rye without employing any metal implements. And Michaelmas draws the line after which you should stop picking blackberries. That last piece of advice derives from the legend that when the Archangel Michael expelled the rebellious Lucifer from heaven, he landed in a blackberry bush (ouch!), which he cursed and defiled in a special way. Don’t eat the berries. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

PERFORMING THIS WEEKEND:

FRIDAY: The Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra plays Tchaikovsky & a premiere by faculty composer Carolyn Borcherding | The Cleveland Orchestra opens its season with Franz Welser-Möst (pictured) on the podium for the U.S. Premiere of Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Urworte, Richard Strauss’ “Dance of the Seven Veils” from Salome, and Maurice Ravel’s Boléro | Timothy Weiss conducts the Oberlin Sinfonietta with faculty clarinetist Richard Hawkins, in Michel van der Aa’s Hysteresis, Dorothy Chang’s Three Windows, Sofia Gubaidulina’s Concordanza, and a new work by Aaron Nichols | and CUSP hosts Matthew Ryals and the piano, harp, and electronics trio of Grace Harper, Stephan Haluska, and Boris Oicherman at Gallery 33.

SATURDAY: M.U.S.I.C. Stars in the Classics hosts a Classical Cabaret at Praxis Gallery | The Cleveland Orchestra repeats Friday’s program | Cleveland Jazz Orchestra presents “Totally Trumpet with Terell Stafford at the Maltz | and Cleveland Silent Film Festival screens F.W. Murnau’s Faust (1926) with a live heavy metal score by The Silent Light at the CIA’s Cinematheque.

SUNDAY: The Cleveland Orchestra repeats its weekend program | Music at Bath presents The Zerbo Brothers performing on West African Instruments | And Music from the Western Reserve hosts pianist Theron Brown at Christ Church, Hudson.

WEEKEND ALMANAC:

Two American musical scholars and a pair of contemporary composers share birthdates on September 28, and a British musical humorist bade adieu to the world of classical music, leaving it a bit less serious about itself than before. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30 at the Auricle, the Canton Symphony Divergent Sounds Series presents Kid Tigrrr, the ethereal solo project of Cleveland-based singer-songwriter Jenna Fournier that “blends dream pop, indie folk, and art rock to explore themes of identity and healing through lush, self-produced soundscapes.”

And at 7:30 in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel, Raphael Jiménez will conduct the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in Antonín Dvořák’s Concerto in B minor with cellist Nathaniel Abreu (pictured), as well as in Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Rissolty Rossolty, and William Grant Still’s Wood Notes.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On September 25, 1927, English conductor Colin Davis was born in Weybridge, Surrey. Sir Colin returned to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in April, 2009, after a hiatus of 25 years. As reported in a Plain Dealer preview, his reappearance came at the urging of pianist Mitsuko Uchida. “She told me, ‘You’ve got to get back,’” recalled Davis, 82, by phone from his home in London, where Uchida also resides. “And I thought, ‘If she told me to do it, I’d better do it.’” [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, the Cleveland Institute of Music presents pianist Ilya Itin in Alexander Scriabin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 11 and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 10 Preludes from Op. 3, 23, & 32 in Mixon Hall. It’s free, but tickets are required.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cleveland Chamber Choir has added two items to its current season: an adaptation of Handel’s Messiah with BlueWater Chamber Orchestra and Cleveland Ballet at the Keybank State Theatre in Playhouse Square from March 20-22, and a “docu-concert” featuring scenes and all the songs from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel in collaboration with the Musical Theater Project on June 14 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Gregory Ristow will conduct. More information here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

British conductor and musical scholar Christopher Hogwood died of a brain tumor in Cambridge on this date in 2014. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

12 Noon – Tuesdays at The Covenant:  Organist Christa Rakich, faculty, Oberlin Conservatory, plays music by Lübeck, Rakich, Talma, and J.S. Bach. Church of the Covenant, University Circle. Freewill offering.

5:30 pm – Fairmount Presbyterian Church Rush Hour Concerts: Tyler Young, saxophone, Irwin Shung, piano, and Elora Karras, cello, will dive into seminal saxophone works by composer David Maslanka at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman

Several big names share anniversaries on September 23. Those who died on this date include Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801-35) and English composer Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006). On the less grim end of the spectrum, pioneering jazz saxophonist John Coltrane (1926-67) shares a birthday with a giant of the flute, Julius Baker (1915-2003), who was born in Cleveland. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

LOOKING AHEAD:

This rainy start to the week has no concerts in store, but there’s plenty to look forward to coming up. Here are some highlights.

The Cleveland Orchestra opens their 2025–26 season on Thursday with Ravel’s Bolero. Franz Welser-Möst takes the podium, marking the beginning of his penultimate year as music director. (Photo credit: Extraordinaire Photos)

University concerts abound, with free offerings from Oberlin, CIM, and Baldwin Wallace. Plus, the Cleveland Silent Film Festival presents F.W. Murnau’s Faust, reimagined with a live heavy metal score. For more information, visit our Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Since it’s Monday, most Broadway theaters are dark today, observing the traditional day off given to cast and crew. But in 1964, September 22 was a Tuesday — show day along the Great White Way. That evening, the lights went up on the premiere of a new musical: Fiddler on the Roof, the now-classic adaptation of Sholem Aleichem’s Yiddish stories about “Tevye the Dairyman.” [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

The fall concert calendar is officially in full swing. Kicking off their seasons on Saturday night: the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, with their 2025 Showcase Concert (pictured), and the Akron Symphony, with Mahler’s “Titan.”

Also in the orchestral realm, the Oberlin Orchestra presents a Saturday night program anchored by Beethoven’s Sixth. And on Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony presents works for small ensembles, as does the Cleveland Chamber Collective.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Silent Film Festival continues with Friday evening’s showing of Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925), a Saturday afternoon double bill of avant-garde films by René Clair, and a Sunday afternoon showing of Go West (1925). All concerts are accompanied by live music and take place at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

In the mood for new music? On Friday night, the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble presents works by Samuel Adams (world premiere) and Olly Wilson. Then, the CIM New Music Ensemble celebrates the 100th birthday of Luciano Berio (pictured) on Sunday afternoon.

Also on Sunday, pianist Jeffrey Siegel presents a program all about Beethoven, and Rocky River Presbyterian Church presents chamber music by Vivaldi. And rounding out Saturday’s schedule is an organ recital at Pilgrim Christian Church, a one-night-only presentation of Faust at Opera Western Reserve, and Suburban Symphony’s “epic” outdoor concert. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

INTERESTING READS:

Jane Austen Loved Music. What Was on Her Playlist?

“The novelist’s sheet music collection reveals new perspectives on her life and work.” Read Eleanor Stanford’s New York Times preview about this year’s Jane Austen Festival here.

He Left the Prejudice of America. But His Music Came Home.

“The centennial of Robert Owens, a composer who worked abroad and assimilated into German culture, is being celebrated with a festival in Nebraska.” Read Hannah Edgar’s New York Times article here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Daniel Hathaway

On this date in 1818 (or perhaps on September 17), French composer Charles Gounod was born in Paris. Known today principally because of two of his twelve operas (Faust and Romeo et Juliette remain solidly in the repertory), he also wrote much religious music (he thought about becoming a priest). One of his most charming works is the Petite Symphonie for winds, viewable here in a 2017 performance by Camerata Pacifica at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7 pm, the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presents its annual members’ recital and installs its new officers. The free event includes music by J.S. Bach, Florence Price, Charles Tournemire, and William T. Allen played by seven chapter members on the new Schantz organ in Our Lady of Peace Roman Catholic Church. It’s free, and the public is welcome.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On September 17, 1803, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, student of Mozart and Salieri who was entrusted by Mozart’s widow with the unenviable task of completing his teacher’s Requiem, died in Vienna. That’s how we remember Süssmayr today, but in his own era, he was a well-regarded composer who wrote church music and opera, as well as a concerto for Mozart’s favorite clarinetist, Anton Stadler, left unfinished but later completed by Michael Freyhan. Give Süssmayr’s piece a listen here in a performance by Dieter Klökker and the English Chamber Orchestra.

American composer, pedagogue, and pianist Charles Tomlinson Griffes was born on this date in 1884 in Elmira, New York, and died of influenza in New York City during the 1918 pandemic. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway 

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 Noon, the Church of the Covenant resumes its Tuesdays at the Covenant series with a recital of music by J.S. Bach and Franz Liszt by organist Jonathan W. Moyer.

At 7:30 pm, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society opens its 76th season with a recital by violinist James Ehnes and pianist Orion Weiss of music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Paul Hindemith and Edvard Grieg at Disciples Christian Church.

And at 8 pm, the Oberlin Conservatory hosts saxophonist Branford Marsalis in both classical and jazz pieces in Finney Chapel.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

By Stephanie Manning

Composing, conducting, and pedagogy — Nadia Boulanger did all three, and she did them all well. Born on this date in 1887 in her home country of France, Boulanger is well-known for influencing an entire generation of composers, with her list of students including Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, and Astor Piazzolla. Her conducting career was equally impressive, as she was the first woman to conduct the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and other major ensembles. [Read more…]