by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

7:00 pm – In The Fiddler’s House. Itzhak Perlman plays traditional klezmer music with the Klezmer Conservatory Band at Severance Music Center.

7:30 pm – Apollo’s Fire presents J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor at Trinity Cathedral.

7:30 pm – University of Akron JazzWeek 2025 hosts the Joshua Redman Group (opening act: Sean Jones and the UA Jazz Ensemble) at E.J. Thomas Hall.

For details of these and other events, please visit our Concert Listings page.

ALMANAC:

by Mike Telin

Today we remember three composers of note who took their leave of this world on April 8. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30 pm, Rocky River Chamber Music Society presents the North Coast Winds in music by Valerie Coleman, Gunther Schuller, Darius Milhaud, Elliot Carter, William Grant Still, George Gershwin, and Paquito de Rivera at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church.

And tonight at 8, the University of Akron JazzWeek 2025 presents Sean Jones, trumpet, with special guests SmokeFace & Floco Torres. UA’s Birth of the Cool Ensemble opens the evening at Akron’s Blu Jazz.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Tri-C JazzFest writes that individual event tickets are now on sale for this year’s festival. “You can purchase tickets by visiting the Playhouse Square website or calling 216-241-6000. Buy early to get the best seats. Trombone Shorty, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Stanley Clarke, Dianne Reeves, Kirk Whalum and many more await you!”

HONORS:

Tri-C JazzFest sends its “Congratulations to Amber Rogers and Daniel Bruce, founders of the Hingetown Jazz Festival, for being recognized for their work with a Jazz Heroes Award from the Jazz Journalists Association.” Read more here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

On Friday, the Cleveland Cello Society produces its annual extravaganza, i Cellisti, YSU presents the Imani Winds, Apollo’s Fire (pictured) gives the first of four performances of J.S. Bach’s Mass in b in Akron, and Oberlin Sinfonietta performs under Kenneth Bean.

On Saturday, join a “Carillon Crawl” in Cleveland Heights, hear the Andrew Sords Quintet at Bath Church, experience the debut of the Cleveland Photoplayers creating a live score for a 1929 Hitchcock silent film, go on the road with Journey and the Canton Symphony, and catch up with Apollo’s Fire at Trinity Cathedral.

On Sunday, enjoy Clayton Stephenson on the Tri-C Classical Piano Series, hear the CIM New Music Ensemble at the Art Museum or the Firelands Symphony Chorale in Sandusky, follow Apollo’s Fire or the Andrew Sords Quintet to Rocky River, immerse yourself in the music of Five Composers and a Pianist on the Kent Keyboard Series, and experience the Martha Redbone Roots Project at Oberlin.

See our Concert Listings for more information about these and other events.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cleveland Orchestra will present Grammy Award–winning composer and jazz musician Herbie Hancock at Severance Music Center on November 4. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30 in Finney Chapel, Raphael Jiménez conducts the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in Anna Clyne’s This Midnight Hour, Quinn Mason’s Serenade (premiere), and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 3.

See our Concert Listings for more information about these and other events

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman

Italian-American composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was born on this date in Florence in 1895, as was American pianist Garrick Ohlsson in Bronxville, NY in 1948. Meanwhile, German composer Johannes Brahms died of liver cancer at age 63 in Vienna on this date in 1897, while German-born American composer Kurt Weill suffered a heart attack at 50 and passed away not long after, on April 3, 1950 in New York City. Finally, British tenor Peter Pears died in Aldeburgh in 1986 at the age of 75. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 noon on the Brownbag Concert Series at Trinity Cathedral, vocalist Naomi Columna and percussionist Katalin La Favre will perform early music by John Dowland, Claudin de Sermisy, Alfonso Ferrabosco, Guillaume de Machaut, and others.

And there’s a double-header tonight at the Art Museum: at 6 pm in the galleries, young artists from Case Western Reserve University’s Historical Performance Practice Program will play a variety of pieces surrounded by Italian Baroque artworks.

And at 7:30, YAGODY, the contemporary Ukrainian folk band, will feature theatrical singers supported by drums, percussion, guitar, bass, and accordion in Gartner Auditorium.

See our Concert Listings for more information about these and other events

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Canton Symphony has released the latest podcast in its Orchestrating Change series. The episode (pictured above) features operatic baritone Brian Keith Johnson, a local hero in Northeast Ohio. In addition to his distinguished performing credits, Johnson taught vocal music in the Akron Public Schools for more than 34 years before retiring last spring. Listen here.

While bells and mechanisms of the McGaffin Carillon in University Circle are enjoying some R&R in the Netherlands, Friends of the McGaffin instrument have organized two Saturday morning tours of their sister instruments in Cleveland. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

BREAKING NEWS: Cleveland Institute of Music announces newest member of conducting team

Click here to read the story and watch a video.

HAPPENING TODAY:

Organist JoEllen West plays works by J.S. Bach, William Bolcom, William Albright, and Louis Vierne on the Tuesday Noon series at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle.

See our Concert Listings for more information about these and other events

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Mike Telin

Today we honor two composer/pianists who came into the world on April Fools Day: Ferruccio Busoni in 1866 and Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff in 1873. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, the University of Akron’s Kulas Concert Series presents the Rochester, NY-based Gateways Brass Collective in Guzzetta Recital Hall.

At the same hour in Youngstown’s St. Columba Cathedral, Hae-Jong Lee will lead Youngstown State University singers in the Dana Spring Choral Concert (pictured: Dana Chorale).

See our Concert Listings for more information about these and other events.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman

Among the gravest consequences of the widely adopted shift from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar (which occurred at various points between the late 16th and early 20th century, depending on the location) — the confusion, anger, and division that now surround the issue of birthday anniversaries.

Johann Sebastian Bach is a well-known example, born in 1685 on the 21st of March in Old Style (O.S.) — or the 31st in New Style (N.S.). So which day should be celebrated? It’s an issue that has polarized Americans, some of whom suggest a middle ground: celebrating both dates. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

THIS WEEKEND:

There are 20+ events to choose from this weekend (some with more than one performance). Good luck choosing among them!

Friday: The Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble (6 pm in Gamble Auditorium), Wit’s Folly (Carl Maria von Weber on historical clarinets, 7 pm, the Bath Church), The Cleveland Orchestra (Marvel Studios’ Black Panther in Concert, 7:30 at Severance), Renovare Music (7:30 at City Church), Cleveland Jazz Orchestra (big band jazz, 7:30 at the Maltz), The Oblivion Project (pictured, Piazzolla, 7:30 at the Art Museum), and Baldwin Wallace Opera (Offenbach, 8 pm at the Kleist Center).

Saturday: Baldwin Wallace Opera (Offenbach, 3 pm at the Kleist Center), Stars in the Classics (4 pm at Church of the Western Reserve), Wit’s Folly (Carl Maria von Weber on historical clarinets, 7 pm, Praxis Fiber Workshop), Akron Symphony (Bologne, Mozart, Montgomery & Beethoven, 7:30 at E.J. Thomas), The Cleveland Orchestra (Marvel Studios’ Black Panther in Concert, 8 pm at Severance), and Baldwin Wallace Opera (Offenbach, 8 pm at the Kleist Center).

Sunday: The Oblivion Project (Piazzolla, 2 pm at Akron-Summit Public Library), She Roars (chamber music by living female composers, 2 pm at The Bop Stop), Choral Arts Cleveland & Wind Quintet (premiere of a Mickey McGroarty piece, 3 pm at Disciples Church), Baldwin Wallace Opera (Offenbach, 3 pm at the Kleist Center), Cleveland Women’s Orchestra 90th Anniversary Concert (3:30 at Severance), Heights Chamber Orchestra (3:30 at Fairmount Presbyterian), and Organist James O’Donnell (formerly of Westminster Abbey, 4 pm at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts.) [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

This evening, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes plays Edvard Grieg’s Piano Sonata, Geirr Tveitt’s Piano Sonata No. 29, “Sonata Etere,” and Frédéric Chopin’s complete 24 Preludes (7:30 in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center.) Tickets available online.

And Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project hosts a double-header. Weston Olencki and Jennifer Torrence play BATTERY, a long-form work for massed marching percussion, including traditional drumline, feedback-induced crash cymbals, and an array of robotic woodblocks. On the same program, Aurie Hsu and Steven Kemper present works that combine dance, robotic musical instruments, and sound (8 pm at Calicchia Gallery Studio, Cleveland.) Suggested donation $15.

See our Concert Listings for more information about these and other events.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Guitar Society executive director Eric Mann writes, “In 2021, Cleveland Classical Guitar Society commissioned composer Thomas Flippin to write a series of etudes based on spirituals. The resulting collection, 14 Études on the Music of Black Americans, is groundbreaking and utterly unique in the classical guitar repertoire. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

The Cleveland Museum of Art presents Occidental Gypsy’s tribute to Django Reinhardt (7 pm at Transformer Station).

JoAnn Falletta (photo collage by Mark Dellas) and Jake Taniguchi conduct the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra in works by Joe Hisaishi, Zoltán Kodály and Antonín Dvořák (7:30 at  Severance Music Center).

And Tri-C Performing Arts presents the Count Basie Orchestra (7:30 at Metropolitan Campus Auditorium).

See our Concert Listings for more information about these and other events.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Bascom Little Fund, a charitable trust created to promote the work of Northeast Ohio composers through live concerts, recordings, publications of contemporary music composed in Northeast Ohio, is now accepting proposals for the new grant cycle via its online application. Deadline is May 1.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

One debut and three final acts to commemorate today: French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was born on this date in 1925 in Montbrison, while Renaissance composers Heinrich Isaac and Antonio de Cabezon, and German composer Ludwig van Beethoven took their final bows in 1517, 1566, and 1827 in Florence, Madrid, and Vienna, respectively. [Read more…]