by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

The young violinists of the Cooper International Competition begin taking the stage at Oberlin Conservatory today. The annual competition, staged in January this year, kicks off with Round 1, Session 1 this afternoon and evening.

From 2:30 – 5:45 pm and again from 7:30 – 10:00 pm, the first half of the nineteen hopefuls will perform 30-minute recitals in Warner Concert Hall. All rounds will also be streamed live at oberlin.edu and via The Violin Channel.

Learn more about this year’s competition here, in Mike Telin’s interview with competition director and jury chair Sibbi Bernhardsson.

For more details and to check out what else is coming up this week, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READS:

Two recent articles discuss how classical music is attracting younger audiences. For CBC News, this article by Jackson Weaver points to the appeal of cross-genre performances and the rise of classical streaming — with the latter mentioning The Cleveland Orchestra’s partnership with the boutique classical streamer IDAGIO.

Weaver also discusses the successes of social media, as does Michael Andor Brodeur for The Washington Post. Through 15-second clips of pieces like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Brodeur writes, classical music “has become part of the cultural fabric of TikTok, even as it’s shredded to bits.” Read that opinion piece here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Daniel Hathaway

In Western Christian communities, January 6 marks the Feast of the Epiphany or the visit of astrologers from the East to worship the baby Jesus, bringing symbolic gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The story, told only in the Gospel according to Matthew, has spawned a rich mythology and inspired multiple works of art. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

On Saturday at 2 pm and Sunday at 3:30, The Cleveland Opera presents “Mozart, Still, and Christmas” a one-hour, costumed, semi-staged concert at Kent’s Faith Lutheran Church (Saturday) and Cleveland’s St. Casimir Church (Sunday).

And on Sunday at 4 pm, Church of the Western Reserve Concert Series presents the Acadia Trio in piano trios by Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READ:

In a New York Times guest essay published on December 28, pianist Jonathan Biss (pictured) discusses Franz Schubert’s last three piano sonatas, written in 1828, just two months before the composer died. Read “Schubert Is the Best Cure I Know for Loneliness” here, and don’t skip the reader comments.

WEEKEND ALMANAC by Jarrett Hoffman

January 4:

On this date in 1950, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) announced that it would produce LPs — 33 1/3 rpm long playing records — following the lead established by Columbia Records in 1948. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

No events are scheduled for today. Enjoy an interesting read and celebrate a classical music milestone from the past.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

The Cleveland Orchestra’s 45th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Concert, scheduled for January 19 at 7 pm at Severance Music center, will offer “a journey through the life of civil rights leader and author Coretta Scott King,” the wife of Dr. King, “an accomplished soprano and activist who used music to inspire, uplift, and mobilize people.” Free tickets will be available beginning at 10 AM on Saturday, January 4, with a limit of four per household. Learn more here. 

INTERESTING READ:

Opera is for Everyone

Although opera has a reputation as an antiquated pastime for rich people, this thrilling art form ought to be enjoyed by all. Read the article by Annie Levin in Current Affairs here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC by Jarrett Hoffman:

One of the most interesting characters to appear in our Almanac has to be Victor Borge (pictured above), the Danish-American comedian and pianist who was born on this date in 1909 in Copenhagen. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

No events are scheduled for today. Enjoy a couple of interesting reads and celebrate some classical music milestones in the past.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Tuesday Musical’s 2025 Annual Scholarship Competition — to be held in Akron on Saturday, March 22 and on Saturday, March 15 for organists — is now receiving online applications through February 1. Click here for eligibility criteria, repertory, and other details.

INTERESTING READS:

What Accounts For Those New Year’s Music Traditions?

“For old time’s sake, we sing Auld Lang Syne. We embrace the waltz to remember and ward off depression. Everywhere in the world there are New Year’s concerts featuring Strauss waltzes.” — Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times

How Lutherans Saved The Organ For (And From) The Reformation

“Early on, many in the Protestant movement saw organ music as just another Popish frippery; even Luther disapproved of it at first. He changed his mind, of course, and the presence of the organ in church became a major point of conflict, and even identity, between Lutherans and Calvinists.” –Anna Steppler in History Today

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1747, French composer, violinist and conductor Jean-Fery Rebel wrote finis to a distinguished career in Paris, where he was born on 18 April 1666. [Read more…]

The Diary will be on hiatus from December 23 through January 1.

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

It’s the Winter Solstice, the longest night and shortest day of the year. (Left: the sun rises over Stonehenge in England.)

At 7 pm, Arts Renaissance Tremont hosts Burning River Brass — a longstanding tradition — for a holiday pops concert at St. Wendelin Church.

At 7:30, Cleveland Chamber Choir presents a concert centered around David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion, a modern day retelling of the 1845 Hans Christian Andersen story, influenced by Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, at the Cleveland School of the Arts. Read a preview article here.

Also at 7:30, Sarah Hicks presides over a Cleveland Orchestra Holiday Concert featuring vocalist Jimmie Herrod, the Orchestra Chorus, the Youth Chorus Chamber Ensemble, and The College of Wooster chorus at Severance music Center.

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

NEWS BYTES:

The Hohens International Piano Competition has released the names of the 51 pianists who will compete in its quarterfinal rounds in Calgary, Alberta. Cleveland piano fans will recognize at least three of them: Maxim Lando, Evren Ozel, and Yuanfan Yang. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Burning River Brass plays its Holiday Pops program at the Bath Church in Akron tonight at 7 pm.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s live-to-picture screening of Disney’s The Muppet Christmas Carol is sold out.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The annual Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition alternates between pianists and violinists. This year young violinists ages 13-18 will compete in the event, which moves from the summer to January. After the drawing for performance order on January 5, live rounds at the Oberlin Conservatory will begin on Monday, January 6 and conclude with Concerto Finals with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra on Friday, January 10. Each round will be open to the public and will be streamed live.

Click here to view the slate of participants.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

French composer, organist, and harpsichordist Louis Nicholas Clérambault was born on December 19, 1676 in Paris. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

If you feel like making a joyful noise, Trinity Cathedral’s Brownbag Concert Series hosts a Messiah Sing-a-long at 12 Noon.

If you want to admire art and music simultaneously, visit Claude Monet’s Water Lilies (Agapanthus) at the Cleveland Museum of Art at 6:00 pm. The Chamber Music in the Galleries series presents guitarist Craig Slagh, violinists Jenny Cluggish and McKenna Glorioso, and violist Christopher Jenkins in works by Jules Massenet, Erik Satie, Antoine L’Hoyer, and Antonín Dvořák.

And if you were lucky enough to already snag your tickets, the first of two sold-out performances of The Cleveland Orchestra’s Muppet Christmas Carol in Concert (pictured) is tonight at 7:30 pm. Sarah Hicks conducts the complete score live-to-picture.

For more details, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cleveland Institute of Music has announced the honorees for its 2025 Alumni Awards. During next May’s commencement ceremony, the Distinguished Alumni Award will be presented to conductor and violinist John McLaughlin Williams (BM ’97, MM ’97), while the Alumni Achievement Award will be presented to violist and arts administrator Jennifer Arnold (BM ’03, PS ’05).

The institution also reaffirmed that renovations for Kulas Hall remain on track, with an expected grand reopening in fall 2025. Read the full press release here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today at Noon at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle, organists Michael Peters & Owen Metz, play Advent chorale settings, French Noëls, and Christmas Carols. Click here for the live stream.

And tonight at 7, the Singers’ Club of Cleveland marks The Longest Night of the Year with a meditative concert at Majestic Hall.

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

IN MEMORIAM ZAKIR HUSSAIN:

The BBC reports that Zakir Hussain, “the legendary tabla virtuoso and global ambassador of Indian classical music who has died aged 73, leaves behind a timeless rhythmic legacy that will inspire generations.

“A child prodigy, he collaborated with Indian classical icons like Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, and Shivkumar Sharma and global musicians like John McLaughlin and George Harrison.” Read the obituary here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Two events that have importantly impacted music history pop up on today’s calendar. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

Happy Monday! Believe it or not, December is now more than halfway over.

As The Cleveland Orchestra takes a break from their holiday programming today, The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight visits Severance Music Center. The 8:00 pm concert features 14 classical musicians in selections from rock and metal music, performed while surrounded by candles.

For more details on this concert and more, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READ:

Preparing for an opera role is already difficult enough — but for soprano Elza van den Heever (pictured), living with dyslexia makes things much harder. In this recent profile from The New York Times, the South African-born singer discusses the complex process that goes into mastering her roles, including the Empress in Strauss’s Die Frau Ohne Schatten. [Read more…]