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…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Events with multiple performances include The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, Sara Hicks, conductor & emcee, in holiday concerts (Saturday & Sunday at 2:30 & 7:30 at Severance Music Center), the Cleveland Philharmonic, Victor Liva, conductor (Saturday at 7:30 at CSU & Sunday at 3 at Westlake PAC), CityMusic Cleveland, John McLaughlin Williams, conductor & Sibbi Bernhardsson, violin (Saturday at 7:30 at St. Stanislaus & Sunday at 4:30 at Our Lady of Angels). Note: Apollo’s Fire’s performances of Handel’s Messiah are sold out.

Sunday’s concerts include Candlelight Carols and Singalong (3 pm at Fairmount Presbyterian), Gaudete! bell choir and instrumentalists (4 pm at St. Noel, Willoughby Hills), and NOVA Ensemble (Northwest Ohio Vocal Arts, pictured) in “Songs of Wonder: The Nativity Through the Ages” (7 pm at Church of the Saviour, Cleveland Hts.)

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cuyahoga Arts & Culture’s Board of Trustees will hold a regular meeting on Wednesday, December 18 on the 2nd floor of the Louis Stokes wing of the downtown Cleveland Public Library. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Oberlin violin professor Sibbi Bernhardsson joins conductor John McLaughlin Williams and  CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra for a 7:30 concert at St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills.

At the same hour, Christopher Wilkins leads  the Akron Symphony in Holiday Pops 2024 in E. J. Thomas Hall and Sara Hicks conducts and emcees a holiday concert by The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus at Severance Music Center.

Note: Apollo’s Fire’s performance of Handel’s Messiah tonight at Trinity Cathedral is sold out.

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

INTERESTING READ:

An article by Zachary Lewis posted yesterday in The Land features 85-year-old Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer. Click here to read “Margaret Brouwer, Cleveland’s unofficial composer laureate, has no intention of stopping or slowing down.”

TODAY’S ALMANAC by Jarrett Hoffman

Polish-born American violinist Samuel Dushkin, who was born on this date in 1891 in Suwałki, was involved in bringing a number of important works to life, particularly in partnership with Igor Stravinsky during the early 1930s. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight’s 7 pm performance of Handel’s Messiah by Apollo’s Fire at St. Raphael in Bay Village is the only one of its four local presentations for which tickets were still available at press time.

The Cleveland Orchestra Holiday Concerts continue at Severance Music Center tonight at 7:30, and at the same hour, CityMusic Cleveland continues its December Orchestra concerts at Fairmount Presbyterian in Cleveland Heights.

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

NEWS  BRIEFS:

Cleveland.com reports that “Baldwin Wallace University has named Jennifer Hemphill as professor of music theater and music theater director. The university described the hire as the first step in assembling a new leadership team to replace program director Victoria Bussert.”

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 45th anniversary concert honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 19. While the concert is free, tickets become available on a first-come, first-served basis on Jan. 4. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

The holidays have officially arrived for The Cleveland Orchestra, which kicks off its 12-performance run of festive concerts tonight at 7:30 pm.

Vocalist Jimmie Herrod (pictured), The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and Blossom Festival Chorus will deliver some holiday cheer, conducted by Sarah Hicks.

Or, for those looking for something different this Wednesday evening, you have two other choices.

Head east to the Cleveland Museum of Art to hear jazz singer-songwriter Magos Herrera and her quartet — or head west to hear the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble play music by Elizabeth Ogonek and Jesse Jones. Both concerts are at 7:30.

For more details, visit our Concert Listings.

THE YEAR’S CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS:

If you heard The Cleveland Orchestra perform Mozart’s The Magic Flute in May, you were lucky enough to witness one of the best classical concerts of 2024, according to the New York Times. Chief critic Zachary Woolfe praised the production’s “fresh, youthful voices” and playing of “elegant transparency.”

Later in the article, Joshua Barone singled out Asmik Grigorian, “one of the fiercest sopranos on the European scene.” We can look forward to her Cleveland Orchestra debut this coming March, when she’ll perform Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs and the final scene from Puccini’s Suor Angelica. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

Two free seasonal offerings await this evening, both at 7:30.

At Judson Manor, the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra (pictured) presents their holiday concert, and at Painesville United Methodist Church, Matthew Saunders directs the Lakeland Civic Orchestra in a program of light classics and holiday favorites.

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

ON THE RADIO:

Over the weekend, NPR’s Elissa Nadworny spoke to Rhiannon Giddens and Limmie Pulliam about performing Omar with Oberlin Conservatory. Listen to that interview here, which includes snippets from the opera.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Daniel Hathaway

German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was born on this date in 1915 and passed away in her sleep at age 90 in 2006. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

A mere 19 events are scheduled for this early December weekend.

Saturday’s list includes the Baldwin Wallace Holiday Concert (2 pm in Gamble Auditorium), Stars in the Classics’ Holiday Program  (4pm, Church of the Western Reserve), a Baldwin Wallace Aria Concert (7 pm in Gamble Auditorium), the Stow Symphony (7 pm, Tallmadge Bible Church), Apollo’s Fire’s Wassail! (7:30, Chagrin Falls PAC), Oberlin Artist Recital Series presents Kora player Seckou Keita (pictured, 7:30 in  Finney Chapel), and The Cleveland Orchestra hosts conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and pianist Emanuel Ax (8 pm at Severance Music Center).

Sunday’s lineup includes the Baldwin Wallace Men’s Chorus Holiday Concert (2 pm & 5 pm in Gamble Auditorium), Parma Symphony (3 pm at Valley Forge High School), Apollo’s Fire’s Wassail! (3 pm, Avon PAC), Canton Symphony (3 pm, Zimmermann Center), Master Singers Chorale (3 pm, First Methodist, Cuyahoga Falls), Western Reserve Chorale (3:30 pm, Church of the Saviour, Cleveland Hts.), Festival of Lessons and Carols (4 pm at Holy Trinity Lutheran, Akron), Firelands Symphony (4 pm at Sawmill Creek, Huron), Lakeland Civic Chorus (4 pm, Lakeland CC, Kirtland), Oberlin Collegium (4:30 pm in Fairchild Chapel), and Oberlin presents Rhiannon Giddens’ Omar (7 pm at the Maltz PAC, Cleveland).

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

WEEKEND ALMANAC:

December 7:

On this date in 1842, the precursor of the New York Philharmonic played its first concert in the Apollo Rooms at 410 Broadway. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Alla Boara (pictured) presents its first Christmas program featuring Italian folk songs collected in 1954 by Alan Lomax (7 pm at Trinity Cathedral), the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra plays Brahms’ first symphony (7 pm in Gamble Auditorium), Cleveland Jazz Orchestra presents A Kate Reid Christmas (7:30 at the Maltz), The Cleveland Orchestra hosts Emanuel Ax in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 (7:30 at Severance Music Center), and Oberlin presents a concert performance of Rhiannon Giddens’opera Omar (7:30 in Finney Chapel — but it’s now sold out and available only as a live stream).

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Akron’s Tuesday Musical has announced that its 2025 Annual Scholarship Competition will be held on Saturday, March 23 (organists will compete on Saturday, March 15). Applications will be accepted beginning on January 1. Click here for more information.

The Cleveland Orchestra announces the continuation of its Arts Administration BIPOC Internship Program, “aimed at increasing diversity within the field and providing valuable opportunities for young professionals of color.” Read the press release here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7, the Baldwin Wallace Treble Choir sings a Christmas program in Gamble Auditorium.

At 7:30, guest conductor Pablo Heras-Casado (pictured) leads The Cleveland Orchestra with pianist Emanuel Ax in Mozart’s Concerto No. 20 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in Mandel Hall at Severance Music Center.

And at the same hour, Timothy Weiss conducts the Oberlin Sinfonietta and cellist Miles Reed, in a program that includes Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Sebastian Fagerlund’s Octet Autumn Equinox, and a new work by student composer Katya Mueller in Warner Concert Hall.

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

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On December 5, 1791, Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, who preferred to be called Wolfgang Amadé, died in Vienna after being bedridden for a fortnight with what was officially described as “severe miliary fever,” characterized by a rash that resembles millet seeds. [Read more…]