by Stephanie Manning

LOOKING AHEAD:

Leading up to Halloween, things are relatively calmer, but there are still plenty of options. It’s a big week for new music, with The Cleveland Orchestra welcoming composer/conductor Tan Dun (pictured) on Thursday and Saturday, and the Cleveland Repertory Orchestra performing an all-modern program on Saturday.

It’s also a good week for jazz, with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra teaming up with Sean Jones on Friday and the BW Jazz Ensemble playing on Thursday.

For more information on these concerts and more, visit our Concert Listings.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Some Cleveland arts organizations were praised in a recent report from SMU DataArts, which looked at how arts agencies helped their local communities during the pandemic. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

Halloween events include The Cleveland Orchestra’s Halloween Spooktacular: Heroes & Villains! (Saturday at 2 — a “relaxed, sensory-friendly” version — and Sunday at 2 at Severance Music Center,) and a screening of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with organ score played by David Blazer (Sunday at 7 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Rocky River).

Multiple performances (take your choice) include Cleveland Chamber Choir in “Meditations and Mysticism” (Saturday at 7 in Trinity Cathedral, Sunday at 4 at First Lutheran Church in  Lorain), CityMusic Cleveland featuring violist Eleisha Nelson in a concerto by Margaret Brouwer (Saturday at 7:30 at St. Stanislaus Shrine, Sunday at 4:30 in Our Lady of Angels in Rocky River).

Single events on Saturday: BW Faculty Recital by flutist Kaleb Checnic (Noon in Gamble Auditorium), the Canton Symphony’s “Star Wars and its Influences” (3 pm at Zimmermann Symphony Center), BW Percussion Ensemble (7 pm in Gamble Auditorium), Trobár Medieval (7 pm at Inlet Dance Theatre), classical guitarist Jorge Caballero (pictured, Cleveland Classical Guitar Society series, 7:30 at the Maltz PAC), and TrueNorth Chorale and Chamber Orchestra (7:30 in Bay Methodist Church in Bay Village).

And on Sunday, Music from the Western Reserve presents Singers Companye (5 pm, Christ Church in Hudson), and the BW New Music Series unveils new works by composition majors (7 pm in Gamble Auditorium).

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

SERIES ANNOUNCEMENT:

Tri-C Classical Piano Series director Emanuela Friscioni has announced a three-concert lineup for 2024-2025, all events to be held on Sundays at 2 pm in its Metropolitan Campus Auditorium. Admission is free but tickets are required. Details here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Tonight at 7, Trobár Medieval presents “A Room of Her Own: Christine de Pizan’s Defense of Women,” in the words of the 15th-c. author (pictured), performed by actor Chris Szajbert and reflected in the music of her contemporaries, played and sung by Allison Monroe. Elena Mullins Bailey, and Sian Ricketts (St. Paul’s Church, Cleveland Hts.)

Three orchestra concerts all begin at 7:30:

• CityMusic Cleveland continues its four-performance October Orchestra Series at St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills with a concert featuring Cleveland Orchestra violist Eliesha Nelson in Margaret Brouwer’s Viola Concerto, 
• the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra presents clarinetist Taein Yi in Carl Nielsen’s Concerto at the Maltz PAC,
• and Carl Topilow leads the Cleveland Pops Orchestra in Broadway’s Best at Severance Music Center.

Also at 7:30, Kent State Faculty & Graduate Students perform their works in the Roy Minoff Award Concert (Ludwig Recital Hall on the Kent State campus).

For details of these and other upcoming events, go to our Concert Listings. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Tonight at 7, Ohio Regional Music Arts and Cultural Outreach presents a Steel Drum Celebration with Joe Leaman and Friends at the Bop Stop.

Tonight at 7:30, CityMusic Cleveland begins its four-performance October Orchestra Series at Fairmount Presbyterian Church with a concert featuring Cleveland Orchestra violist Eliesha Nelson in Margaret Brouwer’s Viola Concerto.

At the same hour, the Lorain County Community College Signature Series will host pianist Ashlee Mack in James Romig’s Still, inspired by the American Abstract Expressionist painter Clyfford Still, and violinist Brendan Shea and pianist Yerin Kim will include Andrew Rindfleisch’s Two Pieces for Violin and Piano in a concert in Drinko Recital Hall at Cleveland State University.

Not happening today: Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project has canceled a performance by Natacha Diels/Uno Lady.

For details of these and other upcoming events, go to our Concert Listings. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12:00 noon, hear organist Robert Myers perform reformation music” by J.S. Bach, Buxtehude, Kaufmann, and more at Trinity Lutheran Church. As always, the Music Near the Market series is free.

And tonight at 7:00 pm, hear some chamber music at the Cleveland Museum of Art from the young musicians of Stars in the Classics (pictured). “An Enchanted Program” is themed around the Halloween season. This free performance takes place in the Ames Family Atrium.

For more information, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Ohio Light Opera has unveiled the six shows on their summer 2025 calendar: Carousel, Brigadoon, Tip-Toes, Patience, Bittersweet, and The Cousin from Batavia. The performances will run from June 14 to August 3 at the College of Wooster. Check out the calendar and learn more about the shows here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Daniel Hathaway

Russian choral director and composer Alexander Andreyevich Archangelsky was born on (or near) this date in 1846. A niche figure in the greater stream of Russian music, he mainly wrote Russian Orthodox Church music, including an All Night Vigil and masses, and led a choir that made successful tours of Russia and Europe, eventually transitioning from all-male voices to male and female singers. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 12 Noon, organist Sol Rizzato plays a program on the Church of the Covenant’s Tuesday Series that includes Peter Sykes’ transcriptions of two movements from Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

Tonight at 7:30 on the Tuesday Musical series in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, vocalist and pianist Michael Feinstein joins the Carnegie Hall Big Band to celebrate the legacy of Tony Bennett.

And tonight at 7:30 is your last opportunity to hear Apollo’s Fire perform four of J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos as the Baroque orchestra’s current tour concludes at Rocky River Presbyterian Church.

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

HONORED:

During its November 1 concert at the Maltz Performing Arts Center, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra will induct trumpeter and former artistic director (1992-2009) Jack Schantz into its CJO Preservation Circle. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

HAPPENING TODAY:

It’s a rare Monday with some concert options — one each on the west and east side.

At West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the Rocky River Chamber Music Society presents the Gropius String Quartet (pictured) in a free program of Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Dvořák. That’s at 7:30 pm. At the same time and across town, Apollo’s Fire continues their run of Brandenburg Concerto concerts at Harkness Chapel. Note that tonight’s performance replaces Brandenburg No. 2 with Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3. Tickets available online.

For more details and to check out what the rest of the week holds, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READ:

If you keep up with Deutsche Grammophon, you might recognize the name María Dueñas. The Spanish violinist’s debut album, Beethoven and Beyond, made waves in 2023, and her Paganini: 24 Caprices recording arrives next year. The New York Times recently profiled Dueñas, talking with her collaborators about what makes this young musician stand out. She’ll join the Cleveland Orchestra during their Miami residency in January — so maybe we’ll see her at Severance Hall sometime soon? Read the NYT article here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Daniel Hathaway

On October 21, 1896 American composer and conductor Howard Hanson was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, 26 years after its founding by Czech, German, and Scandinavian settlers (and named after the eastern wahoo, a shrub indigenous to the area). [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

The schedule is packed.

On Saturday, Les Délices presents Arcadian Dreams (2 pm at Hudson Library), Klaus Mäkelä leads The Cleveland Orchestra and choruses in the last of three performances of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 (8 pm at Severance Music Center), No Exit New Music continues its new season with a triptych of concerts and a trio of world premieres (7 pm at SPACES), the Akron Symphony plays Charles Ives — pictured — and Gustav Holst (7:30 in E.J. Thomas Hall), Apollo’s Fire plays four of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos (7:30 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights), the Cleveland Philharmonic plays Liszt with Halida Dinova; The Cleveland Opera presents Puccini’s L’amico Fritz (7:30 at First Baptist, Shaker Hts., and Wit’s Folly plays early Iberian music (7:30 at St. Noel Church, Willoughby Hills).

On Sunday, stand-alone events include Cleveland Composers Guild (organ works at 3 pm in Morley Hall, Painesville), and Lakeland Civic Chorus (4 pm at Lakeland Community College, Kirtland). Repeated programs include the Cleveland Philharmonic (3 pm at CSU), Wit’s Folly (4 pm at Bath Church), The Cleveland Opera (4 pm at First Baptist, Shaker Hts.), Apollo’s Fire (5 pm at First Methodist Church, Akron) and Les Délices (7:30 in Harkness Chapel, CWRU).

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

INTERESTING READS:

Writing for VAN Magazine, Hannah Edgar updates the situation at the Cleveland Institute of Music since the faculty voted to unionize, and reports on the effect the turmoil of the last year has had on student enrollment. Read her reporting here. (Note: the article is behind a paywall, but inexpensive subscriptions to the Berlin-based magazine are available).

Jeremy Denk on Charles Ives. In an essay this weekend in The New York Times, the pianist considers the thorny composer’s legacy on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Read At 150, Charles Ives Still Reflects the Darkness and Hope of America here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Klaus Mäkelä leads the Cleveland Orchestra and choruses with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson in the second of three performances of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 (7:30 at Severance Music Center, repeated Saturday at 8).

No Exit New Music (pictured) continues its new season with a triptych of concerts and a trio of world premieres (7 pm at Waterloo Arts).

And Apollo’s Fire plays J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6 (7:30 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights.)

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman

Wish a happy birthday to the legendary Wynton Marsalis, who turns 63. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä (pictured) flies in to lead the Cleveland Orchestra and choruses with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 (7:30 at Severance Music Center, repeated Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 8).

No Exit New Music begins its new season with a triptych of concerts and a trio of world premieres tonight at 7 pm in CSU’s Drinko Recital Hall (repeated Friday at Waterloo Arts, and Saturday at SPACES Gallery, both at 7:30.)

The Oberlin College Choir and Musical Union sing a joint concert directed by Brian Bailey and Jami Lercher (7:30 in Warner Concert Hall), and Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project presents James Ilgenfritz & Matthew Goodheart/Heather Mease (8 pm in Calicchia Gallery Studio, Cleveland).

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

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On October 17, 1849 Frederic Chopin died in Paris. [Read more…]