By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

This weekend at Blossom, Susie Benchasil Seiter will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in three performances of “Disney in Concert: the Sound of Magic,” a retrospective of the first hundred years of the Walt Disney Company, including Peter Pan, Moana, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Frozen, The Lion King, Fantasia, Encanto, & Disney Parks classics. The program debuts tonight, Friday at 7, and repeats on Saturday and Sunday.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Sir John Eliot Gardiner has withdrawn from all concerts to focus on his mental health after punching a singer. The world-renowned British conductor struck a member of his own chorus, William Thomas, in a furious backstage row following a concert in France, and has now decided to withdraw from all of his concert commitments to focus on his mental health with a counseling course. Read a story from The Telegraph here.

Click here to read a related article, John Eliot Gardiner and the stubborn archetype of the bully maestro, by Michael Andor Brodeur in The Washington  Post. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 8, WCLV’s Ovations revisits performances from the three concerts of Local #4 Music Fund’s “She Scores 2023,” which were presented in June. 

Tune in on 90.3 or listen online, and view a gallery of composers and artists here. (Pictured: executive director & violist Amber Rogers by Derek Snyder)

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Cavani String Quartet has been appointed ensemble in residence at Cleveland State University for the 2023-2024 academic year. The ensemble welcomes a new violist this season. Ayane Kozasa replaces Eric Wong, who has joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University,.

In a related story, former Cavani founding cellist Merry Peckham will leave her position as chair of chamber music at the New England Conservatory to become assistant dean and director of chamber music at the Juilliard School in New York beginning on January 1.

Single tickets are now on sale for Tuesday Musical’s six-concert series in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, which, features Latin Grammy winner Cuarteto Latinoamericano on Oct. 24, a holiday program by The King’s Singers on Dec. 5, the Kyiv Virtuosi Symphony Orchestra on March 12 & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on April 20. Click here.

Registration is now open for all programming at both campuses of The Music Settlement, including private lessons, Suzuki lessons, and group classes and ensembles. Click here for more information. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

From 2-4 pm, Eric Charnofsky (pictured) hosts the latest edition of Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music from the studios of WRUW (if power has been restored to the station’s transmitter after the dramatic weather of the last few days).

Look forward to hearing infrequently encountered music by Alec Wilder, Michael Leese, Ernest Gold, Jane Antonia Cornish, selections from Handel Goes Wild, and works by Charnofsky himself. Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

Click here to visit the Concert Listings page for information about coming events.

INTERESTING READS:

Why should composers write for amateur musicians?
Tom Service asks, “Why is there a gap between today’s composers and the repertoires of most of the musical ensembles in the country – which are not the professionals, but the amateur groups of all kinds who are the fabric of our musical life? It’s a situation that’s a historical anomaly in the wider course of the story of music.

[Read more…]

The Daily Diary is on hiatus until Monday, August 28 for a late summer staff holiday, but breaking news will appear here.

The next Thursday E-Newsletter will be sent on August 31.

By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

6:30 pm – Canton Symphony Summer Serenades present a string quartet concert at Quail Hollow Park in Hartville. It’s free. Click here to visit the Concert Listings page for information about coming events.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Among the winners of the 2023 Cleveland Arts Prize is Oberlin Conservatory associate professor and bassoonist Dana Jessen. CAP winners will be honored at an October 26 awards event at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Read the story in Cleveland Magazine here.

Canton Symphony single tickets will go on sale August 15. Details here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On the 10th of August, Michael Haydn (brother of Joseph) died in Salzburg in 1806, Russian composer Alexander Glazunov was born in St. Petersburg in 1865, French organist Marie-Claire Alain (sister of composer Jehan) was born in St. Germain-en-Laye in 1926, and American-Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow (known for his player piano works) died in Mexico City in 1997. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

There are no performances on the calendar for August 9. Click here to visit the Concert Listings page for information about coming events.

SEMI-INTERESTING READ:

A review by David Allen in today’s print edition of The New York Times reports on Bard College’s current two-week festival devoted to a re-evaluation of the legacy of Ralph Vaughan Williams (pictured). Devotees of the British composer, who died in 1958, may have issues with Leon Botstein’s choice of repertory and the author’s conclusions. Read At Bard, a Festival Argues for the Music of Vaughan Williams here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

By Jarrett Hoffman

Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi passed away on August 9, 1988 in Rome, leaving behind a fascinating catalog of works that still sound quite fresh. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

There are no performances on the calendar for August 8. Click here to visit the Concert Listings page for information about coming events.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra has openings for all strings sections and for substitute players on woodwind and brass instruments. Interested players should email personnel manager Tren Cheshier to arrange an audition time over the next 30 to 45 days.

The Canton Symphony invites visual artists to apply for its Artist in Residence  program, which gives Northeast Ohio artists a chance to have pieces commissioned by a professional orchestra while also creating a visually engaging experience for its audiences in the CSO gallery. Applications are due by August 21. More information here. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today from 2-4pm, WRUW airs Eric Charnofsky’s weekly broadcast, Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music. Today’s edition spotlights Karel Husa’s Five Poems (woodwind quintet), Albert Glinsky’s Toccata-Scherzo (violin and piano), Bohuslav Martinů’s Symphony No. 4, Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin (arr. for brass quintet), Julia Wolfe’s Oxygen, for 12 flutes & Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Three Russian Songs for Chorus and Orchestra. Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

Click here to visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings page for more information.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Cleveland Chamber Choir will present three pairs of concerts next season, led by its recently-named artistic director Gregory Ristow. Read a press release here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Czech-American composer Karel Husa (pictured above) was born in Prague on August 7, 1921. [Read more…]