by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Today is the Winter Solstice

. Holiday music at the Atrium, a Winter Solstice Concert, and WASSAIL! from Apollo’s Fire

. Piano Cleveland Social Club

THE WINTER SOLSTICE is scheduled for today at 4:47 pm in the Northern Hemisphere. Despite a recent run of blazingly sunny days, this moment marks the point when we northerners are tilted as far away from the sun as possible, producing a Wednesday with the shortest daylight and longest night of the year. Just the thing to warm our hearts as the latest episode of the COVID-19 saga unfolds.

Given no alternative, we might as well enjoy our mutual planetary experience today, and as usual, music comes to the rescue.

Click here to listen to the carol commissioned for the 1998 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge. Gile Swayne set his own English text in his Winter Solstice Carol (it alternates with familiar Latin phrases from the Christmas Day antiphon to the Magnificat): [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Online: Les Délices with Daphna Mor (pictured, Sue Yelanjian looking on) and rare finds by Eric Charnofsky

. Almanac: Clérambault, Christie & Isserlis

TODAYS EVENTS:

Beginning today, and continuing through June, Les Délices re-releases its SalonEra 3.3 program: Ottoman Influence. A Baroque musician, Ottoman music enthusiast, and multi-instrumentalist, Daphna Mor guest-curates this episode exploring connections between east and west. Oud player Kane Mathis helps us understand the building blocks of Ottoman music, and Turkish violinist and multi-instrumentalist Ceren Türkmenoğlu shares her fascinating and beautiful work, which inhabits both European and Turkish classical traditions. Available online and as a podcast. Click here.

From 2:00 – 4:00 pm today Eric Charnofsky’s Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music features a selection of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ sacred and secular choral songs, Charles Dodge’s Extensions (trumpet and tape), Vítězslav Novák’s Eternal Longing (orchestra), J.S. Bach’s Concerto in d arranged by ​Ilan Guetta for two electric guitars and strings, David Gompper’s Bailey’s Beads (double bass and piano), and Paula Matthusen’s Limerence (banjo and electronics). Click here to listen to the internet feed or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky spins music you probably don’t know (but might)

. Having fun at the opera in Toronto

. Beethoven studies with Haydn

TODAYS EVENTS:

On the radio & the internet: from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Eric Charnofsky hosts “Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, featuring Irving Fine’s Symphony (1962), Gabriel Pierné: Poème symphonique for piano and orchestra, Archduke Rudolph’s Trio in E-flat for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Five Preludes, for guitar, Clarice Assad’ Metamorfose, for viola and piano, and Stanley Leonard’s Quarimba, for four marimbas. Click here to listen to the internet feed or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area

INTERESTING READ:

Events by Toronto companies like Opera Revue, Against the Grain and Tapestry Opera are part of an effort to make the art form more accessible. Read Joshua Chong’s article in the Toronto Star, “Forget the ‘hoity-toity tuxes and gowns’ — at Opera Revue you can cheer and holler. No shushing allowed.” [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. City Music & No Exit along with a load of holiday-themed concerts

. Remembering Franck and Messiaen (pictured) on their birth anniversaries

TODAYS EVENTS:

On Friday the 9th at 7:30 at Lakewood Congregational Church, CityMusic Orchestra, led by guest conductor Stefan Willich, and featuring trumpeter Jack Sutte and soprano Chabrelle Williams, will perform Mozart’s Overture and “Deh vieni non tardar” from The Marriage of Figaro and Symphony No. 40 along with Neruda’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat, Verdi’s “Caro nome” from Rigoletto, and Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro” from Gianni Schicchi. The program will be repeated on Saturday the 10th at 7:30 at the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus, and Sunday the 11th at 3 at Federated Church. All performances are free.

Also on Friday. No Exit New Music will present a 7:30 concert at Kent State University’s Ludwig Recital Hall that includes three world premieres: David Glaser’s Aurora II, Max Friedman’s Butter-Iider, and Frank Wiley’s The Dream of Sisyphus, along with Henry Cowell’s The Banshee and Tiger, and Ladislav Kubik’s Nocturnes. Read a preview article here. The concert is free. [Read more…]