by Mike Telin
“His personality is a tremendous contrast, because he seems so serious and intellectual, and of course he’s probably the person with the highest IQ that I ever met. Yet, he has this whimsical and humorous personality behind it.”
The person Cleveland Orchestra principal keyboardist Joela Jones is referring to is none other than Pierre Boulez. “To me it’s amazing that somebody who is so great, so brilliant, and so gifted, could also be so humble and modest. He just makes you feel so comfortable, like you are his equal, which of course you’re not. And, if you have enough intelligence you know that.” [Read more…]
It’s a busy week for The Cleveland Orchestra. In addition to marking the 90th birthday of Pierre Boulez on Thursday, and playing the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert on Sunday, the orchestra, led by Franz Welser-Möst, will present a pair of concerts on Friday and Saturday evening that include Mahler’s sixth symphony and the first performances of Études-Tableaux, a new work by British composer Ryan Wigglesworth. Wigglesworth is in his second and final year as the orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer. 
American violinist, conductor, and composer William Harvey has dedicated a large part of his professional career to his passion, Cultural Diplomacy. Harvey, who holds degrees from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and Juilliard, first gained international recognition when he lead the Afghan National Youth Orchestra, a group he founded, on a historic tour of the United States in 2013.
On Saturday, January 17 at 8:00 pm in William Busta Gallery, and on Sunday, January 18 at 4:00 pm in Plymouth Church, Les Délices, in collaboration with Blue Heron Ensemble, Scott Metcalfe (left), director, will present a fascinating concert entitled Fourteenth Century Avant-Garde.
Beethoven is a big part of Jonathan Biss’s life. That might be an obvious assertion to make about a touring classical pianist, but the great German master looms perhaps larger over Biss than for most. In his case, Beethoven is the subject of recordings, writings, a commissioning project, and even a college course. On January 20 in the University of Akron’s E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, you can hear one aspect of his devotion to the composer, when he will present a program for the Tuesday Musical Association that begins and ends with Beethoven. 
Among the more appealing attractions of the classical music genre is its ability to wrap the talents of multiple generations into a single performance. In the next two weeks, young musicians will be showcased alongside their more seasoned colleagues in concerts by the Akron Symphony, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and The Cleveland Orchestra.
Thanks to Serge Diaghilev, his Ballets Russes, and the young Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, Paris in the four years just before the Great War has to count as one of the most exciting eras for a balletomane to be alive.
Founded at the Oberlin Conservatory in 2004,