by Mike Telin
“We’ve played several times on the series and we’re very happy to be back,” Belcea Quartet violist Krzysztof Chorzelski said during a telephone conversation from London, the quartet’s home base. “We love playing in Cleveland and we have very nice memories. The audience is always very special.” On Tuesday, October 21 at 7:30 in Plymouth Church The Cleveland Chamber Music Society will present the Belcea Quartet in a concert featuring works by Mozart, Berg and Brahms. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Well-known concert organist Todd Wilson will explore another side of his art this month when he improvises musical scores to two silent film classics at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown and Severance Hall in Cleveland. Speedy, Harold Lloyd’s 1928 Paramount film, which chronicles the attempts of Harold “Speedy” Swift to save the last horse-drawn streetcar in New York (with a cameo appearance by Babe Ruth) will be screened at Stambaugh on Sunday, October 19 at 4:00 pm. Then the 1925 silent version of Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney, will be shown at Severance Hall on Tuesday, October 28 at 7:30 pm. Phantom is part of this season’s Cleveland Orchestra’s Celebrity Series, but Wilson will be the only musician on stage for the occasion. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
From the moment he first heard the sound of the guitar at the age of nine, Lukasz Kuropaczewski knew he wanted to be a classical guitarist. “Every Sunday we went to church and one day there was a girl in the church, singing with the accompaniment of the guitar and I thought, this is the instrument of my life,” Kuropaczewski said during a recent Skype conversation from his home in Poland. On Saturday, October 18, at 7:30 pm in Plymouth Church Lukasz Kuropaczewski, will his Cleveland debut on the The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society International Series. As part of his Cleveland visit, Kuropaczewski will present a masterclass from 6:30–8:30 pm on Friday, October 17 at The Music Settlement. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Michael Lynn, Oberlin Conservatory Professor of Recorder and Baroque Flute, founded the Medici Charitable Foundation in 2012 following a liver transplant that restored him to health and allowed him to continue his career as a performing artist and teacher. The organization presents concerts by distinguished musicians to help raise funds for medical charities and research organizations. “Encore,” Medici’s next concert at Akron Civic Theatre on Saturday, October 18 at 7:30 pm, will benefit Lifebanc, a non-profit organization devoted to organ, eye and tissue recovery in Northeast Ohio. The performers will be the husband and wife piano team of Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Emanuela Friscioni. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
In conjunction with performances of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor (October 16 and 18) and one of his solo cantatas by soprano Yulia van Doren (October 23, 24 & 24), The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Youth Chorus will offer a free concert of the Kyrie and Gloria from the Mass at St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Cleveland on Friday, October 17 at 8:00 pm, and a “Make Music! Marathon” at Severance Hall on Saturday afternoon, October 18. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Although the saxophone is not commonly thought of as a classical instrument —most tend to think of it as a jazz and rock instrument — the classical saxophonists Jake Swanson and Sarah Marchitelli like to remind people that it was the classical romantic music scene of the mid-1800’s where the instrument was born. On Monday, October 13 at 7:30 pm in the Studio Theatre in the Stocker Center for the Arts, Jake & Sarah will return to Northeast Ohio to open the 2014-15 season of Lorain County Community College’s Signature Series. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Although it seems odd for an ensemble who have performed together for over two decades, Apollo’s Fire is beginning its season with some first-time performances of well-known works by Johann Sebastian Bach — at least in their best-known versions.
“The E-Major Violin Concerto is popular and famous, and probably everybody, including our soloist, Olivier Brault, has played it many times elsewhere,” Apollo’s Fire artistic director Jeannette Sorrell said in a Skype conversation. “It just so happens that we’ve never programmed it with Apollo’s Fire before. It’s a sparkling piece!” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Now that the greater Cleveland area can boast housing two significant organs tuned in mean-tone temperament, early music fans can enjoy the unusual opportunity of hearing a pair of nearly back-to-back recitals featuring the celebrated cornettist Bruce Dickey and his distinguished associate, organist Lieuwe Tamminga. Dickey and Tamminga will perform on Friday evening, October 10 at 7:30 pm in Fairchild Chapel at Oberlin College and again on Sunday afternoon, October 12 at 2:00 pm at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Michael Lynn, Oberlin Conservatory Professor of Recorder and Baroque Flute, founded the Medici Charitable Foundation in 2012 following a liver transplant that restored him to health and allowed him to continue his career as a performing artist and teacher.
The organization presents concerts by distinguished musicians to help raise funds for medical charities and research organizations. “Encore,” Medici’s next concert at Akron Civic Theatre on October 18 at 7:30 pm will benefit Lifebanc, a non-profit organization devoted to organ, eye and tissue recovery in Northeast Ohio. The performers will be the husband and wife piano team of Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Emanuela Friscioni. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“I first read the novel back in 1992 when I was living in Los Angeles. And right away I started thinking that it could make a great musical,” award-winning Northeast Ohio poet and playwright Brian Smallwood recalled during a telephone conversation. The novel Smallwood is referring to, Germinal, by French novelist Émile Zola, graphically portrays the dismal lives of coal miners and their families during the mid-1800s.