by Daniel Hathaway
The Cleveland Orchestra announced the promotion of assistant conductor Vinay Parameswaren to associate conductor on Thursday, coinciding with the release of Episode 5 of In Focus, in which he leads works by Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, J.S. Bach, and John Adams. That concert remains viewable on-demand on the Adella platform, and Parameswaren’s contract has been extended through the 2021-2022 season (including the directorship of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.)
In the same news release, the Orchestra noted the availability of an exclusive interview with composer John Adams, whose Shaker Loops is featured on In Focus 5. Watch it here.
The latest Canton Symphony “Orchestrating Change” Podcast has just been released today. Episode 4, “Navigating the Unknown,” features Michelle Charles, who discusses her career path, and how she has navigated unexpected developments as the Orchestra’s Executive Director. What does an orchestral organization do when faced with events like COVID-19, racial injustice and the #MeToo movement? What is the responsibility of the orchestra and how can the orchestra push to orchestrate change to create a more diverse and inclusive future?” Watch here.
ONLINE TODAY:
Cleveland Chamber Music Society debuts the latest Front Row National program from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Available on-demand through February 2, the program features clarinetist David Shifrin in Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, Bassi’s Concert Fantasia on Verdi’s Rigoletto & Duke Ellington’s Clarinet Lament. Watch for free here.
No Exit New Music Ensemble debuts its January concert tonight, a pre-recorded program of works by Jeremy Rapaport-Stein, Inga Chinilina, Tyler Adamthwaite, Iannis Xenakis, and Giancinto Scelsi. Percussionist Luke Rinderknecht added a personal note to his social media post about the concert: “It’s my birthday! But also a streaming concert at 7pm in which I will tune some radio dials, tap some books, and clink a few glasses for you. Join me?”
And streaming from Oberin, actor-comedian Ed Helms and Punch Brothers guitarist Chris Eldridge engage in Red Herring Conversations, “an opportunity to ruminate about their Oberlin days, reflect upon their influential mentors, and share plans for Eldridge’s first semester as visiting associate professor of contemporary American acoustic music.” Click here at 7:30 pm to watch the conversation on Oberin Stage Left (available later on-demand.)
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
It’s interesting that two British composers who have achieved cult status rather than wide acceptance were both born on January 29 — Frederick Delius in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1862, and Havergal Brian in Dresden, Staffordshire in 1876.
Delius’ music was championed by conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, and one click will take you to an 8-1/2 hour compendium of his complete orchestral and choral music led by Beecham.
Brian, mostly self-taught and largely supported by a wealthy businessman, wrote 32 symphonies, including the mammoth “Gothic” Symphony No. 1, which Oscar Wilde might have foreseen in his bon not, “Nothing succeeds like excess.” Brian’s allies on the podium were Sir Adrian Boult, who was persuaded to conduct his 8th Symphony in 1954, and Leopold Stokowski, who led the 28th Symphony in a BBC broadcast in 1973 when both composer and conductor were 91.
Watch An Introduction to Havergal Brian’s symphonies and orchestral music by Malcolm MacDonald here, and follow the score along with a nearly two-hour-long performance of the “Gothic Symphony” by the Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Mark the birth on this date in 1924 of Italian composer Luigi Nono, with a performance of his Il canto sospeso, commemorating the victims of fascism. He wrote the work at the age of 32, a piece that first brought him to international prominence.
And celebrate the natal day in 1971 of German composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher, who became director of the Ensemble InterContemporain in 2013. An occasional guest conductor with The Cleveland Orchestra, Pintscher’s Chute d’Étoiles received its premiere by the ensemble at the Lucerne Festival in August of 2012 under Franz Welser-Möst with trumpet soloists Michael Sachs and Jack Sutte. Had it not been for COVID-19, Pintscher would have conducted the premiere of Oded Zahavi’s Piccolo Concerto with Mary Kay Fink at Severance Hall last April.
As a consolation prize, here’s a performance of Pintscher’s Cello Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln led by François-Xavier Roth, recorded on October 1, 2019, in the Cologne Philharmonie.