by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•JazzFest: application deadline tonight to perform outdoors, and tickets available for indoor concerts
•Akron Symphony announces 2024-25 Classic Series
•Audition appointments open for Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Blossom Festival Chorus, and Cleveland Orchestra Youth and Children’s Choruses
•Almanac: Johann Friedrich Fasch, Bessie Smith, and Sir Neville Marriner
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Today is the last day for local and regional bands to apply to perform at the Tri-C JazzFest outdoor stage during the festival’s 45th season this summer at Playhouse Square. Fourteen acts will be chosen to perform between 3:00 pm and midnight on Friday and Saturday, June 21-22, and a variety of musical genres will be considered, ranging from jazz to blues, R&B, funk, gospel, jamband, and reggae. Click here to apply.
And tickets are now on sale for this summer’s nine JazzFest indoor concerts taking place June 20-22. Performers include TAKE 6, Jason Moran and The Bandwagon, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Marcus Miller / Bob James Quartet, Scary Goldings, Artemis / Flying Home: A Trumpet Summit, Harold López-Nussa / Diego Figueiredo, Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio II featuring Gerald Clayton and Marvin Sewell, and Ledisi.
The Akron Symphony has announced its 2024-25 Classic Series, which includes performances of works such as Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Holst’s The Planets, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. Click here for season subscriptions and flex packages.
Audition appointments are now open for The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and the Blossom Festival Chorus (May 21, May 29, and June 1), The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus (April 20 and May 19), and The Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Choruses (May 19 and May 20). Auditions take place at University Circle United Methodist Church. Make an appointment here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Mike Telin
We begin today’s birthday celebrations back in 1688 when German violinist and composer Johann Friedrich Fasch entered this world on April 15 in Buttelstedt, Thuringia.
Fasch’s work took him to Prague, where for two years he served as Kapellmeister and court composer to Count Morzin. In 1722, he accepted the same position at Zerbst, where he remained until his death. Also in 1722, Fasch was recruited for the position of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, but withdrew his name for consideration. The position was later filled by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach.
Fasch, a prolific composer whose music was often performed in his lifetime, wrote cantatas, concertos, symphonies, and chamber music. Sadly, most of his catalogue has been lost.
Johann Friedrich Fasch did leave us with a lovely bassoon sonata. Click here to hear the 4th movement performed by Katarzyna Zdybel (bassoon) and Katarzyna Kluczewska (piano).
This date in 1894 saw the birth of American blues singer Bessie Smith in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Nicknamed the “Empress of the Blues,” Smith was one of, if not the most popular female blues singers of the ‘20s and ‘30s.
After the death of her parents, Smith and her siblings earned money by performing on street corners. She later toured in a group that included Ma Rainey before setting out on her own. Smith was signed to Columbia Records in the 1920s, and her songs such as Jail House Blues, Prison Blues, and Send Me to the Lectric Chair addressed social issues including chain gangs, the convict lease system, and capital punishment. Unfortunately her life was cut short when she was killed in a car accident at the age of 43. Click here to listen to a 1929 recording of Smith singing St. Louis Blues.
We conclude today’s birthday celebrations in the year 1924 when English conductor and violinist Sir Neville Marriner entered the world in Lincoln. As a violinist, Marriner played with the Philharmonia and London Symphony orchestras. He also performed with the chamber orchestras of Reginald Jacques, Boyd Neel, and the London Mozart Players.
Marriner is best known as the founder of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, of which the ensemble’s discography is legendary. He was also the founder and first music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, and principal conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. Click here to read more about his productive career, and here to listen to Marriner conduct the ASMF in the Orchestral Suites of J.S. Bach.