by Stephanie Manning
HAPPENING TODAY:
Happy Monday! Believe it or not, December is now more than halfway over.
As The Cleveland Orchestra takes a break from their holiday programming today, The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight visits Severance Music Center. The 8:00 pm concert features 14 classical musicians in selections from rock and metal music, performed while surrounded by candles.
For more details on this concert and more, visit our Concert Listings.
INTERESTING READ:
Preparing for an opera role is already difficult enough — but for soprano Elza van den Heever (pictured), living with dyslexia makes things much harder. In this recent profile from The New York Times, the South African-born singer discusses the complex process that goes into mastering her roles, including the Empress in Strauss’s Die Frau Ohne Schatten.
“Still, she no longer sees dyslexia as a hindrance — just a different way of learning,” writes Javier C. Hernández. “‘A dyslexic brain makes you think outside the box in a weird way,’ she said. ‘I don’t look at it as a handicap anymore.’”
Photo credit: James Estrin
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Mike Telin
On this day in 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. In response to a request for a comment, we received a text from the composer saying: “Enough with the celebrating, I’m 254 years old. Leave me alone already.”
However, if you still want to keep the party going, click here to read musicologist John Wilson’s 2021 essay on why we should change the way we program Beethoven in his anniversary year.
December 16 also saw the birth of American operatic tenor James McCracken in Gary, Indiana in 1926. Hailed by The New York Times as “the most successful dramatic tenor yet produced by the United States…” McCracken began singing in his church choir during childhood.
The tenor, who studied music at Columbia University, made his professional opera debut in 1952 in the role of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème with Colorado’s Central City Opera.
While still a student, he sang minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and in 1957 made his debut at the Vienna State Opera. In 1963 he began his long association with The Met, and quickly became one of the company’s principal dramatic tenors.
Click here to listen to McCracken sing Nessun dorma with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Lamberto Gardelli.
