by Daniel Hathaway
IN MEMORIAM KRZYSZTOV PENDERECKI
Modernist Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki died on Sunday at his home in Krakow at the age of 86. Read an obituary in the New York Times here. He achieved recognition early in his career for such works as Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), Polymorphia (1961) and the St. Luke Passion (1966)
The Apollon Musagète Quartet played Penderecki’s Quartet No. 3, “Leaves from an unwritten diary” (2008) on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series on February 4 at Plymouth Church (read our review). Listen to a recording by the ensemble here. And violinist Diana Cohen and Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt joined Oliver Herbert for a performance of his Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello on the ChamberFest Cleveland series last June 13. Watch a video of their Mixon Hall performance here.
Although Penderecki didn’t write for the movies, his edgy music showed up in the sound tracks of Stanley Kubrick’s Shining and William Friedkin’s Exorcist — something to remember if you’re revisiting those films during the pandemic. He also influenced such popular artists as Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead.
MONDAY’S ONLINE HIGHLIGHTS:
Cleveland Opera Theater launches its family-friendly “Opera-101 Online” today at 12:15 pm as a live stream on Facebook. The staff welcomes questions for future sessions Monday through Friday (email them here). Later on Monday from 5-6 pm, Opera Club convenes for a weekly social-distance-safe meeting to discuss “all things opera.” This week the topic is Queen City Opera’s Iolanta. Join the discussion via Zoom.
Click in at 6:00 pm for today’s Virtual Concert from the Cleveland Institute of Music and hear clarinetist Shihao Hugh Zhu and pianist Yixuan Irina Hou perform Saint-Saëns’ Clarinet Sonata, Op. 167 from a concert on November 25, 2019. Follow this link at concert time.
HD archive streams from New York’s Metropolitan Opera continue tonight at 7:30 pm with Poulenc’ Dialogues des Carmélites, starring Isabel Leonard, Adrianne Pieczonka, and Karita Mattila, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, from May 11, 2019. Click here to watch. The stream will be available for 20 hours. (For best quality, the company advises the use of one of its apps: Apple, Google.)
CONCERT LISTING UPDATES:
Cleveland Classical Guitar Society has officially cancelled the recital by David Russell scheduled for April 18.
Rocky River Chamber Music Society has rescheduled the April 20 recital by saxophonist Steven Banks for May 18, when the performance by Banks, clarinetist Afendi Yusuf, and pianists Christine and Anthony Fuoco will be live streamed (no audience).