by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
There are no events on the calendar for this Monday, but visit our Concert Listings for details of upcoming performances.
SAVE THE DATE:
Cleveland Silent Film Festival director Emily Laurance announces that the festival will celebrate Silent Movie Day on September 29 with the screening of two films at the CIA’s Cinematheque: Ernst Lubitsch’s 1918 take on Carmen starring Pola Negri, and Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad from 1924. Both will be accompanied by pianist Philip Carli. Details here.
PASSINGS:
The Brazilian-born pianist, composer and arranger Sergio Mendez rose to fame with the group Brasil ’66 and continued to be a force in popular music for more than sixty years. His death on Thursday in a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 83 was due to Long Covid.
A New York Times obituary noted that “The Mendes sound was deceptively sophisticated rhythmically but gentle on the ears, suavely amplifying the original guitar-centered murmur of bossa nova with expansive keyboard-driven arrangements and cooing vocal lines that usually included Mr. Mendes himself chiming in alongside a front line of two female singers.”
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
British organ virtuoso Edwin H. LeMare (pictured) was born on the Isle of Wight on this date in 1865. After establishing his credentials as a concert organist in England, he embarked on a 100-recital tour in the United States and Canada, and spent the rest of his career in North America. He died in Hollywood in 1934.
LeMare stood head and shoulders among other performers in the era when huge crowds turned out to hear mainly transcriptions of orchestral music played on gigantic instruments often located in municipal halls.
For a sampling of his performances of those adaptations as well as items from the standard organ literature, visit his family’s memorial website and listen to some rolls LeMare made on the Welte Philharmonic Organ.
