by Daniel Hathaway
The Cleveland Institute of Music has announced the appointments of JoAnn Falletta as artistic advisor to the CIM Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor Vinay Parameswaran to the conducting faculty. Falletta will advise the school in its search for a permanent conductor, and lead five CIM Orchestra concerts over the next three years. Parameswaran, who is also music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, will work directly with graduate level conducting students.
NEW ONLINE EVENTS TODAY:
Piano Cleveland’s Virtu(al)oso online competition begins tonight at 7, when contestants Josquin Otal, Tian Tang, Elia Cecino, Roman Kosyakov, and Xiaoya Wan play 20-minute solo programs pre-recorded at Steinway Galleries in the U.S., Europe, and China. The program book is available for viewing here, and the session will be streamed on Piano Cleveland’s website.
Tonight at 7:30 pm,“Linking Legacies,” the latest episode of Oberlin Stage Left features Academic Support Dean Chris Jenkins, pianist Dianna White-Gould, and vocalist Matthew Jones in a concert featuring Oberlin-connected Black composers H. Leslie Adams, Dolores White, Hale Smith, and George Walker. Click here to watch.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
George Szell, Cleveland Orchestra music director for 24 years, died on this day in 1970 in Hannah House at University Hospitals — during a Blossom concert conducted by Pierre Boulez, who had the task of informing the players following the performance. Read an obituary by Donal Henahan published the following day in The New York Times (the article has been automatically digitized and is full of misreadings of the original, but it’s worth reading for the collection of anecdotes that Henahan has included).
Listen to WCLV’s “Cleveland Orchestra on the Radio” on Saturday, August 21 at 8:00 pm for a rebroadcast in Szell’s honor of that Boulez performance.
On July 30, 1921, American pianist Grant Johanneson was born in Salt Lake City. President of the Cleveland Institute of Music from 1974 to 1985, he was a frequent guest performer with The Cleveland Orchestra. Click here to listen to a live performance of de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain by Johanneson and The Cleveland Orchestra under Loren Maazel ca. 1978.
And back in 1899, English pianist and celebrated accompanist Gerald Moore was born on this date in Watford. During his long career, he appeared on stage and in recordings with most of the eminent singers of his time, and did much to elevate the role of the pianist in recitals. As humorous as he was accomplished as a performer, Moore wrote a number of books: The Unashamed Accompanist, Am I Too Loud? and Furthermoore — Interludes in an accompanist’s life.
Listen here to his witty recorded version of The Unashamed Accompanist from 1955. And click here to listen to his recording of six Richard Strauss songs with Janet Baker, recorded in 1968.