by Mike Telin
TODAY’S EVENTS:
The next “A Little Night Music” series is tonight at 6:30 pm at the Cleveland History Center Concert Series. The performers include Evelyn Wright, vocals (pictured), and David Thomas, keyboards. Seating provided, and drinks and food available for purchase. Ticket price includes admission to the Center. Western Reserve Historical Society, 10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland. Click here for tickets.
There’re plenty of concerts happening in the area the weekend — check our concert listings page for details.
The Crafting Change symposium continues today at 3:00 pm with “Power Ground Water” Interdisciplinary artist and NYU educator Taylor Levy addresses the ways technology as a medium for expression means different things to different people — and specifically what it means to Levy, through her work in the studio and the classroom. The fascinating series continues through June 18. Click here for details.
IN THE NEWS:
The Center for Arts-Inspired Learning (CAL) has announced that Sheffia Randall Dooley has been appointed the new CEO and President of the organization. An experienced arts administrator and leader, Dooley succeeds Marsha Dobrzynski whose retirement on June 30 comes after a celebrated 27-year tenure leading the organization. Dooley will assume responsibilities on July 1.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Today we mark the passing of British composer Frederick Delius in 1934 in Grez-sur-Loing, France. On a personal note, I fell in love with his music as a teenager playing “Walk to the Paradise Garden,” from his opera A Village Romeo and Juliet, in youth symphony. At the time, little did I know that The Paradise Garden was actually a Pub. Unlike many composers whose music I was initially taken by, my feelings for Delius have never waned. Click here to listen to a performance by the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir John Barbirolli.
Born in Bradford, England on January 29 1862, Frederick Theodore Albert Delius had little interest in the family business. In 1884 he was sent to Florida to manage an orange plantation. Realizing that orange business was not for him, Delius returned to Europe two years later.
His first musical successes came in Germany in the late 1890s although his music was regularly seen on British concert programmes until conductor Sir Thomas Beecham became a champion of his works. In 1909 Beecham conducted the full premiere of A Mass of Life, and a year later he staged the opera A Village Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden. In 1929 the conductor produced a six- day Delius festival as well as recording of many of his works. Although in his later life Delius contracted syphilis and was left both paralysed and blind, he completed late compositions with the assistance of his scribe, Eric Fenby.
Click here to watch the documentary A Portrait of Frederick Delius: Life and work of the English Romantic composer. The hour-long program includes commentary from Sir Charles Mackerras, the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, violinist Tasmin Little, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, baritone Thomas Hampson, the Brindisi Quartet, the Brabant Orchestra of Holland, conducted by Richard Armstrong, and the Brighton Festival Chorus. Additionally, Robert Threlfall of the Delius Trust explains his continuing work on the complete edition and his fascinating research into the original manuscripts and Sir Thomas Beecham’s editing and Dr. Eric Fenby talks about his time with the composer.
