by Mike Telin
STREAMED CONCERTS:
Today at 12:00 pm, it’s Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra on WCLV 104.9 Ideastream. Franz Welser-Möst leads performances of Johann Strauss Jr: “Waltz” from Tales from the Vienna Woods, Haydn’s Piano Concerto No. 11 in D (Emanuel Ax) and Wagner’s “Prelude & Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde. Listen on the web.
At 7:00 pm, Local 4 Music Fund’s “Tuning In” series features pianist Eric Charnofsky. His program includes Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capriccioso, J.S. Bach’s English Suite No. 2, BWV 807, Debussy’s Suite Pour le Piano, Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Two Preludes, Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ Prelude for a Pensive Pupil (1958), Chopin’s Scherzo #2 in b-flat, Op. and Stravinsky’s Piano-Rag-Music (1919). Online only. Click here at start time. The concert is free, but donations are welcome.
There’s more happening in other parts of the country — check our Concert Listings page for details.
NEWS:
In honor of Baldwin Wallace University’s 175th anniversary, composer-in-residence and associate professor of composition Clint Needham has written a new fanfare commemorating the milestone. Needham’s music always has a way of grabbing your attention, and Inspiring Light does that from the very first note. Click here to listen to a performance by BW faculty and students.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Today we celebrate the births of two British musical luminaries who made their debuts on May 13. Both will have a presence in Northeast Ohio’s classical music scene this summer.
In 1842 composer Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan came into the world in London. Sullivan exhibited his musical prowess early on — at the age of eight he composed his first anthem and soon after became a soloist in the boys’ choir of the Chapel Royal. At age 14 the Royal Academy of Music awarded Sullivan the first Mendelssohn Scholarship, allowing him to pursue his musical studies at the Academy as well as the Leipzig Conservatory. His early works include a ballet, a symphony, and a cello concerto. His early catalogue features 80 popular songs, parlour ballads and hymns including Onward, Christian Soldiers. In addition to composing, Sullivan was employed as a church organist and music teacher.
Today Sullivan is best known for his fourteen operatic collaborations with William Schwenck Gilbert — their first being Thespis in 1871. Four years later Gilbert and Sullivan were commissioned to write a one-act piece, resulting in Trial by Jury. That opera will be presented this summer as part of Ohio Light Opera’s outdoor season. Click here for performance details.
In 1949 conductor Dame Jane Glover (pictured at top) was born in Helmsley, England. Glover’s first conducting experiences came while she was a student at Oxford. She made her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in 1975 leading the first modern performance of Eritrea. In 1979, she began her association with the Glyndebourne Festival and served as music director of its touring company from 1981 to 1985.
Glover was a regular on BBC Television during the1980s, hosting the series Orchestra with Jane Glover in 1983 and Mozart – His Life with Music in 1985. She served as music director of the London Mozart Players from 1984 to 1991 and since 2002, has been music director of the Chicago-based ensemble Music of the Baroque.
As an author, her book Mozart’s Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music delves into influences of the women surrounding the composer, and her Handel in London: The Making of a Genius, looks at the composer’s work as “immigrant musical genius, composer, performer and impresario.”
In 2018 at Severance Hall, Glover led The Cleveland Orchestra in her 100th performance of Handel’s Messiah. On July 11 at 7:00 pm, Dame Glover will return to the Orchestra’s podium for an all-Mozart concert at Blossom Music Center. The program includes the Divertimento for Strings in D, Piano Concerto No. 20 with soloist Benjamin Grosvenor, and the Symphony No. 40 in g. Click here for details.
Click here to listen to Glover “break down” Mozart’s Gran Partita, K. 361, movement by movement.
