by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
Due to the Labor Day holiday, this week’s Thursday newsletter will be published on Friday.
At 12 Noon, the Cleveland Institute of Music launches Museum Melodies, free, one-hour programs initially featuring pianists on Thursdays and Fridays in the visitors hall of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Dr., Cleveland.
And at 6:30 pm, even though fall seems to have begun, the Canton Symphony’s Summer Serenades continue with a Woodwind Quintet performance at Plain Township Amphitheatre.
Continuing their European Tour, The Cleveland Orchestra are in Slovakia today to play a concert in Bratislava’s Reduta Hall. On the agenda: Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Pytor Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Franz Welser-Möst is on the podium and Víkingur Ólafsson is the soloist.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Founders Ronald and Eugenia Strauss (pictured) having retired after being honored with the Cleveland Arts Prize for their 20 years at the helm of CityMusic Cleveland, the peripatetic chamber orchestra and chamber ensemble is launching its 21st season under the interim leadership of longtime Cleveland Orchestra bassist Henry Perebruyne. Read a press release with performance dates. venues, and repertory for its 16 forthcoming orchestra concerts and 5 chamber music performances here.
Temporarily homeless while CIM’s Kulas Hall is under renovation, CIM Opera Theater will stage three shows in alternative venues: a new adaptation by Michael Borowitz of Emmanuel Chabrier’s 1877 operetta l’Étoile in the Westfield Theatre in Playhouse Square (Nov. 16-17), a newly commissioned arrangement of Nico Muhly’s 2011 opera Dark Sisters (February 1-2) in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Mimi Ohio Theatre in Playhouse Square (April 23 & 25). JJ Hudson is innnterim stage director, Harry Davidson will lead the Charbrier and Mozart titles, and the Muhly will be conducted by Rakefet Hak of Opera UCLA.
Apollo’s Fire will present 7 programs featuring music by Johann Sebastian Bach in its 29 local concerts this season, including Brandenburg Concertos, the Magnificat, and the B-minor Mass. Read a press release with details of dates, venues, and programs here.
Two organizations will hold open houses to introduce their programs to the public. On Saturday, September 7 at 6 pm, the Youngstown Symphony will host an informal meet and greet with its new music director, Sergey Bogza, at Stambaugh Auditorium (with light appetizers and a cash bar). And on Tuesday, September 10 at 6 pm, Summit Choral Society will introduce interested new singers to its children’s choir program at Akron’s Summit ArtSpace (140 E. Market St.).
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On September 5, a long list of debuts and departures includes Johann Christian Bach (“The English Bach,” born in 1735), Canadian pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin (born in 1961), and Hungarian-born conductor Sir Georg Solti (who, before he passed on in 1997 was knighted honorarily in 1971 and substantively in 1972 when he became a British citizen).
Other names that pop up on the fifth day of September: German opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born 1791), Amy (Mrs. H.H.A.) Beach (born 1867), American revolutionary John Cage (born 1912), English composer Peter Racine Fricker (born 1920), and Mexican conductor Edouarda Mata (born 1942).
Episode 84 of Living the Classical Life, presents Zsolt Bognár’s conversation with Marc-André Hamelin, filmed on October 21, 2019. “The narrative centers around the preparation and mindset for a Carnegie Hall appearance, and how Hamelin has managed to find a zone of performance completely free of the nerves that often plague others. Unique anecdotes and insights into his inner world reveal many surprises from a prolific musical life.” Watch here.
