by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
Today at Noon, Oberlin organ major and Covenant music intern Owen Metz will play Nicolas de Grigny’s Veni Creator Spiritus (Livre d’orgue, 1699) & Max Reger’s Phantasie über “Wie schön leuchtet uns der Morgenstern” at the Church of the Covenant, 11205 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland. Click here for the live stream. Freewill offering.
For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CIM graduate Sam Rosenthal won first prize in the UK’s Lionel Tertis International Competition for violists aged 19 to 30, performing in the final round with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. The competition, held concurrently with the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead from 19-25 January, was live streamed, and videos are available to watch on The Violin Channel. (Above: photos of Aronowitz winner Xunyu Zhou and Sam Rosenthal by Thomas Jackson).
New digital releases available beginning today on The Cleveland Orchestra’s Adella platform include concerts led by Thomas Adès with violinist Pekka Kuusisto, and Barbara Hannigan with soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou, and in case you missed it, the January 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration concert (accessible through January 30).
Click here to read Stephanie Manning’s interview with Emanuel Ax on the Oberlin Conservatory website about his Oberlin Artist Recital Series concert next Tuesday with clarinetist Anthony McGill.
And Akron’s Tuesday Musical reminds us of the February 1 deadline for applying for its Scholarship Programs. Click here for details.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
by Mike Telin
January 28 marks the birth of Polish-American pianist Arthur Rubinstein in 1887 in Łódź, Poland. With a career spanning eight decades, he is regarded as one of the greatest pianists — and the greatest interpreter of Chopin — of all time. Relocating to California during WWII, he became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in 1946.
He also lent his talents to Hollywood, providing piano soundtracks for films, including Song of Love with Katharine Hepburn, and playing himself in Carnegie Hall and Of Men and Music. Click here to watch a documentary of his life with historic film footage.
On this date in 1944, British avant-garde composer John Tavener was born in London. We featured his life in a Daily Diary for November 12, marking the date of his death.
And on January 28 in 1956 American composer and Oberlin alum Richard Danielpour was born in New York City. Click here to watch pianist, Oberlin alum, and Tuesday Musical Scholarship recipient Chelsea de Souza perform his Enchanted Garden, Book I.
Finally, today we note the passing of violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler on this date in 1962. Like Rubinstein, he was regarded as one of the greatest musicians of all time. Listen to a WQXR interview on his 80th birthday in 1955 here. Kreisler was famous for his encores, and you can binge-listen to two hours of them here.
