R.I.P. SHIRLEY MORGENSTERN TOPILOW
Conductor Carl Topilow announced on social media over the weekend that his wife, Shirley Morgenstern Topilow, with whom he co-founded the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, passed away at home on Saturday at the age of 79. Read more here.
A memorial service and celebration of her life will be held on Wednesday, October 15 at 11 am at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights.
HAPPENING TODAY:
12 Noon – Tuesdays at the Covenant: organist Mikhail Grazhdanov plays music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Juan Bautista José Cabanilles, Bernardo Storace & François Couperin at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle.
CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES BOARD CHANGES:
“Following its annual meeting on October 9, The Cleveland Orchestra announced the election of Richard J. Kramer, former Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, as Chair of its Board of Trustees.
“Kramer, a longtime business and community leader, joined The Cleveland Orchestra’s Board of Trustees in 2018 and has served as Vice Chair since 2023. He has played an active role on several committees, including the Campaign Cabinet, Distinguished Service Award, Nominating and Governance, and Personnel committees. Most recently, he served as chair of the Finance Committee in 2024.
“Kramer becomes the 14th individual to hold this position in the Orchestra’s history, succeeding Richard K. Smucker, who served from 2017 to 2025. Smucker, for whom the President & CEO Chair was recently named in recognition of his extraordinary leadership and generosity, was also the recipient of this year’s Distinguished Service Award, the institution’s highest honor recognizing individuals whose exceptional commitment and service have shaped the Orchestra’s success.”
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Today marks the passing of American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, who died on this date in 1990 of a heart attack in his New York apartment at The Dakota. He was 72 years old.
Unfortunately for Northeast Ohio audiences, his sole appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra was a 1970 performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony at Blossom.
In our August 25, 2020 Diary, we honored Bernstein’s birth by going behind the scenes for a look at “Lenny” in rehearsal — a process even more revealing than a resulting performance.
Click here to watch Bernstein rehearse Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring during the 1987 International Conductor’s Competition and Master Course at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany. And in a separate clip, he takes the triangle players in Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette aside for a brief tutorial.”
September 8 marked the 50th anniversary of the world premiere of Bernstein’s MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers commissioned for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the nation’s capital in 1971. Click here to read more about the work.
And click here to watch Bernstein lead the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in his Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story.”
