by Stephanie Manning
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 7:30 pm, the trio Biribá Union (pictured) performs in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall. Cellist Mike Block, percussionist/vocalist Christylez Bacon, and electric bassist Patricia Ligia blend original music with global influences. Reserve your free ticket and find the livestream link here.
For those wanting to hear some keyboard instruments, there are two options for you:
• At 12 noon, organist and Oberlin associate professor Jonathan W. Moyer performs on the Tuesdays at the Covenant series. This freewill offering takes place at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle.
• And 5:30 pm marks Fairmount Presbyterian Church’s first Rush Hour Concert of the season, “It Takes Two.” Jim Riggs and Dillon Shipman combine their organ and piano skills in this free program, which features Clifford Demarest’s Fantasia for organ and piano.
For details on these and more upcoming concerts, visit our Concert Listings.
NEWS BRIEFS:
After a years-long search, the Seattle Symphony recently announced Xian Zhang as the group’s new music director. Her contract begins in the 2025-26 season. Zhang, who currently leads the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in 2017. She will become the first woman and person of color to lead the Seattle Symphony, and one of only a few women in the country to lead a major orchestra. Read more here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On this day in 1931, record company RCA Victor introduced a new product to the consumer market: the long-playing 33 1/3 rpm vinyl. These discs were called Project Transcription, and they represent one of the earliest efforts to bring the long-playing (or LP) record to market.
With the capacity to hold fifteen minutes of music per side, these discs were a prime opportunity for classical music content, like symphonies. The first record in this format to be released was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Leopold Stokowski.
Unfortunately, the Project Transcription format only lasted a few years on the market. The economic stress of the Great Depression, combined with various technological issues and complaints, relegated these records into obscurity by 1933.
However, the long-form vinyl trend was just getting started. In 1948, Columbia Records released their own version of the 33 1/3 rpm record with new microgroove technology, leading to an intense rivalry between Columbia and RCA that became known as the “War of the Speeds.” The subsequent innovations paved the way for vinyl’s dominance in the music industry — one which would diminish near the turn of the century, but is now making a roaring comeback.
