by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
In conjunction with the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Picasso and Paper exhibition, guitarist Pipo Romero makes his Cleveland debut in a 7:30 concert at Transformer Station.
Visit our Concert Listings page for details and ticket information for these and other performances.
NEWS BRIEFS:
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has made significant changes to its regulations around federal grant applications — stating that grant recipients may not “operate any programs promoting ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’(DEI).
“Further, the organization’s updated guidelines make clear that ‘federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology.’
“Hundreds of artists signed a letter sent to the National Endowment for the Arts asking it to reverse policy changes made as a result of recent executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.
“We oppose this betrayal of the Endowment’s mission to ‘foster and sustain an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States,’ the letter said.”
Read the National Public Radio story here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Howard Hanson, American conductor, composer, and longtime director of the Eastman School of Music, died on this date in 1981 in Rochester, NY.
An unrepentant Romantic, Hanson left a legacy of expressive works that deserve more performances than they receive these days. His Second Symphony, subtitled “Romantic” sets the tone here in a performance by the Peabody Symphony led by Joseph Young.
Flutist Erika Boysen illustrates a performance of his Serenade for flute, harp, and strings with American artwork here, and organist Thomas Sheehan is featured in his Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Harp in a concert from Harvard’s Memorial Church led by University Organist Edward Elwyn Jones.
And here’s a performance of Hanson’s mystical Cherubic Hymn led by the composer.
On February 26, 2013, French organist Marie-Claire Alain made her sortie at the age of 86 in the Paris suburb of Le Pecq. She succeeded her father as organist of the church of Sain-Germain-en-Laye, playing there for 40 years.
Among her 260 recordings are three complete cycles of the works of J.S. Bach. Watch a brief documentary here, be a fly on the wall as she gives a lesson to a Czech organ student in 2006, and watch a tribute concert at Saint-Sulpice by four of her students (George Baker, Edgar Krapp, Daniel Roth, and Vincent Warnier) on June 15, 2014.
