by Daniel Hathaway
WELCOME TO JUNE and the beginning of Summer in our hemisphere, with much in the way of outdoor chores to accomplish, as illustrated, left, by the Limbourg brothers in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1416). June has also become the month of music festivals in Northeast Ohio. Today’s newsletter features articles about some that begin this week.
Month-long celebrations in the U.S. make June African-American Music Appreciation Month, as well as Great Outdoors Month, LGBTQ+ Awareness and Pride Month, and National Oceans Month (time to do something about all that plastic).
And June is National Smile Month in the U.K., whose subjects also happen to be marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II — a nice coincidence for the first time that any British monarch has celebrated a platinum jubilee.
In recognition of the occasion, the U.K. will create a four-day Jubilee bank holiday from June 2-5 to include a “once-in-a-generation show” that will “mix the best of British ceremonial splendour and pageantry with cutting-edge artistic and technological displays.”
And today being the first Wednesday of June, why not refine your exploration of the Great Outdoors by observing Global Running Day or World Bicycle Day?
TODAY’S EVENTS:
Ever wonder how musicians can make up music on the spot? PianoCleveland’s Listening Series brings GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist and composer Gerald Clayton to town for “Conversations on Improvisation” at the Bop Stop on June 1 at 7:30 pm (repeated at the same hour on June 2). Ticket price includes small bites and a drink ticket. Book here.
To check out concerts happening this week see our Concert Listings.
NEWS BRIEFS:
On Friday, June 3 at 7:00 pm, The Cleveland Orchestra will release a new “In Focus” episode on its Adella platform. “London Calling” features conductor Jane Glover and pianist Imogen Cooper in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, Britten’s Suite on English Folk Tunes, and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
Adella writes, “We’ll visit Glover in her London home as she reflects on music by her fellow countrymen, her enduring collaboration with Cooper, and her lifelong connection with Mozart (as she prepares a follow-up to her book, Mozart’s Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music). Click here for access.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Two future piano makers entered the world on June 1: Ignaz Joseph Pleyel in 1757 near Vienna, and Carl F.W. Bechstein in Gotha in 1826.
Pleyel, a student of Haydn, was active in the French cathedral town of Strasbourg until the Revolution, when he fled to London, returning to Paris after the Terror to establish Pleyel et Cie in 1807. The firm began building instruments with metal frames, and introduced the “cottage” or upright piano in 1815, and the double piano in 1890. Pleyel also supplied Albert Schweitzer with a “jungle” piano built with tropical wood and an added pedalboard, brought out the first chromatic harp, and contributed to the harpsichord revival with modern instruments built for Wanda Landowska. The company finally stopped producing instruments in 2013.
Bechstein established his company in Germany in 1853, building a solid reputation that got complicated during the 20th century when his son Edwin and his wife became ardent Nazi sympathizers. But before that, in 1901, Carl Bechstein opened the 600-seat Bechstein Hall in London next to his showroom, a beloved venue with superb acoustics that was renamed The Wigmore Hall after 1916, when the entire complex was sold in the wake of anti-German sentiment.,
Watch a video made by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in the Wigmore Hall in March, 2017 on a recently restored 1899 Bechstein instrument. He chose to play works by composers who had direct connections to Bechstein — Liszt, Scriabin, Debussy, Julian Anderson and Nikolay Obdukhov.
And two famous singers made different debuts on this date: American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade was born in 1945 in Somerville, N.J., and Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti first appeared onstage in Covent Garden in 1966 as Tonio in Donizetti’s La Fille du régiment, an occasion that earned him the title, ‘King of the High C’s.’
Enjoy von Stade’s performance of William Bolcom’s cabaret song Amor here, and catch up on her career with two video interviews. In the first, a WFMT backstage chat at Chicago Lyric Opera, she reflects on highlights of her professional life, and in the second, she joins Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to talk about “secrets, long careers, and friendship” during the BBC Cardiff’s Singer of the World 2019 Fringe Benefit.
As for Pavarotti, enjoy his silver jubilee concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1986.
