by Daniel Hathaway
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On this date in 1864, composer Richard Strauss was born in Munich. One of his last works was the Oboe Concerto, inspired by Pittsburgh Symphony principal oboe John de Lancie (later principal in Philadelphia), who met the composer at the end of World War II in Garimsch-Partenkirchen while serving in the U.S. Army.
Principal Frank Rosenwein played the work with Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra in September 2012, and again with CityMusic Cleveland in December, 2018. Watch a video here of the latter performance at St. Noel Church in Willoughby, conducted by Stefan Willich, and read a preview article by Jarrett Hoffman here.
Today would have marked the beginning of ChamberFest Cleveland’s 2020 series, now postponed until 2021. Since that coincides with Strauss’s birthday, it seems appropriate to suggest watching a video of his Metamorphosen for strings from ChamberFest’s June 27, 2016 concert at Chagrin Falls Methodist Church. The musicians are Noah Bendix-Balgley and Itamar Zorman, violins, Yura Lee and Teng Li, violas, Julie Albers and Timotheos Petrin, cellos, and Nathan Farrington, bass. (You can also hear the performance on July 26 as part of the nine archived ChamberFest concerts to be broadcast this summer by WCLV, 104.9 Ideastream. See the complete schedule here).
NEWS BRIEFS:
One of the victims of the powerful thunderstorms that ripped through Northeast Ohio on Wednesday evening was the Sandusky State Theatre, a vaudeville house built in 1928, and home to the Firelands Symphony Orchestra. Story here.
The New York Philharmonic announced on Wednesday that it is cancelling its fall season for 2020 (story here), followed by a similar message from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
New Music USA has named six composers who have been co-commissioned to write new orchestral works through its Amplifying Voices Program, supported by the Sphinx Venture Fund. Valerie Coleman, Juan Pablo Contreras, Tania León, Brian Raphael Nabors, Tyshawn Sorey, and Shelley Washington will each write new works to be premiered during the 2021-22 season and performed by a minimum of four orchestras (story here).
STREAMING TODAY:
It’s Strauss, Haydn, and Brahms (with Yefim Bronfman) on today’s Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra, John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles on the MET Opera’s HD Archives, and a new edition of Oberlin Stage Left featuring three works by Valerie Coleman performed by flutist Alexa Still and pianist Evan Hines. Details here.
