By Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. New episodes from Ohio Light Opera & ChamberFest Cleveland
. Guitar Society announces International Series
. Almanac milestones for Theodore Bloomfield, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Lang Lang & Henry Mancini
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 2pm in the College of Wooster’s Freedlander Theater, Ohio Light Opera presents the second of thirteen performances of Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe’s Camelot (pictured), and at 7:30 in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance, ChamberFest Cleveland leads off its 2023 season with “Body and Soul,” bringing music by Purcell head-to-head with works by Carl Frühling and Dvořák.
NEWS BRIEFS:
In an email blast, Cleveland Classical Guitar Society executive director Erik Mann has announced the artists who will be featured on next season’s International Series.
“We begin in September with the long-awaited live debut of Australian phenom Stephanie Jones, whose virtual concert for us has been viewed nearly a quarter of a million times. We continue with one of the great virtuosi, Israeli artist Tal Hurwitz, in collaboration with the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection. Our free Showcase of local artists takes a fun new multi-stylistic twist, including one of our region’s best-kept secrets, jazz guitarist Dan Wilson. Hermelindo Ruiz of Puerto Rico (who you may remember from our 2021 video collaborations with The Cleveland Orchestra) and Spanish guitarist Samuel Diz present music of their homelands. We wrap up in April with the long-awaited appearance of Celso Machado of Brazil, who will bring some surprises!
“All of these concerts will be held at the beautiful Maltz Performing Arts Center in University Circle. Dates, times, more info about these global artists, and tickets are all available here.”
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Born on this date: conductor and Oberlin grad Theodore Bloomfield in Cleveland (1923), composer, conductor, and pianist Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932), and Chinese pianist Lang Lang (1982). Departed: composer Henry Mancini (1994), who was born in Cleveland in 1924, studied with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ernst Kreneck and Alfred Sendrey, and won a total of 20 Grammys and 4 Oscars.
Listen to Bloomfield’s performance of Ravel’s “Feria” from Rhapsodie espagnole with the Rochester Philharmonia (2013), Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No. 1 and Lamentations for solo cello, Lang Lang’s interpretation of Chopin’s Grande Polonaise brillante, Op. 22 & an encore on the BBC’s Last Night at the Proms (2013) and Mancini leading his orchestra in a medley of his own hits: Pink Panther, Moon River, Baby Elephant Walk, and Peter Gunn.
