by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:
First, the repeating events: On Saturday, *The Cleveland Orchestra & Chorus continues its series of holiday concerts with Capathia Jenkins (2:30 & 7:30 at Severance, repeated at the same times on Sunday), *Cleveland Chamber Choir offers Iberian holiday music (7 pm at first Baptist, a second performance), Summit Choral Society sings by candlelight (7:30 in St. Bernard, Akron, repeated on Sunday at 2:30) & *Apollo’s Fire’s celebrates an Irish-Appalachian Christmas (pictured) 8 pm at Federated Church in Chagrin Falls, repeated on Sunday at 4:30 at the Cleveland Museum of Art).
On Saturday, the MET Opera Matinee broadcast is an abridged, English language version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Noon on WCLV), Burning River Brass plays original arrangements (7:30 at The Bath Church, Akron), & TrueNorth Chorale & Chamber Orchestra perform Holiday Classics (7:30 at Avon Lake Presbyterian).
On Sunday, the Canton Symphony’s Holiday Pops is sold out, but the Chancel Choir of Bath Church presents a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (3 pm at Bath Church in Akron), & the Lake Erie Wind Quintet presents the tale of The Flutist Who Stole Christmas at Franklin Circle Church on Cleveland’s near West Side.
Visit our Concert Listings for details of these performances, and see our Previews and Reviews for articles about starred events.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Cleveland Opera Theater will collaborate with the Cedar Lee Theatre to offer a free talk by Stephanie Ruozzo, COT’s Director of Education and Engagement, before every MET Live in HD screening, beginning with the January 6 simulcast of Verdi’s Nabucco. “She’ll offer historical background as well as some tips and tricks for listening to old operas with fresh ears. Each talk will begin between 12:35 and 12:40.” Details here.
Ideastream reports on troubles at Cleveland Ballet, whose artistic director is under investigation and whose interim artistic director has now resigned, and writes that Cuyahoga Arts and Culture has ended a difficult year with an apology to artists.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
December 16 — By Mike Telin:
On this day in 1770 Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. In response to a request for a comment, we received a text from the composer saying: “Enough with the celebrating, I’m 252 years-old. Leave me alone already.”
However, if you still want to keep the party going, click here to read musicologist John Wilson’s 2021 essay on why we should change the way we program Beethoven in his anniversary year.
December 16 also saw the birth of American operatic tenor James McCracken in Gary, Indiana in 1926. Hailed by The New York Times as “the most successful dramatic tenor yet produced by the United States…” McCracken began singing in his church choir during childhood.
The tenor, who studied music at Columbia University, made his professional opera debut in 1952 in the role of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème with Colorado’s Central City Opera.
While still a student, he sang minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and in 1957 made his debut at the Vienna State Opera. In 1963 he began his long association with The Met, and quickly became one of the company’s principal dramatic tenors.
Click here to listen to McCracken sing Nessun dorma with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Lamberto Gardelli.
December 17
By some calendars, the first Saturnalia festival was held on this date in Rome in 497 BCE, just one of the ancient Winter Solstice-centered events that might have influenced modern Christmas celebrations way down the line, including such traditions as the Christmas card, the first example having been commissioned on this date in 1843 by Henry Cole, founder of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
December 17, 1890 witnessed the first performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg. The libretto for the 2-act work was adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann’s 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and the piece shared the program with a second commissioned work, the composer’s opera Iolanta. Tchaikovsky wrote parts of the score in Rouen, France, and suspended his work for three weeks in order to travel to New York to inaugurate Carnegie Hall.
Click here to view a much-praised concert version of Nutcracker performed by the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nezet-Seguin, recorded in December 2010 in De Doelen te Rotterdam.
Most famous works like The Nutcracker have spawned parodies, of which we’ll mention only two: Spike Jones presents for the Kiddies: The Nutcracker Suite (With Apologies to Tchaikovsky), which came out in 1945, and most recently, The Graham Cracker, a modern dance parody dedicated to choreographer Martha Graham.
