by Daniel Hathaway & Mike Telin
IN THIS EDITION:
. So many events both holiday-themed and otherwise! Helpfully, most will receive more than a single performance, widening your choices
. Weekend Almanac: remembering anniversaries of Vincent d’Indy & William Grant Still
THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:
The Cleveland Orchestra will present their final classical concerts before Holiday events swing into action. On Friday at 11:00 am and on Saturday at 8:00 pm Vasily Petrenko will lead Elgar’s Cockaigne (“In London Town”), Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Behzod Abduraimov as soloist, and Walton’s Symphony No. 1. Tickets are available online.
On Friday December 2 at 8:00 pm, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project welcomes drummer Matt Evans and performance artist Marcia Custer. You can catch them at Convivium 33 Gallery in Cleveland. Suggested donation $15.
Also on Friday at 7:30 pm you can catch Duo Sororii in Concert — Carolina Borja, cello, loop pedals & vocals & Arleigh Savage, bassoon, loop pedals & backing vocals. Original compositions from their first major project, Esperanza: a cross-cultural collaboration. This indie-world ensemble formed in 2021 to reclaim sisterhood and explore feminine voices across cultures. Root Café, Lakewood. Free.
On Saturday at 8:00 pm No Exit will present World premieres of works by David Glaser, Frank Wiley and Max Friedman at Praxis Fiber Gallery. Free.
And on Sunday at 5:00 pm – Sacred Heart Concert Series: Shulamit Ran’s “Birkat Haderekh” – Blessing for the Road and selections from works by Felix Mendelssohn (String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5) and Paquito D’Rivera (Four Pieces for Brass Quintet). Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Oberlin. Free.
Now for the seasonal concerts.
On Friday at 8:00 pm at St. John Cantius Church in Tremont and on Saturday at 8:00 pm at St. Paschal Baylon Church in Highland Heights Jay White directs Quire Cleveland in Carols for Quire XII: Angels and Shepherds. The performances are free. Read a preview article here.
On Friday, December 2 at 7:30 pm at Disciples Christian Church, Les Délices will present “Rejoice — Bach Cantatas for Advent.” The setlist includes Schwingt freudig euch empor (BWV 36) and Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (BWV 62). An all-star cast of one-on-a-part vocalists and period instrumentalists brings Bach’s unique compositional voice to vivid life. This program travels to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron on Saturday at 7:30 pm and to Lakewood Presbyterian Church on Sunday at 4:00 pm. Tickets are available online.
Also on Friday at 7:30 pm on the Arts at Holy Trinity series in Akron, musicians from Holy Trinity and the Akron community present “Savior of the Nations, Come,” an Advent/Christmas hymn festival arranged by Michael Burkhardt, with readings from the pen of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This event will celebrate the winner of a Jr./Sr. High composition contest, with a festive reception including live music. For contest details, click here. The event is free.
On Sunday December 4 at 3:30 pm, Western Reserve Chorale will present “Carols & Lullabies & More,” its 31st Annual Holiday Concert. Works including Conrad Susa’s Carols & Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest. Church of the Gesu. In person and livestreamed. Free.
Also on Sunday at 4:00 pm – Trinity Cathedral Advent Lessons and Carols, Todd Wilson, director & organ. The second annual service of Advent Lessons and Carols will pair the Great “O” Antiphons for Advent with carols and anthems by Judith Weir, Herbert Howells, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and others. With origins in 19th-century Cornwall, this lessons and carols service gives you a beautiful way to enter into the spirit of the season, highlighting the Advent anticipation of light coming forth from the darkness. Trinity Cathedral, Freewill offering.
And at 4:30 pm – Singers Companye, The Chamber Choir, Samuel Gordon, conducting, Gregory Fiocca, cello, Amy Sauriol, piano, Taylor Boyle, oboe, and Sam Kitzler, clarinet will cap off the weekend with “The Dazzling Light of Winter.” Music by Sarah Quartel, Samuel Gordon, William Hawley, Dobrinka Tabakova, James Bassi, Will Todd, David von Kampen & Stephen Paulus. Fairlawn Lutheran Church in Fairlawn. Freewill offering.
And at 6:00 pm – Urban Troubadour: Holiday Harps at the BLU-Tique Hotel. 12:00 noon: Enjoy a Sunday brunch with jazz pianist Jackie Warren, 1:00: Concert of holiday music with the Salzedo Harp Duo. BLU-Tique Hotel, Akron. Click here for tickets.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On December 2, 1931 French composer and teacher Vincent d’Indy died in Paris at the age of 80. Born in Paris as well, d’Indy began studying the piano with his grandmother at an early age. He began his studies in harmony with Albert Lavignac at 14 and at 16 was introduced to Berlioz’s treatise on orchestration.
His talents as a composer caught the attention of César Franck, and In 1872, d’Indy became Franck’s pupil at the Paris Conservatory where he remained until he joined the percussion section of the orchestra at the Châtelet Theatre in 1875. Along with Charles Bordes and Alexandre Guilmant, d’Indy founded the Schola Cantorum de Paris in 1894, becoming principal in 1904. Of the school’s teaching, The Oxford Companion to Music says that “A solid grounding in technique was encouraged, rather than originality.”
His students included Albert Roussel, Joseph Canteloube, who would later write his biography, Arthur Honegger, and Darius Milhaud. His student roster also included Cole Porter — who left the school after a few months, and Erik Satie. Satie would later write: “Why on earth had I gone to d’Indy? The things I had written before were so full of charm. And now? What nonsense! What dullness!”
D’Indy created controversy at the Société nationale de musique after becoming its joint secretary in 1885, and managed to succeed in overturning its French-music-only rule, prompting the Society’s founders Romain Bussine and Camille Saint-Saëns to resign in protest.
Although few of d’Indy’s works have become staples of the repertoire, his best known pieces include the Symphony on a French Mountain Air for piano and orchestra and Istar, a symphonic poem in the form of a set of variations. He also was responsible for reviving forgotten Baroque works — he created his own edition of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.
In his 1906 composer profile for The Etude, Edward Burlingame Hill wrote that: “D’Indy’s principles as an artist are developed from the teachings of César Franck, of whom he was the ardent disciple, not only as a teacher of composition, but as an artist and as a man.”
Hill goes on to say that “It is too soon even to predict d’Indy’s ultimate rank as a composer. In mastery of technique, in vividness of expression, he stands very high; his originality and power are incontestable, while his reverent devotion to the memory of César Franck by word and deed is without parallel in this self-seeking age.”
Perhaps history has been the judge.
Click here to listen to a 1958 performance of Symphony on a French Mountain Air by pianist Robert Casadesus and the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Ormandy.
On December 3, 1883, Oberlin College began classes as the first institution of higher learning in the U.S. to admit both women and men.
And on this date in 1978, composer William Grant Still (pictured above), one of Oberlin’s first Black students, passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 83. (He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the school in 1947.) Still has recently received long-overdue attention for his extensive catalog of works that includes symphonies, ballets, operas, choral works, art songs, chamber music and works for solo instruments. A good reason to go exploring! Start here to access a web site maintained by his family and click away!