by Stephanie Manning
WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:
Today at 2:30 & 7:30, the Cooper International Violin Competition continues vetting its 18 semi-finalists in 30-minute recitals, then after a cut, the six remaining violinists will play 45-minute recitals on Saturday at 3 pm and 8 pm.
Moving into next week, three finalists will play complete concertos on Monday at 7:30 with the Columbus ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and conductor David Danzmayr, while violinists who didn’t survive the final cut will play an Honors Recital on Sunday featuring outstanding performances selected from the first three days of the competition. All events are free and will be live streamed from Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall.
Lawrence Loh will conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in the live to screen score of John Powell’s How to Train Your Dragon on Friday at 7 and Sunday at 3 in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center. And Lucas Waldin will be on the podium at Blossom Music Center on Saturday at 7 as the Orchestra presents vocalists Capathia Jenkins and Ryan Shaw in hits by Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Elvis Presley.
On Friday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 4, The Cleveland Opera and Cleveland Ballet Theatre will stage the 14-year-old Mozart’s opera Mitridate, rè di Ponto (Mithridates, King of Pontus). Grzegorz Nowak conducts and tenor David Sadlier sings the title role at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland.
And on Saturday at 7:30 in the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus and Sunday at 4 in Federated Church in Chagrin Falls, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute of Ohio will present pianist Kamil Pacholec on its summer series, featuring works by Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy.
WEEKEND ALMANAC:
August 7 — by Daniel Hathaway
Czech-American composer Karel Husa was born in Prague on August 7, 1921. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1954, and taught composition and conducting at Cornell University for 38 years.
Click here to listen to a retrospective of Husa’s music, including Music for Prague, from a 2005 symposium in which the composer participated.
August 8 — by Jarrett Hoffman
The Amati are one of the most important families of luthiers in the history of the violin, and on this date in 1684, the greatest instrument maker in that family, Nicola Amati, died in Cremona, Italy. Some say that his instruments, particularly the larger and wider “Grand Pattern” ones, were known for producing more power in their tone.
On the other hand, the Smithsonian Institution describes the instruments as beautiful and penetrating in their sound, though not powerful. Have a look at one of the instruments in the possession of the National Museum of American History here, and watch a short demonstration of both an Amati and a copy on YouTube.
August 9 — by Jarrett Hoffman
Dmitri Shostakovich died on this date in 1975 in Moscow. His symphonies have figured in Cleveland Orchestra programs for decades. Artur Rodzinski recorded No. 1 in 1940 (it took up eight sides of 78 records), and No. 5 in 1942 (on a monophonic LP). There’s also an interesting live performance of No. 10 from December of 1967, when George Szell passed his baton to David Oistrakh after the violinist had just played the Brahms Concerto.
The Fifth Symphony is the subject of a San Francisco Symphony “Keeping Score” episode hosted by Michael Tilson Thomas. The full-length concert performance was recorded at the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall. Watch here.
