by Sicily Xiao
HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:
JANUARY 13
On Saturday at 12:30 pm, the MET Opera Saturday Broadcast presents Puccini’s La Bohème, Marco Armiliato, conducting. WCLV, 90.3FM & online.
At 7:30 pm, Christopher Wilkins conducts the Akron Symphony with the Theron Brown Quartet and EarthQuaker Devices (rehearsal photo above). The program features Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite.
Also at 7:30 pm, Oberlin Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble gives a preview of the music the ensemble will perform on tour in San Francisco.
At 8 pm, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in the third of three concerts featuring Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 3 (arranged for string orchestra) and the Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin.
Also at 8 pm, CUSP presents the Joo Won Park Laptop Ensemble in original pieces for computer, melodica, drum machine, no-input mixer, and laptop ensemble.
JANUARY 14
On Sunday at 3 pm, Local 4 Music Fund hosts Emily Cornelius, violin, Robert Nicholson, cello & Eric Charnofsky, piano, at Disciples Cultural Arts Center.
At 4 pm, Trio Noir, Maude Cloutier, violin, Brendon Phelps, cello & Alexandre Marr, piano, perform at the Church of the Western Reserve.
At 7 pm, The Cleveland Orchestra presents its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert. All free tickets have been distributed, but you could listen to the concert online.
JANUARY 15
On Monday, from noon to 5 pm, Severance Music Center presents its annual MLK Community Open House & Day of Music.
Details in our Concert Listings.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Neighborhood Connections has approved $307,904 in grants to support 98 projects in Cleveland and East Cleveland. Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC), the local public funder for arts and culture, will co-fund 10 of these resident-led arts and culture projects through a partnership with Neighborhood Connections. Read the press release here.
INTERESTING READS:
Today’s edition of the New York Times carries an appreciation by Joshua Barone of Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst, who will end his tenure in 2027. Read the article here.
Angel Island, an oratorio by Oberlin alum Huang Ruo, brings to life the stark poetry of the people who were detained on the California island in the early 1900s. Read the New York Times article here.
THIS WEEKEND’S ALMANAC:
by Daniel Hathaway
On January 13th, 1890, the first performance of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty ballet took place at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
Multiple sources report that Nuremberg instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner invented a new instrument called the clarinet on January 14, 1690. In fact, Denner essentially added two keys to the chalmeau, launching one of the most versatile instrument families to be incorporated into the developing symphony orchestra, and making possible such pieces as Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. Click here to watch a ChamberFest Cleveland performance on July 1, 2017 by Josef Špaček, Diana Cohen, Yura Lee, Oliver Herbert, and Franklin Cohen.
Speaking of Mozart, a century and a decade later, Ludwig Köchel, who created the first chronological catalog of Mozart’s works and assigned them KV (“Köchel Verzeichnis”) numbers, was born in Lower Austria on January 14, 1800. He was also a skilled botanist — not a bad hobby for someone who sorts musical works out into categories.
Other individuals who contributed to the history and theory of music include Heinrich Schenker (who died on January 14, 1868, leaving us the tools to boil Mahler Symphonies and Schubert songs down to their essences), and organist, Bach scholar, medical missionary, and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer (born on January 14, 1875 in Alsace).
Living figures with birthdays this weekend include conductor Nic McGegan (born January 14, 1950. Among those who are no longer with us, we should take note of the birthday of organ builder Ernest M. Skinner (January 15, 1866 in Clarion, PA). His restored instruments in Northeast Ohio include those in Cleveland’s Public Auditorium, Mandel Hall at Severance Music Center, Morley Music Hall at Lake Erie College in Painesville, and Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown.
