by Daniel Hathaway
Check last Wednesday’s Diary for a rundown on events celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose official holiday is observed on Monday, January 18.
On Monday, two of Cleveland’s leading cultural institutions will re-open for the first time since November 19. The Cleveland Museum of Art is accepting timed reservations between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm (last reservations begin at 4:00 pm), and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum re-opens with an exhibit of some of the 100,000 images donated to the institution by Rolling Stone magazine’s first chief photographer Baron Wolman, who died in November.
And Ohio City’s Transformer Station will also open its doors to the public on Monday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.
INTERESTING READ:
Two baritone friends — New York freelancer Steven LaBrie and German baritone Jarrett Ott, who has a full-time job — are featured in a New York Times article that contrasts how two countries have supported their artists in the current public health crisis. Read “Two Friends, Two Continents, Very Different Pandemics” here.
THIS WEEKEND’S ALMANAC:
Among those who have affected the history of classical music who were born or died on these three dates:
Anton Schindler (d. January 16, 1864), who falsely claimed a close relationship with Beethoven and manufactured bogus information about the composer. But perhaps not as extensively as his critics have claimed. Watch Decriminalization of Beethoven’s first Biographer Anton Schindler here.
American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne (b. January 16, 1934), who has been a regular guest for master classes at Oberlin after her retirement from a distinguished career in art song and opera. Watch her coach soprano Greta Groothuis in arias by Handel and Mozart in December, 2019 here.
Italian-American conductor Arturo Toscanini (d. January 16, 1957), who led the NBC Symphony in groundbreaking radio and television broadcasts. Listen to him rehearsing Verdi’s Requiem here.
Dutch harpsichordist and conductor Gustav Leonhardt (d. January 16, 2012), who mentored such young musicians as Jeanette Sorrell, founder of Apollo’s Fire. Watch the Dutch documentary Traveler in Music here (partially subtitled).
American composer Donald Erb (b. January 17, 1927 in Youngstown), who graduated from Lakewood High School, spent his early career as a jazz trumpeter, and returned to the Cleveland Institute of Music where he had earned his master’s degree to become Distinguished Professor of Composition at CIM. Listen here to the fourth movement of his Ritual Observances (1991) commissioned by St. Louis Symphony and dedicated to Leonard Slatkin and the late Cleveland percussionist Bruce Collie. Slatkin conducts the CIM Orchestra.
And on January 18, 1962, President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy invited Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky to “a small dinner” at the White House. Read more here.