by Daniel Hathaway

IN MEMORIAM: 

Oberlin Faculty Sopranos Daune Mahy and Marlene Rosen

Daune Mahy, a member of the Oberlin voice faculty for 39 years, died July 31 in Paris. A beloved teacher and gifted soprano who performed on stages across America and Europe, she joined the Oberlin faculty in 1980 and worked with nearly every Oberlin singer during her tenure.

Mahy was a co-founder and driving force behind Oberlin in Italy, which for 30 years attracted internationally distinguished artists, teachers, coaches, and others to work with the program’s gifted pre-professional musicians. Learn more about Mahy at Oberlin.edu.

Marlene Rosen, who served as professor of voice at Oberlin for 36 years, died on August 5 in Nyack, N.Y., where she had moved with Mike Rosen, her husband of 62 years after their retirement from Oberlin (he was professor of percussion at the Conservatory).

Conservatory Dean William Quillen has passed along a webpage where individuals can leave memories about Marlene, find information about the services, and more.

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7 pm at Blossom, The Cleveland Orchestra presents Laufey: A Night at the Symphony. with Ross Jamie Collins, conductor, and Laufey (Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir, the Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter and musician). [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

INTERESTING READ:

Those who attended Oberlin Conservatory’s production of the opera Omar last year may remember the music was co-written by Michael Abels, who also wrote the score for Jordan Peele’s film Get Out.

Anastasia Tsioulcas recently profiled the composer for The New York Times ahead of the performance of his work More Seasons by the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center. Check out that article here.

MORE AUDITIONS:

The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus is holding auditions on August 14, and they are looking for more tenors and basses in particular. Chorus members will have the opportunity to join the orchestra at Carnegie Hall and in Florida — and tenors and basses will also be able to audition for small roles in Beethoven’s Fidelio. Learn more and sign up for an audition at this link.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Although the weather is thankfully sunny today, the skies were dark and ominous one year ago, when a record-breaking storm system swept through Northeast Ohio. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Board of Trustees of Cleveland Arts Prize has announced that the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation will be awarded the 2025 Barbara S. Robinson Prize for the Advancement of the Arts.

This award acknowledges the Foundation’s investments in Cleveland cultural institutions, including The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Public Theatre. The Discipline and Special Prize winners will be announced on August 10.

AUDITIONS:

The Heights Chamber Orchestra will be holding auditions for violin, viola, and cello players on Monday, August 18. If you are interested, download the excerpts and sign up for a time slot at this link.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this day in 2012, violin virtuoso Ruggiero Ricci died at the age of 94. A child prodigy, Ricci was born in California to Italian immigrants, and he and his six siblings were all expected to play an instrument. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

LOOKING AHEAD:

Today marks the start of a pretty quiet week on the concert calendar. But there are some highlights waiting in the later half, including Laufey’s visit to Blossom on Thursday for “A Night at the Symphony” and the first round of the “Fencing Match” series from Apollo’s Fire.

For more details and to check out what else is coming up, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

After Barbara Bachtell’s retirement earlier this year, the Broadway School of Music and the Arts has named its new executive director. Christopher Kaboth will now lead the organization, which is based in the Slavic Village neighborhood and provides arts education to the residents of southeast Cleveland. Read the full press release here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

While not a major day for classical music anniversaries, August 4 marks a notable day in world history. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Three organizations have performances scheduled this weekend:

Ohio Light Opera ends its season with Brigadoon (Friday at 2 pm), Carousel (Friday at 7:30), Bitter Sweet (Saturday at 2 pm), Patience (Saturday at 7:30) and The Cousin from Batavia, (Sunday at 2 pm) in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster;

The Cleveland Orchestra plays at Blossom on Saturday at 7 pm (Daniele Rustioni conducts with pianist Alessio Bax, pictured).

And Piano Cleveland’s Piano Days presents Natalie Tenenbaum in “The Piano Re-Imagined” at the Hanna Theatre in Playhouse Square on Saturday at 7:30 pm.                                                

WEEKEND ALMANAC:

Pianist Leon Fleisher died in hospice in Baltimore on August 2, 2020 at the age of 92. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway:

HAPPENING TODAY:

Ohio Light Opera: next-to-last performance of Herman Haller and Eduard Künneke’s The Cousin from Batavia at 2 pm, & final performance of George and Ira Gershwin’s Tip-Toes at 7:30 pm in Freedlander Theatre at The College of Wooster. Tickets available online.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s Summers at Severance continues at 7 pm with Christoph Koncz conducting works by Liszt, Ernst von Dohnányi, and Bartók at Severance Music Center.

Piano Cleveland’s Piano Days wrap up this tonight at 7:30 pm, when Kotaro Fukuma, the 2003 Cleveland International Piano Competition First Prize Winner, returns to the Forest City to play Shimmering Water — 洸, a recital of French Impressionist music by Debussy and Ravel juxtaposed with works by contemporary Japanese composers in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Les Délices has announced their sixth season of free SalonEra webseries episodes and podcasts, which will begin airing on October 6. Video episodes are available on YouTube from their premiere date through June 30, 2026. Podcast episodes remain online in perpetuity. Read the press release here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On July 31, 1886, Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt died in Bayreuth, Germany at the age of 74. The 19th-century classical equivalent of a 20th-century rock star, Liszt’s solo piano performances gave rise to such pan-European fame that the poet Heinrich Heine characterized audience acclaim as “Lisztomania.” [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Ohio Light Opera presents the next-to-last performances of Noël Coward’s Bitter Sweet at 2 pm, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience (pictured) at 7:30 in Freedlander Theatre at The College of Wooster.

The last performances of these two titles will take place at the same times on Saturday.

Details in our Concert Listings.

NEWS BRIEFS: 

Cleveland State University tubist and music performance major Ephrem King of Elyria has been selected to participate in the International Wind Ensemble Academy and Festival in Bangkok, Thailand from July 31-August 13, where he will share the stage with musicians from across the globe.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

George Szell, The Cleveland Orchestra’s music director for 24 years, died on July 30, 1970 in Hannah House at University Hospitals during a Blossom concert conducted by Pierre Boulez, who had the task of informing the players following the performance. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway:

HAPPENING TODAY:

12 Noon – Piano Cleveland’s Piano Days presents a Kotaro Fukuma Sound Installation in the Atrium at the Cleveland Museum of Art in conjunction with its exhibition Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow. Fukuma (pictured), the 2003 Cleveland International Piano Competition First Prize Winner, will play works by Karen Tanaka, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Toru Takemitsu, inspired by the contemporary aesthetic of Murakami’s visual language.

2:00 pm – Ohio Light Opera presents its next-to-last performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel in Freedlander Theatre at The College of Wooster. Tickets available online.

Details in our Concert Listings.

NEWS BRIEFS:

American musician and satirist Tom Lehrer has died at the age of 97, according to US media reports. Lehrer, a Harvard-trained mathematician, wrote darkly humorous songs, often with political connotations, that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Read the BBC article here.

John Williams Hasn’t Stopped Composing. His Latest? A Piano Concerto.

Williams, best known for his film work, has a parallel career in classical music. His concerto, written for Emanuel Ax and haunted by the ghosts of jazz past, is premiering at Tanglewood. Read the New York Times story here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

6:00 pm – Piano Cleveland’s Piano Days celebrates the recipients of its Piano Donation Program with a community event featuring pianists of all ages and skill levels at The Music Settlement in University Circle.

Details in our Concert Listings.

RECENT OBITUARIES:

Cleo Laine, 97

Chuck Mangione, 84

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On July 28, 1750, Johann Sebastian Bach died in Leipzig at the age of 65, following two unsuccessful eye operations by the same discredited surgeon who would unsuccessfully treat George Frederic Handel a year later.

With some 1,128 surviving works, picking just a few to mark the composer’s passing is an exercise in futility. But here are two of them that bookend his career in fascinating ways. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Following the final round of the Cooper International Piano Competition on Thursday evening with Samy Rachid and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Music Center, the jury awarded first prize to Anna Avramidou (17, Nicosia, Cyprus) who played Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto. Two Second Prizes were bestowed on Anwen Deng (16, Brisbane, Australia) and Sawako Harada (18, Tokyo, Japan), who had performed Robert Schumann’s Concerto and Prokofiev’s 3rd Concerto, respectively. 

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND

On Friday at 12:15 noon, Patrick Macoska plays music by John Courter on the McGaffin Carillon in University Circle, and Ohio Light Opera performs Noel Coward’s Bitter Sweet at 2 pm and Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience at 7:30.

On Saturday, Ohio Light Opera stages Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon at Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel at 7:30, The Cleveland Orchestra plays its annual side-by-side concert with the Kent Blossom Chamber Orchestra under guest conductor Jonathon Heyward (pictured) with saxophonist Jess Gillam, Renovare Music presents “A Hive’s Song” at Heights Theater at 7, and Piano Cleveland hosts Detroit-based neoclassical pianist BLKBOK at Dobama. [Read more…]