by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

On Friday and Saturday, The Cleveland Orchestra winds up its European Tour with concerts in Vienna’s Musikverein.

On the home front, on Friday at 12 Noon, the Cleveland Institute of Music continues its series of Museum Melodies, free, one-hour programs initially featuring pianists on Thursdays and Fridays in the visitors hall of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

On Saturday at 7:30 at Severance Music Center, Helen Welch channels Karen Carpenter in “Superstar – The Songs. The Stories. The Carpenters,” and at 8 pm, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project presents multimedia artists Paige Naylor & Haruhi Kobayashi, plus Cleveland-based musician Naomi Columna in the Calicchia Gallery Studio.

On Sunday at 3 pm, violinist Julia Kuhn and pianist Caroline Oltmanns (pictured) open the University of Akron’s Kulas Concert Series with Beethoven sonatas. And at 5 pm, Music from the Western Reserve presents saxophonist Perry Roth and pianist Hana Chu at Christ Church in Hudson.

Visit our Concert Listings for details of these and other performances.

WEEKEND ALMANAC:

September 6:

Born on this date in 1938 in New Rochelle, New York, composer Joan Tower spent some of her formative years in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru before returning to the U.S. as a college student. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Due to the Labor Day holiday, this week’s Thursday newsletter will be published on Friday.

At 12 Noon, the Cleveland Institute of Music launches Museum Melodies, free, one-hour programs initially featuring pianists on Thursdays and Fridays in the visitors hall of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Dr., Cleveland.

And at 6:30 pm, even though fall seems to have begun, the Canton Symphony’s Summer Serenades continue with a Woodwind Quintet performance at Plain Township Amphitheatre.

Continuing their European Tour, The Cleveland Orchestra are in Slovakia today to play a concert in Bratislava’s Reduta Hall. On the agenda: Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Pytor Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Franz Welser-Möst is on the podium and Víkingur Ólafsson is the soloist.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Founders Ronald and Eugenia Strauss (pictured) having retired after being honored with the Cleveland Arts Prize for their 20 years at the helm of CityMusic Cleveland, the peripatetic chamber orchestra and chamber ensemble is launching its 21st season under the interim leadership of longtime Cleveland Orchestra bassist Henry Perebruyne. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At noon, the Brownbag Concert series at Trinity Cathedral gets an early start with a performance by Lea Marra & the River Boys. It’s free, and lunches are welcome.

Continuing their European Tour, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra are in Austria to mark Anton Bruckner’s 200th birthday with an open air concert today at the Pfarrkirche in Bruckner’s home village of Ansfelden that includes Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, “Romantic.”

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Anton Bruckner was born in Ansfelden, Austria on this date in 1824. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Continuing their European Tour, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra are traveling to Austria to mark Anton Bruckner’s 200th birthday with an open air concert on Wednesday at the Pfarrkirche, Ansfelden, that includes Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, “Romantic.”

INTERESTING READS:

In a New York Times essay, opera director Yuval Sharon considers the idea of opera as a revolutionary force. “For every composer affirming authority in their work, opera’s history offers counterexamples: creators so committed to establishing a new world order in sound that they resisted all conventions and invented their own instruments, their own ensembles or their own theaters.” Read Opera Doesn’t Have to Be an Elite Art Form. Here’s Why here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Beginning on Saturday at 2:30, The Hingetown Jazz Festival showcases both skilled veterans who have graced the stage for years as well as young and upcoming talents who are redefining the jazz landscape in Northeast Ohio. Support local businesses while immersing yourself in Cleveland’s rich jazz scene. Sponsored by the Local 4 Music Fund, this free festival takes place at Transformer Station, Bop Stop, and Jukebox. Click here for more information.

And on Saturday and Sunday at 7 pm, Cirque de la Symphonie joins the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Lucas Waldin, conductor, and vocalists Morgan James and Hugh Panaro at the Blossom Music Center. Read a preview article here. Tickets available online.

Elsewhere, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra continue their European Tour in Switzerland with a concert on Sunday at the Lucerne Festival that includes Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Víkingur Ólafsson. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 6:30 this evening, the Canton Symphony’s Summer Serenades presents a brass quintet concert at Beach City Park.

Elsewhere, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra are spending a second day in Finland on their European tour, playing Prokofiev’s Second Symphony and Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique at the Musiikkitalo Helsinki.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

On Wednesday, the Cleveland Institute of Music announced that beginning in September and continuing through November, students will present Museum Melodies, a new series of free noontime recitals on Thursdays and Fridays at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

“The series, the first in a new array of CIM programming around Northeast Ohio, will highlight the piano but also feature other instruments. The series provides students real-world professional experience and represents a first-of-its-kind collaboration between CIM and the museum.” Read the press release here. [Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

There’s nothing on the local concert calendar this Wednesday, but should you find yourself in Finland, you can enjoy a concert by The Cleveland Orchestra at the Musiikkitalo Helsinki (pictured). Franz Welser-Möst conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, and Víkingur Ólafsson solos in Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

If you’re interested in organs, the Helsinki hall recently installed the largest modern concert hall instrument in the world. Read about the Rieger organ here.

CONCERT UPDATES:

The Cleveland Orchestra has rescheduled the “Evening With John Legend”  concert that was canceled shortly after it began earlier this month. The new date is Sunday, September 22, at 7 pm, at Blossom Music Center, but without the Orchestra. Current ticket holders still have their seats reserved for the new date. Lawn tickets are still available for purchase on the event webpage.

Tuesday Musical writes that more than 700 tickets have already been sold for its October 22 Michael Feinstein tribute to Tony Bennett concert featuring the Carnegie Hall Big Band. Click here to purchase tickets for the event at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall. [Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Cleveland Institute of Music will make use of a number of alternative performing venues this season while its Kulas Hall is under renovation.

“CIM’s Mixon Hall will remain in active use but events typically held in Kulas Hall will take CIM musicians broadly into the community, to a variety of locations including Severance Music Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Maltz Performing Arts Center, and local high schools. Of special note will be two opera productions at Cleveland’s historic Playhouse Square.” Read a press release here.

Meanwhile, in his blog, British journalist Norman Lebrecht has his ear to the ground on other developments at CIM. Read his Slipped Disc entry from Monday here.

Stephanie Havey joins the Voice Division of the Oberlin Conservatory, where she will teach and direct two fully-staged opera productions each academic year. Read more here.

The Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, produced ​annually by Oberlin College and Conservatory, will move to January when it returns ​in 2025, with the opening day on January 5 and competition rounds running through January 10.

[Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: If you find yourself in Berlin today, you can catch a performance by The Cleveland Orchestra at the Berliner Philharmonie. Franz Welser-Möst conducts works by Allison Loggins-Hull, John Adams & Sergei Prokofiev. No performances are on the Northeast Ohio agenda today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Apollo’s Fire will present two 70-minute Baroque Bistro concerts in September, on Thursday the 19th at 8 pm at BLUE Jazz+ in Akron, and on Sunday the 22nd at 12:30 at Music Box Supper Club in Cleveland. “Soprano Mira Fu-En Huang sings ballads of love and despair, while dueling violinists Alan Choo and Hanna Bingham join with friends on cello and lute.” [Read more…]

by  Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Two items only!

On Friday evening at 7, the French harp-guitar duo of award-winning performers and composers Isabelle & Raphael Olivier will create a journey of soundscapes at Reithoffer’s Art, Spirits & Entertainment in Chagrin Falls.

And on Sunday at 7, Tony DeSare and the Blossom Band present “Sinatra and Beyond” at Blossom Music Center. Read a preview interview with DeSare here. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Music Settlement’s Kawai piano sale this weekend has been moved to the Kawai Piano Gallery in Beachwood’s Pinecrest Shopping Center. “The selection includes baby grands, studio grands, upright pianos, consoles, and performance level electronic digital pianos. Additional factory-crated new pianos will also be available. These instruments will be offered to the public at significantly reduced prices. Pianos have also been professionally maintained, and most include the original 10-year manufacturer’s warranty.” [Read more…]