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…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

This busy Thursday comes with a heat advisory from 11am to 8pm — values up to 104 degrees are expected in parts of north central, northeast, and northwest Ohio.

It’s a good day for indoor activities — like Ohio Light Opera’s 2 pm performance of George and Ira Gershwin’s Tip-Toes (pictured) and 7:30 staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel at the College of Wooster, the Cooper International Piano Competition Final Round featuring Anwen Deng (16, Australia), Sawako Harada (18, Japan), and Anna Avramidou (17, Cyprus) performing concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance, and Piano Cleveland’s 7:30 Piano Days concert by Mirabelle Kajenjeri in Mixon Hall at CIM.

Details in our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cleveland Jazz Orchestra will officially begin selling subscription tickets at 10 am on Monday, July 28 for its 2025-2026 season at the Maltz Performing Arts Center, but fans can purchase subscriptions early beginning on Friday, July 23 at 10 am, using the code EARLYSING25.

The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will release a new spatial audio recording of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson, paired with the composer’s Symphony No. 29, on August 1. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

COOPER PIANO COMPETITION NEWS:

Following the Concerto Rounds on Tuesday in Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall, Fifth place prizes were awarded to Qinyaoyao Ji (15, China) and Yangting Wang (13, China), and the Fourth prize was given to Yixen Shen (14, China).

On Thursday at 7:30 pm in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, Anwen Deng (16, Australia), Sawako Harada (18, Japan), and Anna Avramidou (17, Cyprus) will vie for the top three prizes by playing concertos by Robert Schumann, Sergei Prokofief, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky respectively with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Samy Rachid. 

HAPPENING TODAY:

2:00 pm – Ohio Light Opera. Herman Haller and Eduard Künneke’s The Cousin from Batavia. Freedlander Theatre, 329 E. University St., Wooster. Tickets available online.

5:30 pm – Piano Cleveland. Wade Oval Wednesdays: A Celebration of Ukrainian Roots. Honoring her Ukrainian heritage, pianist Mirabelle Kajenjeri partners with faculty and students from Cleveland’s own bandura academy, Hryhory Kytasty Cleveland School of Bandura. Wade Oval, 10820 East Blvd., Cleveland. Free.

7:30 pm – City Stages. Las Karamba. Founded in Spain, this six-woman group of mestizas and migrants create danceable music influenced by traditional styles, rap, and a touch of samba and rumba. Transformer Station, 1460 W. 29th St., Cleveland. Free. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

2:00 pm – Cooper International Piano Competition. Concerto Round Session 1. Four pianists each perform a full concerto with piano accompaniment in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory: Yangting Wang (Beethoven No. 1), Qinyaoyao Ji (Prokofiev No. 3), Yixen Shen (Grieg), Anwen Deng (Schumann). Watch the webcast here.

2:00 pm – Ohio Light Opera presents Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon in Freedlander Theatre at The College of Wooster.

6:00 pm – Piano Cleveland’s Piano Days presents Utsav Lal (pictured) in a concert of Indian Classical Music with New Interpretations during a full night of Indian culture at the Dodero Center for Performing Arts in Gates Mills.

7:00 pm – Cooper International Piano Competition. Concerto Round Session 2. Two pianists each perform a full concerto with piano accompaniment in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory: Sawako Harada (Prokofiev No. 3), Anna Avramidou. (Tchaikovsky No. 1). Watch the webcast here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1796, Cleaveland was established as a settlement by the surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company and named after their leader, General Moses Cleaveland. (Although Cleaveland supervised the design of what would become our modern downtown, he returned home shortly thereafter and never returned to Ohio.) [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

9:00 am & 2:00 pm — Cooper International Piano Competition. Semifinals: Day 1, Sessions 4 & 5. Contestants perform 40-minute recitals. Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin Conservatory. Announcement of the six who will advance to Tuesday’s Concerto Rounds follows at 6 pm.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Conductor Roger Norrington, 91

In an obituary published by The Guardian on Saturday, Tom Service writes, “Norrington (pictured) remains still the maverick presence that classical music needs. His mission wasn’t only to make us hear the repertoire we thought we knew through the prism of the techniques and playing styles of its time, rather than the ossifications of later traditions. He was also an irresistible firebrand in performance, whose energy wasn’t only about inspiring his performers to get closer to the music they were playing, it was also an invitation to his audiences that their listening should be involved too.” Andrew Clements recommends five essential Norrington recordings here.

Cleveland Chamber Choir has announced the four programs for its 11th season, including two performances at Trinity Cathedral, where the professional choir is in residence. Details here.

Les Délices has released details of its 2025-2026 season, “Metamorphosis.” Read a press release here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman

One virtuoso and two inventions arrive on the shores of our almanac today. [Read more…]