by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

There are fourteen interesting events listed in our calendar for this weekend. Have fun choosing which concerts to attend!

ON SATURDAY, there’s a Song Recital Project concert by baritone Jason Fuh and pianist Edward Bak (2 pm in Gartner Auditorium at the Art Museum), Trobár Medieval performs 14th century Italian music (7 pm at Our Lady of Carmel), Summit Choral Society’s Metropolitan Chorus sings a concert (7 pm at St. Bernard, Akron), the Canton Symphony plays Rhapsodies from Bohemia (7:30 at Umstattd Hall), contralto Heidi Skok sings Wagner & Mahler (7:30 pm at Disciples Church), The Cleveland Orchestra hosts David Afkham & Beatrice Rana (pictured, 8 pm at Severance), Apollo’s Fire presents Bach Easter Cantatas (8 pm at St. Paul, Akron), and the Richard Bona Trio plays at Oberlin (8 pm in Finney Chapel.

ON SUNDAY, repeats of Saturday shows include The Cleveland Orchestra (3 pm at Severance), Trobár Medieval (3pm at St. Anselm, Chesterland), and Apollo’s Fire (5 pm at Gesú Church in University Hts.,). Cleveland Chamber Collective presents Ty Alan Emerson’s OATH BREAKER (3:30 pm at Pivot Center), Arts at Holy Trinity presents Bard College organist Renée Anne Louprette (4 pm at Holy Trinity Lutheran, Akron), and Lakeland Civic Orchestra features violinist Aika Birch (4 pm at Lakeland Community College.

For details of these and other performances, visit our Concert Listings. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight, the Singers Club of Cleveland presents a musical game-show concert (7 pm at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland), and Trobár Medieval (pictured) performs music from 14th-century Italy (7 pm at St. Paul’s in Cleveland Hts.)

The Cleveland Orchestra hosts guest conductor David Afkham and pianist Beatrice Rana (7:30 pm at Severance Music Center), Apollo’s Fire performs J.S. Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Easter Cantata (7:30 at St. Raphael, Bay Village), Cleveland Jazz Orchestra features bassist and vocalist Richard Bona (7:30 at the Maltz), the Oberlin Artist Recital Series presents the Silkroad Ensemble in “Uplifted Voices” (7:30 in Finney Chapel), and Erik Ochsner conducts a collaboration between the Youngstown Symphony and The Vindys (7:30 at Powers Auditorium).

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM CUYAHOGA ARTS & CULTURE:

CAC’s Board of Trustees will hold a special open-to-the-public meeting on Monday, April 29, 2024 at 4:30 pm (to be livestreamed here. The purpose of the meeting is to vote on a Resolution regarding a tax levy to support Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. View the agenda and handout materials for more information. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At noon at the Church of the Covenant, organist Don Verkuijlen will play music by American composer Myron Roberts (1912-2004), who joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1940, where he taught organ and music theory for 34 years and also served as organist of First-Plymouth Congregational Church. Click here for the live stream.

For more performances, visit our Concert Listings.

R.I.P. SIR ANDREW DAVIS:

British conductor Sir Andrew Davis passed away on April 20 at the age of 80 in Chicago, where he was being treated for leukemia.

In an obituary for The Guardian, Barry Millington wrote that Davis “was a familiar presence on the podium, not least through his countless appearances at the BBC Proms in his capacity as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1989-2000). [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Orchestra Concerts include the final Cleveland Orchestra performances led by Klaus Mäkelä and featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Saturday at 8), the Contemporary Youth Orchestra (Saturday at 7 pm, Tri-C Metro Auditorium), the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (pictured, Saturday at 7:30 in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall), and the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra with pianist Donna Lee (Sunday at 3:30 at Severance Music Center.)

Chamber Music performances include the Cleveland Chamber Collective in the premiere of Ty Alan Emerson’s OATH BREAKER (Saturday at 7:30 at Disciples Church), and Cleveland Composers Guild with the Factory Seconds Trio (Sunday at 3 at West Shore Church.)

Vocal Music includes a concert by the vocal ensemble Good Company led by Michael Carney and featuring bassist Tom Flowers and percussionist Andrew Pongracz (Sunday at 4 at Lakewood Presbyterian.)

For more performances, visit our Concert Listings. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 7 pm, the Baldwin Wallace Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band and Community Arts School Dance Concert includes a staging of Milhaud’s La Creation du Monde ballet.

Tonight at 7:30, guest conductor Klaus Mäkelä continues his second week of Cleveland Orchestra performances featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet in George Gershwin’s Concerto in F. Mäkelä begins the program with Darius Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le toit, and ends with Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (program repeated Saturday at 8).

At the same hour, the Cleveland Museum of Art presents Sybarite5, “chamber music’s most dynamic ensemble, taking listeners on a musical journey of staggering breadth and depth with new works by living composers as well as the group’s favorite selections from Radiohead, John Coltrane, Komitas, Astor Piazzolla, and Pete Seeger.” [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, guest conductor Klaus Mäkelä begins his second week of Cleveland Orchestra performances featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet in George Gershwin’s Concerto in F. Mäkelä begins the program with Darius Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le toit, and ends with Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (program repeated Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 8).

And tonight at 7, the Avon High School Chamber Orchestra will present Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons featuring professional soloists Mary Beth Ions, Victor Beyans, Samuel Rotberg and Carrie Singler. Proceeds benefit the student musicians and the Avon Local School District music program.

For other forthcoming performances, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

On Wednesday, The Cleveland Orchestra announced details of its 80th international tour. “Over the course of two weeks from August 26 to September 7, the Orchestra will travel to Berlin, Helsinki, Lucerne, Ansfelden, Bratislava, and Vienna, and will be joined by Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson in Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto for four of the performances.” Download a press release here.

Violinist Jinjoo Cho has been appointed to the faculty of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL beginning in September.

[Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Two of Cleveland’s distinguished pianists will be featured in events today. At noon, Antonio Pompa-Baldi will play in the Atrium of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and tonight at 7:30, faculty pianist Sergei Babyan will solo in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with guest conductor Sarah Hicks and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra in Mandel Hall at Severance Music Center. Also on the program, Boulanger’s D’un matin du printemps & Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite (1919).

Also today at noon, organist Noah Duckwall will play works by Francisco Correa de Arauxo, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Matthias Weckmann, J.S.Bach & Dieterich Buxtehude at the Church of the Covenant. Click here for the live stream.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cleveland Orchestra violinist Jessica Lee is leaving the ensemble to take up a position as full time chair of the violin department at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Read a press release here.

“Rhiannon Giddens, the genre-defying singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who trained as an operatic soprano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, will deliver the keynote address for Oberlin College and Conservatory’s Commencement ceremony honoring the Class of 2024 on Monday, May 27. She will also be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree.” Read a press release here.

The Canton Symphony has announced the opening of part-time positions on its administrative staff for marketing & development assistant and personnel manager. Read more here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Many events to enjoy on Saturday —

The Canton Symphony and Canton Youth Symphony play side-by-side (3 pm, Umstattd Hall), leading up to Sunday’s presentation of the St. John Passion, the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival presents works the Cantor of Leipzig composed in 1724, (7 pm in Gamble Auditorium), Brazilian guitarist Badi Assad performs for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society (7:30 at the Maltz), violinist Steven Greenman solos with the Firelands Symphony and Chorus (7:30 at Sawmill Creek), Les Délices presents “Seasons Transformed” (7:30 at Disciples Center), and conductor Klaus Mäkelä and cellist Sol Gabetta join The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus (8 pm at Severance — read our Plain Dealer review of Thursday’s concert here).

And more on Sunday —

Dirk Garner will lead the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival forces (pictured) in J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion with Margaret Carpenter Haigh as the Evangelist & Tyler Duncan as Jesus (2 pm in Gamble Auditorium), pianist Evgeny Kissin & baritone Matthias Goerne collaborate in Schumann & Brahms (3 pm at Severance), Heights Arts presents “Close Encounters” with piano trios (3 pm at a Shaker Hts. villa), Music at Bath hosts world percussionist Dan Shiller (4 pm at Bath Church), Les Délices wraps up its “Seasons Transformed” series (4 pm at West Shore Church), Halida Dinova plays “Great Piano Miniatures” (4 pm at St. James, Lakewood), [CANCELLED] Kent State pianist Andrew Le plays a faculty recital (5 pm in Ludwig Recital Hall), and participants in CIM’s Advanced Piano Trio Program perform on the Music from the Western Reserve series (5 pm in Christ Church, Hudson). [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Friday’s calendar is loaded!

The Cleveland Orchestra plays an 11 am matinee with conductor Klaus Mäkelä and cello soloist Sol Gabetta, Lake View Cemetery honors Adella Prentiss Hughes with clarinet quintets at 6pm, the 92nd Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival begins with a concert by ACRONYM (pictured) at 7:30, the Cleveland Art Museum presents Aleksandra Vrebalov’s evening-length work Antennae, inspired by an icon in its collection, Les Délices takes its “Seasons Transformed” to Akron Civic Theater at 7:30, Oberlin Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble mix Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony with a concerto for Cello and Jazz Band at 7:30, and Cleveland Pops Orchestra brings Broadway to Severance Center at 8 pm. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, during the first week of his two-week Cleveland Orchestra residency, 28-year-old Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä will lead a pair of iconic 20th-century British works: William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast (with baritone Thomas Hampson and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus) and Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto (with soloist Sol Gabetta) in a program to be repeated Friday at 11 and Saturday at 8.

You can preview the Walton here in a performance by the Leeds Festival Chorus with the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis. (At 23:31, baritone Sir Willard White dramatically announces the fateful writing on the wall of the Babylonian king’s banqueting hall and the chorus responds with its famous outcry).

Also at 7:30 tonight, Timothy Weiss will lead the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble in George Crumb’s Black Angels, Jerry Achtermann’s It Sneaks Up On You (world premiere), and Christopher Theofanidis’ If Falling is a Leaf & Artemis (2023 revision) in Warner Concert Hall or via live stream..

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Hang on tight – April 11 was a busy day in the annals of classical music. [Read more…]