by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Happy Valentine’s Day, that feast day in the early Christian calendar that originally celebrated two martyrs, but through mysterious processes like the medieval tradition of courtly love, has transmogrified into a festival celebrating human love and passion — and has become a boon for the greeting card, chocolate, and flower industry.

Live performances today include the Cassatt Quartet with Emely Phelps, piano (4:30 pm, Oberlin’s Kulas Hall), Stars in the Classics presents “Love Is in the Air” (6 pm, Cleveland Museum of Art Atrium), Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Opera presents Michael Ching’s humorous one-act opera Speed Dating Tonight! (7 pm in Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art), No Exit Presents John Faieta, trombone (7 pm in Ludwig Recital Hall at Kent State), and Keith Lockhart leads The Cleveland Orchestra in music of John Williams (7:30 at Severance Music Center).

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Valentine’s Day deserves a celebratory playlist, and the classical repertory is rich with possibilities. We like the one proposed by The Guardian’s Tom Service more than a decade ago. Click here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30, The Cleveland Orchestra plays at Severance Music Center under Dallas Symphony music director Fabio Luisi (pictured). The Orchestra joins countertenor Tim Mead in the U.S. premiere of Silvia Colasanti’s Time’s Cruel Hand and will mightily move the air in Mandel Concert Hall with Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 (repeated on Saturday at 8).

Note: the previously announced performance by the CIM Orchestra in Elyria is not happening today.

HEADLINES IN THE NEWS:

Trump Made Chair of Kennedy Center as Its President Is Fired (NY Times)

The president solidified his grip on the performing arts complex as the center’s longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter, was fired. Read the story here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

February 13 marked the baptism of Spanish composer Fernando Sor in Barcelona in 1778, the final curtain call of German composer Richard Wagner in Bayreuth in 1883, and the birth of American composer George Kleinsinger in 1914. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

NEWS BRIEFS;

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced that this season’s Summers at Severance concerts will take place on July 10, 17, 31 and August 21.

Conductors will include Marie Jacquot, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Christoph Koncz, and Dima Slobodeniouk. Violinist Randall Goosby and pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii will be the featured soloists.

Read a press release here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

This is one of those rare days without any live classical events in Northeast Ohio to promote. But there are four historic figures in classical music to raise up, and an important first performance to put into context.

American composer Roy Harris was born on this date in 1898 in Chandler, Oklahoma. With the help of Aaron Copland, Harris studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, and went on to write numerous works on American themes. His big breakthrough was his Third Symphony, captured here in a live performance by Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra in 2010. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 5:30 pm, saxophonist Tyler Young, and pianist William Hueholt play a free Rush Hour Concert of Music by Paganini, Saint-Saëns, and Jacob Nance (a world premiere) at Fairmount Presbyterian in Cleveland Hts.

And this evening at 7:30, Cleveland Chamber Music Society hosts the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Disciples Church for a program of Spanish music in collaboration with the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society (pictured: guitarist Jason Vieaux with soprano Vanessa Becerra).

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Mike Telin

On February 11, 1847, inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio. Of course, Edison is responsible for inventing many things that make our lives more pleasant, including the incandescent light bulb, the motion picture camera, and the fluoroscope, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone. Click here to view a list of his numerous patents. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

St. Olaf Choir stops in at Severance Music Center on its annual tour tonight at 7:30. Conducted for nearly four decades by Anton Armstrong, the Northfield, Minnesota college choir preserves the rich tradition of Scandinavian Lutheran choral ensembles. The choir will be assisted by faculty violinist and violist Charles Gray and the St. Olaf Chamber Orchestra.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

At Saturday’s Tri-C performance by jazz organist Matthew Whitaker, festival director Terri Pontremoli announced the indoor lineup for the 46th Annual Tri-C JazzFest to be presented by KeyBank from June 26 – 28 in Playhouse Square. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

On Saturday: Tri-C presents Hammond B-3 virtuoso Matthew Whitaker (pictured, Eastern Campus, 7:30), Gospel Meets the Akron Symphony (E.J. Thomas, 7:30), Apollo’s Fire plays virtuoso concerti (St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts., 7:30), Robert Beckstrom leads the Lorain Civic Orchestra (LCCC, Elyria, 7:30), and cellist Mark Kosower solos with Thomas Guggeis & The Cleveland Orchestra (Severance, 8 pm).

On Sunday: The Cleveland Orchestra repeats Friday’s program (3 pm at Severance), Apollo’s Fire does the same (St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts., 4 pm), pianist Spencer Myer plays on Music From the Western Reserve series (Christ Church, Hudson, 5 pm), flutist Bart Feller performs at the U. of Akron (Guzzetta Hall, 5:30 pm), and organist David Blazer plays original music for Charlie Chaplin’s 1928 silent film The Circus (West Shore U-U Church, 7 pm)

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READ:

Independence, MO-based organist Jan Krabill writes on her website:

Back for the 26th year! As always, my annual Super Bowl Sunday organ concert will begin at 2pm and conclude by 3:30, giving us all plenty of time to view all of the big game. And, as always, when our Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl, I’ll open the concert with a special piece in their honor. And, as always, this concert is FREE admission, and casual dress is fine. Come enjoy the fun! [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Tonight at 7:30, Apollo’s Fire’s latest itinerary continues at Rocky River Presbyterian before moving on to St. Paul’s Episcopal in Cleveland Hts. (Feb. 8 at 7:30 & Feb. 9 at 4). The topic is virtuosic Baroque works by Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi, and the virtuosi include Daphna Mor, recorder, and Alan Choo, Emi Tanabe & Chloe Fedor, violins.

Also at 7:30, The Cleveland Orchestra is back home at Severance Music Center to begin a three-concert set led by Thomas Guggeis and featuring principal cello Mark Kosower in Henri Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain… Read Mike Telin’s interview with Guggeis here.

And tonight at 8, in a concert presented by Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project, sound artist Ipek Eginli gets together with harpist Stephan Haluska & cellist Liam Battle at Calicchia Gallery Studio in Cleveland. 

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Piano Cleveland has announced its collaboration with the Kent State University College of the Arts in creating a new Arts Entrepreneurship Residency Program designed to help emerging artists develop an entrepreneurial mindset to enhance their careers.  [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Tonight at 7:30, Apollo’s Fire’s latest itinerary begins at First Methodist in Akron, then moves on to Rocky River Presbyterian (Feb. 7) and St. Paul’s Episcopal in Cleveland Hts. (Feb. 8 at 7:30 & Feb. 9 at 4). The topic is virtuosic Baroque works by Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi, and the virtuosi include Daphna Mor, recorder, and Alan Choo, Emi Tanabe & Chloe Fedor, violins. Tickets are available online.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

HEADLINES IN THE NEWS:

Paul Plishka, Prolific Soloist at the Met, Dies at 83 (NY Times)

Known for his liquid bass tones and flawless diction, he appeared in 88 roles, many of them comic, over 1,672 performances at the Metropolitan Opera.

Daniel Barenboim Announces He Has Parkinson’s Disease (NY Times)

“I am planning to maintain as many of my professional commitments as possible,” the conductor said. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 12 noon, Trinity Cathedral’s free Brownbag Concert series will host Case Western Historical Performance Ensembles. Those musicians will reassemble at 6 pm this evening for a Chamber Music in the Galleries concert in the Donna and James Reid Galleries at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Also this evening at 6 pm, Piano Cleveland Live will present pianist Arseniy Gusev and violinist Shannon Lee (photo by Olivia Crumm) in a sneak peek at their new album Witraż (Stained Glass) at the Forest City Brewery.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

From an email on Tuesday: “The Cleveland Orchestra is pleased to announce that Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will return to Cleveland earlier than expected to lead an additional subscription week on February 27-28 and March 1. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At noon, organist Jonathan W. Moyer plays North German music by Matthias Weckmann, Wilhelm Karges, Heinrich Scheidemann, and Dietrich Buxtehude at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle.

Tonight at 7:30, the Gateways Brass Collective, the resident ensemble of the Rochester-based Gateways Music Festival, performs music by Kevin McKee, Margaret Bonds, George Walker, Herbert T. Smith, and others in Mixon Hall at CIM.

And the Oberlin Artist Recital Series continues at 7:30 in Finney Chapel with New York Philharmonic clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Emanuel Ax performing works by Robert Schumann, Jessie Montgomery, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Florence Price, James Lee III, and Leonard Bernstein.

For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced two upcoming program changes. On February 20 and 22, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke will step in for Kelley O’Connor in Thomas Adès’s America: A Prophecy. And for the concerts on May 8, 9, and 10, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, the previously-unnamed new work written by Allison Loggins-Hull, the Orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow, now has a title: Grit. Grace. Glory. On that same program, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3 will be replaced by Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4. [Read more…]