by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

SATURDAY: BlueWater Chamber Orchestra joins guitarist Jason Vieaux (pictured) in Vivaldi & Daniel Meyer leads Avner Dorman’s How to Love and Beethoven’s 7th (7:30, Church of the Covenant), Victor Liva leads the Cleveland Philharmonic in Mahler’s First & works by Chausson & Sarasate with violinist Odin Rathnam (7:30 in CSU’s Waetjen Auditorium), Oberlin Collegium sings Renaissance music under Steven Plank (7:30 in Fairchild Chapel), & pianist Lang Lang plays Saint-Saëns’ 2nd Concerto with The Cleveland Orchestra, plus Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique (8 pm at Severance, Franz Welser-Möst, conducting).

SUNDAY: North Coast Winds play Jazz (2 pm at Hudson Library), Tuesday Musical presents its final Scholarship round & winners’ concert (2:30 in Guzzetta Hall, U. of Akron), Oberlin College Choir & Musical Union led by Gregory Ristow sing Duruflé & Lorain County Bicentennial premieres of student compositions (2:30 in Finney Chapel), the Cleveland Philharmonic & Parma Symphony both perform at 3 (the former in Westlake, the latter in Parma Hts.), organist Davis Badaszewski plays early music (3 pm in Painesville), Frank Wiley leads Heights Chamber Orchestra with saxophonist Perry Roth (3:30 at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts.), the Verona & Cavani String Quartets come together for Andrew Rindfleisch’s octet Phantasmagoria (4 pm, St. Wendelin Church in Tremont), Oberlin remembers the Holocaust with a Yom HaShoah concert (4:30 in Warner Concert Hall) & the West Shore Chorale sings Haydn & Vivaldi (7:30 at Avon Lake PAC).

For details of these and other performances, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cleveland Chamber Music Society has revealed details of its forthcoming 75th Anniversary Season in 2024-2025, which will include performances by Chanticleer, the Imani Winds with pianist Michelle Cann, Cuarteto Casals, flutist Emmanuel Pahud, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Jerusalem Quartet (pictured), who will play a complete Shostakovich cycle at the Cleveland Museum of Art from April 21-30. More details here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At noon, the Tri-C Classical Piano Series presents Lang Lang’s “101 Pianists” keyboard extravaganza at its Metro Campus.

This evening’s performances include the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra (7:30 in Finney Chapel), the Oberlin Collegium Musicum (7:30 in Fairchild Chapel), and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra with competition winner cellist Elena Ziegler (8 pm at Severance).

For details of these and other performances, visit our Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1844, British impresario and composer Richard D’Oyly Carte was born in London. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Pianist Lang Lang joins Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra for Camille Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto, and the Orchestra adds another French classic: Hector Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique (7:30 at Severance Music Center).

At the same hour, Timothy Weiss leads the Oberlin Sinfonietta in music by Stephen Hartke, and in world premieres of works by Wesley Horner (with faculty baritone Timothy LeFebvre), Graham Lazorchak, and Jesse Jones (Warner Concert Hall).

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

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: At noon, organist Kingsley Price Wood plays Olivier Messiaen’s Mass for Pentecost (complete) at the Church of the Covenant. Hear it in person, or via livestream.

For details of these and other performances, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Tuesday Musical invites you to be in the audience when this year’s top scholarship winners compete again in the competition’s Final Round/Winners Concert on Sunday, May 5, 2:30 p.m. at The University of Akron’s Guzzetta Recital Hall, 157 University Ave. (across from EJ Thomas Hall).

Two additional adjudicated scholarships — one for $1,000 and one for $2,000 — will be awarded. The audience will also pick the winner of the John M. Ream Jr. DDS People’s Choice Award of $500. The May 5 concert and post-concert reception are free — no tickets or reservations needed. [Read more…]

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…]