by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä (pictured) flies in to lead the Cleveland Orchestra and choruses with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 (7:30 at Severance Music Center, repeated Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 8).

No Exit New Music begins its new season with a triptych of concerts and a trio of world premieres tonight at 7 pm in CSU’s Drinko Recital Hall (repeated Friday at Waterloo Arts, and Saturday at SPACES Gallery, both at 7:30.)

The Oberlin College Choir and Musical Union sing a joint concert directed by Brian Bailey and Jami Lercher (7:30 in Warner Concert Hall), and Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project presents James Ilgenfritz & Matthew Goodheart/Heather Mease (8 pm in Calicchia Gallery Studio, Cleveland).

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

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On October 17, 1849 Frederic Chopin died in Paris. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

LOOKING AHEAD:

On this rainy, gloomy Monday with no events on the horizon, let’s do a rundown of some bright spots in this otherwise-packed week. The Cleveland Chamber Music Society hosts the Imani Winds and Michelle Cann, while CIM presents the Quince Ensemble. The season continues for Les Délices and begins for No Exit and Apollo’s Fire, and The Cleveland Orchestra puts on a massive performance of Mahler 3.

For more details on these and more, visit our Concert Listings.

IN MEMORIAM:

The Grammy-winning classical music producer Adam Abeshouse (pictured) passed away on Thursday. The 63-year-old was diagnosed with bile duct cancer last spring. As his condition recently worsened, NPR reported on an at-home farewell concert organized by some of his closest collaborators. Quoted from that article:

“What he said to us before we saw him last is a reflection of how he is selfless,” said violinist Nick Kendall. “Before we left, he said, ‘Boys, just continue listening to each other.’ That hit us huge, and will always live with us.”

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Astral Artists — the Philly-based arts group that represents a number of young, up-and-coming musicians — will soon shut down. The board cited unstable finances as one of the primary reasons for the decision. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

On Saturday at 11, carillonneurs Becky Everett & Keiran Cantilina play a concert in honor of David Osburn’s 30+ years of playing the bells at St Christopher by the River in Gates Mills, at 3 pm & 7 pm, BW Opera continues its run of Handel’s Radamisto in Playhouse Square, at 7:30 British violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason plays Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Violin Concerto in g with the Canton Symphony, and at 8, Finnish musicians Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor & composer) and Senja Rummukainen (cellist) continue their visit to The Cleveland Orchestra (read our review of Thursday’s concert on cleveland.com here — photo by Roger Mastroianni).

Final performances on Sunday at 3 include BW Opera’s Radamisto and The Cleveland Orchestra with Salonen & Rummukainen. Other concerts include Cleveland Cello Society’s Scholarship winners (1pm at Judson Park), the Parma Symphony (3 pm at Valley Forge H.S.), Heights Chamber Orchestra with organist Kevin Jones (3:30 at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts.) and Lakeland Civic Band with saxophonist Tyler Young (4 pm, at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland).

RECENT DISCOVERIES:

While researching for the new edition of the Mozart Köchel catalog, scholars have turned up an early string serenade by the teenage composer in the Leipzig Municipal Library, and Deutsche Grammophon is recording three versions of the piece. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Two Baldwin Wallace events begin tonight at 7 pm: Handel’s Radamisto, the composer’s first opera for the Royal Academy of Music, at The Helen Theatre in Playhouse Square Center, and the Symphonic Band joins the Strongsville Community Band in Gamble Auditorium.

And at 7:30, Spanish pianist Gregorio Benítez (pictured) will play excerpts from Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall at Severance Music Center.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

By Jarrett Hoffman

Canadian-American composer R. Nathaniel Dett was born on October 11, 1882 in Drummondville, Ontario (now part of Niagara Falls). He is especially famous for his choral and piano compositions based on African American spirituals and folk songs. Among his great works is his oratorio The Ordering of Moses, written in 1932 as his thesis at the Eastman School of Music, and premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony in 1937. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Two Finnish musicians — conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen and cellist Senja Rummukainen — will be featured in tonight’s Cleveland Orchestra concert at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center. The program includes Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, Salonen’s Cello Concerto, and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5. Tickets available online. Read a preview interview with Rummukainen on this page.

SOME HEADLINES IN THE NEWS:

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra experiments with creative experiences for next-gen audiences — Cincinnati Business Courier

Decoding the Trend Busters: How Some Arts Organizations Are Increasing Participation as National Figures Decline — National Endowment for the Arts

In Salt Lake City, Sports Drive a New Vision for Downtown: A proposal to remake the area would please the owner of the city’s N.B.A. and N.H.L. teams. But others, including classical musicians, aren’t so thrilled. —New York Times

TODAY’S ALMANAC: [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 12 Noon on Tuesdays at the Covenant series, organist Bernhard Klapprott (pictured left, from Weimar, Germany) will play 17th and 18th century music on the Newberry organ in the Church of the Covenant in University Circle. Click here to view the concert program.

And at 7:30 pm, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra will travel down the street to Severance Music Center, where Jake Taniguchi will lead a program of Beethoven, J.S. Bach, and Florence Price, featuring violinists Jaime Laredo and Jessica Lee.

BOP STOP TURNS TEN:

The BOP STOP will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a week of performances from October 15-20 including innovative jazz, local and national acts, experimental works and fan favorites. Donated to The Music Settlement in 2014, BOP STOP schedules more than 300 concerts and events each season in its Hingetown venue that reach some 12,000 audience members and engage more than 7,000 local and national artists.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

German composer Heinrich Schütz was born in Bad Köstritz on this date in 1585. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

LOOKING FORWARD:

This week, BW Opera returns with Handel’s Radamisto, Severance Music Center welcomes the CIM Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen leads The Cleveland Orchestra in his own Cello Concerto, Heights Chamber Orchestra opens their season, and more.

For more details, visit our Concert Listings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The ensemble Silkroad and its artistic director Rhiannon Giddens have announced an upcoming album (pictured) and podcast as part of the group’s “American Railroad” Project. Learn more here.

The album, which drops November 15, includes new arrangements of songs by Haruka Fujii, Maeve Gilcrest, and Pura Fé, who audiences may remember from Silkroad’s Oberlin concert in April. Giddens, an Oberlin graduate, succeeded the artistic director position from Yo-Yo Ma, who happens to be celebrated below in today’s almanac.

INTERESTING READ:

“Yes, Listening to Music is Therapy,” Daniel J. Levitin writes for The Walrus. The article — adapted from his recent book — highlights the creative connections between scientific and musical fields, and how music’s ability to mentally transport us somewhere is actually healing. Read it here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

We list 21 events from Friday through Sunday, including multiple performances by several organizations. Visit our Concert Listings for details, and read previews on this page for

• BlueWater Chamber Orchestra (Saturday at 7:30 at the Church of the Covenant, and Sunday at 4 at St. Noel Church)
• Les Délices in “Moonlit Mozart” (Saturday at 7:30 at Disciples Church, and Sunday at 4 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church
• Conrad Tao premiering Adam Roberts’ Book of Flowers (pictured) on the Kent Keyboard Series (Sunday at 5 in Ludwig Recital Hall)
• Salar Nader and Homayoun Sakhi bring Afghan music to Oberlin (Sunday at 7:30 in Finney Chapel).

INTERESTING READ:

The October issue of Gramophone includes a feature about Swedish violinist Johan Dalene, who has released a new album paying tribute to virtuoso icons from the past. Dalene won first prize in the 2017 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition in Oberlin, after performing the Tchaikovsky concerto with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. Click here to explore the issue.

WEEKEND ALMANAC: [Read more…]