by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A packed calendar and some tough choices

. The Almanac remembers the death of Leo Ornstein, the births of Dame Myra Hess, and Maryanne Amacher, and the demise of Howard Hanson and Marie-Claire Alain

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Many events to mention, tough choices to make.

On Friday, a Cleveland Orchestra matinee and an evening performance by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, the Music Settlement celebrates Black composers & artists, Cleveland Chamber Collective presents “After the Storm,” Les Délices features Sherezade Panthaki in “Enchanted Island,” Oberlin Orchestra teams up with a Jazz Division trio. [Read more…]

by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

. Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival announces 2023 line-up

. Almanac: Happy birthday James Reese Europe

HAPPENING TODAY:

No concerts on the horizon today, probably because it’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Christian calendar.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

The Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival has announced its 2023 line-up. To be held at the Cleveland Institute of Music on June 1-4,  the Festival will include concerts, master classes, lectures, guitar demonstrations, and the Stroud Youth Competition semi-final and final rounds. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Live performances: solo organ, chamber music, uncommon sounds

. British Coronation music announced

. Stephen Hough podcast

. Remembering Widor, Alford, Segovia, Auden, the launching of a celebrated magazine, a troubled opera company, and the careers of two sopranos, plus a famous assassination and a state visit

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 12:00 pm the Tuesday Noon Organ Plus Concert hosts Chase Loomer. The program includes J.S. Bach’s Wir glauben all an einen Gott, BWV 680, Francisco Correa de Arauxo’s Quinto Tiento de medio registro, FO 29, Juan Cabanilles’ Tiento lleno séptimo tono por A la mi re, M386 no. 4 and Jean-Baptiste Robin’s Cinq Versets sur le “Veni Creator.” Church of the Covenant

At 7:30 pm Cleveland Chamber Music Society presents Paul Huang & Danbi Um, violins and Amy Yang, piano. Their fascinating program includes Leclair’s Sonata in e, Op. 3, No. 5, Moszkowski’s Suite, Op. 71, Ysaÿe’s Sonata, Rogerson’s Afterword, Barlowe’s Hebraïque Elegie and Sarasate’s Navarra. Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Hts. Tickets available online. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky visits some rare repertory

. Almanac tips a hat to Czerny, Grainger (pictured), Takemitsu

HAPPENING TODAY: 

From 2 to 4 this afternoon, on Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, Eric Charnofsky DeeJays Bohuslav Martinů’s Double Concerto for Strings, Piano, and Timpani, Steve Reich’s Triple Quartet, Mara Gibson’s Spark (trombone and piano), J.S. Bach’s Chaconne (violin and orchestra) arr. by Felix Mendelssohn and Julian Milone, Gioachino Rossini’s Wind Quartet in D, Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s Meditation on Two Themes from the Day of Existence (cello and piano) & selections from A Venetian Coronation, featuring works by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Click here to listen to the internet feed, or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A plethora of weekend performances

. News from Tri-C (National Orchestra of Ukraine next Thursday, pictured), Classical Guitar Society (appoints resident composer), and Violin Channel (homophobia cancels King’s Singers in Florida)

. Almanac remembers debut of Madama Butterfly, conductor Dimitri Metropolous, Cleveland’s own Arthur Shepherd

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Multiple performances include Herbert Blomstedt and Emanuel Ax with The Cleveland Orchestra (Fri & Sat) and Cleveland Chamber Choir in Willoughby Hills (Sat) and University Circle (Sun). [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A special day for guitars: CIM studio at Trinity, Vieaux in Peninsula, Fire & Grace at Oberlin

. Semplice Duo at Oberlin

. Anniversaries of various musicians and composers with a special nod to John Adams

HAPPENING TODAY: 

A day of guitars: Students from the Cleveland Institute of Music guitar studio host the Brownbag Concert at Trinity Cathedral today at Noon, their mentor, Jason Vieaux, plays a solo recital at Happy Days Lodge in Peninsula tonight at 7, and Oberlin presents its new faculty member, violinist Edwin Huizinga in concert with his Fire & Grace (pictured) colleague, guitarist William Coulter at 7:30 in Fairchild Chapel. Another Oberlin event features the Semplice Duo, Cristina Ballatori, flute & Kevin T. Chance, piano, to Kulas Recital Hall, also at 7:30.

ALMANAC FOR FEBRUARY 15:

In an unusual coincidence, early German composer Michael Praetorius departed this life in Wolfenbuttel on February 15, 1621, the same date on which he was born in Creuzberg an der Werra in 1571.  [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. New episodes of SalonEra & Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, Rowley returns to BW

. R.I.P. YSU’s Stephen L. Gage, Cleveland Orchestra releases Blossom schedule, Apollo’s Fire adds a performance

. Almanac anniversaries: Sor, Wagner & Kleinsinger

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Les Délices releases SalonEra 3.5: Finding Lisette. Baritone/scholar Jean-Bernard Cerin traces the history of the Haitian Creole song “​Lisette quitté la plaine” and explores how the song becomes a lens through which we can explore the dynamic, fraught history of Haiti and its occupiers.

From 2-4 pm, Eric Charnofsky hosts Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, featuring music by David Dzubay, Douglas Lilburn & Arthur Bliss

And at 7:30 pm, Baldwin Wallace welcomes back its distinguished graduate, soprano Jennifer Rowley (pictured as Tosca), for a solo recital, and CIM sponsors a Music for Food Concert to benefit the Cleveland Kosher Food Pantry. See our Concert Listings for details. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

EVENTS THIS WEEKEND:

Visiting artists include cellist Seth Parker Woods (with the Oberlin Sinfonietta on Friday), Broadwas and jazz singer Aisha de Haas (with Cleveland Pops on Friday), conductor Klaus Mäkelä (with The Cleveland Orchestra on Saturday and Sunday, Mahler Symphony No. 5).

Local soloists and ensembles on Saturday feature organist Todd Wilson (Lake Erie College), the Akron Symphony’s Gospel Meets Symphony (pictured), and on Sunday, Cleveland Ballet and  Inlet Dance Theatre (with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance), Heights Chamber Orchestra (with trumpeter Ron Goldberg in Cleveland Hts.), and Steven Plank’s Cleveland Consort of Voices (at the Church of the Saviour).

And two organizations are raising a toast to Valentine’s Day: M.U.S.i.C. (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics) in Pepper Pike, and The Cleveland Opera (formerly Opera Circle, in Shaker Hts.) 

See our Concert Listings for details. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Local #4 Music Fund sponsors the Amethyst String Quartet, the CIM Orchestra plays at Severance Music Center

. Piano Cleveland announces 32 contestants for this summer’s Young Artist Competition, CIM alums among Grammy winners & Gustavo Dudamel, following Deborah Borda to the NY Philharmonic, exchanges the west coast for the east

. Almanac: the premiere of Sibelius’ (pictured) Violin Concerto called “dismal” and “a disaster.” Follow links to Leonidas Kavakos’ recordings of the first (1904) and second (1905) versions

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Local #4 Music Fund of the Musicians Union will pick up the tab for the Amethyst String Quartet’s 1:30 concert on the Haff-Paluck Chamber series at Rocky River Senior Center, 21014 Hilliard Blvd, Rocky River. Free. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Today: Charnofsky spins underplayed classical music, Rocky River Chamber Music Society presents the Butler Piano Trio

. R.I.P. legendary Ohio arts advocate and patron William P. Blair III (pictured)

. A reminder, & broadcaster Karl Haas remembered in today’s Almanac

HAPPENING TODAY: 

From 2-4 pm, Eric Charnofsky hosts Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, featuring works by Dorothy Hindman, Malcolm Arnold, George Crumb Adrienne Albert, Carl Vollrath & selections from the album “Come, Gentle Night” –  Music of Shakespeare’s World. Click here to listen to the internet feed or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

Tonight at 7:30 pm, Rocky River Chamber Music Society presents the Butler Piano Trio (Sandy Yamamoto, violin, Joshua Gindele, cello & Colette Valentine, piano, with Lembi Veskimets, viola) in Rachmaninov’s Trio Élégiaque No. 1 in g, Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D, Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost,” and Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, 20401 Hilliard Blvd., Rocky River. Free. Attend in-person free, or click here for a live stream. [Read more…]