by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

Kent/Blossom Festival Young Artists performances begin in a number of locations on Friday (2 pm at Hudson’s Laurel Lake Retirement Community & 7:30 in Ludwig), Saturday (2 pm at Hudson Library) & Sunday (2 pm at CIM’s Mixon Hall & 7:30 in Ludwig).

Banjo sensation Béla Fleck (pictured) joins conductor Brett Mitchell & The Cleveland Orchestra on Saturday at 7 at Blossom for Fleck’s own arrangement of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, plus American music by Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber & William Grant Still.

Ohio Light Opera continues its rotation of its first three productions in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster: The Sound of Music (Friday at 2 & Sunday at 2), Guys and Dolls (Saturday at 2 & Tuesday at 2) & Me and My Girl (Saturday at 7:30).

A Lunchtime Carillon Concert by Sheryl Modlin begins at 12:15 Friday from the McGaffin tower in University Circle.

And a concert at 3 pm Sunday at Lake View Cemetery Community Mausoleum celebrates Cleveland’s forgotten composer, guitar hero, and abolitionist, Justin Holland with 280 years of chamber music by Black composers performed by Damian Goggans (guitar) & Cleveland Orchestra members Liyuan Xie & Isabel Trautwein (violins), Eliesha Nelson (viola) & Tanya Ell (cello).

For details of upcoming concerts, visit our Concert Listings page.

[Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 2 pm, Ohio Light Opera presents a matinee performance of Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster.

And at 6:30, the Canton Symphony’s Summer Serenades present an outdoor performance by a string quartet at Lawrence Township Park in North Lawrence.

For details of upcoming concerts, visit our Concert Listings page.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Friends of the McGaffin Carillon in University Circle write, “There are only a few more weeks to hear The McGaffin Carillon (pictured) before it is disassembled in mid-August in preparation for a complete restoration and renovation. The carillon will be silent until next spring when four new bells will be added to the instrument. Stay tuned for the exciting details.” [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Turning the calendar page, we find ourselves on the cusp between the end of June festivals and the opening of the Blossom Music Center season.

Today’s agenda is blank. For details of upcoming concerts, visit our Concert Listings page.

INTERESTING READ:

“This season, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin experimented with programming works by female composers at every performance. Results were mixed.” Read (or listen to) Jeffrey Arlo Brown’s report from Berlin in Sunday’s New York Times, “What Happened When an Orchestra Said Goodbye to All-Male Concerts.”

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Today marks the anniversaries of two births of note — German composer Hans Werner Henze in 1926 and American conductor Philip Brunelle in 1943. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS  WEEKEND: 

On Saturday afternoon, the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute will culminate in a marathon participant chamber music concert (1:30-5 pm in the Conservatory’s Kulas Recital Hall & Orchestra Room), the Cleveland Clinic Concert Band will anticipate Independence Day with American classics (2 pm, Eastman Reading Garden, downtown Cleveland Public Library), and Ohio Light Opera stages Me and My Girl (2 pm in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster.)

Events on Saturday evening include a screening of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark with John Williams’ live score played by Sarah Hicks & The Cleveland Orchestra (7 pm at Blossom), ChamberFest’s Closing Night (7:30 at the Maltz, pictured), Ohio Light Opera’s The Sound of Music (7:30 in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster), and the Stow Symphony (7:30 in Tallmadge Bible Church).

Sunday’s agenda, a bit lighter, includes Ohio Light Opera’s Guys and Dolls (2 pm), a summer carillon concert by Davis Osburn (6 pm, St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts.,) and a repeat of Saturday’s Cleveland  Orchestra at the Movies (7pm at Blossom).

For details, visit the Concert Listings page.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Piano Cleveland writes, “In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC), Piano Cleveland has placed six golden pianos in prominent — and sometimes unexpected — locations throughout the city. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Carillonneur George Leggiero plays a 12:15 Carillon Recital from the McGaffin Tower in  University Circle, and Ohio Light Opera stages two shows: Guys and Dolls at 2 pm & Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers at 7:30 (Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster).

Tonight, ChamberFest Cleveland presents “Night Moves” with music ranging from Palestrina to Piazzolla (7:30, Disciples Church), Cleveland Lute Fest features Catherine Liddell (7:30, Harkness Chapel at Case), and faculty and students of the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute form a Baroque orchestra to play works by Lully, Leclair, and Rameau  with violin soloist Edwin Huizinga (pictured, 8 pm, in Finney Chapel).

For details, visit the Concert Listings page.

SAVE THE DATES:

On Thursday. June 27, the Oberlin Artist Recital Series announced to friends and subscribers the lineup for its 2024-2025 season. Subscriptions will become available to the general public on July 22, and single tickets will go on sale on August 15. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 2 pm in Kulas Recital Hall, participants in Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute will play movements from François Couperin’s Concerts royaux, written for the court of Louis XIV. At the same hour in Freedlander Theater at the College of Wooster, Ohio Light Opera stages Me and My Girl (pictured).

Later today, the Canton Symphony fields a string quartet for one of its Summer Serenades (6:30 at Huston-Brumbaugh Nature Center in Minerva, and the Cleveland Lute Fest presents Bor Zuljan with flutist Mara Winter in early 16th century improvised music (7:30 at Harkness Chapel, Case Western Reserve University.)

For details, visit the Concert Listings page.

NEWS BRIEFS:

From Cleveland.com’s The Wakeup today: “Months after issuing a vote of “no confidence” in leadership, faculty members at the Cleveland Institute of Music are looking to unionize — and to have a more formal voice in decision making at the conservatory, reports Sean McDonnell. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

A 2 pm Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute Faculty Recital features Michael Lynn, flute, Catharina Meints, pardessus de viole, Rebecca Landell, viola da gamba & Lisa Crawford, harpsichord in music by Marin Marais, Louis Heudelinne & François Couperin in Kulas Recital Hall. Also at 2 pm, Ohio Light Opera presents Guys and Dolls in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster.

And tonight at 7:30 in Harkness Chapel at Case, Cleveland Lute Fest continues its nightly series of recitals with a program of 16th Century Dances & music by S.L. Weiss performed by Robert Barto (pictured) with flutist Mara Winter, flute. For details, visit the Concert Listings page.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cleveland Orchestra continues its summer community engagement programming on Wednesday, June 26 at 7 pm with a free, outdoor performance as part of University Circle’s Wade Oval Wednesdays concert series. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Ohio Light Opera presents Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls (2 pm, Freedlander Theater, College of Wooster), Tri-C JazzFest features Jason Moran and the Bandwagon (5 pm, Allen Theatre, Playhouse Square), Cécile McLorin Salvant (pictured) 6:30, Mimi Ohio Theatre), Marcus Miller/Bob James Quartet (7:45, Connor Palace Theatre) & Scary Goldings (10 pm, Mimi Ohio Theatre).

ChamberFest Cleveland presents “Paradise Lost” (7:30, Mixon Hall at CIM), Renovare Music plays “Facing the Rising Sun” (7:30 at Lekko Coffee in Hingetown), Nightingale Opera produces its final performance of Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon (Cinderella, 7:30, Goodyear Theatre, Akron), and Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute presents a faculty concert featuring music of Paris and Versailles, 1660-1760 (8 pm, Kulas Recital Hall, Oberlin Conservatory — note: very limited seating). [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

The Summer Solstice will occur today at 4:51 pm EDT when the sun reaches its most northern point in the sky during the year.

Before that happens, at 2 pm Ohio Light Opera will present the opening performance of Me and My Girl in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster, and at 7 pm, a new series, Third Thursdays at Transformer Station, will feature Ideastream’s Amanda Rabinowitz and Talons’ — the event is sold out. And The Canton Symphony has canceled its 6:30 pm Summer Serenade at the Canton Garden Center due to extreme heat.

Even though summer will have officially begun, tonight at 7:30, ChamberFest Cleveland will continue its series with “Rite of Spring,” a program featuring duo-pianists Roman Rabinovich & Yaron Kohlberg (pictured) & percussionists Tom Sherwood & Alexander Cohen in an arrangement of Stravinsky’s iconic work along with many other vernal selections in CIM’s Mixon Hall.

Meanwhile, at 7:30 pm in Akron’s Goodyear Theater, Nightingale Opera will present Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon, a take on the beloved fairytale of Cinderella (repeated on Friday). And this evening at 8, Tri-C JazzFest, will kick off a busy weekend with a performance by Take 6 in Playhouse Square’s Mimi Ohio Theatre. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

From 7 to 9pm at  CLE Urban Winery in Cleveland Hts., ChamberFest Cleveland presents “Cello Dualities with Oliver Herbert.” Happy Hour begins at 7 pm with CFC artistic directors and festival musicians, followed by a 8 pm solo cello performance when Herbert will play J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3, Sofia Gubaidulina’s Preludes for Solo Cello & Paul Desenne’s Jaguar Songs.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On June 18, 1818, French composer Charles Gounod was born in Paris. Instead of linking to one of his popular operas or symphonic masses, here’s his Petit symphonie pour vents in honor of all orchestral wind players. The Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France performs it in January, 2018 at the Maison de la Radio in Paris. [Read more…]