By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

On Saturday at 2 pm, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory presents its Christmas Concert in Gamble Auditorium, at 7 pm Cleveland’s No Exit completes its trio of performances with the St. Paul new music ensemble Zeitgeist — the second installment of No Exit’s Year of Surreality: The Unconscious — at SPACES, and at 7:30, the Stow Symphony presents its Christmas Concert in Tallmadge.

On Saturday at 8 pm, Daniel Harding (pictured above in the cockpit of an Airbus — he’s also worked as an Air France pilot) will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in its final performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with soprano Lauren Snouffer, as well as of the U.S. premiere of Betsy Jolas’s Ces belles années. 

On Sunday at 3, Good Company, A Vocal Ensemble will host composer and guest conductor René Clausen in a program of his works at Lakewood Presbyterian Church, Oberlin Conservatory will launch its end-of-semester ChamberFest! in Stull Recital Hall beginning at 4:30, and organist Marcia Snavely’s 30-year career will be celebrated in a 7 pm concert by the Chagrin Falls Studio Orchestra at Federated Church.

Holiday concerts abound on Sunday, including a 2 pm  & 5pm performances by the Baldwin Wallace Men’s Chorus, a 3 pm Holiday Carol Sing with carilloneur George Leggiero from the McGaffin Tower in University Circle, and a Parma Symphony Christmas Concert, a 3:30 performance by Western Reserve Chorale at Church of the Saviour with Brass and Percussion, a 4 pm Festival of Advent Lessons & Carols at Trinity Cathedral, a 4 pm tag-team recital by members of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists at Church of the Ascension in Lakewood, a 4 pm Holiday Concert by the choral forces of the University of Akron, and a 7:30 program by the West Shore Chorale at Rocky River Methodist. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

This evening at 7:30 at Severance Music Center, The Cleveland Orchestra continues its three-performance cycle featuring Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, conducted by Daniel Harding, and featuring soprano Lauren Snouffer (pictured). (Repeated on Saturday at 8.)

Another three-performance run that continues this evening pairs Cleveland’s No Exit with the St. Paul-based new music ensemble Zeitgeist for the second installment of No Exit’s Year of Surreality: The Unconscious. The 7 pm free program at Waterloo Arts includes films by composer/filmmakers James Praznik, Luke Haaksma, and Timothy Beyer, and multimedia works by Philip Blackburn, Joe Horton, and Kathy McTavish. (Repeated at 7 on Saturday at 7 at SPACES Gallery.

Two Oberlin events both happen at 7:30 this evening. A Brass Extravaganza features organist Jonathan Moyer in Warner Concert Hall (click here to watch remotely), and Gregory Ristow will lead the Oberlin Chamber Singers in a performance of David Lang’s the little match girl passion in Fairchild Chapel (click here for a live stream). [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

This evening at 7:30, The Cleveland Orchestra begins a three-performance cycle featuring Mahler’s Fourth Symphony conducted by Daniel Harding, with soprano Lauren Snouffer and including the US premiere of Betsy Jolas’s Ces belles années, repeated on Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 8.

Another three-performance run that begins this evening pairs Cleveland’s No Exit with the St. Paul-based new music ensemble Zeitgeist for the second installment of No Exit’s Year of Surreality: The Unconscious. The 7 pm free program at CSU’s Drinko Hall includes films by composer/filmmakers James Praznik, Luke Haaksma, and Timothy Beyer, and multimedia works by Philip Blackburn, Joe Horton, and Kathy McTavish. Repeated at 7 on Friday at Waterloo Arts and Saturday at 7 at SPACES Gallery.

And tonight at 7:30, pianist Jeremy Denk (pictured above) brings a slate of female composers — Clara Schumann, Tania León, Cécile Chaminade, Missy Mazzoli, Meredith Monk, Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Louise Farrenc, and Phyllis Chen — plus works by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms to his Oberlin Artist Recital series recital in Finney Chapel.  Read a preview article here.

For details of this and other events, visit our Concert Listings.

INTERESTING READ:

It always makes the news when a lost or previously unknown piece of Baroque music turns up, but what if music in that popular style is still being written and premiered? [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today is Giving Tuesday, “a day when charities ask us to take a break from our holiday shopping and open our wallets to worthy causes.” Take 17 minutes to listen to an NPR story, How to donate to a charity with purpose and intention.

At noon, Melissa Brassard plays Franck, Bonnal, and Messiaen on The Church of the Covenant’s Tuesday Organ Plus series, and at 7:30 this evening, the Oberlin Percussion Group will bring a variety of 21st century works (and one from 1939) to life in Stull Recital Hall.

Spooked by the weather forecast? Both events will be live streamed, so no need to leave your couch!

For details of this and other events, visit our Concert Listings.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Dean Bernard J Owens has announced that Shiloh Roby (pictured) will become Trinity Cathedral’s next Director of Music in March, following the retirement of Todd Wilson at the end of December. (Wilson will continue to teach at the Cleveland Institute of Music.) Roby currently serves as associate director of music at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati. Read the message from Dean Owens here. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

The Cleveland Orchestra welcomes guest conductor Pietari Inkinen and violinist Augustin Hadelich (pictured) for Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto & Antonîn Dvořák’s Othello Overture and Symphony No. 8 on Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 8, and Sunday at 3 at Severance Music Center.

Then on Sunday at 2, Carl Topilow & the Cleveland Pops Orchestra & Chorus will kick off the Holidays at the Connor Palace Theatre in Playhouse Square Center with seasonal faves, a sing-along, & dancing Santas, plus adoptable puppies and kittens from area shelters.

Further afield, the Youngstown edition of TubaChristmas takes place on Sunday at 3:30 in the Grand Ballroom of Stambaugh Auditorium.

And back home in University Circle on Sunday at 4, organist Jonathan W. Moyer will present  “Prelude & Fugue — five masterworks by J.S. Bach,” with commentary by Rabbi Roger C. Klein, at the Church of the Covenant. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Organist Celina Kobetitsch, a Cleveland native and Oberlin grad who currently serves as associate director of music at Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock, plays music by Lübeck, Aguilera de Heredia, Tilo Medek and her own chorale partita on the noon Organ Plus concert at the Church of the Covenant. Click here for the live stream.

For details of this and other events, visit our Concert Listings.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Yesterday, The Cleveland Orchestra announced details of the second Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival, which will take place at Severance Music Center and partner locations throughout Cleveland from May 15 to 26, 2024.

“Anchored by four fully staged performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute directed by Nikolaus Habjan and featuring The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, this year’s festival examines the theme of Power. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

On Saturday at 7:30, Khari Joyner (pictured) solos with Christopher Wilkins & the Akron Symphony in Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in E.J. Thomas Hall. At 8 pm Apollo’s Fire plays concertos by Vivaldi and Bach at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts., and Carl Topilow takes Cleveland Pops on “A Mediterranean Cruise,” embarking from Severance Music Center. Also on Saturday at 8, CUSP presents experimental music by Jelly Ear & Ishmael Ali at Convivium 33 Gallery.

It’s a busy Sunday afternoon with pianist Marc-André Hamelin in recital at 3 pm in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall at Severance Music Center, and the final performance of Handel’s Alcina at CIM. Heights Chamber Orchestra led by Frank Wiley performs with pianist Donna Lee at 3:30 at Fairmount Presbyterian, and four performances are scheduled for 4 pm — Apollo’s Fire at University Circle United Methodist Church, Boston-based organist Peter Sykes at Akron’s Holy Trinity Lutheran, violist Jordan Bak with the Cavani Quartet at St. Wendelin in Tremont, and Samuel Gordon’s Singers Companye with the VoxMix Chamber Ensemble at The Bath Church.

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

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

This evening at 7:30, Jinjoo Cho (pictured) will be featured in Barber’s Violin Concerto with BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at Church of the Covenant (previewed here).

At the same hour, Jeannette Sorrell will lead Apollo’s Fire in the second of four performances of “Fire and Joy: from Bach and Vivaldi” at Lakewood Methodist featuring Debra Nagy, oboe, Alan Choo, violin, & Nicole Divall, viola d’amore (read a preview here) in works by J.S. Bach and Vivaldi.

Also on Friday at 7:30, CIM Opera Theater presents the first of two performances of Handel’s Alcina in Kulas Hall (read a preview here), and Opera Western Reserve stages Carmen at Powers Auditorium in Youngstown.

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

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Cleveland Institute of Music reports that Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero, famed for her improvisatory skills, will join its piano faculty in the 2024-2025 academic year. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7 pm, Tri-C will present A Tribute to Ruth Brown, including a screening of George T. Nierenberg’s 1988 documentary, That Rhythm, Those Blues, followed by a live performance of music by vocalist Shenel Johns, Dominick Farinacci, and the East Central Jazz Educators All-Star Big Band.

And at 7:30, Jeannette Sorrell will lead Apollo’s Fire in the first of four performances of “Fire and Joy: from Bach and Vivaldi” featuring Debra Nagy, oboe, Alan Choo, violin, & Nicole Divall, viola d’amore (pictured — read a preview here) in works by J.S. Bach and Vivaldi at First Methodist in Akron.

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

NEWS BRIEFS:

Cleveland Orchestra principal trumpet Michael Sachs, who resigned from his teaching post at the Cleveland Institute of Music in October after heading the brass department for 35 years, has been appointed to the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year. Read a press release here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At Noon, harpsichordist Mikhail Grazhdanov will play works by Louis Couperin, J.H. D’Anglebert’& J.S. Bach at the Church of the Covenant.

And tonight at 7:30 at Disciples Cultural Arts Center, the Danish String Quartet will perform on the Cleveland Chamber Music Series.

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK:

The last two visits the Danish String Quartet planned for Cleveland were not without incident. In 2022, the concert scheduled for January 25 was canceled due to positive COVID-19 test results from one of the performers. Before that, the quartet’s 2017 concert got off to a late start because its cellist was delayed.

As I wrote in a review, “What’s a string quartet to do when their cellist is running late for a concert? Vamp until ready, of course. Before their October 10 debut on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society Series, Danish String Quartet violist Asbjørn Nørgaard and violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen entertained the audience with an informative little off-the-cuff pre-concert lecture, charmingly laced with dry Danish humor and musical examples. [Read more…]