By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Gallery music returns to CMA

. Ticket sales are steadily recovering post-Pandemic, says the New York Times, in an article featuring The Cleveland Orchestra and its inaugural Arts & Humanities Festival

. Almanac: Premiere of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata by George Bridgetower (pictured), births of Harold Budd, Michael Horwood & Phil Fried, departure of Jacob Druckman

HAPPENING TODAY:

There’s music in the galleries at the Cleveland Museum of Art again today at 6pm. “Modern, American, and Accessible” will find Eva Mondragon, violin & viola, Jenny Cluggish, violin, Paul Kirk, fiddle, Stephan Haluska, harp, Ellie Glorioso, cello, and Chris Jenkins, viola performing works by modern American composers in the Contemporary Art Gallery. Composers range from Pulitzer Prize–winner Caroline Shaw to African American composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, and the playlist will include concert music by comedic classical composer Peter Schickele, and fiddle music arranged by Paul Kirk. It’s free.

INTERESTING READ:

The  Cleveland Orchestra and its inaugural Arts and Humanities Festival are featured in today’s print edition of The New York Times as part of a general survey of organizations that are now seeing an increase in subscriptions and ticket sales following a drop off during the pandemic and a weak recovery at the beginning of the concert season. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. The weekly Charnofsky playlist

. Almanac: first performance of Verdi’s Requiem, naissance of Wagner (& Anna Russell explains The Ring to you)

HAPPENING TODAY:

As he does every Monday afternoon from 2-4, Eric Charnofsky wafts underperformed works out on the airways and the Web on CWRU’s “Not your Grandmother’s Classical Music.” Today’s menu features Richard Wagner’s Overture to Das Liebesverbot, Leonard Bernstein’s Four Sabras (piano), Sebastian Currier’s Vocalissimus (soprano, clarinet, violin), Osvaldo Golijov’s K’vakarat (cantor, string quartet), Ernest Bloch’s Piano Quintet No. 2 & J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations (arranged for string trio). Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

ALMANAC FOR MAY 22:

On May 22 in 1874, Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem was first performed at the church of San Marco in Milan, ending a long requiem saga for the composer, who had originally proposed a collaborative work by several Italian composers to honor Gioachino Rossini after his death in 1868. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A plethora of performances to choose from, some multiple

. Almanac: celebrating the lives and careers of Alice Mary Smith, Linda Martinez, Walter Aschaffenburg, Maurice André, Heinz Holliger, and Gustav Mahler

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

On Friday at 7:30, the Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival: The American Dream continues with a Cleveland Orchestra concert led by Franz Welser-Möst featuring works by Scott Joplin, Julia Perry, William Grant Still, Bernard Herrmann, Raven Chacon and Edgar Varèse, CityMusic Cleveland plays the first of three concerts with cellist Edward Arron at 7:30 at St. Noel in Willoughby Hills (repeated Saturday at 7:30 at St. Stanislaus and Sunday at 3 at Lakewood Congregational, and Cleveland Composers Guild presents opera scenes with Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Steven Smith, conducting, at Baldwin Wallace. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Agenda: Bach at Noon at Trinity & Puccini’s wild west opera at Severance

. Almanac: remembering four musicians — Marcel Moyse, John de Lancie, Dennis Brain & John William Boone (pictured)

HAPPENING TODAY:

12:00 pm – Trinity BrownBag Concerts: Bach Fest 6. James Thompson, violin (C Major Sonata) Todd Wilson, organ (Prelude & Fugue in G, BWV 541). Trinity Cathedral, Free. Click here for live stream.

7:30 pm – The Cleveland Orchestra: Puccini’s Girl of the Golden West. Franz Welser-Möst, conductor, Emily Magee, soprano (Minnie), Roman Burdenko, bass (Jack Rance), Limmie Pulliam, tenor (Dick Johnson), Tony Stevenson, tenor (Nick), and Scott Conner, bass (Ashby). Severance Music Center.

Visit the Clevelandclassical.com Concert Listings page for details including addresses of venues and information about even more concerts in Northeast Ohio.

ALMANAC FOR MAY 17: [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofky’s picks surprise your grandmother, Rocky River Chamber Music Society closes season with Stravinsky

. Almanac: Saluting Monteverdi with modern performances by Apollo’s Fire

HAPPENING TODAY:

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – This afternoon from 2-4 pm on Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, Eric Charnofsky shines new light on William Alwyn’s Sinfonietta for Strings, Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s The Maiden’s Blush, Pasquinade & Bamboula (works for piano), Paquito d’Rivera’s Aires Tropicales (woodwind quintet), Sergei Prokofiev’s Two Pushkin Waltzes (orchestra), Henry Cowell’s Trio in Nine Short Movements (violin/cello/piano) + electronic music by Otto Leuning. Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

And tonight, Rocky River Chamber Music Society closes its season with an all-Stravinsky program featuring Cleveland Orchestra colleagues and freelancer friends of Daniel McKelway & Amanda Bekeny, offered both live and online at 7:30. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A hearty list of weekend events, some with multiple performances

. Quire Cleveland (pictured) launches grants initiative before dissolving, Midgette withdraws from CIM Commencement amid Kalmar investigation

. Almanac — Quite the guest list: Giovanni Battista Viotti, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré, Wu Fei, Arthur Sullivan, Otto Klemperer.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Apollo’s Fire presents “A Return to Bach’s Coffeehouse” with a new playlist led by assistant artistic director and violinist Alan Choo, in multiple performances at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Cleveland Hts. on Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13, and at Rocky River Presbyterian on Sunday afternoon, May 14.

No Exit presents itself in a revisiting of highlights from its current season at Waterloo Arts on Friday, May 12, the same evening that Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project reinterprets the torch song at Convivium 33 Gallery.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s end-of-season festival, “The American Dream” kicks off on Saturday, May 13 with “United in Song,” a community choral celebration hosted by Orlando Watson, and a concert of music by Carlos Simon, Dolores White, and Florence Price, emceed by Dan Moulthrop, both at Severance. The centerpiece of the festival, Puccini’s opera, The Girl of the Golden West, featuring Emily McGee and Limmie Pulliam, opens for three performances on Sunday afternoon, May 13. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Guest performances by andPlay and Alisa Weilerstein (pictured), Apollo’ Fire revisits Bach’s coffeehaus  with a new playlist

. Pintscher to lead KC Phil

. Almanac: revisiting a W.G. Still opera

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight, the new music ensemble No Exit will present andPlay, the NY-based violin & viola duo of Maya Bennardo and Hannah Levinson in “Translucent Harmonies,” an immersive experience in sound, silence, and resonance, at SPACES gallery.

Also tonight, Cleveland-born cellist Alisa Weilerstein will unveil her COVID lockdown project Fragments I, which enhances Bach’s first solo cello suite with newly commissioned works enhanced by lighting and scenic architecture. A talk with the creative team that put this all together follows her performance at Severance.

And Apollo’s Fire presents “A Return to Bach’s Coffeehouse” with a new playlist led by assistant artistic director and violinist Alan Choo, in multiple performances at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Cleveland Hts. tonight, on Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13, and at Rocky River Presbyterian on Sunday afternoon, May 14. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Bach at lunchtime, identifying piano talent in the evening

. More season announcements for 2023-2024

. New conductor appointed at Summit Choral Society

. Almanac: saluting tenor Richard Lewis & electronic pioneer Milton Babbitt

HAPPENING TODAY:

Trinity Cathedral caps off its Noontime Bach Fest with performances by violinist Miho Hashizume (A minor Sonata) and organist Todd Wilson, (C Major Trio Sonata). It’s free both in-person and online.

The Cleveland International Piano Competition presents another episode in its Listening Series at the BOP STOP this evening when Oberlin piano professors Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow share their insights about identifying and nurturing talent.

Visit the Clevelandclassical.com Concert Listings page for details including addresses of venues and information about even more concerts in Northeast Ohio. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky’s latest discoveries

. Pressler passes away at 99

. Almanac: the elder Oscar Hammerstein

HAPPENING TODAY:

During the brief lull in live concert activity today, expand your classical music horizons with Eric Charnofsky’s every-Monday program, “Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music,” which airs on WRUW, 91.1 FM and online from 2-4 pm. Today’s revelations include William Alwyn’s Sinfonietta for Strings, Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s The Maiden’s Blush, Pasquinade & Bamboula (works for piano), Paquito d’Rivera’s Aires Tropicales (woodwind quintet), Sergei Prokofiev’s Two Pushkin Waltzes (orchestra), Henry Cowell’s Trio in Nine Short Movements (violin/cello/piano), and electronic music by Otto Leuning. Click here to listen online or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

SEASON ANNOUNCEMENTS:

ChamberFest Cleveland will present its eleventh season of concerts throughout Greater Cleveland from June 14 through July 1. Browse the calendar of performances here.

ENCORE Chamber Music has announced plans for its eighth Music & Ideas Festival in 2023 at Gilmour Academy and around the region. Read more here. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Quick list of (many!) weekend events

. Almanac: Celebrating the debuts of a concert hall (Carnegie), a fanfare (For the Uncommon Woman No. 3) and a composer (George Perle)

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

More than once: Trobár Medieval presents Tudor music on period instruments in “The Mary Rose” on Friday at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts. & Saturday at the Hermit Club at Hofbrau House in Playhouse Square, Blue Water Chamber Orchestra (pictured) features cellist Linda Atherton in “Celtic Charisma” Friday at Rocky River Presbyterian & Saturday at Plymouth Church, Shaker Hts., and The Cleveland Opera (formerly Opera Circle) stages Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri with piano Friday at St, Cyprian, Perry, Saturday at Immanuel Lutheran (matinee) and First Baptist (evening), & Sunday at St. Stanislaus (afternoon).

Members of The Cleveland Orchestra are out and about this weekend, on Friday as the Cleveland Bluegrass Orchestra in a benefit for Broadway School of Music & the Arts at the Polish American Culture Center, and on Sunday as individual recitalists on Music from the Western Reserve in Hudson. [Read more…]