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…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Cleveland Orchestra and Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble

. Cleveland Chamber Choir seeks Artistic Director, Cast change for The Girl of the Golden West, and TMA to hold the final round of Scholarship Competition

. Important beginnings that led to the modern grand piano, the phonograph record, and orchestra tours

HAPPENING TODAY:

7:30 pm – The Cleveland Orchestra: Franz Welser-Möst, conductor, Alisa Weilerstein, cello. Loggins-Hull’s Can You See? Barber’s Cello Concerto, and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4 (revised 1947 version). Severance Music Center.

7:30 pm – Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble: Tim Weiss directs Conservatory instrumentalists and vocalists in a workshop performance of Stephan Hartke’s Rhino!, an opera in four scenes, directed by Jonathon Field. Warner Concert Hall.

IN THE NEWS:

The Cleveland Chamber Choir, a Cleveland-based professional choir, is seeking a new Artistic Director beginning with its 10th Anniversary season in 2024-2025. [Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Lunchtime concert, a Rimsky one-act, pianist Maria Pires at Severance, percussion and gospel at Oberlin

. La Scala expands online programming, farewell to Gordon Lightfoot

. Almanac: how Heinrich Biber ended up in Salzburg

HAPPENING TODAY:

Trinity Cathedral’s free Bach Fest continues both in-person and online at noon, when Julie Andrijeski will play the G Major Violin Sonata and organist Todd Wilson will follow with the E-flat Trio Sonata (webcast available).

[Read more…]

By Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky’s latest discoveries, and the challenges of producing Don Giovanni

. Almanac: remembering Leo Sowerby (pictured)

HAPPENING TODAY:

As he does every Monday from 2-4 pm, Eric Charnofsky goes searching for unusual and underperformed works for his program Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music. Featured today: Anton Arensky’s Suite No. 3 “Variations” for Two Pianos, Yelena Firsova’s Misterioso (in memoriam Stravinsky) for string quartet, Charles Ives’ selected songs for baritone and piano, John Heiss’s Whimsies (flute and piano), Nino Rota’s Cello Concerto No. 2 & Dietrich Buxtehude’s Sonata in G for violins, gamba, and basso continuo. 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:

. Weekend concert agenda (by category)

. Maltz Family Foundation gifts $10 million to Blossom, Memory is a muscle, writes Angela Hewitt

. Almanac: highlighting Michael Daugherty, “Duke” Ellington & Robert Shaw

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND (BY CATEGORY):

Orchestras: The Cleveland Orchestra continues its set featuring the premiere of Wynton Marselis’s Trumpet Concerto (Michael Sachs, Franz Welser-Möst on the podium, Friday at 7:30 & Saturday at 8), the Oberlin Sinfonietta and Oberlin Chamber Orchestra perform on Friday at 7:30, the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra makes its 88th annual trip to Severance (Jungho Kim conducting, with cellist Dane Johansen in the Dvořák Concerto, Sunday at 3:30), and the Canton Symphony and Chorus present a program featuring the Dvořák Requiem (Gerhardt Zimmermann, conducting, Sunday at 7). [Read more…]