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…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Opportunities to hear multiple performances of the same program around the region.

. Mäkelä conducts & coaches cellists, Tuesday Musical extends scholarship deadline

. Almanac remembers Mendelsssohn, Dallapiccola, Alain & Leinsdorf

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

Apollo’s Fire visits early Baroque instrumental & vocal works by Franz Biber and his contemporaries, featuring violinist Alan Choo (Friday & Saturday in Cleveland Hts., Sunday in Rocky River).

The Cleveland Orchestra welcomes Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä back for music by Norman, Debussy & Ravel (Fri, Sat & Sun), and Mäkelä appears in his alter ego as a cellist (pictured) to teach a Cleveland Cello Society master class on Saturday morning. [RESCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7 AT 7:00 PM]

New music ensemble No Exit joins forces with its Twin Cities cousins Zeitgeist on  Friday (Spaces Gallery), and Saturday (Heights Arts).  [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Four interesting events, all FREE!

. 91st BW Bach Festival

. Competition winners and chamber music encounters

. Giacomo Puccini and George Walker have premieres

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 12 Noon, the spring series of BrownBag Concerts at Trinity will feature Dancing Wheels — “Art in motion, celebrating the spirit of dance” (pictured). Trinity Cathedral. Free.

At 6:30, you can join Piano Cleveland Live at Phunkenship. Performers include Gastón Frydman, Yaron Kohlberg, and Rachel Brown,“The Honky Tonk Queen of Cleveland.” Free. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Repeating and one-off events including the world premiere of a new opera

. International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Gideon Klein

. Bits & pieces from classical music history

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

Keep an ear out for repeating events this weekend: you have three opportunities each to catch the debuts of Oberlin Winter Term Opera’s Alice Tierney and Trobár Medieval’s program, “Daughters of Light.”

CityMusic Cleveland’s Baroque Ensemble features “Music in the Time of Goya” on Friday, and Saturday’s lineup includes Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and the Musical Theater Project’s tribute to Johnny Mercer and his collaborators, and Cuban and Spanish music by René Izquierdo on the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s International Series. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Five weekend events to recommend

. Cleveland Orchestra praised in NY Times review by Joshua Barone

. Almanac: Eva Jessye, Tallis and Byrd, Dowland, first national radio opera broadcast, Erich Leinsdorf, Victor Borge, Henri Dutilleux, Petr Eben, Marc Blitzstein, Apple’s Macintosh computer, John Donne

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

Only five events to call out, but a diverse group to choose from.

Never mind the weather — Friday’s event is performed al fresco, but the audience can enjoy the McGaffin Carillon (pictured) outdoors while walking through University Circle, or via live stream beginning at 12:15 Noon. This week, UC Carillonneur George Leggiero will draw Baroque music from the bells.

On Saturday evening, Joan Ellison channels Judy Garland in her appearance with Cleveland Pops Orchestra, who will play original orchestrations of her famous tunes.

Sunday afternoon’s choices include the Akron Youth Orchestras at Tallmadge High School, saxophonist Perry Roth and pianist Hana Chu at the Church of the Western Reserve, and in the evening, Gerhardt Zimmermann will host pianist Sheng Cai for Saint Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, and lead the Canton Symphony in a world premiere by Quinn Mason and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. [Read more…]