by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

The Akron Symphonic Winds Big Band in Sinatra: The Love Songs (7 pm, Celestia Theatre, Wadsworth) • The Cleveland Orchestra. Barbara Hannigan (pictured) conductor and Johanna Wallroth, soprano (7:30, Severance Music Center) • CIM Opera Theater, Judith Wier’s Blond Eckbert (pocket version, 7:30 in Mixon Hall).

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

TODAY’S HEADLINES FROM THE VIOLIN CHANNEL:

Composer Gabriela Lena Frank postpones premiere over ICE fears in Minnesota

University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance appoints Yolanda Kondonassis as new harp director

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Four musicians to raise up today: American composer Roy Harris, born in 1898 in Chandler, Oklahoma, French composer, conductor, and pianist Emile Waldteufel, who died in 1915 in Paris, French composer Henri Duparc, who died in Mont-de-Marsan in 1933, and American composer and inventor George Antheil, who died in NewYork in 1959. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12:15 Noon, organist Florence Mustric plays works by J.S. Bach, including two newly discovered early works on the Rudolf von Beckerath organ in Trinity Lutheran Church, in Ohio City.

This evening at 6 pm the Cleveland Museum of Art presents Chamber Music in the Atrium featuring Oberlin Danenberg Honors Recitals by some of Oberlin Conservatory’s most outstanding students.

And tonight at 7:30 in Mixon Hall, CIM Opera Theater will present a pocket version of Judith Wier’s (pictured) Blond Eckbert directed by JJ Hudson, with Anthony Parnther, guest conductor.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Mike Telin

On February 11, 1847 the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Milan, Ohio. Of course, Edison is responsible for inventing many things that make our lives more pleasant, including the incandescent light bulb, the motion picture camera, and the fluoroscope, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone. Click here for a list of his 1,093 patents.

Of all his inventions, Edison’s favorite was the phonograph, which came about from his work on the telegraph and the telephone when, in 1877, he discovered a way to record sound on tinfoil-coated cylinders. He set the invention aside for ten years, and when he returned to work on his phonograph, he began using wax cylinders. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today at Noon, organist Jonathan W. Moyer, organ, plays works by Matthias Weckmann, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dieterich Buxtehude, and his own O Nata Lux, Varied at the Church of the Covenant.

Tonight at 7:30, Tuesday Musical brings the Imani Winds and Boston Brass together onstage in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall in works by Arturo Sandoval, J.S. Bach, Astor Piazzolla, Paquito D’Rivera, and Lalo Schifrin.

SAVE THE DATES:

Lakewood’s Beck Center will collaborate with Oberlin College, to present Spring Awakening from February 13 to March 1 in Senney Theater, featuring young performers exploring teenage self-discovery and social issues in Lakewood’s Senney Theater. Read a story on Cleveland.com by John Benson here.

HEADLINES FROM THE VIOLIN CHANNEL:

Emerson String Quartet Documentary to Premiere in New York City

Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero Performs with Bad Bunny at Super Bowl Halftime Show. (The performance garnered over 34 million views on YouTube in 17 hours)

Click here to read a related story posted by Heather Cox Richardson in Letters from an American on February 9.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Jarrett Hoffman [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

WEEKEND CLASSICAL MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS:

Violinist Augustin Hadelich, a favorite with Cleveland audiences, returns to solo with The Cleveland Orchestra in a performance that promises to be a fresh take on the venerable concerto by Felix Mendelssohn (read his written responses to Mike Telin’s questions here). Speaking of venerable works, guest conductor Antonello Manacorda will re-interpret Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8, the expressive, two-movement torso of a work that’s come to be known as “the Unfinished,” to fill out the three concerts that began on Thursday at 7:30 and will be repeated on Friday and Saturday at Severance Music Center.

Guest conductor Andrew Grams (pictured) will lead CityMusic Chamber Orchestra in the group’s February tour around greater Cleveland with their program “American Dreams.” Elliott Carter’s Sound Fields, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, and Aaron Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring will visit St. Noel in Willoughby on Friday, the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus on Saturday (all at 7:30), and Our Lady of Angels on Sunday (at 2:30).

On Friday at 7 pm No Exit New Music presents LIGAMENT. Vocalist Anika Kildegaard and bassist Will Yager, bass, will play works by Zac Fick-Cambria, Ruby Fulton, James Dillon, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Katherine Balch, preceded by a brief opening set by the Cleveland State Percussion Ensemble. Friday’s performance in Ludwig Recital Hall at Kent State University will be repeated on Saturday at Praxis Fiber Workshop.

And on Friday at 7:30, Cleveland Chamber Choir will present its program Love in Bloom, with Romance- and nature-inspired music by Benjamin Britten, Tōru Takemitsu, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, and Brandon Waddles at Kent United Church of Christ, repeated in Cleveland on Saturday in Trinity Cathedral and on Sunday in Ahstabula.

One-off performances include Edel Muñoz on the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s International Series (Saturday at 7:30 at the Maltz), The Resonance Project’s Qin and Strings presents A Century of Chinese Music with Ann Yu, violin, and Irwin Shung, piano (Saturday at 7:30 at Forest Hill Church), the Cleveland Cello Society’s Cello Explorations with Mark Kosower presents Music and Memories of Janos Starker, beginning with Kosower’s performance of Zoltán Kodály’s Solo Cello Sonata, followed by a 40-minute audiovisual presentation (Sunday at 2 pm at The Music Settlement), Heights Arts’ Close Encounters presents From East to West with the Taplin Quartet (Sunday at 2 pm at Dunham Tavern Museum), Rocky River Presbyterian’s Artist Concert Series presents the Thorpe Ensemble (Sunday at 2 pm), and the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus hosts organist Damin Spritzer (Sunday at 4 pm).

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Reaching back into the 15th century, we’ll begin by marking the death of Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem in Tours on February 6, 1497. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Two orchestras tune up tonight at 7:30: The Cleveland Orchestra, with guest conductor Antonello Manacorda and violinist Augustin Hadelich (pictured), at Severance Music Center, and CityMusic Chamber Orchestra, Andrew Grams, conductor, at Fairmount Presbyterian. Both programs will be repeated over the weekend.

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On today’s date in classical music history, we gained two composers and lost one.

Norwegian composer and violinist Ole Bull entered the scene in Bergen in 1810. The other two were born in France — Jacques Ibert in Paris in 1890, and Ivan Tcherepnin near Paris on this date in 1943. Ibert makes today’s honors list having written fine to his career in the French capital on February 5, 1962. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 Noon, the Cleveland Composers Guild will feature works by Nicholas Puin, Ryan Charles Ramer, and Margi Griebling-Haigh on Trinity Cathedral’s Brownbag Concert Series, and at 12:15 Noon on the other side of the Cuyahoga, Trinity Lutheran in Ohio City will present organist Florence Mustric (pictured) on its Music Near the Market series, featuring two recently discovered works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

This evening at 6 pm, the Cleveland Museum of Art will host student musicians from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Chamber Music in the Ames Family Atrium.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Trump says he won’t tear down the Kennedy Center arts venue but it needs to be closed for repairs (Associated Press)

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

by Mike Telin

On this day in 1912 celebrated conductor Erich Leinsdorf entered the world in Vienna. His long association with The Cleveland Orchestra included a brief tenure as Music Director from 1943 to 1946. Click here to listen to a January 12, 1984 Severance Hall performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

February 4, 2001 saw the death of Romanian born, Greek-French composer and architect Iannis Xenakis in Paris. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

Today at noon, the Tuesday Noon Organ Plus Concerts at the Church of the Covenant in university circle will feature soprano Virginia Grabovsky and harpsichordist Jonathan Bolena in works by Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Jakob Froberger, and Giulio Caccini. Church of the Covenant, University Circle. Freewill offering.

And tonight at 7:30, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will host Quinn Kelsey, baritone and Craig Ketter, piano, for a recital of songs by Vaughan Williams, Finzi, and Copland, and settings of Langston Hughes’ poetry by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and John Alden Carpenter at the Cultural Arts Center at Disciples Church in Cleveland Heights.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Piano Cleveland announces First Round contestants for its 2026 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists

Click here to read the press release.

Tuesday Musical extends scholarship deadlines to February 9

Click here to read the announcement.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On February 3, 1809, German composer and conductor Felix Mendelssohn began his short tenure in the world in Hamburg, where he also passed on in 1847 at the age of 38. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

HONORED AT THE GRAMMYS:

Last night, and for the second year in a row, Elaine Martone received a Grammy Award in the category Producer of the Year, Classical.

And Oberlin alum Sullivan Fortner took home a Grammy for his Southern Nights in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category.

INTERESTING READ:

In the New York Times, the former president and chief executive of Opera America writes, “When the Washington National Opera announced its decision to leave the Kennedy Center last month, many interpreted the move as a repudiation of President Trump and his efforts to seize control of the arts complex.

“In fact, the repudiation came from the Kennedy Center. By imposing an economic model on the company that makes opera impossible to produce, it was effectively disowning the art form and by extension all nonprofit performing arts and their profound contribution to our national life.” Read the guest essay by Marc A. Scorca here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1594, Italian polyphonic master Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina died in Rome and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican where he had served in various important positions, most notably as maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia. The quality of his counterpoint marked the culmination of Italian Renaissance church music. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

WEEKEND CLASSICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

On Friday evening at 7:30 at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Cleveland Hts., Apollo’s Fire continues a local, four-concert tour with its program “Winter Sparks from Bach & Vivaldi,” curated by assistant artistic director and concertmaster Alan Choo. Soloists include oboist Debra Nagy, flutist Kathie Stewart, and cellist Sarah Stone. Repeated on Saturday at 7:30 in the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls, and on Sunday at 4pm at Rocky River Presbyterian

On Saturday at 3 pm in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Opera will stage a double bill of chamber operas. Kamala Sankaram’s A. E. Reverie (with libretto by Jerre Dye) and Rise (with libretto by A. M. Homes) highlight the pioneering American spirit of determination, independence, and freedom. Read more about the productions here. Repeated on Sunday at 3 pm

On Sunday at 3 pm Music at Bath Concert Series will present The _ _ _ _ Experiment with Michelle Cusick, clarinets, Maya Grossman, bassoon, Andrew Hosler, saxophones, and Ava Wirth, oboe in a program of specially commissioned chamber works at The Bath Church UCC in Akron.

And on Tuesday at 7:30, Cleveland Chamber Music Society revives the time-honored but currently neglected tradition of the solo vocal recital when it hosts Hawaiian-born baritone ​and Metropolitan Opera Verdi star Quinn Kelsey ​with pianist Craig Ketter in ​song cycles by Aaron Copland, Gerald Finzi, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and settings of Langston Hughes’ poetry by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and John Alden Carpenter. Emily Laurence gives the pre-concert talk at 6:30 at Disciples Church.

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

WEEKEND HEADLINES:

Wynton Marsalis To Retire As Chief Of Jazz At Lincoln Center (The NY Times) [Read more…]