by Stephanie Manning
IN THIS EDITION:
•Lots of pianos on stage this weekend at Lakeside, Blossom, and The Madison
•How climate change is affecting summer venues
•Almanac: remembering Janáček, Massanet, and Persichetti
CONCERTS AND EVENTS:
This weekend of piano features will kick off with the Lakeside Symphony, which will close out its 59th summer residency in Lakeside Chautauqua tonight at 7:30 pm. Due to a soloist change, pianist David Allen Wehr will now perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in A, and conductor Daniel Meyer will also lead the ensemble in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel). Click here to purchase pass and parking.
“For me, coming back to Cleveland is like coming home,” conductor Giancarlo Guerrero said during a Zoom conversation from Nashville where he has served as music director of the Nashville Symphony since 2009. “The Cleveland Orchestra was my family for almost ten years and this concert is the project this year that I am looking forward to the most because of my history with this orchestra — I am beyond excited to see everyone.”
Cleveland Institute of Music faculty members Jason Vieaux, Jaime Laredo, Alan Bise and Bruce Egre and pianist Daniil Trifonov are among the nominees for the 57th Grammy Awards, to be presented in Los Angeles on February 8. 
The Elgar concerto was on the agenda for Cleveland native and international cello heroine Alisa Weilerstein’s most recent homecoming. On Thursday evening at Severance Hall, Weilerstein put her individual stamp on that iconic work in a penetrating and daring performance with The Cleveland Orchestra and Giancarlo Guerrero. 
Mitsuko Uchida is in the course of revisiting selected Mozart concertos after completing a whole cycle of those ravishing pieces with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall from 2002-2007. On Thursday, April 3 she reprised No. 18 in B-flat and No. 19 in F. Between the two, the Orchestra offered Mozart’s early “Symphony” No. 23. The entire concert, including intermission, lasted about 90 minutes.