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Cleveland Chamber Symphony: a tribute to three composing greats (Sept. 15)

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by Stephanie Manning

Last Sunday’s Cleveland Chamber Symphony concert began with an encore and ended with a concerto, flipping the usual program order on its head. The result was quite refreshing, setting the tone for their September 15 program: “NEOSonicFall — Celebrating NEOhio Composers.”

The performance in Baldwin Wallace’s Gamble Auditorium lasted just over an hour, a pleasant surprise when many orchestral programs often double that. And it would have been even shorter had the group not repeated Donald Erb’s Spatial Fanfare. Clocking in at less than two minutes, the opening work was over in a flash — so conductor Steven Smith explained that the group would repeat it to help the audience soak it in.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, December 20, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: McGaffin Carillon holiday concert at lunch, The Cleveland Orchestra does Elf, and Les Délices with soprano Amanda Powell (pictured) in “Noel, Noel”

•Announcements: applying for fellowships and grants from Cleveland Arts Prize and National Endowment for the Arts

•Interesting read: an interview with one of the climate activists who protested from the audience during Tannhäuser at the Met last month

•Almanac: Cleveland native H. Leslie Adams turns 91

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12:15 pm, David Osburn will give an “Around the world carillon concert for Christmas” from McGaffin Tower. It’s free. Click here for the program and to access the live stream.

At 7:30 pm at Severance, conductor Brett Mitchell and The Cleveland Orchestra will put on a screening of Elf, with live music from the Orchestra of course. Tickets are available here.

And at that same time at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron, Les Délices and guest soprano Amanda Powell will perform Noel, Noel, “a musical journey from darkness to light and from hope to joy featuring favorite carols and festive baroque music by Praetorius, Merula, Buxtehude, and others.” Performances continue tomorrow in Rocky River and on Friday in Cleveland Heights. Read a preview article by Mike Telin here, and get tickets here.

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DIARY: Monday, December 20, 2021

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by Jarrett Hoffman

HAPPENING TODAY:

12:15 pm brings the “McGaffin Carillon Holiday Lunchtime Concert,” featuring guest carillonneur Patrick Macoska. The program at McGaffin Tower is still to be announced, and you can email info@ucbells.org to make requests. It’s free, and also available as a live stream.

Eric Charnofsky — host of the weekly radio show “Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music,” which airs on Mondays from 2 to 4 — has shared a note about the show’s programming today and going forward:

“Due to the increase in COVID cases, WRUW is moving to remote broadcasting for the foreseeable future. That means that Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music will be curated with music played by an automated server, but without your favorite radio announcer’s guidance. Nevertheless, you are invited to tune in and enjoy some festive and seasonal music.” Click here to listen to the internet feed.

And from 6 to 7:30, Cleveland Opera Theater presents “Good Tidings We Bring,” an evening of song in support of the arts and mental health awareness. Donations support COT’s own initiatives, and also help underwrite a spring performance to benefit LifeAct, an organization focused on suicide-prevention programming for middle-school and high-school students. Watch online here, or drive by 150 Quail Hollow Dr. in Moreland Hills.

LOCAL NEWS:

Recent days have brought cancellations in the Northeast Ohio music scene due to COVID-19. On Friday, No Exit announced that its free concert on Saturday at Praxis Fiber Arts would no longer go on due to the escalating conditions of the pandemic. On Sunday afternoon, The Cleveland Orchestra cancelled the day’s 2:30 and 7:30 holiday concerts due to a COVID case within the ensemble. Likewise, Cleveland Play House announced on Saturday that the remaining live performances of “Light It Up” have been cancelled due to cases of COVID within the cast and crew.

(Cleveland Orchestra ticket holders should keep an eye on their email inboxes for a form to either request a refund or donate their tickets. Another possibility: exchanging tickets for a future concert, which can be done online or by calling 216-231-1111. Note that the phone lines are likely to be busy.)

In brighter news, last week Neighborhood Connections announced that the organization has approved $323,930 in grants to support 126 projects in Cleveland and East Cleveland. That includes 22 projects in arts and culture that will be co-funded by, well, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. See a list of the grant recipients here.

CALENDAR ADDITION:

If you missed Quire Cleveland’s “Carols for Quire XI” program, tune in to WCLV’s Cleveland Ovations on the radio or online on Wednesday, December 22 at 8:00 pm for a re-broadcast of the December 4 concert, plus a conversation between John Simna and Quire artistic director Jay White.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Composer H. Leslie Adams, a Cleveland native, Oberlin Conservatory graduate, and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cleveland Arts Prize, turns 89 today.

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Panorámicos and friends salute Cleveland composers on the 50th anniversary of the Bascom Little Fund

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by Daniel Hathaway

panoramicos-091716-brittany-rabbThough the Bascom Little Fund — named after the late Cleveland architect and avocational composer — may be obscure to many music lovers, it’s quite well-known among composers and musicians. Created “for the promotion through the media of concerts, publications, and recordings of serious and semi-popular music, newly composed and performed in or near Cleveland, Ohio,” the charitable trust has funded numerous projects over the last five decades. [Read more…]

H. Leslie Adams to receive Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award on June 25

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by Mike Telin

Adams-LeslieEach year the Cleveland Arts Prize bestows one Lifetime Achievement Award on an artist who has worked in Northeast Ohio over several decades, and whose career and achievements have brought great distinction to himself/herself and the region. On Thursday, June 25, composer H. Leslie Adams will be presented with the award during a ceremony at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium.

“Leslie Adams’s output of music is incredibly diverse,” said Michael Dalby, Music juror for the Cleveland Arts Prize. He’s well known internationally for his art songs and his solo piano works. He also wrote an opera as well as chamber and orchestral works.” I’ve always been impressed with his humility, his quiet strength. It’s nice to be able to award the prize to someone so deserving.” [Read more…]

H. Leslie Adams wins Lifetime Achievement Award

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ADAMS-H-LeslieAmong the recipients of the 2015 Cleveland Arts Prize, to be presented on Thursday, June 25 at 6:00 pm in Gartner Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Art is composer H. Leslie Adams. A graduate of Oberlin College, California State University Long Beach and the Ohio State University, Adams will receive the Lifetime Achievement Reward of $10,000 for bringing great distinction to himself and the region over the course of several decades. His compositions include an opera, Blake, and most recently, a set of Piano Etudes (read a ClevelandClassical review here). For more information about the Cleveland Arts Prize, click here.

CD Review: H. Leslie Adams, Piano Etudes, with Maria Thompson Corley & Thomas Otten

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by Daniel Hathaway

ADAMS-H-LeslieCleveland composer H. Leslie Adams (left), an Oberlin Conservatory graduate, spent the decade from 1997 to 2007 writing his Twenty-six Etudes for Solo Piano. He describes them in the liner notes to two recent recordings as “studies of varying styles, moods, tonalities, and thematic natures — each providing different technical challenges, while expressing my personal sense of beauty.” [Read more…]

Review: Bass-baritone Mark S. Doss at The Music Settlement (December 9)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Mark S. DossDOSS-Mark-S returned to his hometown last weekend for a Friday evening concert with The Singers’ Club, who joined with The Music Settlement to present the bass-baritone in a second event on Sunday afternoon. His solo recital on December 9 in Glick Recital Hall was offered as part of the Settlement’s ongoing centennial celebrations.

Now an international opera star who has performed fifty-five roles in more than sixty houses, Doss only began studying voice at the age of 21 after he went off to seminary in Indiana. Friends, colleagues and fans packed the L-shaped recital hall on Sunday to hear Doss sing art songs, opera arias, two cantatas with instruments and a set of spirituals with the expert collaboration of pianist Jerry Maddox.

[Read more…]

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