This week the packed Cleveland Classical music concert calendar falls into two categories: orchestral and chamber music.
– On Thursday, February 23 at 7pm at Cuyahoga Community College Metro Auditorium, the Tri-C Classical Piano Series will host the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine under the direction of native Clevelander Theodore Kuchar and Carl Topilow. The program features Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovych’s Chamber Symphony No. 3, Mozart’s Concerto No. 10 in E-flat for two pianos with Emanuela Friscioni & Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, (“From the New World”). Tickets can be purchased here.
At 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in Mozart’s Divertimento No. 2, Schoenberg’s Variations for Orchestra, and Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, to be repeated on Friday at 11:00 am, and Saturday at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online. Saturday’s concert will also be livestreamed on medici.tv.
– On Friday at 8pm at Severance Music Center,The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus under the direction of Daniel Reith will perform music of Wagner, Schubert & Brahms. Tickets are available online.
– And on Saturday at 7:30 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall, Christopher Wilkins will lead the Akron Symphony in a concert titled Global Circus, featuring Syrian refugees of the Sirkhane Social Circus School in a film by Pinar Demiral and projected artwork by Milad Yousufi. Unfamiliar beauties of distant cultures tell human stories through art, film, movement, and music. Milad Yousufi relates his story as a young Afghan recently arrived in America. Sahba Aminikia conceived his film score while working with young Syrian children learning circus acts in a refugee camp on the Turkish border. Tickets are available online.
– We begin our survey of Chamber Music concerts on Friday, February 24 at 7 pm, with The Music Settlement Signature Series. “Linking Legacies” a concert celebrating black composers and artists in Cleveland has been curated and will be performed by tenor Cornelius Johnson, cellist Khari Joyner, violist Chris Jenkins, and pianist Dianna White-Gould. Tickets are available online.
– Also at 7pm the Cleveland Chamber Collective will present “After the Storm,” at Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Hts. featuring works by Beethoven, Dorilas, Emerson, and Messiaen. It’s free.
– Also on Friday at 7:30 pm at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron, Les Délices continues their series with Enchanted Island. Soprano Sherezade Panthaki debuts with the ensemble for a sumptuous program of French baroque cantatas that celebrate the sensuous abundance of nature. The program will be repeated on Saturday at 7:30 at Inlet Dance @ Pivot Center, on W. 25th St. in Cleveland and Sunday at 4:00 pm at Herr Chapel at Plymouth Church in Shaker Hts. Tickets available online.
– On Saturday at 7:00 pm at Praxis Fiber Gallery, CityMusic will present Explorations for Clarinet, Strings & Piano, a contemporary program featuring a new work by composer and jazz bassist Gregg August. Free.
– At 7:30 pm in Oberlin Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall, the Oberlin Artist Recital Series hosts The Verona Quartet with pipa virtuoso Wu Man. The program titled Goin’ Home, is a cross-cultural musical exploration conceived in collaboration with Wu Man, cofounder of the Silk Road ensemble. The program explores the ideas of music as an international language, as well as the question, “What Is Home?” It’s free.
– And on Sunday at 3:00 pm, pianist Mitsuko Uchida will perform Beethoven’s Sonatas No. 30, 31 & 32 in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall at Severance Music Center. Tickets are available online.
– Also at 3pm Heights Arts launches their Close Encounters series with the Omni Quartet at the Dunham Tavern Museum. The setlist includes music by Haydn, Caroline Shaw, and Mendelssohn. Tickets are available online.
– And at 5pm at Christ Episcopal Church in Hudson, Music from the Western Reserve will host violinist Minchae Kin and pianist Melivia Cavraone Rahajio. Tickets are available online.
Visit the Clevelandclassical.com Concert Listings page for more concerts and information.
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This article appears in Feb 22 – Mar 7, 2023.