An International Violin Competition and the Rest of the Classical Music to Catch This Week in Cleveland

Credit: Courtesy the Cleveland Orchestra

This week, the Oberlin Conservatory is among the first organizations to fill the early January classical music void — with the violin version of its Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition. By Wednesday, the field of violinists ages 13-18 will have been narrowed to 6 competitors who will each play 45-minute recitals in Warner Concert Hall. The performances begin at 2:30 and continue at 8 pm. You can attend the free sessions in person or watch the proceedings via live stream courtesy of Oberlin Conservatory or The Violin Channel.

The Cooper Competition culminates on Friday at 7:30 in Finney Chapel, when the three remaining violinists perform complete concertos with the Columbus ProMusica Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Norman Huynh. Everyone’s a winner, but the cash prizes are different: $20,000 for first place, and $10,000 and $5,000 for second and third. The three fiddlers who were eliminated on Wednesday will receive consolation prizes of $1,500, and there’s an additional $500 to be awarded not by the jury, but by the audience.

And there’s even more violin playing to be enjoyed. On Thursday at 7:30, an honors recital will feature the jury’s pick of outstanding performers from the first three days of the competition before the field was narrowed to six semifinalists.

Meanwhile and elsewhere, there are three interesting programs to brighten the dark days of January.

– Saxophonist Steven Banks will be featured with The Cleveland Orchestra as guest conductor Stéphane Denève takes the Severance Music Center audience on an excursion to Paris via music by Darius Milhaud (his jazz-inspired La création du monde), Francis Poulenc (Suite from Les biches), Guillaume Connesson (A Kind of Trane, a Cleveland premiere) and George Gershwin (An American in Paris) on Thursday at 7:30, Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 — tickets available online.

– On Sunday at 2, the Cleveland Cello Society will host Dr. Damir Janigro, son of virtuoso 20th-century cellist Antonio Janigro, who will share historic recordings, film clips, and his own personal recollections of his father in a program that coincides with the recent release of Antonio Janigro, a Gentleman of the Cello. Admission is $5 at the door of Judson Park Auditorium, but the event is free for CCS members and Judson residents.

– Also on Sunday afternoon, at 3 pm, the Cleveland Chamber Collective will take the audience at Disciples Christian Church on an free excursion closer to home in its seventh edition of Music of America. Linda White (flute), Emily Cornelius (violin), Brian Slawta (viola), Jeff Singler (cello), Eric Charnofsky (piano), and Dylan Moffitt (percussion) will play music by Reena Esmail, Ellen Ruth Harrison, Gabriela Lena Frank, Ty Alan Emerson, Missy Mazzoli, Lou Harrison, and Astor Piazzolla.

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

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