Apollo's Fire Does 'Handel’s Israel in Egypt' and the Rest of the Classical Music to Catch This Week

Jeannette Sorrell leads Apollo’s Fire Credit: Tim Harrison

This week offers a grab bag of interesting events. Here are our don’t-miss-it suggestions.

– You can spend Wednesday visiting Cleveland’s downtown cathedrals. At Noon, pianist Nathan Carterette plays Scriabin and Rachmaninoff at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, and at 7:30, the Choir of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris sings French music at the Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

– On Thursday at 7:30, CIM graduate Elisabeth Kufferath will play mostly contemporary music both on violin and viola on the LCCC Signature Series in Elyria, and CityMusic Cleveland clarinetist Daniel Gilbert will “Celebrate Black Elegance” at the same hour with soprano Elizabeth Hanje, tenor Trevis Guillory & bass-baritone Benhur Mosazghi at East Mount Zion Baptist Church (repeated on Friday at 8:30 La Sagrada Familia, Saturday at 7:30 at the Shrine of St. Stanislaus & Sunday at 4:30 at St. Sebastian in Akron).

– To begin the weekend, on Friday at 7:30, The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus will host composer and conductor Eric Whitacre, with cellist Mingyao Zhao & pianist Daniel Overly in a Severance Music Center performance of Reena Esmail’s When the Violin and Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil.

– Across East Boulevard, on Friday at 7:30, JoAnn Falletta will guest conduct the CIM Orchestra, with Micah Kroeker, trombone, in Brian Raphael Nabors’ Upon Daybreak, Ferdinand David’s Concertino for Trombone, and Sergei Prokofiev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet in Kulas Hall. Across town at 8 at Convivium 33 Gallery, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project will present Dutch composer, vocalist, poet and visual artist Jaap Blonk.

– Saturday’s docket begins with two 7 pm events: Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival’s mashup of Bach & Bartok with pianists Zarina Melik-Stepanova & Alexandra Nguyen & Jamie Ryan & Josh Ryan, percussion, and the first of two performances by Cleveland Chamber Choir & Lakewood High School Chamber Choir, Gregory Ristow conducting, of Craig Hella Johnson’s modern oratorio, Considering Matthew Shepard. Saturday’s concert is at Avon Lake UCC. The program will be repeated on Sunday at 4 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

– Also on Saturday, at 7:30, organist Robert Mollard will join Christopher Wilkins and the Akron Symphony for Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Worship, Ottorino Respighi’s Church Windows & Camille Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony at. E.J. Thomas Hall.

– On Saturday at 8 pm, Jeannette Sorrell will lead Apollo’s Fire in a one-night-only performance of Handel’s Israel in Egypt: A Dramatic Oratorio with Amanda Forsythe & Sonya Headlam, sopranos, Cody Bowers, countertenor, Jacob Perry, tenor, Edward Vogel, baritone, and Apollo’s Singers in Kulas Hall at CIM.

– Saturday wraps up with “A Night in Hollywood,” an 8 pm concert by Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Carl Topilow, conducting, at Severance Music Center.

– There’s more to Easter Island than its iconic statues, as pianist Mahani Teave will prove in her 2 pm recital on Sunday on the Tri-C Classical Piano Series at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Island native will perform works from her debut album, Rapa Nui Odyssey.

– There’s more keyboard music on Sunday: At 4 pm, organist Daniel Colaner will play a solo recital at the Shrine of St. Stanislaus,, and at 5 pm, pianist Zsolt Bognár will perform on the Music From the Western Reserve series at Christ Church, Hudson,
Moving into next week, on Tuesday at 7:30 in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical Association will host Cuarteto Latinoamericano in “Mexico: A Musical Journey,” an exploration of connections in Mexican visual art, history, and culture through the music of six iconic composers, including a narrated multimedia presentation of paintings by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and contemporary artists.

Click here to visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings page for more information.

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