Our picks this week include a variety of classical music offerings. Let’s get to it.
– On Wednesday, February 1 at 12 Noon, the spring series of BrownBag Concerts at Trinity will feature Dancing Wheels — “Art in motion, celebrating the spirit of dance.” Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave. Free.
– At 6:30 on Wednesday evening, join Piano Cleveland Live at Phunkenship. Performers include Gastón Frydman, Yaron Kohlberg, and Rachel Brown,“The Honky Tonk Queen of Cleveland.” Phunkenship, 3135 Sackett Ave. Free.
– And at 7:30 on Wednesday, Carlos Kalmar will lead the CIM Orchestra at Severance Music Center in Schubert’s Rosamunde Overture, Korngold’s Violin Concerto with soloist Minchae Kim, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, and Rossini’s William Tell Overture. The concert is free but tickets are required.
– On Thursday, Feb 2 at 7:30 pm, Apollo’s Fire will begin a four-concert run of Muse of Fire. Violinist and assistant artistic director Alan Choo will be featured in Heinrich Biber’s Rosary Sonatas Nos. 4 and 5 (“Presentation” and “Finding of Jesus”), and soprano Andréa Walker and baritone Edward Vogel, baritone, will join Choo for magical cantatas by early German composers Franz Tunder, Nikolaus Bruhns, Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, and Johann Rosenmüller. First United Methodist Church in Akron. The program is repeated on Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 8:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Hts. and on Sunday at 4:00 pm at Rocky River Presbyterian Church. Tickets available online.
– At 7:30 Thursday evening at E.J. Thomas Hall, Akron’s Tuesday Musical presents “Our Song, Our Story,” a Black History Month concert of arias, art songs and spirituals celebrating trailblazers Marian Anderson, Jessye Norman and Harry T. Burleigh, who appeared on Tuesday Musical’s season in 1919. Soprano Brandie Inez Sutton and baritone Justin Austin will join a string quartet and pianist Damien Sneed for a program that also weaves in favorites by Handel, Puccini and Gershwin. Tickets are available online.
– Same date, same time, young Finnish phenom Klaus Mäkelä will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in Andrew Norman’s Sustain, Debussy’s Images and Ravel’s Boléro at Severance Music Center. The program will be repeated on Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 8, and Sunday at 3. Tickets are available online.
– And at 8 that evening, No Exit new music ensemble will team up with the St. Paul-based ensemble Zeitgeist for world premieres of works by Philip Blackburn, Daniel Jiménez Rojas and Jonathan Posthuma as well as works by Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Lucier, and George Lewis, in Cleveland State University’s Drinko Recital Hall. This program will be repeated on Saturday at 7 at Heights Arts Gallery. Both concerts are free.
– On Friday at 8, the two ensembles will perform works by Kaija Saariaho, Luke Rinderknecht, James Praznik, Rob Kovacs, Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Lucier, and George Lewis at SPACES Gallery. All three No Exit-Zeitgeist concerts are free.
– Fast forward to Monday, February 6 at 7pm, when the Rocky River Chamber Music Society will host the Butler Piano Trio (Sandy Yamamoto, violin, Joshua Gindele, cello & Colette Valentine, piano, with Lembi Veskimets, viola). Their playlist includes Sergei Rachmaninov’s Trio Élégiaque No. 1 in g, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D, Op. 70, No. 1 (“Ghost”) & Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47. The performance at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church is free. Click here to attend via live stream.
Visit the Clevelandclassical.com Concert Listings page for more concerts and information.
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This article appears in Jan 25 – Feb 7, 2023.