The Cleveland Orchestra Debuts 'Grit. Grace. Glory.' and the Rest of the Classical Music to Catch This Week

Credit: Courtesy the Cleveland Orchestra

This week in Northeast Ohio’s classical music scene, you can visit the Art Museum and Severance Music Center, watch a Heights Arts chamber music program being assembled in an open rehearsal, then hear the finished product, take a virtual trip to Rome with the Oberlin Orchestra, and either enjoy string quartets by obscure composers courtesy of Wit’s Folly or be blown away by the sonic magnificence of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem.

The details:

– If you’re intrigued by world premieres, The Cleveland Orchestra is unveiling Allison Loggins-Hull’s Grit. Grace. Glory. (a co-commission) on Thursday at 7:30, Friday at 11 am, and Saturday at 8 at Severance Music Center (tickets available online.)

– A Heights Arts Close Encounters open rehearsal on Friday at 6 pm involves pianist Yaron Kohlberg, violinist Amy Lee, and cellist Dane Johansen, who are preparing Antonìn Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 4 and Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-flat for performance on Sunday, May 11 at 3 pm at Heights Theater. Pay-what-you-can for the rehearsal at Heights Arts, and tickets for Sunday are available online.

– A virtual trip to Italy on Friday at 7:30 will take you to hear Ottorino Respighi’s The Pines of Rome performed by Raphael Jiménez and the Oberlin Orchestra, and Yubo Deng soloing in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, plus the premiere of Katharina Mueller’s Elements. It’s free, and will be live streamed.

– Unless you’re a woodwind player, the name of composer Anton Reicha may not ring any bells, and neither might Josef Eybler or Manual Canales. Allow Wit’s Folly — Guillermo Salas-Suárez, violin, Jonathan Goya, violin and viola, Phaik Tzhi Chua, violin and viola, and Jane Leggiero, cello — to introduce you to three of their string quartets on Saturday at 7 pm at Praxis Fiber Workshop (suggested donation $20).

– And on Saturday at 7:30 pm, Christopher Wilkins and the Akron Symphony and Chorus will raise the roof of E.J. Thomas Hall with Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic Requiem. Tickets available online.

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

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