Courtesy Apollo's Fire
There’s one more “regular” weekend of Cleveland Orchestra concerts before Christmas moves in for most of December, but the Severance Hall performances that begin on Thursday, November 29 at 7:30 pm should be of more than ordinary interest. Composer John Adams is in the driver’s seat for his own Short Ride in a Fast Machine, and violinist Leila Josefowicz joins him for his Scheherazade.2. Popular works by Aaron Copland — Quiet City with trumpeter Michael Sachs and English hornist Robert Walters, and the Suite from Appalachian Spring — complete the program, which will be repeated on Friday, November 30 at 7:00 pm and Saturday, December 1 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online.
The new music group No Exit will team up with Patchwork Duo (Noa Even, saxophone, and Stephen Klunk, drum set) for an evening of premieres by Cleveland composers at CSU’s Drinko Recital Hall on Friday, November 30 at 8:00 pm. On the menu: James Praznik’s Screaming Songs, Colin Holter’s Pallor, Hong-Da Chin’s The Arc of a Tear, Ty Emerson’s Darkling, I Listen, and Timothy Beyer’s She Was My Only Child. The free program will be repeated at the Bop Stop on Saturday, December 8 at 3:00 pm, and at SPACES on Friday, December 14 at 8:00 pm.
Many performances of Handel’s Messiah are on the horizon for December, but Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire are leading the pack with performances on Saturday, December 1 at 3:00 pm and 8:00 pm at First Baptist in Shaker Heights, on Sunday, December 2 at 4:00 pm at St. Raphael in Bay Village, and on Monday, December 3 at 7:30 pm at St. Paul’s in Cleveland Heights. The early performance on December 1 is a one-hour, express version, while the others will pack the entire oratorio into a single concert. (Quick tempos!) The solo quartet includes soprano Amanda Powell, countertenor Daniel Moody, tenor Ross Hauck, and baritone David McFerrin. Tickets can be ordered online.
Oberlin Conservatory will devote an entire day to the arcane subject of the oboe on Sunday, December 2, thanks to oboe professor and Cleveland Orchestra solo English horn Robert Walters. The Oberlin Lorée Oboe Day will feature a Q&A with Alain de Gourdon, president of the famous Parisian oboe factory, a recital, a master class, reed class, and an instrument exhibit. It begins at 10:00 am, runs until 7:00 pm, and is free and open to the public, but non-oboists will be probably be most interested in a 1:30 pm recital featuring Walters, his Cleveland Orchestra colleagues Frank Rosenwein (principal oboe) and Corbin Stair (second oboe), and William Welter (Chicago Symphony principal), with members of Walters’ studio. The program includes Beethoven’s Trio for two oboes and English horn, Op. 87 and Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto (Rosenwein). You can log into a live stream of the Stull Recital Hall performance here.
The Canadian Brass will bring their holiday concert to the Tuesday Musical Fuze Series at the Akron Civic Theater on Tuesday, December 4 at 7:30 pm. The quintet (Chuck Daellenbach, tuba, Caleb Hudson and Christopher Coletti, trumpets, Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone, and Jeff Nelsen, horn) performs in sneakers, but they’ll blow your sox off. Tickets can be reserved online.
Check out details of these and other events on our Concert Listings page.
