Courtesy CIPC
After a busy summer so far, August is ind-down time for classical music events. Here are some interesting events on this month’s calendar that either bring series to festive conclusions, or celebrate summer with outdoor events (we’ll move inside again soon enough).
The Cleveland International Piano Competition makes a crescendo into the weekend, after a cut last Saturday that reduced the field of competitors from 31 to 8. Those semifinalists spent the early part of the week playing hour-long recitals and chamber music sessions with the Escher String Quartet — to judge how well the pianists play with others. By midweek, the field will have been reduced to four finalists who will play full concertos with Bramwell Tovey and The Cleveland Orchestra on Friday and Saturday, August 5 and 6 at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall. Stay in touch with the proceedings through ClevelandClassical.com’s special CIPC Page. Don’t miss the opportunity — you’ll have to wait three years until the next competition.
Before those final rounds, a showcase concert on Thursday, August 4 at 8:00 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music will bring back Leonid Nediak and Chaeyoung Park, two laureates of CIPC’s 2015 Young Artists Competition. And on Sunday, August 8 at 3:00 pm in Severance Hall, the Awards Ceremony and Finalists Recital will distribute handsome cash prizes and give piano fans a final listen to the lucky four. Tickets can be ordered here.
The Cleveland Orchestra wraps up its classical season at Blossom with a concert on Sunday, August 7 at 7:00 pm led by British-born early music guru Nicholas McGegan and featuring oboist Jeffrey Rathbun. Haydn (Symphony No. 99) and Mendelssohn (Symphony No. 3) are on the playlist, and Rathbun will play George Benjamin’s Divertimento on Themes by Gluck and Mendelssohn.
A few days later, on Thursday, August 11 at 7:30 pm, the Orchestra will play a free Neighborhood Residency Concert at East Technical Auditorium in Hough, led by associate conductor Brett Mitchell. Word has it that all the tickets have already been distributed, but you can take your chances and line up for open seats at 7:15 pm. You can also tune in to WCLV, 104.9 FM, or catch a webcast at clevelandorchestra.com or ideastream.org.
The next day, Friday, August 12 at 7:00 pm, the Orchestra plays its last [email protected] concert in Severance Hall, featuring guest conductor Bernard Labadie, with soprano Karina Gauvin and trumpeter Michael Sachs in music by Mozart, J.S. Bach, and Handel (tickets here).
Then the ensemble takes off to play concerts at European festivals with Franz Welser-Möst, leaving the rest of the Blossom season in the hands of some terrific guest artists. Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble pay a visit on Saturday, August 13, followed by Windborne’s Led Zeppelin tribute on Saturday, August 20, and New York’s famous, unconducted Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on August 27 (all at 8:00 pm). Tickets can be purchased here.
Cleveland Opera Theater will take its act outdoors for free concerts at the Dunham Tavern on Sunday, August 14 at 6:30 pm, and in Tremont’s Lincoln Park on Saturday, August 20 at 7:00 pm. Sopranos Rachel Copeland, Rebecca Freshwater, and Marian Vogel, tenor Timothy Culver, and baritone Brian Keith Johnson will join pianist Judith Ryder and host Jacqueline Gerber of WCLV for opera and light opera favorites. Blankets, lawn chairs, and picnics are welcome, and food trucks will be available.
For details of these and many other events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings page.
