Photo courtesy the Bop Stop/Pulse Quartet
During his long tenure at Cleveland State University, saxophonist Howie Smith presented many “Concerts in Progress.” He’ll continue that tradition — or maybe he’ll play an hour’s worth of completely improvised music — at the Bop Stop on Thursday, January 24 at 7:00 pm. Reserve your tickets here and see what happens!
The second edition of the new series Fresh Perspectives will be rolled out on Friday, January 25 at Lab Studios by Glo, 2460 Lakeside Ave. beginning at 6:30 pm. “I Am” is an examination of identity through music and art, featuring Sarah Hennies’ Everything Else for four or more performers, Settle for vibraphone (two players), and Contralto for video, strings, and percussion (Ohio premiere). Other aspects of the evening include a new generative video installation by Natalie Braginsky, and a poetry bar hosted by Cleveland-based poets, offering made-to-order poems you get to take home. Food and drink will be available, and tickets go for $5-$15 at the door.
Genre boundaries continue to dissolve in the arts, even as walls get more popular in politics. On Saturday, January 26 at 8:00 pm at the Bop Stop, the Pulse Quartet — Aidan Plank, bass, Anthony Fuoco, piano, Dustin May, drums, and Brad Wagner, sax — will play “new music drawing on diverse influences with a classic approach of openness and spontaneity.” Come and listen. Tickets are available online.
The old saying is that you get to New York’s Carnegie Hall by practicing. Before heading to that famous venue, Youngstown State University’s Dana Piano Trio (Joseph Kromholtz, violin, Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello, and Cicilia Yudha, piano) will try out their program of works by Beethoven and Shostakovich — as well as celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Dana School of Music — in several performances around the region. The first one happens in Guzzetta Recital Hall at the University of Akron on Sunday, January 27 at 3:00 pm, and it won’t cost you a cent.
Good news for Australia, but sad for Northeast Ohio: Kent State University piano professor Jerry Wong is off to Australia next academic year to join the faculty at the Melbourne Conservatory. Before he goes, he’ll join soprano Melissa Davis and violinist Cathy Meng Robinson in a recital on Kent’s Keyboard Series on Sunday, January 27 at 5:00 pm in Ludwig Recital Hall on the Kent campus. “Franz & Franz” will feature songs and piano works by Schubert and Liszt, and a Schubert violin sonata. Tickets can be purchased online.
Check out details of these and other events on our Concert Listings page.
