The Underground Classical Series in Collinwood and the Rest of the Classical Music to Catch in Cleveland This Week

The Underground Classical Series continues on Friday, May 5 at 8:00 pm with a concert — well above ground — at Praxis Fiber Workshop on Waterloo Road in Collinwood. Violinist Alex DePue and guitarist Miguel DeHoyos will share their “classical-tinted takes” on pop songs as well as their own compositions. Donations are welcome.

While The Cleveland Orchestra is recuperating from its recent flurry of “Ecstasy” concerts, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra is keeping the Severance Hall chairs warm with its final performance of the season. On Saturday, May 5 at 8:00 pm, Vinay Parameswaran will lead the ensemble in an ambitious program that includes Beethoven’s Overture to Coriolan, Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, Danielpour’s Toward a Splendid City, and Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra. Charlie Jones earned his solo spot in the Haydn by winning this year’s concerto competition. Tickets to hear these fine young musicians can be reserved online.

Leonard Bernstein would have turned 100 this year if he were still with us. The Tri-C Classical Piano Series celebrates that hypothetical event with “Late Night with Leonard Bernstein,” a multimedia program hosted by the composer-conductor’s daughter Jamie, and featuring soprano Amy Burton and pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin. It’s free in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday, May 6 at 2:00 pm.

Indonesian-born pianist Cicilia Yudha, now on the faculty of Youngstown State University, will be featured on the season finale of Arts Renaissance Tremont at Pilgrim Church on Sunday, May 6 at 3:00 pm. She’ll play music by Bach, Schumann, Casadesus, Dutilleux, Sjukur, and Debussy. It’s a free concert, but donations are encouraged.

Last January, Oberlin trombone professor Lee Allen took half a dozen of his students to Uganda to participate in Brass For Africa, a program that provides brass instruments and instruction to African musicians who will teach other Africans in turn. The Oberlin Trombone Choir will play a BFA benefit concert on Sunday, May 6 at 4:30 pm at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle. Donations can be made at the door, or online.

Cleveland Orchestra first associate concertmaster Peter Otto will be featured on the last Rocky River Chamber Music Society concert along with his Orchestra colleague, harpist Trina Struble, and pianist Randall Fusco on Monday, May 7 at 7:30 pm in West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church. The program includes music by Saint-Saëns, Jörg Widmann, and Prokofiev, ending with Piazzolla’s Grand Tango arranged by Sofia Gubaidulina. It’s free!

The Cleveland Chamber Music Society series will showcase the Belka String Quartet, CCMS’ Young Artists of the Year, on Sunday, May 6 at 7:00 pm at First Unitarian Church in Shaker Heights. Violinists Beatrice Hsieh and Charles Gleason, violist Serena Hsu, and cellist Daniel Blumhard will play works by Augusta Read Thomas, Bartók, and Beethoven. The free event will be preceded by a 6:00 pm interview with the performers.

The final concert of the season, on Tuesday, May 8 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights, brings classical guitarist Jason Vieaux and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke together for works by Albéniz, Tárrega, de Falla, Granados, Copland, Metheny, and Bernstein. The performance, co-sponsored by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, will be prefaced with a talk by Daniel Hathaway at 6:30 pm. Order tickets online.

Check out details of these and many other classical music events on our Concert Listings page.