Author: Ginger Dolden

The Canton Symphony presented the first of two summer “Symphony Uncorked” performances on July 19 at Gervasi Vineyard in Canton, Ohio. A string quartet from the orchestra—violinists Erin Redhead and Abigail Tsai, violist Jessica Pasternak, and cellist Michael Koscso—performed in the round the vineyard’s open-air pavilion, with the audience surrounding the musicians. Each member of the quartet spoke about the music; the event featured a cash bar and the Bistro and Crush House were open for dinner before and after the performance. A second event on August 23 will feature Canton Symphony Orchestra cellist Eleanor Lee and double bass Thomas White. More information at https://www.cantonsymphony.org/symphony-uncorked/. The orchestra also will offer two performances this summer in Canton’s new Centennial Plaza; the free performances are sponsored by the Special Improvement District Downtown Canton. A string quartet from the orchestra will perform on August 21 at 6:30pm, and a brass quintet will perform on September 11 at 6:30pm.

Austria’s Salzburg Festival “is being overshadowed by the appearance of a conductor whose orchestra and choir are funded by a bank controlled by the Russian government,” writes Kate Connolly in Friday’s (7/22) Guardian (U.K.). “Cultural commentators have described [the] festival, which is also receiving sponsorship money from a foundation with close ties to the Kremlin, of being in the grip of Vladimir Putin’s influence…. The main focus of the row is on Teodor Currentzis, a Greek-Russian conductor, who on Tuesday is due to open the Salzburg festival with a performance by his ensemble, the St. Petersburg-based musicAeterna. The orchestra is funded by VTB Bank … sometimes referred to as Putin’s ‘private bank,’ and … under western sanctions…. Markus Hinterhäuser, the head of the Salzburg Festspiele, has staunchly defended his decision not to cancel the sell-out performance…. ‘Currentzis has never in the slightest taken sides with Putin,’ … Hinterhäuser said…. Separately, the festival has severed links for the time being with [Russian soprano] Anna Netrebko, … and conductor Valery Gergiev, over their close links to Putin.… Currentzis has yet to respond to the scathing criticism…. Austria’s government [says] it is working on new guidelines to govern sponsorship of cultural events.”

“Maybe you’d never heard of purple martins until last year when the roost of more than 100,000 migrating birds was nearing eviction from trees around Nashville Symphony,” writes Tasha A.F. Lemley in Wednesday’s (7/20) WPLN radio (Nashville). “At the symphony, they would swirl around in something like tornadoes of birds until they would land for the night—sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder on branches…. For the last two years, these birds have favored the [trees surrounding the Nashville Symphony’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center] as roosting grounds. Since the symphony’s trees have been recently been removed or deeply pruned, the birds no longer find a resting spot there. But where did they go? … On a Wednesday night in July, [bird biologist Melinda Welton] is waiting out near Jefferson Street bridge gazing at the sunset sky around 3 trees…. [At] 8:40 … in come hundreds of Martins. ‘That’s the spectacle you were hoping to see,’ she says…. Over the next 20 minutes, birds keep coming in. Sometimes a couple dozen at a time, sometimes a couple hundred. All in the dark.”

“These past few months… patrons are once again filling up the rows of concert halls and theaters,” writes Michael Andor Brodeur in Saturday’s (7/23) Washington Post. But “the rich, thick, glossy, palm-filling printed programs of pre-pandemic days have become harder and harder to find…. Digital programs are increasingly sprouting up as the heir apparent to the printed programs…. The [Bethesda-based National] Philharmonic was spending roughly $20,000 a year … on printing programs for its concerts…. When the pandemic hit, priorities changed.… The digital program, meanwhile, offered a level of flexibility…. ‘If there’s any mistake [or] a last-minute change … we can do that literally moments before the concert starts,’ [President and CEO Jim] Kelly says…. [At] the Kennedy Center, … Eileen Andrews, the arts center’s vice president of public relations, says … the calculation behind their full-scale migration to digital programs over the past two years … was about [reducing] ‘the total amount of paper consumption’ … For the fall season, the Kennedy Center will produce limited runs of streamlined printed programs… But the center intends to refine and improve its digital program platform.… Similarly … the National Philharmonic will limit its output of printed programs.”

“Piano Days is coming to Cleveland. The festival comes courtesy of the folks behind the quadrennial Cleveland International Piano Competition,” writes Marc Bona in Thursday’s (7/24) Plain Dealer (Cleveland). “Piano Days will be held at assorted venues today through Aug. 14. Over its three-week run, pop-up concerts via a concert truck are set and multiple performances … are scheduled throughout the region. Many events are free…. Director Marissa Moore stressed, … ‘We’re really trying to showcase the piano as really diverse.’ … Moore, a Cleveland native who played flute in the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra … said performances will include trivia-night themed social events and musical comedy…. Classical, rock and jazz pianists will be part of the program, which fits the musical interests of Yaron Kohlberg perfectly. Kohlberg is one half of [Israeli-Palestinian piano pair] Duo Amal and also the president of Piano Cleveland…. The Cleveland International Piano Competition was moved from 2020 to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, a virtual piano competition was held for artist relief. The next CIPC is set for 2024. A Young Artist competition in partnership with Cleveland Institute of Music and Lang Lang Foundation is set for 2023.”