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To•Day

DIARY: WEEKEND, Friday-Sunday, February 27-March 1, 2026

by Daniel Hathaway

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

Turning the calendar page over to March releases a floodgate of events. Here are our classical music recommendations for this weekend, selected from the many in our master concert listings calendar.

On Friday Evening at 7:30, Alain Altinoglu visits The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Music Center to conduct two of Richard Strauss’s virtuosic tone poems based on the mythic lives of Til Eulenspiegel and Don Juan, and to team up with Cleveland native Alisa Weilerstein in Unsuk Chin’s equally virtuosic Cello Concerto. The merry pranks, romantic conquests and cellocentric fireworks return on Saturday at the same hour.

On Saturday at 4 pm at Heights Theater in the Coventry neighborhood, Les Délices highlights soprano Estelí Gomez in Nicaraguan-American composer Gilda Lyons’Soy la Diosa, as the second chapter of the period instrument ensemble’s Mythology Project centers attention on Latin American folklore and historical legends. The program will be repeated on Sunday at 7:30 at Inlet Dance Theater at the Pivot Center in Ohio City.

On Sunday at 3 pm at Pilgrim Congregational UCC, Arts Renaissance Tremont will present The ART of Influence. Students who are now professional musicians will share the stage with their teachers for a concert illuminating the tradition of mentorship in music. Guests include Cleveland Orchestra percussionists Tom Sherwood & Tanner Tanyeri and hornists Rich King & Megan Guegold (hornists at TCO), and more.

There’s a lot happening early next week as well.

On Monday evening at 7:30 Pittsburgh’s Chatham Baroque (pictured above) will make its Cleveland debut on the Rocky River Chamber Music Society series.

And on Tuesday at 7:30, chamber music fans will have their choice between a Cleveland Chamber Society performance by the Leonkoro Quartet at Disciples Church, and a Tuesday Musical concert by saxophonists Branford Marsalis and Timothy McAllister with pianist Liz Ames at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall.

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

WEEKEND ALMANAC: [Read More…]

Pre•Views & Features

Tuesday Musical: a conversation with saxophonists Timothy McAllister and Branford Marsalis – Part 2

By Mike Telin

On Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30 pm at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical continues its season with the Marsalis-McAllister-Ames Trio — Branford Marsalis and Timothy McAllister, saxophones, and Liz Ames, piano. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with Branford Marsalis by phone in Durham, North Carolina. I began by asking him to share his recollection of how the trio met.

Branford Marsalis: I met Liz through her former husband who is a saxophonist. I went to a saxophone conference after I’d met her, and was just amazed at the volume of music that she could learn on the fly. If you’ve ever been to something like the North American Saxophone Alliance, you know that the pianists have to play something like twenty-five pieces in three days. And Liz had this massive volume of music that she walked around with, going from rehearsal room to rehearsal room, rehearsing with saxophonists from all over the country. I was just amazed by that. It left an impression on my mind. Wow, she’s amazing.

[Read on…]

Tuesday Musical: a conversation with saxophonists Timothy McAllister and Branford Marsalis – Part 1

By Mike Telin

“We’re all excited about what this combination brings forward,” saxophonist Timothy McAllister said during a Zoom conversation. “I think there’s a mutual love and the three of us are providing a safe space for each of us to be who we are. It’s just a celebration of music and friendship.”

On Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30 pm at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical continues its season with the Marsalis-McAllister-Ames Trio. Branford Marsalis and Timothy McAllister, saxophones, and Liz Ames, piano. Tickets are available online.

Mike Telin: How did you and Liz and Branford come together as a trio?

[Read on…]

Leonkoro Quartet to bring lion-hearted strength to its CCMS debut on March

By Mike Telin

Founded in Berlin in 2019, the Leonkoro Quartet adopted its brave-sounding name from the Esperanto words for “lion” and “heart” and from Astrid Lindgren’s children’s book, The Brothers Lionheart. Two brothers, Jonathan and Lukas Schwarz, man the first violin and cello positions. Second violinist Emiri Kakiuchi and violist Mayu Konoe fill out the roster of a relatively new ensemble that impressed the chamber music demimonde in April of 2022 by winning a total of ten prizes at London’s Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.

On Tuesday evening, March 3 at 7:30, the Leonkoro Quartet will make its Cleveland debut on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series at Disciples Church, performing standard repertoire by Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Felix Mendelssohn.

I spoke with violist Mayu Konce in Columbus before the quartet’s recent engagement there, and posed questions about their repertory choices and some of the issues they’ve addressed as a new ensemble on the international concert circuit.

[Read on…]

See all previews

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