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To•Day

DIARY: Tuesday, May 19, 2026

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 12 Noon, organist Davis Badaszewski plays works by Harold Friedell & Gerre Hancock at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle.

Tonight at 7:30 in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will conclude its season with a performance by the Isidore String Quartet with pianist Jeremy Denk. After the Quartet plays works by Joseph Haydn and Hungarian composer György Ligeti, Denk will join the group for Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quintet in f minor.

INTERESTING READ:

Previously Unknown Vaughan Williams Piece Found in London

Titled Before the Mirror, the newly-discovered piece was found in the archives of London’s Morley College. Read the Violin Channel article here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this date in 1954, the iconoclastic American composer Charles Ives died in New York. [Read More…]

Pre•Views & Features

Mandel Festival of Opera and Humanities: Tenor David Butt Philip looks inside Fidelio

by Mike Telin

In his program note, Franz Welser-Möst writes that “Fidelio is not only an opera; it’s a philosophical statement about courage, liberty, love, and the triumph of the human spirit. Every stage director I’ve met wrestles with the same question when putting on Fidelio: How do you make it relevant to the time we live in? Here, we present it in concert to bring attention to the extraordinary ways that Ludwig van Beethoven’s music is philosophy set to sound.”

On Thursday, May 16 at 7:00 pm and Sunday May 24 at 3:00 pm in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in the second and third performances of Beethoven’s only opera as part of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival.

[Read on…]

Mandel Festival at Severance presents Hero’s Song — a conversation with composer Jüri Reinvere

by Mike Telin

Jüri Reinvere is more than a celebrated Estonian composer. He has also published essays and poems, worked for Estonian and Finnish Radio, produced and written screenplays for documentary films, and translated and co-written books, as well as written the libretto for his earlier opera, Purge.

All of his artistic abilities have influenced his Concerto for Violin, Harp, and Orchestra, which will receive its world premiere on Friday, May 22 by violinist Leila Josefowicz, harpist Trina Struble and The Cleveland Orchestra led by Franz Welser-Möst.

The 7:00 pm performance at Severance Music Center is part of the Mandel Opera and Humanities Festival. The program also includes Adolphus Hailstork’s Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed, Grażyna Bacewicz’s Symphony No. 4, and Antonín Dvořák’s Hero’s Song. Tickets are available online.

[Read on…]

Tenor David Butt Philip sheds light on Cleveland Orchestra’s Fidelio

by Mike Telin

In his program note, Franz Welser-Möst writes that: “Fidelio is not only an opera; it’s a philosophical statement about courage, liberty, love, and the triumph of the human spirit. Every stage director I’ve met wrestles with the same question when putting on Fidelio: How do you make it relevant to the time we live in? Here, we present it in concert to bring attention to the extraordinary ways that Ludwig van Beethoven’s music is philosophy set to sound.”

On Saturday, May 16 at 7:00 pm in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in the first of three performances of Beethoven’s only opera as part of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival.

The all-star cast includes Sara Jakubiak as Leonore, David Butt Philip as Florestan, Tomasz Konieczny as Don Pizarro, Raymond Aceto as Rocco, and Dashon Burton as Don Fernando. Click here for Festival details. The program will be repeated on Thursday, May 21 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, May 24 at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

[Read on…]

See all previews

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