This week’s long list of picks begin with the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, now celebrating its 91st year. Tickets available online.
Bach in Berea begins on Friday at 7 in Gamble Auditorium with an all-J.S. Bach program featuring the Boston-based Baroque string band ACRONYM and special guest Catharina Meints, viola da gamba, in two of the six Brandenburg Concertos, along with one of his cantatas. Gamble Auditorium, 49 Seminary St, Berea.
On Saturday at 7 in Gamble, BWV: Cleveland’s Bach Choir joins ACRONYM in two of Bach’s monumental motets, Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229) and Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden (BWV 230).
Then on Sunday at 2, all forces come together as Dirk Garner leads the BW Motet Choir, BW Festival Orchestra and ACRONYM in the Mass in b minor featuring soprano Paulina Francisco.
This is a festival, so there’s much more on the menu. Click here to see a full schedule of activities.
– Speaking of Bach, the free Brownbag Concerts at Trinity Cathedral continue their Bach Fest on Wednesday at Noon with Zhan Shu, violin (D minor Partita) and Todd Wilson, organ (Prelude and Fugue in f, BWV 534. Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave. Cleveland. Free.
– On Wednesday evening at 7:30 at Beachland Ballroom, Piano Cleveland presents an episode of its 2023 Listening Series: It’s a Spring Thing. Cellist Christine Lamprea and pianist Yaron Kohlberg invite you to dive into the world of the piano as a musical partner with its Dynamic Duos. Click here for tickets.
– On Thursday, CityMusic presents the Pantheon Ensemble in a Holocaust Remembrance program at The Temple — Tifereth Israel featuring not-so-well-known works by early 20th-century Jewish composers, including a work for strings written in Terezín and Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s monumental Piano Quintet. The free concert will be repeated on Friday at 7 at Praxis Fiber Gallery.
– Thursday evening at 7:30 pm, The Cleveland Orchestra hosts guest conductor Bernard Labadie and soprano Lucy Crowe in an all-Mozart concert, including the Overture to La clemenza di Tito, concert arias, selections from the Masonic Funeral Music, and Symphony No. 41 (“Jupiter”), to be repeated Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 8, and Sunday at 3, tickets available online.
– Three interesting programs happen on Friday. Les Délices and guests celebrate the flowering of humanism and flourishing of arts under the patronage of the “First Lady of the Renaissance” Isabella D’Este (1474-1539) at 7:30 at Holy Trinity, Akron, and repeats the program of music by Busnois, Agricola, Josquin, and their contemporaries on Saturday at 7:30 in Lakewood and Sunday at 4 in Shaker Heights (click here for tickets).
– Meanwhile, led by Jay White, Quire Cleveland presents the first of its three “Pater Noster” programs featuring settings of the Lord’s Prayer on Friday at 7:30 in St. John’s Cathedral, Cleveland with other performances Saturday at 8 at St. Anselm, Chesterland, and Sunday at 3 at St. Christopher, Rocky River. All are free.
– Then the touring Tallis Scholars from England led by Peter Philipps will sing “Masterpieces from Europe,” music by Josquin, Fayrfax, Gibbons, Lassus, Palestrina, and Victoria, at the Cleveland Museum of Art Friday at 7:30. Tickets available online.
– On Saturday at 7:30, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s International Series hosts master Scottish guitarist David Russell. Tickets available online.
– And on Sunday at 4 at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Heights, organist Karel Paukert will salute the legacy of several friends and acquaintances who were prominent in the recording industry and recipients of Grammy Awards. Tom Knab, Bruce Egre, Thom Moore, Michael Bishop, and Jack Renner will be remembered by their colleagues, Erica Brenner (Telarc), and Alan Bise (Azika). Anna Rathbun, soprano, David Gilson, baritone, Mary Kay Robinson, flute and piccolo, Ida Mercer, cello, and Paul Cox, percussion, will join Karel in the performance, and Robin VanLeare and Story Rhinhard Cadiz will offer interpretive dance. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Hts. Freewill offering.
Visit the Clevelandclassical.com Concert Listings page for details including addresses of venues and information about more concerts.
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