Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Breaking news: Kerry loses, eighth blackbird wins!

Oberlin College alums eighth blackbird won a Grammy Award, uh, more than a week ago, for "Best Chamber Music Performance" for the album strange imaginary animals. Congratulations to a fine band. I was just listening to the album on the way to work this morning. News roundup on the Grammy win available here.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Detroit Symphony to debut Brouwer piece

Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer may still be waiting for her first performance by the Cleveland Orchestra, but over in nearby Detroit it's a different story. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has announced that it will perform a world premiere piece by Brouwer on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10, 2009, as part of its 2008-2009 season. Details available at the symphony's Web site. The Detroit Free Press' Mark Stryker says the event will be a highlight of the season, and explains that Brouwer is winner of the orchestra's "2008 Lebenbom Competition for women composers."

Saturday, February 16, 2008

John McLaughlin Williams' new Rosner album

Cleveland composer Jeffrey Quick notes that Grammy-award winning conductor John McLaughlin Williams has a new recording on Naxos of Arnold Rosner's Fifth Symphony, with Nicolas Flagello's "Missa Sinfonica." It's probably "the best performance of a Rosner orchestral work that I've heard," Quick says. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Rosner (as I confess I am), Quick provides a handy overview.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Feb. 24: Cleveland Composers Guild concert

The Cleveland Composers Guild returns for a free concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 2592 W. 14th St. in hip Tremont (i.e., Cleveland). Local composers represented this time include Fredrick Lissauer, Christopher Auerbach-Brown, Loris Chobanian, Robert Rollin, Monica Houghton and Katharine Louise O'Connell. It's a good lineup of some of the top local composers.