Tri-C JazzFest Lands in Playhouse Square and the Classical Music to Catch This Week

June festivals are in full swing this week. Here are some highlights.

- Three of Ohio Light Opera ’s six summer shows are now running in rotation at Freedlander Theater at the College of Wooster. Catch The Sound of Music on Wednesday at 2 pm or Sunday at 7:30, Me and My Girl on Thursday or Saturday at 2 pm, and Guys and Dolls on Friday or Tuesday at 2.

- ChamberFest Cleveland is now under full sail in several venues, with multiple performers offering a huge selection of chamber works. On Thursday at 7:30 in CIM’s Mixon Hall, “The Rite of Spring” will feature pianists Roman Rabinovich & Yaron Kohlberg with percussionists Tom Sherwood & Alexander Cohen in an arrangement of Stravinsky’s work, plus other music ranging from songs by Tom Lehrer and P.D.Q. Bach to Bohuslav Martinu’s La revue de cuisine.

On Friday at 7:30 in Mixon Hall, “Paradise Lost” pairs soprano Susanna Phillips & trumpeter Brandon Ridenour as soloists in 
J.S. Bach’s solo cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen with side trips into Thomas Adès’ Darkness Visible (Zoltán Fejérvári, piano) & William Bolcom’s Selections from The Garden of Eden (pianists Yaron Kohlberg & Fejérvári).

ChamberFest moves to Federated Church in Chagrin Falls on Saturday at 7:30 for “In Other Worlds,” with repertoire as diverse as Ridenour’s arrangements of John Lennon & Paul McCartney tunes & Camille Saint-Saëns’ Septet, and hosts a Music & Art Exploration on Sunday from 1-3 pm at the Pivot Center including artist meet-and-greet and performances, hands-on percussion activities, an instrument petting zoo from The Music Settlement, and youth art activities from Cleveland Museum of Art.

- ENCORE Chamber Music Institute wraps up its three weeks of activities on Sunday at 3 with a festival finale — an outdoor concert on the Gates Mills Village Green by the Encore Camerata.

And three new festivals burst onto the scene this week.

- The Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute will concentrate on Music of Paris and Versailles from 1660-1760 this summer, with an opening faculty concert on Friday at 8 in Kulas Recital Hall and an Institute Participant Chamber Music Concert on Saturday from 1:30-5:00 pm. On Monday at 2 pm, violinist Edwin Huizinga & harpsichordist Mark Edwards will give a lecture-demo, “Introduction to Improvisation,” and on Tuesday at 2 pm, faculty members Michael Lynn, flute, Catharina Meints, pardessus de viole, Rebecca Landell, viola da gamba & Lisa Crawford, harpsichord, will play music of Marin Marais, Louis Heudelinne & François Couperin, all in Kulas.

- The Cleveland Lute Fest will host daily recitals by world-class lutenists in Harkness Chapel at CWRU, beginning on Sunday at 7:30 pm with Paul O’Dette, performing works from a recently-discovered manuscript. Nigel North will play German Renaissance music on Monday, and flutist Mara Winter will join Robert Barto on Tuesday for 16th Century Dances & music by S.L. Weiss.

- Tri-C JazzFest takes over Playhouse Square this weekend with myriad indoor and outdoor performances too numerous to list here. Go to their website for a complete list of events from Thursday evening through Saturday.

- And in a Cleveland Carillon Festival performance, Dennis Curry will play tunes from the tower of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Hts. on Sunday at 6.

There are also some free-standing events to recommend: Nightingale Opera Theater’s young artist productions of Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon (Cinderella) at Akron’s Goodyear Theatre on Thursday and Friday at 7:30, Renovare Music’s Facing the Rising Sun featuring music by Hailstork, Coleridge-Taylor & Joplin at Lekko Coffee on Friday at 7:30.

Click here to visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings page for more information.

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