News of Music

Pops salutes Rodgers & Hammerstein

Composer Richard Rodgers, right, and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II are shown in a 1956 photo.

The first full weekend of fall is bursting with musical choices.

The Toledo Symphony launches its new KeyBank Pops series with a Salute to Rodgers & Hammerstein, sung and acted by a quartet of up-and-coming singers. Music starts at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Stranahan Theater.

Soprano Emily Benner, mezzo Alta Dantzler, tenor Drake Dantzler, and baritone David Burnham will perform highlights from all the great musicals of this legendary American team.

Resident conductor Jeffrey Pollock will conduct the orchestra and generally keep things lively as hit tunes from Carousel, The King and I, Oklahoma, South Pacific, Sound of Music, and other Broadway favorites pour forth.

Tickets are $24-$64 at 419-246-8000 or www.toledosymphony.com.

● Also starting at 8 p.m. Saturday, tomorrow’s virtuoso classical players will be onstage at Kobacker Hall, Bowling Green State University, sharing in the first local taping of the hit radio series From the Top.

It’s the kick-off for the BGSU Festival Series, a coup of sorts, that brings this taping session to the Midwest. Pianist-host Christopher O’Riley will manage the young performers as they make their Moore Musical Arts Center debuts.

Among the performers will be Quartet Lumiere, first-place winners in the junior division of the 2013 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, performing part of the Grieg String Quartet No. 1 as well as an original composition for string foursome, Elemental, by 17-year-old composer Chason Goldfinger.

Also on the show will be Patrick Pan, a 15-year-old pianist from Houston, who won BGSU’s 2013 DuBois Piano Competition; 15-year-old bassist Lena Goodson, and 15-year old Sein An, a violinist.

This show will be broadcast on WGTE at noon on Nov. 3, but there are still tickets available to hear it live. Single tickets are $36-$52 at 419-372-8171 or www.bgsu.edu/​arts.

● It’s not quite October but it is time for Bachtoberfest: Part Drei, the lively evening of beer, brats, and Bach presented to open the 14th performance series on Saturday at Trinity Episcopal Church, 316 Adams St. downtown.

SonoNovo Chamber Ensemble with soloists and choir will perform works by J.S. Bach, including Cantata No. 79 in the sanctuary, where German fare and libations will be available. Food is served starting at 6 p.m.; music begins at 7. Tickets are $30 for food and music, $15 for music only.

● The University Musical Society in Ann Arbor will present Hubbard Street Dance Chicago this weekend on the University of Michigan campus. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Power Center, 121 Fletcher St. This contemporary troupe will showcase its first feature-length work set to music by American composer Phillip Glass. Tickets are $20-$54 at www.ums.org or 734-768-2538.

● It’s Cabaret again at Kerrytown Concert House, the annual Parisian Soiree Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday in the historic venue, 415 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor. Singers Deanna Relyea, Monica Swartout-Bebow, and Shelley MacMillan, plus violinist Gabe Bolkosky, pianist Kevin Bylsma, and other area artists will provide lots of high-powered music in a relaxed setting. And champagne will be served. Tickets are $20 at www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com or 734-769-2999.

● BGSU woodwind players, joined by strings and keyboard, will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Toledo Museum of Art Great Gallery. Clarinetist Kevin Schempf, oboist Nermis Mieses, violinist Stephen Miahsky, and pianist Laura Melton will present a varied program in this free event.

● Live jazz, ballroom dancing, and New Orleans eating are planned for a Kalvin Hughes production from 2:30 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Nazareth Hall, 21211 W. River Rd., Grand Rapids, Ohio.

The Jesse Coleman Jamm Band will be recalled and sax player James Coleman from Detroit will make an appearance. Tickets from $20, $8 for children and are only available in advance at 419-832-2900.

● The Clarence Smith Community Chorus will open its season at 5 p.m. Sunday in Braden United Methodist Church, 4725 Dorr St.

The concert is a benefit by the church for Toledo Rescue Mission.

● Immaculate Conception Church, 231 E. Center St., Bellevue, will dedicate its new Muller pipe organ with a concert by Scott Hayes at 4 p.m. Sunday.

● Jazz guitarist Mundell Lowe makes his harmonically rich and mellow style known locally in an 8 p.m. concert Tuesday in the Cla-Zel Theatre, 127 N. Main St., Bowling Green. The event is presented by BGSU, which had no information available on ticket prices.

● The Schomburg Series of Defiance College will present the Cordis Quartet, a contemporary chamber music group, at 7 p.m. Oct. 3 in Schomburg Auditorium, 701 N. Clinton St., Defiance.

The group, based in Portsmouth, Ohio, comprises Jeremy Harman, Richard Grimes, Brian O’Neill, and Andrew Beall. They play on custom and traditional ethnic instruments including the cimbalom, piano, percussion, and cello. For tickets call 1-800-520-4632.

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