'La Traviata' postponed until next season
3/24/2011The Toledo Opera Association has announced the postponement of its scheduled April 1 performance of Verdi's La Traviata until the 2011-2012 season, according to the board of trustees. The change comes as a result of the Toledo Opera's organizational restructuring, which is to address both business and artistic processes.
When the new date, time, and venue are announced, current tickets may be exchanged for the future production. Those who wish to receive either a tax credit or a refund for the last event of the 2010-2011 season should contact the opera box office, 419-255-7464.
The board of trustees also has decided to present this year's Opera on Wheels, a touring educational program that presents live opera -- a shortened, updated version of Rossini's The Barber of Seville -- in more than 50 area schools during April and May.
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The final concert in the 2010-2011 Dorothy MacKenzie Price Piano Series is set for 3 p.m. April 3 in the University of Toledo Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall. Guest artist will be Jane Solose, a Canadian-born pianist who is associate professor of piano at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Solose studied at the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario, then completed graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N.Y., where she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate. In addition to her academic career, she maintains an active international career as both solo pianist and, with her sister, pianist Kathleen Solose, a duo-piano collaboration.
Solose has won the CBC Canada National Radio Competition and received special commendation at the 1996 International Vienna Modern Masters Performers Recording Award Competition. She is currently recording solo piano works for three upcoming compact discs to be released next year by Capstone Records and Eroica Classical Recordings. Her articles have been published in the journals 20th Century Music and Clavier.
Admission to the concert is free.
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The Toledo Symphony's Mozart & More Series continues at 7:30 p.m. April 2 with guest conductor Steven Byess on the podium and cellist Damon Coleman in the spotlight in the Franciscan Theatre & Conference Center of Lourdes College. Coleman will solo in Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme.
Also on the program will be the Overture and Ballet Music from Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice, and Mozart's Symphony No. 40.
Tickets start at $29 at 419-246-8000 or www.toledosymphony.com.
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The Perrysburg Symphony Orchestra will present a free public concert/lecture: Music Inspired Food or Food Inspired Music -- Which Is It? at 7 p.m. April 1 in the Owens Community College Center for Fine and Performing Arts, 30335 Oregon Rd., Perrysburg.
Conductor Barbara Specht will lead a program with music by Felix Mendelssohn, Giacomo Rossini, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Clarinetist Ed Marks and oboist Timo Lehtonen will perform Mendelssohn's duet for clarinet and basset horn.
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Bowling Green State University will present faculty pianist Russell Schmidt in concert at 8 p.m. Monday in Bryan Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center. Voice students of Myra Merritt will perform An Evening of Art Songs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Manor House of Wildwood Preserve Metropark.
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The University of Michigan Opera Theatre will open Mark Adamo's opera, Little Women, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Mendelssohn Theatre of the Michigan League on North State Street. Subsequent performances are set for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Directed by UM faculty member Robert Swedburg and conducted by Christopher James Lees, the 1998 work brings to life the Louisa May Alcott classic American novel.
Tickets start at $18 at 734-764-2538 or www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/perf_events.php.
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The Sandusky State Theatre presents a concert by River North Chicago Dance Company at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the historic hall, 107 Columbus Ave., Sandusky.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the critically acclaimed dance company specializes in jazz-based contemporary dance. Recent works by Mark Hauser and Kevin Chaves are among pieces on the program.
Tickets start at $10 at 419-626-1950 weekdays or at www.sanduskystate.com. A dinner and show package also is available starting at $28.
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The University of Toledo announces its 23rd annual student/amateur composition contest open to high school and college students and amateurs from northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan not employed as music professionals. Works must be unpublished, never performed, original instrumental chamber music that is performable by college-level musicians. Submissions should be in triplicate, with CDs accepted. Judges will be area professional musicians. Prizes up to $500 are offered, with sponsorship by Craig's Pianos & Keyboards.
Deadline is Monday. All submissions and inquiries should be directed to David Jex at the UT Department of Music, 419-530-4560 or David.Jex@utoledo.edu, or Lee Heritage, 419-530-2356 or lherita@uoft02.utoledo.edu.
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Toledo native Daniel J. Knaggs has won first prize in the 2011 International Musica Sacra Competition for a work he created for eight-part a capella choir. The competition is sponsored by the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in the Vatican, Rome.
The work, hic est discipulus, is to be premiered by the Polish Chamber Choir May 3 in Czestochowa, Poland, and will then tour Europe and England.
Knaggs, a graduate of St. Francis de Sales High School and Bowling Green State University (MA in music composition), did post-graduate studies in Spanish at UM. He taught Spanish at Scott High School and now teaches in Ann Arbor. During a snow day on Dec. 13, the composer discovered the contest announcement and managed to complete his work by the Jan. 31 deadline. The prize is 2,500 euros (about $3,552).
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Toledo native David Hattner reports from Portland, Ore., that the country's oldest youth orchestra, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, continues to develop and perform under his leadership.
A recent concert by the orchestra in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall featured cellist and Concerto Competition winner Jinn Shinn in Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, the 1947 version of Stravinsky's Petroushka, and Brahms' Tragic Overture.
Items for News of Music should be submitted to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of the event.