Organist Adam Brakel to perform at cathedral concert

Organist Adam Brakel will perform at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral Friday May 13.

Friday the 13th will be a lucky day for lovers of fine organ music as the Rosary Cathedral Concert Series introduces organist Adam Brakel to Toledo in a 7:30 p.m. concert.

The winner of many awards and scholarships since starting his career in his teens, Brakel graduated with honors from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where he also served as assistant organist at St. Paul Cathedral. He then enrolled at the Juilliard School in New York , where he also worked and performed in many Manhattan churches, including St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Brakel earned a master's degree at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and later studied in France. Brakel recently completed his graduate performance diploma at Peabody. Currently, he is director of music at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in St. Petersburg, Fla.

In Toledo, Brakel will perform on the historic Skinner organ in Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, 1535 Collingwood Blvd. This free concert is presented in memory of Joseph Lawton by his family.

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The Lourdes College music department will present Music For Mothers & Others III, a celebration of Mother's Day, at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Franciscan Theatre & Conference Center. Karen Biscay will conduct the choirs in a program featuring lullabies, courting songs, songs of home, and of faraway places, in a free concert.

The choir also will perform at 7:30 p.m. May 13 in St. Lucas Lutheran Church, 745 Walbridge Ave. in South Toledo. The concert is part of a weekend celebration of the historic church's125th anniversary. Featured on the same program will be Columbus organist Michael Schreffler. A free-will offering will be collected.

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Don't forget to tune into the Toledo Symphony debut at Carnegie Hall at 7 p.m. Saturday on WGTE-FM. The orchestra is appearing as part of the Spring for Music Festival and will be one of seven visiting ensembles to perform. Stefan Sanderling will lead the program with the Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 and a performance of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour by Andre Previn and Tom Stoppard.

Robert Mirakian will lead the Toledo Symphony in a program of classical and popular works during the High School Young People's Concert at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Central Catholic High School, 2250 Cherry St.

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The Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD Series continues at 1 p.m. Saturday with a live performance of Wagner's Die Walkure on the big screen at RAVE Fallen Timbers Cinema. This, the second installment of Robert Lepage's new production of the Wagner Ring Cycle, will be conducted by James Levine, with Bryn Terfel as Wotan, Deborah Voight as Brunnhilde, Stephanie Blythe as Fricka, and Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek as the twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde. Tickets start at $20 at the RAVE box office. Encore showing will be at 6:30 p.m. June 1.

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Michigan Opera Theatre will continue its spring season with a new production of Verdi's Rigoletto starting May 14 in the Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway, downtown Detroit.

Todd Thomas and Gaetan LaPerrierre will share the title role with James Valenti and Arnold Rutkowski sharing the Duke of Mantua part. Soprano Rachele Gilmore, who drew raves several years ago when she appeared with the Toledo Opera, will perform the role of Gilda, backed by Sarah Joy Miller. Bernard Uzan is stage director with Steven Mercurio in the pit.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. May 14, 18, 20, and 21, and at 2:30 p.m. May 22. Tickets start at $25 at www.motopera.org or 313-961-3500.

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Kerrytown Concert House, 415 North Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor, announces Classical Favorites for Mother's Day, a collaborative recital by flutists Sharon Sparrow and Jeff Zook, at 4 p.m. Sunday. Pianist Dylan John Perez will accompany the duo in works by Paul Taffanel, Camille Saint-Saens, Eldin Burton, Gary Schocker, and a few surprise numbers.

A world music performance is slated for 8 p.m. Wednesday by Trio Tarana: percussionist/vocalist Ravish Momin; violinist Skye Steele, and cellist/electronic musician Greg Heffernan. Music from India, Japan, and Afghanistan, the Middle East, and North Africa inspire original improvised music by this adventurous trio.

An Afternoon of Classical and Jazz music performed by oboist Donald Baker, vocalist Christal Glover, saxophonist Adam Dib, trombonist Stefan Stolarchuk, and pianists Kathryn Goodson, Alvin Eugene Brooks, and Charles Badon III will begin at 4:30 p.m. May 14 at Kerrytown.

Tickets for all performances start at $10 for general admission, with reserved seats at $15 and $25 at 734-769-2999 or www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com.

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Conductor John Nelson will lead the Calvin College Orchestra, Campus Choir, and Capella in an 8 p.m. concert Saturday in the Covenant Fine Arts Center of Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich., where he is conducting a two-week residency.

On the program will be the Brahms Requiem, Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernsetein, and the premiere of Peter Bannister's Psalm 96.

The new work was commissioned by Soli Deo Gloria, a Chicago-based not-for-profit group started by Nelson to promote and develop sacred music. Tickets are available at 616-526-6282 or www.calvin.edu.

Items for News of Music should be sent to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of performance date.