PEACH WEEKENDER

Music: Bach stars in next Mozart & More series concert

Sarah Ioannides will conduct the Toledo Symphony’s Mozart & More concert Jan. 25 at the Franciscan Center at Lourdes University.

Mozart is in the spotlight this month as the famed Austrian composer’s birthday draws near on Jan. 27. But, ironically, the Toledo Symphony's own Mozart & More concert series, set to continue at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in the Franciscan Center at Lourdes University in Sylvania, will not include any works by its namesake. (The symphony has a big hit program dedicated to Mozart on Feb. 7-8: a version of the Peter Shaffer play, Amadeus, with live music.)

Nonetheless, the Jan. 25 program will be interesting in its own right, comprising two more Brandenburg Concerti by Johann Sebastian Bach, plus Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 (Italian).

Coming to town to make her conducting debut for the concert will be Sarah Ioannides. As music director of the Spartanburg (S.C.) Philharmonic Orchestra since 2005, the Australian native has carved a niche in the male-dominated world of conductors, winning praise for performances on five continents.

Ioannides has music degrees from Oxford University and the Juilliard School, and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music on a Fulbright fellowship. She has won the Leeds Conducting Competition and the JoAnn Falletta Award.

The Brandenbergs on this program will be No. 2 in F Major (recorder, oboe, trumpet, strings, continuo), and No. 5 in D Major. Perhaps the best known of the six concerti, the latter features flute, violin, and harpsichord, plus strings.

The Mendelssohn work, popular with local audiences, was last heard in 2008, under the direction of former resident conductor Chelsea Tipton.

Tickets are $30-$35 at www.toledosymphony.com or 419-246-8000.

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ADJ*jective New Music will partner with Gathered Gallery and Studios to present Two Hot, an evening of hot glass and hot music at 7 p.m. Jan. 24 in the gallery, 23 N. Huron St.

Elise Roy, a flutist, and saxophonist Matt Younglove will perform electroacoustic works with a glass theme by local composers including Andrew May, Mikel Kuehn, Elaine Lillios, and Kurt Isaacson. Other performers will include Jamie Leigh Sampson, Andrew Martin Smith, and Molly Fidler.

A refreshing wrinkle in the program will be other works by Isaacson, Jennifer Jolley, Carter Rice, Andrew Selle, and Johathan Sokol, which include recordings of glassblowing in the Gathered studio hot shop.

The event is free. For more information, contact Sampson at jamie@adjectivenewmusicllc.com or Adam Goldberg at gathered.art@gmail.com.

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The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra will celebrate Mozart’s birthday with its 18th annual Birthday Bash. This year, it features the opera Cosi fan Tutte at 8 p.m. Jan. 25 in the Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor. A musical frolic in two movements with a cleverly twisted plot told in the libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, the opera’s subtitle is Thus Do All Women.

Portraying the two women who are tempted by a clever ruse, plus the devious maid who sets the betrayal in motion, will be Sarah Hibbard, Jennifer Holloway, and Lauren Skuce. Singing the roles of their soldier lovers plus other conspirers and a narrator will be Charles Reid, John Shuffle, David Small, and Stephen West.

"Time-honored music, great singers, and a lively narration are a wonderful way to pay tribute to Mozart," says symphony artistic director Arie Lipsky, who is to conduct the orchestra.

Complimentary chocolates will be offered following the performance.

Tickets are $12-$60 at 734-994-4801 or www.a2so.com.

The symphony will present a chamber music recital at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor.

Trumpeter Bill Campbell and pianist Matthew Thompson have planned an hour of music by Messiaen, Mozart, Sparke, and Arban, and Chinese folk tunes for this program. A free dessert reception will precede the performance at 1 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door or in advance at the symphony Web site.

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Choral singers have several opportunities to lift their voices in song.

The Lourdes University Choirs, celebrating their 30th season, will begin rehearsals at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Franciscan Center. Director Karen T. Biscay says all voices are welcome.

On the performance schedule will be concerts Feb. 26 and May 4 at the Franciscan Center, and, on April 6, Lourdes singers will join some 1,200 other local vocalists to sing in the Toledo Symphony’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Huntington Center.

For more information, contact Biscay at 419-824-3772 or www.lourdes.edu/​music.

At the University of Toledo, the newly formed Festival Choir is inviting interested singers to join for rehearsal and performance of major choral works under the direction of Steve Hodge, UT director of choral activities.

Just ahead is the performance of the Mozart Requiem on Feb. 15, with orchestra, soloists, and the UT Concert Chorale. And this group, too, will join the mass choir for the Beethoven Ninth on April 6.

According to Hodge, singers should demonstrate good basic musicianship and be able to blend well in this 40-voice ensemble. Rehearsals are set for 2-3:30 p.m. Sundays in the Center for Performing Arts, Room 1017.

Interested singers may meet with Hodge at 1 p.m. this Sunday and Jan. 26 for friendly, informal vocal analysis. For more information contact Hodge at 419-530-4558 or email Stephen.hodge@utoledo.edu.

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With the success of Ballet Theatre of Toledo’s inaugural summer intensive training by the London-based English National Ballet, a second year of the international program has been announced by Ballet Theatre founder Nigel Burgoine.

From July 21-26, teachers from the English company’s school, plus its director, Samira Saidi, will work with select students in the Ballet Theatre studios, 1124 Corporate Dr., Holland.

Last year’s group came from around the United States, South America, and, of course, the Toledo area. Of the group, three young dancers were selected to join the English National Ballet School and are now studying in London.

Deadline for application is Feb. 28. For more information contact Ballet Theatre of Toledo at 419-861-0895 or www.ballettheatreoftoledo.org.

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I have signed up to play with the Toledo Symphony’s next Pro-Am orchestra for its 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21 concert in the Peristyle. Who else will join me onstage, trying to keep up with professionals as maestro Stefan Sanderling leads us through a program of classics by Brahms, Gershwin, and Mascagni? I promise not to hold Bach while playing one of his little fugues, but I know I'll be Bizet during the Toreador March from the composer's opera, Carmen.

It should be great fun and a chance to stretch those musical chops. Mitchell Wechsler at the symphony is handling enrollment, which costs $50.

The deadline to sign up is Jan. 24. For more information, contact Wechsler at 419-418-0034 or proam@toledosymphony.com.

Send music items to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks in advance.