PEACH WEEKENDER

News of Music: Chamber concert to present diverse program

Garth Simmons, Toledo Symphony principal trombonist, will perform a selection from his newly released album, “American Visions,” with Michael Boyd, pianist, at the symphony’s Blade Chamber III Concert Sunday.

If you saw the recent Moscow Festival Ballet’s production at the Valentine Theatre, you may have been saddened, as some of us were, to hear the marvelous Prokofiev score cut into pieces to suit the staging.

Perhaps to set the musical record straight, the Toledo Symphony will perform selections from the same work in its Blade Chamber III concert at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Toledo Club.

Principal harpist Nancy Lendrim and violist Reed Anderson will open the evening with the Cinderella Suite for Viola and Harp by the Russian composer.

Then, in a selection from his newly released album, “American Visions,” principal trombonist Garth Simmons, with Michael Boyd, pianist, will perform Robert Sanders’ work, Sonata in Eb.

I am listening to this album as I write and very much appreciate the straightforward American style Sanders, a mid-20th century artist, composer, and educator, creates in the sonata.

Also on the CD are pieces in a variety of styles by David W. Brubeck (not that Dave Brubeck), Richard Monaco, Michael Johanson, and Paul Tanner, all 20th-21st century composers, plus a sonata by 19th-century musician George Frederick McKay.

Simmons and Boyd are a strong yet sensitive musical team who fully realize the works by American composers. Simmons is adjunct faculty at Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts, and Boyd is professsor of piano at the University of Toledo department of music.

The Chamber Concert will close with Schuman’s Piano Quartet in Eb, Op. 47. Pianist Frances Renzi will join Toledo Symphony principals Kirk Toth, violin; Valentin Ragusitu, viola, and Martha Reikow, cello.

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

As it prepares for its next music/​theater production of the Peter Shaffer play, Amadeus, on Feb. 7-8 in the Peristyle, the symphony will conclude its series of free Tuesday programs with a performance by violinist Merwin Siu and cellist Robert Mirakian at 7 p.m. Tuesday in UT’s Libbey Hall. Mozart is on the program.

While parking on the UT campus is problematic, there are often spaces on Bancroft Street, near Libbey Hall, or in a lower lot near what was the Field House. Refreshments are provided to sweeten the challenging trip.

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The BGSU Opera Theater will present student-directed selections from contemporary works in free concerts at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Eva Marie Saint Theatre at the Wolfe Center for the Arts. Acts will include “The Telephone,” “We're on the Air,” “Fall of the House of Usher,” and “Cacophony.”

Double Reed Day starts at 9 a.m. Saturday in the Moore Musical Arts Center with solo competitions, followed by a faculty and guest recital at 10:30 a.m. BGSU faculty members Susan Nelson and Nermis Mieses are in charge and have planned master classes, exhibits, a double reed ensemble rehearsal open to anyone, and a closing concert at 5 p.m. Guest clinicians will be Nancy Ambrose King, oboe, and bassoonist Robert Williams. Registration for the day is $20.

Music at the Manor House, the free public recital series in Wildwood Preserve Metropark, will resume at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Admission is free. Performers will be piano students of Robert Satterlee.

The Faculty Artist Series will continue with a recital by pianist Lolungga Fang-Tzu Liu at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Bryan Recital Hall. Liu has performed widely in Asia.

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Kerrytown Concert House, the lively presenter/​venue at 415 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor, surely has one of the most creative and region-centric approaches to programming in the Midwest. This weekend, for example, is cabaret — the perfect antidote to this severe January weather.

Wine, Women and Song XII will start at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, at the same time Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, plus a 4 p.m. matinee Sunday.

This creation of Wendy Bloom and Jerry DePuit brings together top chanteuses and crooners for lively programs of intimate songs introduced with flair. This year’s performers include Sue Booth, Carolyn Burnstein, Bloom, Shelley MacMillan, Deanna Relyea (Kerrytown founder), Monica Swartout-Bebow, and Kathy Waugh.

Friday and Sunday performances are sold out for this weekend, but tickets remain for Jan. 31-Feb. 1.

Assigned seat tickets are $20-$50 at 734-769-2999 or www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com.

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Valentine’s Day is approaching and the Toledo Jazz Orchestra is gearing up for “A Hot Winter's Night,” at 8 p.m. Feb. 1 in the Valentine Theatre. Loving tributes to big bands of the past — Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich — are on the program to be led by music director Ron Kischuk.

Joining the Toledo Jazz Orchestra will be guests including Mike Williams, lead trumpet with the Count Basie Orchestra; Patrick Hession, Ferguson’s final trumpet lead, and Dwight Adams of Stevie Wonder’s band.

Tickets are $22-$32 at 419-242-3490, www.thetoledojazzorchestra.org, or www.valentinetheatre.com.

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And if you can't wait that long to hear live jazz, consider the University of Toledo’s fine series on Mondays at Crystal’s Lounge in the Ramada Inn, 3536 Secor Rd.

Faculty and student musicians jam most every Monday, starting at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $3-$5 at the door.

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If you hold tickets to hear Siberian pianist Denis Matsuev in recital at 4 p.m. Sunday in Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, brace yourself: the renowned pianist, winner of the 1998 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, will not be performing this weekend.

A spokesman for University Musical Society said the 38-year-old keyboard superstar has been hospitalized with pneumonia in Siberia.

Late Tuesday pianist Olga Kern was named as a replacement for Matsuev. Kern is in the United States this week for the Van Cliburn Foundation concerts and has added UMS to her busy schedule. This will be her Hill Auditorium debut.

Her Sunday program will include Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9; Chopin Sonata No. 2, Op. 35, and selections from Rachmaninoff Preludes Ops. 3, 23, and 32

Tickets are $10-$60 at 734-764-2538 or www.ums.org.

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The Detroit Institute of Arts will present pianist Maria Meirelles in recital at 7 and 8:30 p.m. Jan. 31 in its Diego Rivera Court, part of the museum’s ongoing Friday programs during extended hours. The organizing theme for her program will be tonality: sonatas by Beethoven, Schubert, and Prokofiev all were written in the key of B flat minor.

Brazilian-born Meirelles, a longtime Detroit performer, has gained a strong reputation for innovation and daring, performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and in other regional venues.

Admission is free to the concert; there is a fee to enter the DIA.

Send News of Music items to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks in advance.