PEACH WEEKENDER

News of Music: 4-3

4/3/2014

Toledo Ballet to present Lang’s ‘From Heart to Quill’April already has delivered plenty of sunshine and now brings a shower of classical events during the coming week.

This weekend kicks things off with Toledo Ballet’s long-awaited Michael Lang production, From Heart to Quill, in 7:30 p.m. performances Friday and Saturday at the Valentine Theatre.

Tickets will be $17-$37 at valentinetheatre.com or 419-242-2787.

(For a detailed story, read Friday’s Blade Peach Section.)

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Sunday’s “Ode to Joy” 4 p.m. concert in the Huntington Center will bring 1,200 community singers to perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Toledo Symphony and soloists, all conducted by Stefan Sanderling.

As there is a Mud Hens game at 2 p.m. at nearby Fifth Third Field and a Weak Signals remote-control convention in SeaGate Convention Centre, parking will be at a premium.

TARTA will provide a needed round-trip lift in buses leaving at 3 p.m. from the following sites: St. Luke’s Hospital, 5901 Monclova Rd., Maumee; Centennial Terrace, 5773 Centennial Rd. at Erie Street, Sylvania; Miracle Mile Shopping Center, near the bus center, Jackman and Laskey roads; Franklin Park Mall, shelter on Royer Road between Old Navy and Kohl’s, and the Kroger Store at 8730 Waterville-Swanton Rd., Waterville.

Fares are $1 per person each way. Buses will depart Huntington Center 20 minutes after the final stirring notes of the symphony.

Tickets for this great community event start at $25 at Ticketmaster or the Huntington box office on Jefferson Avenue.

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Other dance opportunities are in store when the River Raisin Ballet Company presents its version of Coppelia, the tale of a beguiling puppet and her creator (a little bit Pinocchio). Shows are set for 7 p.m. April 11 and 12, and 3 p.m. April 12 and 13, in the River Raisin Centre for the Arts, 114 S. Monroe St., Monroe.

With characters titled Dr. Coppelius, Swanhilda, and Franz; a familiar and beloved score by Leo Delibes, and choreography by Arthur Saint-Leon, this comic ballet has earned great popularity since its 1870 premiere in Paris.

Company founder and artistic director Gail Choate-Pettit and assistant Melissa Moore have brought back this production for the third time, but with new dancers and elements including costumes.

Tickets are $12-$18 at 734-242-7722 or riverraisingcentre.org.

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One of Toledo’s innovative and hard-working young musicians, Jamie Leigh Sampson, will launch Contemporary Techniques for the Bassoon: Multiphonics, her new book,with a multimedia party at 7 p.m. April 12 in LeSo Gallery, 1527 Starr Ave.

Titled “ReedRead,” the event also will feature interactive artworks inspired by printed communications. Local musicians will bring printed music to life during the free, two-hour event.

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The devoted singers of the Palm Sunday Concert Chorale at Monroe Street United Methodist Church promise a program of French music for their annual concert, 7 p.m. April 13 in the church, 2613 Monroe St.

Director Kevin Bylsma will lead the group in the Gloria by Francis Poulenc, Four Motets on Gregorian Themes by Maurice Durufle, and Symphony Concertant for Organ and Orchestra by Joseph Jongen. Soprano Jennifer Cresswell will be soloist. Bylsma will hand his baton to conductor Robert Mirakian to assume soloist position at the church organ for that work.

Admission is free.

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More experimental and innovative sounds and visual arts are sure to be generated by KillBot Zero and guests, plus the Terra Contemporary Ensemble, in what’s being billed as an Artistic Fusion Performance, 7 p.m. Friday in the Terra State Community College Recital Hall, Building D on the college campus, 2830 Napoleon Rd., Fremont. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Faculty from the Fremont public schools will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the hall, where tenor John Jadwisiak will perform followed by the college brass ensemble, starting at 7 p.m. April 11. The closing concert for this week-long celebration of creativity is to begin at 2 p.m. April 13 in the recital hall, with Terra ensembles: Chamber Strings and Guitar. All these events and more are free.

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Cellist Damon Coleman will perform Bach’s Suite No. 3 in C Major and the Rachmaninoff Sonata in G Minor with pianist Michael Boyd at 3 p.m. April 13 in the Toledo Museum of Art Great Gallery.

Coleman is cellist with the Toledo Symphony and a frequent participant in chamber events. Boyd, who is on the faculty of the University of Toledo music department, has gained a national reputation for both performance and informative events.

Admission is free.

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The Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra plans to close its 2013-2014 season with a concert titled “The French Connection” at 3:30 p.m. April 13 in Towsley Auditorium on the Washtenaw Community College campus, 4800 E. Huron River Dr., Ann Arbor.

Conductor Adam Riccinto will lead the orchestra in music by Debussy, Bizet, Faure, and, with cello soloist Robert Reed, Camille Saint-Saens.

Reed, a New Yorker, is a native of Ypsilanti and graduate of Eastern Michigan University. Tickets are $6-$12 at the door or at ypsilantisymphony.org.

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If you’re turned on to requiems by the Toledo Symphony’s big Verdi performances last month, there’s a chance to hear the Brahms German Requiem at 4 p.m. Sunday in Hill Auditorium on the University of Michigan campus. Jerry Blackstone will conduct the University Musical Society Choral Union and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.

Soloists will be soprano Nadine Sierra and bass John Relyea. Tickets are $10-$40.

On Monday, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet is to perform at 7:30 p.m. in the Michigan Theater, Liberty Street. In an indication of the diversity of the program, music by Praetorius, Stravinsky, Baden Powell Scott, and Garcia are scheduled.

Tickets are $22-$50.

For tickets and more information call 734-769-2538 or check ums.org.

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Club notes:

● Monday Musicale will present its monthly public performance at 1 p.m. Monday at Epworth United Methodist Church, 4855 W. Central Ave. Performers will be pianists Esther Chiu, Norma Kelling, and Anne Doerfler; organists Cheryle Knight and Nancy Russell; vocalists Christiann Mann and Meg Keller-Kloop, and oboist Ed Bloedow. Admission is free.

● The Toledo Piano Teachers Association announces its monthly program at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in St. Andrews United Methodist church, 3620 Heatherdowns Blvd. Loretta Lanning, pianist and teacher, will speak on sequencing studies by composers Carl Czerny and Ludwig Beethoven. The meeting is free.

● Mu Phi Epsilon will sponsor a benefit concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in St. Petri Lutheran Church, 3120 S. Byrne Rd.

On the program, titled “Everything is Coming up Violets,” will be music performed by organists Nancy Russell, Cheryle Knight, and Anne Doerfler, pianists Gladys Rudolph and Elaine Moore, and vocalists Erik Johanson and Barbara Maddox. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted to benefit the women’s music fraternity student scholarships.

Send News of Music items to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of event.