Big Names To Perform in 2008-09 Tuesday Musical to Bring Soprano Renee Fleming

Akron Beacon Journal - March 13th, 2008

by Elaine Gureglan

Tuesday Musical Association set the bar high when it brought Yo-Yo Ma to Akron for a solo cello performance this season. How do you follow a recital by one of classical music's superstars? With a recital by another superstar.

Renee Fleming, one of the world's reigning sopranos, will perform April 7, 2009, on the six-concert 2008-09 series.

Another coup: The annual visit by the Cleveland Orchestra will be guest-conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, who made a magnificent (and overdue) debut with the group this season.

Tuesday Musical recently received a $150,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to support the next three seasons of activities. Executive director Barbara Feld said Monday, ''One of my charges is to enrich the Knight community, and this is one way we can do it, by building a stronger cultural base.''

Feld said TMA will continue its popular student voucher program, which provides free tickets to students in middle school through college. Nearly 1,000 students used vouchers to attend the first three concerts of the '07-'08 season, Feld said.

The grant will also help TMA continue its outreach activities, such as bringing students from the Akron Big Brothers/Big Sisters program to Sunday's concert by the visiting Cleveland Orchestra.

The organization also works with Choices Community Social Center, which is for adults who receive mental health services in Summit County. Choices sent 10 clients to the Yo-Yo Ma recital. TMA also coordinates transportation between the Metro Transit Authority and selected Metropolitan Housing Authority complexes.
During the 2008-09 season, which begins in the fall, TMA will plan two new initiatives for later seasons: commissioning a piece that will premiere on the concert series, and offering a weeklong artist-in-residence program for students. Feld said she is considering some of the many excellent string quartets working nationally as possible artists in residence.

In addition to its long-running series at E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical will also present three concerts of new music at the Akron Art Museum next year. Details of the new series will be announced later.

Here's the full 2008-09 series of concerts at E.J. Thomas Hall.

Oct. 22: The Five Browns five pianist siblings.

Nov. 18: The Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt with William Preucil, violin, and Desmond Hoebig, cello, in the Brahms Double Concerto, Op. 102.

Jan. 13, 2009: The Guarneri Quartet. Members of the venerable string quartet are getting ready to pack up their bows in 2009 after 45 years of performances and just one personnel change.

Feb. 24, 2009: Hilary Hahn, violin. She appeared on the Tuesday Musical series as an up-and-coming 18-year-old in 1998.

April 7: Renee Fleming, soprano

May 5: Arnaldo Cohen, piano. After a 2004 recital, John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune called the Brazilian-born pianist ''the greatest pianist you've never heard of.''

For more information, call Tuesday Musical at 330-972-2342.

Orchestra GM to leave

Jonathan Martin, the general manager of the Cleveland Orchestra, is moving south. As of May 5, he'll become the executive director of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Martin, 51, joined the Cleveland Orchestra in 1999 and reported to executive director Gary Hanson. As the top administrator in Charlotte, the Atlanta native will work alongside music director Christof Perick, who has one year left on his contract.

James Gaffigan, recently an assistant music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, is in the running to succeed Perick, according to the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra's Web site.