A & E News

Heights Music Hop returns Sept. 23 & 24

The Heights will be hopping again this fall, Sept. 23 and 24, as the Heights Music Hop returns—bigger and better than ever. This fourth-annual festival, presented by FutureHeights, has become one of the region’s premier events, featuring live music, art, food, local merchants and a showcase of Cleveland Heights business districts. Nearly 70 musical acts are expected to perform during the free festival.

For the first time, the Hop will run for two days instead of just one, and will move beyond the Cedar Lee Business District. On Friday, Sept. 23, the live music festival will kick off at 5 p.m. in the Cedar Fairmount Business District, and then move to Cedar Lee on Saturday, Sept. 24, where performances will begin at 3 p.m.

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Volume 9, Issue 9, Posted 10:16 AM, 08.30.2016

St. Paul’s autumn art show draws on inspiration

The fall show at the Nicholson B. White Gallery at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Drawing On Inspiration, will open on Friday, Sept. 9, with an artists’ reception 5–7 p.m

On hand to greet guests and discuss their creative processes will be Nancy Underhill (colored pencil on paper), Shyvonne Coleman (lithographs), Jaymi Zents (painting on birch wood) and Judy Goskey (cloisonné).

Underhill’s drawings and wall reliefs have been exhibited throughout the Midwest and are included in corporate, public and private collections. In her work, the geometric lines of architectural forms are often accompanied by human, animal and foliage elements. She is a member of the Colored Pencil Society of America.

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Volume 9, Issue 9, Posted 2:39 PM, 09.01.2016

Burning River Baroque to spotlight work by female composers

Burning River Baroque will present Twisted Fate: Famed and Forgotten Female Composers on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m., at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights (2555 Euclid Heights Blvd.)

The history of western art music predominantly focuses on the lives and works of male teachers, composers and performers. In eras when women rarely had access to the same educational and professional opportunities as their male colleagues, it can be easy to presume that women were simply not as productive and successful in the field. A closer look at history, however, reveals that some women were able to rise above the gender restrictions placed on them and achieved great success as professional musicians. Others led more private professional lives, cloistered in abbeys and composing for their fellow sisters.

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Volume 9, Issue 9, Posted 12:46 PM, 09.01.2016

Artist workspaces are coming soon to Coventry Village

Less then two years ago, Artful was just an idea in the minds of Shannon Morris and Brady Dindia, longtime Heights residents. Their passion to provide affordable workspaces for artists on Cleveland’s East Side soon attracted other artists, educators, professionals and local business owners.

The two women formed a board of directors, with Morris as executive director and Dindia as board president. Rachel Williams is board secretary, Kevin Khayat is treasurer, and Sarah Curry, David King, Eric Mundson and Hillary Lyon are among the remaining founding members.  

After a thorough search, the board is excited to announce that Artful has leased approximately 5,300 sq. feet of space in Coventry School building, located at 2843 Washington Blvd. in Cleveland Heights.

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Volume 9, Issue 9, Posted 11:34 AM, 09.01.2016

UH Symphonic Band welcomes new members

This month, the University Heights Symphonic Band begins its 47th year as a community ensemble and its second year under the direction of Matthew Salvaggio, who is also music director for the Hiram College Wind Ensemble and music librarian/staff arranger for the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. Sponsored by the City of University Heights, the 45-member band draws musicians from throughout Northeast Ohio. The band’s diverse membership includes professional musicians, along with engineers, homemakers, professors, nurses and others—even a rocket scientist. From students in their 20s to retirees in their 90s, they are drawn together by their love of music.  

The University Heights Symphonic Band began in 1970 as a summer-season performing group under the direction of Harvey Sisler. Organized under the auspices of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Board of Education, the band initially rehearsed and performed at Wiley Middle School. In 1974, the band adopted a year-round schedule, University Heights became its sponsor and it moved to John Carroll University (JCU). Fourteen years later, the band moved back to Wiley Middle School, until the school closed in 2014 to become the temporary home of Cleveland Heights High School. The ensemble now holds its rehearsals at Roxboro Middle School and its summer concerts at JCU.

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Volume 9, Issue 9, Posted 12:37 PM, 09.01.2016

Artists, music and talks kick off Heights Arts's fall season

For more than four decades, Herbert Ascherman Jr. has been a fixture in the photographic landscape of Cleveland. While best known for his portrait studio, Ascherman has also pursued other threads throughout his career—landscapes, nudes and street photography—as well as portraiture. Opening Labor Day weekend, Herbert Ascherman Jr.: 40 Years gathers approximately 60 key works, selected by Ascherman and Heights Arts, which powerfully represent his wide-ranging career.

The exhibition features new gelatin silver and platinum prints drawn from the 120,000 black-and-white negatives in Ascherman's archive, printed in small editions on the occasion of this show.

“The essence of a retrospective is the desire of a photographer to share his most personal and intimate observations with his friends,” explained Ascherman. “The photographs in this exhibition are moments found or studied, objects of curiosity and interest, thoughts considered and shared. I have never worked with a social, political, religious or philosophical perspective or bias. I just take pictures of what appeals to me at the moment; printing them by hand and presenting them as tangible artifacts.”

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Volume 9, Issue 9, Posted 12:35 PM, 08.30.2016

Western Reserve Chorale announces its 25th season

The upcoming 2016–17 season of the Western Reserve Chorale (WRC) marks its 25th year as a community chorus. The ensemble, with a roster of nearly 100 singers, welcomes all Greater Cleveland residents to celebrate with them during this anniversary season.  

WRC will present three separate concerts during the upcoming season.

Its traditional holiday concert, to be held at Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Heights on Dec. 4, will be performed in honor of John Roberts, founding conductor of WRC who passed away this past spring. WRC hopes all who may have sung with the ensemble, at any time in its history, will attend the performance and after-concert reception. The program will include Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Vaughan Williams, and two collections of seasonal settings: the first by Jackson Berkey (arranger for Mannheim Steamroller), and the second, three spirituals by William Dawson. Additional music by Palestrina, Bach, Verdi and Rutter, and two newer works by Norwegian composer Kim André Arensen, will round out the programming.

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Volume 9, Issue 8, Posted 6:05 PM, 07.29.2016

Young CH singer takes inspiration from the past

Alyssa Boyd began singing when she was about 6 years old. Now she’s 24, and singing is the focus of her life. She regularly performs with Seth Boyle, an acoustic guitar player, and with a local band called the Rifferees that performs jazz and big-band classics.

“I grew up with a lot of music,” Boyd said. “My grandmother played piano, and my dad loved soul music, rock and roll and the blues. But no one in my family ever pursued music as a career.”

Boyd was born in the Philadelphia area. When she was a sophomore in high school, her family moved to Cleveland Heights. She attended Heights High, graduating in 2011. She gives the school a lot of credit for developing her singing skills. “The Vocal Music Department at Heights High really changed my life,” she said. “I was given opportunities to do solos. I got into the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, and I got to sing at Severance Hall. I also took vocal lessons at Heights High, and my vocal coach really helped me understand music theory.”

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Volume 9, Issue 8, Posted 6:00 PM, 07.29.2016

Kathy Ewing writes with understanding and compassion

If you’ve spent time in a Cleveland Heights book group, you know there are many topics that come up. Books inspire thoughts about one’s own life. Of those many topics, a good majority of them are about families: How do you raise thoughtful, caring kids? Are men as unobservant as they sometimes seem? When is a good time to tell a family member that he or she has gone too far? And, of course, which of us was raised in the most dysfunctional family?

Kathy Ewing, a longtime member of a CH neighborhood book group, always had stories to tell that amazed and surprised. She described her dad as a kind, loving and connected—though, imperfect—parent, who became a paraplegic when he was a young father and husband.

Ewing’s mom, on the other hand, was rarely kind, loving or connected. Her mom was emotionally distant, unpredictable and deeply unhappy.

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Volume 9, Issue 8, Posted 5:52 PM, 07.29.2016

Dobama Emerging Actors Program performances begin July 28

Dobama Theatre continues its commitment to education programming with the seventh season of its Dobama Emerging Actors Program (DEAP), an intensive summer acting program for high school and college students.

This year’s DEAP production is a double bill of Greek drama: Ellen McLaughlin’s adaptations of “The Trojan Women” and “The Persians.”

The performances are at Dobama Theatre on Thursday, July 28, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, July 29, and Saturday, July 30, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, July 31, at 2:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Each performance will feature both productions.

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Volume 9, Issue 8, Posted 10:37 AM, 07.22.2016

Judson gallery exhibits work by resident Leonard Trawick

Retrospective: View with a Twist, featuring etchings, watercolors, and acrylics by Judson Park resident Leonard Trawick, will be on view at 
The Streeter Gallery at Judson Park July 22 thought Oct. 3. The public is invited to attend a reception with the artist on Friday July 22, 4:30–6:30 p.m.

An Alabama native, Trawick studied literature at the University of Chicago and the University of Dijon in France before receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He taught English at Cleveland State University until he retired in 1998. Throughout his life, painting and drawing have been serious avocations, and he continues his work with help from the art faculty at Cleveland State University.

His prints and watercolors have been shown in various galleries. Through his work, Trawick tries to include a subjective element and portray an emotional impact, and his prints often contain fanciful or humorous ideas.

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Volume 9, Issue 8, Posted 12:45 PM, 07.19.2016

Win tickets to GroundWorks DanceTheater's performance at Cain Park

GroundWorks DanceTheater presents Carmina Burana at Cain Park's Alma Theater on July 15 and 16 at 7 p.m. and July 17 at 2 p.m. for their 2016 Summer Dance Series. GroundWorks will feature an expanded cast in an adaptation of Carl Orff's timeless classic. The program will also include a world premiere work by award-winning New York choreographer Adam Barruch. For ticket information, visit groundworksdance.org or call 216-751-0088.  

The local dance company is sponsoring a social media ticket giveaway contest on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Contestants are encouraged to share their most memorable dance experience using the hashtags listed below to be eligible to win a pair of free tickets to the Cain Park performance. Winners will be selected and notified on July 1. Learn more about the performances here: http://bit.ly/1UqX7kR

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Volume 9, Issue 8, Posted 3:09 PM, 06.27.2016

Paul Ferguson performs jazz and sacred music

Paul Ferguson is one of the most respected jazz musicians in all of Greater Cleveland. He is the director of jazz studies at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and the artistic director of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra. He also plays trombone, and in addition to the eight CDs he has released, he performs with many other artists around the area.

Ferguson, who lives on East Fairfax Road in Cleveland Heights, is 55 years old. He is the father of two daughters: 22-year-old Kelsey Ferguson, who plays violin, often with her father; and 18-year-old Tyler, a recent graduate from Heights High.

Ferguson was born in Sandusky, Ohio. When he was four years old, his family moved to New Jersey. After about two years, the family moved back to Ohio and took up residence in Massillon.

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Volume 9, Issue 7, Posted 5:44 PM, 07.01.2016

Music Hop expands and returns this September

Heights Music Hop returns for its fourth consecutive year this September. And this year, the Hop is expanding. It will take place over two days, Sept. 23 and 24, instead of just one, and, in addition to the Cedar Lee neighborhood where the Hop has happened the last three years, it will also expand into the Cedar Fairmount neighborhood.

"We're excited to be able to grow this festival each year,” said Dan Budin, chair of the FutureHeights Music Hop Committee. “Our goal always has been to showcase the Heights as an arts and entertainment destination, while simultaneously supporting our business districts. The addition of Cedar Fairmount this year helps us to do just that. We have an incredible partnership with Cedar Lee, and its businesses have been great venues and sponsors, so we look forward to the continued high energy of a festival in Cedar Lee and to the inclusion of Cedar Fairmount and the new experiences its businesses have to offer." 

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Volume 9, Issue 7, Posted 4:40 PM, 06.30.2016

Appletree Books event celebrates Greater Cleveland neighborhoods

Appletree Books will host a special event on Friday, July 8, featuring four writers who have contributed to a new book about Greater Cleveland—Cleveland Neighborhood Guidebook. Belt Publishing, a Cleveland company that also publishes Belt Magazine, produced the book.

The four writers who will be taking part in the event are Brad Masi, Kathrine Morris, Greggor Mattson and Maryann De Julio.

Masi, who lives in Cleveland Heights, contributed a chapter called “Chasing the Ghosts of Coventry Village,” exploring the many changes that have taken place in the Coventry neighborhood over the years. He describes Dugway Brook as a “historic stream that has disappeared underground, locked away in concrete culverts beneath the hapless footfalls of the denizens above.” He then goes on to write about Harvey Pekar and poet d.a. levy. “Many writers, poets, artists, publishers and graphic novelists find their home here, and many more were hatched here before their winged migration to other territories,” Masi writes.

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Volume 9, Issue 7, Posted 10:34 AM, 06.28.2016

Heights Arts hosts flute and guitar concert on July 9

Classical guitarist Robert Gruca and flutist Linda White will present a diverse program of music based on folk styles from Eastern Europe and Japan on Saturday, July 9, at 7 p.m., in the Heights Arts gallery, 2175 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights, just south of the Cedar Lee Theatre.

The musicians will perform works by Serbian composer Dusan Bogdanovic, Hungarian Bela Bartok, and Masamitu Takahashi from Japan, as well as klezmer music written by American Carl Dimow. The family-friendly concert is open to the public, with free-will donations accepted to support Heights Arts's public music programs. A reception with refreshments follows the performance.

The Gruca White Ensemble was formed in 2013 as part of The Music Settlement’s Centennial Celebration, and became an Ensemble in Residence for the vibrant Cleveland community music school the following year.

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Volume 9, Issue 7, Posted 10:43 AM, 06.28.2016

Abstract drawings on view at Heights Arts

An exhibition of abstract drawings by Northeast Ohio artist Erik Neff opens Friday, June 24, with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. in the spotlight gallery space at Heights Arts.

Working on a variety of surfaces such as plaster, wood, paper and slate, Neff creates a dialogue, or narrative, between the marks and shapes of an image through a "back and forth" process of scraping, gouging and applying color pigments.

Neff has exhibited in galleries and museums in Cleveland, Youngstown, New York and Chicago, including MOCA Cleveland, SPACES gallery, and Elizabeth Harris Gallery. He lives and works in Newbury, Ohio.

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Volume 9, Issue 7, Posted 12:34 PM, 06.20.2016

Children's book author and illustrator visits Pinwheel Kids on June 4

On June 4, Cleveland author Lindsay Ward returns to Pinwheel Kids, at 3469 Fairmount Blvd., with her sixth and latest book, The Importance of Being 3. As parents know, age 3 is a very big year. Ward’s book follows three friends as they learn new things in threes—from triangles to tricycles.

According to Ward, "The idea for this book came from a project I was given while I was applying to graduate school. We were given three prompts, one of which was actually the number three. Although The Importance of Being 3 is different from my original concept, I would never have created the book had it not been for that initial idea. From there the book developed into the concept of what it’s like to be a certain age, the type of milestones associated with that age, as well as the challenges. I’ve always been interested in patterns, and loved the idea of merging being 3-years-old and things that come in threes."

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Volume 9, Issue 7, Posted 12:58 PM, 05.31.2016

Dobama announces winners of kids’ playwriting festival

Dobama Theatre has announced the winners of the 38th Annual Marilyn Bianchi Kids’ Playwriting Festival. Five of the winners are from Cleveland Heights: Ruby Tugeau (for “The Circus Pilot”), Harrison Vandall (for “Attack of the Village”), Anthony Koonce (for “The Tragedy of Nisslo’s Diner”), Jon Morrow Jr. (for “The Chase”), and Maple Buescher (for “I’m Going to Steal The Queen’s Crown”).

Other winning entries came from students in Cleveland, Shaker Heights, Highland Heights, Bedford, Lakewood, Solon and North Royalton, among other cities. The winning plays will be performed at Dobama Theatre June 3–5, during a free weekend of theater for all.

Dedicated to the memory of Marilyn Bianchi, Dobama’s founder, the Kids’ Festival was created in 1979 to help Cleveland-area children discover their own voice, self-worth, and creativity through theater. Following Bianchi’s death, her family established the festival as a way of introducing young people to the joys and rewards of live theater.

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Volume 9, Issue 6, Posted 12:09 PM, 05.24.2016

'To the Orchard' premieres at Dobama

Playwrights Local 4181 announces the world premiere of Cleveland-based writer Les Hunter’s “To the Orchard.” Directed by Dale Heinen, the play ran through June 5 at Waterloo Arts in North Collinwood, and from June 10–12 at Dobama Theatre. This is the first full production for Playwrights Local, a 501(c)3 company whose recent presentations have included the 2015 Cleveland Playwrights Festival.

In “To the Orchard,” college student Rachel Bergman reveals her sexual identity to her Orthodox Jewish father, who is struggling with his own secret. In coming to terms with each other—and themselves—the pair must reconcile the conflicting pulls of tradition and individual desire. The play takes place in Brooklyn in the recent past, but incorporates dreamlike visits to turn-of-the-century England and the lost Jewish Eastern Europe. The spirits of Robert Plant and Virginia Woolf add a touch of magic realism to this intimate work about making mistakes, coming clean, and the power of history and family.

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Volume 9, Issue 6, Posted 5:46 PM, 05.31.2016

Western Reserve Chorale performs operas and operettas on June 5

The Western Reserve Chorale (WRC), a community chorus of approximately 100 singers based in Cleveland Heights, will present the final concert of its 2015–16 season. Of Operas and Operettas provides an opportunity to hear some of the dynamic literature from these genres.

Accompanied by Joanne Poderis, and joined by soprano Natasha Ospina Simmons, WRC will present music from Verdi's Il TrovatoreAida and Nabucco, Wagner's Lohengrin and Tannhauser, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Purcell's Dido and Aeneus, Bizet's Carmen and others. The ensemble also will present some lighter fare from the world of operettas, including great chorus moments composed by Bernstein, Gilbert & Sullivan and Strauss.

The concert will take place at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, at Cedar Hill Baptist Church, 12601 Cedar Road in Cleveland Heights. No tickets are necessary; the concert is open to the public with free-will donations accepted. There is ample free parking available, and the church is handicapped-accessible. There will be a reception immediately following the concert.

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Volume 9, Issue 6, Posted 5:22 PM, 05.31.2016

Canterra Musica performs on June 5

Arts in the Cathedral presents Canterra Musica at Church of the Saviour on Sunday, June 5, at 3:30 p.m. A free-will offering will be taken.

Canterra Musica is the most advanced treble choir of the Oberlin Choristers. Founded in 1991, Oberlin Choristers provides Northeast Ohio children and teenagers with an exceptional choral education. Singers in kindergarten through 12th grade are taught in five separate ensembles by master teachers who specialize in teaching healthy vocal production, music literacy and artistic expression. 

Canterra Musica, comprising auditioned singers in seventh- to 12th-grades, has traveled each year since 1995, singing in world-class venues, including the Sydney Opera House, Australia; St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Ireland; Chartres Cathedral, France; and Carnegie Hall, New York. The singers have participated in numerous festivals, honor choirs, and community events in collaboration with Oberlin College Opera Theatre, Cleveland Opera, Oberlin Summer Theatre Festival, and, most recently, as the guest choir for the world tour of Video Games Live. This summer the choir will perform in Philadelphia, Princeton, and Carnegie Hall. To find out more, visit www.ochoristers.org

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Volume 9, Issue 6, Posted 5:28 PM, 05.31.2016

Spring show features Heights artists

The work of Cleveland Heights and University Heights artists will be part of Hillcrest Art Club’s annual spring show, June 5–30.

The show will take place at the Beachwood Library, 25501 Shaker Blvd., and features an opening reception on Sunday, June 5, 2–4 p.m. Light refreshments will be served, and visitors will have a chance to meet the artists.

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Volume 9, Issue 6, Posted 5:40 PM, 05.31.2016

Heights Arts celebrates glass artists

The Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) has been instrumental in the careers of many visual artists and designers who make their careers through their work. They can be found making creative contributions throughout the country. Among them is a cadre of artists working in glass based here in Northeast Ohio, including Carrie Battista, Robert Coby, Scott Goss, Earl O. James, Brent Marshall, Shawn Messenger, Michael Mikula, Marc Petrovic, Kari Russell-Pool, Mark Sudduth and Linda Zmina.

Refraction: Glass Art through the Cleveland Institute of Art and Brent Kee Young, which opens on June 10, at Heights Arts, gathers works by these artists who studied at CIA during Brent Kee Young's tenure as professor and head of the glass department. The word "refraction" is loosely defined as "the change in direction of a propagating wave, such as light or sound, in passing from one medium to another.” In this exhibition, refraction is a metaphor for how these artists have been illuminated and influenced by their study at CIA, as seen in their ensuing creative efforts.

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Volume 9, Issue 6, Posted 4:52 PM, 05.31.2016

Larchmere PorchFest returns on June 18

Summertime is festival season, and the Heights is no stranger to presenting free live music festivals that draw people to our communities. Now in its eighth year, Larchmere PorchFest kicks off on Saturday, June 18, 1–10 p.m., including its afterparties. This free, family-friendly event boasts 30 bands on 30 porches throughout Cleveland's Larchmere neighborhood.

PorchFest, the Heights Music Hop and Brite Winter Festival have developed into a trifecta of popular local music festivals. Last year, organizers of each partnered, enhancing Cleveland’s cultural scene, while simultaneously benefiting the individual communities.   

"Sharing our resources is a great way for all of the festivals in Cleveland to grow and thrive," said Jesse Honsky, president of the board for PorchFest.

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Volume 9, Issue 6, Posted 2:11 PM, 05.31.2016

Alan Freed honored at Lake View Cemetery

More than 500 people turned out at Lake View Cemetery on May 7, to honor and celebrate the life of legendary deejay Alan Freed, the man who coined the term “rock and roll” and who produced the nation’s first rock concert, back in 1952. Freed’s ashes were interred at the cemetery.

Another legendary deejay and rock historian, Norm N. Nite, served as the emcee of the ceremony. “Alan Freed and rock and roll are synonymous,” Nite said in his opening comments. “Alan Freed changed the course of popular music.”

Freed began working at WJW-TV in Cleveland, after a couple of radio jobs in other cities. In 1951, Freed met Leo Mintz, who owned a Cleveland record store called Record Rendezvous. Mintz sold a lot of rhythm & blues records at his store and introduced Freed to the music. He also helped Freed get a job at WJW radio, where he became a popular Cleveland radio personality.

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Volume 9, Issue 6, Posted 5:13 PM, 05.31.2016

Images by CH artist keep viewers looking

“People like order, finding patterns, seeing archetypes” said Stephen Calhoun, a 61-year-old self-trained artist from Cleveland Heights.

The Grasp of Order, a show of 15 of Calhoun’s large, colorful digital works—described as “psychedelic still life”—will be on view at The Gallery at Gray’s (within Gray’s Auctioneers and Appraisers, 10717 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, 216-226-3300, www.graysauctioneers.com/gallery) until this fall. An opening reception will take place on Friday, May 6, 5–8 p.m.

Calhoun produces the images, some as large as 4 by 6 feet, using an ultraviolet curable inkjet large format printer at Vista Color Imaging in Cleveland. Unframed, the pieces are printed onto aluminum, brushed aluminum, or the underside of clear optical acrylic. 

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Volume 9, Issue 5, Posted 12:55 PM, 04.30.2016

Choral Arts Society presents Cleveland premiere

“The light shines in darkness and the darkness has not overpowered it.” So begins the choral masterwork Luminosity by contemporary British composer James Whitbourn. Choral Arts Cleveland, under the direction of Cleveland Heights resident Martin Kessler, will perform the Cleveland premiere of this celebration of light and hope. 

The concert, Light and Shadow: Bodies and Voices in Motion, will take place at Christ Episcopal Church, at 3445 Warrensville Center Road in Shaker Heights, at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 22. Rounding out the performance will be music by Alexandre Gretchaninoff, Morten Lauridsen, Gabriel Faure and Keith Hampton, all centered on the theme of light. The concert is funded in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

An innovative choral piece, “Luminosity” is a multi-media, multi-faceted experience. A salient feature of the work is the dance accompaniment that Whitbourn has made an essential and integral part of his composition. Dancers for the Choral Arts performance will be members of Cleveland’s Verb Ballets, with choreography by company member Terence Greene. Choral voices and dance movement—“bodies and voices in motion”—will be accompanied by organ; viola; tam-tam, a large gong; and tanpura, a long-necked, four-stringed instrument found in various types of Eastern Indian music.

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Volume 9, Issue 5, Posted 12:04 PM, 04.30.2016

Communion of Saints School presents 'James and the Giant Peach'

"Come with me and you will see the most amazing things," declares Ladahalord, the narrator of the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel James and the Giant Peach. With Lydia Chanenka's direction and set design, this production at St. Ann Church will entertain audience members of all ages during its two-night run, May 13 and 14.  

Students from kindergarten through eighth grade at Communion of Saints School are eager to share their talents with the audience.

Adapted for the stage by Timothy Allen McDonald, the play tells the story of James, whose parents are tragically killed in a freak zoo accident. He goes to live with his horrible aunts, Spiker and Sponge. Life is no fun until the boy accidentally drops some magic crystals near the old peach tree and strange things start to happen.

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Volume 9, Issue 5, Posted 9:38 AM, 04.30.2016

Skating club presents ice show May 7 and 8

The Pavilion Skating Club has been a part of Cleveland Heights for more than 35 years. As a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Association, the club offers practice ice, testing, competitions, shows, camps and other activities, to support both the competitive and casual skater.  

This spring, the club, along with the City of Cleveland Heights, will present its Spring Ice Show, Viva Las Vegas, May 7 and 8, at the Cleveland Heights Community Center.

The show will highlight the city's learn-to-skate program as well as some of the community's best skating, including performances by regional, sectional and national competitors. Skaters of all ages—tots, teens and adults—will perform, and the featured guest skater, Katie McBeath, a nationally ranked Senior Ladies Freestyle competitor.

The show will be approximately two hours long, with an intermission. On May 7, the show will begin at 7 p.m.; the May 8 show will start at 2 p.m.

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Volume 9, Issue 5, Posted 8:49 AM, 04.30.2016

Sober Living Cleveland raises funds by 'Raising the Roof' on May 21

Sober Living Cleveland presents Raising the Roof for Recovery on Saturday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. The event at the Dunham Tavern Barn will raise funds to provide a house in Cleveland Heights for women in recovery from substance abuse. Presented by the Heights Music Shop, proceeds will support the nonprofit's mission to empower people in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs by providing safe, affordable sober housing, support for healthy habits, and a foundation for a better life. 

Cleveland Heights resident Rick Szekelyi, co-owner of the Heights Music Shop on Lee Road, selected some of his favorite local singer/songwriters to perform:

 

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Volume 9, Issue 5, Posted 9:43 PM, 04.29.2016

Performances and poetry accompany openings at Heights Arts

Heights Arts has lined up a number of free events for arts lovers during the month of May. On Thursday, May 5, at 7 p.m., hear Cleveland-based chamber music ensemble Time Canvas present its third and final program of the 2015–16 concert season.

The program showcases 20th-century chamber music with strings, featuring Leo Brouwer’s Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet (1958). Other works on the program include Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins op. 56 (1932), and Allen Krantz’s Trio Op. 27 for violin, cello, and guitar (2003). The ensemble will be joined by special guests Aniela Eddy on violin and Sarah Poe on viola. 

Time Canvas’s musical curiosity has culminated in performances throughout Northeast Ohio, where its members reside, and in performance spaces across the East Coast of the United States and in Bangkok, Thailand. Music clips can be heard at www.timecanvasensemble.org.

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Volume 9, Issue 5, Posted 10:58 AM, 04.26.2016

CH artists mount 'April Fools' exhibition

Two Cleveland Heights artists, Catherine Butler and Julie Edberg, are part of a three-artist April Fools-themed exhibition on view at the Beachwood Library, 25501 Shaker Blvd., April 3–28. The opening reception is April 3, 2–4 p.m.

Edberg was looking for an exhibit venue and, thinking her text-covered sculptures would be perfect for a library, she asked Bill Rubin, who manages a county library. He forwarded her query on, and Margaret Reardon from the Beachwood Library replied. Edberg went to see the space and realized it could hold several peoples’ work. So she asked her friends Catherine Butler and Nancy Currier to join her.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 1:57 PM, 03.28.2016

An April shower of events at Heights Arts

Heights Arts exemplifies its “plural” aspect (not just art, but arts) in April with an especially wide range of offerings representing many flavors of creative expression.
 
The exhibition At Table: Cleveland Culinaria presents a tasty array of art objects created by teams convened to explore themes based on the art of cooking. Everything—from one-of-a kind ceramics, textiles and place settings, to food-themed sculpture, wall art, and even the tables to dine upon—was created by 27 local artists especially for this exhibition. Check out as well the poems written by local literary artists inspired by the exhibition.

Five special informal dining events were devised by these teams to showcase their themes. Visit www.heightsarts.org/events for ticket availablity for the April dates in the series: Monday, April 4, 7–9 p.m., and Sunday, April 10, 4–6 p.m.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 1:54 PM, 03.28.2016

Dobama premieres 'Marie Antoinette' in April

David Adjmi’s “Marie Antoinette” will have its regional premiere at Dobama Theatre in April. The play focuses on the extravagant, doomed queen of France, as she tries to keep her head in the middle of a revolution.

A humorous and haunting retelling of her story for the 21st century, “Marie Antoinette” first premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre and won three Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, including Best Play. The play was also produced at Soho Rep in New York City and at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 1:48 PM, 03.28.2016

First Baptist Church presents 'Evita' beginning April 8

The Happy Ending Lyric Players (HELP) will perform the musical “Evita” in the Gothic sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland, 3630 Fairmount Blvd., April 8–17.

With this production, HELP is celebrating 40 years of producing exceptional theater, including Broadway musicals, opera, drama and comedy.  The group was founded on the assumption that within the church congregation, and the surrounding communities, there was talent just waiting for an opportunity to shine on stage. All HELP activities are based at First Baptist Church.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 1:43 PM, 03.28.2016

Spring concert features bassoonist Aviva Klein

Heights High’s principal bassoonist Aviva Klein will be the featured senior soloist during the Spring Finale Concert on April 29, performing Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for Bassoon in e minor. The concert will include performances by both the Heights High Symphony and Symphonic Winds.  Earlier in the week, on April 27, the Heights High Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Concert Orchestra will present their final concert of the year.

In its concert, the Symphony will also perform The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives, Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, and "Throne Room/End Credits" from Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope by John Williams. The Heights High School Symphonic Winds will present Sang by Dana Wilson, Sea Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Sevens by Samuel Hazo.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 9:36 AM, 03.28.2016

Actor, critic, playwright is new CH poet laureate

“No matter where you go in Cleveland Heights you see people you know or want to know.” So says Christine Howey, the incoming (2016–17) poet laureate of Cleveland Heights. Extolling the virtues of the Heights, including its diversity, Howey noted that very few cities have their own poet laureate: “How cool is that!”

Howey grew up, and has lived most of her life, in Cleveland Heights. She was a director and stage actor at Dobama Theatre for many years, and is the theater critic for Scene magazine. She was named Best Critic in Ohio by the Cleveland Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Howey is also a playwright, and her one-woman play, "Exact Change," is a poetry-rich narrative which received its world premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre in 2014, and which she performed last year at Playhouse Square, at the New York Fringe Festival, in Provincetown, Mass., and other venues in Northeast Ohio.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 9:07 AM, 03.28.2016

25th Reaching Heights Spelling Bee planned for April 20

Where would one find an attorney, a professor and a violinist, in costume, on stage?  At the 25th annual Reaching Heights Adult Community Spelling Bee. This serious yet fun spelling competition celebrates public education and raises funds for Reaching Heights. Bring your friends and family to the Bee on Wednesday, April 20 at 7 p.m., at Heights High (Wiley campus). Admission is free.

The Bee brings together business owners, community groups, school administrators and staff, parents, students and neighbors. Bigger and better than ever, the 25th Bee will have audience participation like never before.

This spelling bee is a team event. Three spellers work together to write down the letters in the word given to them and then send a teammate to the microphone to read out the team’s best guess.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 8:56 AM, 03.28.2016

Cain Park plans another summer of music and shows

Cain Park will be presenting another summer of great shows, starting in June with the musical "The Toxic Avenger," which will be presented June 2–26. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Ziggy Marley, Melissa Etheridge, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will be among the artists performing in Cain Park this summer.

"The Toxic Avenger" won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical. It’s a charming love story and hilarious musical that includes an unlikely hero, his beautiful girlfriend, a corrupt New Jersey mayor, a nun, and stiletto-wearing back-up singers. Melvin Ferd the Third wants to clean up Tromaville, the most polluted town in New Jersey. Foiled by the mayor’s bullies, Melvin is dumped in a vat of radioactive toxic washer, only to re-emerge as the Toxic Avenger. His goal is to save New Jersey, end global warming and woo the blind librarian in town.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 10:43 AM, 03.15.2016

Cathie Bleck exhibition opens at Heights Arts on March 18

Cleveland Heights artist Cathie Bleck has received international recognition for her singular works in scratchboard and kaolin clay board. Her stylized, organic forms are carefully carved and scraped through multiple layers of inks and handmade pigments, revealing the white of the kaolin clay beneath.

Opening Friday, March 18, with an artist reception 6–9 p.m., a new Heights Arts spotlight exhibition reveals Bleck’s technique in various media, including scratchboard, clayboard, clay on papyrus, and limited-edition prints. The exhibition will be on view through April 30.

Bleck notes about her work, “I see and feel the most important part of being human as those moments when we have the courage to be reborn, rise up and overcome adversity. What I find myself drawn to in art is depicting these exploring moments of transformation. Not the condition before or after, but the state when something happens and we are moving through our lives. That is the point in time when we experience courage, love and transcendence.”

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 11:42 AM, 03.15.2016

CH cellist Rauschenfels to perform on March 11

Multi-instrumentalist Malina Rauschenfels will perform solo cello music on March 11, at St. Alban Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights. Composer Toby Twining will join Rauschenfels for pre-concert talk.

Rauschenfels is an Eastman- and Juilliard-trained cellist and composer currently living, teaching and performing in Cleveland Heights. She is best known to Greater Cleveland audiences as a soprano, through her work with Burning River Baroque and Quire Cleveland. In the March 11 concert, Rauschenfels will shift her focus to cello repertoire as she performs a diverse selection of solo cello music from the past three centuries. From seldom-played works by the Baroque cello virtuoso Gabrielli, to Bach, performed on a Baroque cello, her performance will progress to 20th- and 21st-century selections, including one of her own compositions (in its Ohio debut), performed on a modern cello.

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Volume 9, Issue 4, Posted 11:22 AM, 03.04.2016

Western Reserve Chorale performs Mozart and Haydn

Western Reserve Chorale (WRC) continues its 24th season with music by two of the most recognized composers of the Classical Period, Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In its ongoing spirit of serving the Greater Cleveland community audience, the chorale returns to Church of the Gesu (2470 Miramar Blvd., University Heights) as part of the Gesu Chapel Recital Series. The concert, which is free and open to the public, takes place on March 13 at 3:30 p.m.

The concert program, titled Classical MASStery, under the baton of David Gilson, includes Haydn’s Theresiemesse/Theresa Mass and Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore (K339). Soloists are: soprano Marian Vogel, alto Sandra Ross, tenor Timothy Culver and bass Brian Keith Johnson. 

Western Reserve Chorale is a nonprofit group of amateur and professional singers, many of whom are Cleveland Heights residents, dedicated to bringing high-quality performances of choral music to Greater Cleveland. Generously supported by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, WRC welcomes new singers to join the group.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 7:52 PM, 03.01.2016

St. Paul’s spring art show opens March 4

Shaping Color: Paper and Clay, the spring show at the Nicholson B. White Gallery at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., opens with an artists’ reception on Friday, March 4, 5–7 p.m., where participating artists will describe their creative processes and meet with guests. The show runs through June 5.

Featured artists are Cathy Bryan (watercolor on paper), Hilton P. Murray (paper-on-paper construction), Christine Weigand (hand-cut paper) and Andrea LeBlond (ceramics).

Bryan directs the Creative Art Therapy program at Judson’s three retirement communities. She loves to show others how to experience joy in their own creative process. Bryan’s artwork reflects her love of nature and keen sense of color. Her favorite medium and ongoing challenge is watercolor. She has taken, as well as taught, community art classes for many years.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 11:03 AM, 03.01.2016

Lake Erie Ink hosts Bananagrams fundraiser and Kids' Comic Con

Lake Erie Ink: a writing space for youth (LEI) is holding two special events this month. The fourth annual Giant Bananagrams Tournament will take place on March 12, 2–4 p.m., at Cleveland Heights High School (Wiley campus). Then, on March 19, LEI will host its fourth annual Kids’ Comic Con, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring workshops with professional writers and illustrators, including keynote speaker Marc Sumerak, an Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated comic book writer (for Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius).

LEI’s Giant Bananagrams Tournament is a fundraiser that celebrates words and teamwork. Teams of two to four players will compete against one another in front of an audience for prizes. Other entertainment includes a banana-inspired haiku contest, food, door prizes and a cakewalk. If you want to go bananas with words, visit www.lakeerieink.org for more information, and to register.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 11:05 AM, 03.01.2016

WJCU Radio offers wide-ranging and local programs

WJCU-FM, John Carroll University’s (JCU) radio station, is unlike just about any other radio station in northeast Ohio. The station plays a wide mix of music, ranging from classic rock from the 1950s and '60s to soul music, rhythm & blues, heavy metal, blues and alternative rock, as well as music from many foreign countries.

“We play all kinds of different stuff,” said Mark Krieger, the station’s general manager. Krieger, who’s 60 years old, has been at WJCU since August 2004. He began working in radio back in 1975 and has worked at numerous stations in the area. He was director of engineering at WGAR for 13 years.

In 2001, he decided to go back to school, and got his master’s degree in communication research from Cleveland State University (CSU). After receiving his degree, he started teaching at CSU. Then one day he got a call informing him that JCU was looking for a new general manager and asking if he would be interested. He decided to take the job. In addition to overseeing the radio station, he also teaches classes in electronic media, audio production and journalism.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 2:29 PM, 02.29.2016

'The Revisionist' opens at Dobama on March 4

Dobama Theatre presents the regional premiere of “The Revisionist,” a new play by actor, playwright, and The New Yorker humorist Jesse Eisenberg, which opens March 4.

The play tells the story of a young writer, David, who arrives in Poland with a crippling case of writer’s block and a desire to be left alone. His 75-year-old second cousin Maria (played by the renowned Dorothy Silver) welcomes him with a fervent need to connect with her distant American family. As their relationship develops, she reveals details about her postwar past that test their ideas of what it means to be a family.

“The Revisionist” is Dobama Theatre’s fifth mainstage production of its 2015–16 season. The play is directed by Leighann Delorenzo, an actor and director who most recently directed Dobama's production of “Slowgirl” last season. Delorenzo is the Upper School Theater Director at Laurel School in Shaker Heights.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 2:53 PM, 02.29.2016

Heights Arts celebrates food and art with At Table exhibition

At Table: Cleveland Culinaria, a collaborative exhibition combining elements of food and art, opens on March 4 at the Heights Arts gallery on Lee Road.

The exhibition features 27 visual artists, culinary experts, and local poets gathered into five teams, each working with a culinary theme. In addition to food, art installations feature tablescapes, custom furniture, ceramics, glass, metal, fiber, photography, drawings, paintings and prints.

“This exhibition speaks to the art of food and community through the materials we use to eat and drink,” explained Mary Ryan, marketing coordinator for Heights Arts. “What we use everyday can be thoughtfully designed. The food you eat is so influenced by the tools you use to eat.” 

During the exhibition's run, attendees can purchase tickets to any of five food and drink events in which they will partake of hearty small plates and craft cocktails designed by local chefs while listening to poetry by local poets in the intimate gallery setting.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 10:33 AM, 02.23.2016

A remembrance of longtime Heights resident Monique V. King

Monique V. King (née Wolf), a longtime Cleveland Heights resident, died Feb. 3 in Tucson, where she had been living for the past 25 years. She was 84.

The public is invited to attend a musical tribute to Dr. Monique V. King at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 1 in the chapel of Fairmount Presbyterian Church, 27578 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights. A free reception will follow the performance.

Presented by Halida Dinova, features works will include pieces by Bach, Rameau, Beethoven and Chopin.

Born Paris, King survived the German Occupation during World War II and came to the United States in 1948 on an American Field Service scholarship.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 12:56 PM, 02.16.2016

Heights Arts puts spotlight on work by Valdivieso Troya

Heights Arts launches a new series of spotlight exhibitions on Jan. 29, with a show featuring works by Heights artist Rafael Valdivieso Troya.

Born in Ecuador and now a Cleveland Heights resident, Valdivieso Troya creates intricate compositions using pen and ink, wash, acrylic, and collage techniques. A single work might contain hundreds of figures or faces layered into imaginary spaces that evoke a sense of teeming wildness, and intertwine themes of human joy and struggle. Works in this exhibition range from smaller pen-and-ink drawings to a large muralistic painting.

Heights Arts invites the community to an opening reception with the artist on Friday, Jan. 29, 6–9 p.m.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 10:00 AM, 01.26.2016

DATE CORRECTION: Beaumont School to host speaker series for parents starting Feb. 3

Beaumont School will kick off its Saint Angela Merici Speaker Series for Girls and Families on Wednesday, Feb. 3. This two-part speaker series, which continues on April 19, will highlight two essential questions relevant to young women today, and offer expert responses to those questions from the keynote speakers. 

On Feb. 3, Katherine Jackson—a professor and psychotherapist who focuses on innate personality traits nurtured in early childhood and how they impact adulthood—will focus on the essential question “What is my life’s purpose?”

Jackson’s half-hour talk will begin at 7 p.m., followed by small group discussion 7:45–8:30 p.m., in which parents will share tools and wisdom, and build community. Young women in grades 9–12 will meet separately with the keynote speaker.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 2:07 PM, 01.31.2016

Heights High midwinter concert features soloist Emma Zordan

Emma Zordan, concertmaster of the Heights High Symphony, will perform Antonio Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in F minor, "L'Inverno" (Winter), on Friday, Feb. 5, at 7:30 p.m., in the auditorium of Cleveland Heights High School (on the Wiley campus at 2181 Miramar Blvd. in University Heights). Zordan is one of two senior soloists selected to perform this year as part of a 70-year tradition of musical excellence at the high school. 

Zordan began taking violin lessons at the Fairmount School of Music at age 6. She studied first with Hannah Frey, then with Emily Cornelius. In middle school, Zordan became a member of the Preparatory Youth Orchestra at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) and the concertmaster of the Youth String Camarata, and participated in CIM's Chamber program. She is a three-year member of the International Youth Symphony Orchestra of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. This summer will be her second year as its concertmaster.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 6:02 PM, 01.31.2016

Deadline approaches for Kids' Playwriting Festival at Dobama

The Marilyn Bianchi Kids’ Playwriting Festival, an annual event at Dobama Theatre, is entering its 38th year of producing plays written by young people. The festival is scheduled for June, and the deadline to submit plays is March 1.

Bianchi, an actress, teacher, director and co-founder of Dobama Theatre, died of cancer in 1977. The festival was created in her name to carry out her wish to help Cleveland-area children discover their own voices and creativity through theater.

The festival’s mission is to provide a platform for children to express their thoughts, hopes, dreams and creativity through the writing of original plays.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 6:37 PM, 01.31.2016

Heights Arts highlights February events

On Thursday, Feb. 11, at Heights Arts, regional artisans Doug Meyer of Rustbelt Rebirth; Kevin Busta; and David Meyers of Rustbelt Reclamation will share insights about the challenges and inspirations of working with salvaged and repurposed industrial and residential materials.

The three create custom furnishings and innovative household objects using such materials as shopping carts, windmills, factory machinery, and wood from razed houses, and their work is currently on view in Heights Arts’s Remade in Cleveland exhibition.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 6:07 PM, 01.31.2016

Heritage Chorale in concert at Church of the Saviour

Arts in the Cathedral announces that the Heritage Chorale will appear in concert on Sunday, Feb. 21, 3 p.m., at Church of the Saviour (2537 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights). This concert, part of the church’s celebration of Black History Month, is free and open to the public. A free-will offering will be accepted to benefit the Heritage Chorale.

The Heritage Chorale was founded by the late Sylvia L. Perry in 2002. Since then, the group has followed a mission of bringing sacred music, especially Negro Spiritual and Gospel music, to audiences locally and internationally. Besides performing throughout Ohio, the group has appeared in Vienna, Rome (including at St. Peter’s Basilica), and Florence, Venice and Varese, Italy.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 6:22 PM, 01.31.2016

Dan and Nancy Maier share deep love of music

Dan and Nancy Maier have both been playing piano since they were about eight years old. Now, more than five decades later, music still is the focus of their lives.

Dan, 62, is a member of several Cleveland-area bands, including the North Coast Jazz Collective and ProgNation, a relatively new progressive-rock group that covers songs by such bands as Yes, Genesis, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Nancy, 63, is the associate artistic director of the Musical Theater Project, an organization that presents classic American musicals in Greater Cleveland. She is also a part-time music director and vocal coach at Baldwin Wallace University’s Conservatory of Music.

The Maiers, who have lived on Meadowbrook Road in Cleveland Heights since 1992, are the parents of a daughter, Hannah, a 19-year-old freshman at Baldwin Wallace.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 6:51 PM, 01.31.2016

Classical Revolution Cleveland performs Jan. 21 at Heights Arts

Heights Arts is rolling out a robust series of free music programs in 2016, including a new series of master classes for young musicians and performances of classical music (both new and traditional) in the gallery. Hear the nonprofit art organization's first community concert of 2016 in the gallery on Thursday, Jan. 21, when Classical Revolution Cleveland performs American classics by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and Philip Glass, plus excepts from the "American" quartet by Antonín Dvorák. 

Part of a growing international movement that is dedicated to bringing classical music to the people, Cleveland's own Classical Revolution project began in 2009. It is a loosely bound collective of classically trained, professional musicians, including violinists Ariel Clayton Karas and Lisa Kim, violist Julian Machala and cellist Andris Koh.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 11:16 AM, 01.19.2016

St. Alban Church presents Burning River Baroque concert on Jan. 23

Burning River Baroque will present Forces of Good and Evil: The Colorful Lives of Composers at St. Alban Episcopal Church (2555 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights) on Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is by freewill donation.

In a program that parallels the goodness found in music with the inevitable nefariousness that exists in the world, Burning River Baroque will explore music by composers whose lives were colored with drama and scandal, alongside of works by those who led more “honorable” lives. Regardless of whether their behavior is deemed questionable or virtuous today, the music of Purcell, Barrière, Merula, Forqueray and Stradella remains exquisite enough to stand the test of time.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 1:38 PM, 01.19.2016

Beaumont School students honored with Scholastic Art awards

Six Beaumont School students have garnered seven awards in the annual Cuyahoga County Scholastic Art Competition, which recognizes outstanding regional student artists in grades 7–12. Beaumont students won one gold key, two silver keys and four honorable mentions, with gold key artwork moving on to the national Scholastic Art and Writing Competition in New York City later this year.

Alexa Abounader ’16 won a gold key for her painting Blue Breeze, and also received an honorable mention for another painting. Rachel Bauman ’16 won a silver key for her painting Fat Food, as did Brooke DiPasquale '16 for her ceramic piece, Coil Pot. Claire Cary ’17, Elizabeth Poland ’16 and Annie Reagan ’16 earned honorable mentions for their work. Bauman is a resident of University Heights, and DiPasquale and Cary are residents of Cleveland Heights.

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Volume 9, Issue 2, Posted 2:08 PM, 01.19.2016

Heights Arts opens 2016 with new exhibit and master classes for young musicians

Just as our Rust Belt city is creating vibrant communities from traditional neighborhoods mixed with edgy independent businesses and updated urban design, the first Heights Arts exhibition of 2016, Remade in Cleveland, focuses on the repurposing of industrial and cast-off materials into imaginative yet functional household objects.

Opening Friday, Jan. 15, with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m., Remade in Cleveland brings together the works of Douglas Meyer (Rustbelt Rebirth), Kevin Busta, and the firm Rustbelt Reclamation—all Northeast Ohio artisans who use locally sourced wood and metal to create custom tables, seating, lighting, mirrors, wall features, and tabletop objects such as clocks, serving boards, wine caddies and even "paper" planes.

Greg Donley—head of the gallery committee that organizes Heights Arts exhibitions—noted, "Resourcefulness and creativity are common threads binding these artists together: rather than starting from a blank slate, they seek out interesting materials that have already been used for some other purpose and are now ripe for a second life.

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Volume 9, Issue 1, Posted 4:35 PM, 12.30.2015