So, your concert in Symphony Hall in Chicago gets canceled by a blizzard and you’re stranded in Ann Arbor, Michigan, without a gig. What’s a Cleveland Orchestra member to do?
Zachary Lewis, the Plain Dealer’s Cleveland Orchestra critic, reports in today’s paper about Wednesday evening’s cultural offering by several of the orchestra’s members. Joshua Smith, William Preucil, Frank Rosenwein, and others showed up at Silvio’s pizza and gave an impromptu concert as part of Ann Arbor’s ongoing “Classical Revolution” series (a branch of which takes place in Cleveland). Some of the performers used borrowed instruments, because their own were already on the way to New York for the orchestra’s Carnegie Hall concerts later this week. Franz Welser-Möst showed up to listen, and—most unusually—French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who is touring as soloist with the orchestra, arrived and played a Brahms work on what Mr. Lewis charitably describes as a “modest upright.” Yee-haw!
The more music the better! Yay to these hardworking musicians for bringing Cleveland’s best to Ann Arbor on a snowy night.