Daniel Hathaway, editor & publisher
Week of July 26, 2010
Each week Cleveland Classical covers the classical music scene in Northeast Ohio.
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Preview
Bill Rudman brings 'Footlight Parade' to Chautauqua in Chagrin on July 27
by Daniel Hathaway
Well-known radio host and American Musical Theater guru Bill Rudman will bring his popular WCLV-syndicated show, "Footlight Parade", to the third Chautauqua at Chagrin program in Chagrin Falls on Tuesday, July 27. His 4:00 pm appearance in the Chagrin Valley Little Theater is entitled "Everything I Know About Life I Learned from Musicals" and will be recorded for broadcast next February. We reached Bill Rudman by phone at his home in Lakewood to chat about his long connection with musical theater and the radio.Rudman was first bitten by Broadway when he was a kindergartner growing up in Willoughby. "I always tell the same story! One night my parents said I was allowed to stay up late and watch TV. The show they wanted me to watch turned out to be Mary Martin doing Peter Pan. I was blown away by it. I still remember that the next day my parents ordered the LP from Halle Brothers and pretty soon the mailman delivered the record. I was so excited opening it up! I still have that record -- it's all dog-eared and virtually unplayable now, but it started me on a lifetime of record collecting".
Bill Rudman went off to college at Hiram and soon after his graduation began working in public relations for Great Lakes Theatre Festival. He soon crossed paths with WCLV's Robert Conrad, who shared his love for the American Musical. >>read on
Preview
Cooper International Piano Competition debuts this week at Oberlin
by Daniel Hathaway
This Thursday afternoon, more than forty young pianists from seven countries will arrive in Oberlin to compete in a new and much enhanced version of the Oberlin International Piano Competition. Launched in 1995 by Oberlin Conservatory piano professor Robert Shannon, that competition for 13-18 year old pianists continued annually through 2008, when Warner Concert Hall was closed for renovations (Left: an earlier group of winners).Reborn in 2010 as the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, the contest will now alternate each year between pianists and violinists, with pianists up in 2010 and violinists in 2011. Cash prizes of more than $20,000 and Oberlin scholarships will be distributed among the winners, and the first prize winner will have the opportunity to perform with professional orchestras in Beijing and Shanghai. And in another big leap forward for its inaugural year, the Competition has made arrangements for the three finalists to play their concertos in Severance Hall with the Cleveland Orchestra under Jahja Ling.
We spoke with Robert Shannon by phone in his office at the Oberlin Conservatory to ask how this all came about. >>read on
Preview
Summer Flute Experience at University of Akron: an interview with George Pope
by Mike Telin
Musically speaking, summer is a time for festivals, such as Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, The Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, Glimmerglass Opera Festival in Cooperstown, New York, and The Blossom Music Festival in Cuyahoga Falls, to name a few. Traditionally many festivals such as these also include fellowship programs that are dedicated to the training of young performers who are chosen through a highly competitive audition process.Summer is also a time when, like birds of a feather, musicians flock together to spend a few days with others who play the same instrument. There are “camps” for trumpet players, for oboe players, and yes, even bassoon players; in fact, it is safe to assume that no matter what instrument you play, there is most likely a summer camp for you to attend. But, unlike the fellowship programs, more often then not these instrument camps bring together players of all ages and abilities in order to learn and to be inspired simply by being with other players. It’s not common to find principals of major orchestras sitting next to talented amateurs.
Beginning on Monday, July 26th and running thru Saturday, July 31, The University of Akron will hold its annual Summer Flute Experience under the direction of George Pope, professor of flute at the university. >>read on
Concert Report
An afternoon and evening at Ohio Light Opera in Wooster
by Daniel Hathaway
When it's summer in northern Ohio, it's Ohio Light Opera time, a festival of operettas and musical theater that began at Kent State University, moved to The College of Wooster in 1979, and is celebrating its thirty-second season this year with over fifty performances of seven productions spread over a seven-week period.We spent last Friday afternoon and evening, July 16, in the college's perfectly-proportioned -- and wide aisled -- Freedlander Theater, enjoying productions of Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Iolanthe' and Franz Lehár's 'Count of Luxembourg', both shows directed by OLO's artistic director, Steven Daigle.
'Iolanthe' is one of two Savoy operas on the calendar for 2010 ('Patience' opens on July 21), harking back to the all G&S repertory the company performed under its founder, James Stuart, before branching out into operetta and Broadway. The plot -- well, it's about Parliament and fairies, but don't dig too deeply. Suffice it to say that British folklore allows for a parallel world of charmed and charming creatures unrecognized by most Americans, at least until Harry Potter and the conflicting cultures of Muggles and Wizards came long. >>read on
Concert Report
Cleveland Orchestra: Peter Otto & Nicholas McGegan in Vivaldi & Handel at Blossom (July 17)
by Daniel Hathaway
Having recently proposed a ten-year moratorium on performances of Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' in favor of discovering the hundreds of pieces by the Red Priest that never get played, I need to make an important exception: Peter Otto's masterful presentation of Opus 8 at Blossom with the Cleveland Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan on Saturday evening, July 17 cast a bright new light on this charming but all-too-familiar quartet of violin concertos. He can play 'The Seasons' as often as he likes!Otto approached the work almost as if it were a concerto grosso, nicely balancing his role as a tutti player with his solo duties. Armed with the kind of formidable technique that allows him complete control over what he's doing, Otto was brilliant, mellow, gentle, dramatic or beautifully simple as Vivaldi's mercurial depictions of natural events dictated. Working in perfect partnership with McGegan, who stood and conducted from the harpsichord, Otto and the Orchestra made fine transitions, brought out lovely details and made instantaneous changes of color and tempo. Full of subtlety and nuance, this performance might have been designed for a much more intimate venue, but Otto, McGegan and the Orchestra made it work in the cavernous Blossom Pavillion. >>read on
Features
- Chautauqua-in-Chagrin: Tuesdays for the Mind and Soul
- Recording in Cleveland: the making of Joshua Smith's second Bach CD
- Credo Chamber Music begins its twelfth summer in Oberlin
- Ohio Light Opera: James Mismas returns for 'Count of Luxembourg' & Iolanthe this season
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ClevelandClassical began coverage of the Cooper International Piano Competition at the Oberlin Conservatory with the concerto rounds on Tuesday, July 27 at 2:30 and 7:30 in Warner Concert Hall. The original field of 43 young pianists, ages 13-18 has now been reduced to six. See the schedule and read reports on Tuesday's sessions here.
CMA announces 2010-2011 season
The Cleveland Musuem of Art has scheduled twenty-one performances from ten countries in its 2010-2011 VIVA and Gala Series. In addition to international guest artists including a miniseries of Latin performers, the lineup includes a new collaboration with The Cleveland Orchestra for three chamber performances of music by Italian composers (May 1, 4 and 6), the first organ recital in more than five years (by Colin Andrews, October 1) and free performances by the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (November 13) and the Oberlin Collegium Musicum (December 8).
Guest artists include Bulka (October 20), Lizt Alfonso's Dance Cuba (October 27), Mariachi Los Camperos (November 5), the State Symphony Capella of Russia (at St. Stanislaus, November 10), Facets of the Pipa with Yang Wei (December 10), Perú Negro with Eva Ayllón (January 21), Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra (February 2), Iva Bittová and the Calder Quartet (February 18), Yasmin Levy (February 23), the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble (March 11), Spiritual Unity: The Legacy and Music of Albert Ayler (March 18), 13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests with live music by Dean & Britta (March 23), Septeto Nacional de Cuba (April 8), and Los Muñequitos de Matanzas (April 27).
Finally, Massoud Saidpour will direct Samuel Beckett's 'Endgame' as the last production in the Brooks Theatre at the Cleveland Play House (Thursdays-Saturdays, May 19-June 11).
Les Délices announces season
Les Délices, Cleveland's French baroque ensemble led by Debra Nagy, will give three pairs of concerts during the 2010-2011 season on Friday evenings at the William Busta and Tregoning & Co. galleries and on Sunday afternoons at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. "Mirages & Monstrosities" (October 29 & 31) is a Hallowe'en inspired program of character pieces by Marais & Rameau. "La Guitarre Royale", featuring Lucas Harris (February 11 & 13) showcases baroque guitar and theorbomusic from the court of Louis XIV. "Myths & Allegories" presents soprano Clara Rottsolk in French cantatas by Clérambault & Rameau. Click here for more information.
Apollo's Fire announces season
Apollo's Fire will produce six sets of concerts in 2010-2011, beginning with "The Monteverdi Experience" in October, comprising five performances of the 400-year old Vespers of 1610 and "contextual events" preceding a six-concert national tour, and culminating in April with "Bach, Telemann & the Bohemian Gypsies", featuring German recorder virtuoso and guest director Matthias Maute. Here are dates for the series.
October 5-10: Monteverdi 'Vespers' (5th in Mentor, 7th in Akron, 8th & 9th in Shaker Heights, 10th in Rocky River).
November 16-19: "Fire and Folly: Myths of Love and Betrayal" (16th in Akron, 17th, 18th & 19th in Cleveland Heights, followed by the company's European Debut Tour from November 21-30).
December 14-19: Handel's 'Messiah" (14th in Akron, 15th in Willoughby Hills, 16th, 17th & 18th in Shaker Heights, 19th in Rocky River).
January 28-30: "Fabulous Flutes", a 45-minute interactive program for families (28th in Willoughby Hills, 29th in Rocky River & Cleveland Heights, 30th in Hudson and Akron).
March 3-6: "Mysteries Sacred and Profane" (3rd in Fairlawn, 4th & 5th in Cleveland Heights, 6th in Rocky River).
April 13-17: "Bach, Telemann & The Bohemian Gypsies" (13th in Chagrin Falls, 14th in Akron, 15th & 16th in Cleveland Heights, 17th in Rocky River).
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Jinjoo Cho wins gold in Buenos Aires
Korean violinist Jinjoo Cho has won first prize in the First International Buenos Aires Violin Competition. The prize was announced at the Teatro Colón on July 21 at a concert led by Shlomo Mintz. The competition included 23 violinists and, in addition to other repertory, required the performance of two tangos with bandonéon and contrabass. Cho was recently featured with the Cleveland Women's Orchestra at Severance Hall.
Cleveland Orchestra opens Severance for free Bruckner 8th concerts in August
On Wednesday & Thursday, August 11 and 12 at 8 pm, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra invites the public to two free recording sessions of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony by WVIZ/PBS in Severance Hall. Each evening will begin at 7 pm with a conversation between Welser-Möst and William Cosel, director of the Bruckner 8 DVD Project hosted by WCPN's Dee Perry, and a performance of a Charles Ives piece by organist Joela Jones. The Orchestra will perform the Bruckner Symphony at the Edinburgh and Lucerne Festivals during its European tour later that month. Free tickets to the August 11 and 12 concerts may be reserved through the Severance Hall Box Office: 216.231.1111.
Piano Institute begins on July 18 at Kent State
The Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University will hold its fifth annual Piano Institute, an 11-day program for gifted piano students in grades 7-12, from July 18 through July 27. The Institute will feature three concerts: an opening recital by Alumni on Sunday, July 18 at 3; a Faculty Chamber Recital with Choon Jin Chang, Amy Lee, Jerry Wong, Donna Lee and members of the Miami String Quartet on Wednesday, July 21 at 7:30 in conjunction with the Kent/Blossom Festival; and a Gala Concert with all Institute participants in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Hall in Cleveland on Tuesday, July 27 at 7. Institute students will participate in Master Classes in Cartwright Auditorium with Donna Lee (July 19 at 3:45 pm), Sean Schulze (July 20 at 3:45 pm) Jerry Wong (July 22 at 3:45 pm) and Joela Jones (July 24 at 10 am). All events are free except July 21 ($15, $5 students) and unless otherwise indicated, will be held in Ludwig Recital Hall at KSU.
CIM students & alums win competitions
The Linden String Quartet recently won the 6th International Hugo Kauder competition. Violinist Boson Mo, a student of Paul Kantor, was awarded Best Artist from Quebec in the Montreal International Music Competition. Clarinetist Stanislav Golovin, a student of Franklin Cohen, received the Gold Medal, first place and the Grace Woodson Memorial Award in the 2010 Houston Symphony Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition and will return to play the Copland Concerto with Hans Graf and the orchestra next season. Trio Terzetto (violinist Diana Cohen, cellist Tanya Ell and pianist Renana Gutman) took home first prize in the 25th annual Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition (Ohio) for emerging professional ensembles.
University of Akron appoints three new faculty members
Two new wind teachers and a singing teacher will join the full time faculty of the University of Akron this fall. Bassoonist Cynthia Cioffari and oboist Jack Cozen Harel will also play with Solaris, the school's faculty woodwind quartet. Bass-baritone Frank Ward, Jr. will join the voice faculty.
