by Robert Rollin
The Youngstown Symphony, conducted by Randall Craig Fleischer, presented an interesting salute to the Mahoning Valley’s Italian pioneers in its second mainstage classical program of the season on Saturday, November 5. YSU Emeritus History Professor George Beelen introduced the concert and gave a brief synopsis of early Italian immigrants’ contributions to the region. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The St. Lawrence String Quartet, the resident ensemble at Stanford University, will be featured on the next Oberlin Artist Recital Series concert in Finney Chapel on November 11 at 8:00. Since the quartet’s last scheduled appearance in Oberlin in 2015 — cancelled due to an injury — the ensemble has welcomed a new second violinist, Owen Dalby.
Dalby will join violinist Geoff Nuttall, violist Lesley Robertson, and cellist Christopher Costanza on Friday evening in Joseph Haydn’s Quartet in f, Op. 20, No. 5, John Adams’s Second String Quartet, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Quartet in a, Op. 132.
Originally formed in Canada, the St. Lawrence has been in residence at Stanford since 1999. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Stories of two women will take center stage this week when the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theatre, David Bamberger, director, presents the double bill of Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amelia al ballo. The first recounts the tragic tale of a young girl who is sent to the convent for disgracing her family after giving birth to an illegitimate son. The second finds a wealthy socialite who will stop at nothing in order to attend the ball.
Harry Davidson will conduct the student cast and the CIM Orchestra in performances beginning on Wednesday, November 9 at 7:30 pm in Kulas Hall. The production continues through Saturday with 7:30 pm curtains on November 10, 11, and 12. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Youngstown’s Stambaugh Auditorium will successively become a cigarette factory, a tavern, and a bull-ring on Friday evening, November 11 at 7:30 pm, when Opera Western Reserve stages this year’s production: Georges Bizet’s Carmen. “We’re very happy that Stambaugh is our home,” production director David Vosburgh said in a recent telephone conversation. “It’s a beautiful facility — I refer to it as that Parthenon on the Hill — and it has world-class acoustics.”
One of the founders of Opera Western Reserve thirteen years ago, Vosburgh has a long list of credits as a singer, director and designer for opera companies and Broadway shows. This season, he will be designing his second production of Carmen for the Youngstown company. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
You can argue whether Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig made the best James Bond, but one thing is certain: Ian Fleming’s character is super cool.
Fans of 007 anticipate the release of each new film to see what forces of evil the British Intelligence Officer will thwart, but their iconic theme songs are a big part of what makes Bond films so special.
On Saturday, November 12 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Carl Topilow, will present “The Name is Bond…James Bond!” The evening’s special guest will be singer, actor, and comedian Rachel York. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“The sense of discovery is exciting for me,” Baroque violinist Julie Andrijeski said over coffee at her Ohio City home. “I’m so thankful to have received a Creative Workforce Fellowship because it has allowed me to discover many things both artistically and personally.”
On Saturday, November 12 at 7:00 pm at Tregoning & Company Gallery, Julie Andrijeski will give the opening concert of her Wonder Chamber Project, presented as part of her Fellowship.
Andrijeski, who will be joined by harpsichordist Joseph Gascho, gambist Jaap ter Linden, and theorbist Simon Martyn-Ellis, will perform recently discovered music by Austrian composer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. [Read more…]
by Carlyn Kessler
“I like to believe that music speaks for itself. People can derive their own meaning from the sounds they hear,” classical guitarist Jorge Caballero said during a recent phone interview. “It’s like writers who find that it’s best not to say anything about their own work — they prefer readers to form their own opinions. I feel the same way about performance.”
On Saturday, November 12 at 7:30, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society will present Jorge Caballero in his Cleveland debut. The recital is part of the Society’s International Series at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights.
Born in in Lima, Peru, Caballero is the youngest person and only guitarist to have won the Naumburg International Competition. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The first of two free Sunday afternoon recitals on the McMyler Organ in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art will feature French organist Jean-Baptiste Monnot on November 13 at 2:00 pm. Monnot, who will be making his Cleveland debut this week, is organist of the famous Cavaille-Cöll instrument in the Church of St. Ouen in Rouen.
Monnot will play a program titled “Russian Fireworks,” entirely devoted to transcriptions, including Jean Gillou’s adaptations for the organ of Sergei Prokofiev’s Toccata, Op. 11, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Scherzo from Symphony No. 6, and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as well as Monnot’s own reworkings of Alexander Scriabin’s Etude No. 1, Op. 2 and Prélude No. 2, Op. 11. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Whether you’re a member of a “Big Five” orchestra or not, the prospect of performing a newly-composed work is always exciting. On Friday, November 18 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) under the direction of Brett Mitchell will have that opportunity when they present the world premiere of Roger Briggs’ Fountain of Youth, commissioned by COYO. The program will also include Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”).
For composer Roger Briggs, the COYO commission was immediately attractive to him for two reasons: first, it provided him with the opportunity to write a new work that would be conducted by a former student. “Brett Mitchell studied composition and conducting with me at Western Washington University. He was a marvelous talent,” Briggs said during a telephone conversation. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Jonathon Field’s Oberlin Opera Theater shows are always fresh and surprising, but his versions of Donizetti’s Viva la Mamma and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias burst onstage Wednesday evening in a laughfest of satire and surrealism. With casts that would put many professional companies to shame, these are must-see productions that will prick up your ears and kick-start your imagination. [Read more…]