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Archives for March 2017

Neos Dance Meets Symphony in Akron: a conversation with Robert Wesner

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by Mike Telin

Neos-Dance-TheaterIf you’re looking for a different way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the Akron Symphony has the answer. On Friday, March 17 at 8:00 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall, Christopher Wilkins will lead the Orchestra in a program titled “Dance Meets Symphony.” The first half of the program will include Irish-themed works by Leroy Anderson as well as Manuel de Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat.

The second half of the evening will mark the first mainstage collaboration between the ASO and Neos Dance Theatre. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra & Chamber Chorus: Bach’s St. John Passion at Severance (Mar. 9)

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by Daniel Hathaway

TCO-Herr-unser-HerrscherUnder the direction of Franz Welser-Möst on Thursday evening, members of The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus and an excellent team of soloists made a strong case for a not-so-historically informed approach to Bach’s sacred vocal works. The quality of Welser-Möst’s interpretation and the excellence of its execution got right to the heart of the composer’s Passion According to St. John and left a powerful emotional impression. [Read more…]

Welser-Möst to conduct Bach’s
St. John Passion: an overview and report of a panel discussion

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by Daniel Hathaway

JohannespassionMSOf Johann Sebastian Bach’s two extant Passion settings, the St. John is the more dramatic, an excursion in a speedboat compared to the ocean liner-like progress of the St. Matthew.

This weekend, music director Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra and Chamber Chorus in three performances of Bach’s St. John Passion, with tenor Maximilian Schmitt as the Evangelist, bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams as Christus, and soprano Lauren Snouffer, countertenor Iestyn Davies, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as soloists.

As part of Bach’s plan to establish a “well-regulated church music” after his arrival in Leipzig in 1723, he initiated a five-year cycle of weekly cantatas, and planned an elaborate setting of the Passion according to the Gospel of John for performance on Good Friday afternoon of 1724. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: Fridays@7 with William Preucil & Brett Mitchell (March 3)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Mitchell-TCOFor his next-to-last appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra before taking up his new duties with the Colorado Symphony, associate conductor Brett Mitchell presided over a program of American music on Friday evening at Severance Hall. Two “Third” works were on the program: Aaron Copland’s stirring Third Symphony, and Augusta Read Thomas’s elusive Third Violin Concerto with concertmaster William Preucil as soloist. [Read more…]

CIM Opera: Mozart’s Così fan tutte plays out in another Naples (Mar. 2)

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by Daniel Hathaway

rm_cim_opera_cosi-fan-tutti_robert-muller_3_17-(4)Jettisoning powdered wigs in favor of Bermuda shorts and golf clubs, CIM Opera Theater director David Bamberger moved the action in Mozart’s Così fan tutte from 18th-century Naples (Italy) to 1970s Naples (Florida) last Thursday evening in Kulas Hall. That update worked nicely, although Fiordiligi and Dorabella aren’t names you’d be likely to hear on a Gulf Coast beach. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Tafelmusik in “J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation” (Feb. 28)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Tafelmusic-Circle-of-CreationToronto’s Baroque orchestra Tafelmusik brought its multidisciplinary show “J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation” to Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel on Tuesday, February 28. It’s an impressive celebration of the Thuringian master’s genius in the field of instrumental music, as devised by the orchestra’s bassist Alison Mackay. [Read more…]

Music from the Western Reserve to present KSU’s Black Squirrel Winds

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by Jeremy Reynolds

Black-Squirrel-Wind-Quintet“We all really enjoy French music,” said Black Squirrel Winds oboist Danna Sundet. “These pieces were written within a decade of each other, between 1923 and 1932, and give a snapshot into wind music in the first part of the 20th century.”

On Sunday, March 12 at 5:00 pm at Christ Church Episcopal in Hudson, Kent State University’s faculty wind quintet, the Black Squirrel Winds, will perform as part of Music From the Western Reserve’s concert series. The program will include music by Tansman, Janáček, and Poulenc.

Formed five years ago, Black Squirrel Winds regularly performs on Kent State’s main campus, the University’s satellite campuses, and at other colleges and high schools. [Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: a chat with recitalist Mark Kosower

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by Mike Telin

kosower-oh“The purpose of a cello society is to raise awareness of the instrument and what it brings to music,” Cleveland Orchestra Principal Cello Mark Kosower said during a recent conversation. “It’s also a place to share ideas about cello playing and music making. So the societies are important to cello communities, and communities at large.”

On Friday, March 10 at 7:00 pm at The Music Settlement, The Cleveland Cello Society will present Mark Kosower and pianist Jee-Won Oh in a recital that will feature works by Beethoven, Brahms, Khachaturian, Martinů, and Schubert.

Kosower said that the cello is one of the most versatile and expressive instruments around. “It’s a remarkable instrument. Few others can compare, in my humble but correct opinion,” he said, laughing. “Its range runs the entire spectrum of the human voice.” [Read more…]

Les Délices & Boston’s Blue Heron to collaborate on Machaut’s Remède de Fortune

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by Mike Telin

court-of-loveDuring his lifetime, French Medieval poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut produced manuscripts of 6 complete works containing more than 15 long narrative poems, 280 lyric poems, and 23 secular motets, as well as the earliest setting of the complete ordinary of the Mass by a single composer.

This weekend, Les Délices and Boston-based vocal ensemble Blue Heron will present one of Machaut’s narrative poems, Remède de Fortune. This musical-poetic masterpiece recounts the story of a bumbling lover who — with help from Hope and by the good grace of Fortune — ultimately gets the girl. The performances will include projected supertitles and manuscript images illustrating the story.

A free, open rehearsal at St. John’s Church in Ohio City on Wednesday, March 8 beginning at 6:30 pm will be followed by three full performances: Thursday, March 9 at 8:00 pm in Stull Recital Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory (free); Saturday, March 11 at 8:00 pm at St. John’s; and Sunday, March 12 at 4:00 pm in Herr Chapel of Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. [Read more…]

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