ClevelandClassical.com Header
Ad
Ad
Ad

Archives for September 2017

The Cleveland Orchestra begins 100th Season with revival of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen

by

by Mike Telin

Opera: Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen Martina Janková, soprano (Vixen) Alan Held, bass-baritone (Forester) Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano (Fox) Raymond Aceto, bass (Harašta) Julie Boulianne, mezzo-soprano (The Dog Lapák) Dashon Burton, bass-baritone (Parson/Badger) David Cangelosi, tenor (Schoolmaster/Mosquito) Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Cleveland Orchestra Children's Chorus with The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst Photo by Roger MastroianniThe Cleveland Orchestra begins its landmark 100th season this week with a revival of Yuval Sharon’s critically acclaimed, made-for-Cleveland production of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen.

Franz Welser-Möst leads the Orchestra and a cast that will include Martina Janková (Vixen), Alan Held (Forrester), Jennifer Johnson Cano (Fox), Andrew Foster-Williams (Harašta), Daryl Freedman (Lapák the Dog), Dashon Burton (Parson/Badger), and David Cangelosi (Schoolmaster/Mosquito).

Performances will take place on Saturday, September 23 at 8:00 pm, Sunday the 24th at 3:00 pm, and Tuesday the 26th at 7:30 pm. Tickets available online. Writing for Classical Voice North America, Daniel Hathaway said that the digitally enhanced production was “beguiling in concept and brilliant in execution.” [Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at the Breen with Mark Kosower & Ken Johnston (Sep. 17)

by

by Daniel Hathaway

BluewaterBreenStageAfter BlueWater Chamber Orchestra founder Carlton Woods’ untimely death in February, the Orchestra decided to continue with his plans for 2017-2018, calling on guest conductors and its own concertmaster to lead the new season’s programs. On Sunday afternoon, September 17 at the Breen Center in Ohio City, Octavio Más-Arocas led the ensemble in “The Captivating Cello,” and the captivating cellist was Cleveland Orchestra principal Mark Kosower. [Read more…]

Ars Organi at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Heights: two recitals by Jaroslav Tůma (Sep. 15 & 16)

by

by Daniel Hathaway

Tuma-JaroslavKarel Paukert invited his longtime friend and fellow Czech organist Jaroslav Tůma to open his ambitious Ars Organi series at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights with two recitals last weekend. The purpose of the seven-event festival is to celebrate the church’s music program and its distinguished collection of keyboard instruments. On Friday evening, September 15, Tůma took each of those four instruments out for a spin, and on Saturday afternoon, September 16, demonstrated his command of the art of improvisation in an hour-long program of symphonic scope. [Read more…]

Akron Symphony Orchestra: 15 minutes with cellist Tony Rymer

by

by Jarrett Hoffman

Rymer-Tony“The purpose of art is expression, but I think it’s also about empathy,” cellist Tony Rymer said in a recent conversation. “When you’re studying a piece by a composer who died a couple hundred years ago, in the end, you’re trying to understand why they wrote it that way and what they wanted it to sound like. You have to connect with someone from a different time — you kind of become friends with dead people through the music.”

On Saturday, September 23 at 8:00 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall, Rymer will join the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Christopher Wilkins for the season opener, “Slavic Soul,” featuring Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7. Wilkins will lead a pre-concert discussion at 7:00 pm.

[Read more…]

No Exit opens season with three premieres by Ohio composers

by

by Mike Telin

no-exit-group72The inventive new music ensemble No Exit will launch their ninth concert season with a free concert on Saturday, September 23 at 8:00 pm at Heights Arts. Staying true to the ensemble’s mission, the program will feature three premieres by Ohio composers.

“We’ve always had a keen interest and deep commitment to commissioning and premiering new works by composers working and living in our area,” No Exit’s Artistic Director Timothy Beyer said during a telephone conversation. “There are so many artists in our neck of the woods who are creating interesting and worthwhile music. Cleveland — and for that matter, Ohio — has something special going on in this regard.”

The program will be repeated on September 29 at Cleveland State University’s Drinko Hall and on the 30th at SPACES Gallery. Both performances begin at 8:00 pm and are free of charge. [Read more…]

Les Délices begins ninth season with a celebration

by

by Mike Telin

LesDelices5Over the past eight years, Les Délices has presented well-researched, thought-provoking, and highly entertaining concerts that explore music and topics of the French Baroque.

During recent seasons the ensemble’s founder and artistic director, Debra Nagy, has created imaginative programs such as A Woman Scorned, which explored universal themes of desire, jealousy, shame, and revenge by giving voice to the spurned lovers of antiquity.

She introduced audiences to the famous pair of viola da gamba players of the 18th century, Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray, during The Angel and the Devil. Nagy’s programs have often highlighted social issues of the time that remain relevant today. We’ve learned that finding ways to circumvent rules has always been a popular pastime. And the ensemble also presented the only area concert in living memory that featured the hurdy-gurdy.

[Read more…]

Around the World to begin third season in downtown Kent

by

by Mike Telin

AppalAsiaThe Standing Rock Cultural Arts’ Around the World Music Series kicks off its third season later this week at the North Water Street Gallery, located at 300 North Water Street, Suite H in downtown Kent. “We’re so lucky that audiences have turned out in significant numbers during the past two seasons,” ethnomusicologist and series curator David Badagnani said during a recent conversation. “It’s nice to have a space to present these musicians who people will love, but have never had a chance to hear.” All concerts are preceded by a 7:30 pm meet-and-greet featuring light food and drinks. A donation of $10 at the door is suggested.

On Saturday, September 23, Pittsburgh-based trio, AppalAsia (above) — Mimi Jong, Jeff Berman, and Susan Powers — will explore the intersections between traditional Chinese and American Mountain music, using erhu and zhonghu (Chinese fiddles), lap dulcimer, clawhammer banjo, and voice.

[Read more…]

Paukert plans Ars Organi to celebrate music program at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts.

by

by Daniel Hathaway

PAUKERT-KarelBoth during his tenure as curator of musical arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1974-2004), and since 1979 as organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Karel Paukert has combined unerring musical taste with an uncanny ability to acquire splendid keyboard instruments. The three organs and harpsichord owned by St. Paul’s will be the subject of Ars Organi, a seven-event festival beginning on September 15 that matches the instruments with the particular interests of some of Paukert’s colleagues, friends, and students.

“I don’t want to say this is my swan song,” Paukert said in a telephone conversation,  “but I want to pay homage to St. Paul’s Church and its generous donors with this festival. They have maintained this music program all the way back to Walter Blodgett, who was kind of a legend here.”

St. Paul’s Church moved to the Heights from 40th and Euclid in 1928, but the Great Depression and World War II delayed its building plans beyond the construction of a parish hall until 1952. [Read more…]

Follow ClevelandClassical.com

Contact us