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Archives for May 2019

Trinity Brownbag Concert with harpist Parker Ramsay (Apr. 24)

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by Nicholas Stevens

Among all the chronically underrepresented instruments and voice types in the classical tradition, the harp suffers from some of the most persistent pigeonholing. Stereotyped as a shorthand for the dreamy, magical, and aquatic, its repertoire spans more time and covers more aesthetic ground than such associations may imply. In a recent concert on Trinity Cathedral’s Brownbag Concert Series, harpist Parker Ramsay presented a packed hall with sounds both expected and surprising. [Read more…]

Trinity Cathedral: Howells & Rutter on Good Friday (Apr. 19)

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by Nicholas Stevens

How can a faith mourn its greatest loss while still gesturing toward the resurrection that follows — and set it all to music? Last year, Trinity Cathedral’s choristers and instrumentalists presented Arvo Pärt’s Passio on their annual Good Friday concert. A vast, austere retelling of Christ’s Passion, the work exerts an almost grueling gravity. This year, however, Trinity artistic director and organist Todd Wilson presented not a monument, but a colorful mosaic of grief, farewell, and hope in the form of two English Requiem settings. [Read more…]

Cleveland Museum of Art to present world premiere of Ergün’s Formare

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by Mike Telin

Since its inception in 2008, the Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion program has brought more than 80 international artists to Cleveland for residencies. For the program’s latest edition, the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is partnering with the Foundation in the commissioning of six new works by composers from across the globe under the auspices of the Museum’s Performing Arts Series.

On Wednesday, May 8 at 7:30 pm in the Museum’s Ames Family Atrium, composer Cenk Ergün will present Formare, the second premiere of the series. The work is scored for female choir, children’s choir, harpsichords, and trombones. The hour-long concert is free.

Responding to questions by email, Ergün said that the work’s title, Formare, means “to form” in Latin, and refers both to the formation of sound, and to the positioning of the performers within the space. Ergün will use both the ground level and second-floor allées of the atrium.

“The four trombones are divided into pairs and placed on the west and east allées,” Ergün said. “Four of the twelve singers are spread across the north allée, and the other eight, along with three harpsichords and a children’s choir, are positioned evenly across the ground floor. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: a conversation with Katia Labèque

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by Mike Telin

When the duo piano team of sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque return to Severance Hall this week, they will be bringing with them a rarity of the two-piano literature. “The Bruch is really the only Romantic concerto we have in our repertoire,” Katia Labèque said during an interview. “The Romantic composers didn’t write a lot for two pianos, so we are very happy to have this one. It is a wonderful piece and we look forward to bringing it to Cleveland.”

On Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 pm, guest conductor Semyon Bychkov will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a concert that includes Bruch’s Concerto for Two Pianos, Detlev Glanert’s Distant Land: Music with Brahms, and Smetana’s Three Selections from Má Vlast: “Vyšehrad,” “The Moldau,” and “Sárka.”  The program will be repeated on Friday at 11:00 am (without the Glanert) and Saturday at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

Interestingly enough, Bruch composed the concerto for the American duo-pianist sisters Rose and Ottilie Sutr in 1912. However, without the composer’s permission, the sisters rewrote the concerto to accommodate their technical abilities. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: a conversation with Vinay Parameswaran

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by Jarrett Hoffman

My first opportunity to talk to Vinay Parameswaran came in the form of a phone call last week, but I already had an impression of what his players in the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra think of him. In November, violinist Célina Béthoux told me how she had gifted him an origami conductor.

“Last season, some of the seniors gave me thank-you notes, which was also really nice,” Parameswaran told me. “But origami was a new one for me.”

Of course, there are other, more official signs that his tenure has been well received. In February, halfway through his second year, The Cleveland Orchestra extended his contract as Assistant Conductor and COYO Music Director through 2020-2021.

Heading into his latest performance with the younger orchestra on Friday, May 10 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall — with music by Bartók, Bruch, and Shostakovich — Parameswaran said he continues to enjoy what he does. “One of the best parts of my job is working with COYO every weekend.” [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Spring Quartet at Finney (Apr. 17)

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by Nia Burger
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

The Spring Quartet — bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, saxophonist Joe Lovano, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and pianist Leo Genovese — was warmly welcomed to the Finney stage by a sold-out audience on April 17. The show, part of the Artist Recital Series and the 30th anniversary of Oberlin’s Jazz Studies program, started with a fitting tune titled Spring Day written and led by Lovano. Each player was individually brilliant in personal style, and yet they also melded seamlessly into a powerfully dynamic quartet. [Read more…]

Violinist Vadim Gluzman returns to Severance Hall

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by Mike Telin

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto has been part of The Cleveland Orchestra’s repertoire since its founding in 1918. Mishel Piastro soloed in the first Cleveland Orchestra performance of the work on February 13, 1921 under the direction of Nikolai Sokoloff at the Hippodrome in New York City. Mischa Elman gave the first performance at a Subscription Concert on October 23, 1924 at Masonic Auditorium under Sokoloff — who also conducted the first Severance Hall performance on October 20, 1932 with Jascha Heifetz as soloist. Artur Rodzinski first conducted the work on March 29, 1934 with Nathan Milstein as soloist, and Erich Leinsdorf first led the concerto on January 6, 1944 with Efrem Zimbalist.

What did these soloists have in common? They were all students of the great violin pedagogue Leopold Auer, to whom Tchaikovsky originally dedicated the concerto.

Vadim Gluzman will continue the Auer legacy when he performs the work on Thursday, May 2 at 7:30 pm in Severance Hall on the legendary Auer Stradivarius from 1690, the instrument for which Tchaikovsky wrote his famous concerto. The concert, under the direction of Michail Jurowski, also includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 (“The Year 1905”). The program will be repeated on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra with Denève & Thibaudet (Apr. 27)

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by Daniel Hathaway

If their recent three-week Asian tour left The Cleveland Orchestra with any residual fatigue or jet lag, the musicians ignored all that in last weekend’s concerts with French guest conductor Stéphane Denève. Building on the theme of ecstasy, he set a demanding program of works by Jennifer Higdon, James MacMillan, Debussy, and Scriabin in front of the players, and they rose to the occasion brilliantly. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: end of season concerts by the Takács Quartet & hornist William Caballero (Apr. 9 & 30)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The 69th season of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society culminated in performances that saw both a reunion with old friends and the introduction of new ones. Concerts by the Takács Quartet and by hornist William Caballero — joined by his Pittsburgh Symphony colleagues Rodrigo Ojeda and Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida — brought expert performances of both familiar and unusual repertoire to Plymouth and Forest Hills Presbyterian churches. [Read more…]

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