by Rory O’Donoghue
When Thierry Fischer stepped onto Blossom Music Center’s stage on July 21, he began conducting so quickly, it was almost like the music started before he got to the podium. The concerts that weekend marked the Cleveland Orchestra debut of the Swiss conductor, who was announced only days before as a last-minute substitute for an unwell Pablo Heras-Casado. He led the Orchestra adeptly through a program of popular pieces. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
After a grueling three rounds at Oberlin’s Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, on Friday evening, July 26 at Severance Hall, 18-year-old violinist Eric Charles Chen from Princeton, New Jersey was awarded the grand prize of $20,000. Earning second place and $10,000 was 14-year-old Shihan Wang of Beijing, China, while Sixteen-year-old Isabella Brown of Gurnee, Illinois, earned third place and $5,000.
Commenting in a press release on Chen’s performance of Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 in g with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Gemma New, Director and Jury Chair Gregory Fulkerson said, “What you heard from Eric was profound instrumental control and rhythmic understanding of the piece.” Fulkerson particularly praised Chen for his delivery of a duet with the Orchestra’s bass section late in the piece. “It was a true moment of greatness.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
On Friday, August 2 as part of the Summers@Severance Series, guest conductor Matthew Halls will lead The Cleveland Orchestra, soloists, and the Blossom Festival Chorus in Mozart’s “Great” Mass in c-minor.
In the United States, where the subscription concert format is the norm, single performances of major works are rare. But in a telephone conversation from Toronto, where he lives with his family for part of each season (his wife plays in the Toronto Symphony), Halls said he rather likes one-off events.
“The subscription series is lovely, especially if you’re a young conductor who’s learning a piece for the first time. It gives you the possibility to solidify your ideas over three or four nights. But there’s also a special energy in a one-off, the most common format in Europe, because it means that you only have one chance. All of the intensity of a week-long rehearsal period is focused on that single moment, and there’s no sense that you can always get it right tomorrow night.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Replacing Bramwell Tovey, New Zealand-born guest conductor Gemma New led a brilliant side-by-side performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations by The Cleveland Orchestra and Blossom Festival Chamber Orchestra to close out the evening’s double header at Blossom on Saturday, July 27. Before that, French cellist Gautier Capuçon was mesmerizing in Saint-Saëns’ First Concerto, New brought drama and sweep to Sibelius’ Finlandia, and for a prelude, Vinay Parameswaran led the Chamber Orchestra in a charming mix of Mendelssohn and Ravel. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
By virtue of their performances in the semi-final, concerto, and recital rounds, three young violinists earned the privilege of standing in front of The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall on Friday evening, July 25 for the final round of the 2019 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition. Concertos by Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, and Dvořák were on the agenda, and prizes of $20k, $10k, and $5k were waiting in the wings. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
No Exit’s summer offerings took a surprising, yet delightful turn on Friday, July 19 — to classic video game music. Rob Kovacs is from the generation of musicians who grew up playing video games on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the late 80s. Last year, he began an ambitious project dedicated to arranging this music for solo piano. 88bit, Kovacs’s alter ego, now has about an hour’s worth of music from eight games in his memorized repertoire. He played with passion and panache on his electronic keyboard at the intermission-less concert in the cozy atmosphere of Appletree Books in Cleveland Heights. [Read more…]
by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com
It’s not often that one encounters a musical theater piece with book, lyrics and score all written by the same person. The Welsh genius Ivor Novello (nom de plume for David Ivor Davies) is one example of such a super-talented creator. Just the concept of such a thing is almost overwhelming, until you see his Perchance to Dream brought to life as the final production of Ohio Light Opera’s 2019 season. It sparkles and glitters and will not easily be banished from your memory bank. Yet another oddity about this production: the story line is very close to a time-travel romance. However, Londoners do know good theater when they see it. This one ran for 1,020 performances, roughly 2½ years after opening on April 21, 1945. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio (pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo, and cellist Sharon Robinson) will present the last of five faculty concerts in the Kent Blossom Music Festival Series on Wednesday, July 31 at 7:30 pm in Ludwig Recital Hall on the Kent State campus. Named the Kulas Visiting Artists for this year’s Festival, the Trio will perform music by Previn, Ravel, and Mendelssohn. Tickets are available online.
The KLR Trio enjoyed a distinguished debut as an ensemble more than four decades ago, having been invited to perform at the White House in 1977 as part of the inauguration festivities for President Jimmy Carter. (Joseph Kalichstein reminisced about that event in an interview for this publication in October of 2012).
I reached Sharon Robinson and Jaime Laredo by telephone at their home in Cleveland, where they both teach at the Cleveland Institute of Music, to chat about their Kent program. I began by asking them about André Previn’s Piano Trio No. 2, which the ensemble commissioned and debuted during their 2012-2013 season, and which they’ve brought back recently. [Read more…]
by Rory O’Donoghue
“It’s always inspirational to hear vocalists, because that’s really how music is supposed to sound,” Cleveland Orchestra cellist Brian Thornton said as he got settled on stage at Orange Village Hall on July 18. He performed as part of M. U. S. i. C.’s (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics) 23rd Classical Cabaret, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which featured a lovely lineup of vocal and instrumental music by both professional and emerging musicians. [Read more…]
Eric Charles Chen, 18, from Princeton, NJ, took first prize in the 2019 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Violin Competition with Prokofiev’s Third Concerto on Friday evening, July 26 at Severance Hall. His performance with Gemma New and The Cleveland Orchestra sent him home with a cash prize of $20,000.
Shihan Wang, 14, from Beijing, China claimed the second-place award of $10,000 with the Mendelssohn Concerto, and Isabella Brown, 16, from Gurnee, IL, who played the Dvořák Concerto, was awarded third prize of $5,000.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni: L-R, Wang, Brown & Chen.