by Timothy Robson
It came as no surprise that the March 1 Severance Hall concert by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Youth Chorus was an excellent affair. Leading fine performances of music mostly off the beaten track, conductor Vinay Parameswaran helped prove that gloomy predictions of classical music performance fading into oblivion are misplaced. The audience was large and enthusiastic — I suspect with many rightfully proud family members.
by Peter Feher
Quire Cleveland doesn’t box itself into one time period. True, the early music vocal ensemble sang a program of exclusively 16th-century music on February 28 at Cleveland’s St. John Cantius Church (the first of two performances). But the music’s inspiration was older, even while the performers’ sensibility was thoroughly new.
by Nicholas Stevens
Imagine a concert that highlights underperformed music from an underexamined region and an underrated historical era. Not only does the program chart logical thematic paths through that repertoire, but it also changes up group configurations often enough to keep the audience attentive.
by Mike Telin
When Antonín Dvořák arrived in New York City in 1892 to become director of the National Conservatory of Music, one of his primary objectives was to discover the music of African Americans and Native Americans in hope that through the musical styles of these cultures, America would find its own musical identity. Fortunately for Dvořák, this task was realized by the guidance and friendship of his young African American assistant from Erie, Pennsylvania, Henry T. Burleigh.
From Wednesday, March 11 through Saturday, March 14, CityMusic Cleveland will pay homage to this convergence of the two men’s musical lives with performances of Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. Under the direction of music director Amit Peled, the program also includes the world premiere of Home by jazz bassist and composer John Clayton. The new work is a musical commentary on the current social-political struggles that African Americans are facing.
Clayton will be joined in performance by jazz trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, gospel singer Detrich Burgess, spoken word artist Orlando Watson, and The Spirit of the Groove ensemble. The concerts are free. See our Concert Listings for times and locations. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
The musicians of No Exit have a hand in two concerts this month. First up, on Sunday, March 15 at 3:00 pm, the new music ensemble will perform on the Chagrin Arts series at Federated Church, bringing along works they commissioned from Christopher Stark, Buck McDaniel, and Ladislav Kubík, as well as music by Leo Ornstein, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Giacinto Scelsi. [Note from the editors: the March 15 concert has now been postponed, with a new date to be announced.]
Then on Friday, March 20 at 7:00 pm, No Exit will take a turn on the presenting side of the equation, hosting Boston-based Transient Canvas (bass clarinetist Amy Advocat and marimbist Matt Sharrock) at Appletree Books in Cleveland Heights, in a program of music that was all written for the duo.
The centerpiece is Marti Epstein’s 2012 Origami, which repeats and juxtaposes four musical gestures in different ways, “almost as if they fold in on themselves,” as Transient Canvas writes on their website. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
Guitarist Berta Rojas has made the music of Agustín Barrios Mangoré a focal point of her career, from her 2008 album Intimate Barrios to her four-year tour “In the Footsteps of Mangoré” with clarinetist and saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera.
Rojas will make her Cleveland debut on Saturday, March 14 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church in a concert presented by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society. Her program highlights Barrios, a fellow Paraguayan who lived from 1885 to 1944.
The first half travels from Spain (Federico Moreno Torroba’s Sonatina) to Brazil (Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Prelude No. 4 and Étude No. 4) and England (Lennox Berkeley’s Sonatina, Op. 52, No. 1). And the second half is all Barrios, including two of his Op. 8 Waltzes, the Estudio de Concierto, Las Abejas, Un Sueño en la Floresta, La Catedral, and an arrangement of his Danza Paraguaya in which Rojas will be joined by students of the Guitar Society.
Rojas’ first encounter with the works of that composer came when she was a young guitarist. “I heard the music of Barrios and I fell in love with it,” she said during a recent telephone conversation. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Any chamber music society in the United States seeking to spice up its roster of artists should waste no time in booking the Carion Wind Quintet. Based in Denmark and staffed by two Danes, two Latvians, and a Hungarian, this group stands out for playing its repertoire from memory, physically choreographing its movements, and lacing its programs with irresistibly dry Nordic humor. On Saturday, February 21 at Lakewood’s Latvian Church Hall, the ensemble gave refreshing performances of music by Ligeti, Mozart, Ibert, Shostakovich and Liszt during a stop on its first American tour. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Michael Tilson Thomas succeeded Herbert Blomstedt as music director of the San Francisco Symphony in 1995. In a nice coincidence, Blomstedt turned the tables last month, following Tilson Thomas on the Severance Hall podium during adjacent weeks in February. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
fp Creative is making a slow revolution in how concerts happen. By handing over the reins of each event to guest producers/curators, the organization is empowering musicians to experiment with any facet of how music is presented in their post-industrial venue Snap House Studios. On Thursday, February 20, soprano Melanie Emig was in control for an event titled “Samples,” a fascinating shuffle of vocal music ranging from Hildegard’s elaborate Medieval chant to current alt hip-hop. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Update from Oberlin Conservatory: While there are no suspected cases of COVID-19 on our campus or in our community, we have chosen to limit public gatherings for performances during the coming days to ensure the health and wellness of our community. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, Hall Auditorium will be closed to patrons for the Oberlin Opera Theater production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte.
The opera will still be performed, however, and we are currently working on the necessary technology to make the Saturday, March 14 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. performances available via live stream. We will publicize the link to the live stream as soon as it becomes available.
Here’s a plot worthy of an opera: in a single day the philosopher Don Alfonso will prove to the young officers Guglielmo and Ferrando that like all women, their fiancées Fiordiligi and Dorabella are incapable of remaining faithful. And there’s the maid Dispena who, for a price, is more than happy to help move things along. Thus the stage is set for Così fan tutte.
This week Oberlin Opera Theater will present Mozart’s comic opera — subtitled The School for Lovers — directed by Jonathon Field with Christopher Larkin conducting the Oberlin Orchestra. Performances take place in Hall Auditorium on Wednesday, March 11, Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14 at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, March 15 at 2:00 pm. (The performances are closed to the public — see notice above.) [Read more…]