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Archives for February 2022

Cleveland Orchestra with Denève & Said (Feb. 19)

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by Daniel Hathaway

A long line at the Will Call window at Severance on Saturday evening, February 19 meant that a number of Cleveland Orchestra patrons missed hearing Guillaume Connesson’s Flammenschrift, the first item on Stéphane Denève’s program.

By way of consolation, soprano Fatma Said’s luminous singing in Maurice Ravel’s Shéhérazade made up for the delay.

Drawn to the exoticism of The Arabian Nights, in 1904 Ravel wrote both an overture and a three-movement song cycle on poems by Tristan Klingsor. We heard the song cycle, which Caroline Rae described in a Philharmonia Orchestra essay: [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

Featured today: Noonday concerts in Cleveland and Youngstown, CIM’s Music for Food Benefit, one in a string of Oberlin faculty concerts to open a new semester, and replays of ChamberFest performances. Also, links to articles about a Grammy nomination controversy, the future of international orchestra tours, and the legacy of conductor Michael Gielen. And a nod to the birthday of Handel and the passing of Elgar.

Today’s events: Lunchtime concerts feature the CIM Guitar Studio at Trinity Cathedral and voice area students at Youngstown State. This evening, CIM students and faculty present a benefit concert for the Cleveland Kosher Food Pantry, and Oberlin faculty duo pianists Haewon Song and Robert Shannon play Schubert, Stravinsky, J.S. Bach, Saint-Saëns, and Liszt as part of a flood of recitals at the beginning of the spring semester. The evening ends with a retrospective of ChamberFest Cleveland performances on WCLV’s Cleveland Ovations. Details in our Concert Listings. [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, February 22, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Events today from Church of the Covenant and Cleveland Chamber Music Society

•Job openings and a new position from Piano Cleveland, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Oberlin Conservatory

•Fairs to learn about The Music Settlement’s summer offerings, and guitarists at the Bop Stop this weekend

•Jazz- and basketball-inspired artists, with works at the Cleveland Museum of Art

•Almanac: Andy Warhol and music, including his series of Beethoven prints

[Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir hosts composer Cecilia McDowall

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by Mike Telin

During the pandemic, the anxiety caused by an unknown future and the longing to return to normal have been beautifully expressed by thousands of people around the globe who participated in the Global Vaccine Poem project. Lines from these poems served as the inspiration for British composer Cecilia McDowall’s On the Air (Dear Vaccine).

Commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Choir, the work will receive its premiere on Saturday, February 26 at 7:00 pm at Amasa Stone Chapel and on Sunday, February 27 at 5:00 pm at Waetjen Auditorium under the direction of Scott MacPherson. The program, “Cecilia and Her World,” will feature nine of McDowall’s works along with music by composers who have influenced her style.

Joining CCC will be choirs from Cleveland, Kent, and Youngstown State Universities as well as Case Western Reserve University. A pre-concert talk, “In Conversation: Cecilia McDowall with Charles Edward McGuire,” will begin 45 minutes before each performance. Both concerts are free. Click here to download the program and here for COVID-19 protocols.

The Global Vaccine Poem project is the brainchild of David Hassler, director of Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center, and Tyler Meier, executive director of the University of Arizona’s Poetry Center. So far, the project has received over 2,200 poems from people in 118 countries and every state in the U.S. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, February 21, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

Welcome to the federal holiday established in 1968 by Congress that wrapped Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays into Presidents Day.

Today’s events:

Two broadcasts (Erik Charnofsky’s Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, and Les Délices’ SalonEra Circa 1500) visit Presidents Day, Andrés Segovia, and the music world at the beginning of the 16th century. And a University of Akron percussion concert can be heard in-person or on the web. Go to our Concert Listings page for details.

Interesting Read:

The scene in Beethoven’s opera Fidelio when political prisoners are briefly let out of their dungeon into the sunlight and fresh air is one of the most moving moments in opera. New York’s Heartbeat Opera has updated the story. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, February 19 & 20, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

In this entry:

Weekend events:

Catch these final performances: Mahler & Ravel at Severance with Stéphane Denève, soprano Fatma Said and The Cleveland Orchestra, The Wedding March and Sunrise  from the Cleveland Silent Film Festival with the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Handel’s Israel in Egypt from Apollo’s Fire, Six Micro Operas over two nights from BW and Cleveland Opera Theater, the re-emergence of Arts Renaissance Tremont with the Cavani Quartet and pianist Michelle Cann featuring music by Florence Price, plus Mexico City’s Cuarteto Latinoamericano (pictured) in Youngstown, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra with trumpeter Dasara Beta, Heights Chamber Orchestra, and jazz at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby. Details in our Concert Listings.

Interesting Reads:

Critic Mark Swed considers the career of timpanist, percussionist and composer William Kraft, who died last week at the age of 98.

[Read more…]

At the movies with the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra  

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by Mike Telin

It was historical performance practice at its best this past Wednesday when the Cleveland Silent Film Festival presented a screening of the 1928 Buster Keaton classic comedy Steamboat Bill, Jr. at Oberlin’s historic Apollo Theater. Accompanied by the brilliant Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, the evening captured the allure of the “Golden Age” of film.

During his brief opening remarks, Mont Alto director and pianist Rodney Sauer explained that the music that would be heard was from one of the group’s “compiled scores” assembled from a library of “photoplay” music — pre-written works that depict certain scenes. He added that much of the music had been written by Cleveland native and film music pioneer John Stepan Zamecnik. [Read more…]

The live return of Les Délices:
“Of Gods and Heroes”
and a sense of the meta

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by Jarrett Hoffman

The next concert from Les Délices is indeed about gods and heroes, built around 14th-century songs referencing characters such as Jason and Medea, Ulysses and Circe, and Tristan and Isolde.

But if you’re familiar with artistic director Debra Nagy, who makes a habit of crafting programs both musically and intellectually stimulating, you won’t be surprised that there’s more to these selections than just mythology.

The central idea behind the program — to be presented live February 25-27 in Shaker Heights and Akron — is something more meta. “The funny thing about these 14th-century translations is that they’re not so much about the characters, but about seeing yourself in them, or contrasting your experience with theirs,” Nagy said during a recent Zoom call. “There’s a sense of timeless relatability.”

That timelessness ties into another aspect of the program: the integration of contemporary poetry, including a new poem by former Ohio Poet Laureate Dave Lucas on commission from the ensemble. “A lot of his work draws on or is inspired by myth and storytelling,” Nagy said.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Friday, February 18, 2022

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by Mike Telin

In This Edition:

•Today’s events: There are four orchestra concerts, three new Micro Operas and a classic silent film to choose from.

•Interesting Read: Celebrated composer and Oberlin Alum Nkeiru Okoye talks to Ms.

•In the news: Concert Artist Guild announces semi-finalists and the Meg Quigley Bassoon Competition announces 2023 repertoire. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, February 17, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today’s events: Apollo’s Fire, Oberlin Winter Term Opera, and The Cleveland Orchestra

•Calendar additions and revisions: BW and Steinway, Sacred Heart Concert Series, Opus 216, and Urban Troubadour

•Opportunities for students: Sphinx Performance Academy at CIM and Double Reed Day at Cleveland State

•Byrdle: a choral-music-themed variation on Wordle

•Almanac: the failed premiere of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

[Read more…]

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