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Archives for December 2022

DIARY: Tuesday, December 6, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

. Today: Case Historic Performance Department at the Covenant, and Apollo’s Fire does Messiah

. Composers in the news: Reena Esmail (pictured), Julian Anderson, and Tania León

. Almanac: Bright Sheng, Lead Belly, Dave Brubeck, and the history of jazz at Oberlin

HAPPENING TODAY:

Today’s Tuesday Noon Organ Plus Concert from Church of the Covenant features the Case Historic Performance Department in music by Johann Gottfried Goldberg, Jean-Féry Rebel, and Handel — a composer who stands on his own at 7 tonight when Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire present Messiah at Federated Church in Chagrin Falls. A freewill offering will be taken up at the Covenant, while tickets are available here for Apollo’s Fire.

[Read more…]

Celebrate being Home for the Holidays with The Cleveland Orchestra

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by Emmy Hensley

“Not only is it nice to be back with one of the world’s greatest orchestras, but it also happens to be family because I’ve worked with them for so long,” said conductor Brett Mitchell, who will be leading The Cleveland Orchestra in their upcoming holiday concerts. “You get the best of both worlds — the best possible artistic outcomes featuring these amazing musicians, but also friends and family.”

Holiday Concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus will run from December 8 through 18 at Severance Music Center. Program highlights include selections from The Nutcracker, pieces featuring the Chorus and soprano Mikaela Bennett, audience sing-alongs, and the world premiere of “White Christmas,” arranged by Matthew Jackfert. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, December 5, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Exploring new repertory with WRUW’s Eric Charnofsky

. Cleveland Orchestra joins Symphony Live, proposes 12-days of Christmas gift list

. Should other minds complete great unfinished musical works?

TODAYS EVENTS:

Explore off-the-beaten-track music from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm with host Eric Charnofsky on “Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music,” including Kazuo Fukushima’s Mei for solo flute, Louis Andriessen’s Facing Death transcribed for saxophone quartet, Michael Kurek’s Moon Canticle for harp, Pamela Decker’s Flores del Desierto (Tangos for Organ), Julius Röntgen’s Sonata in E for violin and piano, and a realization of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 10, a single movement piece assembled from sketches by Dr. Barry Cooper. To connect, click here, or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

QUICK LINKS:

Cleveland Orchestra joins Symphony Live and suggests a 12 Days of Christmas gift list. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend December 2-4, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway & Mike Telin

IN THIS EDITION:

. So many events both holiday-themed and otherwise! Helpfully, most will receive more than a single performance, widening your choices

. Weekend Almanac: remembering anniversaries of Vincent d’Indy & William Grant Still

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

The Cleveland Orchestra will present their final classical concerts before Holiday events swing into action. On Friday at 11:00 am and on Saturday at 8:00 pm Vasily Petrenko will lead Elgar’s Cockaigne (“In London Town”), Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Behzod Abduraimov as soloist, and Walton’s Symphony No. 1. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: Stravinsky and Britten (Nov. 25)

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by Peter Feher

The Cleveland Orchestra started settling into their holiday routine over the weekend. Blockbuster pieces are always on the schedule at Severance Music Center after Thanksgiving, and the crowd-pleasing program on Friday, November 25 was no exception.

What was different — and all the more intriguing — was the package the music came in. The highlight of the evening was the complete score for Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird, a work with plenty of familiar moments but not often performed in full.

[Read more…]

No Exit New Music Ensemble: Laura King gets to the bottom of three world premieres

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by Daniel Hathaway

No Exit New Music Ensemble has scheduled three world premieres for its December concert cycle that begins at Praxis Fiber Gallery on Thursday, December 1, and continues on Saturday the 3rd at 8 pm (SPACES) and Friday the 9th at 7:30 pm (Kent State University).

Guest pianist Shuai Wang will join the ensemble — violinist Cara Tweed, violist James Rhodes, cellist Nicholas Diodore, pianist and composer Nicholas Underhill, flutist Sean Gabriel, clarinetist Gunnar Owen Hirthe, percussionist Luke Rinderknecht, artistic director and composer Timothy Beyer, and composer, conductor, and pianist James Praznik — in a program that includes music by Henry Cowell and world premieres by Max Friedman (Butter-lider), David Glaser (Aurora II), and Frank Wiley (The Dream of Sisyphus).

Taking a novel approach to introducing the program, the ensemble sent Laura King to interview the three composers, revealing interesting insights into their individual personalities, sources of inspiration, and creative processes. [Read more…]

CIM Orchestra: Messiaen and Bruckner at Severance (Nov. 22)

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by Stephanie Manning

Change has been in the air at the Cleveland Institute of Music this year. After officially celebrating its centennial (delayed by the pandemic) in September, the CIM Orchestra returned to Severance Music Center on November 22 as part of their recent partnership with The Cleveland Orchestra. Under the direction of Carlos Kalmar — another recent addition to the school — the students gave great energy to their final concert of 2022.

Though the two composers on the program, Messiaen and Bruckner, were likely familiar to the audience, the pieces chosen were potentially less so. In the absence of written program notes, commentary was given from the stage (and with good humor) from violist Pablo Ronderos. Messiaen’s L’Ascension is “meditative, pensive, and prayer-like,” though not without the characteristic dissonances of the French composer. The early-career work, rooted in Messiaen’s Catholic faith, tells the story of Jesus’ ascent into heaven over four disparate movements.

[Read more…]

Les Délices: Rejoice! Bach Cantatas for Advent

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by Emmy Hensley

“Bach is a goldmine in terms of repertory. It’s really the golden age of the oboe and the apogee of its repertoire. But it’s so rich for everyone and anyone,” oboist Debra Nagy said about Les Délices’ upcoming program, Rejoice! Bach Cantatas for Advent.

The ensemble will perform Bach’s Schwingt freudig euch empor and Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, along with Handel’s Concerto Grosso, Op. 3 no. 4 in F on December 2 through 4 around the Cleveland area. “All of the spaces will be beautiful for this program,” Nagy said. “The one-on-a-part texture will be really gorgeous and present in these spaces.”

The productions of Rejoice perfectly coincide with the first week of Advent, which began on November 27. Nagy also hinted that these performances are special in a multitude of ways. “I’m excited about the program because Les Délices has never produced Bach Cantatas. Plus, they are rarely heard in Cleveland in general. We have a unique opportunity to present these extraordinary pieces.” Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

[Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: a conversation with Vasily Petrenko   

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  by Mike Telin

“I’ve been looking forward to this visit to Cleveland for quite a while,” an enthusiastic Vasily Petrenko said during a recent conversation. “I had a visit planned but it couldn’t happen because of COVID. So I am excited to see the Orchestra — it’s one of my favorites in the world.”

Tonight, Thursday, December 1 at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Petrenko will return to the Cleveland Orchestra podium to lead Elgar’s Cockaigne (“In London Town”), Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Behzod Abduraimov as soloist, and Walton’s Symphony No. 1. The program will be repeated on Friday at 11:00 am and on Saturday at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

Petrenko, who made his Cleveland Orchestra debut at Blossom in 2017 and returned the following summer, currently serves as music director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, chief conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra, conductor laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and associate conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León.

I caught up with him via Zoom at his home in London — he had just returned from leading  concerts in Germany with Radio Symphony Berlin and the SWR (The Southwest German Radio Orchestra). I began by reminding him that the last time we spoke he was in Wyoming at the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, December 1, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

. Tonight: contemporary chamber music, choir, and orchestra

. Cleveland Orchestra news, and in the news

. Almanac: the circumstances behind Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra

HAPPENING TODAY:

This evening presents three varied options.

At 7:00 pm, No Exit heads to Praxis Fiber Gallery in Cleveland for a program that includes world premieres by David Glaser, Frank Wiley, and Max Friedman, as well as music by Henry Cowell. And there’s a special guest: pianist Shuai Wang (pictured), who will be featured in Cowell’s Tiger. Admission is free.

At 7:30, Jay White leads Quire Cleveland in the twelfth edition of the “Carols for Quire” programs, this one titled “Angels and Shepherds.” The free program takes place at Our Lady of Peace Church in Cleveland. Read a preview article by Mike Telin here.

And at that same hour, Vasily Petrenko will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a concert that features Behzod Abduraimov in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Also on the program: Edward Elgar’s Cockaigne (In London Town) and William Walton’s Symphony No. 1. Get tickets here.

[Read more…]

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