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Archives for March 2024

Apollo’s Fire: “¡Hispania! A Voyage from Spain to the Americas” — a conversation with Sophia Burgos

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by Mike Telin

This week Apollo’s Fire will present “¡Hispania! A Voyage from Spain to the Americas.” Designed by Jeannette Sorrell, this new production features the music of Spanish composers Diego Ortiz, Gaspar Sanz, and Santiago de Murcia, blending virtuosity with lively dance rhythms. The ensemble of strings, plucked instruments, and percussion includes musicians from Mexico and Costa Rica, with flamenco guitarist Jeremías García and Puerto Rican soprano Sophia Burgos featured as soloists.

Performances are on Wednesday, March 20 at 7:30 pm at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Akron, Thursday the 21st at 7:30 at St. Rocco Parish, and Friday the 22nd at 7:30 and Saturday the 23rd at 8:00 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. A pre-concert conversation with guitarist Jeremías García begins one hour before each performance. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, March 18, 2024

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Nothing’s happening today in the classical music calendar, but look ahead here and plan your next two weeks.

NEWS BRIEFS:

British journalist Norman Lebrecht wrote in yesterday’s Slipped Disc that “Mark Jackobs of the Cleveland Orchestra has responded in dignified fashion to his peremptory dismissal by the turbulent Cleveland Institute of Music.” (Pictured: Jackobs & CIM viola studio.) Read the story here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

An interesting collection of milestones, first performances, &  happenings to note on the eighteenth day of March. [Read more…]

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson, Cleveland Orchestra team up for refined, unfussy evening of Mozart (Mar. 14)

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By Kevin McLaughlin, Cleveland Classical
Originally published in Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Though we missed hearing pianist Igor Levit, who withdrew due to illness, it was a pleasure, as always, to welcome Garrick Ohlsson to Severance Music Center on Thursday, March 14. With Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra musicians as partners, the pianist strode onstage to render as refined and unfussy a performance of a Mozart Piano Concerto as one might hope to hear.

The Concerto No. 27 in B-flat, K. 595 — Mozart’s last — was composed in 1788, though not performed until March of 1791. Many keyboard players like to ascribe to Mozart the same pathos that attached itself to Schubert in his final years of life, but Ohlsson knows better. Mozart’s music rarely reflects immediate personal crises, and this particular concerto wasn’t designed for that anyway. (Photo by Yevhen Gulenko)

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DIARY: Weekend, March 16-17, 2024

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

FEATURED SOLOISTS: Garrick Ohlsson in Mozart’s last piano concerto with The Cleveland Orchestra (Sat. at 8 & Sun. at 3 at Severance Music Center), violinist Laura Hamilton with CityMusic Cleveland (Sat. at 7:30 at St. Stanislaus & Sunday at 4 at St. Noel), harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and soprano Amanda Powell with BlueWater Chamber Orchestra (Sat. at 8, Church of the Covenant) & pianist Eric Charnofsky with Heights Chamber Orchestra (Sunday at 3 at the Maltz).

OPERA: Oberlin Opera Theater (pictured) stages Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, the first opera ever from 1605 (Sat. at 8 & Sun. at 2, in Hall Auditorium).

PIANO RECITALS: No Exit presents pianist Shuai Wang in PianoDada (Sat. at 7, at Heights Arts) and Donna Lee performs on the Kent Keyboard Series (Sun. at 5 in Ludwig Recital Hall).

OTHER ENSEMBLES: Choral Arts Cleveland celebrates over 400 years of choral music (Sat. at 7 at Disciples), Oberlin Jazz Ensemble (Sat. at 8 in Finney Chapel).

EXPERIMENTAL: CUSP presents Jessica Ackerley & Jeremy Bible (Sat. at 8 at Convivium 33 Gallery).

For details, visit our Concert Listings.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Alan Choo increases the reward for the return of his stolen violin and writes about “the mysterious power of music” in a Facebook post. [Read more…]

DIARY: Friday, March 15, 2024

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Shuai Wang will be featured in No Exit’s “Piano Dada” at Kent State, the Baldwin Wallace Men’s Chorus sings at St. John’s Cathedral, CityMusic Cleveland moves “Rediscovered Classics” to Lakewood Congregational, pianist Jackie Warren (pictured) celebrates the centennial of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Cleveland Jazz Orchestra at the Maltz, and Oberlin Opera Theater continues its run of Claudio Monteverdi’s 1605 L’Orfeo in Hall Auditorium.

For details, visit our Concert Listings.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Esa-Pekka Salonen announced on Thursday that he would step down as music director of the San Francisco Symphony when his contract expires next year. [Read more…]

Help Us Celebrate 15 Years!

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Now that our 15th anniversary season is in full swing, so are many great classical concerts in our area. Whether it’s orchestras, operas, chamber ensembles, or choirs, the team here at ClevelandClassical.com is continuing to work hard to bring you news, calendar listings, previews, reviews, and other coverage of the musical events you love.

To continue providing this valuable service, we’re counting on our readers for financial support. In order to reach our goal by the end of our fiscal year on June 30, we need to raise an additional $15,000 in donations from private individuals beyond our foundation support and advertising revenue.

Will you advocate for quality, non-profit arts journalism by contributing to our fundraiser? [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, March 14, 2024

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

Three multi-concert series will launch tonight.

At 7:30, pianist Garrick Ohlsson, replacing Igor Levit, joins Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, and the Orchestra fills out the program with Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, “Romantic” (repeated through Sunday afternoon).

At the same hour, Annunziata Tomaro leads CityMusic Cleveland in Max Richter’s The Four Seasons Recomposed (after A. Vivaldi) with violin soloist Laura Hamilton at Fairmount Presbyterian (repeated in different venues through Sunday afternoon.

And at 8 pm, Oberlin Opera Theater stages Claudio Monteverdi’s 1605 L’Orfeo in Hall Auditorium, directed by Stephanie Havey with an orchestra of period instruments led by Christian Capocaccia. There are four performances through Sunday afternoon.

For details, visit our Concert Listings.

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Cleveland Orchestra reports that concertmaster David Radzynski has stepped down “by mutual decision” effective March 3. Read the press release here. [Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland: Laura Hamilton plays Four Seasons Recomposed

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by Mike Telin

Without a doubt, The Four Seasons — that group of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi — is one of the most recognizable works in the classical music canon. And like many, composer Max Richter fell in love with it as a child, as he told NPR’s Audie Cornish in an interview.

“It’s beautiful, charming music with a great melody and wonderful colors. Then, later on, as I became more musically aware — literate, studied music and listened to a lot of music — I found it more difficult to love it. We hear it everywhere — when you’re on hold, you hear it in the shopping center, in advertising; it’s everywhere. For me, the record and the project are trying to reclaim the piece, to fall in love with it again.”

That project he’s referring to is his The Four Seasons Recomposed (after A. Vivaldi). On Thursday, March 14 at 7:30 pm at Fairmount Presbyterian Church, violinist Laura Hamilton (pictured) will join CityMusic Cleveland in Richter’s inventive re-imagining of Vivaldi’s masterpiece. Under the direction of guest conductor Annunziata Tomaro, the program, “Rediscovered Classics,” will also include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. The program will be repeated on Friday at 7:30 at Lakewood Congregational Church, Saturday at 7:30 at Shrine of St. Stanislaus, and Sunday at 4:00 at St. Noel Catholic Church. All performances are free.

[Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra: a conversation with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis

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by Mike Telin

“I think everybody who plays an instrument has a piece that when they heard it for the first time, they said — this is what I want to do with my life because I want to play this piece as many times as I can,” harpist Yolanda Kondonassis said during a Zoom call.

On Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 pm at Church of the Covenant, Kondonassis will perform Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra. Under the direction of Daniel Meyer, the program will also include the world premiere of Takuma Itoh’s Kohola Sings for harp and chamber orchestra, Roland’s Suite by Lully, and selections of Fauré’s Incidental Music to Pelléas et Mélisande with soprano Amanda Powell. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish.

Kondonassis recalled hearing the Ravel live for the first time at the Cleveland Institute of Music while she was still in high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy. “My teacher at Interlochen brought me to Cleveland with her on spring break. She was a student of Alice Chalifoux — who would become my mentor and teacher. I stayed with Alice and would go with her to CIM when she taught. I happened to go to somebody’s degree recital and I remember hearing the Ravel in The Pavilion, where Mixon Hall is now, and thinking it was the most phenomenal ear candy I had ever experienced.”

[Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, March 13, 2024

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: Organist Florence Mustric plays Brahms at Trinity Lutheran, and jazz ensemble Artemis (pictured) visits Oberlin Artist Recital Series

•Stolen instrument: violin belonging to Alan Choo went missing on Friday in Cleveland Heights

•Guest artist update: Garrick Ohlsson replaces Igor Levit as soloist this week with The Cleveland Orchestra

•Almanac: Hugo Wolf and Gerald Moore

HAPPENING TODAY:

12:15 pm – Wednesday Noon Organ Concert by Florence Mustric. “Last notes from Brahms.” The eleven chorale preludes that are his final homage to J.S. Bach. Beckerath organ. Trinity Lutheran Church, W. 30th & Lorain, Cleveland. Freewill offering.

7:30 pm  – Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Artemis, an all-star collective of visionary modern jazz bandleaders and composers, with pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda, and drummer Allison Miller. Program to be announced. Finney Chapel, Oberlin College, 90 N. Professor St. Tickets available online. Read a preview article here.

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