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Archives for July 2025

ChamberFest Cleveland: “Inventions of Memory” (June 27)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

ChamberFest Cleveland’s June 27 program, “Inventions of Memory,” offered three distinct meditations on musical remembrance. Presented in the tranquil setting of Harkness Chapel at Case Western Reserve University, eight of the festival’s standout artists illuminated works by Claude Debussy, Brett Dean, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The program opened with Debussy’s Trois Chansons de Bilitis, a cycle of idealized and slightly prurient visions of antiquity. Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and pianist Roman Rabinovich offered a reading attuned to the music’s erotic undertow and bathed in Lydian and whole-tone harmonies.

In La Flûte de Pan, Rabinovich’s shimmering textures evoked the strumming of a lyre as Barron spun out the tale of a young girl’s intimate flute lesson. Her voice, pliant and sumptuous, moved easily between innocence and seduction.
[Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: “Starry Night” (June 21)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

On June 21, ChamberFest Cleveland presented “Starry Night” at Federated Church in Chagrin Falls. The program’s nocturnal theme included works by ChamberFest composer-in- residence Errollyn Wallen, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Arnold Schoenberg.

The performance of Wallen’s Dervish for cello and piano was spellbinding. Like a trained actor, cellist Oliver Herbert took on a distinct persona: intensely expressive, earthy, and rapturous. Pianist Roman Rabinovich was not merely a counterpart, but a force that Herbert seemed at times either to resist or to be swept up by. Together, the duo sustained an inward intensity that made Wallen’s music feel at once intimate, expansive, and hypnotic.

[Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: George & Ira Gershwin’s Tip-Toes (June 26)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

On a sunny Thursday afternoon in Wooster on June 26, Ohio Light Opera’s revival of the Gershwin brothers’ Tip-Toes (1925) made its premiere during a carefree two hours at the College of Wooster’s Freedlander Theatre.

Director Jacob Allen embraced the show’s silliness — mistaken identities, romantic mix-ups, and a heroine with amnesia — while keeping the action kinetic and the comedy light on its feetThe production succeeds due to excellent staging and choreography, but also thanks to sharp acting, nimble dancing, heartfelt singing, and general razzle-dazzle. Proof that even the more neglected musicals of the Jazz Age can still charm a modern audience. [Read more…]

ENCORE celebrates its first decade with “The Golden Waltz” (June 17)

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by Stephanie Manning

Ten years have gone by in a blink for the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute. So it’s only fitting that its official anniversary concert began with a healthy dose of nostalgia.

Artistic director Jinjoo Cho introduced the June 17 performance at the Maltz Performing Arts Center with a slideshow documenting  the evolution of the Music & Ideas Festival and Summer Academy. “Cleveland is home to me,” she said, clicking through photos of old programs, early notebook brainstorming sessions, and past students — many of whom are now professional musicians in their own right.

That trip down memory lane was a prelude to the musical portion of the concert, titled “The Golden Waltz.” [Read more…]

Blind Injustice: Six lives wrongly incarcerated, one story of hope and resilience (1st of 4 articles)

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by Mike Telin

When Karen Prasser started her job as executive director of Chagrin Arts in January of 2019, she found herself going through the files of programs that participants in Chautauqua-in-Chagrin had said they wanted to learn more about. Among them was the University of Cincinnati-based Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) who have a simple goal: to free every innocent person in Ohio who has been convicted of a crime they didn’t commit.

At the same time, Prasser — who had worked in opera for many years — was made aware of Blind Injustice, a work that was to receive its premiere by Cincinnati Opera on July 22, 2019. The 90-minute, one-act opera is based on OIP co-founder Mark Godsey’s book of the same name, and on interviews with six people who had their convictions overturned through the efforts of the Ohio Innocence Project. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon (June 19)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1947 Brigadoon owes much of its popularity to the familiarity of its music — and people who have never seen the show can find themselves carrying tunes like “The Heather on the Hill,” “Come to Me, Bend to me, ”and “Almost Like Being in Love” around in their ears, not knowing where they came from.

Equally as compelling are its Scottish Highland dances, which are numerous,  authentic, and as one commentator noted in a review of Brigadoon’s debut, so well-integrated into the plot that ‘it is impossible to say where the music and dancing leave off and the story begins.’

Engagingly directed by Jacob Allen, with lively choreography by Spencer Reese, and Wilson Southerland leading the excellent OLO Orchestra, Ohio Light Opera’s alluring production of Brigadoon opened on June 19 in Freedlander Theater at the College of Wooster. [Read more…]

DIARY, Wednesday, July 2, 2025

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING TODAY:

At 2 pm, Ohio Light Opera opens its fourth production of the summer, W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan’s Patience, in Freedlander Theatre at The College of Wooster.

At 7 pm, Anthony Parnther (pictured) leads The Cleveland Orchestra in a free concert at Cain Park in Cleveland Hts. (Tickets required: visit the Cain Park box office or call 216-371-3000.)

Also at 7 pm, Kent Blossom Music Festival presents the Imani Winds in Ludwig Recital Hall at Kent State University.

Visit our Concert Listings for details of these and other performances.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Oberlin Choristers writes, “As we open registration for our 35th season, we do so with full hearts.

“Oberlin Choristers came so close to closing its doors this year. But because of the unwavering determination and love of Charlotte Beers Plank — daughter-in-law of our founder — and the steadfast support of her family, our story continues. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: three key players discuss this season’s repertoire and some bittersweet changes ahead

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by Stephanie Manning

This summer, Ohio Light Opera artistic director Steven Daigle is crossing not one, but two shows off his bucket list.

“ I would’ve loved to direct all six of the shows this summer,” he said. But after dividing up assignments between him and his three fellow directors, eventually he had to choose.

So what drew him to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel and Noël Coward’s Bitter Sweet?  These shows aren’t just visual and musical spectacles — they also grapple with some complicated emotions. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: a group chat about Brigadoon

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by Daniel Hathaway & Mike Telin

Immediately following Ohio Light Opera’s wonderful opening performance of Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Brigadoon on June 19, we had the opportunity to sit down at The College of Wooster’s Freedlander Theatre with director Jacob Allen, conductor Wilson Southerland, choreographer and cast member Spencer Reese, and cast members Maggie Langhorne and Jack Murphy to talk about the production.

CC: Great job, everyone! Jacob, please share your thoughts about the show.  [Read more…]

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