by Mike Telin
This week at Severance Hall conductor David Robertson will lead The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in four performances of Mozart’s beloved Requiem with guest soloists Jessica Rivera, soprano, Elizabeth DeShong, mezzo-soprano, Garrett Sorenson, tenor and John Relyea, bass-baritone.
The origins of the Chorus can be traced back to the Orchestra’s third season when, in October of 1920, founding Manager Adella Prentiss Hughes issued the following invitation: “A Chorus is now being organized, to be known as The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. As the name implies, this new organization is designed primarily as an adjunct to the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, for the purpose of enlarging its activities and enriching its repertoire.”
The invitation went on to note that works such as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Liszt’s Faust Symphony, and Mahler’s 8th Symphony all call for a chorus, and continued, “The opportunity to join this chorus is now open to all who are interested in choral singing and who wish to be identified with the performance of great masterpieces in conjunction with our splendid Symphony Orchestra. Rehearsals will be held at regular intervals in the Ballroom of the Hotel Winton.” The Chorus, led by then Orchestra Assistant Conductor Arthur Shepherd, lasted less then one year. [Read more…]
Soon after arriving at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University, composers Robert and Gwyneth Rollin founded the Dana New Music Society and the New Music Festival. This week, the Festival celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with a series of performances and premieres on Wednesday, April 30 and Thursday, May 1.
This weekend Apollo’s Fire, directed by Jeannette Sorrell, gave four performances of their latest program, The Power of Love: Passions of Handel and Vivaldi. The featured soloist was the brilliant young soprano Amanda Forsythe. I heard the Friday night concert at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, with its newly renovated acoustics which livened up the sound considerably. The music was mostly Handel and Vivaldi, but Jean-Philippe Rameau made a couple of cameo appearances as well.
Today, we complete our preview of eighth blackbird’s repertory for the ensemble’s program next Tuesday, April 29 at 7:30 in Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University. Spokesman and flutist Tim Munro shares his personal reflections about pieces eighth blackbird will perform composed by Richard Parry, Brett Dean, and Steven Mackey.
The American mezzo-soprano Susan Graham was scheduled to close the 2013/14 season of Akron’s Tuesday Musical on April 10th, but a bad case of laryngitis caused her to cancel her Akron program (as well as a concert scheduled in Oberlin). Fortunately the Akron recital was rescheduled and took place on Monday, April 21, in E.J. Thomas Hall. Graham’s excellent piano accompanist was Bradley Moore.
“Expect the unexpected,” eighth blackbird’s spokesman/flutist Tim Munro told our readers in the first of these previews, but he didn’t mean that patrons should go in uninformed. Today, Tim delves into the background of two of the pieces on the ensemble’s program next Tuesday, April 29 at 7:30 in Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University.
What’s better than getting to hear the Takács Quartet twice in a week? Getting to hear them three times within a month!
The 82nd Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival takes place this weekend in Gamble Auditorium of the BW Conservatory in Berea and marks the last festival to be directed by Dwight Oltman, who retires at the end of the academic year. See the concert listings for details and note that the St. John Passion is already sold out.
In its 79 years as an organization, the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra has invited many young soloists to perform with the ensemble, sometimes giving them their first opportunity to play with an orchestra.
What does eighth blackbird flutist Tim Munro want audiences to know about their Cleveland Chamber Music Society program titled Still in Motion? “There are a lot of things that I love about this program, the surprising twists and turns that it takes. But I would say to expect the unexpected.”