by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com
If you enjoy music from the Great American Songbook or the Golden Age of Broadway, then you’re already familiar with a good number of songs from Richard Rodgers’ and Lorenz Hart’s Babes in Arms. After opening on April 14, 1937 and running for 289 performances, the musical never again appeared on Broadway, quite possibly because of the show’s politically incorrect views and language. [Read more…]
by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com
Who would ever have thought that labor troubles in a pajama factory in Iowa could become the fodder for an award-winning musical comedy that is still lively and topical at almost 65 years of age? The twentieth century might almost have been known as the century of the labor union, which peaked in the 1950s. At that time, they were still a major force, as cheekily demonstrated in the buoyant presentation of The Pajama Game that opened the Ohio Light Opera season in Wooster on Saturday evening, June 16. [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
Last Saturday night, April 28 at Ludwig Recital Hall, the Kent State University New Music Ensemble presented a retirement concert for co-director Frank Wiley in celebration of his 38 years at Kent. Of the four Wiley works played, the two most recent were Rituals of Earth and Fire (1999) and the premiere of Violet Spirals at Twilight (2018).
by Tom Wachunas
Thanks to all the pre-publicity surrounding this season-ending performance from the Canton Symphony Orchestra, there wasn’t an empty seat in Umstattd Performing Arts Hall on April 21. We were promised a musical feast of epic proportions, to be served piping-hot by 86 instrumentalists, combined choirs numbering more than 100 voices, three solo vocalists, and a modern dance troupe. So we arrived hungry. [Read more…]
by Tom Wachunas
I can only guess at why there were so many empty seats in the audience for the March 25 concert from the Canton Symphony Orchestra. If familiar classical music breeds ticket sales, perhaps this program was perceived (undeservedly) as too light-weight, or the selections too obscure. Or perhaps it was local Lenten fasting from orchestral music. In any case, it’s not my place to berate those otherwise faithful concertgoers who were missing in action on this occasion, except to say that they missed a real stunner.
by Tom Wachunas
The thematic and formal diversity of the March 3 MasterWorks program by the Canton Symphony Orchestra was a compelling reminder that the sounds emanating from an orchestra constitute a language. Like any spoken language, those sounds can articulate a distinct vernacular — the parlance of a specific time and/or place. Here in Umstattdt Performing Arts Hall, the marvelous expressivity of the CSO was transportive, taking us from America’s Texas plains, then to the mid-20th century jazz era, and finally journeying back to the pinnacle of 18th century European classicism. [Read more…]
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra announces auditions for its 2018-19 season. Highlights of the upcoming 33rd season include three performances at Severance Hall, as well as concerts in the greater Cleveland community under the direction of Music Director Vinay Parameswaran. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Anticipating Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival, or however you refer to the blowout before the beginning of Lent, the Akron Symphony joined forces with Neos Dance Theater on Friday, February 8 in E.J. Thomas Hall to produce its latest community extravaganza: a fully choreographed performance of the ballet score to Stravinksy’s Petrushka. Set during a Shrovetide fair, it’s a tragic tale acted out by puppets, but revelry was also in the air: at the end, the stage was filled with balloons that the cast were happy to share with the audience.
by Tom Wachunas
One way to appreciate the program selections for the January 27 concert by the Canton Symphony Orchestra titled “German Genius,” is as a thrilling homage to the Austro-German tradition of classical music. While the program certainly wasn’t a comprehensive survey, it was nonetheless an astute, two-point perspective on that tradition, spanning nearly 200d years, from the Baroque-era seeds that took root and blossomed in the marvelous compositions of J.S. Bach, to the monumental, verdant pinnacles articulated by Gustav Mahler in the early 20th century. [Read more…]
College and University music performance and education majors who are Ohio residents or studying with a music teacher at an Ohio institution may apply online for Tuesday Musical’s 2018 Scholarship Competition through February 1. [Read more…]