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Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: five recitals (June 9-11)

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Jason Vieaux, guitar
by Daniel Hathaway

Vieaux-(Tyler-Boye)The 17th Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival got off to an auspicious start at the Cleveland Institute of Music on Friday evening, June 9 with a beautifully structured recital by Jason Vieaux. Originally scheduled for Mixon Hall, the performance was moved to Kulas Hall because of the demand for tickets. In cases like that, it’s nice to have a second venue right across the lobby. Any doubts about how the sound of a solo guitar would fare in the larger space were immediately put to rest by Vieaux’s sonorous performance of Fernando Sor’s Mes Ennuis at the top of the program. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera launches 2017 season with The Music Man

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

SteveSteven Daigle is the mixmaster-in-chief at Ohio Light Opera, which takes up residence each summer at the College of Wooster. Running a residential repertory company makes things both easier and, at times, more difficult for the Artistic Director, now in his 18th season in that position. He’s an expert at picking one show from column A, and maybe two from B, or three from C, and then building on those choices. Still, no matter how astutely he picks performance possibilities, in the end, the success of a season all comes down to the performers onstage — and in the orchestra pit.

For the vocal part of that process, Daigle primarily relies on associate artistic director Julie Wright Costa, who, in her other life is head of the voice area at the University of Utah School of Music. After winnowing through the myriad applications and videotapes, Julie travels the country holding auditions. This year she visited seven different regions in her ever-elusive search for that perfect candidate. [Read more…]

No Exit at Bop Stop: “Homage to Eric Dolphy” (May 27)

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by Joshua Rosner

eric-dolpy3Recently declared “the hippest haunt on the Cuyahoga” by New York Magazine, the Bop Stop was abuzz for No Exit’s “Homage to Eric Dolphy.” No Exit is no stranger to inventive, new programs. But especially intriguing on Saturday night, May 27 was that this outstanding new music ensemble added to its ranks a trio of talented local jazz musicians: Bobby Selvaggio (alto saxophone), Scott McKee (trumpet/flugelhorn), and Dustin May (drum set). [Read more…]

Suburban Symphony announces search for new music director

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The Suburban Symphony Orchestra (SSO) invites applications for the position of Music Director. SSO’s Music Director, Martin Kessler, will be stepping down at the end of the 2017-2018 season after 38 years of leading the orchestra in that role. SSO intends to ask highly qualified candidates interested in the position (who have not appeared with the orchestra recently) to guest conduct a concert. Read and download the complete announcement here.

Canton Symphony offers up a sublime Verdi Requiem

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by Tom Wachunas

CSO-Verdi-May-17Composed in 1873-74, Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa Da Requiem (Requiem Mass) poses a wondrous irony. Verdi was openly disdainful of organized church worship. His wife, Giuseppina, once characterized him as, “…not an outright atheist, but a very doubtful believer.”  It might seem, then, counterintuitive that this acclaimed champion of worldly opera — who had not composed any conventional sacred music since his youth — would render a work of such profound religiosity. [Read more…]

Dazzling Liszt & Rossini treasures and a Berward gem from the Canton Symphony

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by Tom Wachunas

ZImmerman-CSOThe March 25 program by the Canton Symphony Orchestra, titled “Beethoven and His Contemporaries,” began with the Overture and Turkish March, the most often performed sections from the incidental music that Beethoven composed in 1811 for a play called Die Ruinen Von Athen (The Ruins of Athens). [Read more…]

Dreams come true at Oberlin Opera Theater’s Cendrillon March 8-12

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by Julie Anna Gulenko
Reprinted with permission from the
Oberlin College & Conservatory News Center

Oberlin Opera Theater aims to please seasoned patrons and first-timers alike with its spring production of Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon, which will be performed four times March 8 through 12 at Oberlin College & Conservatory’s Hall Auditorium.

Capturing all the magic and whimsy of the original tale of Cinderella, Oberlin’s production provides opera director Jonathon Field with the opportunity to engage audiences young and not-so-young.

“This is the perfect show for young people who have not seen opera before, and we have made it accessible for families of all ages,” says Field (below), who is hailed for his sometimes fantastically untraditional approaches to traditional repertoire. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra to present three Summers@Severance Concerts

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Summers@Severance-Barbara-MerrittPatrons can enjoy summer concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra in University Circle for the fourth season this July and August. Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, and guest conductors Susanna Mälkki and Patrick Dupré Quigley will lead Friday evening concerts on July 14 and 28 and August 18 in Severance Hall.

The performances begin at 7:00 pm, but a Happy Hour with special drink prices will begin on the front terrace at 6:00 pm, and beverage service will be offered there following each performance. Tickets are now on sale for the three-concert package, with individual tickets available beginning May 1.

Here are the program details: [Read more…]

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