by Daniel Hathaway
British tenor Mark Padmore was getting ready for a Cleveland concert in 2020 — his first visit since 1985 — when the novel coronavirus showed up with other plans. His recital of works by Beethoven and Schubert with pianist Mitsuko Uchida, part of a North American tour, got put on ice and will finally take place in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Music Center on Sunday, March 6 at 3:00 pm.
Born in London and educated at King’s College, Cambridge, Padmore has developed an international career in opera, concert, and recital repertoire. Among the highlights are his performances as Evangelist in J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passions with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Simon Rattle, staged by Peter Sellars.
I spoke to Padmore by telephone last week in New York soon after he arrived from London.
Daniel Hathaway: How does it feel to be traveling again after a two-year hiatus?
Mark Padmore: It’s been a long time getting the tour rescheduled. But it’s lovely. I’ve got some great friends in the U.S. so to see them again has been very special. [Read more…]
When you’re looking for neglected music to program, it’s helpful to have friends with wide-ranging tastes who are cleaning out overflowing collections of recordings. That’s how Quire Cleveland artistic director Jay White stumbled across a major work by the 17th-century Bohemian composer Christoph Demantius.
Cleveland Chamber Choir’s hosting of choruses from Kent State and Cleveland State Universities in a joint concert on February 27 in CSU’s Waetjen Auditorium might have been reminiscent of multi-choir powwows from one’s schooldays, but the quality of repertoire, the level of singing, and efficient stage management raised the event to impressive heights.
Cleveland Chamber Music Society has recently had to deal with more than its fair share of postponements and cancellations, but when Cuarteto Casals cut short their U.S. Tour last month due to a medical emergency, the Society was lucky to be able to field a replacement.
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“It takes so many people to put on a production, especially a new one,” Oberlin Opera professor and director Christopher Mirto said in a recent interview with this publication. And lots of time as well, especially when the gestation period for a new work coincides with a pandemic.
A long line at the Will Call window at Severance on Saturday evening, February 19 meant that a number of Cleveland Orchestra patrons missed hearing Guillaume Connesson’s Flammenschrift, the first item on Stéphane Denève’s program.
Featured today: Noonday concerts in Cleveland and Youngstown, CIM’s Music for Food Benefit, one in a string of Oberlin faculty concerts to open a new semester, and replays of ChamberFest performances. Also, links to articles about a Grammy nomination controversy, the future of international orchestra tours, and the legacy of conductor Michael Gielen. And a nod to the birthday of Handel and the passing of Elgar.