by Daniel Hathaway
Arts Renaissance Tremont welcomed back an old friend, violinist Jinjoo Cho, to open its 27th season at Pilgrim United Church of Christ on Sunday, October 1. Pianist Hyun Soo Kim joined her in a well-chosen and varied two-hour program of sonatas and character pieces by Beethoven, Fauré, Chausson, Tchaikovsky, and Saint-Saëns. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
What a week at Severance Hall! On Tuesday, September 26, The Cleveland Orchestra’s revival of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen received its third and final performance, and two days later, Franz Welser-Möst returned to the podium to lead the Orchestra in a spellbinding performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The fall of 2008 — with its dismal financial meltdown — probably wasn’t the most propitious time to start a new professional choral ensemble, but nine years later, founders Ross Duffin and Beverly Simmons find themselves basking in the success of Quire Cleveland. The group will launch their tenth season this weekend with performances of music by Henry Purcell at Lake Erie College in Painesville (October 5) and St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Cleveland (October 6), followed by more concerts than Quire has ever scheduled before in a single season.
In addition to the Purcell programs in October, the Carols for Quire performances in December, an April collaboration with Debra Nagy’s French Baroque ensemble Les Délices, and a grand finale of favorites from the past decade in May, Quire will revive two past programs. “Sing You After Me: Wondrous Rounds and Catches” will be presented in Akron on October 29, and “The Land of Harmony: American Choral Gems” will be performed both at the Holland Theater in Bellefontaine (May 12) and at First Lutheran Church in Lorain (May 13). [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Since the BrownBag Concert Series at Trinity Cathedral presented its first concert in January of 1978, it has firmly established itself as an integral part of Cleveland’s vibrant music scene. Today the series hosts over 5,000 guests annually, from newborns to centenarians.
On Wednesday, October 4 at 12:00 noon, Music and Art at Trinity will kick off the 40th anniversary of the free series with a concert featuring the Trinity Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Todd Wilson and a return visit by the dynamic saxophone duo Jake & Sarah. The program includes music by Handel, Quantz, Glazunov, and Koch, as well as the world premiere of Nathan Hall’s Forces of Change, a concerto for solo saxophone and string orchestra.
“It’s a remarkable achievement for any concert series to go on for 40 uninterrupted years, and with such a high degree of success,” Todd Wilson, the Cathedral’s organist and director of music, said during a telephone conversation. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Cleveland—September 28, 2017. After serving as president and CEO of the Cleveland International Piano Competition since 2011, Pierre van der Westhuizen has announced his appointment as Director of the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and Awards in Kalamazoo, Michigan, beginning on January 2 of 2018.
“It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of the CIPC family for these seven years,” van der Westhuizen said in a press statement released today. “I’ve been touched by the most wondrous music, the most dedicated individuals, and the most generous and supportive patrons one could possibly hope for. I extend my deepest thanks to all.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Music by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Dvořák gave the Akron Symphony audience a window into “The Slavic Soul” in both its Russian and Czech manifestations on Saturday evening, September 23 in E.J. Thomas Hall. At the center of the program was a brilliant performance of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto led by Music Director Christopher Wilkins and featuring the young Boston cellist Tony Rymer — although the composer might well have named the work “Concerto for Cello, Horn, and Orchestra,” so prominent a role that brass instrument plays in the piece. [Read more…]
by Levi Hammer
Special to ClevelandClassical.com
“Why, oh why, oh why, oh — why did I ever leave Ohio?” So goes Bernstein’s Broadway hit. In moments of discouragement in Berlin over the last year, my thoughts drifted to that tune. This summer brought me back to Ohio for my third season at Cincinnati Opera, where I worked on the Barrie Kosky production of The Magic Flute on loan from the Komische Oper Berlin. Spending a summer in my beloved Ohio has given me cause to reflect on my time there.
I first traveled to Ohio assisting Benjamin Zander when he was conducting Mahler’s Ninth Symphony with the Akron Symphony. I had never heard of this orchestra, let alone of the city of Akron, and I was unaware of the musical riches of Northeast Ohio, extending back to industrialization, and the two world-class orchestras in the region (The Cleveland Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony). [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Conflicts abound in Northeast Ohio’s concert schedule, but not so often do two enticing organ recitals take place at the same hour right across the street from one another. Given the choice of Isabelle Demers’ recital at Fairmount Presbyterian and James Higdon’s all-Alain program at St. Paul’s on September 24, what to do? I decided to catch part of both programs. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
For his contribution to the Ars Organi Festival at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights on September 19, Oberlin professor James David Christie was charged with demonstrating the eloquent musical possibilities of the North Italian-style Baroque organ built by Gerhard Hradetzky in 1986 for the rear gallery of the nave. Not only did he place the instrument in its historical-liturgical context — with the help of Steven Plank and a group of women’s voices from the Oberlin Collegium Musicum — but he went far beyond a history lesson to show how delightful music by nine composers of the period can be when matched up with the right instrument. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
After BlueWater Chamber Orchestra founder Carlton Woods’ untimely death in February, the Orchestra decided to continue with his plans for 2017-2018, calling on guest conductors and its own concertmaster to lead the new season’s programs. On Sunday afternoon, September 17 at the Breen Center in Ohio City, Octavio Más-Arocas led the ensemble in “The Captivating Cello,” and the captivating cellist was Cleveland Orchestra principal Mark Kosower. [Read more…]