by Jarrett Hoffman
“We like to keep a very loose atmosphere at our concerts, almost like a party or a rock show, where people can move around, drink, and chat,” said FiveOne Experimental Orchestra’s artistic director, John HC Thompson. “We play a lot of nuanced, delicate music, but we don’t do it in a stiff, sit-down, traditional classical music way.”
On Friday, May 8 at 9:00 pm, FiveOne Experimental Orchestra (51XO) will offer Bop Stop listeners a glimpse of the group’s upcoming album. In addition to premiering Michael Bratt’s Atari Punk, they will perform works by Jeremy Allen, John HC Thompson, David Crowell, Michael Laurello, and Ted Hearne. Admission is free.
On Saturday, April 11 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society will present the final concert of this season’s International Series with a performance by Vladimir Gorbach. “I’m really looking forward to the concert and getting to know Cleveland,” the Russian-born guitarist said during a telephone conversation from Los Angeles. “After winning the 2011 Guitar Foundation of America competition, I did perform in Ohio as part of the winner’s tour, but this will be my first time in Cleveland.” Gorbach’s debut performance will feature works by Miguel Llobet, Domenico Scarlatti, J.S. Bach, Dionisio Aguado, Ástor Piazzolla, and Alberto Ginastera. A special pre-concert performance by students from CCGS’s education program will begin at 6:50.
“I could not make this opera stranger than it already is,” Oberlin Opera Theater director Jonathon Field told ClevelandClassical in 
Twenty-some audience members mostly lined the bar. Soup and pretzel bites were eaten, and little kitchen clangs were heard. It might have been the most laid-back setting of any concert. And — not but — the music was excellent, as the Verditas Quartet thrilled Cleveland’s BOP STOP Sunday night with quartets by Haydn, Beethoven, and Dvořák — and their own personality.