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Tony DeSare brings the music of Frank Sinatra to Blossom

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by Mike Telin

“The fact that Frank Sinatra would be 109 years old this year and people are still showing up to hear his music speaks volumes,” singer, pianist, and songwriter Tony DeSare said during a recent telephone conversation. “And this show is so beautiful and so classic, it’s become something that I love to share with audiences.”

On Sunday August 25 at 7:00 pm, DeSare will bring his show Sinatra and Beyond to Blossom Music Center. Joined by the Blossom Band, DeSare will perform iconic Sinatra songs including “Come Fly with Me,” “Night and Day,” “New York, New York,” and “My Way.” Tickets are available online.

When DeSare discovered Sinatra’s music as a teenager, he became an instant fan. “I’ve  always loved his music and with this show I wanted to celebrate it in a way that wasn’t as a Sinatra impersonator. I wanted to stay true to his taste and his phrasing — what people liked about him when they saw him perform and heard his music.”

[Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Collective: Music of America VI

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by Mike Telin

On Saturday, August 3 at 7:00 pm at Disciples Christian Church, The Cleveland Chamber Collective will present Music of America VI. The program includes works by Caroline Shaw, Missy Mazzoli, Jessie Montgomery, Michael Oesterle, Trevor Kazarian, and Eric Charnofsky. The concert is free.

During a recent telephone conversation Cleveland Chamber Collective director and conductor Ty Alan Emerson said that the Music of America series has evolved over time.

“When we started out, we were calling it American Icons, which was our way to feature music by composers such as Lou Harrison, George Crumb, and Leonard Bernstein. Then we thought, there’s all this other music being made in America that isn’t getting played. So several years ago we started to look at who else is out there and who are we missing.”

Emerson noted that right now, inclusion is the hot button in classical music, and that for several years the ensemble has been trying to find ways to be more inclusive.

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James Ehnes courts jet lag to play Korngold Concerto at Severance

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by Mike Telin

When Canadian violinist James Ehnes got a call from his management telling him that The Cleveland Orchestra was interested in inviting him to play a concerto in July, his first reaction was “That’s impossible. I’m in Seattle in July.”

Then he thought again. “The Cleveland Orchestra is, for me, one of the most inspiring orchestras in the world, and any chance to work with them is something I’m going to jump at.”

On Thursday, July 25 at 7 pm, Ehnes will join the Cleveland Orchestra for a Summers at Severance concert led by Petr Popelka.

The violinist will be featured in Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Concerto, on a program that includes César Franck’s Le Chasseur maudit and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6. Tickets are available online.

Korngold, born in 1897, was an Austrian composer and conductor who fled Europe in the mid-1930s and later adopted U.S. nationality. A noted pianist and composer of classical music, he was the first composer of international stature to write Hollywood film scores.

I reached James Ehnes by telephone to ask about his scheduling dilemma and his choice of the Korngold.

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Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom: a conversation with Edwin Outwater

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by Mike Telin

“When you stand in front of a great orchestra like Cleveland as a conductor, you kind of pinch yourself,” Edwin Outwater said in a recent Zoom conversation. “To be that close and to see how they do what they do is a great honor —  and a lot of fun.”

On Sunday, July 21 at 7:00 p.m., Outwater will return to the Blossom Music Center podium to lead The Cleveland Orchestra in “An Evening with Leslie Odom, Jr.,” featuring the Tony and Grammy award-winning vocalist, songwriter, author, and actor who created the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway musical Hamilton. Tickets are available online.

I began our conversation by asking Outwater what the audience should expect to hear on Sunday. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition: 50 years on, the future is grand

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by Mike Telin

What began in 1975 as the Casadesus International Piano Competition has gone on to become a premier event in the piano competition world. This year marks the 50th anniversary of what is now the Cleveland International Piano Competition. And so the 2024 edition has taken on a new look and a renewed purpose.

“A lot has changed in the classical music world during the past 50 years,” CIPC president Yaron Kohlberg said during a recent Zoom call, adding that this year’s competition is all about creating more and better ways for it to serve the contestants, the audience, and the community at large. [Read more…]

Steven Daigle previews Ohio Light Opera July openers

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by Mike Telin

Now that the Ohio Light Opera is just past the midpoint of its 2024 season, there are still two titles to add to its repertoire. Franz Lehár’s The Count of Luxembourg opens on Thursday, July 11 at 2:00 pm, and the curtain rises on Lionel Monckton’s and Howard Talbot’s The Arcadians on Thursday, July 18 at the same hour. Both are staged by OLO’s artistic director Steven Daigle and will be conducted by Wilson Southerland.

“I always gravitate to operettas,” Daigle said during a telephone interview earlier this summer. “I think it’s because when I started here at OLO, my first show was Emmerich Kálmán’s The Gypsy Princess. Because of my background in directing opera and as an educator dealing mostly with classical music, it really represents the diffusion of all things wonderful about lyric theater.”

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Conductor Oksana Lyniv to make Cleveland Orchestra debut

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by Mike Telin

Conductor Oksana Lyniv has been riding a wave of firsts during the past few years. In July 2021, she became the first woman to lead a performance at the Bayreuth Festival. In 2022, she became music director of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Italy, the first woman to serve in that position. And this past February, she became the first Ukrainian to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera.

This week, Lyniv will continue her string of firsts when she makes her Cleveland Orchestra debut on Thursday, July 11 at 7:00 pm at Severance Music Center. The program, which is part of the Summers at Severance series, includes Leoš Janáček’s Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Inon Barnatan as soloist, Borys Lyatoshynsky’s Grazhyna, and Igor Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird. Tickets are available online.

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Conductor Brett Mitchell returns to Blossom Music Center

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by Mike Telin

“To say that once again being asked to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom is an honor would be a gross understatement,” Brett Mitchell said during a telephone interview. “I am not often at a loss for words, but there really aren’t any to describe how much it means to me.”

On Saturday, July 6 at 7:00 pm Mitchell will return to the Blossom podium to lead The Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On the Town, William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American,” and Samuel Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandal. The program also includes George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in Béla Fleck’s transcription for banjo and orchestra with Fleck as soloist. Tickets are available online.

Mitchell said he loves Rhapsody in Blue. But when the Orchestra told him that they didn’t want the symphonic version that is often played by orchestras he thought they might be considering the original Paul Whiteman jazz band version. “It turned out that what they wanted was Béla Fleck’s transcription where he plays the piano part on the banjo.”

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Classically Lake View chamber series celebrates Justin Holland — Cleveland’s forgotten composer

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by Mike Telin

Set on 285 acres on Cleveland’s East Side, Lake View Cemetery’s wonderful landscapes, beautiful gardens, and artful monuments make it a serene final resting place as well as a tranquil retreat for the living to reconnect with nature.

On Sunday, July 7 at 3:00 pm in the Community Mausoleum, the recently created Classically Lake View chamber music series will present “Cleveland’s Forgotten Composer, Guitar Hero, and Abolitionist, Justin Holland.”

Under the artistic direction of Cleveland Orchestra violinist Isabel Trautwein, the program spans over 280 years of chamber music by Black composers, including Joseph Bologne, Justin Holland, Scott Joplin, Florence Price, William Grant Still, George Walker, and Thomas Flippin. Performers include guitarist Damian Goggans, violinists Liyuan Xie and Isabel Trautwein, violist Eliesha Nelson, and cellist Tanya Ell. The emcee will be Jennifer Coleman, Program Director for Creative Culture and Arts at the Gund Foundation. Tickets are available online.

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At last, Jason Vieaux to make ChamberFest Cleveland debut

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by Mike Telin

This week guitarist Jason Vieaux will make his long-awaited ChamberFest Cleveland debut, appearing in three separate concerts. “We’ve tried for many years, but it always conflicted with other dates that I already had on my calendar. So it’s really great that we can finally do something together.”

On Wednesday, June 26 at 7:30 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of  Music, Vieaux will play Luigi Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D (“Fandango”). The piece is one of the most popular works in the guitar chamber music repertoire and one that he’s recorded with the Escher Quartet.

Why is it so popular? “My guess is that it’s because of the third movement — the famous Fandango that gets played on radio stations around the country. But I think what really brings it over the top is when the cellist plays the castanets. It’s just one of those works that presenters like to program.”

[Read more…]

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