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The Cleveland Orchestra: Mary Kay Fink to premiere new piccolo concerto

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by Mike Telin

When Oded Zehavi first heard Cleveland Orchestra principal piccolo Mary Kay Fink play during a program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Israeli composer knew he wanted to write a concerto for her. “The Violins of Hope were in residence and we were encouraged to put together programs featuring composers who perished during the Holocaust,” Fink, who serves on the CIM faculty, recalled during a telephone conversation. “I played in a trio by Erwin Schulhoff that has a fair amount of piccolo in it. And after the concert he found me and said, ‘I want to write you a piccolo concerto.’ That’s how it all started.”

Once Fink and Zehavi decided that a new concerto was something they wanted to pursue — and with The Cleveland Orchestra onboard for commissioning the piece — the creative process began. Everything went as planned, and the world premiere was set for April of 2020 — only to have it canceled due to COVID.

[Read more…]

Susanna Mälkki Returns to lead The Cleveland Orchestra

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 by Mike Telin

“I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work with The Cleveland Orchestra — I think it’s a crown jewel,” Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki said during a recent telephone conversation from her hotel in Cleveland. “I’m very happy to be here and I’m really looking forward to these concerts.”

On Thursday, February 29 at 7:30 pm Mälkki will return to Severance Music Center to lead The Orchestra in performances of Paul Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler Symphony and Anton Webern’s arrangement of J.S. Bach’s “Ricercar” from the Musical Offering, along with Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the young British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason  as soloist. The program will be repeated on Friday, March 1 at 11:00 am (no Webern) and Saturday, March 2 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

I began our conversation by asking about her previous visits to Cleveland. [Read more…]

No Exit to host Aether Eos

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by Mike Telin

This weekend No Exit will take a short break from performing and put on their presenter hat when they host Aether Eos — the duo of violinist/composer/visual artist Leah Asher and pianist/composer Christopher Goddard — on Sunday, March 3 at 3:00 pm at Heights Arts and Monday the 4th at 7:30 pm at Kent State University’s Ludwig Recital Hall. Both performances are free.

Their varied program will explore a kaleidoscope of expressive states in Tonia Ko’s plush earth in four pieces, Carrie Frey’s Seagrass/Reed, Giacinto Scelsi’s Chemin du Coeur, Linda Caitlin Smith’s Unbroken, and Michael Hersch’s the wreckage of flowers.

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Cleveland Chamber Choir — “Choral Splendor: Old and New”

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by Mike Telin

“On some level, all music is in dialogue with the art that came before it,” Cleveland Chamber Choir artistic director Greg Ristow writes in his artistic statement for the ensemble’s upcoming program. “But, when a composer pays direct homage to an older piece, it creates a loop that draws these works together in a conversation that’s possible only in non-linear time, and that reflects our own experience as listeners hearing music of many eras in the context of our modern times.”

On Saturday, March 2 at 7:00 pm in First Lutheran Church of Lorain and on Sunday, March 3 at 4:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Ristow will lead the ensemble in “Choral Splendor: Old and New.”

The program creates six “time loops” of older pieces and newer responses performed side by side: Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere mei, Deus will be paired with Claudia Hinsdale’s Joy: A Variation on Allegri’s Miserere, Sebastien de Vivanco’s In Manus Tuas with Andrew Rindfleisch’s In Manus Tuas: A Parody Motet, and Dietrich Buxtehude’s “Ad manus” from 
Membra Jesu Nostri with Caroline Shaw’s To the Hands.

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Zidur Guitar Duo to make Cleveland debut for Classical Guitar Society

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by Mike Telin

The relationship between Hermelindo Ruiz (left) and the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society dates back to 2020, when the guitarist/composer became an Artist in Residence for CCGS through a Creative Fusion grant from the Cleveland Foundation. A year later, Ruiz became a CCGS Composer in Residence, writing works for young guitar players that were premiered by the students.

This week Ruiz makes his third visit to Cleveland — this time joined by Samuel Diz in the Zidur Guitar Duo. On Saturday, February 24 at 7:30 pm, the duo will make its Cleveland debut at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. The program features music from their homelands of Puerto Rico and Spain. Tickets are available online.

Ruiz was in Chicago when I caught up with him by phone and began by asking how he and Diz came to form the duo.

Hermelindo Ruiz: Through friends of mine, Samuel discovered some scores of my work and started to play my music in Europe. I am from Puerto Rico and he’s from Spain, and he started telling people about this Puerto Rican classical music composer. And that opened a lot of doors to me, including getting to go to Spain. We started playing as a duo in 2009 when we were 20 or 21 years old at the time.

[Read more…]

The Cleveland Opera to present William Grant Still’s Highway 1, U.S.A.

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by Mike Telin

Family dynamics have always been the source of inspiration for great literature. There’s Shakepeare’s Hamlet — which depicts the Prince of Denmark’s attempts to take revenge against his uncle, or the prime time television soap opera Dallas, which revolved around an affluent and feuding Texas family.

On Sunday, February 18 at 3:00 pm in The Tudor Arms Hotel Grand Ballroom, The Cleveland Opera in collaboration with the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra and Duffy Liturgical Ensemble, will present a full-scale production of William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra, guest conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste earn three curtain calls for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony: Review (Feb. 9)

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by Kevin McLaughlin | Cleveland Classical

Originally posted on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — That crackle you may have heard around 9 o’clock on Friday evening may not have been an atmospheric event or even static coming from the dryer. More likely it was The Cleveland Orchestra playing the jubilant fourth movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center.

The program, in addition to Beethoven’s Fifth and the infrequently performed Schubert Sixth, was intended to be led by Herbert Blomstedt, the eminent 96-year-old Swedish maestro. But Blomstedt took a fall last December, and while he recovers, his engagements in Cleveland and other American cities have been canceled. Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor and artistic director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, came heroically to the rescue, making his first appearance in Cleveland since October of 1995.

[Read more…]

Daniel Singer: falling in love
with Fauré’s Requiem

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by Mike Telin

“The first time I heard the Fauré Requiem was during my freshman year in college,” Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus director Daniel Singer recalled in an interview, adding that he instantly fell in love with the work. “It’s just a beautiful piece of choral music. It’s so melodic, and Fauré knew how to spin a tuneful melody.”

On Sunday, February 18 at 7:00 pm at Severance Music Center, the Chorus will join forces with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra for a performance of Fauré’s beloved work. The program, under the direction of Daniel Reith, also includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song: a conversation with countertenor Tim Mead

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by Mike Telin

This week’s program from The Cleveland Orchestra includes George Benjamin’s mesmerizing Dream of the Song, featuring British countertenor Tim Mead as soloist.

The program, conducted by Benjamin, also includes Dieter Ammann’s glut, Oliver Knussen’s The Way to Castle Yonder, and Maurice Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye (complete ballet). Performances take place on Thursday, February 15 at 7:30 pm and Saturday the 17th at 8:00 pm at Severance Music Center. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with Mead over Zoom to discuss Benjamin’s song cycle, his passion for Purcell, and his quick transition from the choir to the opera stage. (Photo by Andy Staples) [Read more…]

Jukka-Pekka Saraste returns to Cleveland with “Beethoven’s Fateful Fifth”

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by Mike Telin

After presenting two concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall on the 20th and 21st of January, The Cleveland Orchestra then headed south for their Florida residency. And on Friday, February 9 at 7:30 pm, they will return to their home base of Severance Music Center to present the first of three performances of Schubert’s Symphony No. 6 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The program will be repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online. [ALL PERFORMANCES ARE SOLD OUT]

This week also marks the long-awaited return of Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste. “It’s a pleasure to come back to Cleveland. It’s been a while — my last time was when I was in Toronto [as music director of the Toronto Symphony] — so it must have been about 20 years ago,” he said during a Zoom conversation from his home in Helsinki.

[Read more…]

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