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CUSP to host Jaap Blonk

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by Mike Telin

The self-taught Dutch composer, vocalist, poet, and visual artist Jaap Blonk will present a unique program on the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project series at Convivium 33 Gallery on Friday, October 20 at 8pm.

I reached the sound poet by Skype at his home in Arnhem, Netherlands and began by asking him what the audience can expect to hear on Friday.

Jaap Blonk: I’ll do two sets. The first will be me interpreting some poetry from the history of Dada. And the second will be my own work for voice with some electronics. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir: Considering Matthew Shepard

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by Mike Telin

Statement from President Joe Biden on the 25th Anniversary of the Tragic Death of Matthew Shepard:

October 12, 2023

Twenty-five years ago today, Matthew Shepard lost his life to a brutal act of hate and violence that shocked our nation and the world. The week prior, Matthew had been viciously attacked in a horrific anti-gay hate crime and left to die – simply for being himself.

Matthew’s tragic and senseless murder shook the conscience of the American people. And his courageous parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, turned Matthew’s memory into a movement, galvanizing millions of people to combat the scourge of anti-LGBTQI+ hate and violence in America.

On October 6, 1998 Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, accepted a ride home from two men at the Fireside Lounge in Laramie. Instead, Shepard was driven to a remote area where he was pistol-whipped, tortured, tied to a fence, and left for dead. Shepard died six days later from brain damage.

Shepard’s murder would later become the inspiration for Craig Hella Johnson’s fusion oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard.

[Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus welcomes Eric Whitacre

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by Mike Telin

“What if our departed loved ones are not truly gone, but are closer than we think? How can we mourn those we have lost while still moving forward? We have all experienced the loss, in one way or another, of someone or something we have loved deeply. How do we know when it’s time to move forward?”

-Charles Anthony Silvestri

Written in 2018, The Sacred Veil — with music by Eric Whitacre (pictured left) and text by Charles Anthony Silvestri — tells a story of love, loss, and grief. Silvestri’s wife, Julie, died of ovarian cancer at age 36 in 2005, leaving behind two young children. “It’s an extensive, twelve-movement work that is just beautiful,” Lisa Wong, The Cleveland Orchestra’s Director of Choruses, said during a telephone conversation.

On Friday, October 20 at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Whitacre will lead the 140-member Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and 14 singers from the College of Wooster in The Sacred Veil for SATB choir, solo cello, and piano — his most recent collaboration with Silvestri. The concert also includes Reena Esmail’s When the Violin for chorus and cello, based on a 14th-century text by Persian poet Hafiz, conducted by Wong. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Renée Fleming and friends join in special Severance concert

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by Mike Telin

On Sunday, October 15 at 7:00 pm, the celebrated soprano Renée Fleming will host a gathering of friends in a Severance Music Center concert featuring the late André Previn’s unfinished — but now completed — final work. Penelope celebrates Homer’s heroine in The Odyssey, who faithfully waited 20 years for her husband, Odysseus, to return from the Trojan War while fending off more than a hundred suitors.

She’ll be joined by actress Merle Dandridge (The Last of Us), the Emerson String Quartet — Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer (violins), Lawrence Dutton (viola), and Paul Watkins (cello) —  and pianist Simone Dinnerstein. In addition to Penelope, musical selections include Philip Glass’s Etude No. 6 and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14. Tickets are available online.

Although the score was left unfinished at the time of Previn’s death on February 28, 2019, it was completed by David Fetherolf, Previn’s longtime editor. The monodrama received its world premiere at Tanglewood on July 24, 2019.

Fleming graciously agreed to answer questions by email.

Mike Telin: Who originally had the idea for this project?

Renée Fleming: The Emerson Quartet and I shared a friendship with André Previn. (André had composed the opera of A Streetcar Named Desire, which I premiered, as well as some concert works and song cycles.) We decided to try to commission him to compose something for us. I knew that one of André’s good friends was playwright Tom Stoppard, of whom I am also a great fan. I thought, ‘Well you never know, why not ask them?’ It turned out that they both liked the idea, and they had already discussed writing something for my voice. I believe it was Tom who suggested Penelope, the classical heroine, as a subject.

[Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire begins new season: a conversation with Jeannette Sorrell

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by Mike Telin

Apollo’s Fire is moving full steam ahead into their 2023-24 season, which opens this week with four Northeast Ohio performances of their program “Splendour in London.” The concerts also mark the beginning of a busy fall for the musicians and for the ensemble’s founder and artistic director, Jeannette Sorrell. In fact, with all the forward motion that Apollo’s Fire has experienced over the past couple of years, Sorrell can certainly be described as a person on the go.

I caught up with her via Zoom in Chicago while she was literally in transit and began our wide-ranging conversation by asking her to reflect on Apollo’s Fire’s recent European tour.

Jeannette Sorrell: It was a wonderful experience. That was our Exile program, which we first took to Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco. The New York concert was especially fun — it was at the Met Museum and we were sold out two weeks in advance. When you have an audience that really wants to be there, there’s always a special energy.

[Read more…]

Surreality: No Exit explores the irrational, illogical, and inexplicable

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by Mike Telin

What does someone mean when they say, “Now that was surreal.” Well, that depends. “One of the things about surrealism is that it’s really an ideology,” No Exit artistic director Timothy Beyer said during an interview. “It’s not a style that is attached to a methodology, therefore you can apply it to almost anything.

To celebrate their 15th anniversary No Exit has created their most ambitious project to date. Enter Surreality, a season-long series that encompasses a range of artistic media to present an immersive, multidisciplinary exploration of surrealism as expressed in music, art, film, poetry, literature and performance art. “We hope people will enjoy exploring the irrational, illogical, inexplicable, strange, and utterly fantastical world that is surrealism.”

If you think this may be too academic, not to worry, “It’s an experiential thing,” Beyer said. “Whether you know a lot or nothing, you should be able to enjoy it. We even say in our program note: ‘this will tell you everything or nothing that you need to know to comprehend the following events.’ Surrealism does cover the gamut of the arts and more, and I think that has been a big part of its lasting relevance.” [Read more…]

Canton Symphony enters a new era:
a conversation with music director designate Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz

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by Mike Telin

When Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz was appointed Music Director Designate of the Canton Symphony in August of 2020, the plan was for him to assume the role of Music Director in 2026. But with the passing in June of Gerhardt Zimmermann, the Orchestra’s longtime Music Director, Jaroszewicz suddenly found himself tasked with filling some big shoes sooner than expected.

On Saturday, October 7 at 7:30 pm, the young conductor will lead the Orchestra’s season-opening concert at Zimmermann Symphony Center. The program, titled “Ode to Freedom,” includes Joan Tower’s Made in America, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, and two works that will feature Seohyun Kim, winner of the 2022 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Violin Competition: Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane and Jeff Scott’s Song of the Uirapuru, receiving its world premiere. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with Jaroszewicz by phone and began by asking him how he is managing during this period of transition.

Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz: It’s been difficult for a lot of reasons. Obviously, in six years serving as Gerhardt’s assistant and then associate, I built a professional and personal relationship with him, and with his wife Sharon as well. The plan was for me to take over as Music Director in 2026, and after that Gerhardt would still be around as the Music Director Emeritus for five more years. So to not only be thrust into the role three years early, but to not have Gerhardt there as someone I could lean on as a mentor was a shock.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Museum of Art’s Performing Arts Series returns

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by Mike Telin

The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Performing Arts Series is back with a new director and a full schedule of diverse shows. To get a sense of it all, I spoke with Gabe Pollack, who came to that post at the Museum after many years of serving as manager of the Bop Stop. Here’s what he told me.

I started the job in October 2022 and I inherited three programs. A couple were rescheduled concerts that had been canceled during COVID. And since booking those shows was taken off my plate, that allowed me to just learn the processes involved with producing a show at the Museum.

This 2023-24 season is truly my first Performing Arts Series. The “Summer Solstice” and “City Stages” are signature programs of the Museum. But they operate separately from the Performing Arts Series in Gartner. So when I was hired, my main task was to program those events.

I had a lot of fun booking “Solstice.” I think it takes a mix of skill and luck, especially when dealing with international artists because they have to be in the U.S. and have permits that allow them to perform here. And they have to be in the region around the time of “Solstice.” But I thought the artists complemented each other very well.

[Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society to present new work by Richard Stout

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 by Mike Telin

When you’re looking for a source of inspiration, sometimes you find it sitting right in front of you. Such was the case with Richard Stout. “I wanted to write some songs for mezzo-soprano and string quartet and I was looking for material,” Stout said during a phone conversation. “I looked at this book — Selected Letters of Willa Cather — that I had sitting at home that my mother had co-edited, and thought, ‘There’s some beautiful material in here.’”

On Monday, September 25 at 7:30 pm at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the Poiesis Quartet — Sarah Ma and Max Ball (violins), Jasper de Boor (viola), and Drew Dansby (cello) — will join mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby to perform Stout’s Songs of Correspondence during the opening concert of Rocky River Chamber Music Society’s 2023-24 season. The program will also include Brahms’ String Quartet No.1 in c. The concert is free and will be livestreamed.

Stout, who is a member of The Cleveland Orchestra’s trombone section and a faculty member at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, said that after he wrote the first few songs he realized that he should ask for permission to use the letters. [Read more…]

Les Délices celebrates fifteen years

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by Mike Telin

Anniversaries are an opportunity to reflect and to forge new adventures. When Debra Nagy set out to plan Les Délices’ 15th season, she wanted it to be “familiar and extremely ambitious.”

Les Délices will launch their season next week by taking the award-winning SalonEra series to another level. On Saturday, September 23 at 3:00 pm at Heights Theater, audiences are invited to attend the debut of SalonEra Sessions with a program titled Songs for Social Justice. The 75-minute concert and conversation, hosted by Nagy, will feature countertenor Michael Walker and tenor Haitham Haidar, who will explore themes of identity and representation, struggle and resilience, and community and belonging. The event will be recorded, edited, and released as a SalonEra episode later in the season. During the program Walker and Haidar will be joined by Nagy (oboe), Rebecca Reed (cello), and Brian Kay (lute and oud).

[Read more…]

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