by Mike Telin
Anyone who has been paying attention to the world of contemporary chamber music during the past twenty years will recognize the names of flutist Molly Barth and guitarist Dieter Hennings — together known as Duo Damiana.
On Sunday, June 5 at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Kulas Hall, these extraordinary musicians presented a program of 21st-century music that bore witness to their irreproachable technical skills and their mesmerizing palette of colors.
by Mike Telin
It feels like forever since Tri-C JazzFest was last held in its customary location. During the past two years, Festival director Terri Pontremoli and her team produced one of the best online jazz festivals around, and in September of 2021 Cain Park proved to be a terrific substitute location.
Finally the wait is over. From June 23-25, the 43rd annual Tri-C JazzFest comes home to Playhouse Square. The 2022 lineup features eight ticketed concerts in Playhouse Square theatres, with a special opening night concert — dedicated to retiring Tri-C President Alex Johnson — at Cleveland Public Auditorium’s Music Hall on June 23 at 8:00 pm. That show stars legendary soul storyteller Anthony Hamilton backed up by an all-star ensemble.
“I don’t want to be too positive, but it does feel like things are getting back to normal,” Terri Pontremoli said during a telephone conversation. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Coordinating the schedules of musicians and festivals is often a long, and at times, a complicated process. Take violinists Joseph Lin and Sarah Kapustin for example. Both have been on ChamberFest Cleveland’s list of invitees from the Festival’s beginning, but the stars have simply never aligned. Until now.
Later this week both Lin and Kapustin will finally make their ChamberFest debuts when the Festival kicks off its tenth season. Click here for details.
“Ever since Diana and Frank started the festival we’ve talked about me coming, but it never seemed to work out until this year,” Lin said. “I’m so glad that everything has finally come together.”
“I’ve known Diana since we were teenagers, so for over 20 years,” Kapustin said. “I’ve been invited from the beginning but it just never worked out. My debut should have been two years ago but because of COVID it was put on hold. So I’m happy that it’s finally on the calendar.” [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Like nearly every performing arts organization in the world — especially those reliant on vocalists — Ohio Light Opera had to “improvise” during the pandemic. Returning to live performances on Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm in Freedlander Theatre in Wooster, the company will launch its 2022 season with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Tickets are available online. Click here to view a season calendar.
On opening night, the person guiding the performance from the orchestra pit will be conductor Michael Borowitz. A Pennsylvania native and graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Borowitz serves on the faculty at Louisiana State University and is the artistic director of Opéra Louisiane.
He has served as artistic Director of Nevada Opera, and has been on the podium for La Musica Lirica, Des Moines Metro Opera, AVA Ballet, and Opera Columbus, to name a few. His repertoire ranges from the traditional titles of Puccini and Rossini to contemporary scores. And for five seasons he was Music Director for Ohio Light Opera.
We caught up with Borowitz by telephone and began our conversation by asking him how it feels to be back at OLO after more than a decade’s absence. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
For over four decades Ohio Light Opera has enthralled audiences with performances of the complete Gilbert & Sullivan catalog as well as American and European operettas and titles from the Golden Age of musical theater. Performed in the intimate Freedlander Theatre located on the campus of Wooster College, Ohio Light Opera offers fully-staged, entertaining productions in the midst of a charming college-town atmosphere.
Like nearly every performing arts organization in the world — especially those reliant on vocalists — OLO had to “improvise” during the pandemic. Now the company is ready to launch its 2022 season on Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s enchanting Cinderella. Tickets are available online. Click here to view a season calendar. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When Cathy Lesser Mansfield was asked to write a piece for the youth theater program at the Jewish Community Center in Cleveland Heights in 1977, little did she know that her creation would mark the beginning of her journey to compose an opera.
“That was around the time that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was popular. So after we did ‘Joseph’ there was nothing left, so they commissioned young people to write some things,” Mansfield recalled during a Zoom conversation from her office at the Case Western Reserve School of Law where she is a senior instructor. “So I wrote this 45-minute piece with a guitar, piano, and little ensemble. That was The Job Story.”
On Thursday, June 9 at 7:30 pm, The Sparks Fly Upward will receive its Cleveland premiere at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“Everyone has a story, and we are all storytellers,” ENCORE Chamber Music founder and artistic director Jinjoo Cho noted during a telephone conversation. “Storytelling is our craft, it’s at the core of everything we do.”
On Friday, June 10, at 7:00 pm, the ENCORE Festival of Music and Ideas will launch its 7th season with a program titled “Tales of War & Grief.” The concert features music by Schubert, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Matthijs van Dijk, Radiohead and Led Zeppelin performed by the Signum Quartet — Florian Donderer & Annette Walther (violins), Xandi van Dijk (viola), and Thomas Schmitz (cello).
At 6:00 pm, the Cologne, Germany-based musicians will become panelists to discuss war, grief, and how current events are impacting our mental health around the world. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Since its founding, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) has engaged the Northeast Ohio community by championing the creation and performance of new music. One of the ways it does that is through its annual Re:Sound Festival of New and Experimental Music.
Judging from the stellar lineup of musicians the organizers have assembled, the 2022 edition of Re:Sound — which runs from June 9 through June 12 — promises to once again deliver a musically adventurous experience.
“More than ever the phrase ‘new music’ is becoming a broad umbrella term that encapsulates all kinds of styles. So we wanted this year’s festival to reflect that as best as we could.” CUSP’s managing director Stephen Haluska (above) said during a recent Zoom call. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Ten years ago when ChamberFest Cleveland launched its first festival with the theme “Big Bang,” the organizers envisioned that it would become a world-class festival. Since then, the Festival’s programming has explored themes such as “(IT’S) About Time,” “Crossing Borders,” “Tales and Legends,” “Cycles: Phases!” “In Search of Freedom,” “Under the Influence,” and most recently “Together Again.” And over the past decade ChamberFest Cleveland has indeed become world-class. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The last time Tamara Wilson was in town, she was here to perform the title role of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos with The Cleveland Orchestra. Next week the critically acclaimed soprano will open the Cleveland Art Song Festival with a recital on Monday, May 23 at 8:00 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Assisted by pianist Warren Jones, the program, titled “Enchantment,” includes works by Debussy, Severac, Chausson, Han, Handel, Strauss, and Grieg, along with the world premiere of Evan Snyder’s Tiffandra’s Spellbook. Tickets are available online.
In addition to Monday’s recital, Wilson will present master classes on Friday, May 27 at 10:30 am and 3:00 pm in Mixon Hall. And you can also catch her down the street at Severance Music Center where she will be singing the role of Desdemona in The Cleveland Orchestra’s concert performances of Verdi’s Otello on May 21, 26, and 29.
Like many, the long absence of live performances due to the coronavirus caused Wilson to re-examine things, one of which was a program she had created for a performance that was postponed.
“I was looking at it and I thought, you know what, I don’t want to sing these songs anymore,” Wilson said during a recent telephone conversation. “So I talked to Warren and said, can we just build a whole new program? And he said sure.” [Read more…]