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Pianist Emanuel Ax returns to Severance Hall this weekend

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by Mike Telin

emanuel_ax“It’s an incredible thrill to be able to play with Vladimir Ashkenazy. When I was a young student, he was one of the two or three greatest pianists in the world. I went to hear him all the time and was awed by everything that he did,” pianist Emanuel Ax said during a recent telephone conversation. “I continue to be awed, but he is such a nice man that you feel like you can talk to him normally, and that is very nice. He has always been one of my idols, so it is going to be very special to be onstage with him. He also has a long relationship with the Orchestra, which makes this very exciting.”

On Friday, November 3 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, Emanuel Ax will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Ashkenazy. The program, which also includes Elgar’s Serenade and the Enigma Variations, will be repeated on Saturday the 4th at 8:00 pm and Sunday the 5th at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera Theater to present
The Marriage of Figaro

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by Mike Telin

figaro_imageA mainstay of the opera repertoire, The Marriage of Figaro is the first of Mozart’s collaborations with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The plot is filled with mistaken identity, surprise paternity, and intrigue, as the servants Figaro and Susanna triumph in marriage while comically thwarting the attempts of the philandering Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna.

Raphael Jiménez will lead the Oberlin Orchestra and cast at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, November 1, 3, and 4, and at 2:00 pm on Sunday, November 5 in Hall Auditorium. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Click here for ticket information.

Figaro is a social commentary about the lower versus the upper class — servants outsmarting the aristocracy. “The plot of this opera is as current as #metoo,” Oberlin Opera Theater director Jonathon Field said during a recent conversation. “It is about men who are in positions of power and assume that gives them the authority to sleep with whomever, whenever they want to.” [Read more…]

Les Délices goes Italian (Oct. 22)

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by Mike Telin

Andrijeski-JulieTry as he did, even Louis XIV’s edicts on style and taste could not suppress the cross-pollination of the “refined” music of late-17th and early-18th century French musicians with that of the more “flashy” Italians. This past weekend, Les Délices, the always-creative and musically polished French Baroque ensemble, opened their season with two performances of a program titled “Inspired by Italy.” I heard Sunday afternoon’s concert in the Herr Chapel at Plymouth Church. [Read more…]

The Texas Tenors at Stambaugh Auditorium: a conversation with John Hagen

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by Mike Telin

Texas-Tenors“It’s fun to see people stretch their musical tastes in opposite directions,” tenor John Hagen, who is one third of the popular classical crossover trio, The Texas Tenors, said during a telephone conversation. “You take the fan who’s at one end of the spectrum, either classical or country, and hear how they have come to appreciate other genres of music that they haven’t listened to very often, if at all.”

On Sunday, October 22 at 7:30 pm at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown, The Texas Tenors — opera singer John Hagen, country music singer JC Fisher, and pop singer Marcus Collins — will present a concert of country, classical, Broadway and pop selections. Tickets are available online.

Since their debut eight years ago on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, the Trio has amassed a list of awards including three Emmys for the PBS special You Should Dream. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical presents Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble October 19

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by Mike Telin

AcademyStMartinChamberEnsCreated in 1967 to perform larger chamber works, the Chamber Ensemble of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performs in all shapes and sizes, from quintets to octets, drawn from the principal players of the orchestra. On Thursday, October 19 at 7:30 pm in E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical will present the venerable ensemble in a performance that will include music by Antonín Dvořák and George Enescu. Tickets available online.

Although the London-based Ensemble is celebrating its 50th year, “what many don’t know is that the Academy began as a chamber ensemble playing Baroque music in Neville Marriner’s living room,” violinist Harvey de Souza said by telephone from Northridge, California, where the Ensemble was in the middle of their North American tour. “At that time, people were into these huge massive forces performing Handel’s Messiah with a thousand-voice chorus and huge orchestras and I think he got tired of that. He wanted to get back to the purity of playing concerti grossi with a pair of violins, and that is how it all got started.” [Read more…]

Earth and Air String Orchestra: “A Purely Lyrical Process” (October 6)

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by Mike Telin

Earth-And-Air-Alex-BelisleThe musical splendor of the Russian Empire filled the nave of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights last Friday when conductor David Ellis led his young Earth and Air String Orchestra in a program titled “A Purely Lyrical Process,” featuring music of and inspired by Tchaikovsky. Ellis approached each of the evening’s three works with a relaxed style, drawing expressive phrases that ebbed and flowed from his players. [Read more…]

Heights Arts Close Encounters series begins its 12th Season

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by Mike Telin

Heights-Arts-TrautweinFor the past eleven years, the Heights Arts Close Encounters series has presented chamber music the way it was meant to be heard — up close and personal in intimate spaces. “I can’t believe this is going to be season twelve,” violinist and series Artistic Director Isabel Trautwein said during a telephone conversation. “I figured out that the last concert of this season will be our 50th.” Click here for ticket information.

Trautwein, a member of The Cleveland Orchestra’s first violin section, said that the idea for the series came informally. “I asked a friend if she knew of an organization that might want some chamber music concerts. She put me in touch with Peggy Spaeth, who was the executive director of Heights Arts at that time. We talked, and here we are.”

In the beginning the concerts were held in private homes, but as the demand for tickets grew, they began branching out into venues including Dunham Tavern and Museum and the Bop Stop. [Read more…]

Marie Bucoy-Calavan to make her Akron Symphony conducting debut

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by Mike Telin

M.-Bucoy-Calavan-pic“If you delve into the choral works of Brahms, you will see that everything culminates in his Requiem. It’s what most people think of when you mention his works for chorus and orchestra,” conductor Marie Bucoy-Calavan said during a telephone conversation. “What I like about Gesang der Parzen (‘Song of the Fates’) is that you get the darker side of Brahms along with a little bit of heavy metal. It is very passionate and there are places where it’s harsh and heavy. I enjoy that aspect of it, and I think the chorus does too.”

On Friday, October 6 at 8:00 pm at The University of Akron’s E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, Marie Bucoy-Calavan, who serves as director of the Akron Symphony Chorus and artistic director of the Summit Chorale Society’s Masterworks Chorale, will make her Akron Symphony Orchestra conducting debut when she leads all three ensembles in Brahms’ Gesang der Parzen. [Read more…]

Tuesday Music Celebrates 130 years (Sept. 16)

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by Mike Telin

Mndoyants1Founded in Akron in 1887 by a group of young women who wanted to share their love of music, what was then known as the Tuesday Musical Club quickly evolved into an organization that presented public recitals and held afternoon study groups for club members. Early on, events were held in private homes as well as in churches and other public spaces. On Saturday, September 16 at E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical Association celebrated its 130 years as an anchor arts institution in Northeast Ohio in style. An engaging lineup of performances showcased the venerable organization’s many programs and collaborations. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra begins 100th Season with revival of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen

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by Mike Telin

Opera: Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen Martina Janková, soprano (Vixen) Alan Held, bass-baritone (Forester) Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano (Fox) Raymond Aceto, bass (Harašta) Julie Boulianne, mezzo-soprano (The Dog Lapák) Dashon Burton, bass-baritone (Parson/Badger) David Cangelosi, tenor (Schoolmaster/Mosquito) Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Cleveland Orchestra Children's Chorus with The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst Photo by Roger MastroianniThe Cleveland Orchestra begins its landmark 100th season this week with a revival of Yuval Sharon’s critically acclaimed, made-for-Cleveland production of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen.

Franz Welser-Möst leads the Orchestra and a cast that will include Martina Janková (Vixen), Alan Held (Forrester), Jennifer Johnson Cano (Fox), Andrew Foster-Williams (Harašta), Daryl Freedman (Lapák the Dog), Dashon Burton (Parson/Badger), and David Cangelosi (Schoolmaster/Mosquito).

Performances will take place on Saturday, September 23 at 8:00 pm, Sunday the 24th at 3:00 pm, and Tuesday the 26th at 7:30 pm. Tickets available online. Writing for Classical Voice North America, Daniel Hathaway said that the digitally enhanced production was “beguiling in concept and brilliant in execution.” [Read more…]

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