by Peter Feher
Shakespeare in the park got an update over the weekend when the musicians of the Cleveland Chamber Collective partnered with Inlet Dance Theatre for a modern take on The Tempest. The collaborative result, Caliban Ascendant, premiered to an enthusiastic audience at Cain Park’s Evans Amphitheater on August 29.
The story was kept simple, though the performances were anything but. Ty Alan Emerson — who composed the score, adapted the story with friend and colleague Joshua Legg, and conducted Sunday’s premiere — didn’t skimp on the musical demands.
The Cleveland Orchestra wasn’t going to let a season go by without Jahja Ling. The veteran conductor was back at Blossom Music Center on August 22, picking up just where he left off.
Midway through his performance on July 21 at Ludwig Recital Hall — part of this year’s Kent Blossom Music Festival — flutist Demarre McGill invited the audience into an understanding of his program with an abstract but heartfelt speech. It was all preface to the next piece on the program, an arrangement of three short songs by William Grant Still.
From the podium, Herbert Blomstedt is always proving that there are new insights to be found in even the most well-trod pieces.
The stage was packed at Blossom Music Center on Sunday, July 18. The pops program of American songbook standards — part Broadway, part Hollywood, and part jazz — called for a full orchestra, plus a rhythm section up front and a row of saxophone players off to the side. This is music that can work with just piano and singer, but after months of pandemic-adapted performances, it was great to see a full-scale production.
The Ohio Light Opera made a smart move adding The Fantasticks to its repertory this season. The company that puts operetta first but always has room for a musical or two couldn’t have chosen a better classic for this strange summer back from the pandemic. This is a show that needs only a barebones setup, and OLO’s production (which ran from July 14–24, outdoors at Wayne Center for the Arts in Wooster) was charmingly stripped down.
It seems like every orchestra will be doing its version of Mozart in the great outdoors this summer, an old-fashioned program that has recently found new life. The combination of open-air venue, fewer musicians on stage, and repertoire at the ready seems to satisfy the pandemic equation.
Apollo’s Fire is making the most of the summer. Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra is easing audiences back into live performances this month with a program, “Bach, Vivaldi, and Friends,” that satisfies all musical expectations. The group followed up a terrific first concert on Saturday, July 10, at the Avon Lake United Church of Christ with two more local performances and one on tour at Tanglewood.
One instrument can make a world of difference. The clarinet took top billing on Friday, June 25, in a free chamber program at Pepper Pike’s Church of the Western Reserve, the first live performance back after more than a year for the CWR Concert Series.
ChamberFest Cleveland’s simplest concert this season was also its most daunting. The 90-minute program on June 18 at St. Paschal Baylon involved only one performer and one piece — pianist Roman Rabinovich in Bach’s