by Peter Feher
VOCES8 sings a little something for everyone. The British a cappella ensemble had a packed house at E.J. Thomas Hall on October 19, ready for the group’s polished take on any song. The program, the first performance in Tuesday Musical’s 2021–2022 Akron Concert Series, ran from Renaissance music to jazz — styles that don’t intuitively go together.
But the key to unlocking the octet’s approach came in the first piece after intermission. A swinging, singing arrangement of Bach’s Bourreé II from the Second English Suite was a bridge between musical worlds. The number, not a VOCES8 original but something of an a cappella standard, takes the composer’s quintessential Baroque keyboard writing and delivers it with a wink, in la-la-la’s and doo-be-doo’s. A lighthearted way with otherwise staid classics might make for the group’s mission statement. [Read more…]
CityMusic Cleveland has always been on a mission. This season, the group is staying true to its community vision — music for everyone, and concerts for free — even if performances look a little different in 2021. The programming is slimmed down from chamber orchestra to chamber music, and there’s an increased emphasis on new works (each program this season features a world premiere).
Tri-C JazzFest was back in the swing of things this summer. After a 2020 season of virtual performances, the festival returned to an all-star, in-person lineup this year, thanks to some patient planning. The date was pushed from June to September, and the venue shifted from Playhouse Square to an all-outdoor space, Cain Park.
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 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.