ClevelandClassical.com Header
Ad
Ad

Les Délices’ elaborate, entertaining Aesop Project (Nov. 22)

by

by Peter Feher

In the 1670s, Louis XIV commissioned a series of 39 fountains for the Gardens of Versailles, each modeled on a story from Aesop’s Fables and intended for the education of the king’s young son, the Dauphin.

The Aesop Project, the latest community offering from Les Délices and artistic director Debra Nagy, is slightly less ornate but just as inspired. Cleveland’s ever-resourceful period chamber ensemble partnered with local puppeteers and poets for this family-friendly program teaching music and morals.

After touring Northeast Ohio schools earlier in the week, the project received a public performance at the CMA Community Arts Center on Saturday morning, November 22. Children, parents, and committed patrons of early music sat down for the 35-minute show, surrounded by spectacular displays of costumes and props from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s annual Parade the Circle celebration. [Read more…]

Akron Symphony goes for glory in Handel’s Messiah (Nov. 15)

by

by Peter Feher

The holiday season got off to an early start at E.J. Thomas Hall over the weekend, with the Akron Symphony and Chorus reveling in a performance of Handel’s Messiah.

In truth, it’s tradition for this great oratorio — which embraces the New Testament theme of Jesus as savior — to arrive ahead of schedule. Handel intended the work to be presented each year during Lent, when theaters were otherwise closed and only entertainment of the most ennobling character was allowed. But in the centuries following its 1742 premiere, Messiah crept up the concert calendar to become a Christmas favorite.

Never mind that the famous “Hallelujah” Chorus comes from Part 2 of the oratorio, which recounts Christ’s death and resurrection. Part 1 includes the Nativity, and it was to this opening section that the Akron Symphony and music director Christopher Wilkins devoted themselves on Saturday, November 15.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra makes a sinister showing of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (Nov. 5)

by

by Peter Feher

A violin bow is an unlikely murder weapon. But in the hands of composer Bernard Herrmann, the slashing motion of a string instrument seems almost one and the same with the stabbing knife onscreen in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho.

The infamous soundtrack to secretary Marion Crane’s final moments in the shower — and also to private investigator Milton Arbogast’s stumbling death down the stairs later in the film — is horrifyingly simple. A series of screeching down-bows begins in the first violins and then stacks in dissonant intervals as the remaining string sections join in. The gesture is more like a Foley effect than music per se, evoking something between a human scream and the shriek of metal against metal.

[Read more…]

Pianist Daniil Trifonov brings Brahms’ vision to life with Cleveland Orchestra (Oct. 9)

by

by Peter Feher

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Johannes Brahms took more than two decades to compose a follow-up to his First Piano Concerto, but audiences at Severance Music Center have only had to wait two years for the sequel.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov is back with The Cleveland Orchestra this week, tackling Brahms’ monumental Second Concerto after playing the First here in 2023. And in a neat pairing, Music Director Franz Welser-Möst has programmed Sergei Prokofiev’s Seventh Symphony as the companion piece — the Sixth having accompanied Trifonov on his previous appearance.

Reversing the usual performance order (soloist on the first half, big symphonic work on the second), Brahms was the main event after intermission Thursday in Mandel Concert Hall. It’s a sensible way to present a piece that often resembles a symphony in style, scope and sheer impact.

[Read more…]

James Ehnes and Orion Weiss open Cleveland Chamber Music Society season (Sept. 16)

by

by Peter Feher

If James Ehnes ever decided to launch a fan club, one of the first chapters would undoubtedly be formed in Northeast Ohio.

The esteemed Canadian violinist has made occasional concerto appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra over the years, but local audiences have come to know him best through chamber performances that offer an unparalleled experience of his artistry.

This feeling of intimate familiarity united Ehnes and an enthusiastic crowd at Disciples Christian Church on Tuesday, Sept. 16, for the opening concert of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society’s 2025–26 season. [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire: “Fencing Match: Round One” (Aug. 9)

by

by Peter Feher

Before the sound of armed conflict came to dominate classical music in the 20th century — think of the skittering strings or machine-gun rattle of snare drums in Dmitri Shostakovich’s symphonies — combat didn’t always mean life or death.

Among the aristocracy of 18th-century Europe, the clinking of swords was a cultivated pastime, an art on par with, say, practicing an instrument.

And that’s the spirit with which Apollo’s Fire took the stage at Case Western Reserve University’s Harkness Chapel on Aug. 9 for “Fencing Match: Round One.” The ensemble plans to reprise the program on tour next year, with this summer’s series of concerts serving to sharpen the players’ skills.

Only a few moments during Saturday afternoon’s performance needed that extra bit of fine-tuning. Much of the repertoire was right in the sweet spot for Cleveland’s Baroque orchestra, centering on well-known classics as well as a couple of signature pieces from the Apollo’s Fire canon. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra honors Rodgers & Hammerstein in dazzling Blossom concert (Aug. 17)

by

by Peter Feher

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – If any industry understands the magic of a marquee, it’s Broadway. And few names in the history of musical theater have lit up the Great White Way as brilliantly as Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

Together, the composer and lyricist have been a box-office draw for close to a century, from the smashing success of their first collaboration, “Oklahoma!” (1943) to the packed crowd they drew for The Cleveland Orchestra’s concert at Blossom Music Center on Sunday, Aug. 17.

A versatile trio of vocal soloists shared the spotlight with the ensemble under guest pops conductor Andy Einhorn, but the evening ultimately belonged to the singular duo who transformed the art of songwriting for the stage.

[Read more…]

Piano Days: Natalie Tenenbaum at the Hanna (Aug. 2)

by

By Peter Feher

Piano bars are popular again, declared the New York Post in 2022, and Northeast Ohio got in on the trend earlier this month courtesy of Piano Cleveland.

For the final concert of the presenter’s annual Piano Days series on Saturday, Aug. 2, New York-based performer Natalie Tenenbaum took over Playhouse Square’s intimate Hanna Theatre with a swanky soundtrack that ranged from Frédéric Chopin to Michael Jackson.

The evening, titled “The Piano // Re-Imagined,” felt like a lounge set on steroids, combining genres to crowd-pleasing effect. The only thing missing was cocktail chatter — Tenenbaum held the audience rapt, recital-style, with her tremendous technique at the keyboard.

[Read more…]

Sounds of Bartók, Dohnányi, Liszt shine at Severance Music Center (July 31)

by

by Peter Feher

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s quite possible that a record number of soloists have taken the stage at Severance Music Center over the past few weeks.

Thursday night’s Cleveland Orchestra concert — a symphonic showcase from beginning to end that spotlighted every section of the ensemble — should certainly count toward the virtuoso tally.

The playing of dozens of individual orchestra members came brilliantly to the fore in Mandel Concert Hall. Never mind that no guest soloist was featured. Rather, the evening’s prodigiousness originated with the lineup of composers, expertly channeled by visiting conductor Christoph Koncz.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra performance Saturday at Blossom highlighted by debut of violinist Veronika Eberle (July 19)

by

by Peter Feher

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Four fateful notes were knocking around in Beethoven’s head when he was composing many of his most famous works in his mid-30s.

This motif would, of course, find its supreme expression in his Fifth Symphony, premiered in 1808 and part of the popular imagination ever since. But just a few years before, Beethoven had tried out a variation on the idea — softer but no less suspenseful — at the beginning of his Violin Concerto.

The crowd at Blossom Music Center last night, Saturday July 19, was remarkably hushed, ready to hear the four faint quarter notes tapped out on timpani that begin the concerto. Over the next 45 minutes, violinist Veronika Eberle elaborated on the sequence in numerous flights of virtuosic fancy, floating high above the solid, sturdy accompaniment of the Cleveland Orchestra. Yet throughout, the performance remained grounded in the quiet clarity of that opening measure.

[Read more…]

Follow ClevelandClassical.com

Contact us