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BlueWater Chamber Orchestra crosses the pond without ever leaving Cleveland (Nov. 23)

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By Peter Feher

On Saturday, Nov. 23 at University Circle’s Church of the Covenant, the outstanding BlueWater Chamber Orchestra transported listeners across the Atlantic with a pleasantly English program of Gerald Finzi, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Franz Joseph Haydn. Artistic director Daniel Meyer described his affinity for this repertoire — and explained how Haydn happens to qualify as an “honorary Englishman” — in several amiable asides throughout the evening.

Yet the focus of this concert was undoubtedly on the exceptional caliber of musician that one can find right here in Cleveland.

Violinist James Thompson — a Northeast Ohio native, graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as BlueWater’s guest concertmaster this season — was the star of the night. He soared while soloing in Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, that sentimental favorite that somehow never loses its shine.

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Tuesday Musical: Joyce DiDonato and Kings Return (Dec. 3)

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By Peter Feher

Mariah Carey may be pop music’s undisputed “Queen of Christmas.” But among classical singers, the title has yet to be taken, and this year, superstar mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is vying for the crown.

As far as royalty is concerned, DiDonato has a distinct advantage. This isn’t to imply any sort of better-than-thou diva demeanor, which she’s conspicuously avoided cultivating over the course of a 25-year opera career. Offstage, whether she’s coaching a master class or sharing a bit of herself on social media, DiDonato is known for her openhearted, inviting manner.

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Cleveland Orchestra’s Beethoven concerto cycle: a mini festival of virtuosity (Nov. 6)

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by Peter Feher

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — There’s never been a better time to buy a couple of extra tickets to The Cleveland Orchestra.

Not one but four stellar soloists took the stage at Severance Music Center on Wednesday, Nov. 6 — representing about half of the star-studded lineup coming to Cleveland over the next two weeks. The big event of the Orchestra’s fall season, a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos, is set to feature a different headliner for almost every piece.

This wasn’t the original plan, but with music director Franz Welser-Möst undergoing medical treatment and unable to conduct — and the scheduled soloist for the entire cycle, Igor Levit, withdrawing as a result — the Orchestra had to adapt. The personnel changes were announced on Monday, Nov. 4, including associate conductor Daniel Reith’s stepping in to lead all the performances, which run through Nov. 17.

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Cleveland Orchestra delights Halloween and Christmas fans alike with early holiday concert (Nov. 1)

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by Peter Feher

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — This year, the Cleveland Orchestra has virtually every store, shopping mall, and local radio station beat in being the first to break out the Christmas music.

The day after Halloween may be too early for most Ohioans to start getting into the holiday spirit, but it’s the perfect time for Jack Skellington and the charmingly creepy stop-motion cast of the 1993 animated film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Die-hard fans have often debated during which season the movie should be shown – Halloween or Christmas? You could say the Cleveland Orchestra came up with something of a clever compromise, presenting “Nightmare” live in concert along with the airing of the movie on Friday, Nov. 1 at Severance Music Center. It was a single sold-out performance.

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Apollo’s Fire opens Bach-focused season with Brandenburgs (Oct. 18) 

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by Peter Feher

If it weren’t for J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, there might not be period-instrument ensembles like Apollo’s Fire. Cleveland’s Baroque orchestra, now in its 33rd season, opened its concert year with a solid program built around these staple pieces.

A lively performance of four of the concertos at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights on Friday, October 18 was the first of half a dozen outings for Apollo’s Fire this month (with slight changes in repertoire and personnel along the way).

Bach’s music, in all its consolations and complexities, could easily fill an ensemble’s entire schedule. In fact, that’s sort of what Apollo’s Fire has planned for 2024–25, with artistic director Jeannette Sorrell conceiving of the composer as a “guide star” for the season. The yearlong focus on Bach is set to conclude this spring in a “Bachanalia,” a full month of concerts and workshops around Northeast Ohio. [Read more…]

Gregorio Benítez takes flight in Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux (Oct. 11)

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by Peter Feher

Some of the best birdwatching in Cleveland this season has, unusually, been at Severance Music Center.

The songs of dozens of different species could be heard in Reinberger Chamber Hall on Friday evening, October 11, when Spanish pianist Gregorio Benítez presented selections from Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux (Catalog of birds).

This just happened to be the same weekend that The Cleveland Orchestra, upstairs in Mandel Concert Hall, was performing two avian-inspired works: Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto, which ends with an echoing seagull effect, and Jean Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony, whose finale is meant to depict swans in flight.

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Les Délices makes magic in “Moonlit Mozart” (Oct. 5)

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by Peter Feher

There were no sets, costumes, or actors in sight when the strains of Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute started up at Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Heights on Saturday, October 5. Yet Les Délices, the enterprising and adaptable period-instrument ensemble led by oboist and artistic director Debra Nagy, was putting on a serious production all the same.

Eight specialist wind players had come together for “Moonlit Mozart,” the first concerts of Les Délices’ 2024-25 season. (Two additional performances, in Akron on October 3 and in Rocky River on October 6, filled out the weekend.)

“This is a bucket-list program for me,” Nagy explained from the stage, detailing the reasons why this once-standard combination of instruments is so rarely heard today. [Read more…]

Great Lakes Theater goes Into the Woods (Sept. 28)

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by Peter Feher

This season, Great Lakes Theater is uniquely positioned to put on a near-perfect production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.

The regional company, in residence at the Hanna Theatre, has time and again mounted some of the most appealing shows at Playhouse Square — more intimate than the Broadway tours that stop just down the street but no less lavishly performed.

You could say it was all for the best that the recent New York revival of Into the Woods — with its rotating celebrity cast paying larger-than-life tribute to Sondheim, who died in 2021 — never made it to Cleveland. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra provides a grand musical backdrop for an epic screening of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (August 2) 

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by Peter Feher
This article was originally published on cleveland.com

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio  — The Cleveland Orchestra has assembled an army of musicians for this weekend’s performances at Blossom Music Center, which is only fitting for an epic finale.

Hundreds of singers and instrumentalists are joining forces for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” live in concert, the eagerly awaited conclusion to a trilogy that began for Northeast Ohio audiences in 2022.

Over three summers, the Cleveland Orchestra will have presented each film in director Peter Jackson’s monumental fantasy series — the ensemble playing Howard Shore’s sweeping symphonic scores as the story of Frodo and Sam, the One Ring, and the fate of Middle-earth unfolds on screens around the Blossom Pavilion.

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The Cleveland Orchestra: Summers at Severance with Petr Popelka & James Ehnes (July 25)

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by Peter Feher

Movie music has been cropping up on more and more Cleveland Orchestra programs in recent seasons — even when it’s not advertised.

This was all to the good at Severance Music Center on Thursday, July 25. The Orchestra sounded very much its polished self in the second concert of this year’s Summers at Severance series, the set of strictly classical offerings that the ensemble has brought back to balance out this summer’s lighter programming at Blossom Music Center.

All the same, summer was in full swing on Euclid Avenue. The front terrace outside Severance was strung with lights and set up with white tents serving refreshments. [Read more…]

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