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Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra’s spring concert features solo trombone, ‘New World’ symphony (May 10)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Like clockwork, spring has sprung, and so too has the traditional Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra spring concert — a celebratory affair that marks the final, bittersweet performance for the high school seniors in the group.

This annual concert always features the ensemble’s most recent Concerto Competition winner, an honor bestowed this year on trombonist Grace Berendt. With so much wonderful string and piano literature, wind and brass instruments often face an uphill battle during these types of competitions, making Berendt’s opportunity feel particularly exciting.

On Sunday, May 10, the Aurora High School senior came to the front of the Mandel Concert Hall stage to perform Ferdinand David’s Trombone Concertino under the direction of James Feddeck.

[Read more…]

Isidore String Quartet and Jeremy Denk collaborate for Cleveland Chamber Music Society season finale

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by Stephanie Manning

When the Isidore String Quartet performed in Northeast Ohio last year, they faced some unusual circumstances. On the way to their Tuesday Musical engagement with pianist Jeremy Denk, violist Devin Moore came down with a painful case of strep throat, and the group had to find a substitute player at the last minute.

In their more than three years of touring, the Isidore have faced obstacles like flight delays and other illnesses. But “ that was actually the first time that we’ve had to call someone else in,” said violinist Phoenix Avalon. Eva Kennedy, the violist of the Callisto Quartet, drove up from Columbus in time for the day-of rehearsal and soundcheck. ” It was very last-minute, but we were glad that she could come in.”

Next Tuesday, the Isidore will return to the area — with all four members thankfully in good health — for their 7:30 pm concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art, presented by the Cleveland Chamber Music Society. The Juilliard-trained group will present quartets by Haydn and Ligeti and reunite with Jeremy Denk for Brahms’ Quintet for Piano and Strings in f minor. Tickets for the May 19 concert are available online. [Read more…]

Les Délices and soprano Hannah de Priest leave audiences “Starstruck” (Apr. 26)

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by Stephanie Manning

Part season finale, part album release party, Les Délices’ recent “Starstruck” program celebrated both its past and its future.

The group’s latest CD, Arcadian Dreams — released on March 13 — collects a group of pastoral pieces that local audiences heard live in 2024, featuring soprano Hannah de Priest. Last week, de Priest marked the album’s release by returning for “Starstruck,” a program of music exclusively by Georg Frederic Handel. The performances toured Akron and Cleveland Heights before the final rendition on Sunday, April 26, at Rocky River’s West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church.

Les Délices have been more than happy to support the exciting, early career of de Priest, who first met artistic director Debra Nagy as a Case Western Reserve University student and currently works as the group’s communications director. As Nagy put it, Les Délices decided to record a CD with her before anyone else did — and the wisdom of that choice is apparent once you hear her sing.

[Read more…]

Jörg Widmann featured as composer-conductor in first of two weeks with The Cleveland Orchestra (Apr. 30)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — When the lights dimmed in Mandel Concert Hall on Thursday night, April 30, audience members were greeted not by a stage full of seated musicians, but by a collection of empty chairs and stands, waiting for their players to file on from the wings. An unconventional beginning — but unconventional is what Jörg Widmann does best.

A conductor, composer, and clarinetist, Widmann is no stranger to Severance Music Center. He served as The Cleveland Orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow from 2009 to 2011, and his music has resurfaced in the Orchestra’s programs ever since. But this week marked his debut on the podium.

To celebrate the occasion, Widmann paired three works of his own, including a U.S. premiere, with Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, “Reformation.”

[Read more…]

Renée Fleming’s “Voice of Nature” caps off Tuesday Musical season (Apr. 21)

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by Stephanie Manning

It’s too bad that Earth Day — April 22 — didn’t fall on a Tuesday this year. But the eve of Earth Day still felt like a fitting time to hear “Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene,” the program Renée Fleming recently brought to Tuesday Musical.

The superstar soprano’s current touring concert — based on her Grammy-winning album of the same name — is a product of her increasing connection to nature during the early days of the pandemic. Fleming’s visit to Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall on April 21st brought out one of the biggest crowds in recent memory, greeting her with a celebrity welcome.

Although the album and the concert program share a title, only some of the original tracks were present, specifically Nico Muhly’s Endless Space and Kevin Puts’ Evening. Pieces by Edvard Grieg, Gabriel Fauré, and Franz Liszt were swapped for a more eclectic combination of genres, including Björk’s “All Is Full of Love” and Hazel Dickens’ “Pretty Bird.” Throughout, Fleming sang both with a handheld microphone, and unamplified.

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Soprano Midori Marsh marks a homecoming with BlueWater Chamber Orchestra

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by Stephanie Manning

When the Phantom of the Opera North American tour visits Playhouse Square in April 2027, Midori Marsh will have plenty of reasons to celebrate. The soprano — who is currently playing the role of Carlotta — grew up in Cleveland Heights, and the city is still home to many of her friends and family.

But Marsh’s first milestone homecoming actually arrives this week. On May 2 and 3, she will join BlueWater Chamber Orchestra for their program “Rustic Reverie,” singing Joseph Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne. Douglas Moore’s Farm Journal and Haydn’s Symphony No. 99 in E-flat Major round out the program, conducted by artistic director Daniel Meyer. Tickets and venue information are available online.

Marsh’s parents still live in Cleveland Heights, and she occasionally comes back to sing for the Church of the Covenant’s Christmas Eve service. “But when it comes to a capital ‘G’ gig, I think this might be my first one in Cleveland,” she said. “So it’s a bit of a thrill, really.” [Read more…]

Pianist Alexander Kantorow’s thoughtful artistry defines his Cleveland debut (Apr. 16)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — On the cover of the Severance Music Center’s April 16 program book, Alexandre Kantorow stares at the viewer from one end of the piano keyboard, his face mirrored in the glossy fallboard. That stylistic presentation felt quite fitting for the French pianist, a musician who brings out the contrasting sides in every piece and whose playing often produces a reflective, translucent quality.

Currently on a multi-week tour of the U.S., Kantorow made his Cleveland debut on Thursday night at Severance Music Center. Dressed in all black, he initially cut an unassuming figure, an impression that quickly dissolved with the intense opening chords of Franz Liszt’s Variations on Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen after J.S. Bach.

[Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire revives the beautiful “O Jerusalem!” (Apr. 10)

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by Stephanie Manning

Every performance of “O Jerusalem! Crossroads of Three Faiths” is guaranteed to be a little different. Not only are there plenty of opportunities for the performers to improvise, but Apollo’s Fire has also made tweaks to the music selections in the years since the first performances.

Even so, “much has changed since I created this program in 2018,” artistic director Jeannette Sorrell acknowledged in the program book and onstage on April 10. Music that brings together Israeli and Palestinian performers feels heavier in 2026, two-and-a-half years after war erupted in the Gaza strip.

The concerts presented this April approached this reality with both seriousness and joy, a blend both true to the spirit of the original program and respectful of the current moment. I heard the Friday performance at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium. The two musical and cultural consultants, Daphna Mor (Jewish) and Ronnie Malley (Arab), worked with Sorrell to add some new repertoire for this revival. [Read more…]

Richard Goode’s Musical Short Stories

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

In Richard Goode’s mental directory of acoustically great places, Finney Chapel easily makes the list.

“ I think about places partly in terms of how the hall sounds,” he says. So when he finds venues with fabulous acoustics, “I remember them with great affection. The atmosphere was so perfect that when you played, you felt that everything mattered.”

The highly-respected American pianist, known for his interpretation of Mozart and Beethoven, has performed on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series quite a few times. It’s been nine years since his last appearance in Finney. “I don’t remember what I played,” he says. “I just remember how good it felt.”

On Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m., Goode will return to Finney Chapel and the Artist Recital Series with his program “Fancies and Goodnights.” He will pair that personally curated selection of short works with two sonatas by Mozart and Schubert. [Read more…]

Poiesis Quartet lift up their peers with the beautifully thoughtful “Love Letters” (Mar. 11)

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by Stephanie Manning

Much has already been made of the meaning of “Poiesis,” a Greek word that means “to create,” particularly something new. The Poiesis Quartet, who play new and commissioned works all the time, live up to their name in all sorts of ways. But this idea felt more relevant than usual during their recent visit to the school where they were founded.

On March 18, the Poiesis returned to Oberlin Conservatory to present “Love Letters,” a project that commissioned works from five QTPOC (Queer & Trans People of Color) composers, all either current Oberlin students or alumni.

The resulting collection of deeply personal pieces gave the Quartet — violinists Sarah Ying Ma and Max Ball, violist Jasper de Boor, and cellist Drew Dansby — the opportunity to give back to the communities that shaped and supported them. And it gave the composers the opportunity to hear their music performed by a quartet whose star only continues to rise.

[Read more…]

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