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Baldwin Wallace Opera presents Midwest premiere of Glory Denied

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by Mike Telin

After serving their country, many veterans are faced with multiple challenges as they re-adjust to civilian life. At the top of that list is reconnecting with and re-establishing a role in the family. These issues will be addressed this weekend as Baldwin Wallace Opera presents the Midwest premiere of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied.

Based on the book by Tom Philpott, the two-act, 77-minute chamber opera tells the true story of Jim Thompson, the longest-held prisoner of war in U.S. military history, as he tries to re-assimilate into American life after spending nine years behind enemy lines in Vietnam.

Guest baritone Gregory Gerbrandt (above) sings the title role and Brian Onderdonk conducts a nine-piece chamber orchestra on Friday, October 19 at 7:00 pm at Red Space in Cleveland, and on Sunday, October 21 at 3:00 pm in BW’s Gamble Auditorium in Berea. A talk-back will follow each performance. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Voice of the Lake — a conversation with composer Margaret Brouwer

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by Mike Telin

Growing up, composer Margaret Brouwer spent many wonderful summers enjoying the beauty of Lake Erie at her family’s cottage in Huron, Ohio. But when dangerous levels of algae blooms in the Lake’s western basin caused a water crisis in Toledo in 2014, the ensuing national conversation about environmental pollution and the state of the country’s drinking water became the source of inspiration for her Voice of the Lake. We spoke with the composer before the work’s premiere in November of 2017.

The revised version will be presented on Friday, October 19 at 7:00 pm at Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music (above, rehearsal photo). The performance features soprano Angela Mortellaro, mezzo-soprano Sarah Beaty, tenor Brian Skoog, bass Bryant Bush, the Blue Streak Ensemble and Chamber Singers, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Children’s Choir, all under the direction of Domenico Boyagian. The performance will be video-recorded for future broadcast. Tickets are available online.

Written in four parts, the oratorio is a musical description of Lake Erie during the first quarter of the 21st century. While the work portrays the Lake’s magical side — waves splashing on the rocks, walks on the beach, children playing in the water, and the pleasure of a fisherman in his boat — it also highlights the Lake’s many environmental problems as well as the innovative attempts that are being made to combat those problems.

[Read more…]

Gustavo Gimeno returns to the Cleveland Orchestra podium

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by Mike Telin

When Gustavo Gimeno was appointed principal percussion of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, he quickly began doing something that he had wanted to do for some time. “I always wanted to study conducting,” the friendly maestro said by phone from St. Louis. “It was not so much an attempt to become a conductor — that was not really in my thoughts. I did it to become a better musician.”

Later this week, the music director-designate of the Toronto Symphony will make his Severance Hall debut when he leads The Cleveland Orchestra in a program that will feature principal cello Mark Kosower in Alberto Ginastera’s Second Cello Concerto, along with Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandal and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. You can hear the full program on Thursday, October 18 at 7:30 pm, Friday, October 19 at 7:00 pm (the first Fridays@7 concert of the season), and Saturday, October 20 at 8:00 pm, or a shorter version without the Ginastera on Friday at 11:00 am (a one-hour matinee). Tickets are available online.

These concerts will mark Gimeno’s third visit to the Orchestra’s podium — the two previous times were at Blossom. [Read more…]

Burning River Baroque examines old works under #MeToo lens

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Everyone agrees, it’s a deeply troubling time. Where we disagree: which parts are troubling, and how to respond to those troubles — a question artists continue to grapple with.

Some see their art as an important refuge, something that’s both pure and purifying. Others feel art should dig into the noise, perhaps as a way to understand it more deeply.

The latter mindset informs the most recent program from Burning River Baroque. In three concerts this weekend, Malina Rauschenfels (Baroque cello, soprano) and Paula Maust (harpsichord) will examine works by Couperin, Rameau, Jacquet de la Guerre, Caccini, Eccles, and Courbois under the light of the #MeToo era. They’ll also compare texts from those pieces with lyrics from some of today’s pop music to see what has changed, and what hasn’t.

Rauschenfels and Maust will bring “Destructive Desires” to St. Alban Episcopal Church on Saturday, October 20 at 7:30 pm, then to the sanctuary at Lakewood Congregational Church on Sunday, October 21 at 2:00 pm. A donation of $10-20 is suggested, and Sunday’s proceeds will benefit YWCA Greater Cleveland. An earlier house concert will take place on Friday, October 19 beginning at 7:30 pm in Cleveland Heights — details here on how to attend.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: ten minutes with Ana Vidović

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by Jarrett Hoffman

With some performances, you can just tell that the player has a special relationship to the piece. But do you really know? During a recent phone call with Croatian guitarist Ana Vidović, I tested that theory: having heard her play Francisco Tárrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra in a recording on YouTube, I asked her if there’s a reason it sounds so natural in her hands.

“Actually, it’s one of my favorite pieces,” she said. (Me: quiet fist pump.) “I’ve played it since I was very young — I love the melody. And no matter how many times I play it, it’s always interesting to me.”

On Saturday, October 20 at 7:30 pm, Vidović will return to Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights as part of the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s International Series, armed with a program that begins with Bach and ends with Piazzola. In between: pieces by Giuliani, Tárrega, Mongore, and Scarlatti. Tickets can be purchased here.

[Read more…]

A conversation with Jeannette Sorrell about Apollo’s Fire’s new season

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by Daniel Hathaway

Apollo’s Fire will begin and end its 2018-2019 season with large orchestral works — starting with Mozart (and a bit of Haydn) this weekend, and culminating in J.S. Bach’s great B-minor Mass in April. In between, Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra will revisit Handel’s Messiah and present an updated version of Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain, as well as producing smaller concerts featuring Middle Eastern music, the “Mystery” violin sonatas of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, a program of double and quadruple concertos, and a new chamber series, Baroque Bistro, in collaboration with area restaurants.

Founder and artistic director Jeannette Sorrell said in a telephone conversation that the opening concerts at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Music on October 12 and 14 will give the Orchestra new opportunities with some familiar repertoire. “Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and the Ballet Music from Idomeneo are pieces we’ve lived with for a number of years, but we’ve never had the chance to play them in a proper-sized concert hall or to film them for video, which is becoming more and more important for the ensemble. Our videos were the first introduction to Apollo’s Fire for many people.” [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical to present Les Violons du Roy: A conversation with countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo

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by Mike Telin

When countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo was thinking about what to include on his debut recording for Decca Gold, he wanted more than just an anthology of arias from one composer. “As a countertenor my repertoire is split between the contemporary and the Baroque, so I started thinking about how to bridge that gap,” Costanzo said during a telephone conversation. “I have sung Handel all my life. My technique has been defined by that and my soul lies there. And when I sang the music of Philip Glass for the first time it changed me. It influenced my thinking about making art and about being a dramatic singer.”

On Tuesday, October 16 at 7:30 pm in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical will present Anthony Roth Costanzo and the Montreal-based Baroque orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, under the direction of Jonathan Cohen. The program will feature works from that debut album: ARC Glass/Handel. Tickets are available online.

Costanzo said that the music of Handel and Glass have similar qualities when it comes to harmonic language and emotional impact, as well as repetition. “Handel has the da capo aria — A and B sections then the A section repeated. He’ll also take lines of text and he’ll chunk them up by repeating a couple of words in that line several times, then he’ll go onto the next set of words and he’ll repeat them a few times. That’s almost exactly what Glass does, except he repeats the music itself.”

[Read more…]

The life of a puppeteer:
Cleveland Philharmonic, National
Marionette Theater come together
for Peter and the Wolf

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by Jarrett Hoffman

It’s not every day — or really any day — that you get to talk to a puppeteer. Filling that void in my life was David Syrotiak, managing director of the Erie-based National Marionette Theatre. We connected recently by telephone, about thirty seconds after one missed call — he told me he had paint all over his fingers from working on some new marionettes.

Syrotiak will bring his marionette company to Northeast Ohio this weekend for a unique take on Prokofiev’s ever-charming Peter and the Wolf in collaboration with the Cleveland Philharmonic, led by Victor Liva. Catch them on Saturday, October 13 at 7:30 pm in Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University, or on Sunday, October 14 at 3:00 pm at Westlake Performing Arts Center.

The program also includes Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, featuring Ron Palka and Coren Estrin Mino of the Double Digit Piano Duo, and narrator Todd Christopher. (Purchase tickets here.) [Read more…]

Mwatabu Okantah to join Cavani Quartet for “Collage: Music & Poetry” this weekend

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by Jarrett Hoffman

If you’ve ever been curious about weaving together music and spoken word — or if you’ve ever doubted it’s even worthwhile trying — take a listen here to a powerful, surprising combination: the music of Dvořák, played by the Cavani Quartet, and the original poetry of Mwatabu Okantah.

Then, for the price of a freewill offering, go hear the Quartet and Okantah in their program “Collage: Music & Poetry” on the Arts Renaissance Tremont series this Sunday, October 14 at 3:00 pm at Pilgrim Congregational Church. The interweaving not only of two art forms, but also of African and European cultural roots, promises to be fascinating — and a different experience from watching it online, as Cavani violinist Mari Sato told me during a recent telephone conversation.

“If you have that afternoon free and can experience it live, I have to say it’s quite magical,” Sato said. “The messages of the African-American experience, self-discovery, and friendship resonate deeply and move me every time. And the weaving in and out of the poetry with the music is different with each performance as we feed off of one another’s energy and enjoy the interplay of the two art forms. That spontaneity makes for a very live experience. There is nothing like it.” [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series:
A conversation with
violinist James Ehnes

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by Mike Telin

Without a doubt, James Ehnes is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. “How are you today, thanks for calling,” the Canadian violinist said, answering his cell phone in Nashville. “I’m really looking forward to getting back to Oberlin. And of course, under these special circumstances with the unveiling of this violin, it’s going to be a nice occasion.”

On Sunday, October 14 at 2:30 pm in Finney Chapel, James Ehnes will make a return visit to the Oberlin Artist Recital Series along with pianist Andrew Armstrong. Their program will feature the earliest published works by Beethoven, Ravel, Brahms, and Corigliano. And the “unveiling of this violin” he mentioned refers to the recently restored 1722 ‘ex-Vallot’ Stradivarius instrument owned by Oberlin, on which he’ll be performing. Tickets are available online.

Sunday’s concert will mark the first public hearing of the ‘ex-Vallot’ in nearly two decades, and since its complete restoration by the Chicago-based restorer John K. Becker. Ehnes’ invitation to perform on the instrument came from the conservatory’s long-time professor of violin Marilyn McDonald, who has known Ehnes since his teenage years, when he spent his summers performing at the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin. “I think I’ve known Marilyn for over 20 years,” Ehnes recalled. “She’s a special woman and it’s always nice to spend time with her.” [Read more…]

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