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David Robertson to lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a program of Americana

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by Mike Telin

While many performing organizations take time off during the Thanksgiving weekend, The Cleveland Orchestra will continue its tradition of playing concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon at Severance Music Center. “I think this is a wonderful program to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday,” guest conductor David Robertson said during a Zoom call.

On Friday at 7:30 pm, Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm, Robertson will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in an All-American program that includes Aaron Copland’s Suites from Appalachian Spring and The Tender Land. Pianist Marc-André Hamelin will be the featured soloist in George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Duke Ellington’s New World A-Comin’. A free concert preview with James O’Leary, Associate Professor of Musicology at Oberlin College and Conservatory, takes place in Reinberger Chamber Hall one hour before each performance. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Tuesday Musical presents “Kings ReJoyce!” with Joyce DiDonato, Kings Return, and Craig Terry

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by Mike Telin

With the month of December almost upon us, it’s always interesting to see which of Northeast Ohio’s music organizations will lead the way with holiday programs.

On Tuesday, December 3 at 7:30 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall, Akron’s Tuesday Musical will present “Kings ReJoyce!” with celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, the sensational a capella group Kings Return, and pianist Craig Terry. The Akron performance is the first stop on a seven-city tour. Tickets are available online.

DiDonato’s first-ever holiday show features a treasure trove of seasonal favorites, including “Carol of the Bells,” “Christmas Waltz,” “O Holy Night,” “Sleigh Ride” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” as well as a Motown medley, two versions of “Ave Maria,” and a vocalized “Nutcracker Suite.”

Because of time zone conflicts we were unable to connect with Joyce DiDonato by phone, but she graciously agreed to answer questions by email.

[Read more…]

Finding the Joy with Seckou Keita: Senegalese kora player visits the Oberlin Artist Recital Series

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

The kora, a West African stringed instrument akin to a harp or guitar, doesn’t appear in most orchestral works. So Seckou Keita wrote his own.

Creating African Rhapsodies — which he released in 2023 with the BBC Concert Orchestra — was an “amazing” endeavor, he says. But his entry into the world of opera later that year was another thing entirely.

“When you have classical music meeting the kora, it’s amazing. But then when you have opera on top of that, it’s something else,” says the UK-based Senegalese musician. “That made me really excited.”

The opera he’s referring to is Omar’s Journey, a shortened version of Rhiannon Giddens’ Omar scored for voices and chamber ensemble. Keita was among the small group of musicians who performed Omar’s Journey at the Ojai Music Festival last year. “It kind of confirmed to me that voice is one of the really pure instruments in life. All those other instruments in the world have been made by humankind — but this, people are born with it,” Keita says.

Keita is no stranger to using his voice either, singing to accompany his playing in much of his solo material. And Oberlin audiences have a chance to experience his music making on December 7 at 7:30 pm, when he performs in Finney Chapel as part of the Artist Recital Series. [Read more…]

Cleveland Silent Film & Colloquium: Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life

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by Mike Telin

When Mahtab Nadalian was asked to create a score for the film Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life, the Pittsburgh-based santour player was intrigued by the idea. “I’ve never played a live accompaniment for a silent film, so it sounded like a very interesting project,” she said during a recent telephone conversation.

On Saturday, November 23 at 7:00 pm at the Cinematheque, the Cleveland Silent Film Festival & Colloquium will present Merian C. Cooper’s and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s 1925 documentary film complete with an original score composed and performed by Mahtab Nadalian. The film will be introduced by Evan A. Liberman, Associate Professor of Film, Television, and Interactive Media at Cleveland State University. Tickets are available online.

Considered one of the earliest ethnographic documentary films, Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life follows a branch of the Bakhtiari tribe of Lurs in Persia as they and their herds make their seasonal journey to better pastures.

[Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra: James Thompson reflects on Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending

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by Mike Telin

Two personal interests of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams were poetry and the violin, both of which are magically entwined in his work for violin and orchestra, The Lark Ascending, inspired by George Meredith’s poem of the same name. The composer’s wife Ursula wrote that in the work Vaughan Williams had “taken a literary idea on which to build his musical thought…and had made the violin become both the bird’s song and its flight…”

On Saturday, November 23 at 7:30 pm at the Church of the Covenant, violinist James Thompson will join the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ethereal, single-movement work. Under the direction of Daniel Meyer, the English-themed program — Interlaced Brilliance and Love — also includes Gerald Finzi’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 (“London”). The program will also be presented on Friday the November 22 at Rocky River Presbyterian Church. (Pay-what-you-wish format).

During a recent telephone conversation, Thompson, who is BlueWater’s guest concertmaster this season, said that he understood that the work was under consideration when he was asked to join the ensemble. “I know Daniel is excited to include it on the program, so in a lot of ways, mathematically and logistically, it fits the bill. And it’s actually going to be a first performance for both of us. I’ve not had the opportunity to play the piece either, so we’ll be discovering it together this week.”

[Read more…]

Les Délices explores music of the 14th Century Avant-garde

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by Mike Telin

“My heart always comes back to Medieval music — it’s just so beautiful,” Les Délices artistic director Debra Nagy said during a telephone conversation. “This wonderful program is full of my favorite pieces from that repertoire.”

On Friday, November 22 at 7:30 pm at First Congregational Church in Hudson, Les Délices will present “14th Century Avant-garde.” The evening features music by Guillaume de Machaut, Jacob Senleches, and Johannes Suzoy performed by mezzo-soprano Sophie Michaux, tenor James Reese, Scott Metcalfe (vielle & gothic harp), and Debra Nagy (recorders, douçaines, harp, and voice).

The program will be repeated on Saturday, November 23 at 7:30pm at Inlet Dance Theater in Cleveland and Sunday, November 24 at 4:00pm at Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Heights. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Oberlin plans a weekend of events celebrating 50th anniversary of Warner Concert Hall organ

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by Daniel Hathaway

Fifty years ago, in November 1974, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music inaugurated a monumental new organ in Warner Concert Hall. Built by Flentrop Orgelbouw in Zaandam, the Netherlands, the instrument returned to principles of Dutch and North German organ building during the golden age of the organ in the early and mid-18th century.

Oberin has planned a weekend of festivities that include a faculty recital by Jonathan Moyer and Christa Rakich on Friday at 7:30 (J.S. Bach’s German Organ Mass), a current student recital on Saturday at 11 am, and an alumni recital on Saturday at 4:30 pm. All events are free to attend and will also be live streamed. [Read more…]

CIM Opera Theater to stage Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’étoile

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by Mike Telin

“It’s an incredibly charming work and unabashedly silly,” stage director JJ Hudson said about CIM’s forthcoming production of Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’étoile. “There’s so much vitality and it’s full of great, catchy melodies.”

On Saturday, November 16 at 7:00 pm, CIM Opera Theater will present Chabrier’s comic opera at Westfield Studio Theatre in Playhouse Square, sung in French with English dialogue. Harry Davidson conducts the CIM Orchestra. The production will be repeated on Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

Unabashedly silly? Here’s what happens. [Read more…]

Cuarteto Casals returns to Cleveland Chamber Music Society

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by Mike Telin

Founded in 1997 at the Escuela Reina Sofía in Madrid, Cuarteto Casals quickly garnered international attention by winning first prize at the London International String Quartet Competition and the International Brahms Competition. The Quartet is also the recipient of a prize from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust.

On Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30 pm at The Cultural Arts Center at Disciples Church, Cuarteto Casals — violinists Abel Tomàs and Vera Martínez, violist Cristina Cordero, and cellist Arneau Tomàs —  will return to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society stage with a program that features works by Mozart, Gubaidulina, and Brahms. Tickets are  available online.

I caught up with Cristina Cordero and Arneau Tomàs by Zoom in California, where the Quartet was about to begin a U.S. tour. I began our lively conversation by asking for their thoughts on Mozart’s String Quartet in D, “Hoffmeister.”

[Read more…]

Seraph Brass visits Rocky River with their newest member

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by Stephanie Manning

Seraph Brass welcomed Layan Atieh as their newest core member two months ago — but it may as well have been a lifetime. “I feel like I’ve known them forever,” Atieh said about her new colleagues in a recent interview. “We spend so much time together, I feel like I know everything about them.”

2024 has been quite the busy year for the French horn player, who graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music shortly before winning her audition to be part of the all-female brass quintet. She also recently moved to Chicago to take up a position with the Civic Orchestra there.

But Atieh can’t stay away from Northeast Ohio for too long — and on Monday, November 11 at 7:30 pm, she’ll perform with Seraph Brass for the Rocky River Chamber Music Society. This free concert will take place at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church. More information and the livestream link are available here. [Read more…]

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