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Didjeridu virtuoso Stephen Kent to appear on FUZE! Series and at SPACES

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by Mike Telin

Steven-Kent2How does a man born in Britain, raised in East Africa, and trained on the French horn come to play an instrument developed by the Aboriginal people of Northern Australia? “I was inspired to play the didjeridu while working as music director for Circus Oz in Australia in the early 1980s,” Stephen Kent said during a recent telephone conversation.

On Saturday, March 18 at 7:00 pm at the Akron Art Museum, Tuesday Musical will present Stephen Kent and the San Francisco-based Del Sol String Quartet as part of the FUZE! Series. [Read more…]

Stravinsky’s Threni at Severance Hall: a conversation with Patrick Dupré Quigley

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by Daniel Hathaway

Patrick-Dupre-QuigleyThis week’s pair of Cleveland Orchestra concerts led by music director Franz Welser-Möst will be devoted to works in a variety of styles by Igor Stravinsky. One of the most challenging is Threni: Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah, a piece the composer premiered at the Venice Biennale in September 1958. Threni will be performed on Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18 by The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus and the Miami-based chamber chorus Seraphic Fire, now in its fifteenth season.

We spoke by telephone last week with Seraphic Fire’s founder and artistic director Patrick Dupré Quigley, who was already in Cleveland on another assignment with the Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]

NEOSonicFest 2017 to include half a dozen new music concerts

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by Jeremy Reynolds

CCS-032814-Bill-NairnanFor the past three years, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony has sponsored NEOSonicFest, a new music festival that spotlights musicians and groups in Northeast Ohio. The festival begins on Friday, March 17 and runs through Sunday, March 26 (see below for concert dates and times).

“There’s always been an incredibly active new music scene in Cleveland,” said Steven Smith, music director of the Grammy Award-winning Cleveland Chamber Symphony. “Cleveland is unique in terms of the high level of its artistic institutions for a city of its size, and it’s been that way for a very long time.” New to the 2017 roster are the ensembles No Exit, the percussion and saxophone duo Patchwork, and harpist Stephan Haluska. [Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland to explore “David Bowie’s Playlist” in five concerts

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by Mike Telin

BowieWhen David Robert Jones, a.k.a. David Bowie, passed away in January of 2016, the English singer, songwriter, actor, and popular-culture icon left the world with a prodigious artistic canon. With a career dating back to 1962, Bowie was constantly reinventing himself. That raises the question — what and who were his artistic inspirations?

In the first of five concerts, beginning on Wednesday, March 15 at 7:30 at St. Jerome Church in Cleveland, audiences will be able to discover some answers to that question when Avner Dorman leads CityMusic Cleveland in “What’s on David Bowie’s Playlist?” [Read more…]

Neos Dance Meets Symphony in Akron: a conversation with Robert Wesner

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by Mike Telin

Neos-Dance-TheaterIf you’re looking for a different way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the Akron Symphony has the answer. On Friday, March 17 at 8:00 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall, Christopher Wilkins will lead the Orchestra in a program titled “Dance Meets Symphony.” The first half of the program will include Irish-themed works by Leroy Anderson as well as Manuel de Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat.

The second half of the evening will mark the first mainstage collaboration between the ASO and Neos Dance Theatre. [Read more…]

Welser-Möst to conduct Bach’s
St. John Passion: an overview and report of a panel discussion

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by Daniel Hathaway

JohannespassionMSOf Johann Sebastian Bach’s two extant Passion settings, the St. John is the more dramatic, an excursion in a speedboat compared to the ocean liner-like progress of the St. Matthew.

This weekend, music director Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra and Chamber Chorus in three performances of Bach’s St. John Passion, with tenor Maximilian Schmitt as the Evangelist, bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams as Christus, and soprano Lauren Snouffer, countertenor Iestyn Davies, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as soloists.

As part of Bach’s plan to establish a “well-regulated church music” after his arrival in Leipzig in 1723, he initiated a five-year cycle of weekly cantatas, and planned an elaborate setting of the Passion according to the Gospel of John for performance on Good Friday afternoon of 1724. [Read more…]

Music from the Western Reserve to present KSU’s Black Squirrel Winds

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by Jeremy Reynolds

Black-Squirrel-Wind-Quintet“We all really enjoy French music,” said Black Squirrel Winds oboist Danna Sundet. “These pieces were written within a decade of each other, between 1923 and 1932, and give a snapshot into wind music in the first part of the 20th century.”

On Sunday, March 12 at 5:00 pm at Christ Church Episcopal in Hudson, Kent State University’s faculty wind quintet, the Black Squirrel Winds, will perform as part of Music From the Western Reserve’s concert series. The program will include music by Tansman, Janáček, and Poulenc.

Formed five years ago, Black Squirrel Winds regularly performs on Kent State’s main campus, the University’s satellite campuses, and at other colleges and high schools. [Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: a chat with recitalist Mark Kosower

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by Mike Telin

kosower-oh“The purpose of a cello society is to raise awareness of the instrument and what it brings to music,” Cleveland Orchestra Principal Cello Mark Kosower said during a recent conversation. “It’s also a place to share ideas about cello playing and music making. So the societies are important to cello communities, and communities at large.”

On Friday, March 10 at 7:00 pm at The Music Settlement, The Cleveland Cello Society will present Mark Kosower and pianist Jee-Won Oh in a recital that will feature works by Beethoven, Brahms, Khachaturian, Martinů, and Schubert.

Kosower said that the cello is one of the most versatile and expressive instruments around. “It’s a remarkable instrument. Few others can compare, in my humble but correct opinion,” he said, laughing. “Its range runs the entire spectrum of the human voice.” [Read more…]

Les Délices & Boston’s Blue Heron to collaborate on Machaut’s Remède de Fortune

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by Mike Telin

court-of-loveDuring his lifetime, French Medieval poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut produced manuscripts of 6 complete works containing more than 15 long narrative poems, 280 lyric poems, and 23 secular motets, as well as the earliest setting of the complete ordinary of the Mass by a single composer.

This weekend, Les Délices and Boston-based vocal ensemble Blue Heron will present one of Machaut’s narrative poems, Remède de Fortune. This musical-poetic masterpiece recounts the story of a bumbling lover who — with help from Hope and by the good grace of Fortune — ultimately gets the girl. The performances will include projected supertitles and manuscript images illustrating the story.

A free, open rehearsal at St. John’s Church in Ohio City on Wednesday, March 8 beginning at 6:30 pm will be followed by three full performances: Thursday, March 9 at 8:00 pm in Stull Recital Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory (free); Saturday, March 11 at 8:00 pm at St. John’s; and Sunday, March 12 at 4:00 pm in Herr Chapel of Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. [Read more…]

Dreams come true at Oberlin Opera Theater’s Cendrillon March 8-12

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by Julie Anna Gulenko
Reprinted with permission from the
Oberlin College & Conservatory News Center

Oberlin Opera Theater aims to please seasoned patrons and first-timers alike with its spring production of Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon, which will be performed four times March 8 through 12 at Oberlin College & Conservatory’s Hall Auditorium.

Capturing all the magic and whimsy of the original tale of Cinderella, Oberlin’s production provides opera director Jonathon Field with the opportunity to engage audiences young and not-so-young.

“This is the perfect show for young people who have not seen opera before, and we have made it accessible for families of all ages,” says Field (below), who is hailed for his sometimes fantastically untraditional approaches to traditional repertoire. [Read more…]

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