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Oberlin Opera Theater to stage Handel’s Alcina March 9-13

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by Mike Telin

Alcina-&-Ruggiero“There’ve always been stories about the young soldier who leaves his native country to go fight in a distant land but then becomes immersed in that land’s culture, and for whatever reason loses himself and his purpose,” Oberlin Opera Theatre Director Jonathon Field said during an interview. “That’s exactly what happens in Alcina — you have Ruggiero, who flies on a griffin onto this island and becomes enchanted with the sorceress Queen Alcina.”

On Wednesday, March 9 at 8:00 pm in Hall Auditorium, and continuing on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm, conductor Christopher Larkin will lead the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra and two all-star casts in Handel’s fantastical opera Alcina. [Read more…]

French pianist Julien Brocal to join his mentor Maria João Pires for Reinberger Chamber Hall recital

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by Daniel Hathaway

Pires-and-Brocal-by-Michel-CooremanIn 2012, after nearly 60 years of concertizing, Portuguese-born concert pianist Maria João Pires cut back on her performances but embarked on a new career as a mentor of young pianists at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, Belgium.

On Thursday, March 10 in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall at Severance Hall, Pires will join 29-year-old French pianist Julien Brocal for a recital in her Partitura Project, a program designed to create opportunities for young musicians to share the concert platform with well-known artists.

Pires will play Beethoven’s final pair of sonatas, Op. 110 and 111, while Brocal will perform Maurice Ravel’s Sonatine and Miroirs. The two pianists will join in Maurice Ravel’s transcription for piano four-hands of Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après midi d’un Faune. [Read more…]

Miró Quartet to visit Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series on March 10

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by Mike Telin

Miro-Quartet“Northeast Ohio is an important place for the quartet. We’ve spent a lot of time there,” Miró Quartet cellist Joshua Gindele said during a telephone conversation from his studio at the University of Texas Butler School of Music, where the ensemble is Quartet in Residence. “We formed the original group in 1995 when we were students at Oberlin. Then we studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and later taught at Kent State University, so we know a lot of people in the area.”

On Thursday, March 10 at 8:00 pm in Finney Chapel, Gindele and his current Miró Quartet colleagues — violinists Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, and violist John Largess — will return to the area for a performance on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series. The program will feature Beethoven’s three Op. 59 “Razumovsky” Quartets. [Read more…]

Opera Circle Cleveland’s Magic Flute: perspectives from Tamino and Papageno

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by Mike Telin

zauberflote-compositeHere’s a story: a young prince named Tamino finds himself lost in a far-off land being pursued by a snake, and he faints. Three ladies, attendants of the Queen of the Night, appear and kill the snake. After arguing about which of them should stay with the handsome Tamino, they leave. Tamino wakes up just as Papageno, a birdcatcher who dresses like a bird, enters and complains that he has no wife — he also takes credit for killing the snake.

The three ladies reappear and put a padlock over his mouth to remind him that it is not good to tell lies. Before leaving they give Tamino a portrait of Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night. In an instant, he falls in love. Thus the stage is set for one of the most beloved operas of all time: The Magic Flute. [Read more…]

Cleveland Museum of Art presents Dervish, the Irish Sligo Band

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by Mike Telin

Dervish“Sligo music is known as one of the finest types of Irish traditional music,” singer Cathy Jordan of the band Dervish said during a telephone conversation. “The style is fast and furious with highly ornamented reels, jigs, and hornpipes. It has a jaunt to it and it’s very rhythmic.”

On Friday, March 11 at 7:30 pm, Dervish will make a stop at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium as part of the band’s three-week U.S. tour. The evening’s high-energy performance will feature Brian McDonagh on mandolin, Liam Kelly on flute and whistles, Shane Mitchell on accordion, Michael Holmes on bouzouki, Cathy Jordan on vocals, and special guest Kevin Burke on fiddle. The concert is part of the Museum’s Performing Arts Series.   [Read more…]

NEOSonicFest: Contemporary Youth Orchestra to team up with Neoglyphic Entertainment

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by Mike Telin

CYO-Recording-Sunborn-RisingOn Saturday, March 12 at 7:00 pm in Cleveland State University’s Waetjen Auditorium, Liza Grossman’s Contemporary Youth Orchestra will team up with Neoglyphic Entertainment to present “POWER UP, music from video games. The program will includes tunes from Super Mario Brothers, Angry Birds, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Zelda, Pokemon, and Halo, and music from the upcoming video game Sunborn Rising. The concert, presented as part of NEOSonicFest, is the tenth edition of CYO’s annual Music and its Industry series.

In the past, the series has focused on Broadway music, movie scoring, and songwriting. This year, the program will feature past and future video game music. “Video games are filled with fantasy and require logic, memory, and quick reaction from both mind and body to fulfill goals,” CYO founder and artistic director Liza Grossman said during an interview. “The music gives the experience more depth and really creates the atmosphere of each game. It can be light and fun, like Mario Brothers, or deep and foreboding, like Final Fantasy.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Classical Guitar Society
to present Kuropaczewski-
Frąckiewicz Duo

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by Mike Telin

Kuropaczewki-FrackiewiczIn October of 2014 Polish guitarist Łukasz Kuropaczewski presented a stunning debut recital for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society. On Saturday, March 12 at 7:30 in Plymouth Church, Kuropaczewski will return to the CCGS International Series for a duo recital with Polish accordionist Maciej Frąckiewicz.

Their eclectic program will feature music by Boccherini, Schnittke, Górecki, Penderecki, Mozart, Tavolaro, Rabinski, and Gubitsch. On March 11 at 7:00 pm, Kuropaczewski will present a master class in the Dolan Science Center Reading Room at John Carroll University. While in Cleveland, the duo will also visit some of CCGS’s partnering schools. [Read more…]

Fairmount Music Series: a chat with organist David Baskeyfield

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by Daniel Hathaway

BASKEYFIELD-DavidThe major you declare in college doesn’t always turn out to be your career. Take the example of British-born organist David Baskeyfield, who will play a recital on Sunday, March 13 at 3:00 pm at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights.

Baskeyfield read Law at St. John’s College at Oxford University, where he also served as the college’s organ scholar. After graduation, he spent a year assisting at both Anglican Cathedrals in Dublin — Christ Church and St. Patrick’s — then crossed the pond to study for a doctorate in organ at the Eastman School of Music. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: a conversation with guest pianist Stephen Hough

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by Mike Telin

Stephen HoughBritish pianist Stephen Hough succeeds at everything he sets out to do. Named as one of 20 Living Polymaths by The Economist, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2001. He’s also an accomplished painter and a published author and composer. This week at Severance Hall, Stephen Hough will join The Cleveland Orchestra for three performances of Antonín Dvořák’s challenging Piano Concerto. The concerts, under the direction of Alan Gilbert, will also include Robert Schumann’s Overture to Manfred and Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 (“The Inextinguishable”). Check our Concert Listings page for dates and times.

I caught up with Stephen Hough by telephone, and we began by talking about his recent recording of the Dvořák and Schumann concertos with Andris Nelsons and The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which will be released by Hyperion Records on April 8. [Read more…]

Ars Futura to perform Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire at CIM & LCCC

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by Mike Telin

Schoenberg-self-portrait-1910“I believe I am approaching a new way of expression,” composer Arnold Schoenberg wrote in his diary on March 12, 1912. The work Schoenberg is referring to is none other than his pioneering Pierrot Lunaire.

On Wednesday March 2 at 8:00 pm in CIM’s Mixon Hall, and Monday March 7 at 7:30 in Lorain County Community College’s Cirigliano Studio Theatre, the Cleveland-based new music ensemble Ars Futura will present Schoenberg’s melodrama. [Read more…]

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