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Cleveland Museum of Art lines up wide-ranging series for Gartner Auditorium and Transformer Station

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by Daniel Hathaway

WELSH-Tom50-foot-long string instruments; traditional music from the Republic of Kyrgyz, Ireland’s “Wild West,” and the Balkans; dialogues between deep flamenco song and Iranian classical music; Egyptian classical music of the golden age; an a cappella sound track to a silent film about Joan of Arc; two prominent string quartets, an organ recital, and a multifaceted violinist — that list gives just a quick rundown on the variety of concerts the Cleveland Museum of Art has planned for its 2015-2016 Performing Arts Series, both in Gartner Auditorium at the museum and at its near-West Side gallery, Transformer Station.

In a conversation with ClevelandClassical.com, Tom Welsh, director of CMA’s Performing Arts series, described the season’s offerings as “broad” and representing “a full expanse of human activity,” adding that the audiences for the series can look forward to experiencing types of music “that might not yet have made their ways into your life.” [Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra opens season with Spanish/Latin-inspired concert at the Breen

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by Mike Telin

VIEAUX-JasonWhiteSince its founding in 2010, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra has quickly immersed itself into the cultural fabric of the community. The orchestra’s  neighborhood-based programs bring classical music directly to listeners’ doors. One such program is BWCO’s residency at St. Ignatius High School — a partnership which unites students with professional musicians.

On Saturday, September 12 at 7:30 pm in the Breen Center for the Performing Arts, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Carlton Woods, will present a Spanish/Latin-inspired concert which will include the music of de Falla, Revueltas, and Márquez. The concert will also feature Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. The concert will last approximately 70 minutes and will be performed without intermission.

[Read more…]

Violins of Hope project creates an unprecedented coalition of Cleveland cultural institutions

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by Daniel Hathaway

WeinsteinWhat may be the largest group of Cleveland cultural institutions ever to circle their wagons around a single project will come into play this fall when Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Cleveland Orchestra, Facing History and Ourselves, Ideastream, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage join together to present Violins of Hope Cleveland.

Four months of concerts, exhibitions, screenings, lectures, theatrical productions, and educational offerings will center around the extraordinary collection of violins amassed by Tel Aviv violinmaker Amnon Weinstein, instruments that managed to survive the Holocaust.

Weinstein, who emigrated from Eastern Europe to open a violin shop in Palestine in 1938, learned after World War II that some four hundred of his family members had perished under the Nazis. Later, he heard a heartfelt account from a survivor who had brought an instrument in for restoration of what the violin and its music had meant to Jews during those horrific days. In 1996 — and now recognized as one of the finest violinmakers in the world — Weinstein decided to put out a call for Holocaust-era violins. To date, he has restored nearly fifty such instruments to playing condition, a collection he dubbed “Violins of Hope.” [Read more…]

Iron Composer returns to Baldwin Wallace: a conversation with director Joe Drew

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by Mike Telin

Joe-Drew-2On Friday, September 4 at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, the creativity of five composers will be tested when they have five hours to write a brand new piece of music in order to win the coveted titled of Iron Composer. Competition director Joe Drew said that this years contestants are all accomplished composers and college-level teachers whose musical styles are quite varied. “We try to select as diverse a group as possible. We are putting on a show, and it wouldn’t work if we had a group of composers who all write in similar styles, or who would all have a similar response to the stimulus of the challenge.”

What is that challenge? On Friday at 9:00 am in the Chamber Hall, the five finalists will be assigned an instrumentation and a secret musical ingredient that must be incorporated into their work. Past challenges have paired piano trio with a Monet painting, pipe organ with 19th-century music boxes, and brass trio with audience participation. After five hours, the composers must submit a score and parts for their finished piece. Their work will be performed and judged during a free public concert at 8 pm in Gamble Auditorium. Following the performance, prizes will be awarded, and the title of Iron Composer will be bestowed.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: conductor Nicholas McGegan talks about his two concerts this weekend

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by Mike Telin

McGegan-Nicholas-kbd“It’s always a great treat for me to come to Cleveland,” conductor Nicholas McGegan said enthusiastically by telephone from San Francisco. “I love Blossom and Severance Hall, and The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the great orchestras in the world. Plus, I’m conducting repertoire that I love.” On Friday, August 21 at 7:00 pm as part of the Summers@Severance series, McGegan will lead the Orchestra in works by Haydn, Handel, and Schubert. Then on Saturday, August 22 at 8:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, he will return to the podium for a concert featuring music by J.S. Bach, Haydn, J.C. Bach, and Mozart.

One piece is common to both programs: Haydn’s C-Major Cello Concerto, and McGegan looks forward to renewing his friendship with the soloist, TCO principal cello Mark Kosower. “I’ve known him since he was a teenager, so it will all be great fun.”

The Haydn concerto is both old and new: it was presumed lost until the score was discovered by Oldřich Pulkert in the Prague National Museum in 1961. “People knew it existed, because the first couple of bars are in one of Haydn’s own catalogues,” McGegan said, “and that’s all we knew until the 1960s. It’s one of the great musical discoveries of our time, and a masterpiece at that. It’s a wonderful foil for the D-Major concerto. The C- Major is a really outgoing piece, whereas the D-Major is more intimate.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra settles in for August Concerts at Severance and Blossom

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by Daniel Hathaway

TCO@BlossomTen concerts of varied repertoire are in store for Cleveland Orchestra audiences both at Blossom and at Severance Hall during the rest of the summer season, which extends through the weekend of September 5 & 6, thanks to the late date of Labor Day this year.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski will revisit the site of his American debut in 1958 when he returns to conduct the Orchestra in Dmitri Shostakovich’s fifth symphony on the Summers@Severance series on Friday, August 7 at 7:00 pm. Skrowaczewski knew the composer personally, and led the Paris premiere of the fifth. He talked about his career and his history with The Cleveland Orchestra in an interview last summer.

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson will team up with guest conductor Gustavo Gimeno at Blossom on Saturday, August 8 at 8:00 pm for Beethoven’s noble fifth piano concerto, nicknamed “The Emperor,” prefaced by the Leonore Overture No. 3, the third of Beethoven’s four attempts to write an overture for his only opera, later revised and renamed Fidelio. A third noble work, Antonín Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, will round out the evening. [Read more…]

James Feddeck returns to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom on August 15

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by Mike Telin

smaller - 027 (v2) final - credit Benjamin Ealovega

“It feels like a long time, but it’s only been just under two years since I left The Cleveland Orchestra in September of 2013,” former assistant conductor James Feddeck said in a recent telephone conversation. “While it’s been a whirlwind, I’ve had so many wonderful experiences to make music. I think I’ve worked with about forty orchestras during that time, and it’s been inspiring for me to be able to conduct repertoire in all of those different places. But it’s equally exciting to be able to come back to The Cleveland Orchestra. I have to say that I’m really looking forward to this program at Blossom.”

On Saturday, August 15 at 8:00 pm, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma will join Feddeck and the Orchestra for the Tchaikovsky concerto in a program that begins with Carl Maria von Weber’s Euryanthe Overture and concludes with Jan Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Opera Theater presents Opera al Fresco at Dunham Tavern Museum (August 16)

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by Mike Telin

Dunham-Tavern-PhotosOn Sunday, August 16 beginning at 6:00 pm, Cleveland Opera Theater will present its wildly popular free outdoor Opera al Fresco concert at its new location on the grounds of historic Dunham Tavern Museum at 6709 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland’s MidTown district. This family-friendly concert, which has traditionally been held at the Italian Cultural Gardens, is relocating this year to coincide with the company’s recent move to MidTown and its ongoing plans to increase community involvement and civic impact.

“I’m excited to able to introduce another hidden gem of Cleveland to audiences,” COT’s founder and executive director, Andrea Anelli, said during a recent telephone conversation. “I always loved the Cultural Gardens. When we began the Opera al Fresco concerts, the audience was quite small. Over time, it was a thrill to see more people not only coming to the concert, but also to the area, because they too fell in love with it.” [Read more…]

Ting and Kastner split top prize in Oberlin Cooper Competition

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Cleveland, July 31 — Following the final round of the Oberlin Cooper International Violin Competition at Severance Hall tonight, competition donors Thomas and Evon Cooper announced the jury’s decision to split first prize between Belle Ting, 15, from Taipei, Taiwan, and Gallia Kastner, 18 of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Each will receive a cash prize of $10,000. Second place winner, Joshua Brown, 15 or Gurnee, Illinois, won $6,000. The third prize was not awarded this year.

Collaborating with The Cleveland Orchestra under Jahja Ling, Ting played Alexander Glazunov’s Concerto in a minor, and Kastner brought the evening to a conclusion with Johannes Brahms’s Concerto in D. Brown played Dmitri Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1. (Photo: Roger Mastroianni).

Three finalists named in Oberlin Cooper Violin Competition

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Cooper-2015-FinalistsOberlin, July 29 — Following the recital round of the Oberlin Cooper International Violin Competition in Warner Hall of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music late this evening, the jury announced the audience prize winner, the fourth, fifth and sixth place winners, and the three finalists who will play concertos with with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra on Friday evening at Severance Hall. The first-prize winner will be awarded $10,000, second-place $6,000 and third-place $3,000. [Read more…]

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