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Jacob Allen on Ohio Light Opera’s 2024 season

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by Mike Telin

One of the neat things about a summer light opera festival is that there is always a family atmosphere. Ohio Light Opera is a perfect example of that, especially when it comes to associate artistic director Jacob Allen and his relationship with the company. 2024 marks Allen’s 18th season — and his sixth position within OLO after he started out as a young artist performer.

Allen is directing two shows this season: Guys and Dolls and Me and My Girl, the latter of which opens on Thursday, June 20 at 2:00 pm at Freedlander Theatre.

The show includes music by Noel Gay and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with Allen by phone to talk about the two shows he’s directing — and his history with the company.

[Read more…]

Brandon Ridenour returns to ChamberFest Cleveland

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by Mike Telin

This week, trumpeter Brandon Ridenour will be featured in three ChamberFest Cleveland programs both as a performer and arranger.

Ridenour’s journey to becoming a  trumpet soloist, collaborative artist, composer, and arranger began at age 5, when he started studying piano with his father. After picking up the trumpet in 5th grade band class in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ridenour went on to study at the Juilliard School. After graduating he became the youngest member to join the Canadian Brass and eventually embarked on a solo career.

In 2014 Ridenour became the first trumpeter in 30 years to win the Concert Artist Guild competition. In his role as performer-composer, he helped to launch the Brooklyn-based ensemble Founders, and in 2023, he joined the American Brass Quintet. As an educator, he serves on the faculties at Juilliard, The New School and the Manhattan School of Music, where he is passionate about developing a new model of education for a well-rounded, progressive musician of the future.

[Read more…]

Tri-C JazzFest: Sam Blakeslee takes the stage

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by Max Newman

In addition to the stellar indoor lineup, there will be a myriad of talented artists featured on the outdoor stage at this year’s Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, to be held June 20-22 at Playhouse Square. One to keep an eye on is New York-based trombonist and composer Sam Blakeslee, who will be performing on Friday, June 21 at 6:45 pm as the bandleader of the Sam Blakeslee Large Group.

Blakeslee is cherishing the opportunity. “I have a pretty close relationship with Tri-C,” he told me during a telephone conversation. “When I was still living in Cleveland, I was the director of the JazzFest Academy, and then I taught trombone lessons at the College. I’m very grateful they’ve been supportive of me to come through and work with the students a couple of times a year, but this is the first time since 2017 that I’ll be performing with my own band. So it will be a nice reunion of sorts.”

[Read more…]

CMA launches Third Thursdays: a conversation with Gabe Pollack

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by Max Newman

If you are looking for musical experiences in Cleveland that are both thoroughly enjoyable and wholly unique, look no further than the programming put on by the Cleveland Museum of Art. Whether it be the eclectic concerts that grace Gartner Auditorium, the danceable, outdoor fun of City Stages, or any of CMA’s other wonderful offerings, there is truly something for everyone within the Museum’s programming.

Now, CMA is kickstarting another event series — Third Thursdays at Transformer Station — which will have its first show on June 20 at 7:00 pm. (Note that the concert is now sold out.) Admission is free, but tickets are required.

[Read more…]

45th Tri-C JazzFest comes to
Playhouse Square June 20-22

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by Jarrett Hoffman

The 45th annual Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland will be held in Playhouse Square from Thursday-Saturday, June 20-22. And as always, the schedule is stuffed full in the most wonderful way.

The centerpiece is the indoor lineup of national and international artists, but there are also the outdoor stages showcasing regional musicians as well as students. Not to mention the meet-the-artist talks, jam sessions, and all the activities aimed at kids — plus, speaking of a festival that is stuffed full, the cooking demonstrations and the array of food trucks.

I spoke to JazzFest director Terri Pontremoli to unpack everything in store. We began with the indoor lineup (tickets here), which kicks off on June 20 at 8:00 pm with the a cappella group Take Six, known for their blend of gospel, jazz, R&B, and pop. I noted to Pontremoli how their undeniably fun, charismatic style makes for a great opener — just as vocalist Ledisi, considering all the power and spirit in her voice and her stage presence, is the perfect closer (June 22 at 9:00 pm).

[Read more…]

ENCORE: A conversation with Jasmine Choi about George Crumb’s Voice of the Whale

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by Max Newman

“It’s natural, organic, and enjoyable, but shocking as well. It’s shocking that this modern nature sound could be depicted like this through music.”

That’s how Korean flutist Jasmine Choi described George Crumb’s avant-garde 1971 composition Vox Balaenae, or Voice of the Whale, during a recent conversation. That work for electric flute and cello and amplified piano will be performed on Saturday, June 15 at 7:30 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as part of ENCORE Chamber Music. This year the festival is themed around “Planet Earth” with the aim to “highlight the universal connection that we humans have with nature,” according to founder and artistic director Jinjoo Cho. Tickets are available online.

Jinjoo Cho and Jasmine Choi’s connection is a long-standing one, the two having known each other since attending the same middle school in Seoul. It is in part this relationship that is bringing Choi to Cleveland for this performance. “She reached out to me last year to ask me about this project, and I’ll always say yes to Jinjoo. I’ve always wanted to perform with her.”

[Read more…]

Harpist Bridget Kibbey makes ChamberFest debut

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by Mike Telin

ChamberFest Cleveland launches its 2024 season — three weeks’ worth of concerts inspired by the theme of  “Sacred and Profane” — on Wednesday, June 12 at 7:30 pm at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall.

Opening night marks the ChamberFest debut of harpist Bridget Kibbey, who will be featured in Claude Debussy’s Danse sacrée et danse profane — and throughout the first week of the festival. Tickets for all performances are available online.

I caught up with the Findlay, Ohio native on Zoom and began our delightful conversation by asking her if it was true that she first heard the harp in a church.

Bridget Kibbey: That’s true. It was a small country Mennonite church. I was taking piano lessons at the time and one of my Suzuki piano kid mates’ mother was a harpist. I saw her play and was just floored, so I started lessons with her right away at age nine. That’s what makes Ohio so special, there’s so many local music studios. I think that’s why Ohio produces great musicians, great music teachers, and music lovers.

[Read more…]

Steven Daigle previews the first three shows of Ohio Light Opera’s 2024 season

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by Mike Telin

On Saturday, June 8 at 7:30 pm, Ohio Light Opera will launch its 2024 season with the 1937 hit musical Guys and Dolls. The show is the first of six titles that will run in repertory through July 28 at the College of Wooster’s Freedlander Theatre. Tickets for all performances are available online.

“At some level, we’ve already worked on all six of the shows,” OLO artistic director Steven Daigle said by telephone during a rehearsal break last weekend. “We’re getting to know the singers better now that we’ve had more time to work with them, and we’re excited — it’s going to be a really great company.”

Based on two short stories by Damon Runyon, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, Guys and Dolls follows a pair of big city gamblers and the women who are in love with them.

Daigle noted that OLO has been staging what he called “Golden Age Musicals” for the past eight to ten years. “We’re now at a point where we have already produced most of them. And when we were tracking some of the blockbusters, Guys and Dolls just came up as a fun show. [Read more…]

ENCORE returns with an ode to Planet Earth

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by Mike Telin

Each summer, ENCORE Chamber Music Institute’s Music and Ideas Festival brings artists and speakers from around the world to present engaging performances and thought-provoking discussions that are inspired by a theme such as Creatures of Emotion, Storytelling, and FIRE. The 2024 edition of the Festival will feature six concerts under the theme of Planet Earth.

“I wanted to highlight the universal connection that we humans have with nature,” ENCORE founder and artistic director Jinjoo Cho said during a telephone interview.  “Anybody who takes a walk in the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park — listening to the sounds of nature — will feel more calm and more centered.”

Planet Earth begins on Friday, June 7 at Kendall Lake at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. “Roma Jazz on a Starry Night” features the Olli Soikkeli Band — Olli Soikkeli (guitar), Brad Brose (rhythm guitar), Paul Sikivie (bass), and Evan Arntzen (clarinet/saxophone). “Olli has a special place in that repertoire, and we’re excited to do our first concert with him.”

[Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival marks its 24th season this weekend at CIM

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by Daniel Hathaway

From Thursday, June 6 through Sunday, June 9 the Cleveland Institute of Music will host the 24th edition of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. Presented by Guitars International, the Festival features a rich mix of recitals, master classes, and lectures by eminent guitarists, bracketed by the fourth annual James Stroud Youth Competition. In a telephone conversation earlier this week, founder and artistic director Armin Kelly said, “It’s a lot of work and a lot of worry, but I love it.”

Considering the festival’s many moving parts, only one complication arose this time around that required quick action on Kelly’s part. “We did have one concert artist we were hoping to bring this year, who a week or two ago informed us that their U.S. visa had been denied. Fortunately, we had another guitarist who lives in Colorado we were planning on bringing next year who we were able to move up to this year.”

That problem having been solved, I asked Kelly what particularly excites him about this year’s lineup. “Obviously, the festival reflects my taste,” he said, “but the individual refinement of our artists is, I think, quite special.” [Read more…]

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