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The Puppy Episode: Oberlin premieres new chamber opera on Feb. 16 and 17

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by Daniel Hathaway

The Puppy Episode, the second in a series of three-year opera projects, will be premiered in Warner Concert Hall on February 16 and 17 (click here for tickets). The performance on the 16th will be live streamed.

“It takes so many people to put on a production, especially a new one,” Oberlin Opera professor and director Christopher Mirto said in a recent Zoom call. And most of them join the process like hopping onto a moving train.

In the case of The Puppy Episode, librettist Royce Vavrek and composer Matthew Recio were present from the first spark of an idea. “I was courting Royce as a collaborator,” said Recio, who was also on the call. “I finished the Vanguard program at Chicago Opera Theater in June, and Lydia, the conductor, gave me a list of librettists. I got to do some speed dating in three or four calls with each candidate.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Silent Film Festival & Colloquium: The Fascinating Life of John Stepan Zamecnik
(second of two articles)

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by Mike Telin

Until recently, only a select few would have recognized the name John Stepan Zamecnik (1872–1953) if it had come up in conversation. But in the past few months the Cleveland-born violinist and composer is experiencing a resurgence. His music and accomplishments are being featured as part of the Cleveland Arts Prize Past Masters Project. And on Sunday, February 13 at 3:00 pm at the Hermit Club, Zamecnik’s music and life will take center stage during the opening event of the inaugural Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium.

The program will include chamber works by Zamecnik and his mentor, Antonín Dvořák, performed by violinists Isabel Trautwein, Alicia Koelz, and Katherine Bormann, violist Eric Wong, cellist Tanya Ell, clarinetist Robert Woolfrey, and pianist Rodney Sauer, who is also the director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and who will deliver remarks on Sunday. Click here for tickets and here to read the previous article in this series, an overview of the Festival. A complete list of events and ticket information can be found at the end of this article.

In addition to selected movements from Zamecnik’s String Quartette in B-flat and Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello, the concert will include three of the composer’s Photoplay Scenes: Ode to Spring (1923), A Gruesome Tale (1922), and Bon Vivant (1917). 

[Read more…]

Delving into the silent era:
Cleveland Silent Film Festival & Colloquium (first of two articles)

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by Mike Telin

When we think of film composers, the names Miklós Rózsa, John Williams, and Randy Newman immediately come to mind. But who were the important composers from the silent era?

Next week, a consortium of area arts organizations will come together to present a festival celebrating some of the major masterworks of silent cinema. To highlight the local connection, the inaugural Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium will focus on the music of Cleveland native and film music pioneer John Stepan Zamecnik.

The Festival kicks off on Sunday, February 13 at 3:00 pm at the Hermit Club, when violinist Isabel Trautwein and other members of The Cleveland Orchestra will join Rodney Sauer, music director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, in a concert of chamber works by Zamecnik and his mentor, Antonín Dvořák.

[Read more…]

Tuesday Musical presents violinist Joshua Bell and soprano Larisa Martinez

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by Mike Telin

If you’re bummed that Punxsutawney Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter, you can shed those cold weather blues on Tuesday, February 8 at 7:30 pm in E.J. Thomas Hall, when Tuesday Musical presents celebrated violinist Joshua Bell and acclaimed soprano Larisa Martinez.

The evening is also one of the first stops on their debut tour as a married couple. And remember that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Click here for tickets.

The concept for their program — “Voice and the Violin” — began to take shape during the pandemic. “It actually worked in our favor,” Larisa Martinez said during a telephone interview. “We didn’t have a honeymoon because I had my Carnegie Hall debut four days after the wedding. Then we were both so hectic and in different countries, so the pandemic was almost a silver lining — which is how this program was born.”

In a separate interview, Joshua Bell said that creating a program for the two of them was inevitable. “We both respect each other’s musicianship. We’re married to each other so we were together in the house and somehow the lockdown helped give it a kick-start. It was a chance to work on some new arrangements and to look for little gems for voice and violin. And now it’s finally coming to fruition.” [Read more…]

Welcome to February: highlights of the shortest month

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by Daniel Hathaway

Shortest month? In terms of days, sure, but February can be psychologically endless. Here are just a handful of events to enjoy and take our minds off the fact that winter has dug in and the pandemic is still a daily concern.

New this month: fans of silent films from the era that required the services of live musicians will be delighted with the debut of the Cleveland Silent Film Festival, which launches from the Hermit Club on Sunday, February 13. Violinist Isabel Trautwein and other members of The Cleveland Orchestra will join Rodney Sauer, music director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, in presenting a concert of chamber works by Cleveland native and film music pioneer John Stepan Zamecnik (1872–1953) and his mentor, a fellow named Antonín Dvořák.

The Festival continues with the results of an Oberlin Winter Term class on the art of locating, choosing, arranging, and performing historic silent movie music. Several films will be screened at the Cleveland Cinematheque later in February with accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Opera fans can look forward to February student productions at Kent State (Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appetit (1989) that sets music to Julia Child’s own words from The French Chef television series, and Jacques Offenbach’s A Musical Evening at the Choufleuris) and the premiere of Matthew Recio & Royce Vavrek’s The Puppy Episode at Oberlin, directed by Christopher Mirto. [Read more…]

McDaniel and Kirkwood at the Bop Stop Feb. 11

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by Mike Telin

“When I was growing up in rural Mississippi my mother was very good about taking me to Jackson or New Orleans to see whatever the new, big art exhibition was,” composer and keyboardist Buck McDaniel said during a recent telephone interview from his home in New York. “It must have been in 2008 or 2009 that there was a retrospective of Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy. There were some of his paintings, and his textiles.”

On Friday, February 11 at 8:00 pm, McDaniel returns to the Bop Stop with his long-time collaborator, electronic producer Jacob Kirkwood. The evening celebrates the release of the Duo’s latest CD, Patterns on Dufy, featuring saxophonist Noa Even. The recording will be made available on all streaming platforms that same day. Click here for tickets to the in-person performance. The event will also be livestreamed on the venue’s Facebook page.

McDaniel noted that Dufy’s textiles are full of bright-colored patterns. “As an adult with a more advanced relationship with patterns, I saw how musical his textiles are. And how these small beautiful cells can, through repetition, become a beautiful dress.” [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra:
Denk on Adams & writing

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Almost two years passed, with Jeremy Denk limited to thinking about the piece, playing around with the fingerings, and maybe emailing the composer a question or two. All while he had it solidly learned.

“That was horrible not to be able to play this piece,” the pianist said during a recent telephone interview. “But.” He paused. “Good things come to those who wait, I suppose.”

Only recently did the opportunity arrive to perform John Adams’ third piano concerto, Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? — written in 2018, and played by only a couple of other keyboardists before Denk was to take it on with the composer on the podium in late March of 2020.

Finally, his first go at it came in Seattle in the early days of 2022. St. Louis is next, in late January. And Cleveland will follow when Denk and Adams share the Severance stage with The Cleveland Orchestra on February 3 (at 7:30 pm), February 5 (at 8:00 pm), and February 6 (at 3:00 pm).

“Now we’re really in the thick of trying to define this piece and make sense of it,” Denk said, “which is so much fun.”

[Read more…]

“Pre-Review” — Les Délices:
The Highland Lassie

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by Daniel Hathaway

Just in time for Rabbie Burns Day (January 25), Les Délices will release its latest concert series episode, “The Highland Lassie,” for on-demand viewing on Vimeo beginning on Thursday, January 20.

Robert Burns (1759-1796), Scotland’s national bard, played a major role in the preservation of Scottish traditional music, joining a group of collectors who were mainly interested in capturing the texts of ballads passed down orally and thus subject to subconscious or intentional changes as they moved from host to host — not unlike viruses, as we now know all too well.

That process created the families of related songs most famously codified in five volumes published from 1882-1898 by Harvard professor Francis James Child. On this program, one of the best-known families provides soprano Elena Mullins with the material for a sensitive rendition of Barbara Allen. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Pops: from Queen to Byron Stripling

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by Jarrett Hoffman

This weekend with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra is a case study in the breadth of sounds contained under the umbrella of “pops.”

On Friday, January 21 at 8:00 pm at Playhouse Square, that term means the music of a classic band outfitted in a mix of rock and orchestral clothes, as conductor Brent Havens, vocalist Tony Vincent, and a full rock band join the Pops to celebrate “The Music of Queen.”

And on Saturday, January 22 at 8:00 pm at Severance Music Center, it means the singular jazz stylings of a trumpeter/vocalist with plenty of virtuosity and charisma to spare, as showcased in “All that Jazz with Byron Stripling,” a program led by music director Carl Topilow. Get tickets for those events here and here, and read the Pops’ COVID-19 safety policies here.

That kind of variety is a big part of the job for both Topilow and the ensemble. “We’re fortunate,” the conductor (below) said in an interview on Zoom. “Piano, bass, drums, brass — they’re sort of the core of our orchestra, like the pitcher and catcher of a baseball team. And so many of them are experienced jazz players, which puts us at a huge advantage in concerts like these.”

[Read more…]

Contemporary Youth Orchestra Enters a New Era in 27th Year

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by Mike Telin

Since 1995 the Contemporary Youth Orchestra has been engaging young musicians — and the public — through the study and performance of contemporary classical music.

Throughout its history CYO has adopted an expansive definition of contemporary music through collaborations with turntable artists, video game composers, and singer-songwriters, and through the annual Rock The Orchestra concert, each of which provides the membership with a lens into different aspects of the music industry.

Originally calling Cleveland State University home, in March of 2018 the organization relocated to the Tri-C Metro Campus. With the departure in 2020 of its founder Liza Grossman and the hiring this past fall of Kristopher Morron as the Orchestra’s new music director and conductor, the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, now in its 27th year, is entering a new era.

On January 29, CYO will hold an Open House from 8:30 am until 12:30 pm at the Tri-C Metro Campus Auditorium. For more information, email Ben Kipp.

Kipp, who is in his eighth year as CYO’s director of educational programming, said that the organization is proud of all the things that have been accomplished — especially their partnership with Cuyahoga Community College. “Tri-C is a big part of how we see the Orchestra merging into the greater music education community,” he said. “Along with Kim Deichler, our executive director, we’ve been strategizing and studying other successful groups in music and the arts. But I can’t stress enough how important the partnership with Tri-C is.” [Read more…]

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