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A note from the editor

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To everyone who enjoys ClevelandClassical.com:

Since the beginning of our fiscal year this past July, we’ve published 224 articles, evenly divided between previews and reviews, and posted 764 calendar listings of events that reflect the vibrant classical music scene in Northeast Ohio.

Please take this opportunity to think about how you use the services that ClevelandClassical.com offers, and consider a gift to our Annual Fund. Our goal is to raise $10,000 in individual donations.

Go to our Donate page, where a contribution by PayPal is only a click away!

With thanks and best wishes for the season,

Daniel Hathaway
founder and editor

Ring in the New Year
with Cleveland Pops 

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by Mike Telin

For the past 23 years, one of the best New Year’s Eve parties in Cleveland, if not the best, has been hosted by Carl Topilow and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. That tradition will continue on Tuesday, December 31 at 9:00 pm at Severance Hall when Topilow and his Orchestra ring in 2020 with music from the past 100 years — 1920 to 2020.

Come in costume and enjoy a Roaring Twenties party after the concert. There will be dancing to The No Name Band and the Pops Jazz ensemble, photo opportunities, cash bars, and the traditional midnight balloon drop. To top it off, a $250 cash prize will be awarded to the person with the best ‘20s costume. Second place will be awarded $100, and third place $75. Tickets are available online. Click here to see a list of hotels offering special room rates to ticket holders.

“Can you believe it? This will be number 24,” Carl Topilow said during a telephone conversation. “We gave the first New Year’s Eve concert the same year we started the orchestra, and I think we knew it would last this long — it was a very popular event from the beginning.”

This year’s special guest artist will be vocalist Connor Bogart O’Brien. “He’s performed with us a lot, and has become a real audience favorite,” Topilow said. [Read more…]

Quire Cleveland: Jay White talks about Carols for Quire X

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by Daniel Hathaway

There are myriad ways to organize a concert of carols. For Quire Cleveland’s tenth “Carols for Quire” program, to be presented by his professional singers in three venues from December 20-22, conductor Jay White turned to Renaissance settings of ancient antiphons for structure. “These three concerts are sponsored by the letter O, just like in Sesame Street,” he said in a phone conversation from his studio at Kent State University.

Let’s explain. By the eighth century, the Roman church had developed a series of devotional antiphons to be sung one-per-day during the last week before Christmas as introductions to the Magnificat hymn at Vespers. Derived from the prophecies of Isaiah, each begins with “O” and names a specific attribute of the Messiah — Sapientia (Wisdom), Adonai (Lord), Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse), Clavis David (Key of David), Oriens (Daystar), Rex Gentium (King of Nations), and Emmanuel (God with us).

These antiphons will be familiar to those who know the hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel, a compilation of the “O” antiphons in poetic form which appeared in Germany during the early 18th century, originally with only five stanzas. Paired with a 15th-century French melody in the widely-adopted Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861, the hymn came into general use in English-speaking countries. [Read more…]

A Trio of Messiah Sings
will take place this week

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by Daniel Hathaway

Although Handel wrote his most famous oratorio for performance in Dublin at Eastertime of 1742, Messiah has become irrevocably associated with Christmas in the United States. And what would that season be without the opportunity to participate in do-it-yourself Messiah Sings? Here are three occasions when you can lift up your voices in the next week without auditions or rehearsals.

On Sunday, December 15 at 3:00 pm, the Master Singers Chorale will hold their first annual Sing at First Congregational Church in Akron. Edward Arthur Shure conducts, and Kent State student vocalists  Heather Morrison, soprano, Natalie Butchko, mezzo-soprano, Benjamin Hayes, tenor, and Charles Austin Piper, baritone, will take the solos. James Mismas will be at the organ, supplemented by a brass quartet. [Read more…]

Julian Wachner to lead Apollo’s Fire
in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio

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by Daniel Hathaway

Christmas was a major inspiration for church music in Leipzig in J.S. Bach’s time, as evidenced by the six festive cantatas he wrote for the celebrations of 1735 — one each for December 25, 26, and 27, New Year’s Day, the first Sunday of the new year, and the feast of the Epiphany. This week, Apollo’s Fire will perform four of the cantatas that comprise Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in five venues around the city under guest conductor Julian Wachner, with soprano Molly Netter, countertenor Daniel Moody, tenor Stephen Soph, baritone Jesse Blumberg, and Apollo’s Singers.

Julian Wachner has spent his distinguished career with one foot in church music and the other in the concert world. A native of California, he began as a boy chorister at New York’s St. Thomas Choir School and currently serves as Director of Music and the Arts at Trinity Church, Wall Street. An acclaimed conductor of early music, contemporary music, and opera, he also finds time to compose. I spoke with him by telephone last week in Missouri, where he was leading performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Kansas City Symphony.

The Christmas Oratorio holds a special place in Wachner’s career — it’s the first work he recorded 20 years ago, and that recording has recently been re-engineered and re-released. “Jeannette Sorrell told me to pick four of the six cantatas for Cleveland,” Wachner said, “so I thought I’d choose five and six, the ones that aren’t often done, in addition to one and two. There’s such glorious music in the last pair that I thought it would be wonderful to spring those on the audience.” [Read more…]

Stefan Willich returns to CityMusic
for December cycle of concerts

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by Daniel Hathaway

German conductor Stefan Willich, founder of the World Doctors Orchestra, got to know Ronald and Eugenia Strauss, founders of CityMusic Cleveland, in 2011 and they immediately hit it off. “They told me about their orchestra in Cleveland, and after lots of mutual admiration, we decided to do something together.” As a result, Willich was invited to Cleveland to lead a set of concerts. “It’s been great,” Willich said in a telephone conversation from Berlin. “I love the musicians and I love the audiences, so ever since, I’ve been back regularly to Cleveland for the December concerts.”

This time around, Willich’s program is called “Fire and Ice,” and will be presented in four different venues around town between December 12 and 15. “It’s a nice blend of pieces. Some are fiery, like Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 and de Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance, and some have a wintry atmosphere, like Suk’s Meditation on St. Wenceslas, Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, and Mozart’s Sleigh Ride.”

Willich likes CityMusic’s peripatetic habit of repeating programs several times around the region. “The venues are so different, and there’s always something new to tease out in the music. There’s a lot of attraction in repeating repertoire — George Szell was famous for doing that with The Cleveland Orchestra — and different audiences react differently. I like that.” [Read more…]

Noa Even brings her 
Atomic project to fp Creative

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by Mike Telin 

Although saxophonist Noa Even has spearheaded many commissioning projects for her duos Ogni Suono and Patchwork, she had not commissioned one for herself. That was until events surrounding the 2016 presidential election got her thinking about how humans connect to one another.

On Thursday, December 12 at 7:00 pm at Snap House Studios, Even will give the first Cleveland performance of Atomic, which features four solo works for saxophone, interactive electronics, and video that explore themes of human connection. The event is part of fp Creative’s concert series. As always, admission is a sliding scale: $0-$15 (at the door). RSVP here.

Even, who co-founded the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) and serves as assistant professor at Kent State University, where she teaches saxophone and co-directs the school’s New Music Ensemble, said in a recent interview that she did not give any stipulations to the composers other than that the works should explore the broad topic of human connection. “Some people chose social justice themes and others chose themes that are more personal to them.”

[Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir: a conversation with composer and chorister Corey K. Rubin

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by Jarrett Hoffman

“Holidays Old & New” describes Cleveland Chamber Choir’s performances this weekend in more than one way. The main thread that artistic director Scott MacPherson has woven through the program is the pairing of ancient and modern holiday works — from as far apart as the 14th and 21st centuries — that bear the same text. 

The other thread comes in the form of arrangements. That art form is all about old and new, but the emphasis is on the latter here: Hanukkah tunes arranged by Andrew Rindfleisch and Corey K. Rubin will receive their world premieres.

Performances take place on Saturday, December 7 at 7:30 pm at Lakewood Congregational Church, and on Sunday, December 8 at 3:00 pm at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland. Charles McGuire will talk about the program 45 minutes before both concerts. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Uncommon Sound Project: a conversation with bassoonist Dana Jessen 

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by Mike Telin 

The act of improvisation — creating a piece of music on the spot — is difficult to describe. “This type of music is not easy to talk about,” bassoonist, improviser, and educator Dana Jessen said during a recent telephone conversation. “There are some improvisers that don’t want to talk about their approach to the process because it feels a little less tangible than other musical genres.”

You can hear Dana Jessen create an in-the-moment composition on Sunday, December 8 at 7:00 pm at Praxis Fiber Workshop during a program titled “Locals.” Presented by the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project, the evening of improvisation and storytelling through song will also include a performance by Kyle Kidd & Company featuring guitarist Pete Saudek. The event is free.

Jessen holds degrees in bassoon performance from Louisiana State University and the New England Conservatory. As a Fulbright Scholar in 2008-09, she studied in Amsterdam, and earned a masters in contemporary improvisation at the Artez Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem, Netherlands in 2011.

[Read more…]

Conductor Lorenzo Viotti to debut with The Cleveland Orchestra

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by Mike Telin

Sometimes the best thing a young artist can do is to turn down a job offer, no matter how tempting it might be to say yes. “Early in my career I was invited to conduct some major orchestras,” Lorenzo Viotti said during a recent telephone interview from Lisbon, Portugal, where he serves as Music Director of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. “The most important thing I did was to say no to all of them. I had many things to learn before I stood in front of such great institutions, and I wasn’t ready to deal with the pressure.”

On Friday, November 29 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, Lorenzo Viotti will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut with a concert that includes Prokofiev’s Suite from The Love for Three Oranges, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4, with Yuja Wang as soloist, Poulenc’s Sinfonietta, and Ravel’s La Valse. The program will be repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

“I’m very excited to be making my Cleveland debut,” the 29-year-old said. “When I was a student in Vienna, Franz Welser-Möst would bring the Orchestra to the Musikverein almost every year and I was at every concert, so I’m feeling very lucky to be able to come.”

[Read more…]

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