by Tom Wachunas
Imagine watching a very fine orchestra as it begins to perform the stirring final movement of a symphony. After only a few bars, the violinists abruptly stop playing and start to tune their instruments. Oh, the indignity! Nervous giggles ripple through the audience as the conductor, clearly mortified by such a cacophonous interruption, glares incredulously at his rude ensemble before continuing. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Although the indisposition of violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja deprived Severance Hall audiences last weekend of hearing the concerto that Péter Eötvös wrote in honor of the Columbia astronauts, it provided Spanish pianist Javier Perianes with a second opportunity to solo in Ravel’s G-Major Concerto with The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Mignarda, the longstanding soprano-lute duo of Donna Stewart and Ron Andrico, doubled its forces at St. John’s Cathedral on Sunday afternoon, February 24 for “Byrd songes,” a program of devotional and liturgical music by William Byrd. By adding José Gotera and Malina Rauschenfels to their roster, Mignarda created a splendid vocal quartet who sang revelatory versions of Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices and Ave verum corpus in the second half of the concert. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Stevens
Concert promoters often confront a dilemma: advertisement demands a level of concision that can reduce a rich, varied program to a name or two and some titles. Undeclared riches might await behind a program labeled, say, “Satie’s Parade.” Wise, then, for the Heights Chamber Orchestra to avoid choosing a descriptive tagline for their most recent concert. So many individual aspects of the performance charmed that to single out one would be to minimize its many surprising delights. [Read more…]
by Rory O’Donoghue
Joyce DiDonato wants you to play with the song, and she’ll tell you why. The multiple Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano brought a full house to Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel on Wednesday, February 27, backed by an all-star ensemble. The program featured an array of songs from her recent album Songplay, and although moments bordered on theatrical cheese, DiDonato delivered the goods with her signature panache. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The superb London-based Doric String Quartet brought both musical and equipment surprises to their riveting performance on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel on February 22. Period bows came out not only for the opening Haydn quartet but also for the concluding Mendelssohn, lending extra flexibility to the former and an unusual suppleness to the latter. And Britten’s String Quartet No. 3 enjoyed an extra dollop of authenticity through Hélène Clément’s viola, an 1843 instrument by Giussani that had been gifted by Frank Bridge to Britten — his star pupil — just before the composer had sailed off to the United States. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The creation of new opera is a passion of Scott Skiba, Cleveland Opera Theater’s executive artistic director. And earlier this month Skiba and his company brought that passion to life during the third annual {New Opera Works Festival}, which was held at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory from February 4 through February 9. From the beginning, {NOW} has included partnerships with area music institutions — this year’s the Festival involved collaborations with Baldwin Wallace, Bowling Green State University, the Cleveland Composers Guild, Hiram College, and Oberlin. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
A favorite phrase musicians use to trim conductors down to size is to remind them that “the stick makes no sound.” Neither do the bare hands for that matter, but on Thursday, February 20 at Severance Hall, veteran conductor Herbert Blomstedt expertly shaped symphonies by Beethoven and Mendelssohn using minimal but meaningful gestures that provided Cleveland Orchestra musicians with clear architectural plans, but left them plenty of room to work their magic. [Read more…]
by Hannah Schoepe
As the month of Valentines Day and love, February is abundant with hearts and couples of all kinds. The Admiral Launch Duo’s new album Launch could be seen as an “opposites attract” type of situation. Not many musicians had thought of bringing the saxophone and harp together until Jonathan Hulting-Cohen (saxophone) and Oberlin and CIM grad Jennifer R. Ellis (harp) came along. Released by Albany Records in December 2018, the album showcases 18 tracks of uniquely crafted music.
by Daniel Hathaway
Fresh from heralded performances of the roles of Adriana Lecouvreur and Tosca at the MET, Baldwin Wallace alumna Jennifer Rowley delivered a masterful, one-hour solo recital on Friday, February 15 in Gamble Auditorium as part of a homecoming residency. “Bel Canto — Operatic scenes and song” layered a fun cycle of Rossini songs about a boat race and a set of ariette by Bellini among scenes from Giovanni Simone Mayr’s Medea in Corinto, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, and Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, with Jason Aquila at the piano. [Read more…]