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…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Stepping off on a multi-city tour, tenor Lawrence Brownlee and bass-baritone Eric Owens brought their wide-ranging duo recital to the Tuesday Musical series in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall on February 12. The two longtime friends joined pianist Craig Terry in a heartwarming demonstration of camaraderie that spilled over into a love fest. Tag-team opera arias, traditional spirituals, popular songs, and gospel numbers filled the two-hour program laced with friendly banter and commentary. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Stevens
In a Northeast Ohio music world recently energized amid multiple anniversary seasons, ensembles have faced the challenge of honoring their histories while plunging headlong into the future. Leave it to No Exit new music ensemble, ten years young this season, to prove itself among the most forward-thinking of all. In a concert of world premieres on Saturday, February 16, the chamber collective played a program defined more by promise than by pomp.
by David Kulma
It’s February, and that means another lovely installment in the Amici Quartet’s multi-year Beethoven cycle for Arts Renaissance Tremont at Pilgrim Congregational Church. This year’s program on Sunday, February 10 included two quartets in the key of A that span the composer’s career. The Op. 18, No. 5 quartet is a jovial work with dark undercurrents from Beethoven’s first collection of six quartets published in 1800, while the late Heiliger Dankgesang quartet, Op. 132 from 1825, features a profound and patiently unfolding slow movement. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
Atonal music holds a certain fascination, although it may make listeners recoil in horror. More than 100 years after inspiring a revolution in music, atonality remains unresolved in classical music culture. But the open-eared willing to forswear their fear can gain a foothold on a treacherous musical mountain.
by Timothy Robson
The Cleveland Orchestra billed last week’s concerts as “Romantic Mozart.” That may have been a great marketing gimmick to attract the Valentine’s Day crowd on Thursday evening, but the repertoire — all by Mozart, with a little help from guest conductor Harry Bicket — was the epitome of Classical elegance, with performances to match. The ensemble was pared down to chamber orchestra size, and there was no hint of “romantic” interpretation. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Stevens
Mid-February finds most Northeast Ohioans in a kind of limbo. A month remains before the sun once again shines for twelve hours a day. At a time of year like this, it helps the listener cope when musicians kindle sonic warmth. Playing in an intimate setting that looked out on the sparse, snow-dusted gardens of the Dunham Tavern Museum in Cleveland, the Omni Quartet and four guest players did just that on February 10, in an installment of Heights Arts’ Close Encounters Chamber Music series designed to combat the deepest winter blues.
by Nicholas Stevens
Opera, states composer Missy Mazzoli, has a “superpower of subtext.” The feeling of sitting in a room among strangers as unamplified voices subtly charge and change the air: this, more than any strict definition, constitutes the form’s precious essence, in her view. Few living composers exploit this superpower of multiple media and meanings the way Mazzoli does, leaving ample room for interpretation while honing an overall point so sharp that it cuts through regardless of staging. Oberlin Opera Theater’s recent Winter Term production of Proving Up, her bracing latest, found director Christopher Mirto and a cast of students more than equal to the challenge of realizing the opera’s subtext, picking up where music and words leave room for performers’ magic. [Read more…]