by David Kulma
The delightful second concert of Tri-C’s free Classical Piano Series at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Gartner Auditorium on Sunday, November 18 featured Alon Goldstein. The program featured his gloriously precise pianism across three centuries from Scarlatti to Bernstein, including helpful speaking from the stage along the way. [Read more…]
by Tom Wachunas
“Music of the People” was the theme of the November 18 Canton Symphony Orchestra program with works by George Gershwin and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. As stated in the press release for the concert, “the two composers…wrote music to touch the souls of the people of their respective countries.” What could be more “of the people” these days than national politics? Commenting on the evening’s opening selection — Gershwin’s overture to his 1931 satirical Broadway musical, Of Thee I Sing — a mischievously grinning Gerhardt Zimmermann explained that he intentionally scheduled the work to be performed on the heels of this country’s recent, highly contentious midterm elections. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
Over the course of two weekends from November 10 to 18, Apollo’s Fire celebrated the multicultural heritage of the Holy Land with “O Jerusalem!: Crossroads of Three Faiths.” This exploration of music of Jews, Christians, and Muslims was conceived and directed by artistic director Jeannette Sorrell as a sequel to their successful “Sephardic Journey” program first done in 2014. I attended the second concert on November 12 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
This past Friday evening, while waiting for the start of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra’s concert at Severance Hall, I ran into some friends whose granddaughter was performing with the Orchestra. They could not have been more proud. And proud they should be — along with the many other family, friends, and audience members — because, under the direction of talented music director Vinay Parameswaran, it was an excellent concert that made few concessions to the reality that COYO is a student orchestra. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Fans of Canadian violinist James Ehnes recently got to enjoy his artistry twice in one month — first on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series with pianist Andrew Armstrong, then with his string quartet on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series. And ChamberFest Cleveland admirers of violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti didn’t have to wait until next summer to hear her play again. The two joined violist Richard O’Neill and cellist Edward Arron in ravishing performances of quartets by Beethoven, Elgar, and Bartók on November 13 at Plymouth Church. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Stevens
The cloud-enshrouded last weeks of the year have come fast, and soon, list-making journalists will issue postmortems and praises for 2018 — summaries and “best of” lists by the dozen. What a perfect time, then, for five Northeast Ohio string players to make a strong case for Concert of the Year, under the auspices of Heights Arts’ Close Encounters Chamber Music series. [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
This past week, metropolitan Warren, Ohio played host to the International Digital Electronic Accordion Society. The terrific Friday night concert on November 9 at the Avalon Inn & Resort, part of a symposium, drew world-class professionals from New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Canada, and the United States. The evening opened with an accordion ensemble playing a lively musical mélange. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Stevens
That time of year has come: lawns turn white with snow as day arrives late, puddles freeze over when night comes early, and Northeast Ohioans glance outside with the knowledge that this is only the beginning. In this season, when the world outside seems to reject us with what feels like personal hostility, it takes real incentives to lure listeners to concert halls. Fortunately, the area offers many such tempting opportunities, and last weekend, a program by BlueWater Chamber Orchestra made the trip outside well worth it. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
From November 7-10, Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theater presented a double bill of Igor Stravinsky’s early Le Rossignol and Maurice Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges in CIM’s Kulas Hall. Dean Southern directed, and Harry Davidson conducted the CIM Orchestra, with sets and lighting by Dave Brooks and costumes by Inda Blatch-Geib. It was a very fine show, both musically and theatrically. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Conductor Alain Altinoglu brought music by his fellow Frenchpeople Debussy and Ravel to his guest appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra last week, along with an intriguing new work by Matthias Pintscher featuring principal flute Joshua Smith. The concert on Saturday, November 10 played to a large audience who may not have been lured to Severance Hall by the U.S. premiere, but who gave the Pintscher work a thoughtful hearing and its soloist a big ovation. [Read more…]