by Daniel Hathaway
On November 7 in Hall Auditorium, Jonathon Field’s Oberlin Opera Theatre celebrated Leonard Bernstein’s centennial year with a professional-quality performance of his one-act opera, Trouble in Tahiti, and a revisiting of some of his Broadway triumphs in excerpts both brilliantly sung and crisply danced. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
After their successful first Re:Sound festival last summer, the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) opened their new concert series season at the Bop Stop on Sunday evening, November 4. Featuring Aaron Hynds and Patchwork, CUSP continued its focus on combining local acts with more far-flung artists, and deepened its connection to the noise-based tradition of new classical music.
by Robert Rollin
Last Saturday night, November 3, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presented the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet in an outstanding concert at First Unitarian Church. An especially imaginative highlight was guitarist/composer Robert Beaser’s short, single-movement Chaconne, receiving its world premiere in a version written for the LAGQ.
by Timothy Robson
Good Company: A Vocal Ensemble presented what was likely the biggest project in the group’s 23-year history this past weekend — a two-day residency with Ola Gjeilo (pronounced yay-loh), a Norwegian-born composer now based in the United States. On Saturday, November 3, Gjeilo led a workshop about his music with members of Good Company and singers from Bay Village High School and elsewhere. On Sunday afternoon, Good Company music director Mike Carney led a concert of fifteen of Gjeilo’s works to a packed sanctuary at Lakewood Presbyterian Church, with the Amethyst Strings and the composer at the piano for several selections. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Quire Cleveland began its eleventh season on November 2 with new artistic leadership. Under the direction of Jay White, the professional chorus marked the dual celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day with a cleverly devised, masterfully sung program at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Walking into the Lab Studios by Glo, around 6:45 pm on Friday, November 2, I was met with a large crowd standing just inside the door listening attentively to poetry being recited from an adjoining, grotto-like space. Attractive art decorated the walls and a makeshift bar was set up in a kitchen area, while high-top tables held snacks. An area for a DJ was located against the back wall adjacent to a white stage area that resembled an in-ground pool turned on its side. It was clear from the get go that the evening was not going to be an ordinary classical music concert presented in an alternative space — this was going to be a happening. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
On October 19, almost a year after its debut, Margaret Brouwer’s ambitious oratorio Voice of the Lake, chronicling the most recent environmental assaults on Lake Erie, was revived in an updated version in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The affecting and nearly flawless performance conducted by Domenico Boyagian, involved soloists (Angela Mortellaro, soprano, Sarah Beaty, mezzo-soprano, Brian Skoog, tenor, and Bryant Bush, bass), the 15-member Blue Streak Ensemble and 12 voices of the Blue Streak Ensemble Chamber Singers, and the 21-voice Cleveland Institute of Music Children’s Choir. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
Earth and Air: String Orchestra opened their fourth season this past Friday evening at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights with a charming continuation of their Mendelssohn String Symphonies project. Music Director David Ellis curated this Part Two in the pleasant spirit of a potpourri concert: the movements of the featured symphony were divided up, with other works by the composer played in between.
by Daniel Hathaway
Singers on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series never seem to attract the kind of audiences who turn out for string quartets, but anyone who stayed away from the remarkable recital presented by German baritone Holger Falk and British pianist Julius Drake at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church on October 23 missed out on a special evening. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Only two works made up the program for Matthias Pintscher’s guest appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall on Thursday, November 1, but they were big ones. Pianist Kirill Gerstein — always worth a few surprises — brought a breezy, fresh interpretation to Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto, and Pintscher and the Orchestra labored mightily to make the music of Bartók’s infrequently performed ballet The Wooden Prince work as a symphonic poem without dancers. [Read more…]