by Nicholas Stevens
The film-with-live-orchestra format has swept the U.S. of late because of its broad appeal. It boasts advantages over both the traditional open-air concert and the movie theater experience, uniting the vivid sound and fresh setting of the one with the narrative cohesion and thrilling visuals of the other. When a distinguished conductor leads one of the world’s greatest orchestras in one of history’s greatest film musical scores, what could go wrong? [Read more…]
by Kelly Ferjutz
You’ve heard of “screwball comedies,” right? Well, here’s your chance to see a screwball comedy disguised as an operetta. The sumptuous music is by the German-French master, Jacques Offenbach, and features a sparkling new English translation by OLO’s Jacob Allen. The original French libretto from 1868 is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Offenbach wrote nearly 100 operettas from the 1850s–1870s, on more than a dozen of which Meilhac collaborated, while Halévy assisted on more than twenty. Today, only half a dozen or so are still in the active repertoire. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
The first Cleveland Orchestra concert at the Blossom Music Center occurred on July 19, 1968. On Saturday evening’s concert there was no official recognition of that 50th anniversary, but the event did mark another tradition in existence since 1990: a “side-by-side” performance in which members of the Kent Blossom Chamber Orchestra were interspersed with The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Stevens
Straightforward though the concert experience may seem, myriad issues can intervene between performers and their audience. Programming is an art unto itself, and vagaries of context, time of day, and location can obscure the great music-making at the heart of an event. The July 15th performance on the Kent Blossom Music Festival’s Student Concert Series, hosted by the Hudson Library and Historical Society, illustrated as much. Each of the fourteen string players showed exceptional skill and experience as they performed, but the repertoire — along with the venue — conspired against them. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Because contestants’ repertoire is selected well before the finalists get chosen, it’s always a cliff-hanger to see not only who makes it to the final round in the Thomas and Evon Cooper Competition, but what pieces they’ll be playing. As it turned out this year in Oberlin’s biennial piano competition, three separate works were on the docket for Friday evening’s finals with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall on July 20 — both of the Chopin concertos and Tchaikovsky’s first. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Although they didn’t have to pass through trials by silence, water, and fire like Papageno, the six young pianists remaining in the draw on Wednesday evening, July 18 at the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition reached the recital round by surviving earlier sessions that had trimmed the original 31 performers down to 16, then to 10. With no questions remaining about their technical aptitude, it was up to these six to prove their musical and interpretive mettle and their ability to communicate their ideas to the jury in 30-minute solo programs. All of the pianists were impressive, but some were standouts. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Stevens
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something (far darker than) blue: an afternoon program last weekend in the Kent Blossom Music Festival’s Student Concert Series had something for everyone. From lithe Mozart to vibrant new music, from repurposed film and ballet cues to a thundering Romantic rarity, the pieces on offer benefited from the expertise of the eighteen young performers who took the stage. [Read more…]
by Alice Koeninger
The Happy Days Lodge welcomed musicians from The Cleveland Orchestra with special guest Eric Wong into its wide-beamed hall on Tuesday, July 17, at 7:00 pm. Hosted by the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the concert was a lovely and relaxed program full of color and brightness. [Read more…]
by Alice Koeninger
Oberlin Conservatory’s Warner Hall was filled with double basses on Friday, July 13 for the Bass Ensembles and Bass Orchestra concert. Concluding a week of workshops, performances, and seminars at the Milt Hinton Bass Institute, this show was a way for parents to see what their kids had been up to. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The 2018 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition got underway on Saturday morning, July 14, when thirty-one young pianists played the first of two Semifinal Rounds in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory. On Sunday evening the field was narrowed to fifteen. On Tuesday, July 17, the remaining ten competitors played full concertos, and without a doubt, this was the strongest field of young pianists the Competition has put forward to date. Each of the gentlemen brought solid technique and musical flair to their performances. [Read more…]