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Cleveland Orchestra: all-Stravinsky with Cleveland Orchestra Chorus & Seraphic Fire (Mar. 16)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Stravinsky-Wide-MastroianniThose who say they like or don’t like the music of Igor Stravinsky risk being detained for further questioning: which of the different styles the composer took on and discarded during his long 20th-century career are you referring to? There were several to be heard on The Cleveland Orchestra’s all-Stravinsky program on Thursday evening, all masterfully performed under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst with the help of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Miami’s Seraphic Fire. [Read more…]

Black Squirrel Winds on Music from the Western Reserve series (March 12)

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by Robert Rollin

Black-Squirrell-Hudson-RehearsalOn Sunday afternoon, March 12 at Hudson’s Christ Episcopal Church, Music from the Western Reserve presented an exceptional concert of sextets by Kent State’s Black Squirrel Winds and guests. The group, named for the furry creatures inhabiting Kent’s grassy campus, consists of five talented wind players with genuine rapport. [Read more…]

CD Review: Christopher Houlihan plays Bach

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by Daniel Hathaway

Houlihan-Bach-CD-CoverOrganist Christopher Houlihan’s two previous recordings were devoted to music by Maurice Duruflé, Jehan Alain and Louis Vierne — three go-to composers for demonstrating the talents of a young organ virtuoso. His most recent release on Cleveland’s Azica label takes on more dangerous interpretive material: some of the more monumental works of Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as Houlihan’s own arrangement of Bach’s Concerto in the Italian Style. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Family Concert features “The Magic Firebird” (March 5)

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by Robert Rollin

Enchantment-Theatre-Co-FirebirdThe Cleveland Orchestra Family Concert on Sunday afternoon, March 5 was a delight. The program, titled “The Magic Firebird,” was a collaboration between the Orchestra and the Enchantment Theatre Company. Guest conductor Ruth Reinhardt led Stravinsky’s The Firebird with precision, commenting briefly on each piece and drawing in the young audience. The concert was a terrific success despite limited space onstage. [Read more…]

Les Délices & Blue Heron: Machaut at Historic St. John’s (Mar. 3)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Wheel-of-FortuneLes Délices’ normal métier is French Baroque music, but last weekend the ensemble turned to earlier French music, joining forces with Boston’s Blue Heron to produce a condensed version of Guillaume de Machaut’s Remède de Fortune. Their performance of this dit, or long narrative poem, by the 14th-century superstar attracted a good-sized audience to Historic St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ohio City on Saturday evening. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera Theater stages an enchanting Cendrillon (March 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cendrillon-Stepmother-StepsistersWhether you know her as Cendrillon, Aschenbrödel, La Cenerentola, La Cenicienta, Soluschka, or, most likely, Cinderella, the story of that downtrodden stepchild is an irresistible fairy tale. It’s been turned into many operas, but perhaps most magically by Jules Massenet in his Cendrillon, beautifully produced by Oberlin Opera Theater last Wednesday evening at its opening performance in Hall Auditorium. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra & Chamber Chorus: Bach’s St. John Passion at Severance (Mar. 9)

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by Daniel Hathaway

TCO-Herr-unser-HerrscherUnder the direction of Franz Welser-Möst on Thursday evening, members of The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus and an excellent team of soloists made a strong case for a not-so-historically informed approach to Bach’s sacred vocal works. The quality of Welser-Möst’s interpretation and the excellence of its execution got right to the heart of the composer’s Passion According to St. John and left a powerful emotional impression. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: Fridays@7 with William Preucil & Brett Mitchell (March 3)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Mitchell-TCOFor his next-to-last appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra before taking up his new duties with the Colorado Symphony, associate conductor Brett Mitchell presided over a program of American music on Friday evening at Severance Hall. Two “Third” works were on the program: Aaron Copland’s stirring Third Symphony, and Augusta Read Thomas’s elusive Third Violin Concerto with concertmaster William Preucil as soloist. [Read more…]

CIM Opera: Mozart’s Così fan tutte plays out in another Naples (Mar. 2)

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by Daniel Hathaway

rm_cim_opera_cosi-fan-tutti_robert-muller_3_17-(4)Jettisoning powdered wigs in favor of Bermuda shorts and golf clubs, CIM Opera Theater director David Bamberger moved the action in Mozart’s Così fan tutte from 18th-century Naples (Italy) to 1970s Naples (Florida) last Thursday evening in Kulas Hall. That update worked nicely, although Fiordiligi and Dorabella aren’t names you’d be likely to hear on a Gulf Coast beach. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Tafelmusik in “J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation” (Feb. 28)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Tafelmusic-Circle-of-CreationToronto’s Baroque orchestra Tafelmusik brought its multidisciplinary show “J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation” to Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel on Tuesday, February 28. It’s an impressive celebration of the Thuringian master’s genius in the field of instrumental music, as devised by the orchestra’s bassist Alison Mackay. [Read more…]

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