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Re•Views

Rocky River Chamber Music Society: “Cincinnati Meets Cleveland” (May 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

FreimuthOhio is one of the few states to harbor more than one major symphony orchestra within its borders. Three members of the Cincinnati Symphony joined bows, keys, and valves with a trio from The Cleveland Orchestra on Monday evening, May 8 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church. The program, featuring some unusual music by Carl Reinecke, Franz Strauss, and Ernst von Dohnányi, as well as a not-so-often-heard version of Romances by Robert Schumann, made a gradual crescendo of sophistication. [Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at Plymouth Church (May 13)

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by Jane Berkner

Vardi-AmitaiBlueWater Chamber Orchestra is a jewel in the local arts scene’s crown. It’s always a treat to hear these highly talented regional musicians, and their concert under the direction of guest conductor Thomas Hong at Plymouth Church on May 13 was no exception. Titled “Flying High,” the program included two works with bird themes. [Read more…]

Trinity Brownbag Concerts: Collegium Musicum Oberliniense (May 3)

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by Mike Telin

Oberlin-Collegium-TrinityHearing choral music in Trinity Cathedral is always enjoyable, but the experience can become truly magical when the performers are refined and well-disciplined. This was the case on Wednesday, May 3 when the Collegium Musicum Oberliniense, under the direction of Steven Plank, performed a captivating program titled “Touches of Sweet Harmony.” The concert was presented as part of the Cathedral’s popular Brownbag series. [Read more…]

CIPC Concert Series: Nikita Mndoyants at Maltz with the Omni Quartet (April 30)

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by Mike Telin

MndoyantsOn his way to winning the 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition, Nikita Mndoyants gave a thrilling performance of Prokofiev’s dissonant Sonata No. 7 in B-flat during his semi-final round. The pianist returned to Cleveland on April 30 to give an impressive recital at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. And again, he proved to have an affinity for the music of the Russian composer. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra with pianist Catharine Baek (May 12)

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by Timothy Robson

COYO-MitchellThe Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra played an ambitious program of works by Joan Tower, Maurice Ravel, and Sergei Prokofiev at Severance Hall on Friday evening, May 12, the last concert of their 2016-17 season. It was a bittersweet occasion. Not only did the Orchestra bid farewell to a group of graduating seniors, but it was conductor Brett Mitchell’s 29th and final concert with COYO, marking the end of his four-year term as Associate Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra before taking up duties as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony. [Read more…]

Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: Sérgio & Odair Assad at Plymouth (Apr. 30)

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by Daniel Hathaway

AssadsDeparting from its normal Saturday evening time slot, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society closed its International Series with a duo recital by Sérgio and Odair Assad on Sunday afternoon, April 30 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. Though their styles of playing are different, the Brazilian-born brothers have been performing as a duo for 52 years, and know each other so well that they could probably play a recital blindfolded.

[Read more…]

Akron Symphony: Mendelssohn’s Elijah at E.J. Thomas Hall (May 5)

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by Daniel Hathaway

ASO ElijahA critical mass of nearly 200 singers joined Christopher Wilkins, the Akron Symphony, and a first-rate quartet of soloists for a resounding performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah on Saturday evening, May 5 in E.J. Thomas Hall. Commissioned for the 1846 Birmingham Festival following the success of his earlier oratorio St. Paul, Mendelssohn’s concert-length work presents the life of the Hebrew prophet in several dramatic scenes.

[Read more…]

Arts Renaissance Tremont: Mosa Quartet & Barrick Stees (May 7)

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by Daniel Hathaway

ART-May-7At the end of a long concert season, the final performance in a series may be a happy or a bittersweet moment. For the Mosa String Quartet — violinists James Thompson and Brian Allen, violist Christine Wu, and cellist Anna Hurt — the last Arts Renaissance Tremont concert on Sunday, May 7 at Pilgrim Church was just about the last appearance the group would make as a quartet, for Wu and Allen are off to graduate studies at Juilliard and the University of Michigan, respectively.

[Read more…]

Belgian choir Vox Luminis at St. John’s Cathedral (April 26)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Vox-Luminis-GermanyAt the end of Vox Luminis’s flawlessly-sung program of British royal funerary music at St. John’s Cathedral on April 26, artistic director Lionel Meunier said to the audience, “I have to confess: we do have happier programs.” Indeed, this repertoire, largely taken from Thomas Morley’s and Henry Purcell’s obsequies for Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, might have added up to a dreary evening if this fine Belgian choir hadn’t pulled it off with such commitment and finesse. [Read more…]

Canton Symphony offers up a sublime Verdi Requiem

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by Tom Wachunas

CSO-Verdi-May-17Composed in 1873-74, Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa Da Requiem (Requiem Mass) poses a wondrous irony. Verdi was openly disdainful of organized church worship. His wife, Giuseppina, once characterized him as, “…not an outright atheist, but a very doubtful believer.”  It might seem, then, counterintuitive that this acclaimed champion of worldly opera — who had not composed any conventional sacred music since his youth — would render a work of such profound religiosity. [Read more…]

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