by Daniel Hathaway
November became Northeast Ohio’s unofficial Opera Month as a number of institutions unveiled productions during the first two weeks. Particularly dense was the weekend of November 4-6, when Opera Circle Cleveland, Kent State Opera, and Baldwin Wallace Opera Theater — in cooperation with Cleveland Opera Theater — all brought titles to the stage. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
French conductor Stéphane Denève and Canadian violinist James Ehnes proposed a multi-course repast of the music of Sergei Prokofiev for Cleveland Orchestra audiences the weekend of October 27-29. Happily, that Russian composer’s music enjoys enough inner variety and contrast to make a well-balanced menu, especially when served up with equal measures of brilliance and nuance. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The CIM faculty recital on October 26 in Mixon Hall featured members of Ars Futura and guests in a program of music by Pierre Boulez and others, all related in some way to the career of the late, great French composer and conductor. The performance was the fourth of five concerts created by CIM composition head Keith Fitch to celebrate “The Boulez Legacy,” and the second to explore “Boulez the Modernist.” [Read more…]
by Tom Wachunas
On the evening of October 29, while the Cleveland Indians were playing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in game four of the World Series, the Canton Symphony Orchestra wasted no time setting a festive mood right here in Umstattd Hall. From the rear of the house, all the CSO members — many wearing Indians caps or jerseys — strutted happily down the aisles and up on to the stage, all to boisterous cheers from the audience. Then Gerhardt Zimmermann led orchestra and audience in a stirring sing-along of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
The Youngstown Symphony, conducted by Randall Craig Fleischer, presented an interesting salute to the Mahoning Valley’s Italian pioneers in its second mainstage classical program of the season on Saturday, November 5. YSU Emeritus History Professor George Beelen introduced the concert and gave a brief synopsis of early Italian immigrants’ contributions to the region. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Jonathon Field’s Oberlin Opera Theater shows are always fresh and surprising, but his versions of Donizetti’s Viva la Mamma and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias burst onstage Wednesday evening in a laughfest of satire and surrealism. With casts that would put many professional companies to shame, these are must-see productions that will prick up your ears and kick-start your imagination. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
For their latest series of concerts, the first-rate new music ensemble No Exit presented “Sonic Landscapes,” a program of six appealing works that explored the variety of ways composers use timbre, texture, and rhythm to create vivid imagery with sound. I was part of the capacity audience who attended the October 8 performance at Heights Arts. [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin & Mario Buchanan
This past week, Northeast Ohio hosted two performances of the classic horror film Nosferatu — one in Youngstown’s Stambaugh Auditorium and one in Cleveland’s Severance Hall.
Both were accompanied by organ scores and performed on restored E.M. Skinner organs. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
“Boulez the Advocate and Mentor,” the last of five concerts at CIM honoring the late Pierre Boulez, took place on October 30 at Mixon Hall. Appropriately, the CIM New Music Ensemble, directed by Keith Fitch, was joined by soloist Joshua Smith (CIM faculty member and Cleveland Orchestra principal flute), who performed many times under Boulez’s direction. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
A good song is a good song, and for centuries vocal music has been a fruitful source of repertoire for instrumentalists. In “Songs Without Words,” Les Délices artistic director Debra Nagy has created an inspired program that juxtaposes 17th-century art songs with 20th-century jazz standards. [Read more…]