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Review: Oberlin Opera Theater flies you to the Moon — and back (November 7)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Joseph HaydnOberlin-Mondo.310100651_std (1) wrote more than a dozen operas for the Esterházy family during his thirty years as its Kapellmeister (plus another late one for London that never made it to the stage). Oberlin Opera Theater’s production of Il mondo della luna (The World on the Moon), which opened on Wednesday evening at Hall Auditorium for four performances, provided the rare opportunity to encounter one of Haydn’s stage works. The evening was entertaining and successful not so much because of Carlo Goldoni’s libretto (ridiculous) or Haydn’s score (every inch masterful though largely unmemorable) but because of Jonathon Field’s resourceful and often hysterically funny stage direction, the fine singing and acting of Oberlin voice students, and generally excellent work from the pit by the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra under guest conductor Christopher Larkin. And also no doubt because of extensive cuts in the score. [Read more…]

Review: Brahms-Fest III at Trinity Cathedral (October 24)

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by J.D. Goddard

The BrownbagBrahms-at-Piano Concert Series at Trinity Cathedral has been a weekly tradition in the city of Cleveland for 35 years. Trinity’s director of music and worship Todd Wilson has continued this tradition every Wednesday during the season at 12:10 pm when an always appreciative audience comes to enjoy a one-hour program of musical offerings ranging from the classical to the contemporary — and to grab a quick lunch. This past Wednesday, October 24, members of the Trinity Cathedral Choir and Chamber Singers joined Wilson and guest pianist Elizabeth DeMio in the third and final weekly installment of Brahms-Fest 2012 featuring Brahms’s Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 3, 5, 11, and 21 for piano four-hands along with the Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52 for piano four-hands and singers.

Brahms Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 spirited dance melodies based primarily on Hungarian themes and completed in 1869. Each dance varies in length from one minute to four minutes. Brahms originally wrote his Hungarian Dances for piano four-hands and later arranged the first ten dances for solo piano. Only numbers 11, 14 and 16 are entirely original compositions and he later orchestrated numbers 1, 3, and 10. Dvořák, along with other composers, orchestrated the remaining dances. [Read more…]

Preview: Les Délices: Pocket Opera November 10 & 11

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by Mike Telin

Today’sLes-Délices cinema and 17th and 18th century French opera have much in common, says Les Délices artistic director Debra Nagy. “Just as many of today’s blockbuster films make up for weaknesses in plot, dialogue, or acting by relying heavily on fantastic sets and expensive special effects to lure audiences to the theatre, so did 17th and 18th century French Opéra make extensive use of supernatural elements collectively known as merveilleux.”

On Saturday, November 10 beginning at 8:00 pm at William Busta Gallery and Sunday, November 11 beginning at 4:00 pm in Herr Chapel at Plymouth Church, Les Délices presents Pocket Opera, featuring works by Jean-Philipp Rameau. [Read more…]

An inspired Mahler 2nd from the Canton Symphony (November 4)

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by Tom Wachunas

Looking backZIMMERMN-Gerhardt on the several years I’ve been reviewing performances by the Canton Symphony Orchestra, I don’t recall a concert (other than an opera) with just a single work on the program. The November 4 concert featured Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in c minor (Resurrection), a stand-alone work if ever there was one. In his introductory comments, Maestro Gerhardt Zimmermann reverently reminded a very packed Umstattd Hall that the evening was dedicated to the memory of Rachel Renkert (1938-2007) — a beloved, seminal visionary in forming the CSO into the vibrant organization it is today. The Mahler was her favorite symphonic work. [Read more…]

Mixon Hall Masters Series: Midori with Özgür Aydin (November 5)

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 by Nicholas Jones

If weMidori imagine a concert as a layered Viennnese dessert, Midori’s offering at CIM Monday evening might be called Ludwig à l’avant-garde: three rich layers of Beethoven separated by thin, piquant fillings of Webern and Crumb (I will resist the pun on the latter). Midori included Cleveland as she celebrates her 30th year of concert performing with an extended set of tours featuring recitals of solo Bach, concertos of Brahms, Beethoven, and Hindemith, and recital programs around the US and Europe.

[Read more…]

Seraphic Fire at the Oberlin Conservatory (September 12)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Seraphic-FireIn heaven the rapturous song began,
And sweet seraphic fire
Through all the shining legions ran,
And strung and tuned the lyre.
.                    .                    .       
Down through the portals of the sky
Th’ impetuous torrent ran;
And angels flew, with eager joy,
To bear the news to man.
—Samuel Medley, 1782

On Wednesday evening in Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall, those angels happened to be mortals who hailed from South Florida, but the exquisite sounds that Patrick Dupré Quigley’s Seraphic Fire singers made could easily have overflowed from the banks of heaven. [Read more…]

Review: Classical Guitar Weekend at the Cleveland Institute of Music

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by James Flood, Daniel Hathaway & Mike Telin

The twelfth annual Classical Guitar Weekend was distinguished by four outstanding concerts by Pavel Steidl, Gaëlle Solal, SoloDuo and Jason Vieaux with soprano Jung Eun Oh; three excellent and informative lectures by luthier Bernhard Kresse, guitarist Jonathan Fitzgerald and record producer Alan Bise; and record audiences showed up for performances, talks and master classes over a three-day span from June 1-3 at the Cleveland Institute of Music. For the first time, Classical Guitar Weekend took on the air of a real festival chock full of delights for guitar enthusiasts as well as for music lovers in general, for which artistic director Armin Kelly deserves an up-front round of applause.

Recital by Pavel Steidl

Pavel SteidlPavel Steidl chose his Friday evening program with a particular instrument in mind: a reproduction of a nineteenth century Stauffer instrument made by Bernhard Kresse. In an interview, Kresse contrasted it to the modern guitar as “the difference between a limousine and a sports car with the same engine”. Indeed, Steidl took us on a brisk and thrilling road trip through music by Johann Kaspar Mertz, Niccolò Paganini, J.S. Bach, Fernando Sor and Zani de Ferranti, showing us how well the smaller, peppier instrument responded in the areas of color, speed, articulation and ornamentation.

Pavel Steidl is an animated performer who uses his hands, his feet and his facial expressions as well as the guitar to put the essence of the music across. The Mertz pieces featured colorful harmonies, toccata-like gestures, lyrical stretches and cheerful, humorous moments that Steidl played brilliantly and footnoted with his body motions. [Read more…]

Opera Circle: Il trovatore at Bohemian National Hall (February 17)

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by Robert Rollin

OCTrovatoreLast Friday night, February 17, Opera Circle joined forces with the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra to present Guiseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore at the Bohemian National Hall. Opera Circle is headed by executive director Dorota Sobieska, one of Northeast Ohio’s most talented sopranos, and music director and chorus master Jacek Sobieski, a former music director of Warsaw’s Polish National Theater. Robert Croquist, the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra’s longtime music director, served as conductor. [Read more…]

Rubin Institute winners announced in Oberlin

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By Daniel Hathaway

Oberlin, OH — January 24, 2012. At a Sunday morning ceremony in Klonick Hall of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music on January 22, Dean David Stull and donor Stephen Rubin announced the winners of the grand prize and public prize in the first bi-annual Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, which began on January 18.

Rubin Winner

The $10,000 prize went to Jacob Street (above, with Rubin and Stull), a master’s candidate in historical performance from North Reading, MA. In a surprise development, the panel awarded honorable mention to Megan Emberton, a senior piano major from Chelsea, MI, along with a cash award of $2,500. [Read more…]

Review: ‘The Turn of the Screw’ at Oberlin

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by Alison Kozol

Alison Kozol participated in the Oberlin Winter Term class in Digital Musical Journalism co-sponsored by ClevelandClassical.com and team-taught by CC correspondent and Oberlin English professor Nicholas Jones and CC staffers Mike Telin and Daniel Hathaway. Here, Ms. Kozol writes about the Thursday, February 3 opening performance of one of the two Winter Term operas, Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.

A massive, beautiful paper-mache tree stood by itself in the corner of Finney Chapel’s stage last night as one of the few props used in Oberlin College’s production of The Turn of The Screw. The set design was sparse, but, like the tree, the cast and orchestra used minimalism to their advantage. Relying more on polished technique than ornamentation, The Turn of the Screw captivated its small audience by creating an eerie atmosphere that accurately captured the spirit of the story.

Such an eerie atmosphere is necessary for an opera like The Turn of the Screw, Benjamin Britten’s adaptation of Henry James’ novella of the same name. The story follows the unnamed Governess throughout her experience with the Bly mansion, a sprawling home teeming with ghosts, and Sara Casey, a fifth-year at Oberlin, did the character justice. Her transition from cheerful to weary to terrified set the tone for the entire performance, and her voice was flawless as it mimicked her tumultuous mood. Perhaps the most spell-binding moments, however, were when she was most flabbergasted by the supernatural around her and instead of singing, whimpered her disbelief. [Read more…]

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