by Daniel Hathaway | Cleveland Classical
Originally published on Cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — On Thursday evening, while the mysterious life forces of nature were busy choreographing an early outburst of vernal colors outside Severance Music Center, guest conductor Klaus Mäkelä and The Cleveland Orchestra were deeply engaged in recreating an ancient spring ritual from pagan Russia inside Mandel Concert Hall.
Igor Stravinsky’s 1913 ballet score The Rite of Spring gave the conductor and orchestra the raw material for their task, but the large body of musicians dug deep into their physical resources, producing a Rite that was singularly explosive and terrifying in its power, but no less variegated than what nature itself was serving up.
For the recent set of concerts in their season-long celebration of the surreal, No Exit turned to two pivotal events in the history of dadaism for inspiration — the 1920 Festival Dada and the 1923 Soirée du Coeur à Barbe. This program, “Piano Dada,” included works of poetry, theater, and music that were performed at those historic Paris festivals. I attended the performance on March 16 at Heights Arts.
I’ve been enjoying watching the tenor Matthew Polenzani’s masterclasses on YouTube. There’s one at Ravinia from a few years ago where he approaches students like a shy visitor, then gently teaches like he performs — guilelessly and penetratingly.
One of the most marvelous things about live music in Cleveland is the wonderful and unexpected places that it takes you. Places where one would not expect to witness joy-inducing song, places that make you feel as though music, in this city, is truly everywhere. 
The Carnival of the Animals