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Apollo’s Fire — “O Jerusalem!”
a conversation with Daphna Mor 

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by Daniel Hathaway

When we talked by telephone, Daphna Mor was at home in New York, packing for her upcoming trip to Cleveland. That can be complicated for a wind player getting ready to perform with Apollo’s Fire. “I’m laying out all my instruments and making sure I’m not forgetting anything tomorrow out of the ten or twelve I usually bring,” she said.

All of those will be put to use in “O Jerusalem,” a musical and poetical tour of the Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian quarters of that ancient city, to be led by Jeannette Sorrell.

Mor will join soprano Amanda Powell, tenors Sorab Wadia and Jacob Perry, baritone Jeffrey Strauss, oud and qanun player Zafer Tawil and Brian Kay, plucked instruments, in four area performances beginning in Avon Lake on March 5, followed by Fairlawn (March 9), Cleveland Heights (March 10 — note venue change!), and the Cleveland Museum of Art (March 11). Some concerts will include projections.

Daphna Mor counts herself among the legions of children who were introduced to the recorder as students in elementary school — in her case, in the third grade in her hometown near Tel Aviv. [Read more…]

Kent Blossom: Spencer Myer joins the Miami String Quartet (July 10)

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by Rory O’Donoghue

The Miami String Quartet brought a traditional approach to works by Haydn, Beethoven, and Bruch during their performance on July 10 as part of Kent Blossom Music Festival’s Faculty Concert Series. The group delivered their old-school sound with exuberance, and welcomed acclaimed pianist Spencer Myer to shine in the Beethoven.  [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: The Cleveland Orchestra (Sept. 21)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Last Thursday evening at The Cleveland Orchestra’s season opener in Severance Hall, music director Franz Welser-Möst was honored with the Orchestra’s twenty-third annual Distinguished Service Award. On Friday, an uncommonly hot evening for September, he deserved a medal for leading the ensemble in full concert dress while his colleagues played in shirtsleeves in Oberlin’s steamy Finney Chapel, surely one of the only major concert halls in Northeast Ohio not to offer climate control. (Photo from an earlier performance). [Read more…]

Tri-C JazzFest: Opening Night features Dee Dee Bridgewater (June 28)

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by Delaney Meyers

On Thursday evening, June 28, Dee Dee Bridgewater kicked off the 39th annual Tri-C JazzFest with a performance of her 2017 concept album Memphis… Yes, I’m Ready. The DIVA Jazz Orchestra (left) opened the night with original music, some of which will appear on their upcoming 25th anniversary celebration album in March. Each piece, composed by members of the band, featured various musicians as they sauntered up to the mic to take their solos. [Read more…]

CityMusic: all-Beethoven with violinist Tessa Lark (May 20)

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by Daniel Hathaway

CityMusic 052018Surely it was just a coincidence that CityMusic Cleveland’s final series of concerts mostly duplicated works The Cleveland Orchestra had played the week before in the third concert of its all-Beethoven Prometheus Project at Severance Hall. The unique piece on CityMusic’s program was the Violin Concerto, which received a glowing performance by Tessa Lark and the ensemble on Sunday afternoon, May 20 in St. Noel Church in Willoughby. [Read more…]

TCO announces 2017-18 tour schedule

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by Jarrett Hoffman

TCOMusikvereinThe Cleveland Orchestra has announced details of its Centennial Season tour schedule, marking the ensemble’s 17th and 18th international tours to be led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. Twenty concerts spanning seven weeks will include an October trip to Europe, two concerts at Carnegie Hall in January, and season-capping appearances in Vienna and Tokyo during May and June. Complete details of the tour can be found below.

“Touring is important for The Cleveland Orchestra,” said Welser-Möst in a press release. “It requires an enormous amount of flexibility to find ‘our sound’ playing in different acoustics. We refine this sound every day in our home, Severance Hall, and bring this to audiences outside of Cleveland.”

The music director praised the strong will that exists in the community. “With the history of Cleveland, ups and downs economically, there has been an enormous determination in this community to maintain and enhance a world-class orchestra. Going around and showing that to the world is gratifying. [Read more…]

Cleveland Museum of Art announces 2016-2017 Performing Arts schedule

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by Daniel Hathaway

onete-donnaThe new performing arts season at the Cleveland Museum of Art begins on Wednesday, September 21 at 7:30 pm in Gartner Auditorium with a concert by Dona Onete, the septuagenarian singer-composer from the state of Pará in the Amazon, who merges indigenous rhythm and dance with African, European and Caribbean traditions in a style called carimbó chamegado*. [Read more…]

Credo Chamber Music plans “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Botanical Gardens

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by Daniel Hathaway

Credo-Market-square-fellows“Credo has always done some kind of celebratory public event which has often included playing at Severance Hall — Tchaikovsky’s fifth, or the Brandenburg concertos,” artistic director Peter Slowik said in a recent telephone conversation from Oberlin. “This year we’re going to be a bit more intimate with our large-scale public offering.”

On Friday evening, July 22, Credo Chamber Music will present a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” chamber music evening at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens in University Circle. Two levels of ticket prices ($75 and $30) will admit patrons to a light dinner, garden stroll, concert and dessert reception, or to a concert with dessert reception following. “The main piece will be the Mendelssohn Octet, a terrific piece for a summer evening,” Slowik said. “It’s youthful, energetic, and ebullient — and written by a composer who was younger than most of the performers who are going to play it. [Read more…]

Baldwin Wallace FOCUS Festival to feature music by David Lang

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by Mike Telin

LANG-DavidWhen questions arise while learning a new piece of music, there’s no greater resource for musicians than the composers themselves. Beginning on Wednesday, March 16, Baldwin Wallace University’s Conservatory of Music will kick off its biennial FOCUS Festival, which will feature three concerts of music by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. And yes, Lang will be on hand to answer any questions that students and faculty may have regarding his music and career.

“The festival has been going on since the ‘70s, and it all started because we don’t get to ask composers like Bach any questions,” BW composer-in-residence and assistant professor of music Clint Needham said during a telephone conversation. [Read more…]

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