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BlueWater Chamber Orchestra builds bridges with Verb Ballets

by Daniel Hathaway

A chance meeting at Lakeside — where Verb Ballets was performing and BlueWater Chamber Orchestra artistic director Daniel Meyer was auditioning for a job — has resulted in the first collaboration between the two organizations. Although the original idea was for an in-person performance, the pandemic forced the project online.

Not such a bad thing, as it turns out. “Building Bridges Together,” which debuted as a video production on November 21, combined the strengths of two fine Cleveland performing arts organizations in a beautifully edited virtual event — bringing them into the same performing space for the first time through digital means. [Read on…]

Apollo’s Fire: “Allure” at First Baptist (Nov. 8)

by Daniel Hathaway

You’d be fortunate enough these days to be able to field three sopranos who could successfully channel the celebrated singing of the Three Ladies of the Court of Ferrara, but to find a trio of singers who all happen to be named Amanda would really be pushing your luck.

Jeanette Sorrell did just that for Apollo’s Fire’s “Allure” programs earlier this month, and the results are stunning. Sopranos Amanda Forsythe and Amanda Powell and mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider deliver the kind of jaw-dropping performances of virtuosic works that might well have landed them jobs at the 17th-century Ducal court.

[Read on…]

Cleveland Orchestra “In Focus” 3: Ax plays Haydn, FWM leads Bartók

by Daniel Hathaway

Full-length symphony orchestra concerts normally feature three works and run nearly two hours including intermission. The pandemic, which has changed so many things, has truncated programs, both to shorten possible exposure time and to avoid the social mixing of a mid-concert interval.

Thus the third “In Focus” performance by The Cleveland Orchestra that debuted on the Adella platform on November 12 lasts only 54 minutes from stem to stern, including a conversation between Emanuel Ax and Orchestra cellist Martha Baldwin, and features only two highly contrasting works led by music director Franz Welser-Möst. The performances continue to be available on the Adella platform until March.

[Read on…]

Local 4 “Tuning In” with Cornelius and Charnofsky (Nov. 19)

by Jarrett Hoffman

On November 19, violinist Emily Cornelius and pianist Eric Charnofsky were minutes into a live-streamed recital as part of the Local 4 Music Fund’s “Tuning In” series when technical issues arose. The duo stopped playing after someone off-screen said that Facebook had shut down the broadcast, and following a moment of confusion, the video stream on my computer indeed cut out.

That delay was odd, but apparently the problem was a mistaken concern from that ever-benevolent giant of social media companies about a copyright violation. Twenty minutes later, Cornelius and Charnofsky began once again, and the city of Cleveland crossed its fingers.

[Read on…]

Guitar Society presents Raphaël Feuillâtre (Nov. 21)

by Jarrett Hoffman

In these less than ideal times, Raphaël Feuillâtre gave the ideal recital. His program on November 21 for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society was concise, varied, and well-structured, and it was performed, recorded, and filmed so intimately that it felt like it was live.

[Read on…]

No Exit presents Zeitgeist in Crocus Hill Ghost Story (Nov. 13)

by Jarrett Hoffman

When multiple forms of art come together in a single work, there is the potential for something fascinating to unfold, but there are also unique challenges that arise. Both sides of that coin are on display in Julie and Cheri Johnson’s recent fusion of narrative and music, Crocus Hill Ghost Story (2017), which the St. Paul-based new music ensemble Zeitgeist performed on November 13 in a pre-recorded concert presented by Cleveland’s No Exit.

[Read on…]

CityMusic Cleveland:
Pantheon Ensemble (Nov. 8)

by Jarrett Hoffman

In 2020, our minds have all been occupied by crucial issues of the now: the pandemic, the movement for racial justice, the election. Because of that, one important anniversary has flown a little bit under the radar: the centennial of the 19th amendment, ratified on August 18, 1920, which gave American women the right to vote.

CityMusic Cleveland is celebrating that milestone with this season’s Chamber Music Series, which continued on November 7 and 8 with a performance by six women of the Pantheon Ensemble, made up of CityMusic players and friends. I heard the concert on November 8, a live stream from the Maltz Performing Arts Center.

[Read on…]

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