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DIARY: Thursday, July 14, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Carillon, Twitter, football, and math collide today at noon at the McGaffin Carillon, and Ohio Light Opera takes up The Mock Marriage at 2:00

•R.I.P. Bramwell Tovey, British conductor and composer

•Almanac: George Lewis, Unsuk Chin, and Gerald Finzi

HAPPENING TODAY:

At noon, George Leggiero will take up the McGaffin Carillon in Cory Arcangel’s Hail Mary, a project in which a Twitter bot uses an algorithm to generate a new score for carillon every day.

“The dynamics, harmonic content, and even placement on manual of the piece is loosely based on a ‘hail mary’ maneuver in American football,” Arcangel writes. Emoji also make up an important element of the score. (Click here and scroll down on that page for details about the process.) The performance will also be live streamed here.

And at 2:00 pm at Freedlander Theatre, Ohio Light Opera gives the opening performance of Franz Lehár’s The Mock Marriage. Get tickets here.

[Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: a conversation with cellist Gautier Capuçon 

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by Mike Telin 

When French cellist Gautier Capuçon appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra in April of 2015, he thrilled audiences with his performances of Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. 1. In his review for this publication Daniel Hathaway wrote that the cellist “embraced the concerto with passion, flair and freedom… [and] alternated between visceral power and alluring poetry.”

On Saturday, July 27 at 8:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Gautier Capuçon will once again join The Cleveland Orchestra in a performance of the same Concerto. Under the direction of Gemma New (replacing Bramwell Tovey), the program will also include Sibelius’ Finlandia as well as Elgar’s Enigma Variations in a side-by-side with Kent Blossom Music Festival Chamber Orchestra. That ensemble will present a pre-concert program at 7:00 pm led by Vinay Parameswaren, which features Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture and Ravel’s Suite from Mother Goose. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Cooper International Competition: a chat with two young violinists

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by Mike Telin

Later this week, 24 young violinists representing seven U.S. States and eight countries will arrive in Oberlin to participate in the tenth edition of the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition. Events begin with the semifinal rounds on Saturday, July 20 at 1:30 pm in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory.

At stake is a grand prize of $20,000, in addition to second and third prizes of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively. The Competition will continue into next week and culminate with the three finalists playing concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Gemma New (replacing Bramwell Tovey) in Severance Hall on Friday, July 26 at 7:30 pm. (See our concert listings for details about the semi-final, concerto and recital rounds that will determine who plays in the finals.)

All performances at Oberlin are free. Tickets for the July 26 Concerto Finals at Severance Hall range from $13-$30. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling 800-686-1141. Student tickets are free with a paying adult. All rounds held in Oberlin  will be live-streamed on www.oberlin.edu/cooper. The Recital Round at Oberlin and Concerto Finals at Severance Hall will be broadcast on WCLV FM 104.9. The Recital Round will be broadcast on delay on Thursday evening, July 25.  [Read more…]

Kent Blossom celebrates 51st season

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by Rory O’Donoghue

The Kent Blossom Music Festival returns this weekend, marking the 51st season of Kent State University’s collaboration with The Cleveland Orchestra. From June 30 to August 4, the Festival boasts a five-concert Faculty Series and a ten-concert Young Artist Series, including its annual side-by-side performance between students and The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Bramwell Tovey. 

“Our faculty concert series will feature fantastic artists from The Cleveland Orchestra, Kent State’s revered faculty, the Miami String Quartet, pianist Spencer Myer and other guest artists,” Festival director Ricardo Sepúlveda said in his letter introducing this year’s season. For these musicians, their tenure at Kent Blossom is more than just performance based — they’ll be working closely with the 43 visiting students accepted this year.  [Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition: final rounds with The Cleveland Orchestra (August 5-6)

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by Daniel Hathaway

WesthuizenThree-quarters of their final score had already been totted up when the four finalists in the 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition made their last lap around the track at Severance Hall on Friday and Saturday evenings, August 5 and 6. Handsome cash prizes were waiting at the end, but appearing with Bramwell Tovey and The Cleveland Orchestra was its own distinguished reward. (Photo: CEO Pierre van der Westhuizen welcomes the audience.) [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra with Bramwell Tovey & pianist Javier Perianes at Blossom (July 17)

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by Neil McCalmont

javier_perianesOn Sunday evening, July 17, The Cleveland Orchestra celebrated the centenary of the National Parks Service with an Americana-themed concert titled “An American in Paris” at Blossom Music Center — their own venue located in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The night’s program consisted of works by Ravel, Copland, and Gershwin conducted by Bramwell Tovey, with guest pianist Javier Perianes.

[Read more…]

Looking forward to the summer season: a conversation with Cleveland Orchestra artistic administrator Ilya Gidalevich

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by Mike Telin

Blossom-Lawn-071115Now that summer is officially upon us, it’s time to locate the picnic basket, fill it with your favorite summer foods, and head to the Cuyahoga National Park with family and friends to enjoy a Cleveland Orchestra concert at Blossom Music Center. And, if anyone in your vehicle is under the age of 18, their seat on the lawn is free.

If you can’t make it to Blossom, the Orchestra has scheduled three early Friday evening concerts in its Summers@Severance series. Special “happy hour” drink prices will be offered one hour prior to each concert on Severance Hall’s front terrace. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early and enjoy the outdoor delights of University Circle.

“As usual the summer season is a mix of musical genres and artists,” Cleveland Orchestra artistic administrator Ilya Gidalevich said during a recent telephone conversation. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition to welcome 35 contestants in August 2016

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by Daniel Hathaway

CIPC-Medalists-081013It’s the time of year when lots of young people have been eagerly watching their mailboxes — or inboxes — to see whether they’ve been admitted to the college of their choice.

This year, the same has been true for the nearly 330 pianists, ages 18-30, who applied to compete in the 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition, to be held from July 24 through August 7. Of those hopefuls, 35 recently received the “fat” letter inviting them to Cleveland — an acceptance rate of 10.6%, which is roughly equivalent to that of last year’s admissions to Dartmouth, Duke, or Vanderbilt.

The successful candidates emerged a few weeks ago after a marathon, three-day session of video viewing by a selection jury made up of Kathryn Brown and Paul Schenly (Cleveland Institute of Music), Lei Weng (University of Colorado), Caroline Oltmanns (Youngstown State University), and CIPC president and CEO Pierre van der Westhuizen. The 35 who were invited have now formally accepted. [Read more…]

Review: Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom — Bramwell Tovey and “A Taste of Spain,” featuring violinist Karen Gomyo (July 19)

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by Daniel Hathaway

GOMYO-Karen“A Taste of Spain” at Blossom on Saturday July 19 featured The Cleveland Orchestra and guest conductor Bramwell Tovey in Iberian-inspired music by two Frenchmen and one authentic Spaniard who went into self-exile in Argentina after Franco won the Spanish civil war. Sunny as the music was, the weather in Cuyahoga Falls was damp and chilly: in his jovial remarks at the beginning of the second half, Tovey welcomed the audience to what indeed felt like a Spanish winter.

Tovey’s own selections from the two suites that Georges Bizet’s friends fashioned from the music from Carmen opened the program with familiar scene-setting tunes and arias sans singers. The March of the Toréadors; Prélude and Aragonaise; Intermezzo; Dragons d’Alcala; Habanera and Danse Bohème were all treated to colorful, characterful performances, with splendid solo work by oboist Jeffrey Rathbun, flutist Marisela Seger, and wonderful section solos from the bassoons. If the percussion got a bit frisky in the last selection, that only added to the excitement. [Read more…]

Review: Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom with Bramwell Tovey & Mark Kosower (August 4)

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by Nicholas Jones

KosowerIt was no doubt the beautiful weather that drew many of the ample lawn crowd to Sunday evening’s Blossom concert with the Cleveland Orchestra and guest conductor Bramwell Tovey. The musical appeal, though, was surely the evening’s featured work, Gustav Holst’s justly famous suite The Planets.

Though there were no projected visuals to accompany this early “space music,” Cleveland’s NASA Glenn Research Station – many of whose employees were in attendance – installed a mock-up of the Mars rover and other astronomical displays near the entrance.

Holst’s suite, written over several years during and just after World War I, is actually less about the planets as NASA knows them than about their supposed astrological qualities. As in a baroque suite, each of the seven movements is a mood piece of its own. We encounter at each new turn a different affect – bellicose (Mars), delicate (Venus), officious (Mercury), expansive (Jupiter), exhausted (Saturn), bizarre (Uranus), and finally mystical (Neptune). [Read more…]

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