by Nicholas Jones
Saturday’s Cleveland Orchestra concert at Blossom graced the kind of crystalline evening for which summer festivals were created. As I drove to the concert through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, its lush meadows already half in shadow and half in sun, I could hear in my head the idyllic opening of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, almost as summer-drenched as one could imagine a piece of music to be.
by Mike Telin
On Monday morning June 15, the seventy-seven member Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra gathered at Cleveland Hopkins Airport to embark on its second international tour, traveling to China for concerts in Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall (June 18), Tianjin’s Grand Theater (June 19), Shanghai’s Oriental Arts Center (June 21), and Ningbo’s Cultural Plaza Theatre (June 22). On Sunday, June 14 at Severance Hall, a large and enthusiastic audience was treated to a thrilling send-off concert when music director Brett Mitchell led his talented young musicians in works by Shostakovich, Kilar, Barber, and Tchaikovsky. [Read more…]
by Jeremy Reynolds and Mike Telin
After conduct
ing the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in their final US concert of the year on Sunday, June 14 at 3:00 pm in Severance Hall, Brett Mitchell will pack his bags to travel with the musicians to China to direct the same program in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Ningbo. In recent telephone conversations, Mitchell and principal cellist Henry Shapard shared their excitement and concerns about the upcoming international tour.
Jeremy Reynolds: You’re headed a long way from home! Have you or any of your students ever been to China?
Brett Mitchell: Actually, the only place I’ve ever been in Asia is Tokyo. But we have a good number of kids from China. Our concertmaster for the tour is originally from China, and he’s the best musician for that job.
by Timothy Robson
There were many happy faces worn by parents and friends of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) members on Sunday evening, May 3, after their concert at Severance Hall. And with good reason – it was superb, and several times during the course of the evening, at least one listener had to remind himself that this was a student ensemble, not a professional orchestra. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
On Friday, February 13, assistant conductor Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a live performance of Bernard Herrmann’s score to Vertigo, coordinating the music with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological thriller.
By now, Mitchell is an old hand at making live music match up with events on the big screen. He led the Orchestra in Herrmann’s score to Psycho last April, and in selections from both the 1940 and 2000 versions of Walt Disney’s Fantasia last December. Those projects resonate with Mitchell’s earliest musical experiences.
“When I was a little boy, I didn’t attend orchestral concerts,” he said in a recent telephone conversation. “What I was listening to was the music to the films I was watching. John Williams was a huge influence on me early on. I was born in 1979, so I grew up watching Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones and all the rest. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
As many conductors and orchestras have learned through experience, capturing the essence and style of French music is not easy unless you’ve been blessed with Gallic genes. On Sunday evening at Severance Hall, Brett Mitchell and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Chorus won honorary membership in Le Panthéon with convincing performances of challenging scores by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Gabriel Fauré.
by Daniel Hathaway
Having explored the music of John Adams, Roy Harris and Tchaikovsky in its first concert last November, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will turn to music by French composers for its Severance Hall concert on Sunday, February 8 at 7:00 p.m. The program will include Maurice Ravel’s Une barque sur l’ocean, Claude Debussy’s La mer and Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, op. 48, featuring the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus.
Speaking with music director Brett Mitchell by telephone about the February program, I noted that he’s really throwing down a challenge with this repertory. “We always do,” he replied. “The nice thing with young people is they don’t realize that what they’re taking on is going be difficult — at least until they start practicing.”
by Daniel Hathaway
Last December, Cape Breton fiddling phenomenon Natalie MacMaster brought her husband and fiddling partner Donnell Leahy and their children along for a heartwarming program of Nova Scotian fiddling at the Cleveland Museum of Art. This year, MacMaster popped down from Ontario in the middle of her family’s Christmas tour for a one-night show with Brett Mitchell and the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
It’s all about the holidays this week at Severance Hall. On Wednesday, December 17 at 7:30 pm, Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra and renowned Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster in “Christmas in Cape Breton,” a special show that mixes folk and Celtic styles with Holiday favorites and Nova-Scotian jigs.
“We’re really excited about it,” MacMaster said during a telephone conversation. “I love playing music with symphony orchestras. It’s such a nice change for us. We do about a dozen shows with orchestra each year, out of our one hundred shows a year. And this is even more special because it is Christmas time.”
If you’ve had the privilege of hearing Natalie MacMaster perform live, you know she is one of the most versatile and exciting musicians on the folk and Celtic scenes. You also know that Christmas is a special time for her. “I’m a fiddler and at Christmas time in Cape Breton there are a ton of house parties. It’s a time to get together and play our traditional music, so there will be a lot of that on the program as well.” [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
Centaurs, dancing mushrooms, ballet hippos, and figure skating fairies accompanied The Cleveland Orchestra Thursday night at Severance Hall. Selections from the 1940 film classic Fantasia and its modern counterpart, Fantasia 2000, were projected over the orchestra for Disney Fantasia Live in Concert, part of the orchestra’s 2014 Holiday Festival series. [Read more…]