by Timothy Robson
From November 7-10, Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theater presented a double bill of Igor Stravinsky’s early Le Rossignol and Maurice Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges in CIM’s Kulas Hall. Dean Southern directed, and Harry Davidson conducted the CIM Orchestra, with sets and lighting by Dave Brooks and costumes by Inda Blatch-Geib. It was a very fine show, both musically and theatrically. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
The template for a good opera, according to Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges: fewer humans, more furniture.
The character list begins with a mischievous child and his mom, but soon branches out to include armchairs, a bench, a couch, a stool, a wicker chair, and a grandfather clock. Then the kitchenware, plants, and animals enter the fray.
But are singers okay with being cast as armchairs? That’s one of many questions I recently got to ask Dean Southern, head of the voice and opera division at the Cleveland Institute of Music. We spoke by phone about CIM Opera Theater’s upcoming double-bill, L’Enfant and Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol — a fascinating work in its own right, and more rarely heard than the already uncommon Ravel.
Performances will take place in CIM’s Kulas Hall from Wednesday through Friday, November 7-9 at 7:30 pm, and on Saturday, November 10 at 3:00 pm. Harry Davidson will lead the CIM Orchestra, which will appear in size XL, thanks to the extensive instrumental colors called for by Ravel and Stravinsky.
by Robert Rollin
Last Saturday’s matinee performance of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel by the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theater at Kulas Hall sparkled. An excellent cast, David Bamberger’s fine direction and blocking, David Brooks’ beautiful sets and effective scene changes, Harry Davidson’s expeditious control of the full orchestra and balance with the singers, and Inda Blatch-Geib’s imaginative costumes, all combined to create a beautifully flowing production whose energy never flagged.
by Mike Telin
The first volume of children’s tales published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 includes some of today’s most beloved stories, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and Rumpelstiltskin. Also in that volume is the tale of Hansel and Gretel, two children who cleverly outwit a witch. This week, Engelbert Humperdinck’s adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale returns to the Kulas Hall stage at the Cleveland Institute of Music in four performances by CIM Opera Theatre. David Bamberger directs and Harry Davidson conducts the CIM Orchestra.
The opera will be sung in German with English supertitles, and has a runtime of 2 hours and 30 minutes including intermission. Evening performances will be held February 28 through March 2 at 7:30 pm with a special family performance on Saturday, March 3 at 3:00 pm. Click here for an illustrated synopsis of the opera, compliments of the Metropolitan Opera. Tickets are available online. Before each production, non-perishable food items will be collected at the Kulas Hall entrance from patrons interested in donating to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
I spoke with mezzo-soprano Meg Linebaugh and soprano Anne Carruthers, who will sing the roles of Hansel and Gretel respectively during the Thursday and Saturday performances. I began the conversation by asking each of them about their character and their relationship with their sibling. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Though filicide is one of the more distasteful varieties of murder, the story of Medea, who slew her children in revenge for the deceit of her husband Jason, has attracted the attention of numerous playwrights, authors, filmmakers, and composers since ancient times. Luigi Cherubini’s opera on the subject, regarded as his masterpiece, received a strong and confident production by the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theater in Kulas Hall on Friday, November 10. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Jettisoning powdered wigs in favor of Bermuda shorts and golf clubs, CIM Opera Theater director David Bamberger moved the action in Mozart’s Così fan tutte from 18th-century Naples (Italy) to 1970s Naples (Florida) last Thursday evening in Kulas Hall. That update worked nicely, although Fiordiligi and Dorabella aren’t names you’d be likely to hear on a Gulf Coast beach. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amelia al ballo made for a contrasting double-bill at the Cleveland Institute of Music on Friday evening, November 11. A guilt-ridden tragedy set in a convent, and a cheerful farce about a self-involved, adulterous socialite visited the extremes of the operatic spectrum. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Stories of two women will take center stage this week when the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theatre, David Bamberger, director, presents the double bill of Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amelia al ballo. The first recounts the tragic tale of a young girl who is sent to the convent for disgracing her family after giving birth to an illegitimate son. The second finds a wealthy socialite who will stop at nothing in order to attend the ball.
Harry Davidson will conduct the student cast and the CIM Orchestra in performances beginning on Wednesday, November 9 at 7:30 pm in Kulas Hall. The production continues through Saturday with 7:30 pm curtains on November 10, 11, and 12. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin & Daniel Hathaway
Directed by David Bamberger, CIM Opera Theater will present four performances of Hector Berlioz’s comic opera Béatrice et Bénédict in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music beginning on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30 pm and continuing through Saturday, February 27. An adaptation of William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, Berlioz conceived the piece as early as 1833, but completed it only in 1862 at the behest of a casino owner in Baden-Baden, Germany, where it was first performed at the Theater der Stadt in August of that year.
“It’s not performed that often, and most people only know it from the overture, which is such a great piece in itself,” conductor Harry Davidson said in a telephone conversation. “For the opera, Berlioz took out all the tragic elements that appear in the play — Héro being accused of adultery and her father disowning her — none of that is there. But it’s very stageworthy and the music is really quite delightful and charming.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Making virtue out of necessity, CIM Opera Theater director David Bamberger introduced a new operatic technique in his production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro on Thursday, November 5 in Kulas Hall: ventriloquism.
