ClevelandClassical.com Header
Ad
Ad
Ad

The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra returns to Severance Music Center on November 21  

by

by Mike Telin

After a long hiatus, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra is back in full swing. “I’m so excited,” COYO music director Vinay Parameswaran said during a recent telephone conversation. “I couldn’t wait to be back in our beautiful hall with the young musicians — we’ve all been waiting for this for way too long.”

On Sunday, November 21 at 3:00 pm in Mandel Hall at Severance, Parameswaran will lead the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in a program that features music by Joan Tower, Howard Swanson, Aaron Copland, and Antonín Dvořák. Tickets are available online.

Parameswaran said that during the first rehearsals, he, along with the returning and roughly 40 new members spent a good deal of time getting to know each other and figuring out how to make things work. “It’s amazing how much everyone has progressed over the past couple of months. But I know all of the musicians were chomping at the bit to get back into Severance and make music together.”

The conductor noted that Sunday’s program spans three distinct styles from three American composers, one of whom spent his formative years in Cleveland. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Chorus midwinter concert (Mar. 1)

by

by Timothy Robson

It came as no surprise that the March 1 Severance Hall concert by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Youth Chorus was an excellent affair. Leading fine performances of music mostly off the beaten track, conductor Vinay Parameswaran helped prove that gloomy predictions of classical music performance fading into oblivion are misplaced. The audience was large and enthusiastic — I suspect with many rightfully proud family members.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra & Chorus: Martina Janková & Lisa Wong talk about Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang

by

by Daniel Hathaway

The artistic planners at Severance Hall have taken profit of soprano Martina Janková’s current visit to Cleveland to create a mini-Mendelssohn festival. Janková appeared with Vinay Parmareswaren and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Chorus on Sunday evening, March 1 in the motet Hör mein Bitten, and will be featured as a soloist in Lobgesang on March 5, 7, and 8 with The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus led by Franz Welser-Möst.

“I feel at home in Cleveland with my beloved orchestra. I think they are the best in the world,” the Swiss soprano said in a telephone conversation. She’s had plenty of opportunity to get to know the ensemble, having starred in three Mozart operas, sung the title roles in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (twice) and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, and most recently appeared as soloist in Schubert’s Mass in E-flat.

The opportunity to revisit the Mendelssohn motet was nostalgic for Janková. “It was like coming back to my roots. I began my study at the Basel Academy of Music with Hör mein Bitten twenty years ago.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (Nov. 15)

by

by Colin Roshak
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

This past Friday, in a night of highlights — a young virtuoso soloist, a powerhouse horn player, and an astonishing young ensemble — the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra more than earned their stage time in the legendary Severance Hall. The concert began with a modern selection in Sarah Kirkland Snider’s colorful Something for the Dark, a sort of concerto for orchestra. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: conversations with Vinay Parameswaran & Annie Zhang

by

by Mike Telin

When you’re the music director of a youth orchestra, one thing that goes with the territory is turnover in membership. “We had almost 50 students graduate last year,” Vinay Parameswaran said during a telephone conversation. “But the new players are all very talented and the level of commitment is as strong as ever, so I’m excited about our opening concert.”

On Friday, November 15 (note corrected date) at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall, Parameswaran will lead the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) in a program featuring Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Something for the Dark, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Annie Zhang as soloist. Tickets are available online.

Parameswaran, who is now in his third season as COYO’s music director, said that he first encountered Sarah Kirkland Snider’s music on the recommendation of some of his colleagues. “Something for the Dark is a wonderfully powerful piece that I was attracted to from the beginning.”

Written for the Detroit Symphony, the 12-minute piece explores a number of different moods. [Read more…]

COYO’s European tour send-off concert (June 7)

by

by Jarrett Hoffman

Before heading out of town on their summer tour, on June 7 Vinay Parameswaran and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra gave locals at Severance Hall a send-off performance that included all the music they would carry with them to four European cities.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra to embark on European Tour  — chatting with Christine Shih, Ania Lewis, and William Bowers

by

by Mike Telin

From June 12 through June 19 The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will make a seven day, four concert tour to Europe under the direction of Vinay Parameswaran.

The tour will include performances at the Abbey of St. Florian (Sankt Florian, Austria), Golden Hall, Musikverein (Vienna, Austria), Reduta Bratislava Concert Hall (Bratislava, Slovakia), and the MOM Cultural Centre (Budapest, Hungary). This marks the third international tour in COYO’s 33-year history.

The Orchestra will celebrate the tour with a sendoff concert on Friday, June 7 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall. Parmareswaren will lead John Adams’ The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra, Bartók’s Dance Suite, and Brahms’ Tragic Overture and Symphony No. 2 in D. The concert is free, but tickets are required. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra with violinist Julia Schilz (May 10)

by

by Daniel Hathaway

The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra closed its 33rd season at Severance Hall on Friday evening, May 10 with impressive performances of music by Bartók, Bruch, and Shostakovich under the leadership of Vinay Parameswaran, and with the help of a whole village of teachers and coaches who have molded these young musicians into an accomplished ensemble. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: a conversation with concerto competition winner Julia Schilz

by

by Mike Telin

As a young musician, many times the decision to learn a new piece is not a decision at all. Such was the case for violinist Julia Schilz and Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy. “My teacher assigned it,” Schilz said during a telephone conversation. “But from the moment I heard it I was so drawn to it.”

On Friday, May 10 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, Schilz, a COYO concerto competition winner, will have the honor of performing the work with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra under the direction of Vinay Parameswaran. The program also includes Bartók’s Dance Suite and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Tickets are available online.

Throughout the concerto Bruch borrows Scottish folk melodies such as Through the Wood Laddie, The Dusty Miller, I’m A’ Doun for Lack O’Johnnie, and Hey Tuttie Tatie. That said, Schilz views the concerto as “100% classical music” that is inspired by these Celtic tunes.

Describing the piece, Schilz, who is in her third year as a member of COYO, said that the first and third movements are extremely lyrical.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: a conversation with Vinay Parameswaran

by

by Jarrett Hoffman

My first opportunity to talk to Vinay Parameswaran came in the form of a phone call last week, but I already had an impression of what his players in the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra think of him. In November, violinist Célina Béthoux told me how she had gifted him an origami conductor.

“Last season, some of the seniors gave me thank-you notes, which was also really nice,” Parameswaran told me. “But origami was a new one for me.”

Of course, there are other, more official signs that his tenure has been well received. In February, halfway through his second year, The Cleveland Orchestra extended his contract as Assistant Conductor and COYO Music Director through 2020-2021.

Heading into his latest performance with the younger orchestra on Friday, May 10 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall — with music by Bartók, Bruch, and Shostakovich — Parameswaran said he continues to enjoy what he does. “One of the best parts of my job is working with COYO every weekend.” [Read more…]

Follow ClevelandClassical.com

Contact us