The fourth chair of The Cleveland Orchestra’s first violin section will be occupied from August 29 by newly appointed assistant concertmaster Jessica Lee. A graduate of Curtis and Juilliard, and a long-time member of the Johannes String Quartet, Lee has most recently served on the faculty at Rutgers and Vassar.
Cleveland Orchestra & Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra at Blossom (July 30)
by Alexandra A. Vago
What a spectacular concert on Saturday, July 30 at Blossom Music Center. The concert featured performances by the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra, culminating in a side-by-side performance. It was a celebration of the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, the 50-year partnership between Kent State University and The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]
Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom: a chat with guest conductor Nicholas McGegan
by Mike Telin
“If I were to have a dinner party, whom would I invite from a list of composers?” conductor Nicholas McGegan asked himself during a recent telephone conversation. “You could pretty much count on Handel eating all your food, or on Mozart disgracing himself with the girls, but Haydn and Mendelssohn would be two of the most perfectly wonderful guests. Mendelssohn could talk to people in almost any language, and Haydn was just a charmer. And that comes through in their music.”
On Sunday, August 7 at 7:00 pm, Nicholas McGegan will return to Blossom Music Center to lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a concert that will feature music by his two preferred dinner guests: Joseph Haydn (Symphony No. 99) and Felix Mendelssohn (Symphony No. 3). The evening will also include George Benjamin’s Divertimento on Themes by Gluck with the Orchestra’s assistant principal oboe, Jeffrey Rathbun, as soloist.
McGegan, who admitted to be being a little bit of a foodie — he was putting vegetable soup on to simmer when I phoned — said that he looks forward to returning to Blossom. [Read more…]
Cleveland Orchestra: “Magic of the Movies” at Blossom with Carpathia Jenkins (July 24)
by Robert Rollin
On Sunday night, conductor Michael Krajewski and The Cleveland Orchestra, assisted by the Blossom Festival Chorus, presented “The Magic of the Movies,” a lively film music potpourri. The evening’s guest artist was Carpathia Jenkins, a talented Broadway singer and actress. [Read more…]
Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom with Jahja Ling & Jean-Yves Thibaudet (July 23)
by Neil McCalmont
On Saturday night, July 23, The Cleveland Orchestra welcomed the return of their former Resident Conductor Jahja Ling to Blossom Music Center, where he previously served as Festival Director. Ling conducted the orchestra in a Scandinavian-themed concert, “Northern Lights and Moods,” that also featured the technical and poetic prowess of pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. [Read more…]
Cooper International Piano Competition: final round with Jahja Ling & The Cleveland Orchestra (July 22)
by Daniel Hathaway
In a savvy move, The Cleveland Orchestra wrapped the final round of Oberlin’s Thomas & Evon Cooper International Piano Competition into its Summers@Severance series this year. As a result, a large audience turned out on Friday evening, July 22 to hear Nathan Lee, Evren Ozel, and Ryota Yamazaki play concertos by Rachmaninoff and Beethoven with Jahja Ling and the orchestra. Though the evening was sultry, the party setup on the front terrace gave the proceedings a celebratory air. [Read more…]
Jahja Ling to lead two concerts this weekend at Severance and Blossom
by Mike Telin
This weekend is going to be a busy one for conductor Jahja Ling. On Friday, July 22 at 7:00 pm he’ll lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a Summers@ Severance concert featuring the three finalists of the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition (left, in 2014). The following evening at 8:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Ling and the Orchestra will present a concert featuring Igor Stravinsky’s Four Norwegian Moods, Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1 in e, and Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist.
Jahja Ling has enjoyed a long relationship with The Cleveland Orchestra. He served as Associate Conductor during the 1984-85 season, Resident Conductor for 17 years from 1985-2002, and as Blossom Festival Director for 6 seasons (2000-05). Working with young musicians has always been an important part of his musical life. He founded both the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, and has also conducted TCO during the finals of the Cooper Competition since its inception in 2010. [Read more…]
CMA Centenary Weekend features Alarm Will Sound & Cleveland Orchestra
by Mike Telin & Daniel Hathaway
On Saturday afternoon, June 25, the Cleveland Museum of Art continued its centenary celebration with musical events commemorating the Summer Solstice. At 3:00 pm in the Ames Family Atrium, the New York-based new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound presented an alluring performance of John Luther Adams’s Ten Thousand Birds. Written for the Ensemble and designed by its artistic director Alan Pierson, the work follows the cycle of a day, beginning with morning bird songs before moving into the afternoon, evening, and night, ultimately returning to morning. [Read more…]
Cleveland Orchestra appoints Wesley Collins as principal viola
Wesley Collins, currently third-chair viola in the Boston Symphony, will inherit the principal viola chair of The Cleveland Orchestra from Robert Vernon at the beginning of the next Severance Hall Season. A 2007 graduate of CIM, where he studied with Vernon, the Cincinnati native is the son of musicians. His father was the former principal trumpet of the Cincinnati Symphony.
Cleveland Orchestra to play in Salzburg, Grafenegg & Lucerne in August
Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra on its five-concert tour of European Festivals from August 18-24, marking their sixteenth international tour together. Here are the venues and program details. [Read more…]