by Peter Feher
“Holiday Concert” doesn’t do justice to the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra’s December program. The ensemble staged an orchestra concert proper, followed by a festive coda, on December 14 at Cleveland State’s Waetjen Auditorium (the first of two performances). A certain Renaissance flair marked the evening’s two big pieces, selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Poulenc’s Gloria. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
On Friday, November 14 at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall, Carl Topilow will conduct the Cleveland POPS Orchestra and Chorus in the world premiere of “Comedy Tonight,” a revue of musical theatre’s more light-hearted moments. The show features Broadway award-winning stars Christine Pedi, Christiane Noll and Jason Graee.
Why did Cleveland POPS decide to create a new Broadway review? “That’s an interesting question,” Carl Topilow said during a recent telephone conversation. “We’ve been working with John Such of Bravo Broadway for many years, and we realized that we have already performed all of his programs.”
But audiences need not worry, Cleveland POPS is a creative team of people, and Topilow credits Gordon Petitt in their marketing office for coming up with the idea of creating the new show. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
For thousands of years humans believed the earth was flat and if you traveled too far you would eventually fall off the edge. It was the third century Greek scholar Eratosthenes who first began to calculate the circumference of the Earth. In the twentieth century, Ohio and specifically Cleveland, has played an important role in furthering space research. Founded in 1941as the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center actually predates NASA by 17 years and is named in honor of former senator John H. Glenn, an Ohioan who was the first American to orbit Earth.
On Friday, April 25 beginning at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall, Carl Topilow will lead the Cleveland POPS Orchestra and Chorus in a Salute to NASA. “We’re very excited about this concert. It’s literally a cast of stars,” Carl Topilow told us during a recent telephone conversation. “This is the first time we have done a salute to NASA, but they are right here in Cleveland.”
The concert honors the men and women of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration for their indomitable spirit of exploration and discovery and includes a special salute to the 25 Astronauts who come from Ohio. Special guests include NASA Glenn Director James M. Free and astronauts David Thomas and Michael Foreman. “We have astronauts, the director of the center, vocalists Lindsey Mitchell and Connor O’Brien, the chorus, members of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra and footage from space shuttle missions and exhibits in the lobby, so there is a lot happening.” [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
If you were asked to name one musical by the late great Marvin Hamlisch, chances are you’d say A Chorus Line. “I think the whole idea of A Chorus Line is amazing in itself,” says Cleveland Pops Conductor Carl Topilow, “and it is the work that distinguished him and made him very special. All you have to hear are the opening rhythms and you know exactly what it is. It’s so iconic.”
On Friday, February 21st beginning at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall, Topilow will lead The Cleveland POPS Orchestra in a concert dedicated to Hamlisch’s music. “Marvin Hamlisch, A Musical Legacy” features many of the composer’s most beloved music from A Chorus Line, Ice Castles and The Way We Were. Topliow will be joined by three stars of musical theatre, Donna McKechnie, Jodi Benson and Doug LaBrecque.
Prior to his 2011 performance with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra (pictured above), we asked Hamlisch why he thought A Chorus Line resonates with so many. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The troops were out in force for Cleveland POPS’ thirteenth annual Armed Forces Salute at Severance Hall on Friday, May 17 — not the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard who were honored in a medley of official songs, but in addition to the orchestra and its new Cleveland POPS Chorus, the evening featured a Joint Veterans Honor Guard, the Gates Keystone Club Police Pipes and Drums, the Mutual Gifts Gospel Choir (employees of Medical Mutual, who sponsored the evening) and a celebrity narrator, former Cavs star Austin Carr, aka “Mr. Cavalier.” All these participants were masterfully deployed and led by POPS conductor Carl Topilow, chorus master William Zurkey and gospel choir leader Jimmy L. Wilcher, Jr. in an evening of rousing patriotic and military-inspired music that brought the spirit of the Fourth of July indoors a few weeks early.
After a ceremonial entry by the honor guard, pipes and drums and a gospely version of the national anthem by the Mutual Gifts choir, those seventeen singers remained onstage for Kevin Bond’s God be praised with orchestral backup arranged by the POPS’s tubist, J.c. Sherman. [Read more…]