by Mike Telin
“This is one of those stories that just lingers through one’s life,” conductor James Feddeck said during a telephone conversation. “And I think in this particular telling of the story what is so interesting is how absolutely human and relatable these characters are.”
Whether you know her as Cendrillon, Aschenbrödel, La Cenerentola, La Cenicienta, Soluschka, or, most likely, Cinderella, the story of that downtrodden stepchild is an irresistible fairy tale. It’s been turned into many operas, but perhaps most magically by Jules Massenet.
On Thursday, November 7 at 8:00 pm, Oberlin Opera Theater will present Massenet’s Cendrillon in Hall Auditorium. Stephanie Havey directs and James Feddeck conducts the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra. Performances continue on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available online.
As any brass, woodwind, or low-string player in an orchestra may confess under mild pressure, it can feel profoundly liberating to play music that draws the spotlight away from their colleagues in the violin section, especially for extended periods. Rare though this repertoire may be — Stravinsky favored winds and percussion, and Glass wrote a whole opera without violins — pieces that foreground these parts of the classical instrumentarium do appear at the heart of the canon. Filling the stage for its 60th-Anniversary Gala concert, the Rocky River Chamber Music Society placed conductor James Feddeck at the helm for an event featuring 21 musicians — violists, cellists, bassists, and wind players.
James Feddeck, former assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, played an ambitious and enjoyable organ program Sunday afternoon, December 6, on the Holtkamp instrument in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The annual Holiday Circlefest was taking place simultaneously all over University Circle, so the museum was swarming with visitors, some of whom stopped in for part of the recital. Feddeck, an alumnus of the Oberlin Conservatory, might be described as an over-achiever, having studied piano, oboe, organ, and conducting at Oberlin. He now mostly travels the world as a guest conductor of many notable orchestras. 
Former Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor James Feddeck will return to perform in Cleveland this Sunday, but he’s leaving his baton at home this time. Feddeck will play a free organ recital in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art on December 6 at 2:00 pm, using one the other musical tools he honed at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he simultaneously studied oboe, piano, and conducting along with organ.
50-foot-long string instruments; traditional music from the Republic of Kyrgyz, Ireland’s “Wild West,” and the Balkans; dialogues between deep flamenco song and Iranian classical music; Egyptian classical music of the golden age; an a cappella sound track to a silent film about Joan of Arc; two prominent string quartets, an organ recital, and a multifaceted violinist — that list gives just a quick rundown on the variety of concerts the Cleveland Museum of Art has planned for its 2015-2016 Performing Arts Series, both in Gartner Auditorium at the museum and at its near-West Side gallery, Transformer Station.
