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Got summer plans, Cleveland Orchestra? Blossom + Summers@Severance + a few extra notables

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Clevelanders haven’t heard their orchestra live since mid-May. In the interim, The Cleveland Orchestra has been on the road, finishing off their centennial-capping Prometheus Project with performances at Vienna’s Musikverein and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Oh, how we miss them.

We’ll get reacquainted with TCO soon, thanks to their schedule at this year’s 50th anniversary season of Blossom Music Festival, plus their fourth Summers@Severance series.

The Cleveland Orchestra marks the unofficial beginning of summer when they open their Blossom season on Saturday, July 7 at 8:00 pm. At the helm will be music director Franz Welser-Möst, leading the Orchestra in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in its orchestration by Ravel, Reznicek’s Overture to Donna Diana, and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, featuring TCO’s own soloists –– pianist Joela Jones, violinist Stephen Rose, and cellist Mark Kosower. At this concert and two others, check out the Image Magnification system, which displays live video of the performers on LED screens in the Blossom Pavilion. Fingers crossed for the weather — a firework show is planned for afterwards.

[Read more…]

Heights Arts: Omni Quartet at Dunham Tavern Museum (Feb. 25)

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by Nicholas Stevens

Omni Quartet“Do not put Mozart into a box!” The plea, issued by Omni Quartet cellist Tanya Ell at the Heights Arts Close Encounters concert last weekend, could apply equally to the ensemble itself. In the barn of the Dunham Tavern Museum, the quartet demonstrated both range and focus, showing off the group’s unique sound in works by Mozart and expanding its ranks to play a sextet by Brahms. [Read more…]

Music from The Western Reserve: Ensemble HD in Hudson (Nov. 12)

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by Timothy Robson

Ensemble-HD-GroupThere were no clinking glasses or telltale scents of hot dogs and Tater Tots on Sunday at Ensemble HD’s performance for Music from The Western Reserve at Christ Episcopal Church in Hudson. Let me explain: Ensemble HD was originally formed by several members of The Cleveland Orchestra to perform classical music gigs at Cleveland’s West Side iconic bar The Happy Dog, with its eclectic mix of entertainment. [Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society: Ensemble HD, “Cabaret: Between Two World Wars” (Feb. 1)

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by Christine Jay

Ensemble-HD-HiDefCan you successfully bring bar music into the concert hall? Cleveland Orchestra principal flutist Joshua Smith and Ensemble HD say, yes we can. Presented by the Rocky River Chamber Music Society on February 1 at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the ensemble performed their concert titled “Cabaret : Between Two World Wars.” [Read more…]

Review: Omni Quartet at LCCC (April 7)

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by Guytano Parks

Omni-QuartetLorain County Community College’s Signature Series of 2013-14 ended on a brilliant note with a performance by the Omni Quartet on Monday evening, April 7. The quartet was established five years ago and is comprised of violinists Amy Lee and Alicia Koelz, violist Joanna Patterson Zakany and cellist Tanya Ell, all members of The Cleveland Orchestra. Their program consisted of Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 2 in a, op. 13 and Beethoven’s Quartet No. 15 in a, op. 132.

Tanya Ell’s brief introductory commentary offered enlightening comparisons between the two works, and the musicians played excerpts to illustrate the similarities and influences, revealing Mendelssohn’s deep reverence for Beethoven and his fascination with the late a minor quartet. The title of his song Ist es wahr? (Is it true?, op. 9, no. 1) is written into the score and it forms the motif of the opening Adagio, appearing in all four movements. Similarly, Beethoven wrote the title of his song Muss es sein? (Must it be?) into the score of op, 132.

The Omni Quartet’s performance of Mendelssohn’s a minor Quartet (written during his teen years) was a model of perfection, teeming with flawless intonation, impeccable ensemble and interpretive taste and intelligence. [Read more…]

Preview: NEOSonicFest — Ensemble HD to be featured in second concert in Harkness Chapel on March 30

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by Mike Telin

Ensemble-HD-Happy-Dog“What I think is great about NEOSonicFest is that the groups that are performing are a good balance and represent what is going on in the music scene here in Cleveland,” Ensemble HD and Cleveland Orchestra principal flutist Joshua Smith said recently by telephone. “I think people will find there is a broad spectrum of musical examples of what the term New Music means.” On Sunday, March 30 beginning at 7:30 pm in Harkness Chapel at Case Western Reserve University, Ensemble HD with special guests Verb Ballets, will feature music that represents a variety of musical styles and combinations of instruments.

Ensemble HD first gained national attention by bringing classical music to new audiences with their performances at the Happy Dog Bar on Cleveland’s near West Side (above). Led by Joshua Smith, the ensemble includes pianist Christina Dahl, associate professor of music at SUNY Stony Brook, and four of Smith’s fellow Cleveland Orchestra members: violinist Amy Lee, oboist Frank Rosenwein, cellist Charles Bernard, and violist Joanna Patterson-Zakany.

[Read more…]

Recording review: Ensemble HD — Live at The Happy Dog

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by Mike Telin

Ensemble-HD-GroupToday, May 15, 2013 is here and so marks the official release of the highly anticipated recording Ensemble HD – Live at The Happy Dog. So much has happened since June 23, 2010 when Cleveland Orchestra principal flutist Joshua Smith and Happy Dog proprietor Sean Watterson decided to take the plunge by bringing live “classical” music to a venue more known for presenting local rock and polka bands. But what this album celebrates most is the shared vision and philosophy of creating something that would put a new face on classical music which Smith and Watterson brought to a reality.

In the album’s informative liner notes, Charles Michener insightfully writes

“Yet, perhaps what ails classical music has less to do with the audience, the nature of the music or the people who play it, then it does with the places and the manner in which it is usually played.” Michener suggests, “What if one could experience Beethoven and Bartok in a setting other then a shrine-like auditorium…? What if the players arrived not in formal evening dress but as people who look and act just like the rest of us? What if you could enjoy Beethoven and Bartok in a casual public watering hole on an ordinary urban street while chatting with your companion, ordering food and drink, and even glancing occasionally at a TV monitor where an NBA or NFL game is in progress.” [Read more…]

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