Josefina Maldonado Archives - Cleveland Classical

Finnish guest conductor Dalia Stasevska draws on musical nature in Cleveland Orchestra debut (Mar. 21)

March 25, 2024 by Daniel Hathaway

Daniel Hathaway | Cleveland Classical
Originally posted on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Works by two Finnish composers bracketed a major piece by a woman with close ties to Akron on Thursday evening at Severance Music Center. The concert marked the Cleveland Orchestra debut of Finnish guest conductor Dalia Stasevska (currently chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony) as well as the return to the Severance stage of Texas-born mezzo-soprano Josefina Maldonado (who first appeared here in John Adams’ El Niño in November, 2022).

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Josefina Maldonado returns to Cleveland Orchestra for Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater

March 20, 2024 by Mike Telin

by Mike Telin

Following Josefina Maldonado’s Cleveland Orchestra debut in November 2022 in John Adams’ El Niño, Stephanie Manning wrote for ClevelandClassical.com that the mezzo-soprano “more than held her own amid such a strong cast. Her round and resonant voice projected well in all registers, consistently controlled…”

On Thursday, March 21 at 7:30 pm, Maldonado will return to Severance Music Center for performances of Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater. Under the direction of Dalia Stasevska, the program also includes Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, and will be repeated on Friday, March 22 at 7:30 and Saturday, March 23 at 8:00. Tickets are available online.

“The Cleveland Orchestra is world-class, and I look forward to coming back and working with Dalia Stasevska. She’s an excellent conductor,” Josefina Maldonado said during a telephone conversation.

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Singers’ Club of Cleveland: To Dwell in Harmony (Dec. 9)

by Kevin McLaughlin

The Singers’ Club of Cleveland brought the joy of the season to Trinity Cathedral on Tuesday evening with a program titled To Dwell in Harmony, a holiday offering both polished and good-humored. The venerable all-male chorus — whose lineage stretches back to 1891 and includes collaborations with conductors from Beryl Rubinstein to Robert Shaw — now finds itself under new leadership.

Christopher Clark, appointed in August as Artistic Director (while serving concurrently as Director of Choirs at Case Western Reserve University), led his first Singers’ Club concert with easy command. The chorus appeared to trust him from the first downbeat, and the audience received him just as warmly.

Trinity Cathedral, whose acoustics can flatter or expose a chorus in equal measure, proved an asset. The evening opened with one of its most effective moments: Veni, Veni Emmanuel in John Englert’s arrangement. Clark placed the choir on three sides of the audience, creating a surround-sound of chant that was silky and assured — a confident beginning. [Read on…]

Les Délices welcomes the festive season with “Noel, Noel” (Dec. 7)

by Stephanie Manning

Once December kicks in, an almost overwhelming number of holiday programs pop up around Northeast Ohio. But Les Délices’ offering should draw your attention.

While other festive concerts may create the atmosphere of a bustling party by the fireplace, “Noel, Noel” is like observing a snowy evening from the warmth of the indoors. This is music best enjoyed in quiet contentment, and especially live — so it’s no surprise that the early music ensemble brought back this signature program for three performances this month.

On December 7 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the six-member group presented a lovely ninety-minute program, which is also available on CD and via streaming until the end of the year. [Read on…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir: In Four Voices (Dec. 3)

by Kevin McLaughlin

Renaissance polyphony can bloom in resonant spaces, but the Donna and James Reid Gallery at the Cleveland Museum of Art presents particular challenges: hard surfaces and a long reverb tend to blur consonants into watercolor. The Cleveland Chamber Choir’s four-voice ensemble met those conditions head-on during its “In Four Voices” program on December 3. What emerged was an evening of consistently beautiful vocal timbre shaped by a group navigating the sonic characteristics of the room.

The concert, to be followed in January and March by appearances of various-sized ensembles, is part of a new development for the Cleveland Chamber Choir, called the Camerata Series — more information here.

To improve their chances of hearing one another, the quartet — soprano Lauren Vanden Broeck, mezzo-soprano Kira McGirr, tenor Joel Kincannon, and bass Dominic Aragon — stood in a traditional “part book” formation, like a diamond, facing inward. This meant that their sound was directed toward each other, rather than outward to the listeners around them. [Read on…]

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