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Mäkelä & Szeps-Znaider lead The Cleveland Orchestra through emotional peaks & valleys (Apr. 22)

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by Stephanie Manning

No matter how many times certain symphonic staples are performed, the music always invites the opportunity to dig deeper  — and on Friday, April 22 at Severance Music Center, The Cleveland Orchestra did just that. Under the baton of rising star Klaus Mäkelä, the ensemble took two masterworks in the classical canon to a new level with a performance that plumbed the emotional depths of both Sibelius and Shostakovich.

The young Finnish conductor seemed to relish his third appearance on the Severance podium, and both he and soloist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider approached Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with passion. Though the compositional process of Sibelius’s only concerto was hampered by uncertainty, there was nothing uncertain about Szeps-Znaider’s interpretation. His full, warm sound blended effortlessly with the Orchestra, whose lush, Romantic playing never obscured the soloist.

[Read more…]

Violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider to play Sibelius with The Cleveland Orchestra

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by Mike Telin

Tonight, Thursday April 21 at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider will join The Cleveland Orchestra and guest conductor Klaus Mäkelä in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. The evening also includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. The program will be repeated on Friday at 7:30 pm and Saturday at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with the violinist by telephone yesterday just after the rehearsal had ended.

Mike Telin: I hope the rehearsal went well. But this is a concerto you know quite well.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider: It did and it is. I’ve played it an awful lot — a wonderful awful lot. It’s one of the earliest pieces that I learned when I started playing.

It’s also one of those pieces that I don’t recall saying “I need a few years rest from it.” I’m always happy when it’s on the program. [Read more…]

Replacing van Zweden, Klaus Mäkelä joins Augustin Hadelich at Severance (Oct. 17)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The original Cleveland Orchestra lineup this month was to have featured former and current New York Philharmonic music directors two weeks in a row, but Jaap van Zweden had to withdraw due to a family medical issue in the Netherlands. He was replaced on the weekend of October 17 by the 23-year-old Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, who had made a sensational debut with the Orchestra last summer at Blossom, and if anything, topped that performance at Severance Hall. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom: debuts for Mäkelä & Lozakovich (July 20)

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by Daniel Hathaway

As Scandinavians, Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä and Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich should be well-accustomed to the intentional high temperatures and humidity of saunas, though they probably don’t expect to encounter those while plying their craft on the concert stage. On Saturday, July 20, they rose above miserable weather conditions to make impressive joint debuts with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom. [Read more…]

Young Scandinavians to make their Blossom debuts this weekend

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by Mike Telin

On Saturday, July 20 at 8:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä and Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich will make their Cleveland Orchestra debuts. The program will feature Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5. Tickets are available online.

While it is not unusual to have two people making their Cleveland Orchestra debuts on the same concert, it is somewhat of an anomaly to have both a conductor and soloist who are under 30 years of age. In fact, their combined ages total 41.

“The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the most important orchestras in the world. I have known them for a long time and I’m looking forward to making my debut with them at Blossom,” 23-year-old Klaus Mäkelä said by telephone from Helsinki. “It is a dream come true to play with such a legendary orchestra,” 18-year-old Daniel Lozakovich said by telephone from Geneva, adding “For me, there’s no better way to make a debut than with young energy, and when I found out that I would make mine with Klaus I was so happy.”

Mäkelä and Lozakovich have worked together before and they have a mutual admiration for each other’s talents. [Read more…]

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