by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•A busy noontime: organist Christa Rakich at the Covenant, and Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi at Oberlin
•Oberlin announces partnership with United Nations and Global Foundation for Performing Arts
•Ohio Light Opera releases calendar for summer 2023
•Almanac: looking back on a surprising speech from Leonard Bernstein before a performance with Glenn Gould
by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Tonight’s schedule: a Cleveland Orchestra send-off concert, and an Arts & Culture Network Night
•New video: the All-Ohio Virtual Guitar Orchestra (pictured) makes its debut
•A feature on Native composers, including the experimental writing of Raven Chacon, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s impressionistic approach to referencing tribal music
•Almanac: Leonard Bernstein (in the words of his daughter Jamie Bernstein), and Undine Smith Moore, the “Dean of Black Women Composers”
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 7:30 pm, The Cleveland Orchestra gives the first of two send-off concerts before embarking on a three-week tour of Europe. This evening’s program at Mandel Hall includes Wolfgang Rihm’s Verwandlung II & III and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9. (Tomorrow’s program swaps out those works for music by Richard Strauss and Alban Berg.) Get your tickets here.
Not so much a concert, but another event of interest on the calendar today is a free Arts & Culture Network Night at the LGBT Center in Gordon Square from 6-8 pm, hosted by Neighborhood Connections and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. It’s aimed at artists, art supporters, and anyone who works at an arts-related organization, and there will be a performance by flamenco dancer Alice Blumenthal, founder of Northeast Ohio-based dance company ABREPASO. Register here.
by Mike Telin
When Leonard Bernstein wrote his one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti in 1951, Harry Truman was president, unemployment was at 3.3%, and new roads were built to accommodate the increasing numbers of cars. A gallon of gas cost 19 cents, a loaf of bread 16 cents, and a dozen eggs 24 cents. I Love Lucy debuted on television, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland was released in movie theaters, and, the American Dream could only be achieved by moving to the suburbs.
This week, Oberlin Opera Theater will celebrate the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein with a tribute that includes Trouble in Tahiti along with music from his hit Broadway shows West Side Story, Candide, On the Town, and Wonderful Town. Performances take place in Hall Auditorium at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, November 7, Friday, November 9, and Saturday, November 10, and at 2:00 pm on Sunday, November 11. Raphael Jiménez leads the Oberlin Orchestra. Tickets are available online.
“The opera is a social commentary on life in suburbia,” Oberlin Opera Theater Director Jonathon Field said during an interview. Trouble in Tahiti opens with a jazz vocal trio espousing the virtues of living in a little white house in places such as Scarsdale, Highland Park, and Shaker Heights. “They’re singing about what was supposed to be the good life and all the things you were supposed to strive for. But Sam and Dinah discover that in reality, the idyllic 1950s suburban life in America is not all it’s cracked up to be.” [Read more…]
by Levi Hammer
Special to ClevelandClassical.com
“Why, oh why, oh why, oh — why did I ever leave Ohio?” So goes Bernstein’s Broadway hit. In moments of discouragement in Berlin over the last year, my thoughts drifted to that tune. This summer brought me back to Ohio for my third season at Cincinnati Opera, where I worked on the Barrie Kosky production of The Magic Flute on loan from the Komische Oper Berlin. Spending a summer in my beloved Ohio has given me cause to reflect on my time there.
I first traveled to Ohio assisting Benjamin Zander when he was conducting Mahler’s Ninth Symphony with the Akron Symphony. I had never heard of this orchestra, let alone of the city of Akron, and I was unaware of the musical riches of Northeast Ohio, extending back to industrialization, and the two world-class orchestras in the region (The Cleveland Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony). [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
On Monday evening, November 15, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra played Severance Hall for the first time since 2004. The concert also marked the Severance Hall debut for Zubin Mehta, world-renowned conductor and the Orchestra’s music director since 1991. [Read more…]