by Daniel Hathaway
As many conductors and orchestras have learned through experience, capturing the essence and style of French music is not easy unless you’ve been blessed with Gallic genes. On Sunday evening at Severance Hall, Brett Mitchell and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Chorus won honorary membership in Le Panthéon with convincing performances of challenging scores by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Gabriel Fauré.
by Daniel Hathaway
Having explored the music of John Adams, Roy Harris and Tchaikovsky in its first concert last November, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will turn to music by French composers for its Severance Hall concert on Sunday, February 8 at 7:00 p.m. The program will include Maurice Ravel’s Une barque sur l’ocean, Claude Debussy’s La mer and Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, op. 48, featuring the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus.
Speaking with music director Brett Mitchell by telephone about the February program, I noted that he’s really throwing down a challenge with this repertory. “We always do,” he replied. “The nice thing with young people is they don’t realize that what they’re taking on is going be difficult — at least until they start practicing.”
by Mike Telin
Inspired by imagery of the Virgin and Child in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s medieval collection, Mother and Child, a progressive choral event, invites audiences to experience a stunning intersection of the aural and the visual in three different museum spaces on Saturday, December 14. Performers will include Quire Cleveland, led by Ross Duffin, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth and Children’s Choruses, directed by Lisa Wong, and the sopranos and altos of Trinity Cathedral Choir with brass and organ conducted by Todd Wilson.
At 2:00 pm in the Reid Gallery, Quire Cleveland will begin with a work from the 15th century, There is no rose, followed by Josquin des Prez’s Ave Maria, which Duffin describes as one of the composer’s iconic works. The performance continues with an extended piece in carol form from the Court of Henry VIII, Quid petis, o fili? byRichard Pygott. “It’s about Mary speaking to her child,” says Duffin. “It’s an intimate, imagined conversation and very appropriate to the Mother and Child theme.” A Spanish Christmas piece from the 16th Century, E la don don, was printed in Venice in 1556 in the Cancionero de Upsala and survives in only one copy. Duffin says it’s a lively piece that will feature solos by Quire’s male singers. [Read more…]