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‘Frenzied Tangos’ from Adams, Diehl headline Cleveland Orchestra premieres (Feb. 19)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Just like his music, insistent and perpetually in motion, John Adams has little interest in slowing down. At 79, the celebrated composer and conductor is as busy as ever, and he’s never far from his next premiere.

A Cleveland Orchestra regular, Adams returned to the Mandel Concert Hall podium on Thursday, February 19 for “Frenzied Tango,” a program of firsts that reunited him with pianist Aaron Diehl. The performance revealed plenty of gems, both in his own works and those he chose to precede them.

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Barbara Hannigan goes all-American with The Cleveland Orchestra (Feb. 12)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Conductor Barbara Hannigan brought an unusual playlist to her appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra on Thursday evening February 12: music by four American composers who rarely share a stage, and who have very different ideas about what American music sounds like.

The Severance Music Center program was a sequence of sharply defined pieces, each showing a different side of American music — experimental, modernist, lyrical, and theatrical. And in Hannigan’s expressive hands, those contrasts felt intentional and well placed.

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Cleveland Orchestra with English horn soloist Robert Walters at Severance (Nov. 13)

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by Daniel Hathaway

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The keyword for Thursday evening November 13 at Severance Music Center was stamina.

Without that essential quality, the performance of two demanding works by English hornist Robert Walters and The Cleveland Orchestra, led by guest conductor Tugan Sokhiev, might have fallen flat.

Instead, the concert entered the record books as a meticulously played sonic spectacular.

Geoffey Gordon’s Mad Song, written in 2020 after a fascinating poem by the 18th-century English mystic William Blake, was commissioned for Dimitri Mestdag, solo English horn of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.

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Cleveland Orchestra brass and percussion celebrate Akron’s 200th in ambitious Tuesday Musical program (Apr. 22)

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by Stephanie Manning

There are very few American cities who can count themselves as having an official fanfare. But now, Akron is one of them.

To celebrate the city’s 200th anniversary, Tuesday Musical commissioned composer Peter Boyer to write Festive Fanfare (For Akron’s Bicentennial). More than a concert piece, a recording of the four-minute fanfare will soon be made available for open-access use at Akron civic events. On April 22, a packed house heard it live for the first time as part of a wide-ranging program by the brass and percussion players of The Cleveland Orchestra.

“Kid — candy store,” Boyer said from the stage at E.J. Thomas Hall, gesturing to himself and then the musicians to describe his excitement. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra serves up another treasure in fan-favorite Rhapsody in Blue (Nov. 29)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s an all-American extravaganza this holiday weekend at Severance Music Center. With Thanksgiving now in the books and December approaching fast, The Cleveland Orchestra has wasted no time gearing up its next few programs, many of them headlined by fan-favorites, to finish the calendar year on a high note.

On Friday, the marquee piece was George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, an orchestral staple — especially in 2024, which marks the work’s 100th anniversary. This isn’t the first time The Cleveland Orchestra has played it this year, as Béla Fleck performed his banjo-and-orchestra transcription at Blossom Music Center in July.

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Discovering the magic of water-inspired music with Tan Dun and the Cleveland Orchestra (Oct. 31)

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This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

By Stephanie Manning

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The gusty winds that buffeted Severance Music Center on Halloween night seemed an apt complement for music about the elements. Inside, though, the focus was on a different force of nature: water, both literal and figurative.

On the podium was composer-conductor Tan Dun, making his Cleveland Orchestra debut in a program that will be repeated on Saturday, November 2. With the composer himself present, it was only fitting that the ensemble should give the Cleveland premiere of two of his pieces: the Water Concerto and Concerto for Orchestra.

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Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus 9 with percussionist Marc Damoulakis

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by Daniel Hathaway

Marc Damoulakis’ performance of Conjurer, John Corigliano’s percussion concerto, may well go down as one of the most spectacular events of the COVID-19 era.

In Episode 9 of The Cleveland Orchestra’s In Focus series, its principal percussionist dazzled both eye and ear with the 40-minute work. Written for Evelyn Glennie and commissioned by seven orchestras, Conjurer deployed a vast collection of instruments across the Severance Hall stage as it brought Damoulakis from his usual spot in the back row to front and center.

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The Cleveland Orchestra’s In Focus 6: Carmen-Suite

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by Jarrett Hoffman

In Episode 6 of the In Focus series, which premiered online on March 11, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra devote themselves to a single work: Rodion Shchedrin’s 1967 Carmen-Suite. This is no basic retread of Bizet’s famous opera. Instead, the 13-movement ballet score does something dramatic, but something that’s sadly fitting for the pandemic: it eliminates all the winds, and gifts the percussion section a bundle of new toys.

Shchedrin makes use of those extra capabilities right away. Brilliantly, the piece begins and ends with “Habanera,” as heard faintly from the tubular bells under the gentle touch of Marc Damoulakis. Other particularly memorable moments come from the marimba, which provides an intriguing melodic contrast to the strings. But even in the background, instruments like the tom-toms and the guiro bring a consistently fresh and modern color to this piece.

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Cleveland Orchestra In Focus 5: Parameswaren leads “Musical Patterns”

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by Daniel Hathaway

The release of the fifth episode of The Cleveland Orchestra’s In Focus video series coincided with the elevation of Vinay Parameswaren from assistant to associate conductor of the ensemble and the extension of his contract. Of course, the concert had been pre-recorded a couple of weeks before it appeared on the Adella platform on January 28, but his leadership of the Orchestra on that occasion completely validated that promotion.

Episode 5 is subtitled “Musical Patterns,” a nod to the fact that three of the four works are examples of “minimalism,” or maybe more precisely, “repetitive music.” [Read more…]

Sun Valley Festival: Strings & Mallets (Aug. 4)

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by Nicholas Stevens

For those who crave coherence in a concert, consistent instrumentation can help. For those who want a sense of progression, starting with shorter or older pieces and moving toward more extended or contemporary works makes for a sound strategy. Those who value both would love the sort of program that Idaho’s Sun Valley Music Festival assembled for its recent program Strings and Mallets on Tuesday, August 4. Although produced under the Sun Valley banner, the performances were recorded remotely in several locations. [Read more…]

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