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Cleveland Opera Theater presents Opera al Fresco at Dunham Tavern Museum (August 16)

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by Mike Telin

Dunham-Tavern-PhotosOn Sunday, August 16 beginning at 6:00 pm, Cleveland Opera Theater will present its wildly popular free outdoor Opera al Fresco concert at its new location on the grounds of historic Dunham Tavern Museum at 6709 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland’s MidTown district. This family-friendly concert, which has traditionally been held at the Italian Cultural Gardens, is relocating this year to coincide with the company’s recent move to MidTown and its ongoing plans to increase community involvement and civic impact.

“I’m excited to able to introduce another hidden gem of Cleveland to audiences,” COT’s founder and executive director, Andrea Anelli, said during a recent telephone conversation. “I always loved the Cultural Gardens. When we began the Opera al Fresco concerts, the audience was quite small. Over time, it was a thrill to see more people not only coming to the concert, but also to the area, because they too fell in love with it.” [Read more…]

Nightingale Opera Theatre: Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love in Hudson (June 13)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Adina-reading-TristanThe Elixir of Love, one of Donizetti’s most-performed operas, makes use of a time-honored device: a magic potion that causes people to fall in love. This time, the concoction is peddled by a quack doctor to a gullible gardener who is hopelessly in love with his employer. A manufactured love triangle involving a soldier and a series of misunderstandings complicate the plot, but after more than two hours of delightful, bel canto singing, everything gets sorted out and the right people get married. Nightingale Opera Theatre’s beautiful production of Elixir was presented one night only, on Saturday, June 13, in Knight Fine Arts Center at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson. [Read more…]

Nightingale Opera Theatre to produce Donizetti’s Elixir in Hudson June 13

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by Daniel Hathaway

Elixir-PosterHudson’s Nightingale Opera Theatre will mark its move into a new venue at Western Reserve Academy on Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 pm with a production of Gaetano Donizetti’s “melodramma giocoso,” The Elixir of Love.

One of the top comic operas of all time, Elixir was the most-performed opera in Europe during the decade following its premiere in 1832, and unlike many titles, has never fallen off the charts.

In a telephone conversation, we asked Melissa Davis, Nightingale’s artistic director, why she chose the piece for the company’s summer production. “We wanted to do a show with a smaller principal cast this year,” she said. “Tim Culver, the tenor who will be singing the role of Nemorino, told me, ‘I just really love Elixir. Have you thought about doing that?’ I’ve performed the opera three times in my career and remember it so fondly. It has such great music and such a fun plot. We decided to go with it.” [Read more…]

Suburban Symphony and Choral Arts Cleveland to celebrate joint anniversaries with Carmen

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by Daniel Hathaway

kesslerphotoWe know about serial relationships, but what do you call an event that celebrates the overlapping anniversaries of two performing arts organizations? On Sunday, March 15 at 3:30 pm in the Masonic Auditorium Performing Arts Center, the Suburban Symphony and Choral Arts Cleveland will mark their respective sixtieth and fortieth anniversaries — adding up to a hundred years of music-making — with a performance of Georges Bizet’s opera, Carmen.

Martin Kessler, who conducts both organizations, said in a telephone conversation that Carmen has become a recurring “celebratory vehicle” for the Suburban Symphony. “It was first performed in 1975 for the twentieth anniversary of the orchestra, conducted by Robert Weiskopf. Grace Reginald, a friend of Bob and his wife, Eunice Podis, may have proposed it. At least she put the cast together. The performance also celebrated the opening of Beachwood High School, then the orchestra’s performing venue. Then Suburban wanted to honor me in 1990 on my tenth anniversary, and they suggested that I do it then.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra & Chorus: Ravel, Debussy & Fauré at Severance Hall (February 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

COYO-Mitchell-250sqAs 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.

[Read more…]

Opera Western Reserve: Don Giovanni at Stambaugh Auditorium, Youngstown (Nov. 14)

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by Robert Rollin

OWR250x250Last Friday evening Opera Western Reserve mounted its eleventh annual production, a solid version of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. As always, by limiting the event to one performance, the organization ensured a full house. Don Giovanni combines the comic, tragic, and supernatural in a magnificent musical pastiche. The opera is not as theatrically balanced as The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, and Act II often has significant cuts. [Read more…]

Review: Opera Western Reserve — La Bohème at Stambaugh Auditorium (November 15)

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by Robert Rollin

Boheme-PosterLast Friday night Opera Western Reserve presented Puccini’s La Bohème in a beautiful Stambaugh Auditorium production, replete with excellent singing, fine dramatic pacing and superlative orchestral accompaniment. Music director Susan Davenny Wyner’s effective conducting, and director/scenic designer David Vosbergh’s attractive sets and lively staging contributed greatly. Now in its tenth year, the company continued to wisely schedule only one performance annually, ensuring houses bursting at the seams. The Friday performance was no different.

Soprano Marian Vogel, who sang the title role in OWR’s 2011 production of Tosca, was terrific as the tragic seamstress Mimi. Tenor Alex Richardson, who sang Cavaradossi in the aforementioned production, returned as the intense poet Rodolfo, expertly tossing off the difficult role.

Soprano Lauren Frey, as Musetta, the sophisticated woman of the world, paired with baritone Michael Young, as Marcello, the painter. Both sang brilliantly, with Frey negotiating the intricacies of her bel canto role with sparkling ease, while Young enlivened the performance with his lovely vocal color. [Read more…]

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