Miguel del Aguila Archives - Cleveland Classical

Barrick Stees and the Mosa Quartet to appear on Arts Renaissance Tremont series May 7

May 1, 2017 by Carlyn Kessler

by Carlyn Kessler

On Sunday, May 7 at 3:00 pm, bassoonist Barrick Stees and the Mosa Quartet will present a program of chamber music by Schubert, Ravel, and Miguel del Aguila as part of the Arts Renaissance Tremont series. A freewill offering will be received.

Barrick Stees, Assistant Principal Bassoon of The Cleveland Orchestra, teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Kent/Blossom Music Festival. An esteemed educator, he received the U.S. Secretary of Education’s Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award. He has released several albums and has performed extensively both nationally and internationally.

The Mosa Quartet — James Thompson and Brian Allen, violins, Christine Wu, viola, and Anna Hurt, cello — includes current students and alumni of the Cleveland Institute of Music who have studied with Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson. [Read more…]

Recording review: Margaret Brouwer Rhapsodies (Naxos)

by Daniel Hathaway

Rhapsodies, Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer’s latest recording on the Naxos American Classics label, is a retrospective of works written over the last 21 years by one of the classiest orchestral colorists in the field.

Sensitive performances of Brouwer’s well-constructed works by Marin Alsop and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony offer examples of contemporary music that can be both sophisticated and accessible. Here’s proof that a composer’s emotional reactions to sights and sounds can be translated into music and shared with others in fresh and evocative ways. [Read on…]

Cheers, gasps, and laughter fill Blossom as “Cirque Goes Broadway” (Aug. 31)

by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — “Cirque Goes Broadway” takes its song titles literally.

Acrobats soar high above the stage during “Defying Gravity.” A vocalist belts “I must not fall” while a contortionist carefully balances on one hand. And the opening orchestral number, “That’s Entertainment!” lets the audience know what it’s in for.

On August 31, conductor Lucas Waldin led the Akron Symphony Orchestra at Blossom Music Center in an evening of Broadway hits combined with acrobatics from the Big Top.

[Read on…]

Isabelle and Raphaël Olivier evoke French sensibility at Reithoffer’s (Aug. 23)

by Kevin McLaughlin

Harpist Isabelle Olivier and her son, guitarist Raphaël Olivier, combined for an eclectic program of smart, original compositions and unexpected covers on Friday evening, August 23. The charming nightclub setting of Reithoffer’s (called Hoff’s by regulars), 10 miles east of Chagrin Falls, is an especially agreeable place to hear music.

Raphaël, age 27, who did most of the talking, charmed us right off with the duo’s origin story: “We’re from a small town outside Paris, but have now lived in Chicago twelve years. I’ve been a US citizen for a month and have less of a French accent, but Isabelle has more.”

This also applied to their musical accents. [Read on…]

See all reviews

Follow ClevelandClassical.com

Contact us