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Oberlin Chamber Orchestra with cellist Nathaniel Abreu (Sept. 25)

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by Max Newman

For sheer polish of performance, under the direction of Raphael Jiménez, the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble that can scarcely be faulted. On the crisp fall evening of September 25, the Orchestra kicked off its 2025-26 season at Finney Chapel in a familiar vein: the well-rounded performance of three pieces, monumental in sound and cinematic in narrative. The Orchestra was able to simultaneously create the sensation of enormous musical objects and patchworks of delicate moments.

Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Rissolty Rossolty (1939) was a stirring rollercoaster ride of an opener. Its first moments were a guided journey through a pastoral, woodwind-dotted landscape, with staccato bassoon, clarinet, flute, and oboe tangents framed by earnest strings. [Read more…]

Oberlin Chamber Orchestra thrills at Finney Chapel (Apr. 3)

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by Max Newman

The Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, a flagship ensemble of the Oberlin Conservatory, delivered a sterling performance at Finney Chapel on the evening of April 3. Under the direction of Raphael Jiménez, the performance featured three pieces of varying styles and moods, all played with aplomb.

The technical ability on display was brilliant. One of the more impressive aspects of the performance was the ability of the players to maintain an unerring control of dynamics. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera Theater to present
Britten’s Turn of the Screw

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Turn of the Screw Score CoverChilling bones since 1898, Henry James’s ghostly novella The Turn of the Screw has inspired movies, plays, ballets, literary reworkings — and a stunning 1954 opera by composer Benjamin Britten and librettist Myfanwy Piper.

Oberlin Opera Theater will bring Britten’s and Piper’s take on the tale to Northeast Ohio this week, turning the stage of Hall Auditorium into the haunted Bly House. Directed by Jonathon Field, conducted by Christopher Larkin, and featuring the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, performances run at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — March 7, 9, and 10 — and conclude on Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 pm. The Turn of the Screw will be sung in English and include supertitles. Tickets are available here.

The story centers on an unnamed young Governess, who is hired to care for Miles and Flora, the children of Bly House. But two ghosts — the former valet Peter Quint and former governess Miss Jessel — have returned to possess the children.

[Read more…]

Oberlin Opera Theater stages an enchanting Cendrillon (March 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cendrillon-Stepmother-StepsistersWhether you know her as Cendrillon, Aschenbrödel, La Cenerentola, La Cenicienta, Soluschka, or, most likely, Cinderella, the story of that downtrodden stepchild is an irresistible fairy tale. It’s been turned into many operas, but perhaps most magically by Jules Massenet in his Cendrillon, beautifully produced by Oberlin Opera Theater last Wednesday evening at its opening performance in Hall Auditorium. [Read more…]

Oberlin Orchestras featuring faculty soloists (Dec. 6 & 9)

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by Neil McCalmont

fulkersonobchorchTwo orchestra concerts given at Oberlin’s Finney Chapel during the first week of December featured faculty soloists and yielded phenomenal results. On December 6, Raphael Jiménez led the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in a concert highlighted by Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. The audience roared as professor of violin Gregory Fulkerson took the stage for his last appearance with the ensemble as he prepares to retire from the Conservatory this spring after a tenure of 35 years. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera Theater to stage Handel’s Alcina March 9-13

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by Mike Telin

Alcina-&-Ruggiero“There’ve always been stories about the young soldier who leaves his native country to go fight in a distant land but then becomes immersed in that land’s culture, and for whatever reason loses himself and his purpose,” Oberlin Opera Theatre Director Jonathon Field said during an interview. “That’s exactly what happens in Alcina — you have Ruggiero, who flies on a griffin onto this island and becomes enchanted with the sorceress Queen Alcina.”

On Wednesday, March 9 at 8:00 pm in Hall Auditorium, and continuing on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm, conductor Christopher Larkin will lead the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra and two all-star casts in Handel’s fantastical opera Alcina. [Read more…]

Review: Oberlin Opera Theater flies you to the Moon — and back (November 7)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Joseph HaydnOberlin-Mondo.310100651_std (1) wrote more than a dozen operas for the Esterházy family during his thirty years as its Kapellmeister (plus another late one for London that never made it to the stage). Oberlin Opera Theater’s production of Il mondo della luna (The World on the Moon), which opened on Wednesday evening at Hall Auditorium for four performances, provided the rare opportunity to encounter one of Haydn’s stage works. The evening was entertaining and successful not so much because of Carlo Goldoni’s libretto (ridiculous) or Haydn’s score (every inch masterful though largely unmemorable) but because of Jonathon Field’s resourceful and often hysterically funny stage direction, the fine singing and acting of Oberlin voice students, and generally excellent work from the pit by the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra under guest conductor Christopher Larkin. And also no doubt because of extensive cuts in the score. [Read more…]

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