Richard Sortomme Archives - Cleveland Classical

Cleveland Orchestra: Dohnányi returns, violists Vernon & Ramsey featured in Sortomme Concerto (Nov. 19)

November 20, 2015 by Daniel Hathaway

by Daniel Hathaway

Nostalgia was much in evidence at Severance Hall on Thursday evening, November 19. Music director laureate Christoph von Dohnányi, who conducted The Cleveland Orchestra from 1984-2002, made his annual return visit to the podium, obviously drawing a large audience of fans. Additionally, the premiere of Richard Sortomme’s Concerto for Two Violas on Themes from Smetana’s “From My Life” String Quartet served as a fond recollection of the composer’s long friendship with its dedicatee, principal viola Robert Vernon, who is scheduled to retire at the end of the Blossom season in 2016. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: a new concerto for two violas dedicated to Robert Vernon

November 17, 2015 by Daniel Hathaway

by Mike Telin

Since his appointment to The Cleveland Orchestra in 1976, principal viola Robert Vernon has appeared as soloist with the orchestra on more than 100 occasions, both in Cleveland and on tour.

On Thursday, November 18 at 7:30 pm in Severance Hall, Vernon will share the solo spotlight with his longtime stand partner and TCO first assistant principal viola, Lynne Ramsey, for the world premiere of Richard Sortomme’s Concerto for Two Violas on themes from Bedřich Smetana’s “From My Life” Quartet. The concert, under the direction of music director laureate Christoph von Dohnányi, will also include Smetana’s Overture to The Bartered Bride and Franz Schubert’s Symphony in C (“The Great”). The program will be repeated on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm. [Read more…]

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson, conductor Daniel Reith lead Cleveland Orchestra in Beethoven concert (Nov. 9)

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

By Kevin Mclaughlin

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A relaxed understanding born of a long career helped pianist Garrick Ohlsson bring easy grace and Proto-Romantic sensibility to Beethoven’s Second and Fourth Piano Concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra.

The program on Saturday at Severance Music Center featured early and middle works, the second set of concerts in the Orchestra’s cycle of Beethoven piano concertos.

Despite its number, the Second Concerto is actually the composer’s first, begun in 1790. Ohlsson treated this early Beethoven work expressively, with sinuous rubato, keeping his rhythms precise, his touch light, and his rhetoric clear. Nothing, not even Beethoven’s many technical snares, seemed to faze him.

[Read on…]

Cleveland Orchestra’s Beethoven concerto cycle: A mini festival of virtuosity (Nov. 6)

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

By Peter Feher

CLEVELAND, Ohio — There’s never been a better time to buy a couple of extra tickets to The Cleveland Orchestra.

Not one but four stellar soloists took the stage at Severance Music Center on Wednesday, Nov. 6 — representing about half of the star-studded lineup coming to Cleveland over the next two weeks. The big event of the Orchestra’s fall season, a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos, is set to feature a different headliner for almost every piece.

This wasn’t the original plan, but with music director Franz Welser-Möst undergoing medical treatment and unable to conduct — and the scheduled soloist for the entire cycle, Igor Levit, withdrawing as a result — the Orchestra had to adapt. The personnel changes were announced on Monday, Nov. 4, including associate conductor Daniel Reith’s stepping in to lead all the performances, which run through Nov. 17.

[Read on…]

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