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Opera Circle Cleveland: Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at Westlake Performing Arts Center (February 22)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Bows

Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale centers around the title character’s cynical marriage scheme, designed to disinherit his nephew, Ernesto, who wants to tie the knot with a widow the Don doesn’t like. It doesn’t go well for Don Pasquale, who ends up playing the fool. Although Opera Circle Cleveland’s production on Sunday at the Westlake Schools Performing Arts Center took a while to get funny, strong singing and acting added up to an engaging afternoon of comic opera. [Read more…]

Review: Cleveland Women’s Orchestra with pianist Gavin George (April 27)

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Photo: Eric George

Photo: Eric George

by Mike Telin

On Sunday afternoon, April 27, a large crowd gathered at Severance Hall to hear a performance by the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra under the direction of the group’s music director and conductor Robert L. Cronquist. But I am sure that, like myself, most audience members were simply not prepared for the remarkable musical event that would take place during the concert’s final work, Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto #1 in G minor, performed by ten-year-old Gavin Michael George. Indeed, musical genius was on display as we sat mesmerized by the young pianist’s stunning performance of Mendelssohn’s vibrant concerto.

[Read more…]

Review: Opera Circle — La traviata at Bohemian National Hall (February 28)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Long-ShotFor the second title of its eighteenth season, Opera Circle mounted an impressive production of Verdi’s La traviata in the handsome old-world ballroom of Bohemian National Hall on February 28 and March 2. I saw the opening night performance.

Traviata was staged in collaboration with Robert Cronquist and the semi-professional Cleveland Women’s Orchestra, who occupied a “pit” curtained off in front of the stage.

Opera Circle is a fearless company that operates as an extended family affair with high artistic aspirations. When everything clicks, its productions rise above the sum of their parts. Traviata enjoyed a trouble-free opening night on Friday with an attractive cast of well-matched singers and fine production values. The stage direction was shared between Cronquist and Dorota Sobieska (who is executive director of the company and as its prima donna, also sang the lead role of Violetta). [Read more…]

Opera Circle: Il trovatore at Bohemian National Hall (February 17)

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by Robert Rollin

OCTrovatoreLast Friday night, February 17, Opera Circle joined forces with the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra to present Guiseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore at the Bohemian National Hall. Opera Circle is headed by executive director Dorota Sobieska, one of Northeast Ohio’s most talented sopranos, and music director and chorus master Jacek Sobieski, a former music director of Warsaw’s Polish National Theater. Robert Croquist, the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra’s longtime music director, served as conductor. [Read more…]

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