The gift of music is always a wonderful way to say happy holidays to friends and family. The week, the editors and correspondents of ClevelandClassical.com are pleased to suggest nineteen CDs released in 2016 by outstanding musicians, most of whom call Northeast Ohio home.
There’s certainly something on this list for every classical music lover. Click on the links at the end of each paragraph to read complete reviews of each album. [Read more…]
by Jeremy Reynolds
Back in March, the San Antonio Chamber Choir, directed by Scott MacPherson, released an album of Andrew Rindfleisch’s choral music on the Gothic Records label. There’s a mixture of joy and reflection on Careless Carols that pairs well with the end of a too-long year and this season of Thanksgiving and peace. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
After singing its “Americana” program at First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights on October 22, the 30-voice Cleveland Chamber Choir moved to John Knox Presbyterian Church in North Olmsted for a second performance on Friday, October 28. Conductor Scott MacPherson curated his program of American choral music with the election season in mind. Not as a rah-rah patriotic exercise, but rather to explore the rich heritage of vocal traditions that have been practiced within these shores over the past two-and-a-half centuries. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Cleveland Chamber Choir founding conductor Scott MacPherson has two things in mind for the beginning of the ensemble’s second season. “Our goal this year is to repeat concerts in a different venue,” he said in a recent phone call. “It’s a lot more fun that way. And since we’re a new group, we want to get as much exposure as we can.”
Thus CCC’s season’s opener at First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights on Saturday, October 22 at 7:30 pm will be repeated at John Knox Presbyterian Church in North Olmsted on Friday, October 28 at 8:00 pm.
MacPherson’s second idea is more topical and feeds directly into the repertoire for the ensemble’s fall concerts. “As early as last spring I was thinking about a program of American composers and genres, since it was going to be election season. Though it’s not going to be a flag-waving, patriotic program, it reflects the fact that one of the most important things we do as adults is to elect a new head of our government.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
With its tuning challenges, tricky scherzo, and numerous transitions, Benjamin Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia is a ten-minute a cappella tour de force that tests the mettle of any choir that takes it on. In the second performance of their inaugural season, the 33 voices of Cleveland Chamber Choir more than rose to the occasion on Saturday evening, April 23 at First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights. In this and other British choral works, Scott MacPherson’s new professional ensemble validated the initial impression they made last November: this is a superb addition to Cleveland’s musical scene. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Accidental discoveries you make when you’re drawing up plans for a program sometimes send you off on a new tack. Scott MacPherson had long been contemplating a concert of British choral music for the second concert of the Cleveland Chamber Choir’s inaugural season and wanted something “on the vigorous, peppy side” to balance the “rich, sonorous” music he already had in mind.
“In Sweet Music Is Such Art: Celebrating British Choral Music” will take place on Saturday, April 23 at 7:30 pm in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights.
“We had performed Cecilia McDowall’s Aurea luce on our first concert in November”, MacPherson said, “so I wrote to her and asked if she had anything along those lines. She told me that her When Time is Broke: three Shakespeare songs had just been premiered by the BBC Singers in January and that the first movement might be just what what I was looking for.” [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
On the eve of St. Cecilia’s Day — but obviously blessed in advance by the patron saint of music — the Cleveland Chamber Choir sang a splendid inaugural concert at First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights. Under the direction of its founder, Scott MacPherson, the new ensemble’s performance on Saturday, November 21 set a very high standard for themselves as a professional choral ensemble, and MacPherson’s programming whetted the appetite for more imaginative concert menus to come. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Cleveland’s newest choral organization, the 36-voice Cleveland Chamber Choir, will sing its inaugural concert under the direction of Scott MacPherson on Saturday, November 21 at First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights.
Entitled “Dawn: Light—Evening: Night,” the program will include Gustav Holst’s Nunc dimittis, Claudio Monteverdi’s Ecco mormorar l’onde, John Wilbye’s Draw on Sweet Night, Robert Schumann’s Zigeunerleben, Johannes Brahms’s O schöne Nacht and Dem dunkeln Schoss der heil’gen Erde, Josef Rheinberger’s Abendlied, Corey Rubin’s Euclid Avenue Songs, Cecilia McDowall’s Aurea luce, Andrew Rindfleisch’s Careless Carols & Linda Kachelmeier’s Rise up to Greet the Morning Dawn. [Read more…]