by Mike Telin
On Wednesday, December 3rd I found myself in an odd situation – I wasn’t scheduled to attend any concerts, yet I had the urge to hear some live classical music. Checking our concert calendar, I discovered two interesting, and best of all, free concerts in University Circle. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Hailed
as “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” by the New York Times, and “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” by Time Out New York, composer and keyboardist Missy Mazzoli added band leader to her impressive resumé in 2008 when she formed Victoire, an all-female ensemble of winds, strings, keyboards, and lo-fi electronics.
“It was my attempt to take control over where, when and how my music was performed. As a classical composer you’re usually at the whim of other performers and presenters. My goal was to take the best aspects of having a band, and the best aspects of being a composer and combine them, which is what I have done with the group,” Mazzoli told us by telephone. On Friday, February 22 beginning at 7:30pm in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, VIVA! & Gala performing arts series presents Victoire in concert. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The
Cleveland Museum of Art’s VIVA! & Gala series presents King Lear: Contemporary Legend Theatre of Taiwan on Friday, January 25 beginning at 7:30 pm at the Breen Center for the Performing Arts. The production combines the virtuosity of Beijing Opera acting style with visually stunning Western stagecraft. Described as a one man tour de force, the celebrated Taiwanese actor Wu Hsing-Kuo simultaneously depicts multiple characters, from the maniacal Lear and his ally, Gloucester, to his evil, grasping daughters and the pitiful, lonely Fool. Combining richly embroidered and colorful costumes, dazzling martial arts, contemporary dance, superb visual effects, and live Chinese music and song, the production is in Mandarin with English supertitles.
Known for his movie roles as well as for his adaptations of Western classics, Wu Hsing-Kuo began his training in classical Beijing Opera at the age of 11 at the Fu-Hsing Chinese Opera School in Taiwan where he specialized in male martial arts (wu sheng). He went on to attend the Theatre Department of Chinese Cultural University in Taipei where he studied under master Chou Cheng-jung (Zhou Zheng-rong). [Read more…]