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Cleveland Orchestra delights Halloween and Christmas fans alike with early holiday concert (Nov. 1)

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by Peter Feher

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — This year, the Cleveland Orchestra has virtually every store, shopping mall, and local radio station beat in being the first to break out the Christmas music.

The day after Halloween may be too early for most Ohioans to start getting into the holiday spirit, but it’s the perfect time for Jack Skellington and the charmingly creepy stop-motion cast of the 1993 animated film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Die-hard fans have often debated during which season the movie should be shown – Halloween or Christmas? You could say the Cleveland Orchestra came up with something of a clever compromise, presenting “Nightmare” live in concert along with the airing of the movie on Friday, Nov. 1 at Severance Music Center. It was a single sold-out performance.

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Discovering the magic of water-inspired music with Tan Dun and the Cleveland Orchestra (Oct. 31)

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This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

By Stephanie Manning

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The gusty winds that buffeted Severance Music Center on Halloween night seemed an apt complement for music about the elements. Inside, though, the focus was on a different force of nature: water, both literal and figurative.

On the podium was composer-conductor Tan Dun, making his Cleveland Orchestra debut in a program that will be repeated on Saturday, November 2. With the composer himself present, it was only fitting that the ensemble should give the Cleveland premiere of two of his pieces: the Water Concerto and Concerto for Orchestra.

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Cellist Julia Hagen to make Cleveland Orchestra debut in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto

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by Mike Telin

“When I think about playing with the Cleveland Orchestra, it still sounds like a dream,” cellist Julia Hagen said during a recent Zoom conversation. “It still feels surreal, but it’s going to be such an honor to share the stage with an orchestra that has so much history —  and I’m very excited to get to meet them and to work with them.”

On Wednesday, November 6 at 7:30 pm, Hagen will make her Cleveland Orchestra debut at Severance Music Center when she joins pianist Orion Weiss and violinist Augustin Hadelich for a performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

Under the direction of Daniel Reith, the evening will also include Sir Stephen Hough as soloist in the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The program, which will be repeated on November 7 at 7:30 pm, is the first of three that feature all six of Beethoven’s concertos for the instrument. The series runs through November 17. Tickets are available online.

Hagen, the 2024 winner of the UBS Young Artist Award, said that although she has not previously worked with Hadelich, she is a huge fan of his playing. “I can’t wait to meet him and because the two string parts in the Triple Concerto have so many things to work on before we meet with the orchestra, I’m very curious to see how that process will go.”

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Cleveland Orchestra begins Beethoven Piano Concerto Cycle with Triple Concerto

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by Mike Telin

Since making his Cleveland Orchestra debut at Blossom Music Center in 2009, Augustin Hadelich has gone on to become a Cleveland audience favorite. Last November, the violinist was greeted with a standing ovation when he walked on stage to play the Tchaikovsky Concerto.

On Wednesday, November 6 at 7:30 pm, Hadelich will return to Severance Music Center to join pianist Orion Weiss and cellist Julia Hagen for a performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. Under the direction of Daniel Reith, the evening will also include Sir Stephen Hough in the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The program, which will be repeated on November 7 at 7:30 pm, is the first of three that feature all six of Beethoven’s concertos for the instrument. The series runs through November 17. Tickets are available online.

During a recent Zoom call from Stockholm, Hadelich said that he’s excited to return to Cleveland and to collaborate with his colleagues. [Read more…]

Daniel Harding leads Cleveland Orchestra in wide-ranging and satisfying symphonic showcase (Oct. 3)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Given that symphonies have been a staple in the orchestral repertoire for 300 years, it would be impossible to cover their entire history in one evening. Even so, the three works on The Cleveland Orchestra’s October 4 program gave listeners a taste of the styles of composers writing in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

Fittingly, the evening opened with music by Franz Joseph Haydn, the “Father of the Symphony.” With 106 symphonies to choose from, the Orchestra selected No. 92, nicknamed “Oxford,” even though it was commissioned by the comte d’Ogny for performance in Paris in 1789. Guest conductor Daniel Harding, who happened to be born and raised in Oxford, led the performance with precision and without unnecessary dramatics.

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Salonen to conduct his Cello Concerto with Senja Rummukainen at Severance

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by Mike Telin

“I’m looking forward to coming to the Severance Hall, and working with Esa-Pekka — who is a wonderful musician, conductor, and composer — is going to be an amazing experience for sure,” Finnish cellist Senja Rummukainen said during a recent interview. “But getting to play with The Cleveland Orchestra is the greatest thing that’s happened to me —  it’s still a bit unreal.”

On Thursday, October 10 at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Rummukainen will make her Cleveland Orchestra debut with Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto. Under the direction of the composer, the concert will also include Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5. The program will be repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

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Elim Chan sculpts endless varieties of glorious sound from Yefim Bronfman, Cleveland Orchestra (Sept. 27)

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by Daniel Hathaway

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the symphonic world, a change of conductor often means a change of repertoire as well. When Elim Chan stepped in to lead four Cleveland Orchestra concerts this weekend featuring Yefim Bronfman in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (1909), she swapped out Stravinsky’s Petrushka for another Rachmaninoff work, his Symphonic Dances (1940).

On paper, that looked like an overabundance of Rachmaninoff, but Chan and the Orchestra made the Russian super-melodist’s lavish scores sound freshly minted, transparent, and teeming with exquisite detail.

After hearing numerous performances of “Rach 3” by piano competition hopefuls, it was revelatory on Thursday evening, September 26, to experience the work interpreted by a mature artist who is fully in control of its musical content, and whose transitions can make sense of the composer’s mercurial changes of direction.

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A rare concerto and two ‘classic’ symphonies open The Cleveland Orchestra season (Sept. 19)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Eighty years after his death, the ghost of Robert Schumann helped unearth his own violin concerto. Or at least that’s how the story goes.

Whether or not you believe that the composer actually spoke to violinist Jelly d’Arányi via ouija board, that incident ultimately led to the works’s rediscovery in the 1930s. And on September 19 at Severance Music Center, The Cleveland Orchestra treated its first audience of the season with a rare opportunity to hear it.

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Severance in Recital: Pavel Kolesnikov Plays J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations

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by Mike Telin

“I think the Goldberg Variations are one of the greatest achievements of the human mind and human soul of all times. And it is one of the most astonishing architectural creations in music — it’s like a wonder of the world,” pianist Pavel Kolesnikov said during a recent telephone conversation. “And hearing it live is just a tremendous experience that you cannot explain in words.”

On Tuesday, September 24 at 7:30 pm in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Music Center, the Siberian-born, London-based pianist will perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s Aria and Thirty Variations, aka “The Goldberg Variations,” in a recital sponsored by The Cleveland Orchestra. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with the pianist in England where he was serving on the jury of the Leeds International Piano Competition. I began our conversation by asking him what it was like to move from being a competitor to a juror.

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Cleveland Orchestra: A conversation with violin soloist Frank Peter Zimmermann

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by Mike Telin

After a six-year absence, violinist Frank Peter Zimmerman will return to the Severance Music Center stage on Thursday, September 19  to play Robert Schumann’s concerto with Osmo Vänskä and The Cleveland Orchestra in the first performance of the new season. The program will be repeated on Sunday the 22nd at 3:00 pm.

“I’m extremely happy to be returning to Cleveland. It’s my favorite orchestra in the States and maybe the world, and the public is also special,” the violinist said in a telephone conversation from his home in Germany. “I have a long relationship with them —  I think my first concerts were in 1987 with Christoph von Dohnányi  — and I have many friends there. So it’s going to be a joy to come back for the season opener.”

The Schumann concerto is a musically complicated piece with an intriguing history. He wrote it very late in his career for Joseph Joachim, and although the violinist was in possession of the manuscript for the rest of his life, he never performed the Concerto. It finally received its premiere by George Kulenkampff and the Berlin Philharmonic on 26 November 1937.

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