Previews & Announcements

Singers' Club marks 120th Anniversary of first concert: fifteen minutes with music director Mel Unger
By Daniel Hathaway
    
Some coincidences were just meant to happen. After the Singers' Club of Cleveland scheduled its final concert of the season for May 19, 2012, someone noticed that the venerable male voice choir had presented its first concert ever on May 19, 1892 — 120 years ago to the day. Time for a celebration!
     Music Director and conductor Mel Unger has planned a special program entitled “Songs of Spirit” for the occasion. We reached him at his office at the Riemenschneider Bach Institute at Baldwin-Wallace, where he was clearing his mind after hearing and adjudicating sixteen choirs in a single day in Sandusky over the weekend.
     “My idea for the May 19th concert was to program inspiring songs that have some sort of emotional punch”, he told us. That list includes Kirk Meacham's “Blow ye the trumpet” from John Brown, music by Eric Whitacre, gospel songs and spirituals, and will end impressively with a hundred singers onstage. “The concert follows an all-day workshop for students from the Cleveland School of the Arts and Elyria High School led by Jeremy Jones from Miami University and we'll close the evening with three joint pieces that he will conduct…" >>read on

Salome at Severance Hall: a conversation with
mom and dad in a severely disfunctional family
By Mike Telin and Daniel Hathaway

On Saturdays, May 19 and 26, Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra and an international cast of singers in concert performances of Richard Strauss's Salome in Severance Hall. During the intervening week, the orchestra will take the opera to New York for the second of its two concerts at Carnegie Hall on Thursday, May 24.
     Salome is based on Oscar Wilde's play of the same name, which the famous British aesthete originally wrote in French. Strauss saw the play in a German translation and immediately made plans for an operatic version which debuted in Dresden in December of 1905. Salome was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York two years later. Though based on a story from the Christian gospels, it caused such a stir among patrons, clergy and press that subsequent performances were cancelled. Mahler wanted to perform it in Vienna, but censors stood in the way and its debut there had to wait until 1918.
     The Dance of the Seven Veils and the iconic moment when Salome kisses the lips of the severed head of John the Baptist inspired such adjectives as “repulsive” and “perverse” at early productions of Salome, but despite (or perhaps because of) its notoriety, the opera found its way into the repertory of more than fifty opera houses in the two years following its debut.
     We spoke to two supporting members of the Cleveland cast by telephone to find out about their respective characters, to talk about the differences between staged and concert performances of the opera, and to ask how each of them got started on the path to an operatic career. >>read on

 

Akron Baroque to premiere latest version of
Amy Barlowe's Aeternum on May 17
By Daniel Hathaway

Akron Baroque, the 14-player ensemble founded in 2006 by Juilliard-trained violinist Amy Barlowe, will crown its current concert season on Thursday, May 17 at 7:30 at First Congregational Church with the first performance of the third version of Barlowe's requiem, entitled Aeternum.
     The original, smaller version of the work was written a decade ago to honor the memory of Barlowe's father. “I wanted it to be a very intimate experience”, the composer told us on the phone from her home in Akron. “I hadn't done a lot of writing previously and I thought I should write within my means. It was received very nicely, which gave me the incentive to go farther with it”. The first version was conceived for violin, viola and voice, so Barlowe and her husband Alan Bodman could play it and reach as many listeners as possible.
     After Akron Baroque was launched, Barlowe recast it as a work in six movements for orchestra and soprano soloist and performed it in 2008. >>read on

FiveOne Experimental Orchestra:
Like she said, everything's fine at the Sculpture Center
By Mike Telin

Composer John HC Thompson (III) believes that giving his compositions unusual titles is one way to connect with the audience. “Especially with new music that is abstract, it’s important to give them something to be intrigued by and pique their ears,” the composer told us by telephone. On Friday, May 18 at 8:30 pm in the Euclid Avenue Gallery of The Sculpture Center, FiveOne Experimental Orchestra will present a live performance of Thompson’s electronic sound installation Like she said, everything’s fine. The work was composed especially for Lauren Herzag-Bauman's Passages.
     Cleveland based FiveOne Experimental Orchestra is a music collective of sixteen composers and performers whose mission is to challenge both traditional and non-traditional concertgoers to participate with open minds, eyes, ears and hearts. Thompson, who has also served as the group's artistic director since 2009, says that the title for his work came about as a result of a very small misunderstanding. >>read on

Four community orchestras close out their seasons with performances on Sunday, May 20
By Daniel Hathaway

The greater Cleveland area will demonstrate the depth of its pool of avocational instrumentalists on Sunday, May 20, when the Cleveland Philharmonic, the Solon Philharmonic and Suburban Symphony orchestras go head to head in mid-afternoon performances, followed by Heights Chamber Orchestra in the evening. All three concerts will feature local soloists.
     Violinist Andrew Sords (left) will join Victor Liva and the Cleveland Philharmonic for the Brahms violin concerto at 3  pm at Tri-C West in Parma, and Liva will lead the ensemble in Debussy's Prelude to the afternoon of a faun and Respighi's The Pines of Rome.
     At the same hour, Brian Thornton will give the downbeat to the Solon Philharmonic at Solon Center for the Arts. The orchestra will be featured in two overtures — Verdi's to La Forza del Destino, and Mozart's to The Magic Flute — as well as in Handel's Water Music. Young Artists Competition winners Mary O'Keefe, oboe, and Kaley Ann Vorhees, soprano, will be showcased in Goosens's Oboe Concerto and Bernstein's Glitter and be Gay from Candide.
     Just half an hour later, violinist Minyu Yang  will play the Tchaikovsky concerto with Martin Kessler and the Suburban Symphony at the lower campus of University School in Shaker Heights. Also on the program: Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture and Tchaikovsky's “Pathétique” Symphony.
     On Sunday evening, organist Justin Miller will welcome Anthony Addison and the Heights Chamber Orchestra to Christ Church, Shaker Heights for Rheinberger's second organ concerto, Humperdinck's Hansel & Gretel Overture, Jacob's Sinfonietta No. 1 and Dvorak's Slavonic Dance No. 4.
     Tickets are required for the Cleveland and Solon Philharmonic events. The other performances are free.

Baldwin-Wallace Art Song Festival:
a conversation with bass-baritone Gidon Saks
By Daniel Hathaway

The 21st Baldwin-Wallace Art Song Festival begins in Berea on Monday, May 21 with a master class by founder George Vassos. The week-long event features recitals, master classes and lectures with special guests Christine Brewer, soprano, Gidon Saks, bass-baritone and collaborative pianists Roger Vignoles and Warren Jones, all designed to hone ten singer-pianist teams to a fine edge for their performances at the closing concert on Saturday, May 26.
     Gidon Saks was born in Israel, grew up in South Africa and moved to the U.K. to study when he was still a teen-ager. He has forged an impressive career as an opera singer while still pursuing his parallel interests in stage design and direction. He performs with Roger Vignoles on Thursday evening, May 24. We reached him by telephone in Ghent, Belgium, where he is professor of singing at the Royal Conservatory.
     Daniel Hathaway: You've had a very interesting geographical and career trajectory.
     Gidon Saks: That's being very polite! Yes.
     DH: Are you living at the moment in Belgium?
     GS: I live between London and Ghent. I have a professorship here in Ghent and I teach singing, but I also direct operas and teach stagecraft and also design sets and costumes and things like that. So I'm a bit of a maverick in that respect. >>read on

Mäkilä appointed music director of
St. Michel Strings in Finland

Sasha Mäkilä, who has served as assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra since 2010, has been appointed music director of St. Michel Strings chamber orchestra in his native Finland, effective immediately.
     St. Michel Strings is the third oldest orchestra in Finland. Founded in 1903, the ensemble makes its home in the 700-seat Martti Talvela Hall in Mikkell, a city of 50,000 on the shores of Lake Saimaa, and is celebrated for its adventurous programming.
     Mäkilä commented, "For the past ten years I have been mainly conducting outside of Finland, and I remember St. Michel Strings as one of the first Finnish orchestras to re-engage me with when I was still relatively unknown in my home country. I am extremely delighted to accept this opportunity to work as Music Director of St. Michel Strings and to be able to spend so much more time in Finland”.
     Sasha Mäkilä studied at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia. He was Kurt Masur's assistant with the Orchestre National de France from 2007-2010, served as conducting fellow at Aspen in 2009, and was a prize winner at the Sixth Vakhtang Jordania conducting competition in 2006.
     In announcing Mäkilä's appointment, St. Michel Strings general manager Nikke Isomöttönen noted, “He comes with a wealth of international experience with top orchestras and top artists, and will put that experience to work in developing our orchestra further. We are very excited to have him here”.

Cohens to launch ChamberFEST
Cleveland with five concerts in June

"Big Bang" is the title clarinetist Franklin Cohen and his daughter, violinist Diana Cohen, have chosen for the inaugural season of their ChamberFEST Cleveland from June 27 through July 1.
     The festival will begin on Wednesday, June 27 at CIM's Mixon Hall with "Explosive Beginnings", a concert of youthful compositions by Mozart, Shostakovich, Porat, Lutoslawski and Mendelssohn.
     "Movie Night" on June 28 at The Wine Spot on Lee Road will feature pianist and composer Matan Porat in an improvised score to Buster Keaton's 1924 silent film, Sherlock, Jr.
     It's back to Mixon on June 29 for "Big Bang", a concert of Gypsy-inspired music by Currier, Bartók and Brahms.
     "Rule Smashers" on June 30 at CWRU's Harkness Chapel will present a selection of groundbreaking music by Haydn, Stravinsky, Debussy and Schoenberg.
     An afternoon performance on July 1 in the barn at Dunham Tavern entitled "Origins and Revelations" will bring the festival to a close with music by Shostakovich, Beethoven and Mozart.
     Artists for ChamberFEST Cleveland will include Julie Albers, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Yehonatan Berick, Jacob Braun, Alexander, Diana and Franklin Cohen, Marc Damoulakis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Dimitri Murrath, Eliesha Nelson, Matan Porat, Mari Sato and Orion Weiss. Tickets went on sale May 1. For more information, visit the festival website.

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Les Délices: “Games and Diversions” with Ellen Hargis at William Busta Gallery (May 12)
by William Fazekas
     Cleveland resident Debra Nagy is a professional oboist; but, unlike most professional oboists, she doesn't play the Strauss concerto or the Hindemith sonata. Debra Nagy plays the Baroque oboe. Indeed, when she plays with her ensemble Les Délices, she doesn't even play the Albinoni concerto or the sonatas of Handel; for Les Délices specializes in the chamber music of the French Baroque, from the last quarter of the 17th through the first half of the 18th centuries – the reigns of the Louis-the-'teenths – a very rarefied specialization indeed. But within this tiny puddle of a pond, Ms. Nagy is a big fish – bigger than most Clevelanders realize – and when we hear Les Délices perform, at one of their frequent gallery or church recitals, we hear this exacting repertoire played better than at any time since these pieces were premiered – and perhaps not even then.
     Given the tight boundaries Les Délices set for their chosen repertoire, it's always amazing how much variety they pack into their carefully constructed programs. >>read on

Cleveland Orchestra with Lionel Bringuier
and Alisa Weilerstein (May 10 & 11)
by Daniel Hathaway
     Last weekend's Cleveland Orchestra concerts at Severance Hall were distinguished by clever programming, fresh and stylish interpretations by a conductor and cellist still in their third decade of their lives and careers, and more fabulous solos from the orchestra than you could keep track of. The performance I heard on Thursday evening was one of those magical evenings where everything seemed completely right.
     Lionel Bringuier conducted the orchestra at Blossom a few summers back, but was making his Severance Hall debut in this quartet of concerts. Alisa Weilerstein is a Cleveland native and a local heroine. They teamed up with their attentive orchestral colleagues for a riveting version of Shostakovich's first cello concerto — really something of a double concerto for cello and horn graced with elegant, spotless playing by Richard King. >>read on

Oberlin Orchestra with composer Jue Wang
and violinist Holly Jenkins (May 9)
by Daniel Hathaway
     The Oberlin Orchestra brought its season to an impressive conclusion on Wednesday, May 9 in Finney Chapel, when Raphael Jiménez led the ensemble and violin soloist Holly Jenkins (left) in mature and accomplished performances of works by Jue Wang (right), Benjamin Britten and Richard Strauss.
     Jue Wang, a graduating senior, completed her Dream of the Red Chamber: Yuan Chun in 2011; it received its first performance on Wednesday evening. One of twelve musical portraits of women in an ancient dynastic family, Yuan Chun characterizes its subject as a powerful woman who becomes despondent because of a personal sacrifice she makes to enhance the standing of her family. That despondency is represented musically by two harps tuned a quarter-tone apart, which gives an eerie cast to the sound — they're not quite out of tune, but the effect is unsettling on the ear. >>read on

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Lawrence Brownlee & Martin Katz at Plymouth Church (May 8)
By Daniel Hathaway
     Here's what you can count on at a vocal recital by tenor Lawrence Brownlee: a gorgeous natural voice handled with athleticism and complete control, thrilling quantities of stunning high notes, consummate professionalism, and a down-to-earth relationship with the audience that creates real connections between performer and listeners. And probably a vast range of repertory from virtuosic bel canto arias to a sentimental Victorian parlor song. Brownlee and his long-time recital partner, pianist Martin Katz, offered up all these delights in a memorable evening of song to wrap up the Cleveland Chamber Music Society's 2011-2012 season on Tuesday evening, May 8 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights.
     Opening with four songs from Verdi's Album di Sei Romanze of 1845, Brownlee and Katz painted vivid, fleeting vignettes populated by a star gazer, a chimney sweep (punctuated at the end by sudden high notes), a weary lover at sunset and a bibulous philosopher. >>read on

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra with
violinist James Thompson at Severance Hall (May 6)
By Mike Telin
     The rich sounding cellos played, first the A, then the F. They descended by a half step — then another — as they were joined by the bassoons, clarinets, English horn and oboes. And there it was, a perfectly balanced “Tristan” chord; so much beauty in the first nine seconds of a concert. On Sunday, May 6 at Severance Hall, those nine mesmerizing seconds set the tone for an outstanding concert given by The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) under the direction of music director James Feddeck. The concert featured the Prelude and Love-Death from Tristan and Isolde of Richard Wagner, the Violin Concerto in a minor, Opus 53 of Antonin Dvorak with James Thompson as soloist, and the Symphony No. 5 in d minor, Opus 47 of Dmitri Shostakovich. >>read on

Organist Ton Koopman at Trinity Lutheran (May 6)
by Timothy Robson
     Dutch organist Ton Koopman played a thrilling recital on Sunday evening, May 6, to re-inaugurate the legendary 1956 Rudolph von Beckerath organ at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cleveland. The program was mostly well-known works by Johann Sebastian Bach, with pieces by François Couperin and C.P.E. Bach interspersed. Seldom has this listener heard a concert in which the organist connected the improvisatory nature of Bach’s organ works with his Germanic predecessors such as Diderik Buxtehude, as well as to show the influence of French Baroque composers such as Couperin on the German late Baroque master, with a nod to the “style gallante” in which Bach’s sons were already composing by the time of Johann Sebastian’s death.
     The church was filled to capacity for the concert, which opened with celebratory remarks... >>read on

Blue Water Chamber Orchestra with harpist Jody Guinn (May 6)
by J.D. Goddard
On Sunday afternoon May 6, 2012 at the Breen Center for the Performing Arts at St. Ignatius High School, the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra strings and harpist Jody Guinn, under the direction of Carlton Woods, performed a solemn and mesmerizing program of music by Arensky, Shostakovich, Debussy, Grandjany, and Dvořák suffused with romantic melody and depth.
     Blue Water opened with Arensky's Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, based on a theme from Tchaikovsky's Songs for Children, op. 54. Arensky eloquently features the theme (popularly known in its English choral version as The Crown of Roses) in seven variations with a genuine sense of continuity and connectivity, passing the melody from section to section and subtly keeping the melodic content alive and vibrant. >>read on

Ohio Philharmonic Orchestra with Antonio Pompa-Baldi
at the Cleveland Museum of Art (May 4)
By Daniel Hathaway
     Led by Domenico Boyagian, the almost brand-new Ohio Philharmonic Orchestra made its Cleveland Museum of Art debut in a pair of concerts on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, May 4 and 5, featuring pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi and co-sponsored by the Museum and the Consulate of Italy in Detroit. I heard the Friday performance, which brought a good-sized audience to Gartner Auditorium.
     The orchestra, which totaled 46 players, is made up of highly accomplished young professionals, mostly from the Cleveland Institute of Music. The quality of their training was evident throughout the evening, and they are obviously used to playing together. >>read on

Every Good Boy Deserves Favor at Cleveland Play House (May 3)
By Timothy Robson
     As part of its first New Ground Theatre Festival, the Cleveland Play House is collaborating with The Cleveland Orchestra on Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, by Tom Stoppard with an elaborate musical score by composer/conductor André Previn. The first of three performances occurred on Thursday, May 3, and it continues on Friday and Saturday, May 4-5, at the imaginatively renovated Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland.  The play was directed by Play House artistic director Michael Bloom, and a large contingent of The Cleveland Orchestra was conducted by the orchestra’s assistant conductor, James Feddeck.
     Every Good Boy Deserves Favor was first performed in 1977 as part of the festivities celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, with a starry cast including Ian McKellan, John Wood, Patrick Stewart, and André Previn conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. >>read on

CIPC Young Artists Competition (April 28)
By Mike Telin
     Whether it’s athletics, dance or music, the finals of any competition can provide some interesting drama. We have all seen even the most experienced competitors experience that dreaded melt-down for no explicable reason. Happily this was not the case during the final round of the CIPC Young Artists on Saturday, April 28. All six competitors showed up with their “A” games, competed well, and provided the large audience who had gathered at Cleveland State University's Drinko Hall with a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of classical piano music.
     CIPC Young Artists, a nationwide biennial competition, is sponsored by the Cleveland International Piano Competition. The competition is open to young classical pianists ages 12 though 18. Each competitor performed two selections. >>read on

































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St. Noel Choir wins WCLV's Stuart Prize
The choir of St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills (Agniezska Bieniek, director) was awarded first place in the 2012 Jubilation - Stuart Church Choir Festival at St. John's Cathedral in Cleveland on Friday night, May 11, an honor which includes a $1,000 cash prize and a trophy. The other five finalists received awards of $500 each. They are the Epworth Choir from First Methodist in Cuyahoga Falls (Dean Wagner); St. Joseph, Avon Lake (Lorene Coughlin); Suffield UCC in Mogadore (David W. Baughman); First Congregational, Hudson (Thomas M. Scott) and Mary Queen of Peace Chamber Choir, Cleveland (David Jaronowski).
     The event was sponsored by WCLV and St. John's Cathedral, and broadcast live over WCLV. Judges included Robert Page, Frank Bianchi & Peter Jarjisian.

The Cleveland Orchestra with Ton Koopman and Mark Kosower (May 3)
By Daniel Hathaway
     Through a cleverly designed act of bifurcation, The Cleveland Orchestra appeared in two different places simultaneously on Thursday evening. While James Feddeck was leading some thirty-five players in Tom Stoppard & André Previn's Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Cleveland Play House, artist in residence Ton Koopman was conducting another group of forty-some musicians in 18th century repertory at Severance Hall.
    The ever-energetic and resourceful Dutch conductor raided the archives for little-known works by Pietro Locatelli and Johann Christian Friedrich Bach, teamed up with principal cellist Mark Kosower in Boccherini's Concerto in D, and was the catalyst for lively, fresh-sounding interpretations of two standard works by Mozart. >>read on

CityMusic Cleveland: Brundibár at John Hay HS Auditorium (May 1)
By Daniel Hathaway
     The long leadup to CityMusic Cleveland's production of Kans Krása's children's opera, Brundibár, contextualized the piece with a three-concert chamber music series and other Holocaust-related activities. On Tuesday evening, May 1, Brundibár opened for a five-night run at John Hay High School Auditorium, surrounded by Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (with performances of the opera for student groups scheduled each morning).
     Brundibár stands as an icon of cultural resistance to the Third Reich. Originally composed in 1938 for a competition that never materialized, its score was misplaced and the show was reconstructed for a clandestine performance at an orphanage in Prague in 1942. By that time, Krása had already been transported to Terezín (Theresienstadt); soon the rest of the cast joined him — along with the piano score, which was smuggled into the camp by his son. >>read on

Almeda Trio on LCCC Signature Series (April 29)
By Mike Telin
     Since 2008, the Almeda Trio, Cara Tweed  violin, Ida Mercer cello, and Robert Cassidy piano, have established themselves as one of the area's leading chamber music ensembles. On Sunday, April 29 on Lorain County Community College’s Signature Series, the Almeda Trio presented an engaging and eclectic concert that highlighted their musical versatility in music by Paul Ferguson, Jennifer Higdon, and Bedřich Smetana.
     The second half of the concert consisted of a single work; Smetana’s Piano Trio in g minor, Op. 15. Dating from 1855, the Trio was written during a particularly difficult time in the composer's life: his eldest daughter, Bedriska (Fritzi), had passed away at the age of five, and the work, which was completed in two months, was dedicated to her memory. >>read on

CMA's VIVA! & Gala Series: Pandit Jasraj (April 27)
By Mike Telin
    As a person who grew up around classical music, I have often been perplexed when people tell me that they would have enjoyed a piece or a concert more if they had “understood it”. Which always leaves me wondering; what’s there to understand? Did the music move you in any way? Did you continue to think about that concert experience long after the performance was over?
     For me, the shoe was on the other foot on Friday, April 27 when the Cleveland Museum of Art concluded its VIVA! & Gala series at Gartner Auditorium with a performance by Indian classical music master Pandit Jasraj. I am not an expert on Indian classical music and I won’t attempt to pass myself off as one and run the risk of insulting the audience members and readers who are. And I will say that my initial reaction was, “I don’t understand this”, but without a doubt, the music did move me, and I have continued to contemplate that evening's concert experience. >>read on

Cleveland Orchestra: Bartók and Bruckner
with Franz Welser-Möst and Lang Lang (April 26)
By Daniel Hathaway
     Two unlikely bedfellows made for an enthralling program on Thursday, April 26 at Severance Hall as Franz Welser-Möst led The Cleveland Orchestra in Bruckner's Fourth Symphony and piano phenomenon Lang Lang paid a return visit to Cleveland as soloist in Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2. The two works could scarcely be more different, yet each in its own way provided a marvelous vehicle for showing off orchestral and soloistic prowess.
     On his previous visits to the orchestra, Lang Lang brought along standard concertos by Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Chopin. The Bartók may be a recent edition to his repertory. Though he performed the second concerto with the New York Philharmonic earlier this season, he played from score on Thursday evening — and given the daunting ensemble challenges the piece presents, that was probably a smart thing to do. >>read on