MUSIC AND DANCE

Cleveland and Northeast Ohio Classical Music, Ballet, Modern Dance with Don Rosenberg

Cleveland Orchestra signs two-disc deal with Deutsche Grammaphon

by Zachary Lewis / Plain Dealer Music Critic

Thursday January 08, 2009, 5:31 PM

Associated Press File Photograph

Music director Franz Welser-Most will lead the Cleveland Orchestra in concerts this weekend that will be featured on a disc of live recordings to be released next year by Deutsche Grammaphon.

Over a decade after shutting down its "Ring" cycle, the Cleveland Orchestra once again has plans to record Wagner.

Earlier this week, the orchestra finalized a deal with Deutsche Grammophon to record a live, all-Wagner disc for release in the fall of 2010, when music director Franz Welser-Most begins his tenure as general music director of the Vienna State Opera.

Recording for the live disc begins this weekend, when soprano Measha Brueggergosman solos with the orchestra in Wagner's "Wesendonck Lieder" on subscription-series concerts at Severance Hall.

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Choices for memorable classical performances in Cleveland this year

by Zachary Lewis / Plain Dealer Music Critic

Sunday December 28, 2008, 12:00 AM

Jeanette Sorrell at the keyboard with Apollo's Fire: 2008 was another banner year.

The economy tanked, the housing market collapsed, and the financial and automobile sectors went begging for bailouts. But in terms of classical music, the year 2008 bore closer resemblance to gas prices, spending far more time at dizzying heights than near the bottom.

Certainly it was a landmark year for the Cleveland Orchestra, including triumphs in Europe, memorable concerts at home and a major contract extension for music director Franz Welser-Most. But musical institutions all across the region can also look back with pride.

Here's a list (in alphabetical order) of the events and other developments from 2008 colleague Donald Rosenberg and I will remember most.

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Major leaps and twists on Cleveland's dance stage in 2008

by Donald Rosenberg / Plain Dealer Dance Critic

Friday December 26, 2008, 3:36 PM

Dance has become such an intimate field in Cleveland that every performance or development can be seen as a significant event for those who cherish the art.

The year here in dance had a sprinkling of important happenings, some exhilarating, some sad. In the latter category was the sudden departure last month of Verb Ballets artistic director Hernando Cortez after six years.

Plain Dealer File Photograph

Hernando Cortez's exit from Verb Ballets remains something of a mystery. The company is now searching for his replacement.

The reason for Cortez's exit remains unclear: The board claimed publicly he resigned to pursue other interests, but an internal e-mail obtained by The Plain Dealer suggested the artistic director had been forced out.

Whatever the motives, Verb Ballets is functioning in an artistic vacuum while searching for a successor to Cortez, who helped bring national attention to the company. During his tenure, he brought classics into Verb's repertoire, such as Martha Graham's "Appalachian Spring" and Paul Taylor's "Esplanade," and choreographed several dozen works for the dancers.

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Apollo's Fire breathes new life into "Messiah"

by Donald Rosenberg / Plain Dealer Reporter

Friday December 12, 2008, 9:17 AM

Courtesy of Apollo's FireSoprano Amanda Forsythe is one of the soloists in Apollo's Fire performances of Handel's "Messiah" this weekend in Cleveland Heights and Rocky River.

REVIEW
Apollo's Fire
What: Jeannette Sorrell leads her Cleveland Baroque Orchestra in Handel's "Messiah," with soprano Amanda Forsythe, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Shammash, tenor Ian Honeyman, baritone Jeffrey Strauss and Apollo's Singers.
When: 8 p.m. today and Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday.
Where: St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights (today and Saturday); Rocky River United Methodist, 19414 Detroit Rd. (Sunday).
Tickets: $10-$60. 800-314-2535.

Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, is a chameleon when it comes to "Messiah." Over the years, music director Jeannette Sorrell has rethought and refined her vision of the piece to the point where Handel is both the most subtle and explosive of composers.

This year's edition of "Messiah" under Sorrell will be captured for posterity, making it the ensemble's second recording of the work (the first was released in 1996). Both accounts are worth having, though the new one will compel listeners to open ears anew to the score's riches.

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Pianist Taylor gives penetring voice to mammoth Messiaen score

by Donald Rosenberg / Plain Dealer Reporter

Thursday December 11, 2008, 12:57 PM

Courtesy of Instant EncorePianist Christopher Taylor gave a stunning account of Olivier Messiaen's "Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus" on Wednesday in tribute to the late French composer's centennial.

REVIEW
Christopher Taylor

Certainly the performance of his "Vingt Regards sur L'Enfant-Jesus" that pianist Christopher Taylor gave Wednesday - the actual Messiaen anniversary - at Old Stone Church might have prompted the late French composer to blow out every candle in one big, ecstatic whoosh. The concert was part of the Messiaen Centenary salute being presented by the Cleveland Museum of Art's Viva! & Gala Around Town series.

Messiaen wrote this mammoth, two-hour celebration of the infant Jesus in 1944 with all of the tools of his kaleidoscopic craft in commanding focus. The piece is both an eloquent expression of the composer's Catholic faith and a keyboard marathon of almost unparalleled challenge.

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Radio City Christmas Spectacular offers mirthful evening of Broadway-style polish

by Donald Rosenberg/Plain Dealer Reporter

Friday December 05, 2008, 7:55 AM

MSG EntertainmentThe Rockettes do their leggy thing as rag dolls during a scene from the "Radio City Christmas Spectacular," which runs at the State Theatre in PlayhouseSquare through Sunday, Dec. 28.

Even the sets smile in the "Radio City Christmas Spectacular," which is ensconced at the State Theatre in PlayhouseSquare for the holiday season. This festive phenomenon occurs during the scene at Santa's Workshop, which features a trio of Motown-inspired poinsettias (a la "Little Shop of Horrors") and the Rockettes as can-can girls in rag-doll attire. Suddenly, little grins light up all over the stage, reminding us that zaniness can prevail even when the world is warbling the recession blues.

Virtually everything about this mirthful show from New York's Radio City Music Hall bears the stamp of Broadway-style polish. The production values are lavish, the cast of dozens well-scrubbed and energetic, and a touring contingent of the Rockettes up to typical leggy, precise standards. Only the loud, canned orchestra -- the voices are live -- drives home the point that economies are needed on the road.

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An exquisite meeting with Messiaen

by Donald Rosenberg / Plain Dealer Reporter

Thursday December 04, 2008, 10:29 AM

File photoFrench composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) composed his "Quartet for the End of Time" in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II.

REVIEW
Messiaen Centenary
What: The Cleveland Museum of Art presents Cleveland Orchestra members Franklin Cohen (clarinet), Stephen Rose (violin), Richard Weiss (cello) and Joela Jones (piano) performing Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time."
When: 3 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland.
Tickets: Free. 888-262-0033.

Carter is alive and creatively active, while Messiaen died in 1992. To honor the latter, the Cleveland Museum of Art's Viva! & Gala Around Town series is presenting concerts devoted largely to chamber works.

The earliest, and arguably greatest, of these pieces is "Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps" ("Quartet for the End of Time"), which members of the Cleveland Orchestra performed Wednesday in the museum's Donna and James Reid Gallery. It was an evening of exquisite artistry amid overly resonant acoustics and a ventilation fan that hummed throughout the concert.

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