Via Rambling House
You don’t often hear Baroque opera performed in authentic style by conservatory students, but this week the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Historical Performance program at Case are joining in four performances of a period production of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s hit opera from 1733, Hippolyte et Aricie. Case historical gurus Ellen Hargis and Julie Andrijeski are directing and choreographing the show, and members of the joint CIM and Case Baroque Orchestra will be led by Harry Davidson. In addition to the lead characters, the cast includes hunters, animals, sailors, priestesses, and furies. There’s also a dancing tree, as well as storms and the obligatory Baroque visit to the Underworld. See it from Wednesday, February 27 through Friday, March 1 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, March 2 at 2:00 pm in Kulas Hall at CIM. Tickets here.
Opera star Joyce DiDonato will sing a wide range of music — early Baroque to improvised jazz — from her recent CD Songplay on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series on Wednesday, February 27 at 7:30 pm. Her backup band includes Craig Terry (piano), Chuck Israels (double bass), Jimmy Madison (percussion), Lautaro Greco (bandoneon), and Charlie Porter (trumpet). Check out the playlist and reserve your seats in Finney Chapel here.
This just in from Severance Hall: violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja has withdrawn from Cleveland Orchestra concerts this week due to illness. She’ll be replaced by pianist Javier Perianes, who will solo in Ravel’s jazzy Concerto in G. Also on the program under the baton of François-Xavier Roth: Debussy’s Rêve, and Stravinsky’s 1947 version of Petrushka. Tickets for Thursday, February 28 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, March 2 at 8:00 pm are available online. In between, the Orchestra will play Leonard Rosenmann’s score for a screening of the 1955 movie classic, Rebel Without a Cause, on Friday, March 1 at 8:00 pm. Click above for tickets.
Israeli pianist Or Yissachar will play original works and Israeli piano music written since the 1970s on the Silver Hall series at the Maltz Performing Arts Center on Thursday, February 28 at 7:30 pm. Yissachar, a laureate of the America-Israel Culture Fund, will visit works by Jan Radzynski, Josef Bardanashvilli, Yehushua Lakner, Andrej Hajdu, and Michael Damian. It’s free, but you should register for tickets here.
Rambling House will celebrate an early St. Patrick’s Day with two concerts — Saturday, March 2 at 7:30 pm at Medina Performing Arts Center, and Sunday, March 3 at 7:00 pm at the Bop Stop. Artists include Amanda Powell, soprano, Edwin Huizinga, violin, William Coulter, guitar, Brian Bigley, uilleann pipes, flute, and dance, Kristen Bigley, violin, Brandon Asazawa, choreography and dance, Alyssa Reichert, dance, and Tomàseen Foley, storyteller. The ensemble promises to mix music by Vivaldi and J.S. Bach with traditional Celtic and American music and dance. Medina tickets are available here, Bop Stop reservations here.
The next performance by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra includes a collaboration with the Orchestra’s Youth Chorus on Sunday, March 3 at 7:00 pm in Severance Hall. Vinay Parameswaran will conduct these young musicians in Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Debussy’s Iberia, Haydn’s Te Deum for the Empress Marie Therese, and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs. Tickets are available online.
Check out details of these and other events on our Concert Listings page.
