NEWS
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in "Symphony Magazine"
The Fall 2015 issue of Symphony Magazine features a synopsis of the League of American Orchestras' 2015 conference, highlighting the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's performance of works of Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns at the opening session: "The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO), conductor Brett Mitchell, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a COYO member from 1992 to 1994, were also featured in the opening session." To read the complete article, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland and Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestras thrive on evening led by assistant conductor Brett Mitchell"
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has reviewed Brett Mitchell's performances with The Cleveland Orchestra, soloist James Ehnes, and the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra, given on Saturday, August 1 at Blossom Music Center:
Doubt not the abilities of Brett Mitchell, assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. On his official Blossom Music Center debut Saturday, the ensemble's second-in-charge sagely handled a double-header, conducting five substantial works and treating the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra with finesse. Mitchell is well known here, of course. Not until Saturday, however, was it so clear why the conductor was recently promoted from assistant to associate and given a contract extension. On this occasion, in short, he proved himself repeatedly.
Mitchell had little trouble coaxing from the orchestra a reading [of Dvořák's The Noon Witch] that was taut, nuanced, and keenly dramatic. Thus did a short piece make a major impact... Mitchell truly had his hands full after the second intermission, when the combined Kent/Blossom and Cleveland Orchestras took on Bartók's great Concerto for Orchestra. Out of an ensemble large enough to fill the stage, Mitchell coaxed a spacious, imposing, and at times remarkable performance.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: ‘As passionate and energized as I've heard in a long time from The Cleveland Orchestra’
ClevelandClassical has published a review of Brett Mitchell's performance with The Cleveland Orchestra on Saturday, August 1, making particular note of the side-by-side performance of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra with the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra, which concluded the program:
This exuberant and expansive masterpiece from very near the end of the composer’s life is a test for any orchestra. Not only are the notes themselves fiercely difficult, but giving a sense of continuity and ensemble to this eclectic composition is an enormous challenge. To the credit of these excellent young musicians from the festival—and their side-by-side mentors in The Cleveland Orchestra—the performance was admirable. High-energy playing and pizzazz all around gave vitality to the quirky rhythms and often disjointed structures of Bartók’s brilliant score.
Brett Mitchell’s clear and highly controlled conducting was an essential part of keeping the vast forces of these combined groups on the same page. The enhanced string sections played with an extraordinary sound—the violin sections as passionate and energized as I’ve heard in a long time from The Cleveland Orchestra, and the violas as rich and mournful as Bartók would no doubt have wanted them.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Uncommonly poetic"
Bachtrack has reviewed Brett Mitchell's performance with The Cleveland Orchestra on Saturday, August 1 at Blossom Music Center, particularly praising his work with soloist James Ehnes:
It was clear within a few moments of its beginning that this performance of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, with guest soloist James Ehnes, was going to be something special. Ehnes and Mitchell gave a reading that was uncommonly poetic, striking a balance between the concerto’s lyricism and drama, showing a thorough understanding of Barber’s brand of mid-century American romanticism... Mitchell managed the orchestral textures with transparency, while not inhibiting occasional rapturous outpourings.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra completes nine-day, four-city tour of China
Music Director Brett Mitchell (top center) and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra on the Great Wall in June 2015 during their four-city tour of China.
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and music director Brett Mitchell have returned from a highly successful nine-day, four-city tour of China, the ensemble’s second international tour and their first to Asia.
DATES & VENUES
Sun, Jun 14
Severance Hall - Cleveland, OH
—
Thu, Jun 18
Forbidden City Concert Hall - Beijing, China
Fri, Jun 19
Tianjin Grand Theatre - Tianjin, China
Sun, Jun 21
Shanghai Oriental Art Center - Shanghai, China
Mon, Jun 22
Ningbo Cultural Plaza Grand Theatre - Ningbo, China
REPERTOIRE
SHOSTAKOVICH - Festive Overture
KILAR - Orawa
BARBER - Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
TCHAIKOVSKY - Symphony No. 4
ENCORE
Flower Drum Song from Feng Yang (arr. Huang Ruo)
ANNOUNCEMENTS & PREVIEWS
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's plans for new season include tour of China
–The Plain Dealer (Nov 18, 2014)
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra to Launch China Tour and More This Summer
–Broadway World (May 13, 2015)
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra looks to draw closer on upcoming tour of China
–The Plain Dealer (Jun 9, 2015)
Maestro Minutes (audio): Brett Mitchell previews the repertoire for COYO’s China tour
–Ideastream (Jun 22, 2015)
SEND-OFF CONCERT
Music Director Brett Mitchell leads the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in performance at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Listen to complete audio of COYO’s send-off performance at Ideastream or via the player below.
Review: An orchestra “many cities would be happy to have as their professional orchestra”
On Sunday, June 14 at Severance Hall, a large and enthusiastic audience was treated to a thrilling send-off concert when music director Brett Mitchell led his talented young musicians in works by Shostakovich, Kilar, Barber, and Tchaikovsky.
The program opened with an exuberant performance of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture. Following the grand brass fanfare, Mitchell set a fast tempo for the wind section’s opening melodic lines, which they played with aplomb. Throughout, the orchestra produced a clear, lush sound…
Mitchell led COYO’s string section in an inspired performance [of Wojciech Kilar’s Orawa] and they sounded splendid…
Samuel Barber gives the wind section ample opportunity to shine in [Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance], and shine they did. Mitchell kept the tempos in check without losing any of the work’s wonderfully hysterical qualities.
Following intermission, Mitchell and his brass section held back nothing as they launched into Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. As this ensemble has proven in the past, it is one that many cities would be happy to have as their professional orchestra. Mitchell again led a technically clean and musically thoughtful performance.
— Cleveland Classical (June 18, 2015)
VIDEOS FROM THE ROAD
INTERVIEW: TIANANMEN SQUARE
INTERVIEW: TOUR WRAP-UP
TOUR FAREWELL SPEECH
‘SOUND OF APPLAUSE’ RECAP
Upon returning home, Brett Mitchell sat down with host Dee Perry on Sound of Applause for a debrief to wrap up the tour. Listen at Ideastream or via the player below.
PHOTOS
Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing
Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing
Tianjin Grand Theatre, Tianjin
Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Shangai
Ningbo Cultural Plaza Grand Theatre
Dress rehearsal at Ningbo Cultural Plaza Grand Theatre
Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Shanghai
Shanghai program cover
The 2014-15 Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and music director Brett Mitchell at home in Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Review: Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra "is one that many cities would be happy to have as their professional orchestra"
ClevelandClassical has published a review of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's send-off concert in advance of their four-city tour of China.
On Sunday, June 14 at Severance Hall, a large and enthusiastic audience was treated to a thrilling send-off concert when music director Brett Mitchell led his talented young musicians in works by Shostakovich, Kilar, Barber, and Tchaikovsky.
The program opened with an exuberant performance of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture. Following the grand brass fanfare, Mitchell set a fast tempo for the wind section’s opening melodic lines, which they played with aplomb. Throughout, the orchestra produced a clear, lush sound... Mitchell led COYO’s string section in an inspired performance [of Wojciech Kilar's Orawa] and they sounded splendid... Samuel Barber gives the wind section ample opportunity to shine in [Medea's Dance of Vengeance], and shine they did. Mitchell kept the tempos in check without losing any of the work's wonderfully hysterical qualities.
Following intermission, Mitchell and his brass section held back nothing as they launched into Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. As this ensemble has proven in the past, it is one that many cities would be happy to have as their professional orchestra. Mitchell again led a technically clean and musically thoughtful performance.
After acknowledging the audience ovation, COYO gave a fitting good-bye with an encore — a Huang Ruo arrangement of a traditional Chinese folksong.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra performs at League of American Orchestras conference
ClevelandClassical has published a synopsis of the League of American Orchestras' annual conference held in Cleveland in May 2015, including a brief review of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's performance at its opening session. "On the first day, attendees trekked across the street from the Convention Center to Public Auditorium for the welcoming session and concert. Brett Mitchell led cellist Alisa Weilerstein and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in a polished performance of Saint-Saëns’s 'The Swan' and a rambunctious interpretation of the Finale from Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. Weilerstein, an alumna of the youth orchestra, performed as principal cellist during the Tchaikovsky." To read the complete story, please click here.
"Cleveland proves gracious host of 2015 League of American Orchestras conference"
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a story about the success of the League of American Orchestras' 2015 annual conference, held last week in Cleveland. The article credits a Brett Mitchell-led performance with "rounding out the portrait of a vital musical city. On Wednesday, during the conference's opening session, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra under Brett Mitchell regaled a large crowd with the Finale of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and 'The Swan' from Saint-Saëns's The Carnival of the Animals with star cellist (and COYO alum) Alisa Weilerstein." The article features a photo of Mr. Mitchell, Ms. Weilerstein, and the orchestra at this performance. To view this photo and read the complete article, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra does its namesake proud on season finale"
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a review of the final concert of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2014-15 season, its second under the leadership of music director Brett Mitchell:
So polished, so mature were the performances Sunday night at Severance Hall by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, even their namesake's most discriminating audience would have fallen under their sway. Hand it to Brett Mitchell, the group's director. Even as he rightly praised parents and teachers for bringing up musical teenagers, the assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra also could have taken credit himself for turning a band of skilled individuals into a disciplined, cohesive ensemble.
Barber's Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance...enabled the ensemble to demonstrate the full range of its abilities. The Meditation revealed its dark, mysterious side while the Dance, a frenetic romp, proved just how unified and purposeful 100 players can sound.
Again and again, the orchestra under Mitchell captured the essence of a work known to daunt professionals [Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra]. Every technical challenge Bartók threw at them, the musicians hurdled like Olympians. As the music screamed and sang, laughed and roared, so did the orchestra, with all possible vigor and precision.
Too bad Sunday was COYO's season finale. At this point, the group could do just about anything.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: The Cleveland Orchestra performs Stravinsky, Wagner, and more
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a review of Brett Mitchell's performance with The Cleveland Orchestra at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center on Wednesday, March 4:
The orchestra and the music were of course the main attractions. Still, the effort wouldn't have been half as successful had it not been for assistant conductor Brett Mitchell, whose vivid musical leadership and friendly, unassuming words from the podium resonated with the crowd... A dashing performance of Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmila Overture kicked off the night, seizing the crowd's attention with feats of speed and precision... Stravinsky's Suite from The Firebird, meanwhile, was a case of collective virtuosity. Under Mitchell, the orchestra's strings positively glimmered in slower passages, even as they also tore through such scenes as the Infernal Dance with indomitable zeal... That the crowd appreciated the visit was obvious from the many curtain calls it gave the orchestra and Mitchell.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra & Chorus: Ravel, Debussy & Fauré at Severance Hall"
ClevelandClassical.com has published a review of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's most recent subscription performance under the baton of music director Brett Mitchell. "As many conductors and orchestras have learned through experience, capturing the essence and style of French music is not easy unless you’ve been blessed with Gallic genes. On Sunday evening at Severance Hall, Brett Mitchell and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Chorus won honorary membership in Le Panthéon with convincing performances of challenging scores by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Gabriel Fauré." To read the complete review, please click here.
Brett Mitchell and The Cleveland Orchestra make critic's list of "Favorite Musical Events of 2014"
"Seen and Heard International" has heralded Brett Mitchell's last-minute substitution with The Cleveland Orchestra in July 2014 as one of their top musical events of 2014: "Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor Brett Mitchell also augured well for the future with a first-class performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Perhaps due to its familiarity, the piece is often given exaggerated performances or routine run-throughs, the one overstating the piece’s hidden messages, the other tossing it off as a noisy romp. Mitchell had its measure, catching details that almost every other conductor stomps over, yet doing so with emotion, life, and meaning." To read the complete article, please click here.
Review: ‘Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra rises to the occasion in challenging season opener’
The Plain Dealer has published a review of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's first subscription concert of the 2014-15 season. "Music director Brett Mitchell programmed intense and difficult works by John Adams, Roy Harris and Peter Tchaikovsky, and it is to the players' credit that they rose to the occasion, achieving a sort of victory over music that might have defeated a less talented ensemble.... Mitchell drove the ensemble relentlessly through the fiery passages, using body language as well as stick technique to encourage the players to meet and exceed the music's demands. In the more lyric passages, he held back and let the players inhabit the music's florid shape." To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra at Severance Hall"
ClevelandClassical.com has published a review of the first subscription concert of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2014-15 season, praising music director Brett Mitchell's "well crafted choices for challenging the young musicians" that resulted in "a completely enjoyable evening of music."
To read the complete review, please click here.
It was a treat to be reminded of the brightness of the orchestral world’s future on Sunday night, November 23 in Severance Hall. For that occasion, artistic director Brett Mitchell designed a terrific concert for the opening of The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra’s 2014-2015 season.
Mitchell’s well-crafted choices for challenging the young musicians began with the first piece on the concert. John Adams wrote The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra as a kind of warm-up exercise in preparation for composing his opera Nixon in China. He envisioned it as a “foxtrot” for Chairman Mao and his wife, a former Shanghai movie actress. Adams wrote, “The music takes full cognizance of her past…Themes, sometimes slinky and sentimental, at other times bravura and bounding, ride above a bustling fabric of energized motives.”
The piece demands rhythmic maturity with its insistent, repetitive inner sub-divisions. Mitchell was a clear and concise conductor, keeping the orchestra from falling off the tracks as instruments jumped on and off the ongoing rhythmic line. Pianist Yun Cao also deserved credit for his steady playing.
COYO’s string section is particularly adept at creating long lyric lines. This became apparent when they interrupted Adams’s continuous rhythmic activity with the beguiling melodic section and ardent portrayal of the foxtrot.
Though Roy Harris’s Symphony No. 3 is delineated into five sections, the work is presented in one movement. Mitchell led a simple, straightforward performance, effectively evoking the distinct style of early twentieth-century American music.
Kudos to COYO for such well-executed solo playing in the many dialogues among woodwind and brass players. The brass distinguished themselves in the fugue and the climax, where the percussionists joined them in a strong display of power. It was a nice contrast to the percussion soli section ending of the previous, more sultry foxtrot.
In the second half, COYO presented a fine performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 that embraced the work’s drama and scope. Though the brass section seemed less comfortable with Tchaikovsky’s Romantic style, there was much beautiful woodwind solo playing throughout. The fiery tempo of the last movement brought the audience to its feet.
The concert was thoroughly satisfying by itself, yet the audience also had the opportunity to attend a prelude concert of chamber music downstairs in Reinberger Chamber Hall before the orchestral concert began. Five groups of students chosen from the orchestra’s ranks presented quartets and quintets with varied combinations of strings and winds.
A great deal of musical mastery and maturity was displayed in this delightful chamber concert offering. Each group had been coached by a member of The Cleveland Orchestra, and three of the five groups included the coach performing alongside the student musicians. It was exciting to witness the results of this fantastic approach to musical pedagogy, the perfect beginning to a completely enjoyable evening of music.
Review: "Thunderous Ovation for a Last-Minute Substitute"
Brett Mitchell stepped in to lead The Cleveland Orchestra in his Blossom Music Center debut with a program of Weber, Mozart, and Shostakovich. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Oh. — Seen and Heard International has published a review of Brett Mitchell's last-minute debut at the Blossom Music Festival with The Cleveland Orchestra.
The review praised "an alternately atmospheric and vigorous account of the overture to...Der Freischütz" before turning to the second half: "The thing to make the audience roar (and they did) was a first-class performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony... Mitchell had its measure, bringing the score to life as written, catching details that almost every other conductor stomps over, yet doing so with emotion, life, and meaning. This performance was never just abstract notes on a page... The slow movement was achingly intense, leading to a finale as close to perfect as I ever expect to hear in a live concert."
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Mitchell in for Skrowaczewski"
"Mitchell did himself proud leading scores by Weber, Mozart and Shostakovich on a night that will no doubt be inscribed in the annals of Assistant Conductors’ Big Opportunities," begins ClevelandClassical.com's review of Brett Mitchell's last-minute debut at the Blossom Music Festival with The Cleveland Orchestra. The site particularly praised the "clean, expressive performance [of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5] which had both its thrilling and chilling moments, as well as an abundance of alluring details. The finale was breathtaking in its sweep and sense of triumph. The results Mitchell and the orchestra achieved on Sunday were amazing." To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: Brett Mitchell's Blossom debut hailed as "propulsive, fiercely focused, and flawlessly paced"
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has hailed Brett Mitchell's last-minute debut at the Blossom Music Festival with The Cleveland Orchestra as "propulsive, fiercely focused...and flawlessly paced." "The reading [of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5] presented the listener with ample servings of madness and sorrow, and allowed time for both to sink in fully." "The conductor himself may have been a late addition to the program Sunday, but his actual work, a controlled, emphatic performance defined by effective use of silence, was hardly that of a newcomer." To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra concludes season in bright, joyous manner"
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has published a review of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Brett Mitchell's final performance of their first season together. "COYO had what can only be termed a blast as it romped through this fifty-minute showpiece [Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique"]. At the inevitable ovation, Mitchell repeatedly singled out players for bows, but declined to take a bow of his own, instead passing along all credit to the orchestra, which in truth had more than earned it." To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra gives seamless performance of Herrmann's 'Psycho' score"
CLEVELAND — The Plain Dealer has published a review of Brett Mitchell and The Cleveland Orchestra's live performance of Bernard Herrmann's score to accompany a screening of Psycho:
Mitchell conducted with precision and a good ear for balances, within the ensemble and with the soundtrack of the movie. The players were exceptionally fine, the proof of which was their complete integration with the movie: you forgot, as you watched Hitchcock's nasty shocker unspool, that there was a live orchestra onstage.
To read the complete review, please click here.
The Cleveland Orchestra acknowledged the superior mastery of film composer Bernard Herrmann Tuesday night when its string sections, under assistant conductor Brett Mitchell, performed the score to accompany a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 movie “Psycho,” in Severance Hall.
Such “movie karaoke” experiences have become common — and quite popular — since the advent of George Daugherty's orchestra-plus-cartoons extravaganza, “Bugs Bunny on Broadway.” Daugherty and Bugs themselves have occupied the Cleveland Orchestra's podium on more than one occasion, and the exercise has been extended to live-action cinema, with movies of varying quality (“Casablanca” cheek-by-jowl with “Home Alone” in the current season) but with proven power at the box office…
Review: "Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra soars amid 'The Planets'"
"I have no idea how maestro Brett Mitchell did it, but he made our orchestra sound like twice as many players were sitting up there on the stage, delivered every nuance you could possibly find in the piece, and generally raised hair on the back the neck. The colors in this performance were as brilliant as the sun." To read the complete review, please click here.