NEWS
Article: "Rotary International Centennial"
Brett Mitchell with Judy and John Germ (Rotary International president) and Lynn and Ken Schupert (Rotary trustee vice chair) at a Severance Hall reception before The Rotary Foundation's Centennial Concert. (Photo by Peggy Turbett)
Currents News (Ohio) has published an article about Brett Mitchell's concert with The Cleveland Orchestra in October celebrating The Rotary Foundation's centennial:
The exquisite tones of the renowned Cleveland Orchestra filled Severance Hall with a program of Debussy, Beethoven and Liszt, customized to honor the Rotary Foundation’s 100th anniversary. But it was the encore that brought goose bumps. As conductor Brett Mitchell drew out a simple, familiar strain, 1,200 Rotarians, tentatively at first, then with swelling strength, sang along: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it being with me.”
The centennial concert, followed by dinner honoring donors at the InterContinental Hotel, included comments by Rotary International president John F. Germ, and videos showing the group’s efforts in immunizing children, particularly in war torn areas, against the disease of polio.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra has watershed moment with Bruckner, Briggs"
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and music director Brett Mitchell kicked off their 2016-17 season Friday, Nov. 18 at Severance Hall with a momentous program pairing a commissioned work by Roger Briggs with the Fourth Symphony of Bruckner. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a review of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's first subscription performance of the 2016-17 season:
Never has the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra more closely resembled its namesake....
COYO's performance Friday of Bruckner and a brand-new work was...a watershed moment, a giant and bold stride in the footsteps of its elders.
Generating and performing new music isn't the usual work of a youth orchestra. COYO, however, is far from typical. To kick off his last season as music director, conductor Brett Mitchell hired North Carolina-based composer Roger Briggs, his former teacher, to pen the group's 15th world premiere.
He couldn't have chosen better. Not only does "Fountain of Youth," the piece Briggs produced, depict in music the youthful force COYO itself represents. Weighty and complex, it also constitutes a serious musical challenge, one right at the ensemble's ever-rising level....
All of this COYO handled with aplomb, bringing off a cinematic performance Friday night at Severance Hall marked on the one hand by churning, motoric energy and smooth lyricism on the other. No matter the intricacies or expansive gestures Briggs threw at them, the group as coached by Mitchell responded much as the Cleveland Orchestra would: with confidence, balance, and expression.
And that wasn't the group's only accomplishment. Also on the program: COYO's first Bruckner. Specifically, Bruckner's "Romantic" Symphony No. 4, in its revised 1878/80 edition, a mammoth work lasting over an hour.
But this was more than just a feat of endurance. Guided by Mitchell, COYO...accomplished something artistic of which they can be rightly proud.
All the big-picture elements were in alignment. Structurally, COYO's Bruckner was as sound as any, its pacing and thematic development perfectly organic. Each of the three large movements reached a hard-hitting peak at the end of a steady, gradual climb.
Likewise the details. The depth of the group's rehearsals was evident in the graceful lilt of the Andante, the solid brilliance of the brass in the Scherzo, and the sweet but forceful balance struck by the strings in the Finale. From a mere reading of the score, these touches elevated COYO's performance to a true, thoughtful interpretation....
All of which begs the question of where COYO goes from here. Wagner operas? Strauss tone poems? The later works of Shostakovich? At this point, with Bruckner under its belt, the group appears equal to just about anything.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra helps Beachwood schools open new auditorium"
Brett Mitchell acknowledges Beachwood High School students after performing Maurice Ravel's ‘Boléro’ side-by-side with The Cleveland Orchestra. (Photo by Bob Jacob)
Cleveland Jewish News has published a review of Brett Mitchell's concert last weekend with The Cleveland Orchestra:
The world-famous Cleveland Orchestra’s second number was a fitting tribute for the unveiling of Beachwood High School’s new auditorium on Nov. 5.
Under the direction of Brett Mitchell, associate conductor of the orchestra, the nearly 75 musicians played Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Overture: The Consecration of the House.”
Two pieces later, members of the Beachwood music programs sat side-by-side with the professionals on stage, for the evening’s finale in the state-of-the-art facility that seats more than 600.
“We’ve been waiting years for this. I could not think of a better way to open this auditorium and thank our community than to bring in The Cleveland Orchestra. The tagline with The Cleveland Orchestra is that they’re one of the top five orchestras in the world and the fact that they’re playing in our high school is it blows my mind and I couldn’t be happier,” Hardis said.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra and musicians from Beachwood High School in Maurice Ravel's ‘Boléro.’ (Photo by Bob Jacob)
Review: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" at Blossom with The Cleveland Orchestra
ClevelandClassical has published a review of Brett Mitchell's recent performance of Raiders of the Lost Ark at Blossom Music Center:
Associate conductor Brett Mitchell led The Cleveland Orchestra in John Williams’s Oscar-nominated score.... The precision of the coordination was remarkable, leading to the somewhat ironic conclusion that The Cleveland Orchestra—at full force on Saturday—did not intrude in a splendid screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark....
The score is symphonic in scope, underscoring most of the film, except for a few extended passages of dialogue. Williams is a genius who can completely change character with one or two chords as the film cuts from one scene to the next. Themes for the characters and situations are developed with Wagnerian clarity, and the orchestral writing is virtuosic throughout. And unlike the original recording by the London Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra played the entire score non-stop. It likely contained more music—if perhaps less profound—than a Mahler or Bruckner symphony, and Brett Mitchell kept the whole thing moving.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Audio + Review: Brett Mitchell and The Cleveland Orchestra perform "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
Brett Mitchell is featured in the current episode of The IndyCast, previewing his performances of Raiders of the Lost Ark with The Cleveland Orchestra that closed the 2016 Blossom Music Festival over Labor Day Weekend.
The program also includes a review of the performance given on Saturday, September 3:
The Cleveland Orchestra, Brett Mitchell - could not ask for a better performance. Spot on. Every punch, every whip crack, every crash, every explosion, every little moment, every little beat - all timed out perfectly.
There’s not much that can recapture the feeling of seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time, but this...comes awfully close.
To listen to or download this episode, please click here. Mr. Mitchell's interview begins at 1:09:50. The review begins at 1:53:00.
Video: Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra
CLEVELAND — Complete video of Brett Mitchell's recent concert with The Cleveland Orchestra is available for on-demand streaming worldwide until Thursday, August 18.
0:00 [Introduction]
1:25 BERNSTEIN - Overture from Candide
6:35 [Remarks]
10:15 WILLIAMS - Air and Simple Gifts
16:05 SMALLWOOD (arr. Panion) - Total Praise
20:30 HAWKINS (arr. Panion) - Oh Happy Day
25:05 GERSHWIN - An American in Paris
44:30 [Remarks]
46:00 COPLAND - Lincoln Portrait (Judge Patricia Ann Blackmon, narrator)
1:02:10 [Remarks]
1:03:15 JOHNSON (arr. Smith) - Lift Every Voice and Sing
To view a story about this event that appeared on WVIZ/PBS's ideas, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra inspires vigorous response at Hough Neighborhood Residency concert"
Judge Patricia Ann Blackmon made a guest appearance with the Cleveland Orchestra and conductor Brett Mitchell Thursday, Aug. 11 at East Professional Center, as the narrator in Copland's "Lincoln Portrait." (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a review of Brett Mitchell's performance last night with The Cleveland Orchestra:
A vibrant, animated account of Gershwin's "An American in Paris" held down the classical fort, whisking off listeners to a now-faraway place and time when jazz when was young and incorporating it in concert music was gutsy and novel...
From the realm of Broadway, meanwhile, came Bernstein's Overture to "Candide." By way of a community concert opener, it was arguably the best of all possible selections, rife with catchy tunes and brought to life with abundant affection and sparkle.
No less evocative was Copland's "Lincoln Portrait." The orchestra turned in a momentous performance, and Judge Patricia Ann Blackmon proved a natural narrator, rendering the timeless text with vigor and heartfelt emotion. Also in this vein: John Williams' "Air and Simple Gifts," a moving adaptation of the Shaker hymn famously performed at the inauguration of President Obama.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Reviews: Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra
Several media outlets have published reviews of Brett Mitchell's performance with the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra last Saturday evening:
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland): Mitchell and his Kent State University charges gave a well-paced and nicely balanced reading of Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F major, making of it so much more than simply an amuse-bouche before the main event.
• • • • •
Cleveland Classical: Andrew Norman’s The Great Swiftness saturated the stage with its architecturally inspired soundscape. The five-minute work tests the endurance of the ensemble, but the Kent/Blossom students never wavered, demonstrating Norman’s orchestrational feats of range, dynamics, and long tones. Another notable technique was the use of bass bows on the antiphonal vibraphones, whose sound forged a metallic sheen that glinted and gleamed throughout the pavilion.
Beethoven’s penultimate symphony, the second he had written in F Major, was a fitting choice for the chamber orchestra. While it’s firmly in the standard repertoire, Mitchell and the Kent/Blossom ensemble brought a freshness to the piece that is not often heard. Their spirited presentation and the perfect balance between winds and strings were especially refreshing.
The pairing of The Great Swiftness with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 seemed naturally symbiotic. The well-executed dynamics in the Beethoven could be perceived as a macro motive, an overarching structure similar to the soundscape in the Norman.
• • • • •
Bachtrack: Mitchell led credible performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major and The Great Swiftness by the young American composer Andrew Norman. Norman’s work, inspired by Alexander Calder’s 1969 large public sculpture La Grande Vitesse in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is tonal, angular, and attractive. For the Beethoven, Mitchell chose brisk tempos and clear textures, mirroring the model of the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra’s sponsoring organization.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra marks museum centennial with festive but heavy public concert"
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a review of Brett Mitchell's performance yesterday with The Cleveland Orchestra at the Cleveland Museum of Art, celebrating the latter's centennial:
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday, June 26. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
As host and chief interpreter, associate conductor Brett Mitchell proved an animated, engaging presence, offering helpful commentary and leading the orchestra in capable (albeit also muted) readings.
Far and away the most effective performance of the afternoon was the finale, the original version of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," chosen for its depiction of a Solstice feast. As the winds picked up, the orchestra dug deeply into the piece and brought off a raucous, dynamic scene.
Respighi's "Botticelli Triptych" also fared relatively well, despite competition from a nearby church carillon. The "Birth of Venus" movement came off exactly as intended, as a steady rising and swirling, and the "Adoration of the Magi" was easy to adore with haunting work by principal bassoon John Clouser.
Bartok's five "Hungarian Sketches," some of which the composer played on a 1928 visit to Cleveland, made for short, effervescent treats Sunday, and the "Angelic Concert" from Hindemith's opera "Mathis Der Maler" (Hindemith also visited Cleveland, in 1939) got the program off to a subdued but ultimately boisterous and brassy start.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra caps off its 30th-anniversary season"
Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst addresses the audience during the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2015-16 season finale. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Cleveland Classical has published a review of the final concert of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2015-16 season.
Last Sunday afternoon, May 8, in Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra presented the third and final concert of its 30th-anniversary season under its talented music director, Brett Mitchell. The concert’s stylistic range was remarkable given the age of its participants. In remarks from the stage before the second half, Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst suggested that more than a few professional orchestras would be challenged to equal COYO’s accomplishments... Given the orchestra’s age range of 12-18, their consistent technical skill and maturity of interpretation were amazing.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra wraps season with mature, exciting performances"
Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell led the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Sunday in its season finale, an exciting mix of works by Rachmaninoff, Korngold, and Adam Schoenberg. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a review of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's season finale under the baton of music director Brett Mitchell.
Sunday afternoon at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra concluded its historic 30th anniversary season in fine style, with a colorful recent work by Adam Schoenberg, a commanding performance of Korngold's Violin Concerto with Jieming Tang the soloist, and a vivid reading of Rachmaninoff's last work, the Symphonic Dances.
COYO music director and conductor Brett Mitchell clearly prepared his young charges thoroughly in these three scores, all of which trafficked in a wide range of orchestral color and, very often, exciting drama...
COYO has always excelled in music written in our own time. In "Finding Rothko," Schoenberg's first commission from 2006, they reveled in the work's lush, cinematic textures, and brought force to its occasional violent eruptions of sound. Mitchell guided the music with a firm hand toward its inevitable glowing conclusion...
Before the second half of the program, Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst spoke from the stage, praising the high-school aged players of COYO as better than some professional orchestras. If there was any question about this, the final work on the concert settled that matter handily.
Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances are, like many masterpieces, easy to appreciate to but difficult to execute, full of tricky rhythms and an ever-shifting palette of orchestral color. The young players attacked the score with great energy, capturing not only its savage dance rhythms but also its many languid, nostalgic passages with satisfying skill.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra bears musical fruit in 'The Good Peaches' theater collaboration"
Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell (pictured here in a dress rehearsal) presided over performances of works by Britten and Adams that formed the musical backbone of "The Good Peaches," a new play by Quiara Alegría Hudes premiered last week by Cleveland Play House. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a review of The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Play House's recent world-premiere collaboration, The Good Peaches:
One little-recognized truth about the Cleveland Orchestra: any subset boasts the quality and cohesion of the full group.
Case in point: on stage in "The Good Peaches," a new play-with-music by Quiara Alegría Hudes premiered last week with the Cleveland Play House, the half-size orchestra under Brett Mitchell held its own beautifully.
The performances themselves were beyond reproach. Indeed, Friday night at the Allen Theatre, the orchestra did more than accompany the production. Responsible for more than half the show's total length, it supported and nearly carried the show.
Three of [Benjamin] Britten's "Four Sea Interludes" and [John] Adams' "Shaker Loops" handily encapsulated the storm and electric aftermath at the core of "Peaches," a fairy tale-like coming-of-age story.
The music, played in alternation with the acting, was highly effective, especially as shaped by Mitchell. Involved in the project from its beginning, the orchestra's associate conductor displayed nothing but a keen ear for drama and a solid grasp on what elements of the scores best applied.
[The orchestra] had no trouble conjuring the organic glory of Britten's "Dawn" or the sea in both calm and tumultuous states. After Aurora, the play's protagonist, rode the waves that destroyed her world, the orchestra painted pictures even more vivid in the mind's eye.
No less significant were the contributions made by Adams and the orchestra in "Shaker Loops." Almost everything that makes the 1978 minimalist masterpiece great also served to benefit "Peaches."
The anticipatory tension, shimmering surface, and swelling momentum in the music, deftly rendered by Mitchell and the orchestra, exactly mirrored Aurora's initial confusion about her situation and gradual development of an independent spirit. The two works even shared a sense of the profound, a basic grounding in timeless wisdom.
To read the complete review, please click here. To read the theatrical review from The Plain Dealer, please click here. To read a review in the Akron Beacon Journal, please click here.
Review: "When New Ground goes old school with ‘The Good Peaches’"
Photo by Roger Mastroianni
Cleveland Jewish News has published a review of The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Play House's recent world-premiere collaboration, The Good Peaches:
Part of this year’s New Ground Festival, which is CPH’s annual showcase of new theatrical works, is a gorgeous, limited run collaboration with the world-class Cleveland Orchestra called “The Good Peaches.”
The commissioned piece, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes (“Water by the Spoonful,” “In the Heights”), tells a simple folktale of a young girl who is sent by her seamstress mother to deliver a very special wedding dress to the Queen. The girl gets lost in an epic storm along the way and survives on the peaches she plucks out of the water over flooded orchards.
Interwoven with Hudes’ poetic storytelling are stirring excerpts from “Sea Interludes” and “Shaker Loops” by classical music and opera composers Benjamin Britten and John Adams, respectively, as well as modern dance choreographed by GroundWorks’ David Shimotakahara.
Adeptly directed by CPH’s Laura Kepley and The Cleveland Orchestra’s Brett Mitchell, this is the third such collaboration between these two powerhouse institutions....
Although the movements dominated by words and those dominated by music often fought each other for supremacy, “The Good Peaches” was an absolutely beautiful production.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review (Fort Worth Star-Telegram): Brett Mitchell's debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Brett Mitchell in concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at Dallas City Performance Hall on March 12, 2016.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has published a review Brett Mitchell's debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, making note (as did the Dallas Observer) of his adventurous programming:
The orchestra, situated within one of the most acoustically stunning rooms in North Texas, nimbly worked through [Wojciech Kilar's Orawa], its playing crisp yet propulsive, surging from [its] light, brisk opening moments to its thunderous finale.
[Adam Schoenberg's] Finding Rothko proved equally compelling... The full orchestra achieved what Mitchell described in his brief, pre-performance remarks as Schoenberg’s desire to make the visual auditory. Vivid swells of sound rolled forth, by turns dissonant and spectral, but always pulsing with life and luminosity...
Taken together [with Bryce Dessner's Lachrimae and St. Carolyn by the Sea], the program proved to be a fascinating fusion of artistic disciplines.
It also served as a reminder, in a somewhat incongruous setting, of rock’s eternal promise of youth—the oldest piece performed Saturday was from 1986—and how even a genre perceived as staid and set in its ways can be open to thrilling new avenues of expression, and, in the process, attract audiences that might never otherwise venture inside a proper concert hall.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review (Dallas Observer): Brett Mitchell's debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Brett Mitchell leads his debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at Dallas City Performance Hall on March 11, 2016.
The Dallas Observer has published a review Brett Mitchell's debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, taking particular note of his adventurous programming:
Guest conductor Brett Mitchell raised the stakes in terms of repertoire, completely avoiding classical standards to present...a concert made up entirely of music written in the past thirty years.
While the Dallas Symphony has not had an exactly stellar record for new music in recent years, conductor Mitchell managed not only to introduce serious music of our time, but, with a careful and imaginative balance of composers and concepts, did so in an admirably palatable manner.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Video: Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra in concert at Patrick Henry School
CMSD News (Cleveland Metropolitan School District) has produced a video about Brett Mitchell's recent education program—called "A Matter of Time: What Makes Music Tick?"—presented with The Cleveland Orchestra at Patrick Henry School, including footage of the performance and a post-concert interview with Mr. Mitchell.
Review: Cleveland Cello Society
ClevelandClassical has reviewed Brett Mitchell's recent appearance with the Cleveland Cello Society, at which he led performances of Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus and Randall Thompson's Alleluia, and conducted an interview with Stephen Geber, former principal cellist of The Cleveland Orchestra. To read this review, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra sets holiday bar higher with live 'Back to the Future' performance"
The Plain Dealer has published a review of The Cleveland Orchestra's live performance of Back to the Future, presented last Thursday under the baton of Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell.
Every performance is demanding in its way, but the expertise and attention required in "Back to the Future" were exceptional. Likely the intermission that broke up the show wasn't for the audience so much as the orchestra and associate conductor Brett Mitchell, who faced and rose to a marathon task of concentration and precision...
The presentation as a whole was powerfully immersive, boasting a visceral, immediate quality no sound system on Earth could replicate. Dolby stereo was still cutting-edge 30 years ago, when the film premiered. On Thursday, however, old-fashioned orchestra instruments handily trumped technology.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Reviews: "Violins of Hope" with The Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Classical and Cleveland Jewish News have both published reviews of The Cleveland Orchestra's recent "Violins of Hope" education concerts, programmed and conducted by Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell. These "six engaging, hour-long concerts that unflinchingly presented the events of the Holocaust in music, mime, and words," were presented at Severance Hall throughout the first week of December. According to Cleveland Classical,
It was completely evident in its playing on Thursday that The Cleveland Orchestra puts as much care into its school performances as it does into its subscription series and international tours. This well designed, expertly acted, and excellently played concert was informative, and held its audience in rapt attention without the need for video or any other technological gimmicks. Human voices and instruments in the hands of dedicated musicians were all that were needed.
To read the review in Cleveland Classical, please click here. To read the review in Cleveland Jewish News, please click here.
Review: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra tackles tough scores with flair on season opener"
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a review of the first subscription concert of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2015-16 season, led by music director Brett Mitchell:
One of the hallmarks of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra over the years has been the willingness to tackle difficult but rewarding repertoire outside the bounds of the usual middle-European fare of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.
Music Director Brett Mitchell has continued that tradition during his tenure with the orchestra, with commendable results. Nowhere was this more evident than in COYO's season opener Sunday night at Severance Hall, which featured, in addition to Schumann's "Rhenish" Symphony, a 2004 orchestral essay by contemporary American composer Kevin Puts titled "River's Rush" and the moving "Jeremiah Symphony" Symphony No. 1 by Bernstein....
COYO was supremely impressive in ["River's Rush"], which makes no outsized demands on individual players' technique, but challenges the group's ensemble playing to a great degree. The orchestra charged confidently into the ten-minute score, playing with commitment and style. Mitchell gave them everything they needed from the podium to keep this protean music on track to its monumental finish.
Bernstein's first symphony, like much of his concert music, is no longer encountered in the concert hall with the frequency it once enjoyed. COYO's performance Sunday made a strong case for its return to regular repertoire, with a first-rate reading...
The young players of COYO fitted themselves with surprising artistry into the somber score. They were especially strong in the middle movement, "Profanation," a wild dance that made great demands on their unity as an ensemble.
To read the complete review, please click here.