NEWS
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2013-14 season announced
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra has announced its 2013-14 subscription season, Brett Mitchell's first as Music Director. Large repertory works include Mussorgsky/Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition, Hindemith's Symphony from Mathis der Maler, and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. The season will also feature collaborations with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus on John Corigliano's Fern Hill and Mendelssohn's Hymn, Op. 96, as well as contemporary fare from Michael Torke and Wojciech Kilar. Works of Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Beethoven round out the season. For complete information, please click the SCHEDULE link above.
Review: "Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra hits a milestone with Stravinsky"
Janet Martineau has published a review of the final concert of Brett Mitchell's third season at the helm of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. “Quite simply the SBSO outdid itself, particularly in the performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Watching maestro Brett Mitchell swing and sway and sweat in conducting it made up for the missing dancers in this ballet piece celebrating its 100th birthday this month. At the end, after thunderous applause and a standing ovation, Mitchell held the score over his head in triumph to the stellar performance. They left us breathless and amazed.” To read the complete review, please click here.
Audio: Brett Mitchell explores ‘Leitmotif in Star Wars’ on ‘Classical Classroom’
Photo by Gregg Barckholtz, edited by Dacia Clay
Brett Mitchell joins host Dacia Clay for the fourth episode of Houston Public Media's newest program, Classical Classroom. In this episode, Mitchell discusses John Williams's score for Star Wars, illustrating various leitmotifs at the piano, then putting them in context by playing examples from the original soundtrack recording. To listen to this episode, please click here.
Like this episode? Check out my next episode of Classical Classroom exploring music of The Force Awakens: Episode 115: Awakening John Williams’ “Force” with Brett Mitchell!
Video: Brett Mitchell's "conducting pointers" at Classical 91.7
Brett Mitchell has filmed a video offering pointers to the contestants as work their way through excerpts from Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra in Classical 91.7's "air conducting contest."
Brett Mitchell to remain with Saginaw while taking on Cleveland
Brett Mitchell will continue as Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra when his term as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra commences in September 2013. His current contract in Saginaw runs through June 2016. (For further details, please visit this article in today's "Saginaw News".) Mr. Mitchell, who will also become Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra this fall, will resign his other current post as Music Director of the Moores Opera Center at the close of the 2012-13 season.
Cleveland Orchestra press release: "Brett Mitchell announced as new Assistant Conductor"
The Cleveland Orchestra has issued a press release announcing the appointment of Brett Mitchell as assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. To read this release, please click here.
"Cleveland Orchestra appoints Brett Mitchell assistant conductor"
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has published an article about Brett Mitchell's appointment as assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. To read this article, please click here.
Brett Mitchell appointed Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Orchestra announced today the appointment of Brett Mitchell as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. The appointment is for a two-year term. Appointed by Franz Welser-Möst, Mr. Mitchell joins the Orchestra’s conducting staff in September, at the beginning of the 2013-14 season at Severance Hall.
As Assistant Conductor, Brett Mitchell will serve as cover conductor for Severance Hall and Blossom Music Festival subscription concerts, and provide assistance to Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. As Assistant Conductor, he will hold the Elizabeth Ring and William Gwinn Mather Chair.
As Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Brett Mitchell will participate in artistic planning, select personnel for the ensemble, and conduct rehearsals and performances of the Youth Orchestra. The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, currently in its 27th season, is a full, 100-member symphony orchestra of middle- and high-school-aged musicians from northern and central Ohio and western Pennsylvania who are coached by musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra. Founded in 1986, the Youth Orchestra provides talented young musicians with a pre-professional orchestra training experience of the highest artistic standard. The Youth Orchestra performs three concerts in Severance Hall each season, as well as three orchestra concerts in the community and several performances by its chamber groups throughout the region.
For complete details, please see this article in The Plain Dealer: "Cleveland Orchestra appoints Brett Mitchell assistant conductor".
Two Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra concerts named among best arts events of 2012
Two of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra's concerts are included on the Saginaw News' list of the best arts events of 2012. “Now in his third year at the helm of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, Brett Mitchell still creates a new soundscape in Saginaw, drawing from classic and contemporary, telling a story in the process and occasionally sharing the stage with others in the Great Lakes Bay Region. 'Shakespearean Dreams'…was so beautiful…a beacon that made collaboration more than a buzzword.” The two performances featured in the article are February 2012's coproduction of Shakespeare's and Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Pit and Balcony and Saginaw Choral Society, as well as March 2012's collaboration with visual artist Kellie Schneider, whom the orchestra commissioned to create seven original illustrations based on Ravel's Mother Goose. The complete feature can be read here.
Preview: "Houston Symphony to play at the Centrum"
Brett Mitchell will return to the Houston Symphony as guest conductor for his sixth consecutive New Year's Eve gala performance, held on December 31 at 8 p.m. at the Centrum. This year's concert will celebrate New Year's traditions in America and around the world via both classical and light classical selections. To read a preview article in the Houston Chronicle, please click here. For more information or to purchase tickets for this event, please click the "SCHEDULE" link above.
Review: "Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra's Christmas concert takes some fun chances"
Janet Martineau has published a review of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra's annual holiday spectacular. “The entire sold-out concert conducted by Brett Mitchell was pure delight -- and mostly from the lesser heard fare on the program.... Bravo, Maestro Mitchell, for finding new musical presents to play in Saginaw....and the gutsy stretching of the boundaries.” To read the complete review, please click here.
Preview: SBSO's "A Classical Christmas Returns"
"The Saginaw News" has published a preview article about the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra's 2012-13 holiday concert. "A Classical Christmas Returns"--which will feature works by Handel, Korngold, Vaughan Williams, Torke, and more--will be held on Tuesday, December 4, at the Temple Theatre in downtown Saginaw. To read this article, please click here.
"Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra extends music director’s contract"
The Township View has published an article detailing Brett Mitchell's three-year contract extension as Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. To read this article, please click here.
Contract extension with the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra
Brett Mitchell leads the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra in performance at the Temple Theatre. (Photo by Deborah Besanson)
SAGINAW — The Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra has extended Brett Mitchell's initial contract as music director for an additional three seasons, taking their collaboration through the 2015-16 season.
Mitchell has been music director of the SBSO since July 2010.
For more on this story, please click here.
"SBSO conductor Brett Mitchell signs on for three more years"
The Saginaw News has published an article detailing Brett Mitchell's three-year contract extension as Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. To read this article, please click here.
Return engagement with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Brett Mitchell will return to guest conduct the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra on their 2012-13 holiday family concert on Sunday, December 9, 2012. For more information, or to purchase tickets for this event, please click the "SCHEDULE" link above.
Preview: "French composers take SBSO's Brett Mitchell into his third season"
"The Saginaw News" has published a preview article about the first concert of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra's 2012-13 season. "A Parisian Soirée"--which will feature works by Chabrier, Bizet, Ravel, and Debussy--will be held on Saturday, September 29, at the Temple Theatre in downtown Saginaw. To read this article, please click here.
Brett Mitchell advances to semifinal round of Solti Conductors' Competition
Out of more than 400 applicants and 22 first-round competitors, Brett Mitchell has been selected as one of only 10 conductors to participate in the semifinal round of the 6th International Conductors' Competition Sir Georg Solti. This semifinal round will take place on September 19 and 20, 2012, with The Frankfurt Radio Symphony.
Preview: SBSO's 2012-13 season ("The Review")
The cover story of the current issue of The Review features an in-depth interview with Brett Mitchell, as he previews of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra's upcoming 2012-13 concert season. To read this story, "A Visionary Baton Wielding World Class Attention," please click here.
Preview: SBSO's 2012-13 season ("The Saginaw News")
The Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra's 2012-13 season, "Musical Journeys," is previewed in today's edition of The Saginaw News. To read this article, which includes an in-depth interview with music director Brett Mitchell, please click here.