NEWS
Preview: "Cleveland Play House, Orchestra partnership blossoms with 'The Good Peaches'"
Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell, seen here at Severance Hall, will preside over the performances of works by Britten and John Adams featured in "The Good Peaches," a new play by Quiara Alegria Hudes. (Roger Mastroianni)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a preview of the upcoming collaboration between Cleveland Play House and The Cleveland Orchestra: the world premiere of The Good Peaches by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes.
Two seminal works of music help achieve that [epic quality]: Britten's "Four Sea Interludes" (from his opera "Peter Grimes") and "Shaker Loops," by John Adams. Both will be performed by the orchestra onstage under associate conductor Brett Mitchell.
Selected, Hudes said, for their power to "express something the words cannot," the two scores unfold separately, one movement at a time, after each scene. Britten conjures the storm. Adams calms it. Only near the end, Mitchell said, do music and speech overlap.
"All of a sudden [late in 'Shaker Loops']," Mitchell said, "the characters start speaking again, and the impact of hearing it all fully married like that, at the end of the production, is to take us out of the mythical world and very much into the present day."
The idea, though, isn't just for Britten and Adams to provide nonverbal commentary. As much as their music reflects on the drama, so does the drama reflect on their music.
Hudes said one of her goals with the back-and-forth layout is to juxtapose what she called the "primal" nature of theater and the sophistication of classical music and the orchestra....
Mitchell, for his part, is confident "Good Peaches" will succeed, here and abroad.
Not only, he said, is this production is "truly world-class" and "worthy of the centennial." The play alone is "a special thing for the world of art in general."
To read more, please click here.
Previews: The Cleveland Orchestra announces its 2016-17 "At the Movies" series
Several media outlets have published previews of The Cleveland Orchestra's 2016-17 "At the Movies" series, including several productions to be led by Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell. From The Plain Dealer (Cleveland):
Classical music isn't the only discipline the Cleveland Orchestra dominates in Northeast Ohio. No, these days, the group also has the film-music market cornered.
How so? With its "At the Movies" series, the fifth season of which the orchestra recently announced. Having hit on a winning formula – live performances with film – the group next season plans to keep the projector running, and audiences happy.
In December 2016, Mr. Mitchell will lead Dmitri Tiomkin's score for It's a Wonderful Life, and in June 2017, he will lead four performances of Leonard Bernstein's score for West Side Story to close the orchestra's 2016-17 subscription season. For more information, please read these previews in The Plain Dealer, Broadway World, and AXS.
Preview: "The Good Peaches"
Roger Mastroianni
Departures has published a preview of the upcoming collaboration between Cleveland Play House and The Cleveland Orchestra: the world premiere of The Good Peaches by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes:
While Lin-Manuel Miranda has gone on to stratospheric levels of fame since his first Broadway musical, “In the Heights,” hit the stage in 2008, playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes—who wrote that musical’s book—has enjoyed a quieter but no less lauded career. (Four years ago, she won the Pulitzer for her play “Water By the Spoonful.”) But April seems to be Hudes’s month. She’ll start by premiering a new play, “The Good Peaches,” about a young girl’s fantastical adventure, as a collaboration between the Cleveland Playhouse and the Cleveland Orchestra; it’ll be performed onstage with the orchestra, with a score including familiar works by composers Benjamin Britten and John Adams.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Preview: "Storm Chaser: A piece with the Cleveland Orchestra makes waves at the Cleveland Play House"
Cleveland Magazine has published a preview of the upcoming collaboration between Cleveland Play House and The Cleveland Orchestra, led by Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell:
In an instant, her world is swept away. Aurora, the young protagonist in The Good Peaches, running April 14-16 at the Cleveland Play House, must learn to cope after a flood claims her family and village. Although the play has a minimalist set and only three speaking actors, the flood is portrayed through a more visceral medium: music from an onstage orchestra. The third collaboration between the Cleveland Play House and the Cleveland Orchestra, The Good Peaches is written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Quiara Alegría Hudes and directed by Cleveland Play House artistic director Laura Kepley. After collaborative brainstorming, Hudes selected two pieces of music from options chosen by Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell and wrote the play while listening to them. We take note of how the music carries two key scenes.
To read more, please click here.
Brett Mitchell to lead multiple concerts on Cleveland Orchestra Miami's 2016-17 season
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a preview of Cleveland Orchestra Miami's 2016-17 season, which includes multiple performances led by Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell. To read the complete article, please click here. To read the news release from Cleveland Orchestra Miami, 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.
Brett Mitchell to lead multiple subscription weeks with The Cleveland Orchestra in 2016-17 season
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2016-17 season, during which Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell will lead multiple subscription weeks.
From March 2 to 4, 2017, Mr. Mitchell will lead an all-American program featuring the first Severance Hall performances of the Symphonic Suite from Leonard Bernstein's On the Waterfront, the first Cleveland Orchestra performances of Augusta Read Thomas's Violin Concerto No. 3 ("Juggler in Paradise") with concertmaster William Preucil, and Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3.
Mr. Mitchell will also lead the Orchestra's season finale from June 1 to 4, 2017, when he will conduct four performances of Leonard Bernstein's score for West Side Story alongside the film, in honor of the composer's upcoming centennial.
For complete details about The Cleveland Orchestra's 2016-17 season, please see this official news release and this article in The Plain Dealer.
Brett Mitchell to lead multiple subscription weeks with The Cleveland Orchestra in 2016-17 season
The Plain Dealer has published a preview of The Cleveland Orchestra's 2016-17 subscription season, which includes multiple weeks led by Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell.
Mitchell will preside over two subscription programs: an evening of works by Copland, Bernstein and Augusta Read Thomas, and the season finale, a live performance of Bernstein's score to "West Side Story" alongside the film, in honor of the composer's upcoming centennial.
To read the complete article, please click here. To read the news release from The Cleveland Orchestra, please click here.
Preview: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra to join Youth Chorus for March 4 concert"
Cleveland Classical has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming subscription performance with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra:
On Friday, March 4 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will perform what director Brett Mitchell says is the most challenging piece the orchestra has played during his tenure. “Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka is certainly a challenging undertaking even for the best of professional orchestras,” Mitchell pointed out during a telephone interview. “But I’ve been with COYO long enough to know that whatever challenge is put in front of the musicians they will, without fail, rise to the challenge. In fact, they always end up exceeding my expectations.”
In order to give his players a head start with learning Stravinsky’s seminal work, Mitchell enlisted the assistance of The Cleveland Orchestra itself. “The first rehearsal back in December was a side-by-side with TCO. The opportunity to sit next to professionals, who have played the piece many times, really helped the young musicians up the confidence factor. As a result they came into the second rehearsal far more assured because of that experience.”
Three days prior to our conversation, Mitchell arranged for a second side-by-side rehearsal. “This is the first time we have ever approached a project like this with side-by-sides at the front and the back ends of the rehearsal process. To watch the professionals and the young musicians come together — and watch the one-on-one mentoring relationships that develop — was heartwarming and speaks miles about our organization and how truly interwoven COYO is into the fabric of TCO. We’re all part of the Musical Arts Association, we’re all in this together with the same mission: to present the best music we possibly can for our audiences.”
The concert’s second half will be dedicated to works for chorus and orchestra. The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, prepared by their director Lisa Wong, will be featured in Aaron Copland’s Canticle of Freedom and Johannes Brahms’s Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny).
To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: "10 Classical Music Events You Shouldn't Miss This Week"
Brett Mitchell's performance with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorus this Friday evening at 8 p.m. has been listed in Cleveland Scene's "10 Classical Music Events You Shouldn't Miss This Week." To read this article, please click here.
Previews and Audio: Upcoming concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra
Several media outlets have previewed the upcoming collaboration between The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Ballet, and Csárdas Dance Company, which will be led by the Orchestra's associate conductor Brett Mitchell on Friday, February 26. To read an article in Cool Cleveland, "Cleveland Orchestra celebrates ballet and folk dance at Severance Hall," please click here. To read a brief piece from 106.5 The Lake, please click here.
Mr. Mitchell also recently discussed this performance and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's upcoming subscription concert with host Mark Satola on WCLV Classical 104.9. COYO's performance—presented on Friday, March 4 at Severance Hall—will feature Stravinsky's Petrushka, as well as Brahms's Schicksalslied and Copland's Canticle of Freedom in their annual collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus. To hear this complete interview, please click here.
Brett Mitchell leads the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in performance at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni.)
Preview: Cleveland Cello Society
Cleveland Scene has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming appearance with the Cleveland Cello Society on Sunday, February 28. At this event, Mr. Mitchell will conduct a career retrospective interview Stephen Geber, former principal cellist of The Cleveland Orchestra, and will lead performances of Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus and Randall Thompson's Alleluia. To read this preview, please click here.
Previews: "Cleveland Orchestra will perform Balanchine's 'The Nutcracker' as part of 2016 Holiday Festival"
(Photo by Alexander Iziliaev of Pennsylvania Ballet)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a preview of The Cleveland Orchestra's 2016-17 production of The Nutcracker, which will be led by Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell. Presented in collaboration with Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Ballet, the production will be staged at the State Theatre at Playhouse Square, and will run for seven performances between November 30 and December 4, 2016.
The new production will differ markedly from those of recent years, principally through the involvement of Pennsylvania Ballet, led by Angel Corella and last seen here in partnership with the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center in 1984. Notably, Pennsylvania Ballet performs the Balanchine version of "Nutcracker," which includes several unique scenes and de-emphasizes romantic elements through the casting of children in certain lead roles.
To read the complete article, please click here. To read an additional preview in AXS, please click here. To read Pennsylvania Ballet's 2016-17 season announcement with additional information, please click here.
Debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
Brett Mitchell will make his debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra later this season, leading works of Strauss and Prokofiev on Sunday, April 24, 2016. To learn more or purchase tickets, please click here.
Previews: "Cleveland Orchestra announces programs and prices of 2016 Blossom Music Festival"
The Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal have published articles previewing The Cleveland Orchestra's 2016 Blossom Music Festival season, during which Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell will conduct three performances. Mr. Mitchell will first appear with the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra on Saturday, July 30, leading a performance of Andrew Norman's The Great Swiftness and Beethoven's Symphony No. 8. He will then close the 2016 Festival with two performances of John Williams's Oscar-nominated score for 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark on Saturday, September 3 and Sunday, September 4.
Please click here to read the article in The Plain Dealer, here to read the article in the Akron Beacon Journal, and here to view the press release from The Cleveland Orchestra.
Brett Mitchell to lead three performances at 2016 Blossom Music Festival
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2016 Blossom Music Festival season, during which Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell will conduct three performances. Mr. Mitchell will first appear with the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra on Saturday, July 30 in a program to be announced. He will then close the 2016 Festival with two performances of John Williams's Oscar-nominated score for 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark on Saturday, September 3 and Sunday, September 4.
To learn more about the 2016 Blossom season, please click here to view the press release from The Cleveland Orchestra, here to read an article in The Plain Dealer, and here to read an article in the Akron Beacon Journal.
Video: Cleveland Orchestra Miami 10th Anniversary Season
The Cleveland Orchestra has produced a video about the history and impact of Cleveland Orchestra Miami on the occasion of its 10th anniversary season. The video features Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell in conversation, and contains video of his performances with the Orchestra at both the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center. To view this video, please click here.