NEWS
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.
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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.
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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.
Preview: Cleveland Orchestra plays in Hough
Cleveland Scene has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming concert with The Cleveland Orchestra:
On Thursday, August 11 at 7:30 pm, the Orchestra will play a free Neighborhood Residency Concert at East Technical Auditorium in Hough, led by associate conductor Brett Mitchell. Word has it that all the tickets have already been distributed, but you can take your chances and line up for open seats at 7:15 pm. You can also tune in to WCLV 104.9 FM, or catch a webcast at clevelandorchestra.com or ideastream.org.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Cleveland Orchestra announces program details for Hough concert
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced the program for the free community concert for the Orchestra's "At Home" in Hough neighborhood residency on Thursday, August 11, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. at East Professional Center. The concert, led by Cleveland Orchestra Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell, includes Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, John Williams’s Air and Simple Gifts, Smallwood’s Total Praise, an arrangement of Oh Happy Day, J. Rosamond Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing, Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, which will be narrated by Judge Patricia Ann Blackmon.
The concert will be video streamed live online at www.clevelandorchestra.com and www.ideastream.org, and available for viewing through August 18, 2016. A live radio broadcast of the concert will air on WCLV Classical 104.9, and a delayed television broadcast will air on WVIZ/PBS on Friday, August 12 at 9:00 p.m. The television broadcast will repeat Sunday, August 14 at 3:00 p.m.
“All of us at The Cleveland Orchestra are so excited to spend time with our neighbors in Hough,” said Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell. “Our culminating concert will reflect the history of this extraordinary community, a deeply inspiring American story that we’ll celebrate through great American music. We’ll feature orchestral works by Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, George Gershwin, and Aaron Copland, and I'm particularly pleased that we'll have the opportunity to perform Lift Every Voice and Sing, Total Praise, and Oh Happy Day with our friends in the Hough Community Chorus.”
To read the complete news release, please click here.
Preview: "Cleveland Orchestra, Museum of Art seek to make 'partners forever' with Hough residency"
The Cleveland Orchestra appeared at Our Lady of Lourdes Church during its 2015 residency in the Broadway Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland. This year the group will give a free concert in the Hough neighborhood. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a preview of The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Museum of Art's upcoming joint residency in Hough, a neighborhood just west of both institutions' homes in University Circle:
The centerpiece of the residency is a free community concert Thursday, Aug. 11, tickets to which are still available. On that night, associate conductor Brett Mitchell will lead the orchestra in a performance similar in spirit to its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration Concert.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: Brett Mitchell leads the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra
Cool Cleveland has published a brief preview of Brett Mitchell's performance on Saturday, July 30, a double bill of the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra:
The Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra conducted by Brett Mitchell opens the evening with Andrew Norman’s 2010 “The Great Swiftness” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: Colorado Symphony debut
The Denver Post has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming debut with the Colorado Symphony:
Yes, this Colorado Symphony event at Boettcher Concert Hall is a marketing effort disguised as a free concert. But let me break that down: Free concert. Colorado Symphony. Boettcher Concert Hall. Get your tickets in advance and fast, and get a look at conductor Brett Mitchell, who comes along just as the CSO is shopping for a new music director.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Schedule announced for upcoming Cleveland Orchestra residency
Associate conductor Brett Mitchell, seen here conducting the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall, will preside over the centerpiece of the upcoming Hough Neighborhood Residency, a free community concert Thursday, Aug. 11. (Roger Mastroianni)
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced details about its upcoming neighborhood residency, including the culminating concert led by associate conductor Brett Mitchell:
This summer, The Cleveland Orchestra will join with the Cleveland Museum of Art to celebrate music and art in Hough, a historic neighborhood east of downtown Cleveland. This new partnership between two of Ohio’s premier cultural organizations is designed to create partnerships with communities to develop new and meaningful ways to enliven our community with arts and music.
A highlight of the activities in Hough is a free public concert by The Cleveland Orchestra, led by Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell, at East Professional Center on Thursday, August 11, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. A live radio broadcast of the concert will air on WCLV Classical 104.9 ideastream®, and a delayed television broadcast will air on WVIZ/PBS on Friday, August 12 at 9:00 p.m. and will repeat Sunday, August 14 at 3:00 p.m.
To read the complete news release, please click here. To read a preview in The Plain Dealer about this residency, please click here. To read Cleveland Scene's preview, please click here.
Previews: "Cleveland Orchestra, Museum of Art release program and ticket details of Hough Residency"
Associate conductor Brett Mitchell, seen here conducting The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall, will preside over the centerpiece of the upcoming Hough Neighborhood Residency, a free community concert Thursday, Aug. 11. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) and Cleveland Scene have published previews of The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Museum of Art's upcoming Hough Neighborhood Residency, including details of the culminating concert on Thursday, August 11, led by associate conductor Brett Mitchell.
To read The Plain Dealer's preview, please click here. To read Cleveland Scene's preview, please click here.
For those that cannot attend in person, a live radio broadcast of the August 11 concert will air on WCLV Classical 104.9 at 7:30 p.m. (which may be streamed worldwide at this link), and a delayed television broadcast will air on WVIZ/PBS on Friday, August 12 at 9:00 p.m., repeating on Sunday, August 14 at 3:00 p.m.
Summer 2016 newsletter released
The Summer 2016 edition of Brett Mitchell's newsletter has been released. This edition highlights upcoming and recent performances with The Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, and more. To read and/or subscribe, please click here.
Debut with the Texas Music Festival
Brett Mitchell will return to Houston in June 2017 to make his debut with the Texas Music Festival Orchestra, leading Esa-Pekka Salonen's L.A. Variations, Elgar's Enigma Variations, and a concerto to be determined at a future date. Mr. Mitchell will conduct two performances of this program: the first at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Friday, June 23, and the second at the Moores Opera House in Houston on Saturday, June 24.
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.
Audio: Brett Mitchell discusses upcoming Cleveland Orchestra concert celebrating Cleveland Museum of Art's centennial
Associate conductor Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a performance on Sunday, June 26 celebrating the centennial of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Orchestra's neighbor in University Circle.
Brett Mitchell joined host Bill O'Connell on WCLV Classical 104.9 this afternoon to discuss The Cleveland Orchestra's upcoming performance on Sunday, June 26, which will serve as the finale of the Cleveland Museum of Art's Centennial Festival Weekend. To hear this interview, please click here.
Preview: "Solstice is Centerpiece of Terrific Weekend at Wade Oval"
Cleveland Scene has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming concert with The Cleveland Orchestra on Sunday, June 26:
The weekend culminates Sunday evening with a special performance outside Wade Lagoon by the Cleveland Orchestra. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., the Cleveland Orchestra will perform on the CMA’s south terrace for the very first time in its 100-year history.
“It's a great pleasure for us to help our friends at the Cleveland Museum of Art celebrate their centennial,” says Brett Mitchell, Associate Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. "The five pieces on our program all feature intimate connections between the worlds of visual art and classical music, with two of the composers having visited and performed at the CMA during its first hundred years.”
Sunday’s concert is the weekend’s grand finale, and is free and open to the public. Created to provide connections to the visual arts and the summer solstice, the concert will feature works by Bartók, Hindemith, Mussorgsky, Respighi and Adam Schoenberg under the direction of Cleveland Orchestra Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell.
“Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith, two in a long line of artists who performed in the museum’s longstanding concert series, both visited the Cleveland Museum of Art, either performing or giving lectures,” organizers stated in an official press release. “The Hindemith, Respighi, and Adam Schoenberg works were inspired by the visual arts and the Mussorgsky work has a connection to the summer solstice.”
“Having The Cleveland Orchestra perform the finale of our Centennial Festival Weekend is about the greatest birthday gift I think we could ever imagine,” says Tom Welsh, the museum's Director of Performing Arts.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Preview: "The Cleveland Orchestra Celebrates the Art Museum's Centennial"
Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a special performance at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday, June 26.
Cleveland Scene has listed Brett Mitchell's June 26 performance with The Cleveland Orchestra as its principal classical music event not to miss this week:
The Cleveland Museum of Art just turned 100 years old, and The Cleveland Orchestra will mark that milestone by crossing the street to play an outdoor concert on the Museum’s South Terrace on Sunday, June 26 at 5:30 pm. Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell will wield the baton for a program of art-related music, including some pieces by composers who actually visited the Museum on their trips to Cleveland. The program features music by Paul Hindemith, Ottorino Respighi, Adam Schoenberg, Béla Bartók, and Modest Mussorgsky. Admission is free. It. Will. Not. Rain.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Ima Hogg Competition results
The Houston Chronicle has announced the results of the Houston Symphony's 2016 Ima Hogg Competition. The judging panel of Brett Mitchell, Erik Finley (Vice President of Artistic Administration at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra), and violinist James Buswell awarded first prize to Luke Hsu for his performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra announces details of ambitious 2016-17 season"
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra announced its 2016-17 season Wednesday. Included in the plans are several contemporary works and first performances of symphonies by Bruckner and Prokofiev. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published an article previewing the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2016-17 season, its fourth under music director Brett Mitchell:
Nothing flashy about the number 31, but the 31st season of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra is special nonetheless.
During its fourth year under music director Brett Mitchell, associate conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, the distinguished pre-professional ensemble will take several giant steps forward in the form of a world premiere, two other contemporary works, and first-time performances of symphonies by Bruckner and Prokofiev.
"It's such a wonderful opportunity to keep building on this culture," said Mitchell before the 2016-17 season announcement Wednesday. "Three years isn't time enough to do anything."
They'll be getting a lot done this year, that's for sure. So sophisticated are the three programs COYO has planned, one might even confuse them with those of the main Cleveland Orchestra.
Up first, on Friday, Nov. 18, is a weighty night of two firsts: the group's first Bruckner (Symphony No. 4) and the premiere of "Fountains of Youth," by Roger Briggs, Mitchell's former teacher at Western Washington University.
"To have that lineage is a beautiful, special thing," Mitchell explained. "His [Briggs'] was one of the first modern voices to enter to my ear. I wish I had the words to describe the honor of this, how touched I am."
As for the Bruckner, Mitchell said it was Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst who gave him the idea, and the nerve. After publicly praising COYO at its season finale this year, Mitchell said the conductor and Bruckner expert gave his blessing to the group taking on the Fourth.
"Once he said that, having that vote of support, that was really what gave us the confidence to move forward," Mitchell said, noting that Bruckner "has always been a foreign language to me. But these are my colleagues now, and we get to take this journey together."
More new territory awaits on the second program, on Sunday, Feb. 19. Then, in addition to Debussy's "Nocturnes" and the Poulenc Gloria with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, the group will perform "Sea-Blue Circuitry," a work by American composer Mason Bates.
Think of that as further evidence that when it comes to the music of his homeland today, Mitchell is serious.
"It's a core part of who I am," Mitchell said. "For me, it is never lip service. We are a contemporary American orchestra, and we should be playing contemporary American music."
The final program, on Friday, May 12, takes COYO in both directions simultaneously.
On the one hand, the group will undertake its first Prokofiev Symphony (the widely-beloved Fifth). On the other, another contemporary American work: Joan Tower's "Made in America."
All in a night's work for a group striving every year to do and be more.
"It's a huge, huge season for us," Mitchell said, adding that "this is what we in COYO do now."
To read the complete article, please click here. To read the official news release from The Cleveland Orchestra, please click here.
Preview: "Houston Symphony to pay tribute to John Williams at The Pavilion"
The Courier (Houston) has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming performance of an all-John Williams program with the Houston Symphony on Tuesday, June 7.
Conductor Brett Mitchell will lead the symphony in selections from “Star Wars”, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, “Schindler’s List”, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and other works....
Mitchell said Williams’ music is an “enormous” amount of fun to play but also “incredibly” challenging from a technical perspective. He said the orchestra will play tens of thousands of notes, requiring significant stamina from the brass musicians as Williams writes “demanding” music for the section.
“For many of us, the music we’ll play was the gateway to the larger world of orchestral music of Beethoven, Mahler, and Stravinsky we’ve chosen to devote our lives to performing,” Mitchell said.
A concert of music from film is about reliving familiar—even favorite—movies in a new way, Mitchell said. Without the dialogue, sound effects and picture, individuals can focus on the melodies.
“A master composer like Williams perfectly captures the emotion and drama of every picture he scores, so listening and to that music by itself can make for a more emotional experience,” he said. “All you need is a sense of adventure, an appetite for fun, and an open mind to let the music transport you, even to a galaxy far, far away.”
To read the complete article, please click here.
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra announces 2016-17 season
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra announced its 2016-17 season Wednesday. Included in the plans are several contemporary works and first performances of symphonies by Bruckner and Prokofiev. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and music director Brett Mitchell have announced their 2016-17 season, comprising five concerts in and around the Orchestra's home of Severance Hall.
The Orchestra’s 2016-17 Severance Hall season begins on Friday, November 18, 2016, at 8 p.m. with a program featuring Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 and the world premiere of Roger Briggs’s Fountain of Youth, which was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. A special preview performance will take place on Monday, November 14, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School in Broadview Heights, Ohio.
The Orchestra will perform a special concert for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Open House at Severance Hall on Monday, January 16, 2017, at 4:15 p.m. In addition to excerpts of works from their first two subscription concerts of the season, the Orchestra will perform John Williams's Air and Simple Gifts and the second movement of Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto with COYO cellist James Hettinga.
The Orchestra’s second Severance Hall subscription concert of the season takes place on Sunday, February 19, 2017, at 7 p.m. The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus joins the Youth Orchestra in a performance of Poulenc’s Gloria, and the Ladies of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus take part in Debussy’s Nocturnes. The program opens with Mason Bates’s Sea-Blue Circuitry.
The Orchestra’s third and final subscription concert of its 2016-17 Severance Hall season will be on Friday, May 12, 2017, at 8 p.m. The program includes Joan Tower’s Made in America and a work (to be announced in January 2017) spotlighting the winner of the 2017 Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. Completing the program is Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.
To read an article previewing this season in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), please click here. To read the official news release from The Cleveland Orchestra, please click here.
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2016-17 SEASON OF THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA YOUTH ORCHESTRA
(All performances take place at Severance Hall unless otherwise noted.)
Monday, November 14, 2016 at 7 p.m. (Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School)
Friday, November 18, 2016 at 8 p.m.
BRIGGS - Fountain of Youth [WORLD PREMIERE, commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra]
BRUCKNER - Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic")
Monday, January 16, 2017 at 4:15 p.m.
BRUCKNER - Scherzo from Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic")
DEBUSSY - "Fêtes" from Nocturnes
ELGAR - II. Lento - Allegro molto from Cello Concerto (James Hettinga, cello)
WILLIAMS - Air and Simple Gifts
BATES - Sea-Blue Circuitry
Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 7 p.m.
BATES - Sea-Blue Circuitry
DEBUSSY - Nocturnes (with the Ladies of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus)
POULENC - Gloria (with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus)
Friday, May 12, 2017 at 8 p.m.
TOWER - Made in America
CONCERTO - TBD (winner of COYO's 2016-17 concerto competition)
PROKOFIEV - Symphony No. 5
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.
Audio: Brett Mitchell and Jahja Ling discuss 30 years of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra
Jahja Ling (left), Robert Conrad (middle), and Brett Mitchell (right) spoke at the WCLV studios in Cleveland.
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's current music director Brett Mitchell and founding music director Jahja Ling reminisced with WCLV's Robert Conrad during the broadcast of COYO's 30th season finale on Sunday, May 8. To hear the complete interview, please click here.