NEWS
Preview: "Holiday Arts Guide 2016: A wonderful, busy time for classical music and dance in Cleveland"
One of the longest and most revered holiday traditions in Northeast Ohio: The Cleveland Orchestra's Christmas Concerts. This year the popular programs will be led by associate conductor Brett Mitchell. (Photo by The Plain Dealer)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published its annual, curated selection of holiday performances in Northeast Ohio, including two programs presented by Brett Mitchell and The Cleveland Orchestra:
Cleveland Orchestra
Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 10-18; Severance Hall, 11001 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
Performances at 7:30 p.m. (Dec. 10, 11, 15 and 16) and 2:30 p.m. (Dec. 10, 11, 17 and 18).
$45-$105; clevelandorchestra.com or 216-231-1111.
In a change of pace, associate conductor Brett Mitchell presides over the Cleveland Orchestra's popular holiday show this year, in lieu of Robert Porco. The rest of the program, however, remains the same. Expect performances of traditional and lesser-known holiday music by the Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, contributions by area choirs, sing-along selections and a visit from you-know-who.
Pennsylvania Ballet/Cleveland Orchestra
Wednesday, Nov. 30-Sunday, Nov. 4; State Theatre, Playhouse Square, Cleveland.
Performances at 7 p.m. (Nov. 30-Dec. 3), 11 a.m. (Dec. 2) and 2 p.m. (Dec. 3 and 4).
$15-$99; playhousesquare.org or 216-241-6000.
If you plan to attend only one production of "The Nutcracker" this season, this may be the one to catch. The great Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Ballet returns to collaborate with the Cleveland Orchestra on a lavish account of the famous tale, in the version conceived by George Balanchine. This is the standard to which most other productions aspire.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Preview: "The biggest name in American opera will sing with the Colorado Symphony next year"
Soprano Renée Fleming will join Brett Mitchell for his first concert as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony in September 2017. (Photo of Ms. Fleming by Decca/Andrew Eccles. Photo of Mr. Mitchell by Roger Mastroianni.)
The Denver Post has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's first concert as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony in September 2017, featuring special guest artist Renée Fleming:
Soprano Renée Fleming, the biggest name in American opera, will sing with the Colorado Symphony next year, accompanying conductor Brett Mitchell in his first official performance as CSO’s new music director.
The concert, set for Saturday, Sept. 9, kicks off the orchestra’s 2017/18 season. The repertoire is yet to be announced....
The event, at Boettcher Concert Hall, the orchestra’s home, will be a splashy kickoff for Mitchell, who comes to the CSO from Cleveland, where worked as the Cleveland Orchestra’s associate conductor and as music director of the organization’s Youth Orchestra.
To read the complete preview, 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.
Preview: "'The Nutcracker' and Five More Classical Music Events to Hit This Thanksgiving Weekend"
Cleveland Scene has published a brief preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming performances of The Nutcracker:
The Cleveland Orchestra and Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Ballet will join forces for seven performances of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the State Theatre in Playhouse Square beginning on Wednesday, November 30 at 7:00 pm. Brett Mitchell conducts these rare, full-orchestra performances of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s delectable musical confection, which include the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus. More performances on Thursday, December 1 at 7:00 pm; Friday, December 2 at 11:00 am and 7:00 pm; Saturday, December 3 at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm; and Sunday, December 4 at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available online.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Audio: Intermission interview on WCLV
WCLV Classical 104.9 broadcast live the first concert of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2016-17 season on Friday, Nov. 18. At intermission, Bill O'Connell spoke with COYO Music Director Brett Mitchell. To hear this interview, please click here.
Program
BRIGGS - Fountain of Youth [WORLD PREMIERE, commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra
BRUCKNER - Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic")
Preview: "Twelve things to do in Northeast Ohio through Nov. 24"
Music director Brett Mitchell leads the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in performance at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Crain's Cleveland Business has published a brief preview of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's first concert of the 2016-17 season:
Watch youth be served as the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra performs at Severance Hall. The youth orchestra bills itself as one of northern Ohio's premier musical destinations for aspiring student musicians. In its opening night of its Severance Hall season, the youth orchestra will host a program featuring Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 and the world premiere of Roger Briggs' Fountain of Youth, commissioned by the youth orchestra. The group is led by Brett Mitchell. (Friday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m.)
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Preview: "Classical music events to catch this week"
Brett Mitchell leads the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in performance at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Cleveland Scene has published a brief preview of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's opening concert of the 2016-17 season, presented this weekend under the baton of music director Brett Mitchell:
The Cleveland Orchestra is off on Friday evening, but the lights will be on at Severance Hall for a concert by the orchestral musicians of the future. Brett Mitchell will lead the impressive Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in the world premiere of Roger Briggs’ Fountain of Youth and in Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Audio: Brett Mitchell discusses Bruckner and a world premiere
Brett Mitchell spoke with WCLV's Bill O'Connell about the first concert of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2016-17 season, presented on Friday, November 18 at Severance Hall.
On the program will be the world premiere of Roger Briggs's Fountain of Youth and Bruckner's Fourth Symphony.
To listen to the complete interview, please click here.
Preview: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra takes the stage at Severance Hall"
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and music director Brett Mitchell onstage at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CoolCleveland has published a brief preview of the first subscription concert of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2016-17 season on Friday, November 18:
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will take over the stage at Severance Hall for its autumn concert to show off the high-level talents of these advanced adolescent musicians.
The group’s director, Brett Mitchell, will conduct the ensemble as they perform a program that includes the world premiere of Briggs’ Fountain of Youth, which was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No 4, one of his best-known works.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra premiere"
ClevelandClassical has published the final installment in a three-part series previewing the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's world premiere this weekend of Roger Briggs's Fountain of Youth, led by music director Brett Mitchell:
Music director Brett Mitchell leads the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in performance at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Like youth in all its exuberance, fountains make a powerful ascent until the water reaches its highest point. Then, like growing old, it begins to fall back down into the pool. In his new work, composer Roger Briggs uses this metaphor as the inspiration for his eighteen-minute tone poem. On Friday, November 18 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) under the direction of Brett Mitchell will present the world premiere of Briggs’ Fountain of Youth, commissioned by COYO. The program will also include Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”).
In the last of three feature articles, we speak with two orchestra members: violinist Daniel Fields and cellist James Hettinga. Click here to read an interview with conductor Brett Mitchell, and here to read an interview with composer Roger Briggs.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: "Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: a conversation with composer Roger Briggs"
ClevelandClassical has published the second installment in a three-part series previewing the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's upcoming world premiere of Roger Briggs's Fountain of Youth, led by music director Brett Mitchell:
Composer Roger Briggs
Whether you’re a member of a “Big Five” orchestra or not, the prospect of performing a newly-composed work is always exciting. On Friday, November 18 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) under the direction of Brett Mitchell will have that opportunity when they present the world premiere of Roger Briggs’ Fountain of Youth, commissioned by COYO. The program will also include Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”).
For composer Roger Briggs, the COYO commission was immediately attractive to him for two reasons: first, it provided him with the opportunity to write a new work that would be conducted by a former student. “Brett Mitchell studied composition and conducting with me at Western Washington University. He was a marvelous talent,” Briggs said during a telephone conversation.“I remember playing Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are on the piano in class one day, and afterwards he politely came up and told me that I had left out a note of a chord, and he sat down and played the chord adding the note.” Briggs recalled. “I told him I didn’t think he was correct, so I immediately went to the score, and he was right!”
Second, it would be his first commission for a large-scale symphonic work from a youth orchestra. “The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra has the reputation of being one of the finest youth orchestras in the world, so I wrote the piece as though I was writing for a professional orchestra — I knew I didn’t need to write down to them,” the composer said.
To read the complete article, 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)
Audio: Brett Mitchell discusses John Williams and the Colorado Symphony
Brett Mitchell is featured in the current episode of Comic Book Central, discussing the music of John Williams immediately following his performance of selections from Superman with The Cleveland Orchestra. From his studio at Severance Hall, Mr. Mitchell also speaks about his upcoming appointment as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony.
To listen to or download this episode, please click here; Mr. Mitchell's interview begins at 9:45.
Video: Brett Mitchell takes The Cleveland Orchestra into community schools
CMSD News (Cleveland Metropolitan School District) has produced a video about Brett Mitchell's recent education program—called "The Sounds of the Orchestra"—presented with The Cleveland Orchestra at the East Professional Center. The video includes footage of the performance and a post-concert interview with Mr. Mitchell.
To view this video on Facebook, please click here. To view this video on Twitter, please click here.
Preview: "This Week's Classical Music Event Picks"
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra in performance at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Cleveland Scene has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's concert this weekend with The Cleveland Orchestra:
The Cleveland Orchestra will join Beachwood High School Ensembles under the baton of Brett Mitchell to celebrate the renovation of the Beachwood High School Auditorium on Saturday, November 5 at 7:00 pm. There’ll be music by John Williams, Ludwig van Beethoven, Michael Daugherty, and a side-by-side performance of an excerpt from Maurice Ravel’s Bolero. Free tickets will be distributed on the school’s website.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: "Classical music — Week of Nov. 3"
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra in performance at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Akron Beacon Journal has published a brief preview of Brett Mitchell's concert this weekend with The Cleveland Orchestra:
The Cleveland Orchestra — 7 p.m. Saturday, Beachwood High School, 24601 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood. Brett Mitchell, conductor. Program: John Williams, Celebrate Discovery!; Beethoven, Overture to The Consecration of the House; Michael Daugherty, Movement V (“Red Cape Tango”) from Metropolis Symphony; Beethoven, Leonore Overture No. 3; and Ravel, Bolero (excerpt). There is a wait list for tickets; go to www.beachwoodschools.org/clevelandorchestra.aspx.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: "Eleven things to do in Northeast Ohio through Nov. 3"
Crain's Cleveland Business has published a brief preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming concert with The Cleveland Orchestra:
Swap those dress slacks for some blue spandex and a red cape. As part of its Halloween Spooktacular, conductor Brett Mitchell will lead the orchestra through a performance of all things Superman in "Superman at the Symphony." The show will feature music from John Williams' score for the "Superman" film and Michael Daugherty's Metropolis Symphony — all accompanied by classic images of the Cleveland-born Man of Steel. Pro-tip: Leave that kryptonite at home. (Sunday, Oct. 30, at 3 p.m.)
To read the complete article, please click here.
Preview: "4 classical concerts not to miss this week as Halloween holiday approaches"
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's concert this weekend with The Cleveland Orchestra featuring music by Michael Daugherty and John Williams:
Another fall week in Northeast Ohio, another busy stretch of concerts. The Cleveland Orchestra is responsible for the bulk of it. In addition to a regular subscription evening, the estimable resident of Severance Hall also has slated two concerts for Halloween.
Closest to the actual holiday is "Halloween Spooktacular: Superman at the Symphony." On this family program Sunday, Oct. 30 at Severance Hall, associate conductor Brett Mitchell will lead the orchestra in works about or related to Cleveland's native-born superhero.
To read the complete article, please click here. To learn more about this concert, please click here.
Audio: Brett Mitchell discusses Cleveland Orchestra's Rotary celebration
Rotarian Mike Johns and associate conductor Brett Mitchell at the WCLV studios on Wednesday, October 19, discussing this weekend's special performance by The Cleveland Orchestra.
CLEVELAND — The Rotary Foundation, founded one hundred years ago by Clevelander Arch Klumph, will be honored with a Cleveland Orchestra concert this Sunday, October 23 at Severance Hall. Before leading the program of Beethoven, Debussy, Chabrier, Liszt, and John Williams, associate conductor Brett Mitchell joined Rotarian Mike Johns to speak with WCLV's Bill O'Connell about the concert. To listen to or download the complete interview, please click here.
Cleveland Orchestra Miami opens 2016-17 season with focus on Miami Community
Cleveland Orchestra Miami has published a press release about the kickoff of its 2016-17 season:
Cleveland Orchestra Miami begins its 2016-17 season in November. The first week of the 2016-17 season includes two Education concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.
Education Concerts for Miami-Dade County Public Schools
The Cleveland Orchestra, led by associate conductor Brett Mitchell, will perform two education concerts at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on November 9, at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. These hour-long are free for students in the Miami-Dade County Public School District. The program, titled “The Sounds of the Orchestra,” will be performed for more than 4,000 fourth-grade students. Students will experience the distinct sounds of the string, woodwind, brass, and percussion sections, and will learn how composers weave these individual groups into diverse musical landscapes.
The Cleveland Orchestra joins Coral Reef High School Orchestra in a side-by-side rehearsal
This season, The Cleveland Orchestra will continue its longstanding collaboration with the Coral Reef High School Orchestra and director Lee W. Stone with a side-by-side rehearsal on January 31, 2017, at the school, led by Cleveland Orchestra Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell.
To read the complete press release, please click here.