NEWS
Preview: Sunriver Music Festival announces plethora of musical experiences for 2022
Brett Mitchell will lead his first season as Artistic Director & Conductor of the Sunriver Music Festival in August 2022.
SUNRIVER, Ore. — KTVZ has published an article previewing the Sunriver Music Festival’s 2022 summer season, which marks Brett Mitchell’s first as the organization’s Artistic Director & Conductor:
The renowned Sunriver Music Festival enters its 45th season with fresh perspective and talent. We are honored and excited to announce that Artistic Director & Conductor Brett Mitchell will be joining the Festival, plus a plethora of musical talent and excitement before summer arrives….
AND…ANNOUNCING THE DATES FOR THE 45TH ANNUAL SUMMER FESTIVAL: August 9-21 in Sunriver and Bend with Artistic Director & Conductor Brett Mitchell, the Festival Orchestra, and world-class soloists.
“We are deep in the midst of shaping this exceptional inaugural season with our new Artistic Director & Conductor Brett Mitchell,” states Executive Director Meagan Iverson. “I’m thoroughly excited about the musical experiences Maestro Mitchell is crafting for this community.” Watch sunrivermusic.org for sneak peeks as the details come together and start or renew your membership now to get in on early ticket sales for the best seats!
Sunriver Music Festival is committed to expanding the audience for classical music by nurturing the next generation of artistic talent and by presenting a world-class musical experience for Central Oregon residents and visitors.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Video: Cleveland Orchestra holiday concerts are back
Brett Mitchell discusses The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2021 Holiday Concerts with Spectrum News 1.
CLEVELAND — Spectrum News 1 has published a story about The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2021 Holiday Concerts, including footage from the opening-night performance and an interview with guest conductor Brett Mitchell:
The world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra's Holiday Show is back this season.
'O come, all ye faithful' opens the show, as guest conductor Brett Mitchell leads the musicians and vocalists.
“To be able to have folks come in over the course of a dozen concerts like we’re doing over the next two weeks and to spend some of the holiday season with us, that’s really what this is about," said Mitchell
The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, directed by Lisa Wong, is returning with the orchestra for its first in-person performance since 2020.
Mitchell told Spectrum News there is something different for everyone to enjoy.
There will also be guest vocalist, Capathia Jenkins, and guest choruses joining the stage on different days from such as Cleveland State University, the College of Wooster and Cleveland's Youth Chorus Chamber Ensemble.
Mitchel said the music is a reminder of how people from all different backgrounds can come together and celebrate being one.
“We all consequently grow up with this music. and so it takes everybody back to being a kid again and that for me is what the holidays are all about.”
To read the complete article and watch the video package, please click here.
Review: 'Cleveland Orchestra exudes joy on resplendent 2021 Holiday Concerts program'
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra in a dozen performances of their 2021 Holiday Concerts at Severance Music Center. (Photo by The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND — cleveland.com has published a review of the opening night performance of The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2021 Holiday Concerts, led by guest conductor Brett Mitchell:
Look no further than this year’s Holiday Concerts for proof the Cleveland Orchestra is glad to be back playing for live audiences.
Packed like a full stocking with a wide variety of music, the orchestra’s holiday program in 2021 is nothing if not a display of sincere goodwill all the way around.
Brett Mitchell, a former associate conductor here, is back in a role for which he is uncommonly well suited. He’s adept at the classics, to be sure, but he’s also got a special knack for pops and an easy sense of humor that makes him a natural host.
Patrons Thursday night at Severance Music Center also got to hear the first live notes by the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus with the orchestra in 21 months. On its own, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” would have been beautiful, but context made it an even greater treasure.
All patrons, happily, get to hear vocalist Capathia Jenkins. Into an evening otherwise devoted to classical, traditional, and contemporary music, she injects a healthy dose of holiday jazz, expertly conjuring Ella Fitzgerald in “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and holding the house perfectly transfixed with “Let it Snow!” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
The Chorus remains in fine form under director Lisa Wong. To this listener, Eric Whitacre’s solemn “Lux Aurumque” (“Light and Gold”) is alone worth the price of admission, with its gentle, haunting dissonance, but a lavish, resonant “Wexford Carol” and stirring first movement from Rutter’s “Gloria” compete as close seconds.
The singers also hold up admirably on a brisk account of Handel’s tricky but always rewarding “Hallelujah” Chorus and in a luminous performance of “Somewhere in my Memory” from John Williams’ brilliant soundtrack to the film “Home Alone.”
The big man himself pays an unannounced visit, stopping by to exchange witty remarks with Mitchell, improvise sly responses to audience questions, and narrate “The Night Before Christmas,” in an obviously rehearsed performance with the orchestra.
That the musicians also have done their due diligence is evident in several purely orchestral numbers. Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” makes its mandatory appearance but a lilting performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers,” a dashing “Christmas Overture” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and the little-known “Sleigh Ride” German Dance by Mozart are even more welcome.
Rounding out the night are two (okay, three, with an encore) sing-along moments. All those without hearts of stone are certain to enjoy taking part in the all-too-rare experience of communal singing, in this case of “Away in a Manger,” “Joy to the World,” and “Silent Night.” If the concert as a whole is a well-decorated tree, they’re the last, essential piece, the star at the top.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Previews: Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra
CLEVELAND — Cleveland Classical has published a preview of The Cleveland Orchestra’s upcoming holiday performances, including an interview with guest conductor Brett Mitchell:
“What gets me excited about holiday concerts? Honestly, everything about them,” conductor Brett Mitchell said during a telephone conversation. “Every performance is for the audience, but these concerts really are for them. There’s so much opportunity for banter, and every crowd feels different.”
Mitchell pointed out a favorite quote of his from the late Stephen Sondheim, who said, the audience is the final collaborator. “And that is what we have been missing for the last two years in general, but particularly for this kind of program.”
Beginning on Thursday, December 9 at 7:30 pm, Brett Mitchell returns to Mandel Hall at Severance to lead The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in a holiday program devoted to music of the season. The concert also features director of choruses Lisa Wong as well as vocalist and Northeast Ohio favorite Capathia Jenkins. Performances continue through December 19. See our Concert Listings page for dates, times, and guest choirs. Tickets are available online.
Mitchell noted that the concerts are also a family affair where everyone in the audience gets dressed in their holiday finest. “It’s a special occasion for them, and to look out and see the kids and the magic in their eyes when ‘you know who’ makes his special entrance is so heartwarming.”
The conductor said that this year’s program is full of musical selections that will appeal to everyone. “The longest piece is only seven minutes — the ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ from Nutcracker. So if you’re not into one piece, just wait, because the next one is coming.”
He said that the selections are also intended to evoke the feeling of a homecoming, beginning with the first piece — Oh Come all ye faithful — which by tradition, serves as the opener for the Orchestra’s holiday concerts.
“It starts with just the voices and builds and builds,” Mitchell said. “Then there’s a big key change, and that’s when all the wreaths and bows and all of the other holiday finery lights up. Even though we’ve done it hundreds of times, it always has an emotional effect.”
Asked if he has a favorite piece on the program, Mitchell said that since one of his last projects as associate conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra was leading fully staged performances of The Nutcracker at Playhouse Square, “Waltz of the Flowers” is his sentimental favorite.
“But as a guy who was eleven years old in 1990 when Home Alone came out, getting to do ‘Somewhere in My Memory’ is very special, and it’s one the great holiday songs of all time. And right before that is another piece from Home Alone, ‘Holiday Flight.’ Getting to conduct both of these John Williams songs couldn’t be more exciting. It just takes me back to being an eleven-year-old again every time I hear that music. And if you can’t embrace that during the holidays, I don’t know when you can.”
Read additional brief previews from the Plain Dealer, cleveland.com, WKYC, and ideastream, and watch Mr. Mitchell preview these performances in the video below or on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
BREAKING: Brett Mitchell's concerts with the San Antonio Symphony postponed
SAN ANTONIO — Brett Mitchell’s upcoming performances with the San Antonio Symphony on November 5 and 6, 2021, have been postponed, per the San Antonio Symphony’s website. The program was to have consisted of the following works:
MISSY MAZZOLI - Holy Roller
MENDELSSOHN - Violin Concerto
Angelo Xiang Yu, violin
RAVEL - Valses nobles et sentimentales
RAVEL - La Valse
Updates concerning rescheduling will be posted when available.
BREAKING: Brett Mitchell steps in for season opener, world premiere at the Wichita Symphony
Brett Mitchell will lead the Wichita Symphony in a world premiere by George S. Clinton and works of Quinn Mason and Aaron Copland from October 9-11, 2021.
WICHITA — Brett Mitchell will step in to lead this weekend’s season-opening subscription performances (October 9-11) with the Wichita Symphony. The program remains unchanged, and features a world premiere by noted film composer George S. Clinton:
QUINN MASON - Petite Symphonie de Chambre Contemporaine
COPLAND - Clarinet Concerto
Trevor Stewart, clarinet
GEORGE S. CLINTON - Old Cowtown Suite [world premiere]
Brett Mitchell named Artistic Director and Conductor of Sunriver Music Festival
Brett Mitchell has been named Artistic Director and Conductor of Oregon’s Sunriver Music Festival, beginning a three-year term in August 2022. (Photo by Jeff Nelson)
SUNRIVER, Ore. — The Sunriver Music Festival has announced that Brett Mitchell will serve as its next Artistic Director and Conductor, beginning a three-year term in August 2022.
In this role, Mr. Mitchell will lead the Festival Orchestra each summer in four classical concerts, a family program, and a pops concert.
The Festival was founded in 1978, and Mr. Mitchell is the fourth Artistic Director and Conductor in the organization’s 44-year history.
From the official press release:
“We don’t name orchestras after conductors. We name them after communities,“ explains Maestro Mitchell. “That’s because festivals reflect their communities. I am thrilled that I will be able to make a contribution to this festival that has been a part of the Central Oregon community for 44 years.”
Mitchell has accepted a 3-year contract with Sunriver Music Festival which includes a commitment for quarterly visits to the region for ongoing connection with the community and the Festival’s thriving music education programs.
Mr. Mitchell previously led the Orchestra in two programs on August 21 and 23 during the Festival’s 2021 season:
COPLAND - Music for Movies
MOZART - Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor
Daniel Hsu, piano
STRAVINSKY - Suite from Pulcinella
JESSIE MONTGOMERY - Starburst
SAINT-SAËNS - Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor
Amit Peled, cello
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 7 in A Major
On August 18, Mr. Mitchell also played an evening of John Williams’s chamber music from the piano with musicians from the Festival, including music from Fiddler on the Roof, The Terminal, Memoirs of a Geisha, Lincoln, and Schindler’s List.
The official press release points to the importance of the feedback about these performances from the Festival’s musicians and audiences when selecting Mr. Mitchell as their next Artistic Director:
The Festival’s Board of Trustees received hundreds of helpful evaluations submitted by patrons and musicians. Here's just a sampling:
"Brett Mitchell is a high-level conductor with very good conducting technique, rehearsal technique, big personality, very good. Keeping interest and energy levels high are Maestro Mitchell's strongest qualities as a conductor, and he has many more."
"Brett Mitchell is an effective musical leader. His conducting was very clear and did not get in the way of our ability to concentrate. Players were led by someone who understands what conducting is about and who therefore makes our task easier. He is extremely musical, gives excellent cues, is great with the audience and has a very polished approach."
For more information on Mr. Mitchell’s appointment, please view the announcement and press release on the Sunriver Music Festival’s website.
KTVZ News Channel 21 (NBC’s affiliate in Bend) has published a piece about Mr. Mitchell’s appointment: “Patrons, musicians help select Mitchell as new maestro for Sunriver Music Festival.”
Dates for Mr. Mitchell’s inaugural season as Artistic Director and Conductor in August 2022 will be announced in Fall 2021.
Pasadena Symphony names Brett Mitchell as Artistic Partner for 2021-22 season
Brett Mitchell has been named an Artistic Partner for the Pasadena Symphony’s 2021-22 season.
PASADENA — The Pasadena Symphony has announced that Brett Mitchell has been named an Artistic Partner for their 2021-22 concert season. In this role, he will lead the orchestra in a pair of subscription performances on March 19, 2022, featuring the following program:
ADAM SCHOENBERG - Finding Rothko
GRIEG - Piano Concerto
Aldo López-Gavilán, piano
MOZART - Symphony No. 40
For more information on Mr. Mitchell’s performances with the orchestra, please click here.
Audio: 'Sounds and Reflections from The Cleveland Orchestra's First Rehearsal in 16 Months'
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center on July 3, 2021, marking the orchestra’s first public performance since March 2020. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — WKSU 89.7 has published an audio story about The Cleveland Orchestra’s return to live performances, featuring an interview with Brett Mitchell, who led the orchestra’s first live concerts since March 2020 earlier this month.
Classical music has returned to Northeast Ohio after more than a year of silence.
The first time the world-renowned orchestra was back together to rehearse for its July 4 weekend concerts.
Former Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell led the program, serving as guest conductor.
At the opening of its first rehearsal, Mitchell addressed the orchestra as it prepared to play “Soul of Remembrance” by Mary D. Watkins.
“Do we want to do nothing but ‘sis boom bah’ right now, or do we want to acknowledge why we have not been together for the last 16 months? So, that’s why we’re going to do this piece,” Mitchell said.
He addressed the orchestra, stating that it would play in commemoration of the 600,000 Americans who died from the coronavirus and the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020.
“The whole piece is called ‘Five Movements in Color,’” he said. “It’s supposed to be a statement about the African-American experience. And this is the second movement.”
He said the piece is bittersweet is and nostalgic. It’s a song of sorrow and hope.
Mitchell said although so much has happened in the last year and the orchestra had not joined together to play music in some time, it was able to pick back up right where it left off for the rehearsal.
“Have they not played together, all of them, for 16 months? Yes, that’s true. And how long did it take before everything locked back in? I don’t know, 90 seconds or something like that,” he said.
Mitchell said seeing the clarinet players sitting together in a row, without social distancing, was a big change.
During the pandemic, he recorded videos of himself playing piano at home and uploaded them to YouTube.
“But that’s not what I wanted to spend my career doing,” Mitchell said. “I want to be with people. I want to make music with people. As a conductor, I really can’t do what I do without other people.”
Mitchell was on the conducting staff of the Cleveland Orchestra from 2013 to 2017, serving as assistant conductor and then associate conductor. In 2017, he became the music director of the Colorado Symphony.
When he was asked to guest conduct the Cleveland Orchestra for the July 4 concerts, he led the group in performing works by American composers, including Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa.
“What I’ve really thought about is not primarily making music. It’s primarily everybody being together again and what that feels like,” he said.
To read the complete story and hear audio from The Cleveland Orchestra’s first rehearsal after the Coronavirus pandemic, please click here.
Reviews: Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra's return to Blossom
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center on July 3, 2021, marking the orchestra’s first public performance since March 2020. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Several additional media outlets have published reviews of Brett Mitchell’s opening weekend performances of the 2021 Blossom Music Festival with The Cleveland Orchestra, marking the orchestra’s first public performances since March 2020. (See below or click here to read the reviews from Cleveland.com and ClevelandClassical.com.)
Conductor Brett Mitchell, who has a long history with the Cleveland Orchestra as assistant, associate and guest conductor, had started the concert with a rather laid-back version of Leonard Bernstein’s overture to Candide, perhaps spaciously paced to allow the work’s sparkling lines to register in the reverberant acoustic of the Blossom Music Center’s pavilion, made even more resonant by the socially-distanced seating of audience members (though the lawn was packed with what must have been a record crowd for an orchestra concert).
Mary J. Watkins’s ‘Soul of Remembrance’ was another of the three works on the program by African-American composers. It is a solemn balance of spiritual-inspired lyricism over a steadily tolling slow march, and is one of the sections of Watkins’s Five Movements of Color. Mitchell introduced the piece with a moment of silence and dedicated it to the memory of those lost in the pandemic.
The second half of the concert opened with Adolphus Hailstork’s ‘An American Fanfare’, his response to Aaron Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’. Though not as interesting as some of Hailstork’s larger orchestral works, it was a great showpiece for the Cleveland Orchestra brass, which as a section is the strongest it has ever been.
Copland’s Appalachian Spring suite was given a sure-handed performance under Mitchell’s baton, and even the 1812 Overture and ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever’ were played passionately in a concert where the musicians were clearly delighted to be on stage, and the listeners were overjoyed to have them there once again.
The official program, conducted by Brett Mitchell, was an eclectic mix drawn from various traditions. It began with a spirited rendition of the overture to Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. One might argue that the musical — based on Voltaire’s cynical take on human nature — had nothing to do with July 4th, but that one would not be me because it’s a favorite piece so who cares?
This was followed by works by under-celebrated African American composers. The first was Mary D. Watkins’ meditative “Soul of Remembrance” from Five Movements in Color. Next came Concerto in One Movement by the better-known Florence Price, with a fine and dramatic presentation by pianist Michelle Cann. The last work was Adolphus Hailstork’s “An American Fanfare.” One hopes works by these composers will continue to be heard in coming seasons.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROGER MASTROIANNI
Review: The Cleveland Orchestra Returns to Blossom
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center on July 3, 2021, marking the orchestra’s first public performance since March 2020. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Brett Mitchell led The Cleveland Orchestra in the opening weekend of the 2021 Blossom Music Festival on July 3 and 4, marking the orchestra’s first public performances since March 2020. The following are excerpts from ClevelandClassical.com’s review of Sunday evening’s concert:
It was March 20, 2020, when The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst gave their last concert as a complete ensemble before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live performances for more than a year. The Orchestra, with guest conductor Brett Mitchell, returned triumphantly to Blossom Music Center on July 3 and 4 to celebrate Independence Day.
Three works by African American composers were the highlights of the concert. All of them should be adopted into the Orchestra’s standard repertoire. Mary D. Watkins’ “Soul of Remembrance” from Five Movements in Color (1993) was especially moving. The mood is both nostalgic and bittersweet, with beautiful melodies and lush, American Romantic harmonies and orchestrations. There is a slow, steady pulse throughout as the musical material develops, with wind descants soaring above the melody, finally reaching a full-orchestra climax before fading back to a single violin note at the conclusion. If the other movements of Watkins’ suite are of this quality, the whole set should be performed. This composer, born in 1939 and still living, deserves attention from a broad audience.
The real “find” on this program was Adolphus Hailstork’s 1985 An American Fanfare for brass and percussion — Hailstork’s response to Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, but with more musical substance and variety, and treacherous, jagged leaps across octaves.
Copland’s Appalachian Spring made its almost obligatory appearance, in a pristine, carefully developed performance.
To read the complete review, please click here.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROGER MASTROIANNI
Review: Cleveland Orchestra gathers again at Blossom for specially meaningful ‘American Celebration’
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center on July 3, 2021, marking the orchestra’s first public performance since March 2020. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Brett Mitchell led The Cleveland Orchestra in the opening weekend of the 2021 Blossom Music Festival on July 3 and 4, marking the orchestra’s first public performances since March 2020. The following are excerpts from Cleveland.com’s review of Saturday evening’s concert:
Never before has the phrase “Blossom Music Festival” rung so true. On this occasion, there was indeed something to celebrate. The sense of post-pandemic release was palpable, and the first sounds of the full orchestra surely brought a lump to many a throat. By night’s end, before a fireworks display, the official attendance was an estimated 11,600.
The music reflected the festive mood, in a novel way. Even as it marked the nation’s 245th birthday, the program, which kicked off with a snappy account of Bernstein’s “Candide” Overture and included works by three African-Americans, also reflected society more broadly and inclusively than most Cleveland Orchestra concerts. This was a celebration of America and its music as they are, not as one group of people once imagined them to be.
The earth-shaking cannons that augmented Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture certainly got their point across, and there’s no beating Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” but to this listener, the most effective work of the night was “Soul of Remembrance,” a 1993 work by Mary Watkins steeped in the historically resilient African-American spirit.
Brett Mitchell, the orchestra’s former associate conductor, preceded the lyrical, slow-burning work with a moment of silence for the victims of COVID-19 before leading a tender but powerfully emotional reading in which the harp was a vital presence.
Another welcome piece of non-standard fare was the 1934 Concerto in One Movement by another African-American, Florence Price. Cleveland-trained pianist Michelle Cann, a champion of Price’s music, handled the recently rediscovered score with panache, treating its three sections to animated, compelling performances.
A third African-American composer, Adolphus Hailstork, kicked off the second half with “An American Fanfare,” a solemn, brass-intensive work strongly reminiscent of Copland, whose Suite from “Appalachian Spring” followed on its heels. No doubt parts of the often-delicate Suite were lost on the lawn, but in the pavilion, every measure of this well-known score, up to and including “Simple Gifts,” sparkled as if the orchestra and the audience were encountering it for the first time.
Truly, it was an Independence Day concert like no other by the Cleveland Orchestra. There were fireworks, funnel cakes, and patriotic classics, but there was also real emotion, musical depth, and the introduction of new possibilities. The Cleveland Orchestra is back and in some respects may be better than ever.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Cleveland 19 News (CBS) has also published a brief story about the event: Cleveland Orchestra performs in person for first time in more than a year at Blossom.
Photographs by Roger Mastroianni
Previews: Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra's return to Blossom
CLEVELAND — As Brett Mitchell prepares to lead the opening weekend of The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2021 Blossom Music Festival, several news outlets have published previews of this program, excerpted below.
• CLEVELAND.COM •
2021 Cleveland Orchestra Blossom Music Festival calendar: A return to live music
The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2021 Blossom Music Festival kicks off this July 3-4 with a pair of holiday weekend concerts, both capped with fireworks. It’s the first time the orchestra will perform in front of a live audience since March of 2020.
The ensemble will be under the baton of conductor Brett Mitchell, with Michelle Cann as guest on piano. The concerts will be festive, holiday affairs, featuring works by Bernstein, Copland, Tchaikovsky, Sousa and more.
• CLEVELAND.COM •
Grand reunion ahead as Cleveland Orchestra opens 2021 Blossom Festival season
Music lovers aren’t the only ones headed for a major reunion at Blossom Music Center this weekend. No, the Cleveland Orchestra itself is also about to enjoy an important homecoming. When it convenes at its summer home with former associate conductor Brett Mitchell this Independence Day weekend, it’ll be the first time the full ensemble has appeared together since March 2020. “This is quite serious,” said chief brand officer Ross Binnie. “I think it will be extremely emotional. To see so many friends and fans I think will be powerful indeed. I think this will be one concert to say you were at.” …
Even as it celebrates the nation’s 245th birthday with fireworks and traditional favorites like Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” and Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture, the orchestra also will take some of its first steps on a new mission to better represent the country as a whole. Much of the 2021 Blossom Music Festival season consists of favorites, pieces Gidalevich called “chestnuts.” … This weekend, though, the orchestra is thinking along much different lines. It’s starting off featuring relatively unsung masterworks: music by three African-Americans, two of them women. In the mix with beloved works by Bernstein and Copland will be “An American Fanfare,” by Adolphus Hailstork; Concerto in One Movement, by Florence Price; and “Soul of Remembrance,” by Mary Watkins. “It’s a hard sweet spot to hit, but we made a concerted effort to make sure this looks more like an American program than in previous years,” [artistic administrator Ilya] Gidalevich said.
• CLEVELANDCLASSICAL.COM •
The Cleveland Orchestra Returns to Blossom Music Center
“The program is titled ‘An American Celebration,’ and while I’m certain there have been countless Fourth of July concerts over the decades with the same name, for me, this program feels truly American,” Mitchell said during a telephone conversation. “We’re certainly not going to ignore the holiday, so there will be the pieces that are associated with it — the 1812 Overture and Stars and Stripes Forever — but there was a desire to have the program be reflective of times that we are living in and that we have lived through since the Orchestra and audiences were last together.” …
Mitchell, who served on the Orchestra’s conducting staff from 2013 to 2017, noted that the evenings will open with Bernstein’s celebratory Overture. “We didn’t want a concert full of sis-boom-bah American repertoire, we wanted to acknowledge where we are and where we have been. And part of where we have been — as if anybody needs to be reminded why the Orchestra has not been able to perform for live audiences for sixteen months — is that we’ve all lived through a very difficult time. But that’s not entirely true because half a million of us did not survive the pandemic. So after the Candide we’ll play this gorgeous, heartbreaking piece, Mary D. Watkins’ Soul of Remembrance.”
The conductor said that he was introduced to the Watkins piece by a member of the Colorado Symphony. “Miss Watkins is a Denver-based African American composer, and when my friend played it for me I thought ‘my, this is beautiful.’” Mitchell described the piece as quiet and in places meditative. “She has a wonderful voice and a wonderful gift for immediate expression. I was only introduced to her music a couple of months ago and I can’t wait to dive into more of it. She seems to have a real knack for being able to communicate directly with the listener. There’s nothing opaque about it.” …
Florence Price’s Concerto in One Movement will feature pianist Michelle Cann, a graduate of both the Cleveland and Curtis Institutes of Music, and who now teaches at Curtis. “The piece is only eighteen minutes long but there’s so much wonderful material it feels like a Brahms concerto,” Mitchell said. “The music is just glorious and my great hope is that it will find its way into the permanent piano concerto repertoire. And it should because it is a sensational piece of music. I can guarantee that people are going to love it.” Click here to read Jarrett Hoffman’s interview with Michelle Cann.
Having had the opportunity to speak to Brett Mitchell on numerous occasions during his time in Cleveland, one thing that always struck me was his unabashed enthusiasm for newly-composed and long-neglected works. “I was a composer before I was a conductor, so I know what it’s like to write a piece and then hope that someone will play it,” he said. “I became a conductor to be the composer’s advocate and Mary D. Watkins and Florence Price deserve to be heard. If I can do anything to help introduce this great music to new ears, that’s the most fulfilling thing I can do.”
• NEW VIDEO RELEASE •
Aaron Copland: Introduction from Appalachian Spring
Mr. Mitchell has also recorded a solo piano arrangement of the Introduction from Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, one of the works featured on the second half of this program. View the complete performance below, or watch on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Brett Mitchell to open 2021 Blossom Music Festival with The Cleveland Orchestra
Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in the opening weekend of the 2021 Blossom Music Festival, marking the orchestra’s first public performances since March 2020. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Published April 11, 2021 Updated May 6, 2021
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Orchestra has announced that Brett Mitchell will lead the opening weekend of the 2021 Blossom Music Festival, marking the orchestra’s first public performances in over a year. The complete program, presented on July 3 and 4, will be as follows:
For more information, please visit the 2021 Blossom Music Festival season announcement, the event page for Mr. Mitchell’s performance with the orchestra, and the following press articles:
Akron.com (May 6): ‘Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Music Festival to return’
Akron Beacon Journal (May 3): ‘Cleveland Orchestra launches Blossom single ticket sales, announces soloists’
Broadway World (May 3): ‘2021 Blossom Music Festival Individual Tickets on Sale Now’
Akron Beacon Journal (Apr 11): ‘Cleveland Orchestra unveils 2021 Blossom Music Festival season’
Cleveland.com (Apr 11): ‘Cleveland Orchestra to perform at least 11 concerts with live audiences this summer at Blossom Music Center’
WCPN (Apr 11): ‘Full Cleveland Orchestra And Audience Return To Blossom In July’
Broadway World (Apr 11): ‘The Cleveland Orchestra Announces 2021 Blossom Music Festival’
Cleveland Classical (Apr 12): ‘BLOSSOM 2021’
Cleveland 19 News (Apr 12): ‘Cleveland Orchestra to hold Blossom Music Festival this summer’
Brett Mitchell’s return to River Oaks Chamber Orchestra to feature two world premieres
Mr. Mitchell will lead new works by composers Reena Esmail (L) and Quinn Mason (R) with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in April 2021.
Published April 28, 2020 Updated April 26, 2021
HOUSTON - Following his debut in February 2019, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra has announced that Brett Mitchell will return to the podium to lead two world premieres on their 2020-21 season finale.
The program will feature the first performance of The History of Red, a co-commission by Reena Esmail based on a text by Chickasaw poet Linda Hogan, with soprano Kathryn Mueller as soloist. Mr. Mitchell will also lead the world premiere of Princesa de la Luna by Quinn Mason.
The complete program:
ERROLLYN WALLEN - Photography
BARBER - Knoxville: Summer of 1915
QUINN MASON - Princesa de la Luna [world premiere]
FALLA - ‘Danse espagnole’ from La vida breve
REENA ESMAIL - The History of Red [world premiere]
SURINACH - Ritmo Jondo: Flamenco for Orchestra (feat. live dance from Solero Flamenco)
The concert will be streamed live on Saturday, April 24, 2021, from The Church of St. John the Divine in Houston.
For more information, please visit the event page, and read the following previews:
Houston Chronicle: ROCO sees ‘Red’ with Reena Esmail composition this weekend
Houstonia: Meet Quinn Mason, the Up-and-Coming Composer Coming to Houston
Houston Press: Best Virtual Bets
Mr. Mitchell previews the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra’s 16th season finale: ‘Flamenco.’
Mr. Mitchell and soprano Kathryn Mueller offer a sneak peek of Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915.
Brett Mitchell to lead The Cleveland Orchestra's 2021 holiday festival
Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2021 Holiday Concerts in Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Orchestra has announced that Brett Mitchell will return to lead their 2021 Holiday Concerts, a series of a dozen performances running from Thursday, December 9 through Sunday, December 19.
Repertoire and guest artists will be announced in fall 2021, but tickets are on sale now.
For more information, please visit clevelandorchestra.com/holiday.
Video: Brett Mitchell explores Copland’s ‘The Tender Land’
DENVER — Brett Mitchell has released a new video exploring Aaron Copland’s Suite from The Tender Land.
Presented live at Boettcher Concert Hall in April 2018 as part of a program entitled The American Voice, Mr. Mitchell leads the Colorado Symphony in demonstrations exploring what makes the 1954 opera sound so distinctly American.
All three movements of the Suite are explored:
I. Introduction and Love Music
II. Party Scene
III. Finale: The Promise of Living
Watch the complete demonstration above, or learn more on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
Video: Brett Mitchell plays Barber, Stravinsky, and Mussorgsky
Brett Mitchell records music of Samuel Barber at home in January 2021.
Published Jan 27, 2021 Updated Mar 25, 2021
DENVER — Brett Mitchell has released several new recordings of brief works by Samuel Barber, Igor Stravinsky, and Modest Mussorgsky.
Samuel Barber
Blues from Excursions
Samuel Barber
To My Steinway
Igor Stravinsky
Chorale from Symphonies of Wind instruments
Modest Mussorgsky (arr. Igor Stravinsky)
Chorus from the Prologue to Boris Godunov
Video: Brett Mitchell performs Leonard Bernstein
Published Oct 14, 2020 Updated Mar 22, 2021
DENVER — To commemorate various occasions, Brett Mitchell has recorded several of Leonard Bernstein’s Anniversaries at the piano.
Video: The Mitchells present 'A Season of Song: A Spring Recital'
DENVER — Following the success of their 2020 holiday special, Christmas with the Mitchells, soprano Angela Mitchell and pianist Brett Mitchell are back with a new, half-hour musical special to celebrate the arrival of spring: A Season of Song.
Filmed in the living room of their home in the foothills outside Denver, the Mitchells share some of their favorite spring-themed music:
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most (Tommy Wolf)
You Must Believe In Spring (Michel Legrand)
Frühlingsglaube (Franz Schubert)
In The Springtime (Betty Jackson King) (sneak peek)
The Daisies (Samuel Barber) (sneak peek)
Nature, The Gentlest Mother (Aaron Copland)
It Might As Well Be Spring (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
Younger Than Springtime (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
Watch the trailer, and view the complete special below.