Paradise lost and found in Cleveland

Zoltán Fejérvári

Weinberg's Piano Quintet at Chamberfest Cleveland

Sarah Shafer and ensemble

By Frank Kuznik, 22 June 2024

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“an icy aura with a brittle edge, breaking off notes like shards of glass”

Reviewed at Cleveland Institute of Music: Mixon Hall, Cleveland on 21 June 2024

Bach, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! - Cantata, BWV51

Adès, Darknesse visible

Bolcom, The Garden of Eden

Weinberg, Piano Quintet, Op.18

Sarah Shafer, Soprano

Brandon Ridenour, Trumpet

Diana Cohen, Violin

Njioma Chinyere Grevious, Violin

Tai Murray, Violin

Samuel Rosenthal, Viola

Sterling Elliott, Cello

Dane Johansen, Cello

Nathan Farrington, Double Bass

Zoltán Fejérvári, Piano

Yaron Kohlberg, Piano

Roman Rabinovich, Harpsichord

Forsythe a truly overwhelming Semele at Festival O

Susan Gould, 19th September

James Darrah stages Handel's sensual oratorio for Festival O, a feast of wonderful singing.

****1

Mozart's genius shines clearly in San Francisco Opera's darkly comic production of Don Giovanni

Donna Stoering, 4th June

Dangling and turning like shards of a giant overhead chandelier in Don Giovanni’s banquet hall, this is an evocative multimedia production that tantalizes the senses while shining new light on Mozart's genius.

****1

A colorful but static Magic Flute in San Francisco

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 20th October

Jun Kaneko's production of The Magic Flute at San Francisco Opera is a feast for the eyes, but both the stage direction and the translation need work.

***11

Tutino's Two Women at San Francisco

Paul Selar, 13th June

Marco Tutino's Two Women at San Francisco Opera feels lacking in musical originality and its out-of-date accompanying taste of re-heated Italian verismo comes a little over-cooked.

***11

An air of decay: Don Carlo at Opera Philadelphia

David Browning, 24th April

Some very fine singing and beautiful, if sometimes confusing, visual effects in Opera Philadelphia's Don Carlo.

****1

Curtis students excel in a rare Henze revival in Philadelphia

Zerbinetta, 16th March

“What a funny kind of fairy tale we’ve gotten into!” proclaims one of the characters in Elegy for Young Lovers, Hans Werner Henze’s odd 1963 opera. The audience may sympathize. W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman’s libretto of an uninspired poet in search of a new muse is not standard operatic fare.

****1

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Frank Kuznik

Frank Kuznik is the former Editor-in-Chief and Culture Editor of The Prague Post, Central Europe’s premier English-language weekly newspaper. He currently divides his time between Prague and his hometown in the US, Cleveland, where he covers northeast Ohio's dynamic classical music scene. In Prague he is an habitué of the Rudolfinum, National Theater, State Opera and other storied classical music venues, and an unabashed fan of Czech music.