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Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. (Roger Mastroianni)
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The Cleveland Orchestra has announced their 2016-17 season, on which associate conductor Brett Mitchell will lead a wide variety of programs. Highlights include:
- Subscription week in March 2017, leading Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront, Augusta Read Thomas’s Violin Concerto No. 3 (“Juggler in Paradise”) with concertmaster William Preucil, and Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3
- Subscription week in June 2017 (season finale), leading Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (film with live orchestral underscore)
- George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker in November and December 2016, in collaboration with Pennsylvania Ballet, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus
- 2016 Blossom Music Festival (season finale) in September 2016: Raiders of the Lost Ark
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Recent and upcoming debuts:
Dallas, Indianapolis, Colorado, Boise, and more
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Brett Mitchell leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at Dallas City Performance Hall on March 12, 2016.
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Brett Mitchell made his debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in March 2016, leading a program of works by Wojciech Kilar, Adam Schoenberg, and Bryce Dessner. Several reviews made particular note of this adventurous programming:
- From the Dallas Observer: "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."
- From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "The program proved to be a fascinating fusion of artistic disciplines. The oldest piece performed Saturday was from 1986... 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."
Mr. Mitchell also recently made his debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, leading works of Strauss and Prokofiev at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in April 2016.
Mr. Mitchell will next make his debut with the Colorado Symphony on Saturday, July 16, leading the orchestra in a performance previewing their 2016-17 season, including works by Beethoven, Bernstein, Brahms, Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and more. For more information, please see the concert listing on the orchestra's website and this story on KUSA, Denver's NBC affiliate.
Mr. Mitchell has been selected as a finalist in the the Boise Philharmonic's current music director search, and will make his debut with them on the final subscription weekend of their 2016-17 season. He will lead two performances of Kevin Puts's Millennium Canons, Adam Schoenberg's Finding Rothko, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Boise Philharmonic Master Chorale and a cast of soloists to be announced soon.
Mr. Mitchell will also make his debut with the Texas Music Festival Orchestra in June 2017, leading Esa-Pekka Salonen's L.A. Variations, Elgar's Enigma Variations, and a concerto to be determined at a future date. More information about TMF may be found on their website.
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World Premiere of "The Good Peaches"
with The Cleveland Orchestra
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Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra in a dress rehearsal of The Good Peaches. (Roger Mastroianni)
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In April 2016, Brett Mitchell led The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Play House in a world-premiere collaboration called The Good Peaches, the marriage of a new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes with the music of Benjamin Britten and John Adams. Selected media coverage highlights:
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The Cleveland Orchestra celebrates the Cleveland Museum of Art's Centennial
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Brett Mitchell in concert with The Cleveland Orchestra. (Roger Mastroianni)
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Brett Mitchell led a concert with The Cleveland Orchestra on Sunday, June 26, celebrating the centennial of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The program—featuring art-related works by Hindemith, Respighi, Adam Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mussorgsky—received an announcement in The Plain Dealer, previews in Cleveland Scene (here and here) and on WCLV Classical 104.9, and a review in The Plain Dealer.
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Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra concludes 30th season, announces 2016-17 programs
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Brett Mitchell leads the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra at Severance Hall in May 2016. (Roger Mastroianni)
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The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) and music director Brett Mitchell wrapped up their 30th season with a concert at Severance Hall on May 8, 2016. The program—featuring Adam Schoenberg's Finding Rothko, Korngold's Violin Concerto with soloist Jieming Tang, and Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances—received previews in ClevelandClassical, Cool Cleveland, and on WCLV Classical 104.9, and reviews in The Plain Dealer and ClevelandClassical. During the intermission of its live broadcast of the concert, WCLV aired a joint interview with Mr. Mitchell and COYO's founding music director Jahja Ling, hosted by broadcast legend Robert Conrad.
COYO has since announced its 2016-17 season, featuring the orchestra's first performances of symphonies by Bruckner (No. 4 in November 2016) and Prokofiev (No. 5 in May 2017), as well as a world premiere by Roger Briggs, Mr. Mitchell's undergraduate composition teacher. The Plain Dealer has published a preview of this season, which may be read here.
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