JULIAN BLISS WITH THE CCO

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra successfully brought its 2019 Summermusik to a close with an all 18th century program highlighted by clarinetist Julian Bliss playing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major.

Conductor Eckart Preu, celebrated both his birthday and his third Summermusik at the helm of the increasingly better-sounding Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, extracting every moment of melodic invention, every sforzando entrance from the strings, every hint of syncopation and harmonic daring contained in the 39th, one of Mozart’s great trio of symphonies.

The program also featured British clarinetist Julian Bliss in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, displaying seamless legato, virtuosic agility, and evenness of tone in one of Mozart’s most beautiful compositions. Preu brought back Bliss to have the final musical say in an arrangement for clarinet and orchestra of George Gershwin’s Summertime, a suitably summery closing to a superb summer of Summermusik.

Rafael de Acha     http://www.RafaelMusicNotes.com

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”