Ok Clevelanders, are you taking advantage of all that Cleveland's Music Scene has to offer? Do you even know what I'm talking about? I have to wonder after Friday night. On Friday night, Cantores Cleveland had a free concert at the Christ Episcopal Church in Shaker Heights. The concert featured early music by Wise, Gesualdo and Byrd and integrated the visual image and the spoken word into the experience. It was by far one of the most beautiful performances I've heard in a while. And given that I am an active and avid musician, that's saying something.
Early music is not always beautiful in performance. It's not particularly easy and requires both musicianship and excellent vocal technique. The artists of Cantores had both, and a number of times during the performance the soaring soprano lines or the fluid inner melodies raised goosebumps on my arms. The entire concert I sat there, running the visual projection portion of the show, and feeling especially proud to be in any way associated with these skilled musicians and artists.
There was only one disappointing aspect of the evening for me, and that was the turnout. The concert was (amazingly) free of charge and yet the church pews were not full. As the freelance marketing specialist for the group this might have been a bigger blow to me, but still. I had sent out hundreds of emails, forwarded the press release and begged the Cleveland media to list the performance. Even with listings on cleveland.com and elsewhere, the turnout was not as I had hoped.
I have wracked my brain trying to think of reasons why people didn't attend. Was it the icky weather or competition from the Rock Hall Induction Ceremonies? I'm not sure why it was not well attended, I followed the pr/media playbook to a t. What I do know, especially after visiting NYC lately, is that we Clevelander's are exceedingly lucky to have such beautiful musical performances accessible to us at no charge! This isn't the first free concert in Cleveland that I have attended that was poorly populated.
All one has to do is look at the recent performances of Figaro at Severance, which sold out at $120/seat (for the decent seats), to know that there is an audience for classical music. So what's the deal with people refusing to attend free concerts at the Universities and churches in the area? Cantores is a professional singing ensemble offering an incredible musical experience free of charge! Anyone who is interested in classical music or music history should have been there.
If you live in Cleveland and you do not keep an eye out for and attend the free performances available, you're really missing out. What a wonderful date it would have been to dine at Fire in Shaker Square and then attend the Cantores performance followed by drinks at the new Grotto Wine Bar. Especially if you enjoy beautiful vocal music.
Alright, enough of my rant. I just feel so strongly that there are wonderful free performances available to anyone in Cleveland. They provide a chance to learn about music, see a variety of musicians performing a variety of styles, meet new artists and enjoy amazing performances. I can't stress enough how important it is to take advantage of these opportunities before they are gone. Oh, and keep an eye on Cantores Cleveland! They're going places fast...
Modern Revival Media is hosting a Cleveland Music Industry Panel on Saturday, August 8, 2009. The event will feature local industry professionals including a local record label owner, a music networking website, a local booking agent, and more. The point of the panel is to further community in the Cleveland Music Scene, create more networking opportunities, and to educate independent artists and give them an opportunity to ask questions. More information can be found at:
http://www.clevelandmusicpanel.eventbrite.com
Please spread the information.
Posted by: Modern Revival Media | July 08, 2009 at 11:06 AM