REVIEWS

WCLV.com “Building Bridges Together” Interview with Artistic Director Daniel Meyer
(Nov. 21, 2020)

November 19, 2020
WCLV’s John Mills speaks with Daniel Meyer, Artistic Director of BlueWater Chamber Orchestra about their collaboration with Verb Ballets  called “Building Bridges Together.” | LISTEN TO INTERVIEW »

John Mills

WCLV.com

BlueWater & Verb Ballets collaborate — at a distance
(Nov. 21, 2020)

November 17, 2020
“Building Bridges Together” is a joint project between BlueWater Chamber Orchestra (Daniel Meyer, artistic director) and Verb Ballets (Margaret Carlson and Richard Dickinson, artistic directors). The program includes performances of Heinz Poll’s Adagio for Two Dancers, set to a famous piece attributed to Albinoni, and Michael Escovedo’s Broken Bridges, choreographed to Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony. In between, BlueWater will play Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz. | READ MORE »

Daniel Hathaway

ClevelandClassical.com

“A showcase for some of Cleveland’s most talented musicians.”

— ClevelandClassical.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at Plymouth Church
(Feb. 1, 2020)

February 17, 2020
During Daniel Meyer’s short tenure as artistic director and conductor of BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, the ensemble has risen to a new level of quality. On Saturday, February 1 at Plymouth Church, Meyer and his ensemble performed an excellent program titled “A Classical Feast,” focusing on music from the late 18th century. | READ MORE »

David Kulma

ClevelandClassical.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at Pilgrim with Jinjoo Cho
(Nov. 24, 2019)

December 3, 2020
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra played the second of two identical weekend programs on Sunday afternoon, November 24 on the free Arts Renaissance Tremont series, a performance that featured violinist Jinjoo Cho in a spirited reading of the Tchaikovsky Concerto, and rarely heard works by Robert Schumann and Thomas Adès with Daniel Meyer at the helm. | READ MORE »

Daniel Hathaway

ClevelandClassical.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at The Temple-Tifereth Israel
(Sep. 15, 2019)

September 24, 2019
Last Sunday afternoon, September 15, the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, under conductor and artistic director Daniel Meyer, opened its season with an imaginatively varied concert at The Temple-Tifereth Israel. Amitai Vardi was featured in Srul Irving Glick’s The Klezmer’s Wedding, a delightful one-movement piece for clarinet and string orchestra. | READ MORE »

Robert Rollin

ClevelandClassical.com

“The playing was refined, alert and sensitive… BlueWater trademarks.”

— Cleveland Plain Dealer | Cleveland.com

Conductor Daniel Meyer eager to begin work with BlueWater, Lakeside orchestras
(May 22, 2019)

May 22, 2019
Conductor Daniel Meyer didn’t land just one prominent job in Northern Ohio this spring. He got two.

In a rare stroke of musical good luck, the Brunswick native this season was named director of two groups in succession: BlueWater Chamber Orchestra and the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra. Almost overnight, an artist known primarily here as a guest became a fixture on the scene.

“It takes an enormous amount of organization and energy management,” said Meyer of his newly packed calendar. “But I think it’s invigorating.” | READ MORE »

Zachary Lewis

The Plain Dealer | Cleveland.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra Tells Tales at Plymouth
(May 4, 2019)

May 7, 2019
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra entered an exciting second era with the final concert of its 9th season on Saturday, May 4 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. Last month, conductor Daniel Meyer was named the orchestra’s artistic director, so now this important Northeast Ohio institution can chart a course into its second decade. | READ MORE »

David Kulma

ClevelandClassical.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at Plymouth Church
(Feb. 2, 2019)

February 11, 2019
Variety can be the salvation or the undoing of a concert. A century and a half ago, most Americans would have heard what we now think of as the bedrock repertoire of the classical tradition in bewildering shows that often included comedy and drama as well. In recent decades, however, even diversity of historical period and musical style — let alone type of entertainment — has become optional, rather than expected. In a recent concert led by Daniel Meyer, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra successfully embraced stylistic pluralism, mixing new music and a rarity with standard audience favorites. | READ MORE »

Nicholas Stevens

ClevelandClassical.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra with Chang & Neubert
(Nov. 10, 2018)

November 20, 2018
That time of year has come: lawns turn white with snow as day arrives late, puddles freeze over when night comes early, and Northeast Ohioans glance outside with the knowledge that this is only the beginning. In this season, when the world outside seems to reject us with what feels like personal hostility, it takes real incentives to lure listeners to concert halls. Fortunately, the area offers many such tempting opportunities, and last weekend, a program by BlueWater Chamber Orchestra made the trip outside well worth it. | READ MORE »

Nicholas Stevens

ClevelandClassical.com

“BlueWater Chamber Orchestra is a jewel in the local arts scene’s crown.”

— ClevelandClassical.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at the Breen Center
(Sept. 16, 2018)

September 18, 2018
Sometimes, the concerts that a music-lover remembers best revolve around isolated points of interest: a moving phrase here, a glowing chord there, the consistent verve of one player over the course of an evening. However, some performances contain such long successions of bright points that a pattern forms, and the entire experience becomes one protracted highlight. When the musicians of BlueWater Chamber Orchestra opened their ninth season last weekend, it became difficult to miss the forest for the trees: delightful moments kept arriving. | READ MORE »

Nicholas Stevens

ClevelandClassical.com

New ‘Emergent Universe Oratorio’ unites BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Choir (preview)
(July 1, 2017)

June 27, 2017
Classical concerts rarely inspire action. Typically, one simply attends, listens, and goes home.

This Friday is different, however. Should you show up for the performance of “Emergent Universe Oratorio” by the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra and Cleveland Chamber Choir, you’re apt to want to go out and make some changes.

That’s because, unlike abstract symphonies and concertos, Sam Guarnaccia’s new oratorio, headed to the Maltz Performing Arts Center, exists to proclaim a non-musical message, to goad people into thinking and caring about the planet they call home.

When it comes to climate “disruption,” Guarnaccia said, “There needs to be a cultural response. It’s important to put art, language, and science together so that people see themselves differently. That’s how the big shifts take place.”

The first big shift is for first-time collaborators BlueWater and the Cleveland Chamber Choir, both of which are taking on their largest work to date. | READ MORE »

Zachary Lewis

The Plain Dealer | Cleveland.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra at Plymouth Church
(May 13, 2017)

September 18, 2018
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra is a jewel in the local arts scene’s crown. It’s always a treat to hear these highly talented regional musicians, and their concert under the direction of guest conductor Thomas Hong at Plymouth Church on May 13 was no exception. Titled “Flying High,” the program included two works with bird themes. | READ MORE »

Jane Berkner

ClevelandClassical.com

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra delights large audience with ‘Sleepy Hollow’ concerto (review)
(November 1, 2014)

November 3, 2014
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra can’t be anything but delightful. Even when it tries. Never mind the date, Saturday, the day after Halloween, or that its main attraction derived from Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The group’s latest performance under Carlton Woods at Plymouth Church was anything but truly spooky.

In part that’s because the work itself, Jon Deak’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra: “The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow,” is largely whimsical. Although it ends, like the story, on an eerie, suspenseful note, the 1992 piece consists mostly of animated character portraits. A lively dance sequence provoked nothing but smiles. | READ MORE »

Zachary Lewis

The Plain Dealer | Cleveland.com

Blue Water Chamber Orchestra makes splendid debut
(September 12, 2010)

September 13, 2010
Arts organizations don’t often come to life when economic times are inordinately challenging. So raise a toast to the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra, which made its debut Sunday at the Breen Center for the Performing Arts at St. Ignatius High School.

As led by artistic director Carlton Woods, the orchestra gave first-rate performances of works by Ravel, Hanson, Beethoven, Elgar and Ginastera, plus a movement from a Mendelssohn symphony to serve as eloquent encore.

It shouldn’t be too surprising that Blue Water is an excellent ensemble. Most of its members once made up the core of the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, which has been gone for a decade.

But to hear such cohesion, elegance and vitality at an inaugural concert certainly is out of the norm. The orchestra was aided in part by the Breen Center’s fine acoustics, which sent the music clearly into the hall and revealed inner details in all their natural glory. The auditorium should become one of the city’s prime destinations for classical concerts. | READ MORE »

Donald Rosenberg

The Plain Dealer | Cleveland.com