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Pre•Views & Features

A look at the 2019 edition of the Re:Sound Festival of New and Experimental Music

by Mike Telin

In summing up last year’s inaugural Re:Sound Festival of New and Experimental Music, ClevelandClassical.com critic David Kulma wrote that “[the] Festival was an ear-opening experience for the musically adventurous …this intense weekend of staggering, high-quality performances showed the virtues of a performer- oriented festival where each act is fully invested in its own chosen music.”

Judging from the stellar lineup of musicians the organizers have assembled, the sophomore edition of Re:Sound — which runs from June 6 through June 9 — promises to once again deliver a musically adventurous experience.   

The 2019 edition will include six concerts featuring fourteen soloists and ensembles from across the United States. And once again the concerts will take place in venues that will allow players and audiences to relax and spend time together. In addition to purchasing single tickets, Festival passes are also available.

Here’s a run-down of this year’s offerings.

[Read on…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: the 2019 edition

by Mike Telin

If it’s the beginning of June, it’s time for classical guitarists from around the world to gather at the Cleveland Institute of Music for the annual Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival.

For the 2019 edition, which runs from Thursday, June 6 through Sunday, June 9, Founder and Artistic Director Armin Kelly has invited an outstanding lineup of performers, clinicians, and lecturers. The Festival will feature twelve participating artists and ensembles, five concerts, two premiere performances, nine master classes, two youth ensemble performances, three lectures, and one guitar demonstration concert. Click here to view a Festival schedule.

Thursday, June 6

Colin Davin (USA) will kick things off at 7:30 pm in Mixon Hall with a program that includes Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, J.S. Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 3, BWV 1005 and Violin Partita No. 2, BWV 1004, and the Cleveland premiere of David Crowell’s Point Cloud. A performance by students of Tom Poore and Andrew Poxon in the Pogue Lobby will begin at 6:50 pm.  

[Read on…]

ChamberFest: catching up with pianist Andrius Žlabys

by Jarrett Hoffman

“As I get older I’m really enjoying situations where the audience is five feet away from you and you can feel everyone’s energy,” clarinetist Franklin Cohen told us in March. That month ChamberFest Cleveland, which he co-directs with his daughter Diana Cohen, launched its House Concert Series.

To Lithuanian-born pianist Andrius Žlabys, what’s interesting about house concerts is that they are always unique. “There’s much more variety than with regular concerts, from room size to pianos,” he said from New Haven, Connecticut during a telephone conversation last week. “As a pianist, of course I get to meet new instruments all the time, so it’s always an adventure.”

The third and final event in ChamberFest’s House Concert Series takes place on Thursday, May 16 at 7:30 pm in the home of Mark and Sue Hollingsworth in Shaker Heights — the address will be printed on your receipt after you purchase a ticket.

[Read on…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir & Cleveland Composers Guild: a conversation with Natsumi Osborn

by Jarrett Hoffman

Composer Natsumi Osborn remembers the first time she read October Danger, a poem by her friend Anabelle Clark.

“It’s very descriptive and kind of mystical,” Osborn said during a telephone conversation. “It evoked in my head the kinds of images and feelings that I always want to evoke in my music.”

Osborn went on to set that text to music with her choral work Autumn Reflections, for which she won the Cleveland Composers Guild’s 2019 Collegiate Composition Contest. She’s currently finishing up her second year at Oberlin College and Conservatory, where she studies composition with Stephen Hartke, Jesse Jones, and Elizabeth Ogonek.

In two concerts this weekend, the Cleveland Chamber Choir, under the direction of Scott MacPherson, will perform works by members of the Cleveland Composers Guild, including Osborn’s Autumn Reflections, and pieces by American and British women composers — details below.

[Read on…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: a conversation with concerto competition winner Julia Schilz

by Mike Telin

As a young musician, many times the decision to learn a new piece is not a decision at all. Such was the case for violinist Julia Schilz and Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy. “My teacher assigned it,” Schilz said during a telephone conversation. “But from the moment I heard it I was so drawn to it.”

On Friday, May 10 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, Schilz, a COYO concerto competition winner, will have the honor of performing the work with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra under the direction of Vinay Parameswaran. The program also includes Bartók’s Dance Suite and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Tickets are available online.

Throughout the concerto Bruch borrows Scottish folk melodies such as Through the Wood Laddie, The Dusty Miller, I’m A’ Doun for Lack O’Johnnie, and Hey Tuttie Tatie. That said, Schilz views the concerto as “100% classical music” that is inspired by these Celtic tunes.

Describing the piece, Schilz, who is in her third year as a member of COYO, said that the first and third movements are extremely lyrical.

[Read on…]

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