by Mike Telin
While violinist Andrew Sords’ prolific career as a soloist and chamber musician takes him around the world to far away places, there’s just something about coming back to Cleveland and making music with his friends. “There’s nothing better than to rehearse with these high-level colleagues, and have dinner afterwards,” the Cleveland Institute of Music graduate said by telephone on his way to Toronto.
On Sunday, September 22 at 3:00 pm at Rocky River Presbyterian Church, Sords will join violinist Mari Sato, violist Eric Wong, cellist Nathanael Matthews, and pianist Elizabeth DeMio for a program titled “An Afternoon of Romantic Chamber Music.” The free concert is presented as part of the church’s Artist Concert Series.
“Liz and I have done nearly 400 performances together,” Sords said, “and I’ve known Nate Matthews for a number of years. Mari was a coach of mine at CIM. We get along so well and I’m always inspired by her classy playing. And Eric and I were both students at CIM but never worked together until this year, when we played the Schumann piano quintet back in January. I thought wow, what a player.”
Last month on the podcast 
When guitarist Jason Vieaux and the Escher String Quartet first performed together at Music@Menlo in 2007, the musicians knew they needed to keep the collaboration going. “Since then the Quartet has played with him many times,” Escher first violinist Adam Barnett-Hart said during a telephone interview. “We’ve performed some duos as part of the Quartet programs,” Vieaux said during a separate conversation, “but next week will be the first full concert as a duo.”
When inclement weather forced the cancelation of the Akron Symphony’s January 2019 concert, they were fortunate that both guest conductor and soloist were available to open the ASO’s 2019-2020 season this weekend. The following preview, originally published in January, has been edited for content. 