by Mike Telin
Sometimes personalities and musical sensibilities between members of a chamber music ensemble just seem to click. Such is the case with the acclaimed Jerusalem Quartet, who first came together while still in high school. But according to violinist Alexander Pavlovsky, at that time, becoming a world-class string quartet was the furthest thing from their minds. “We did not think a lot about the future. We were only concentrating on building a repertoire and enjoying every moment of being part of such an amazing ensemble.”
On Tuesday, February 24 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, the Jerusalem Quartet, made up of Alexander Pavlovsky and Sergei Bresler, violins, Ori Kam, viola, and Kyril Zlotnikov, cello, will return to the area for a concert for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, their third appearance on the series since 2010. The program features Mozart’s Quartet in G, K. 387, Schulhoff’s Five Pieces and Schumann’s Quartet No. 3 in A, op. 41, no. 3. David Rothenberg will give a pre-concert lecture beginning at 6:30 pm.
The quartet, which is currently in the middle of a North American tour, was unable to speak with us by telephone. However, Alexander Pavlovsky graciously agreed to answer questions by e-mail. [Read more…]
This past Sunday, guitarist Jason Vieaux became a first-time Grammy Award winner in the “Best Classical Solo Performance” category for his Azica Records CD, Play. On Saturday, February 14, Vieaux will be the featured soloist in Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Akron Symphony under the direction of Christopher Wilkins.
If you think packing for a plane trip is a challenge, here’s what Rex Benincasa has to take through the security checkpoint. “I’m bringing a low tension tabor, a darbuka, a frame drum from Morocco called the Alun — which is a Berber instrument from the Atlas Mountains — an Arabic tambourine or riq, a North African or Egyptian tambourine, an assortment of ankle bells, camel bells, clamshell bells, Indian brass bells, castanets, a classical tambourine, a triangle that’s made out of a drill used to drill into stone, and an assortment of little shakers, claves and maracas,” he said via cell phone, having just buckled himself in for the last leg of his flight from New York to Cleveland. “Homeland Security used to tear everything apart but now they just swipe me for explosives and let me slide.”
On Friday, February 13, assistant conductor Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a live performance of Bernard Herrmann’s score to Vertigo, coordinating the music with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological thriller.
Oberlin Conservatory students packed Stull Recital Hall on Thursday, February 5 for a performance by Brooklyn-based chamber music ensemble PROJECT Trio. The group, made up of flutist Greg Pattillo, cellist Eric Stephenson, and bassist Peter Seymour, met while studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and now they are performing concerts around the globe. In their return to Northeast Ohio, they brought their distinctive style of music-making and their accompanying message of charting a unique pathway in the world of music. 
For many decades the legendary St. Olaf Choir, based at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, has been a gold standard by which other American collegiate choirs are often measured. In more than a century since its founding, the choir has had only four directors, beginning with F. Melius Christiansen in 1912, through its current director Anton Armstrong, who this year celebrates his 25th anniversary with the choir. 