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Archives for February 2016

A Passionate Valentine from the Canton Symphony Orchestra (Feb. 14)

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by Tom Wachunas

Shaub-WilliamAmong the special features of the Canton Symphony’s February 14 Valentine’s Day-themed concert at Umstattd Performing Arts Hall was the return of Canton native son, violinist William Shaub. He began his violin studies at age 3, became a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra at 16, studied further as a scholarship student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and is currently a scholarship student at Julliard. Through it all he has been steadily building an impressive track record as a soloist throughout the United States. [Read more…]

French baroque quartet “Nevermind” to play at Oberlin’s Fairchild Chapel

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by Mike Telin

Nevermind“Many times baroque ensembles have a leader with different musicians playing at each concert,” Anna Besson, flutist for the Paris-based baroque quartet Nevermind said during a Skype interview. “But from the beginning, because we were friends, we wanted to be a quartet. Just us four and no one else.”

On Tuesday, February 23 at 6:30 pm in Oberlin’s Fairchild Chapel (Bosworth Hall), Besson will be joined by her colleagues Louis Creac’h, violin, Robin Pharo, viola da gamba, and Jean Rondeau, harpsichord, in a concert featuring music by Georg Phillip Telemann, Jean-Baptiste Quentin, Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, and François Couperin. [Read more…]

Ches Smith, Craig Taborn &
Mat Maneri Trio bring their debut
CD, The Bell, to Bop Stop

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by Mike Telin

BopStop-022016“I’ve been listening to Mat (Maneri) for a long time…and I just really loved his playing,” drummer and composer Ches Smith (left in the photo) told us in a telephone conversation. “I’ve seen Craig (Taborn) around and like what he does, but when a gig opportunity came along to improvise with both of them, I jumped on it. And that led to all of this.” The “this” Smith is referring to is the Trio’s debut CD on the ECM label, The Bell. On Saturday, February 20 at 8:00 pm, the Smith, Taborn, Maneri trio will present a concert at Bop Stop featuring through-composed material from the album designed to stimulate open-ended improvisation. The concert is a co-production with New Ghosts.

Since drummer Ches Smith, pianist Craig Taborn, and violist Mat Maneri debuted as a trio during the 2014 New York Winter Jazzfest the three musicians have dedicated much of their professional careers to making the album. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra announces
its 2016 Summer Schedule

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by Daniel Hathaway

Blossom-Lawn-by-Roger-Mastroianni-CLO81703_408On the Ides of February, when the mercury is hovering low, and your vehicle is encrusted in road salt, there’s no more pleasant pastime than thinking ahead to the lazy, hazy days of summer. The Cleveland Orchestra is thinking ahead too: details of their Blossom Festival concerts, their third season of Summers@Severance performances, their collaboration with the Cleveland International Piano Competition, and their August European Festival Tour have recently been released. Here’s what’s going to happen.

[Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: pianist Sir András Schiff
(Feb. 12)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Schiff-AndrasMany performances are memorable for their excellence, but only a few can be called transcendental experiences. On Friday, February 23 in Finney Chapel, pianist Sir András Schiff took his large audience into another realm with his exceptional performances of late sonatas by Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadè Mozart, and Franz Schubert. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical: flutist Marina Piccinini & pianist Andreas Haefliger (Feb 9.)

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by Jane Berkner

Piccinini-HaefligerOn February 9 in E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron, Tuesday Musical Association presented a pre-Valentine’s Day celebration of marriage. The wife and husband duo of flutist Marina Piccinini and pianist Andreas Haefliger gave masterful performances of demanding literature, gifting the audience with a world premiere and a few wedding presents. [Read more…]

French Baroque Vespers at the Church of the Covenant (Feb. 14)

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by Nicholas Jones

Covenant-Vespers-021416Church music for Lent is usually framed as an incentive to penitence, to trimming down one’s life and meditating on the transience of existence on earth. Particularly powerful during the Baroque period was the service of Tenebrae — performed during Holy Week and accompanied by the extinguishing of candles — for which many composers have left us wonderful settings. At Euclid Avenue’s Church of the Covenant late Sunday afternoon, the diminishing light of a winter day sufficed for the darkening, and the music supplied the intensity. [Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society: Ensemble HD, “Cabaret: Between Two World Wars” (Feb. 1)

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by Christine Jay

Ensemble-HD-HiDefCan you successfully bring bar music into the concert hall? Cleveland Orchestra principal flutist Joshua Smith and Ensemble HD say, yes we can. Presented by the Rocky River Chamber Music Society on February 1 at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the ensemble performed their concert titled “Cabaret : Between Two World Wars.” [Read more…]

Les Délices to present “Folly of Youth” with guest soprano Shannon Mercer, Feb. 20 & 21

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by Mike Telin

Mercer-ShannonRemember being young and thinking you were immortal: never believing that your actions could have tragic consequences? This weekend Les Délices will explore the “Folly of Youth” on Saturday, February 20 at 8:00 in Harkness Chapel and Sunday, February 21 at 4:00 pm in Herr Chapel, Plymouth Church. The program will pair George Frideric Handel’s youthful cantata Tra le fiamme with French Baroque works that recount the stories of Icarus and Phaeton — young men who dared to fly too close to the sun. The weekend will also include a 45-minute free Family Concert on Saturday beginning at 3:00 pm at The Bop Stop.

“The program is a vocal workout, but I’m looking forward to it!” exclaimed Canadian soprano Shannon Mercer during a telephone interview. “There’s a youthful frivolity to it, and the French works all have a lot of drama.”

The text to Handel’s cantata Tra le fiamme explores the concepts of fatal attraction, temptation, pleasure, and exhilaration. Mercer, who will be making her Les Délices debut at these concerts, said the work is highly ornamented in its depiction of flight, feathers, and butterflies. [Read more…]

Akron Symphony with pianist Richard Kogan (Feb. 6)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Kogan-RichardPianist-psychiatrist Richard Kogan met Akron Symphony music director Christopher Wilkins when both were undergraduates at Harvard. During that time, Kogan played a concerto with the student-run Bach Society Orchestra under Wilkins’s baton. The two met up again on Saturday, February 6 in E.J. Thomas Hall for a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s second concerto, preceded by an introductory talk by Kogan. [Read more…]

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