ClevelandClassical.com Header
Ad
Ad
Ad

Archives for June 2016

ENCORE Chamber Music debuts this week: a conversation with director Jinjoo Cho

by

by Mike Telin

CHO-Jinjoo250x250Founded in 1985 by David and Linda Cerone, the Encore School for Strings served as the summer session of the Cleveland Institute of Music until 2008 when the program was phased out following David Cerone’s retirement as president of CIM. The prestigious program’s alumni include violinists Ray Chen, Hilary Hahn, and Leila Josefowicz, to name only a few. Beginning on Monday, June 12 and continuing through Saturday, July 30, young string players from around the world will gather on the Gilmour Academy campus in Gates Mills to take part in the inaugural season of ENCORE Chamber Music. [Read more…]

ENCORE Chamber Music: a conversation with the Miró Quartet’s Daniel Ching

by

by Mike Telin

Miro-Quartet“We had our roots right there in Northeast Ohio, so coming back to play is always a special thing for us,” Miró Quartet first violinist Daniel Ching said during a recent interview. “This time is extra special because we’ll be working with young players, so it brings back memories of when we were just starting out.”

On Saturday, June 18 at 8:00 pm in Gilmour Academy’s Our Lady Chapel, the Miró Quartet, Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violins, John Largess, viola, and Joshua Gindele, cello, will present the Opening Night Celebration of the inaugural ENCORE Chamber Music Institute. The program will feature works by Haydn, Beethoven, and Brahms.   [Read more…]

McCalmont’s List 4: Chopin: “Raindrop” Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15 (1839) & “Winter Wind” Étude, Op. 25, No. 11 (1836)

by

by Neil McCalmont

ChopinGenres: Prelude — a short piece meant as an introduction. Étude — a piece intended for study purposes and to improve technique
Scoring: Piano
Era: Early Romantic
Length: 4-5 minutes each
Will you recognize them? You’ll get the feeling you do
Recommended Recordings: Arthur Rubinstein for “Raindrop” and Maurizio Pollini for “Winter Wind” or Martha Argerich for both

Composer: Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849). Chopin (pronounced SHO-pan) established his reputation as the “poet of the piano,” as all of his works incorporate the instrument, and most of them are solo pieces. [Read more…]

Milt Hinton Institute convenes at Oberlin & Milt Hinton Day scheduled for June 16

by

by Mike Telin

Hinton-MiltFor seven decades, bassist Milt Hinton played with the most influential artists in American music. While doing so, Hinton chronicled his experiences through the lens of his ever-present camera. This week the Oberlin Conservatory will celebrate its ties to the late performer with the Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass, a biennial summer program for developing musicians that takes place on the Oberlin campus from June 12 to 19.

Designed for bass students ages 13-21 of all ability levels, the Institute consists of a week of master classes, performances, bass ensembles, studio sessions, lectures, and workshops. [Read more…]

Opera Circle Cleveland: Jorge Pita Carreras and Christina Carr talk about their first plunges into opera

by

by Mike Telin

CARR-CARRERAS“What do I enjoy about singing Verdi? Oh my gosh, everything about it,” tenor Jorge Pita Carreras exclaimed during a recent interview. On Saturday, June 11 at 7:30 pm at the Ohio Theatre in Playhouse Square, Carreras will perform the role of Manrico in Opera Circle Cleveland’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore. Mezzo-soprano Christina Carr, who will perform the role of Azucena, shares Carreras’s feelings about the composer’s music. “There’s just something about the way Verdi approaches the emotional side of his music that brings you along. It’s just wonderful,” she said during a separate interview.

Based on a Spanish play by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez adapted by Verdi’s librettist Salvatore Cammarano, the opera is the middle child in the trio of popular titles Verdi produced in the early 1850s, preceded by Rigoletto and followed by La traviata. Joel Smirnoff will conduct the Opera Circle Orchestra and a cast that will also include baritone Kevin Wetzel as Il Conte di Luna, soprano Dorota Sobieska as Leonora, bass Nathan Resika as Ferrando, tenor Brian Skoog as Ruiz, and soprano Lauren Wright as Inez. [Read more…]

Violists, trombonists, and lutenists to gather in Northeast Ohio in June

by

by Daniel Hathaway

JasperSQSummer is the time when musical birds of a feather decide to flock together. During the month of June, critical masses of violists, trombonists, and lutenists will convene for festivals and seminars at the Oberlin Conservatory, Cleveland State University, and Case Western Reserve University.

It all starts with the American Viola Society, who will offer four public concerts in conjunction with their convention this week in Oberlin. On Wednesday, June 8 at 7:30 pm, the Jasper String Quartet (left) will open the series in Warner Concert Hall with guest violist Liz Freivogel and music by Beethoven, Missy Mazzoli, Donnacha Dennehy, and Brahms.

A Warner Concert Hall event on the following evening, June 9 at 7:30 pm, will celebrate the career achievement of Robert Vernon, principal viola of The Cleveland Orchestra, with a program of music by Max Bruch, Robert Schumann, and Gabriel Fauré performed by Vernon, violinist Elmar Oliveira, cellist Ralph Curry, and pianist Carolyn Warner.   [Read more…]

Opera Circle Cleveland: a conversation With Il trovatore conductor Joel Smirnoff

by

by Mike Telin

SMIRNOFF-JoelFor its season finale, Opera Circle Cleveland will present Giuseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore on Saturday, June 11 at 7:30 pm at the Ohio Theatre in Playhouse Square. Based on a Spanish play by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez adapted by Verdi’s librettist Salvatore Cammarano, the opera is the middle child in the trio of popular titles Verdi produced in the early 1850s, preceded by Rigoletto and followed by La traviata.

Joel Smirnoff will conduct the Opera Circle Orchestra and a cast including tenor Jorge Pita Carreras as Manrico, baritone  Kevin Wetzel as Il Conte di Luna, mezzo-soprano Christina Carr as Azucena, soprano Dorota Sobieska as Leonora, bass Nathan Resika as Ferrando, tenor Brian Skoog as Ruiz, and soprano Lauren Wright as Inez.   [Read more…]

Make Music Day comes to Cleveland on summer solstice, June 21

by

by Daniel Hathaway

r3_09_instagramSince the first Fête De La Musique was launched by Jack Lange and the French Ministry of Culture in 1982, some 5 million people — 8% of the population of France — have played or sung in public on June 21, the summer solstice. During the last 34 years, the idea of sponsoring a free day of live music of every genre in every possible location has spread to 700 cities in 120 countries. There are no auditions and no application requirements: everyone is invited to perform or to host performances.

Make Music Day is now about to debut in Cleveland on June 21 under the sponsorship of Credo Music, in partnership with the Make Music Alliance, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and The Music Settlement.

The idea is to bring communities together through music. As Peter Slowik, Credo’s executive director said, “In our day-to-day lives, we put barriers between ourselves and our neighbors, we live very much in our own worlds. [Read more…]

McCalmont’s List 3: Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D (“Titan”), 1888

by

by Neil McCalmont

Mahler-GustavGenre: Symphony — a composition for orchestra, usually in several movements
Scoring: Large orchestra
Era: Late Romantic
Length: c. 1 hour
Will you recognize it? Maybe an eerie feeling of familiarity during the 3rd movement
Recommended Recordings: Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic, or Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Composer: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Mahler was known more as an opera conductor than as a composer during his lifetime, but due to a revival of his music in the 1960s, he has garnered a reputation as perhaps the greatest symphonist since Beethoven. Plagued by anti-Semitic sentiment throughout his career, he still managed to secure the directorship of the Vienna Court Opera, the most prestigious opera house in the world at the time. His turbulent yet successful career continued when he took up posts at the Metropolitan Opera and the Philharmonic Society of New York — now the New York Philharmonic — from 1908 until his death in 1911. [Read more…]

Opera Circle Cleveland’s Il trovatore: insights from Christina Carr & Jorge Pita Carreras

by

by Mike Telin

CARR-CARRERASOpera Circle Cleveland will revisit Giuseppi Verdi’s Il trovatore for its season finale at the Ohio Theatre in PlayHouse Square on Saturday, June 11 at 7:30 p.m. Last produced by the company in February of 2012, the opera is the middle child in the trio of popular titles Verdi produced in the early 1850s, preceded by Rigoletto and followed by La traviata.

Based on a Spanish play by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez adapted by Verdi’s librettist Salvatore Cammarano, the opera was an immense success at its premiere at Rome’s Teatro Apollo on January 19, 1853. Although the Tiber had flooded earlier that day and the audience had to slog through water and mud to reach the theater, nothing dampened their enthusiasm that evening. Il trovatore  proved immediately appealing to the crowd. As the Gazetta Musicale reported,

The public listened to every number with religious silence and broke out with applause at every interval, the end of the third act and the whole of the fourth arousing such enthusiasm that their repetition was demanded. — David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Opera. [Read more…]

Follow ClevelandClassical.com

Contact us