by Tom Wachunas
It would seem that the timing of the March 23 MasterWorks concert by the Canton Symphony Orchestra — a few weeks into Lent — was no accident. If the mission of the program was to leave the audience awed enough to ponder and savor heavenly matters, it was ultimately accomplished with glorious panache. But the road to get there was paved with strange intentions. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
Next up on the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s concert series is an event that’s truly rare.
There is only one ensemble in the world made up of gongs played with bows, and that’s the Nakatani Gong Orchestra, which will give a free performance at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ohio City on Saturday, March 30 at 8:00 pm.
The group was founded by Tatsuya Nakatani, who describes the project on his website as nomadic. That’s because for each performance, he loads up his van with instrument stands, bows and gongs — now seventeen of them — and heads out on the road. Where are the players, you might ask?
by Nicholas Stevens
“What if Mozart were born today — in Cuba?” Taken out of context, the question reads like a surrealist conversation starter, although it made sense as a mid-performance remark during a recent concert. It came from double bassist and arts advocate Rick Robinson, whose mission it is to start lively conversations between the classical world and non-fans. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
Pianists occupy a central place in the classical music world. They are ubiquitous in solo recital, out front in concertos, and they collaborate with vocalists and instrumentalists in chamber music of all kinds. But what is surprisingly rare is pianists playing together, even though two people sitting together at one or two pianos was a major form of at-home entertainment in the 19th century. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When the Escher Quartet began planning their 2018-19 season, they knew it would include a new piano quintet by Anthony Cheung. Soon another commissioning opportunity from the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music came their way. Earlier this month the Escher gave the premiere of Chris Rogerson’s String Quartet No. 4 (2019) as part of the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival.
On Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, the Escher — Adam Barnett-Hart and Danbi Um, violins, Pierre LaPointe, viola, and Brook Speltz, cello — will give the second performance of Rogerson’s new work. Presented by Tuesday Musical, the program will also include Mozart’s Quartet in F, K. 590 and Beethoven’s monumental Quartet in C-sharp, Op. 131. A conversation with the musicians led by composer James Wilding will begin at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online.
by Mike Telin
“I wrote my Free Spirit Rag around 1985,” composer and pianist Brian Dykstra said during a telephone conversation. “I guess Terry Boyarsky heard a recording of it on WCLV, and got the idea of arranging it for balalaika and piano. You can imagine my surprise when I heard this back in the fall of 2017.”
On Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm at Nighttown, Russian Duo (Oleg Kruglyakov, balalaika and vocals, and Terry Boyarsky, piano) will present a program that includes the Duo’s arrangement of Dykstra’s Free Spirit Rag, as well as variations on Russian folk melodies, classical music, and Soviet compositions. Prior to the performance there will be a screening of director Chris Bohan’s and cinematographer Steve Hacker’s short film You Go First, which features music performed by Russian Duo. Tickets are available online.
Dykstra did send the music to Boyarsky and Kruglyakov, and gave them permission to make the arrangement. “Some months later Terry invited me to her house for dinner,” Dykstra said. “
by Daniel Hathaway
Liza Grossman’s Contemporary Youth Orchestra seized the opportunity of Joan Tower’s 80th birthday to invite the composer to Cleveland for a mini-residency followed by a March 9 concert at Tri-C’s Metro Auditorium entirely devoted to her music. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Cleveland Chamber Symphony launches its sixth NEOSonicFest on Friday, March 29 at 9:00 pm at Mahall’s in Lakewood with a concert in partnership with Fresh Perspectives. Uno Lady (Christa Ebert), a one-woman choir, will create electronic loops, harpist Stephan Haluska will present his own electro-acoustical compositions, and Buck McDaniel and Jacob Kirkwood will present a concert version of their live electro-acoustic score written for Cleveland Public Theatre’s Fire on the Water, a meditation on the 50th anniversary of the burning of the Cuyahoga River. The evening will also feature “signature cocktails” available for purchase. Tickets go for $7.
In a recent conference call, Fresh Perspective’s Devin Hinzo said that when they were looking for a venue to present McDaniel’s and Kirkwood’s piece, they immediately thought of Mahall’s. “They support local and emerging musicians as well as music that doesn’t fit any particular genre, so it seemed like a natural fit.”
by Daniel Hathaway
The Barcelona-based Cuarteto Casals seems to have a standing invitation from the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, having visited its series every other year in at least the past decade — and for good reason. Abel Tomàs, Vera Martínez Mehner, Jonathan Brown, and Arnau Tomàs bring an engaging Iberian intensity to their repertoire — along with the kind of inquisitive spirit that leads them to experiment with different styles of bows, collaborate with living composers, and commission new works. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
CIM/CWRU: Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie
If you were able to shut down your peripheral vision in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music on March 1 and focus only on the stage, you could imagine yourself sitting in the stalls at the Paris Opéra in 1757, watching the revival of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie. [Read more…]