by Mike Telin
It’s hard to believe, but Tri-C JazzFest will celebrate its 40th anniversary from June 27 through June 29 at Playhouse Square. The 2019 edition offers nine ticketed indoor shows featuring national artists, and seventeen free performances featuring local and regional bands on the outdoor stage. Click here for single tickets and here for festival passes.
“Forty years, isn’t that something,” JazzFest director Terri Pontremoli said during a telephone conversation. “That’s why we decided to look inward at our own jazz history and our own heroes. So Cleveland is going to be well represented and I think that’s a good thing for us.”
The Festival kicks off on Thursday, June 27 at 7:45 pm at the KeyBank State Theatre with the iconic Tower of Power. “We are so excited to have them — they are celebrating their 50th anniversary, and some of them are the original members,” Pontremoli said. “If you want a hoot, get on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts and listen to theirs.” [Read more…]
“We look forward to smashing the heteropatriarchy with you,” cellist Benjamin Swartz said before performing a program of Sofia Gubaidulina, Tamar Diesendruck, and Kaija Saariaho with Boston-based string trio Sound Energy. The group closed the second concert of this year’s Re:Sound New and Experimental Music Festival on Friday June 7 at The Magalen, which featured a sensational first half by the Berrow Duo and made a strong case for the many daring voices of 21st century composers.
How did a first-generation Korean-American from Ann Arbor, Michigan find her way to Spain and form a Spanish Jazz quartet? “I’m not sure why, but from an early age I have always been drawn to Spanish melodies,” Maureen Choi said by telephone. “Growing up studying classical violin, my favorite pieces were the violin concertos with a little bit of Spanish flair. And when I started studying jazz I discovered Latin rhythms and became intrigued by their complexity.”
Guitarist Colin Davin explored the relationship between old and new on his opening recital of the 19th Annual Cleveland International Guitar Festival on June 6, pairing Steve Reich’s 
One of the enduring images from last Sunday, June 9 at the Gilmour Academy’s Tudor House is of hugs being exchanged in the hallway. The Jupiter String Quartet and the young artists of the Lafontaine Quartet had just blown us away with Mendelssohn’s 
This weekend a collection of carefully placed screws, bolts, and pieces of wood, cloth, and rubber will make the Steinway in CIM’s Mixon Hall sound less like a piano and more like an ensemble of percussion instruments.
