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Archives for March 2022

Diary: Weekend, March 26-27, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

ON THIS WEEKEND:

You’d have to clone yourself several times over to take in all this weekend’s live concerts. Here’s a bucket list to help you choose.

Orchestras: Canton with pianist Sarah Davis Buechner (Sat.), Cleveland with Dames Jane Glover & Imogen Cooper (Sat. & Sun.), and Firelands with Ilya and Olga Kaler (Sat.)

Operas: Last chances for The Secret Marriage at Oberlin (Sat. & Sun.) and The Marriage of Figaro at BW (Sat. & Sun.)

Recitals: David Bowlin and Tony Cho at Oberlin (Sat.), Karim Sulyman (pictured) and Yi-heng Yang at Youngstown (Sat.), Elizabeth Frey, Brian Skoog, and Karel Paukert in Cleveland Hts. (Sun.) & Alistair Howlett, Katherine Jolly, and Tatiana Lokhina at Oberlin (Sun.)

Pianists: Brian Wallick at CMA (Tri-C series, Sun.), Inna Faliks in Akron (Holy Trinity Lutheran, Sun.), Nicholas Underhill in Painesville (Sun.) and Jiarui Cheng in Hudson (Sun.)

Plus organist Damin Spritzer in Oberlin and the Mozart Requiem in Painesville (Sun.)

Details in our Concert Listings. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Rosamunde String Quartet (Mar. 15)

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by Peter Feher

If you were assembling an all-star chamber group, you couldn’t do much better than the Rosamunde String Quartet. The ensemble — a passion project for its members, who play in the string sections of some of the world’s top orchestras most of the year — visited the Cleveland Chamber Music Society on March 15.

One secret to last Tuesday’s polished program at Plymouth Church had to do with the group’s extracurricular nature. Thanks in part to seasons in ensembles including the Berlin, Los Angeles, and New York Philharmonics, the Quartet can pull off a big program easily, and with a certain unity of style. [Read more…]

Sheng virtuoso Wu Wei at CMA (Mar. 11)

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By Peter Feher

Wu Wei is one of the world’s best players of an instrument you’ve likely never heard. The Chinese sheng virtuoso took advantage of this fact from the start of his dazzling program at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium on March 11.

The stage was barely lit, and the rest of the hall was pitch black, when he made his entrance from the back of the house, down one of the aisles. His playing mingled with the other sounds in the auditorium — a violin line floating along the opposite aisle and spectral notes coming from the cello, harpsichord, and percussion onstage. [Read more…]

ChamberFest & Chamber Music Society come together April 5 “For the Love of Chamber Music”

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by Mike Telin

Examining the mailing lists of an arts organization can reveal a lot. First and foremost that list tells you who is attending the events. And when comparing the mailing lists of two like-minded organizations, for example ones devoted to chamber music, one would expect to find more than a fair amount of overlap.

“Many of us at Cleveland Chamber Music Society have gone to a lot of ChamberFest concerts over the years and admired their exceptional quality and creative programming,” Steve Somach, the CCMS director of programming, said by telephone. “We have commented amongst ourselves that when we attend those concerts, there are so many unfamiliar faces.”

During a separate conversation these sentiments and observations were echoed by Franklin Cohen, one of ChamberFest Cleveland’s artistic directors. “I’ve always loved going to CCMS concerts,” he said, adding that it is a different audience.

After some discussion, the two organizations decided to compare their respective mailing lists, and they were met with a surprising discovery — there was very little duplication. “It became apparent that having a collaborative event would be a great way for Cleveland-area chamber music lovers to be introduced to both organizations,” Somach said. [Read more…]

Contrapunctus & King’s Counterpoint return to Cleveland for joint concert

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by Daniel Hathaway

Contrapunctus Early Music, a vocal project launched in Cleveland by British countertenor David Acres, has been absent from the local musical scene for four years now.

The high-voice chorus of sopranos, altos, and countertenors will reanimate itself this weekend to join The King’s Counterpoint from Charleston, S.C. in a joint performance on Friday, March 25 at 7:30 pm at St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Cleveland.

In February 2018, before Contrapunctus’ last concert here, Acres told this publication that his involvement with King’s Counterpoint had kept him so busy that Cleveland had temporarily fallen off the calendar.

“A series of Baroque Messiahs and the inaugural concert in our exploration of Handel’s Oratorios, commencing with Judas Maccabaeus — both with members of the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, a critically acclaimed performance in the Piccolo Spoleto Series and an invite to return, together with over 16 performances in South Carolina, have stopped us from returning to Cleveland to explore more high-voice repertoire with Contrapunctus.” [Read more…]

DIARY: Friday, March 25, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

In today’s entries:

• the British invasion at Severance features two recently appointed Dames

• choral concerts return to Gartner Auditorium & St. John’s Cathedral

• BW and Oberlin continue their opera runs with Mozart and Cimarosa

• Composers Guild repackages new music in old containers

TODAY’S EVENTS:

Two Englishwomen recently named dames of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire are in charge of The Cleveland Orchestra concert tonight at Severance Music Center. Dame Jane Glover will lead works by Mozart (the 22nd Piano Concerto), Vaughan Williams (the Tallis Fantasia) & Britten (the Suite on English folk tunes), and Dame Imogen Cooper will be featured in the concerto.  [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, March 24, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Events from The Cleveland Orchestra, BW Opera, and Oberlin Opera

•The Orchestra’s return to Miami, and job postings from Apollo’s Fire and Oberlin

•R.I.P. William Kraft, hero of percussion in contemporary music

•Almanac: Bach delivers the Brandenburgs, along with an obsequious note of dedication

[Read more…]

Pianist Imogen Cooper
returns to Severance  

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by Mike Telin

It’s difficult to believe that it was in April of 2014 that the inimitable British pianist Imogen Cooper last appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra. Interestingly, it was Dame Jane Glover who was on the podium for that engagement. 

On Thursday, March 24 at 7:30 pm, Cooper and Glover will reunite with the Orchestra on the Severance Music Center stage. The program will include music by Britten, Mozart, Tallis, and Vaughan Williams. Performances continue through Sunday and tickets are available online.

From the beginning of our recent telephone conversation, it was clear that Cooper is excited to be back in Cleveland. “It’s lovely to be here. The sun is shining and I can’t wait to renew my relationship with the orchestra. It’s going to be a real joy,” the pianist said from her hotel room. “And that gorgeous hall that I love so much. I don’t think there’s a more beautiful hall in the world.” 

[Read more…]

“The Story of a Pianist” —
Ukrainian-born Inna Faliks
on her monologue-recital
& her home country

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Inna Faliks has always found it natural to mix and match the arts.

“I think that’s directly related to growing up in Odessa, Ukraine, in a musical household, but also a household of people who love books,” the UCLA piano professor said during a recent telephone conversation. “I feel like the arts speak to each other in a way that’s extremely natural, so exploring that has never been anything that I decided to do. It’s always been second-nature to me.”

That’s been evident throughout Faliks’ career in projects combining music with poetry and theater. In the category of musical autobiography is her monologue-recital “Polonaise-Fantaisie: Story of a Pianist,” which she will bring to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron on Sunday, March 27 at 4:00 pm as part of the Arts @ Holy Trinity series.

Faliks has described this one-woman show as her most personal. The narrative, spanning from immigration to music and love, is interspersed with works by Rodion Shchedrin, J.S. Bach, Jan Freidlin, Niccolò Paganini, Franz Liszt, Mozart, Chopin, and Beethoven. Admission is free. Click here to see the full program and to register for the livestream option.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, March 23, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S EVENTS:

Events in Ukraine are on everyone’s mind, but musicians are engaging with the crisis through consciousness-raising and fundraising performances.

Oberlin Conservatory Faculty pianists Scott Cuellar, Peter Takács, Tony Cho, Yulia Fedoseeva and Haewon Song, clarinetist Richard Hawkins, French hornist Jeff Scott, bassoonist Drew Pattison, violinists Francesca dePasquale and David Bowlin, violist Kirsten Docter, cellists Dmitry Kouzov and Andrei Ionita, bassist Derek Zadinsky and members of the Verona Quartet will play a benefit concert tonight at 7:30 in Oberlin’s First Methodist Church. Donations will be directed to UNICEF Ukraine, Red Cross Ukraine, and Razom.

The CIM Orchestra will perform at Severance Music Center tonight under Carlos Kalmar in a program featuring pianist Jacob Bernhardt in Prokofiev’s Third Concerto, as well as the first outing of a new piece by CIM’s Keith Fitch, Charles Ives’ amusing The Unanswered Question (the Druids have no comment) and Vaughan Williams’ Fourth Symphony. [Read more…]

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