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Archives for May 2022

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: a guitarist, a harpist, two dogs & a composer

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by Jarrett Hoffman

One by one the guest list for a recent Zoom conversation grew, until it included — in order of appearance — a guitarist and a harpist, two dogs, and a composer.

I knew about the instrumentalists going in. CIM guitar department co-head Colin Davin was staying at the home of his friend and collaborator Emily Levin, principal harp of the Dallas Symphony. So it would only make sense to chat with them together about their Davin-Levin Duo program coming up on Friday, June 3 at 7:30 pm at CIM’s Kulas Hall, presented as part of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival (tickets here). [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, May 31, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Organist Katherine Johnson at the Covenant at noon

•The League of American Orchestras commissions six women composers

•A new executive director for ChamberFest, and recent honors for Cleveland Chamber Choir and Dana students

•Almanac: the chamber music of Louise Farrenc, and the Tejano music of Lydia Mendoza

[Read more…]

A long-awaited celebration from the Blue Streak Ensemble (May 22)

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by Stephanie Manning

In the two years since the Cleveland Institute of Music’s centennial, Margaret Brouwer’s Blue Streak Ensemble has been patiently waiting for the opportunity to celebrate — and they weren’t about to let another chance pass by. After three pandemic-related delays, the concert finally presented on May 22 at CIM’s Mixon Hall was a testament to both the institution and the resilience of the ensemble itself.

Sunday’s program, the first in a pair of performances from the ensemble, featured four contemporary works with instrumentations ranging from one to six players. It also paid homage to the lineage of CIM composition faculty with a work by Donald Erb — the second performance, on Tuesday the 24th, highlighted Marcel Dick and Keith Fitch. (Brouwer herself was the head of the composition department from 1996 to 2008.)

[Read more…]

DIARY: Memorial Day Weekend, May 27 – May 30, 2022  

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

.Cleveland Orchestra appoints Concertmaster

. Vocal music highlights this weekend’s concerts

. Thea Musgrave and Nikoli Sokoloff celebrate birthdays, and our suggestions of music for Memorial Day

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

A lot of vocal music and related activities are on hand this weekend. Check our Concert Listings page for program details and ticket information.

May 27 – Friday

At 10:30 am and 3:00 pm, the Art Song Festival will hold Master Classes with soprano Tamara Wilson and at 8:00 pm will present a recital by tenor David Portillo and pianist Craig Terry. All three events are in Mixon Hall at Cleveland Institute of Music. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, May 26, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•A day of vocal music: art song master classes by pianist Craig Terry, an Oberlin “Pop-Up Opera,” and The Cleveland Orchestra’s Otello

•News from Severance: a change of soprano for tomorrow, and a new assistant conductor in the fall

•Interesting reads: Tiktok flipping the script on the music industry, and a review of Les Délices’ The White Cat from Early Music America

•Almanac: two musicians known for straddling popular and classical styles

[Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: Verdi’s Otello (May 21)

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by Peter Feher

Franz Welser-Möst led the final bows on Saturday night at Severance, like the star of any show should. The Cleveland Orchestra’s music director is in his element presiding over the ensemble’s annual opera production, which this season packs the drama. Verdi’s Otello — in a concert staging that opened May 21 and runs for two more performances (May 26 and 29) — demands big voices, instrumental forces to match, and a conductor who can give it all shape and direction. [Read more…]

Classical Guitar Festival returns coupled with Stroud Competition: a conversation with Armin Kelly

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by Daniel Hathaway

When COVID-19 crashed the party in March of 2020, it arrived just as musical organizations were putting final touches on their summer festival plans.

The famously disruptive pathogen caused the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival to make major alterations in its annual event at the Cleveland Institute of Music that June. What may look like the most practical solution — taking a whole festival online — poses problems of its own.

“Early on, and learning on the spot, we resorted to videos,” founder and artistic director Armin Kelly said during a recent phone conversation. “We were proud of what we were able to do on such short notice, but nothing beats the camaraderie of a live performance.” [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, May 25, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Art Song Festival hosts a panel discussion about collaboration, two Bach cantatas in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel

. Almanac: Anniversaries of the debuts of two opera houses, and the birthday of soprano Beverly Sills

TODAY’S EVENTS:

At 1:00 pm the Art Song Festival will hold a Panel Discussion, “Let’s Talk About Collaboration!” led by pianist Warren Jones, including a Q&A. Mixon Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music.  Free registration recommended.

Then at 7:30 pm on Wednesday evening, Ben Johns will direct the Oberlin Chamber Singers & Chamber Orchestra in  J.S. Bach’s cantatas BWV 4, Christ lag in Todes Banden, & BWV 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme in Finney Chapel. Click here to view the program, and if you can’t attend in person, click here to access a live stream. [Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, May 24, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today’s schedule: Art Song Festival master classes, organ at the Covenant, “Honoring Black Composers,” and the premiere of a violin concerto with the composer on the podium.

•Oberlin digs up old photos of tenor and alum Limmie Pulliam, currently starring in The Cleveland Orchestra’s “Otello in Concert.”

•The strange and complicated story behind Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata

[Read more…]

 DIARY, Weekend, Thursday-Monday, May 23-26, 202

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND:

On Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 8,  The Cleveland Orchestra continues its Opera Festival with Vox Humana (works by Francis Poulenc, J.S. Bach, Galina Ustvolskaya, and Richard Strauss, with Franz Welser-Möst, conducting, Sarah Aristidou, soprano Tony Sias, narrator, and The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

Also on Saturday, at 7:30 Carl Topilow leads the Firelands Symphony Orchestra in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, with Andrès Cárdenes, plus works by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and John Williams at Sawmill Creek Convention Center, in Huron. Tickets available online.

And on Sunday at 3 pm, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in the third and final performance of Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa.

Same day at the same hour, Cleveland Chamber Collective presents Music of America VIII, featuring works by Missy Mazzoli, Eric D. Gould, and Katherine Hoover, plus premieres of works by Ty Alan Emerson and Eric Charnofsky (Disciples Church in Cleveland Hts., free and live streamed here.)

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND ALMANAC:

On May 23, 1885, Paraguayan composer Agustín Barrios Mangoré was born in San Bautista de las Misiones. The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presented Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas in a 2020 online concert devoted to his music, including special guests Paquito D’Rivera (clarinet), Milagros Caliva (bandoneon), and Marcelo Enrique Barrios (the composer’s great-grandson).

Add Edmund Rubbra, born in 1901 in Northampton, to the list of underperformed British composers who should receive more exposure. Harry Christophers talks about a new recording he’s made of Rubbra’s music with The Sixteen here.

Mark the birthday of Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha, born on this date in 1923 with a special tribute filmed on the 91st anniversary of that event.

Finally, take note of the birthday in New York of American experimental composer Robert Moog on May 23, 1934, with a two-part Pacific Radio interview conducted in his studio that covers the invention of the synthesizer named after him, and the music written for it.

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