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Archives for June 2022

RE:Sound: Warp Trio and Robin Blake Sound Experiment (June 9) 

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by Jacob Strauss

On Thursday June 9, the Re:Sound Festival kicked off with two dynamic sets from the New York-based ensemble Warp Trio, and Cleveland’s own Robin Blake Sound Experiment.

Warp Trio took the stage as a quartet and began Duke Ellington’s Black and Tan Fantasy. Josh Henderson’s bow biting the strings of his electric violin sounded like a Bartók sonata infused with the blues. It sneered and bared its teeth. It was abrasive, and after the angst, the blues caught the collar of the snarling beast and calmed it. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: A chat with violinist Stephen Waarts

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by Mike Telin

Still in his mid-twenties, violinist Stephen Waarts has already amassed an impressive resumé. Among his successes, he was a prizewinner at the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition and secured the majority vote of the television audience. In March 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, and he was winner of the International Classical Music Awards Orchestra Award by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in 2019.

One of the few things Waarts has not done is to perform at ChamberFest Cleveland. That will change later this week. We reached the friendly violinist by telephone in Brussels where he was rehearsing for an upcoming recording project. [Read more…]

Soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon to make ChamberFest Cleveland debut

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by Mike Telin

This week music for voice will take center stage when the dynamic soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon makes her ChamberFest debut.

Fitz Gibbon has appeared as a soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Albany, Richmond, Tulsa, and Eureka Symphonies.

Just prior to our telephone conversation she had performed a recital for the Berkeley Early Music Festival and was a guest artist at SongFest at the San Francisco Conservatory. There she sang contemporary works by American composers including a song-cycle by Sheila Silver and the West Coast premiere of a cycle by John Harbison.

Mike Telin: We’re looking forward to your ChamberFest performances, but this is not your first visit to Cleveland.

Lucy Fitz Gibbon: That’s right. I was there in 2018 for the Art Song Festival. [Read more…]

Harpist Sivan Magen returns to ChamberFest Cleveland

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by Mike Telin

This week harpist Sivan Magen will make a return visit to ChamberFest Cleveland. “I’m excited to come back to Cleveland and play with those incredible players,” Magen said via Skype from Los Angeles, where he was preparing for a concert with his Israeli Chamber Project. “After that we’re heading to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the American Harp Society Conference where we’ll be giving a concert, master classes, and talks.”

Born in Jerusalem, Magen studied at the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance. After completing his military service, he continued his studies at the Paris Conservatory and went on to complete his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, June 27, 2022 

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by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S ENTRIES:

. Walker, Ives, and Furtwängler on today’s “Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music”

. Update on Cliburn gold medalist Yunchan Lim, Youth Wind Symphony joins CSU

. Almanac features Happy Birthday composer & piano sonatas by George Walker on his natal anniversary

ON TODAY:

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Radio Broadcast: Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, Eric Charnofsky, host. George Walker’s Five Fancies for clarinet and piano four hands, William Bland’s Sonata No. 4 for guitar and piano, Charles Ives’ Turn Ye, Turn Ye for choir and pipe organ, and Wilhelm Furtwängler’s second symphony. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: exploring the visual experience with Nicholas Houfek

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by Stephanie Manning

It’s unconventional to interview a lighting designer for an upcoming chamber music concert. But then again, a performance of Anna Thorvaldsdottír’s In the Light of Air is unconventional, too.

The four-movement suite for viola, cello, harp, piano, percussion, and electronics has a long history with the International Contemporary Ensemble (IntCE), but a new group of players will take it on for a concert as part of ChamberFest Cleveland on July 1. As lighting designer and current IntCE member Nicholas Houfek explained in a recent conversation, the difficulty with programming the piece lies in the logistics of the installation.

“We’ve had other people reach out, but once they hear what’s needed and required to install it, a lot of them kind of get scared and back away. It’s a lot for a chamber music festival or organization to take on.”

Houfek knows these requirements better than most — he’s been involved with the piece since its inception, working closely with Thorvaldsdottír while she composed it for IntCE in 2014. Describing the piece’s soundscape as “warm” and “natural” but also “otherworldly,” he discussed how sound and light combine to create the finished product.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend of June 24-26, 2022  

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. a long list of concerts in all shapes, flavors and sizes

. taking note of births and first performances: Terry Riley, William Grant Still, and Magnus Lindberg

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

The results of ENCORE’s String Quartet Intensive will be on display in three Young Artist Concerts on Friday at 7pm, and Saturday at 4pm and 7pm at Gilmour Academy’s Dodero Center in Gates Mills.

ChamberFest Cleveland presents “Color X Expanse” on Friday at 7:30 at Disciples Church, visiting piano music by Fritz Kreisler and George Walker, Kodaly’s Violin/Cello Duo and Fauré’s Piano Quintet. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, June 23, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Ohio Light Opera and ChamberFest Cleveland continue their seasons, while Tri-C JazzFest and the Local 4 Music Fund’s “She Scores” series kick off their programming tonight.

•A report from the Institute for Composer Diversity, an article about jazz in Detroit, and the reopening of Odessa Opera

•Almanac: Canton-born conductor John Finley Williamson and his Westminster Choir 

[Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: Davin-Levin guitar & harp duo (June 3)

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by Daniel Hathaway

You’d think that two instruments that create their sound by plucking strings might not provide enough variety to sustain interest over the course of a whole program, but guitarist Colin Davin and harpist Emily Levin have news for you.

The Davin-Levin Duo played the second recital of the 2022 Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival on June 3 in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Their engaging program, containing original arrangements of 20th-century works and a recent piece, was the first of four during the festival to feature guitarists playing with other instrumentalists, and Davin and Levin made the most of their opportunity to plunge into the rich possibilities of collaboration. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: Zooming with cellist & rising star Jonathan Swensen

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by Mike Telin

When looking at cellist Jonathan Swensen’s Facebook page, you can’t help but think that he is one busy guy. And one who has a good time doing what he does.

“I’m enjoying the traveling and the discovery that come with this life,” he said over Zoom. “Every audience and every hall has its special charm. I love experiencing different cultures. But it’s funny because I can go to so many places where I don’t speak anyone’s language, and be able to share something that comes from the heart. Something which any listener can understand, and that is very nice.”

Leading up to Swensen’s ChamberFest Cleveland debut on Thursday, June 23 at 7:30 pm at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall, I reached him at his home in Copenhagen. [Read more…]

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