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Archives for June 2022

Violinists Joseph Lin and Sarah Kapustin to make ChamberFest debuts 

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by Mike Telin

Coordinating the schedules of musicians and festivals is often a long, and at times, a complicated process. Take violinists Joseph Lin and Sarah Kapustin for example. Both have been on ChamberFest Cleveland’s list of invitees from the Festival’s beginning, but the stars have simply never aligned. Until now.

Later this week both Lin and Kapustin will finally make their ChamberFest debuts when the Festival kicks off its tenth season. Click here for details.

“Ever since Diana and Frank started the festival we’ve talked about me coming, but it never seemed to work out until this year,” Lin said. “I’m so glad that everything has finally come together.”

“I’ve known Diana since we were teenagers, so for over 20 years,” Kapustin said. “I’ve been invited from the beginning but it just never worked out. My debut should have been two years ago but because of COVID  it was put on hold. So I’m happy that it’s finally on the calendar.” [Read more…]

Cleveland International Guitar Festival: Duo Melis (June 4) 

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by Peter Feher

The guitar is an instrument that can travel anywhere and play just about anything. Listeners got the chance to take in some of that variety at the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, which returned in person to the Cleveland Institute of Music last weekend. Original arrangements and inventive pairings — pieces with harp, cello, and more — added to the schedule, but a sense of what makes a performance “classical” emerged as well.

Studied expertise might be one answer. It was certainly the quality Duo Melis had in spades playing the Festival’s headlining concert on Saturday, June 4 in Kulas Hall. Husband-and-wife guitarists Alexis Muzurakis and Susana Prieto brought decades of musical knowledge to several cornerstones of the repertoire, while still leaving a little room to explore. [Read more…]

Michael Borowitz returns to conduct Ohio Light Opera

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by Mike Telin

Like nearly every performing arts organization in the world — especially those reliant on vocalists — Ohio Light Opera had to “improvise” during the pandemic. Returning to live performances on Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm in Freedlander Theatre in Wooster, the company will launch its 2022 season with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Tickets are available online. Click here to view a season calendar.

On opening night, the person guiding the performance from the orchestra pit will be conductor Michael Borowitz. A Pennsylvania native and graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Borowitz serves on the faculty at Louisiana State University and is the artistic director of Opéra Louisiane.

He has served as artistic Director of Nevada Opera, and has been on the podium for La Musica Lirica, Des Moines Metro Opera, AVA Ballet, and Opera Columbus, to name a few. His repertoire ranges from the traditional titles of Puccini and Rossini to contemporary scores. And for five seasons he was Music Director for Ohio Light Opera.

We caught up with Borowitz by telephone and began our conversation by asking him how it feels to be back at OLO after more than a decade’s absence. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, June 13, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S ENTRIES:

. Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music from 2-4

. Mäkëla to lead Concertgebouw Orchestra at 26, megabucks for Minnesota Public Radio, Cleveland comes of age in 1921, and does eye contact between musicians matter during performances?

. Anniversaries of composer comings and goings: enter Carlos Chavez (pictured) and exit David Diamond.

TODAY’S EVENTS:

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Radio Broadcast: Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, Eric Charnofsky, host. [Read more…]

Cleveland Classical Guitar Festival: Drew Henderson, joined later by Petra Poláčková (June 2)

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by Jacob Strauss

On Thursday June 2 in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Drew Henderson (Canada) opened the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival with a program of Baroque and Romantic music.

This was the first time the festival had been in-person since the pandemic hit the world in March 2020. Henderson was grateful to be playing in front of an audience again, and he performed generously, his musicianship was thoughtful and earnest.

With his eight-string guitar propped up on a support rest, Henderson informed the audience that he would be adding to the program and begin by playing an unmeasured prelude by Sylvius Leopold Weiss, a preeminent composer for the lute, and a contemporary of J.S. Bach. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir’s weekend concerts to benefit Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence

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by Daniel Hathaway

Scott MacPherson frequently programs concerts for his Cleveland Chamber Choir that deal with current social issues, and its programs at Akron’s St. Sebastian Church on Saturday, June 11 at 6:30 pm (freewill offering, live stream available), and at Chagrin Falls Federated Church on Sunday, June 12 at 5:00 pm (tickets here) have been heavily influenced by recent events.

In a recent telephone conversation, Oberlin Conservatory musicology professor Charles Edward McGuire, who will give pre-concert lectures 45 minutes before each performance, revealed the thought process that led to the choice of repertory for these concerts by MacPherson’s professional singers.

“The concept was really planned around Kent State composition professor Adam Robert’s work, Book of Doubt/Book of Faith.” Written for 16-part choir, viola and percussion, the piece sets secular, feminist ‘psalms’ by poet Claire Schwartz relevant to our time and connected to Jewish history, as well as music by composers who have historically been excluded from the world of classical music. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend of June 10-12, 2022  

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Two Opera premieres, cello and carillon music, a festival of experimental sounds, ENCORE returns to Gates Mills, choral settings of feminist psalms: a wide palette of performances is in the works these three days.

. Anniversaries of Delius, Richard Strauss, and an innovative Britten work in the Almanac.

THIS WEEKEND’S EVENTS:

At 12:15 pm on Friday it’s the McGaffin Carillon Concert & Live Stream: George Leggiero, carillonneur. An 18th century carillon prelude by Matthias van den Gheyn, two Songs Without Words by Mendelssohn & Beethoven’s Für Elise. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, June 9, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Chamber music at the Aronson Festival, and three opening nights in opera and contemporary music

•Berta Rojas’ guitar is recovered, and the Guitar Society schedules a Community Celebration

•Almanac: Carl Nielsen and the personalities of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet

[Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: catching up with pianist & rising star Evren Ozel

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by Daniel Hathaway

Born in Minneapolis in 1999, pianist Evren Ozel has established a stellar reputation in Northeast Ohio.

He has competed twice in the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition at Oberlin, making it into the finals in 2013, when he also won the Audience Prize. He finished second in 2016, when photographer Roger Mastroianni captured him here in the heat of collaboration with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra. We were impressed:

17-year-old Evren Ozel, from Minneapolis, learned Beethoven’s fourth concerto expressly for this competition, and the results of his preparation were impressive. His interpretation shone both with technical poise and poetry — basking in the moment of performing on the Severance Hall stage with his excellent colleagues. [Read more…]

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