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Archives for February 2023

CityMusic Cleveland: three concerts with clarinetist Daniel Gilbert

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by Jarrett Hoffman

In three concerts over the next three months from CityMusic Cleveland, one particular instrument, and one particular player, crop up several times.

Clarinetist Daniel Gilbert will be featured in “Explorations for Clarinet, Strings and Piano” (February 25), “The Visionary Clarinet” (March 16-19), and “Clarinet Dialogues” (May 13) — the outer two programs being chamber music collaborations, the middle one a solo appearance with the CityMusic Orchestra. Details of times and locations can be found here.

As is often the case with the best chamber music gatherings, family and friends play an important role here. The February program was put together by Gilbert and his wife, pianist Donna Lee, and it features a commissioned work titled Recitations and Dedications by a longtime friend of his: Gregg August (pictured below).
 [Read more…]

Trail Blazing Musician Wu Man in Residence at Oberlin

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by Cathy Partlow Strauss

This article is posted with the permission of the author and Oberlin Conservatory

The pipa is not an instrument on which students at Oberlin Conservatory perform, but the lute-like instrument developed in China more than 2000 years ago is influencing increasingly more concert music found on stages throughout the world.

This is due in large part to the artist Wu Man, recognized as the world’s premier pipa virtuoso and a leading ambassador of Chinese music. She’ll be in residence at Oberlin February 24-25 and take part in three events across campus that culminate in a concert with Oberlin College quartet-in-residence, the Verona Quartet. All events are free and open to the public.

Wu Man has carved out a career as a soloist, educator, and composer, giving the pipa a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. The creative projects she has initiated have resulted in the instrument finding a place in numerous musical settings and genres, as well as in collaborations in theater productions, film, dance, and with visual artists.

Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu Man was an early trailblazer. She was hailed as a child prodigy at age 13 and went on to earn the first master’s degree in pipa the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She moved to the U.S. in 1990 and was awarded a Bunting Fellowship at Harvard Radcliffe in 1998.

Since then, she has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s major orchestras and is the leading interpreter of contemporary pipa music written by composers including Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Tan Dun, and Bright Sheng.

Her notable career has also been marked by several “firsts.” She was the first Chinese traditional musician to receive the United States Artist Fellowship and the first artist from China to perform at the White House. In 2013, she was named Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year.

She is a founding member of the Silkroad Ensemble and is a frequent collaborator with ensembles such as the Kronos and Shanghai Quartets.

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DIARY: Wednesday, February 22, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

. Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival announces 2023 line-up

. Almanac: Happy birthday James Reese Europe

HAPPENING TODAY:

No concerts on the horizon today, probably because it’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Christian calendar.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

The Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival has announced its 2023 line-up. To be held at the Cleveland Institute of Music on June 1-4,  the Festival will include concerts, master classes, lectures, guitar demonstrations, and the Stroud Youth Competition semi-final and final rounds. [Read more…]

Daniel Reith to lead the 
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra 
and Youth Chorus on Friday

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by Mike Telin

What are the duties of an assistant conductor of a major orchestra? “Every day is an experience,” Daniel Reith said during a recent telephone conversation. Since assuming that position with The Cleveland Orchestra this season, Reith has had a lot on his plate. In addition to his involvement with numerous educational activities, he has led the Orchestra’s family concerts and the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert. Earlier this month he stepped in on very short notice for an ailing Klaus Mäkelä to lead three subscription concert performances.

“It’s a great pleasure to work with The Cleveland Orchestra,” the German-born conductor said. “During my first few weeks I would think about all the great conductors who had walked through these halls. I would just stare at the walls and ceiling in Mandel Hall imagining all the amazing musical interpretations those walls had heard over the years. It is one of the best halls in the world. After a tour, everybody is happy to come back to Severance — it’s great to have such a hall as your musical home.”

On Friday, February 24 at 8:00 pm at Severance Music Center, Reith will wear another hat when he leads the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorus in works by Wagner, Schubert, and Brahms. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, February 21, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Live performances: solo organ, chamber music, uncommon sounds

. British Coronation music announced

. Stephen Hough podcast

. Remembering Widor, Alford, Segovia, Auden, the launching of a celebrated magazine, a troubled opera company, and the careers of two sopranos, plus a famous assassination and a state visit

HAPPENING TODAY: 

At 12:00 pm the Tuesday Noon Organ Plus Concert hosts Chase Loomer. The program includes J.S. Bach’s Wir glauben all an einen Gott, BWV 680, Francisco Correa de Arauxo’s Quinto Tiento de medio registro, FO 29, Juan Cabanilles’ Tiento lleno séptimo tono por A la mi re, M386 no. 4 and Jean-Baptiste Robin’s Cinq Versets sur le “Veni Creator.” Church of the Covenant

At 7:30 pm Cleveland Chamber Music Society presents Paul Huang & Danbi Um, violins and Amy Yang, piano. Their fascinating program includes Leclair’s Sonata in e, Op. 3, No. 5, Moszkowski’s Suite, Op. 71, Ysaÿe’s Sonata, Rogerson’s Afterword, Barlowe’s Hebraïque Elegie and Sarasate’s Navarra. Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Hts. Tickets available online. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, February 20, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Charnofsky visits some rare repertory

. Almanac tips a hat to Czerny, Grainger (pictured), Takemitsu

HAPPENING TODAY: 

From 2 to 4 this afternoon, on Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, Eric Charnofsky DeeJays Bohuslav Martinů’s Double Concerto for Strings, Piano, and Timpani, Steve Reich’s Triple Quartet, Mara Gibson’s Spark (trombone and piano), J.S. Bach’s Chaconne (violin and orchestra) arr. by Felix Mendelssohn and Julian Milone, Gioachino Rossini’s Wind Quartet in D, Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s Meditation on Two Themes from the Day of Existence (cello and piano) & selections from A Venetian Coronation, featuring works by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Click here to listen to the internet feed, or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, February 17-19, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A plethora of weekend performances

. News from Tri-C (National Orchestra of Ukraine next Thursday, pictured), Classical Guitar Society (appoints resident composer), and Violin Channel (homophobia cancels King’s Singers in Florida)

. Almanac remembers debut of Madama Butterfly, conductor Dimitri Metropolous, Cleveland’s own Arthur Shepherd

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

Multiple performances include Herbert Blomstedt and Emanuel Ax with The Cleveland Orchestra (Fri & Sat) and Cleveland Chamber Choir in Willoughby Hills (Sat) and University Circle (Sun). [Read more…]

Dunphy & Goldfinger’s Alice Tierney makes its debut at Oberlin College

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by Mike Telin

The program synopsis of the new opera Alice Tierney — which received its world premiere performances on January 27 through 29 at Oberlin’s Finney Chapel (I attended on the 29th) — consists of one brief paragraph.

The scene takes place at an archaeological dig in Philadelphia. At this site in 1880, a woman named Alice Tierney was found dead, hanging from a fence by her petticoats.

While the mysterious death of the real-life Alice could have become fodder for a made-for-television cold case mystery where everything is neatly wrapped up in sixty minutes, composer Melissa Dunphy and librettist Jacqueline Goldfinger resisted that temptation. Instead, they chose to create a sixty-minute emotional roller coaster ride that follows four archeology graduate students as they attempt to discover the truth about Alice’s demise.

The opera was commissioned by Oberlin Conservatory’s Opera Commissioning Program and a 2020 Discovery Grant from OPERA America. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, February 16, 2023

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Today: Mourning [A] BLKstar, an Oberlin Faculty Recital, Cleveland Orchestra & Youngstown Symphony

•News: Tri-C JazzFest announces 2023 lineup

•Interesting read: a profile of former Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Vinay Parameswaran

•Almanac: John Corigliano and his Symphony No. 1, memorializing friends lost to AIDS

HAPPENING TODAY:

You have four options tonight for your listening pleasure.

At 7:00 pm at Beachland Ballroom, Local 4 Music Fund presents Cleveland’s own Mourning [A] BLKstar, “a multi-generational, gender and genre non-conforming amalgam of Black Culture dedicated to servicing the stories and songs of the apocalyptic diaspora.” The group consists of James Longs, LaToya Kent, and Kyle Kidd (vocals), Dante Foley (drums), Theresa May (trumpet), Pete Saudek (guitar/keys), William Washington (trombone), and RA Washington (samplers/bass). The concert is free.

The next three are all at 7:30. A free Oberlin Faculty Recital at Kulas Recital Hall will feature David Bowlin (violin), Kirsten Docter (viola), Dmitry Kouzov (cello), and Tony Cho (piano) in works by Albert Roussel, including his string trio and both violin sonatas. The concert will also be live streamed here.

Moving over to Severance Music Center, Herbert Blomstedt leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18, which will feature Emanuel Ax as soloist. Performances continue Friday and Saturday. Tickets are available here.

And at Powers Auditorium, André Raphel will lead the Youngstown Symphony in a program titled “Blockbuster Broadway,” which includes songs from Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Annie, Jersey Boys, The Sound of Music, Chicago, Cats, The Lion King, and A Chorus Line. Joining the orchestra will be a cast of acclaimed vocalists from New York. Get tickets here.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Consort of Voices at Church of the Saviour (Feb. 12)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland has become something of a hotbed for chamber music, with a winter season sponsored by the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, two summer series curated by ChamberFest Cleveland and Encore Chamber Music Institute, and an orchestra famous for playing with the precision and nuance of a 90-piece string quartet.

What has been missing is vocal chamber music — the one-singer-on-a-part format that reaches such a high level in such European ensembles as Voces8 and the King’s Singers. But now enter the Cleveland Consort of Voices, a new group organized and led by Oberlin musicology professor and Collegium conductor Steven Plank. [Read more…]

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