by Mike Telin
“We’ve taken a sort of variety show approach to our thirty-fifth season,” Arts Renaissance Tremont’s artistic director Feza Zweifel said during a Zoom call. “We don’t want anything to be tired out, so we try to think out of the box about the artists we engage, and how we present them.”
All concerts are free and will be held in Tremont’s Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ. Click here for more information.
ART’s season will kick-off on Saturday, September 19 at 7:30 pm with “UnchARTed Territory,” featuring Addison Frei (piano), Todd Coolman (bass), TJ Reddick (drums), Omar Lateef (trumpet), and Charlie Pillow (saxophone/flute). These five musicians have each written a new piece that will be rehearsed for the first time in front of the live audience before receiving its world premiere.
The new works are: Todd Coolman’s The Neophyte, Omar Lateef’s Roots & Go Time, TJ Reddick’s Lonely Road, Charles Pillow’s Brother Henry, and Addison Frei’s King’s Strut.
“These are five world-class people , diverse not only in musical styles, but also in age. TJ Reddick is the youngest at 27, and the oldest is Todd Coolman, who’s 70.”
Zweifel said that not only have these musicians never played together, at least three or maybe even four, of them have never met. “I will pick them up at the airport on Saturday morning, we’ll have lunch, and then we’ll go to the church, have a soundcheck, and take it from there.”
During the concert, each musician will have their own mic. “I thought it would be interesting for the audience to hear what is being said, like, ‘Let’s try this,’ or ‘Let’s try that,’” Zweifel said, adding that the idea is to rehearse a piece, and then perform it, then repeat the process.
“That’s what I envision happening, and I think the audience will be interested to see and hear the nitty-gritty of how the creative process works.”
The season continues on Sunday, November 15 at 3:00 pm. “ChARTing New Paths with Amy Lee & Friends” features The Oberlin Trio — Amy Lee (violin), Dmitry Kouzov (cello), and Haewon Song (piano) — in Felix Mendelssohn’s Trio No. 1 in D minor.
“We’re thrilled to have this program be a part of the series,” Zweifel said. “I believe the day after I heard that Amy was taking the job at Oberlin, I spoke to her and said that we’d like to build a concert around her, and she was excited to do it.” Lee will also play Dolores White’s Blue Dialogues for solo violin.
The Oberlin Trio will be joined by Yun-Ting Lee (Violin), Will Bender & Joanna Patterson Zakany (Violas), Jeffrey Rathbun (oboe), and Bill O’Connell (narrator/percussion) for the world premiere of Anthony Dilorenzo’s Cecil the Turkey.
Zweifel (left) said that the story behind Dilorenzo’s piece is fascinating. “Tony and I were classmates at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and many years later he was meeting a group of friends for Thanksgiving at violinist Pamela Frank’s house — she was also a classmate. So Tony decided to write a piece for this group of seven people, and since it was a Thanksgiving gathering, he called it Cecil the Turkey.”
Zweifel described the piece as being “very fun and cinematic,” adding that apart from the Thanksgiving gathering, Cecil the Turkey has never been performed in public. “Tony is a prolific composer and has written a piece for every Burning River Brass CD.
And Burning River Brass will return for “ARTful Christmas” on Friday, December 18, at 7:00 pm. Zweifel, who is a founding member of the ensemble, noted that the December 18 performance will be the ensemble’s 30th anniversary of playing on the series. “ART gave us our debut in 1996,” Zweifel said. “That’s incredible. We love playing for Arts Renaissance Tremont, and we especially love playing at Pilgrim Church.”
Season 35 will continue on Sunday, February 28 at 3:00 pm with “The ART of Influence,” with Tom Sherwood & Tanner Tanyeri (percussion), Jeffrey Zehngut (violin), Gareth Zehngut (viola), and Tina Dahl & Gilbert Kalish (pianos).
“When Tina and I talked about who the second pianist should be, she brought up Gil Kalish, who was her teacher. She mentioned it to him and he said he was interested in playing. He’s 91 and a giant when it comes to piano and chamber music.”
On Sunday, April 11 at 3:00 pm, “Game Music ARTistry” with “Jim Bonney (guitar & sound effects). “Jim was a guitar major at CIM,” Zweifel said, noting that he has written music for at least 20 video game companies.
“We thought we should branch out a bit because video game music is becoming an important genre. And the composers are extremely talented, so we felt we should include it as part of our offering.”
Season 35 will conclude on Sunday, May 2 at 3:00. “The Spark of ART” features pianist Orli Shaham, who will present her project that explores the history and music of Clara Schumann.
“We’re over the moon about this season,” Zweifel said. I’m sure that audiences are going to enjoy it.”
Published on ClevelandClassical.com September 16, 2026
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