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Review: CMA Masters of the Violin — Gil Shaham in three Bach solo works (February 6)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Shaham_7091_FINAL_credit Luke Ratray.rLuke Ratray’s photograph on the cover of the program for Gil Shaham’s solo violin concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Thursday evening, February 6, caught the essence of the artist’s musical personality. Self-effacing and smiling, he looks down on his bow and fiddle with gently concentrated intensity but easy assurance, qualities he brought in full measure to his enthralling performances of three of Johann Sebastian Bach’s six works for violin alone.

Alone means, of course, violin without its customary baroque underpinning of bass line and harmony supplied by continuo instruments. Bach, with his uncanny way of creating multiple layers out of single melodic lines, makes you feel that nothing is missing — even when he writes virtual fugues — but a lot of the magic remains to be supplied by the performer, who is as solitary and just about as vulnerable on stage as a musician can be. [Read more…]

Preview: CMA Masters of the Violin — catching up with Ray Chen

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by Mike Telin

CHEN-Ray“It’s always a great pleasure to return to a place and to continue to build a relationship with the audience,” violinist Ray Chen told us during a recent telephone conversation. “That’s what I believe performing is about, it’s the connections to the audience.”

On Wednesday, February 12 beginning at 7:30 pm in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, Ray Chen returns to Cleveland as part of CMA’s Performing Arts Series, Masters of the Violin. Pianist Julio Elizalde joins Chen in performances of Mozart’s Sonata in A, K. 305 and Sarasate’s Habanera, Playera, and Zigeunerweisen, as well as Beethoven’s Sonata No. 9, “Kreutzer.”

Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Ray Chen studied at the Curtis Institute of Music. Following wins at the Yehudi Menuhin (2008) and Queen Elisabeth (2009) competitions, Chen’s international career has been on a fast track forward. You can read about his accomplishments and numerous other interests on his website.

Chen, who turns 25 the beginning of March, most recently performed in Cleveland last summer, making his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom. But Cleveland also played an important role during his formative years. [Read more…]

Preview: Westminster Abbey organist James O’Donnell to play at St. Paul’s, Akron on February 16

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by Daniel Hathaway

O'Donnell-JamesJames O’Donnell made headlines in 2000 when he moved from Westminster Cathedral to Westminster Abbey — which gave him the distinction of becoming the first Roman Catholic musician to serve as organist and master of the choristers at the Abbey since the Church of England declared its independence from the authority of the Pope in the sixteenth century.

In his post at Westminster Abbey, a “Royal Peculiar” which falls under the personal jurisdiction of the Queen and serves as the burial place for a millennium’s worth of British notables, making it one of London’s major tourist destinations, James O’Donnell oversees the music both for daily sung services and for a variety of special events ranging from royal weddings and funerals to state visitations.

O’Donnell will play a free, solo recital at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron on Sunday, February 16 at 4:00 pm. We reached him by telephone in London, where he noted that “it was blowing a gale today,” much like it was in Cleveland. [Read more…]

Review: Cleveland Chamber Music Society — Albers Trio and Orion Weiss triumph over weather (February 4)

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by Timothy Robson

Albers Trio Orion WeissThe Albers Trio (Laura Albers, violin, Rebecca Albers, viola, and Julie Albers, cello) and guest pianist Orion Weiss were greeted by a large audience on Tuesday, February 4, in their concert for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society at Plymouth Church UCC in Shaker Heights. This was despite a winter storm warning and steady snowfall as the audience arrived. The concert was a pleasant respite from this year’s seemingly unending blasts of Cleveland winter.

There was a certain down home feeling between the audience and the performers; three of the four have strong Cleveland connections, either through family relationships or study at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The local ties for the concert were further emphasized with some cross-organizational marketing: Richard Fried, the President of the Chamber Music Society, introduced the program and gave the usual plug for future concerts. He then introduced Diana Cohen and Frank Cohen, masterminds of the summer ChamberFest Cleveland, who spoke about the close relationship between the two organizations, as well as with the evening’s performers. [Read more…]

Preview: Real Time Opera — NOVA, a Satirical Opera that Shocks, at CPT

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by Mike Telin

NOVAlogo“It’s David Lynch characters in a Dick Van Dyke setting doing Monty Python things,” said stage director Jonathon Field about Real Time Opera’s production of NOVA, which goes up on Thursday for three performances at Cleveland Public Theater. The production is a collaboration between Field, librettist Paul Schick and composer Lewis Nielson. “It’s raunchy, but sublime,” Field said.

The outrageous plot centers around a sales pitch for Nova, a life-sized android.

Salesman Ed tries to convince husband Al that purchasing the robot will make his life better. Nova is better at giving cocktail and dinner parties and knows how to make a great martini. She promises to be a more efficient and dependable love partner than wife Marlene. But even after a series of ten erotic escapades during a “dance” sequence based on Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils, Ed’s still not sure.

[Read more…]

Review: Les Délices — Conversations galantes at Tregoning & Co. (February 1)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Les-Delices-3Les Délices, the Cleveland early music ensemble that devotes itself to resurrecting treasures from the French Baroque, designed its mid-winter program, Conversations galantes, around the idea of musical conversation as that social art was practiced in the salons of eighteenth-century Paris.

Alas, there were fewer voices in last weekend’s discussions than originally planned. Nagy had lined up a program of quartets, but a sudden illness reduced the group to oboe, violin and harpsichord and the playlist had to be changed accordingly. Happily, the repartée in the altered program was probably no less eloquent. In music by Rameau, Leclair, François Couperin and Forqueret, Debra Nagy, Julie Andrijeski and Michael Sponseller provided plenty of engaging wit and delicious colloquy to delight the audience at Tregoning & Co. gallery on Saturday evening.

The hour-long program began and ended with all hands on deck. [Read more…]

Preview: Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Benefit set for February 9 at Severance Hall

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by Mike Telin

TCO&COCFormed in 1952, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus is one of the few professionally trained, all-volunteer choruses sponsored by a major American orchestra.

In addition to performing with The Cleveland Orchestra in concerts at Severance Hall each season, the Chorus has appeared with the Orchestra on tour in North America and abroad. The 150 members contribute more than 50,000 hours annually, through rehearsals and performances. They also raise money for their tours through a variety of projects and events.

On Sunday February 9 beginning at 7:00 pm in Severance Hall, audiences are invited to attend a benefit concert titled Songs, Dances, and Romances: A Valentine Tribute to the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. The evening features the Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Chorus under the direction of Robert Porco in a performance of Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes.

Additionally dances by Dvorak, Borodin & Piazzolla, arias by Rossini, Dvorak & Mozart, and romances by Clara Schumann will be performed by members of the Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]

Preview: Stambaugh Organ Series — Peter Richard Conte to improvise score to restored 1925 film, Metropolis

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by Daniel Hathaway

metropolis-posterHistorical film buffs, Sci-Fi fans and organ enthusiasts: listen up. You’re all going to find this event exciting. On Sunday, February 9 at 4:00 pm, Philadelphia organist Peter Richard Conte will improvise a musical score to Fritz Lang’s 1927 German silent film classic, Metropolis, using the eloquent resources of the E.M. Skinner symphonic organ in Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown.

Filmed during the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia plagued by class warfare. The first full-length Science Fiction film, Metropolis cost about 5 million Reichmarks, making it the most expensive film made to date. The original film was accompanied by a full orchestra score composed by Gottfried Huppertz in the style of Wagner and Strauss. Metropolis was reconstructed and restored to its nearly-original length of 148 minutes in 2010 using recently-discovered footage from as far away as Argentina.

Peter Richard Conte divides his busy life among three posts. He presides at the famous Wanamaker organ at Macy’s in center city for twice-daily recitals and regular broadcasts, he serves as organist and choirmaster at St. Clement’s, an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal church, and he plays and oversees the organ series at Pierre DuPont’s Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. [Read more…]

Preview: CMA Masters of the Violin — a chat with Gil Shaham

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by Daniel Hathaway

SHAHAM-Gil2Northeastern Ohio Cleveland Orchestra fans who (rather enviously) tuned in to a recent live radio broadcast from Miami experienced the artistry of violinist Gil Shaham in the Korngold concerto in a performance led by Franz Welser-Möst. Shaham is spending the midwinter months playing that work in alternation with a solo program of J.S. Bach’s solo violin music. The Cleveland Museum of Art will bring Gil Shaham to its Masters of the Violin series-within-a-series on Thursday evening, February 6 to play three of Bach’s works. We reached Shaham by telephone in Houston last week where he was preparing to play the Korngold with John Adams and the Houston Symphony.

Daniel Hathaway: We enjoyed hearing the Korngold over the radio from Miami, and considering the weather here, we really wished we’d been there in person.

Gil Shaham: I felt very lucky to be there with Franz and The Cleveland Orchestra. It’s been a few years since I’ve played the Korngold. It’s beautifully written and the composer gets really wonderful sounds from the violin and the orchestra. [Read more…]

Preview: Arts Renaissance Tremont — violinist Jinjoo Cho and pianist HyunSoo Kim to perform on February 9

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by Mike Telin

Cho-&-Kim“What I love about him is that even during a first reading of a piece we already have the gestures,” says violinist Jinjoo Cho about her frequent collaborator, pianist HyunSoo Kim. “We may not have all the notes under the fingers but we are musically on the same page from the very beginning.” Perhaps it’s that certain musical chemistry that has made Cho and Kim audience favorites throughout the Cleveland area.

On Sunday, February 9 beginning at 3:00 pm, Arts Renaissance Tremont presents Jinjoo Cho and HyunSoo Kim in a concert featuring the music of Debussy, Janáček, Tower and Prokofiev at Pilgrim Church in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood.

A native of Seoul, South Korea, Jinjoo Cho earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in violin performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. And she has had considerable success on the competition circuit, including First Prize and Orchestra Award winner of the Buenos Aires International Violin Competition and First Grand Prize and People’s Choice Award winner of the Montréal International Musical Competition. [Read more…]

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