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Cleveland Orchestra summer season launches on June 29

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by Daniel Hathaway

When the gates open for this summer’s Blossom Music Festival on June 29, patrons will enjoy some new guest amenities.

A new bar space, The Tasting Room, will make its debut near the Lot A entrance and will be open before and after each performance. Post- concert dessert service will offer guests an opportunity to linger and avoid the rush to the parking lots.

Remember the Image Magnification technology that projected onstage activity onto huge LED screens in the Pavilion last summer? That was a test run for this summer’s IMAG feed that will enhance all performances, many produced in partnership with ideastream, the public service organization that operates WVIZ/PBS, WCPN 90.3, and WCLV 104.9.

Gourmet picnic packages can be pre-ordered and picked up in the Special Events Center for all events and save concertgoers the trouble of self-catering. Speaking of edibles, subscribers and donors will have access to special refreshments and light bites in Kulas Plaza before certain concerts. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: “Turning/Tipping Points” at Mixon (June 15)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Pivotal moments in the lives of composers linked works by Louise Farrenc, Paul Hindemith, and Johannes Brahms for ChamberFest Cleveland’s third concert on Saturday, June 15 in CIM’s Mixon Hall. But that program was prefaced by Adam Golka’s new arrangement of Debussy’s La mer for two pianos, an hors d’oeuvre that could easily have been served up as a main course. [Read more…]

A Friday evening and Sunday afternoon at ENCORE Chamber Music (June 14 & 16)

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by Daniel Hathaway

That the Cavani String Quartet, even in its transitional state, continues to draw a large and devoted following attests to its long and close relationship with the many students the ensemble mentored during its tenure at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Those fans, along with current ENCORE Chamber Music participants, packed the music room at Gilmour Academy’s Tudor House on Friday, June 14 for a program of Mozart, Martinů, and Dvořák. [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire & The Early Folk Band bring old ballads to life in Avon Lake (June 9)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Apollo’s Fire’s Countryside Concerts usually draw on folk music that has travelled from the Old World to the New, but this year’s program delved deeper into musical emigration. Three Clevelanders were joined by three members of Europe’s The Early Folk Band in an engaging concert of ballads that have both been frozen in place by literary collectors and constantly altered through the oral tradition in the British Isles and North America. Like some members of Apollo’s Fire, the musicians of The Early Folk Band play pre-1800s music on period instruments but also have a parallel interest in folk music, and seek to bridge the gap between two genres that already have much in common. [Read more…]

Plano joins Omni Quartet on CIPC Concert Series (June 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

When Roberto Plano won gold in the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2001, the contest hadn’t yet established a chamber music requirement in addition to solo recitals and a concerto. Plano more than made up for that in his most recent return to Cleveland. On Saturday evening, June 8, he joined the Omni Quartet to end his CIPC Concert Series recital in CIM’s Kulas Hall with a stunning performance of Brahms’ f-minor Piano Trio. [Read more…]

Jupiter Quartet ignites opening concert of ENCORE Chamber Music (June 7)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Murder rarely darkens the refined world of chamber music, but on Friday, June 7, the Jupiter String Quartet dramatically broached that subject, opening ENCORE Chamber Music’s 2019 concert series with Leoš Janáček’s Quartet No. 1. Subtitled “Kreutzer Sonata,” the striking 1923 piece follows Leo Tolstoy’s psychological tale of a pianist who plays that Beethoven sonata with a virtuoso violinist and is killed by her husband in a fit of jealous rage. [Read more…]

CIPC Concert Series: catching up with pianist Roberto Plano

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by Daniel Hathaway

Italian-born pianist Roberto Plano, who won first prize in the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competition, will play the next recital in CIPC’s Concert Series on Saturday, June 8 at 8:00 pm in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

In addition to playing solo repertoire by Respighi, Liszt, Tárrega, Villa-Lobos, and Ginastera, Plano will join the Omni Quartet (Cleveland Orchestra musicians Amy Lee, Alicia Koelz, Joanna Zakany, and Charles Bernard) to close the evening with Brahms’ f-minor Piano Quintet. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Oberlin celebrates Daune Mahy’s 39 years as Conservatory voice professor

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by Daniel Hathaway

On Sunday, May 12, the Oberlin Conservatory honored Daune Mahy on the occasion of her retirement as professor of voice, following “39 years of exemplary service to Oberlin.”

The well-attended event in Warner Concert Hall, introduced by voice professor Salvatore Champagne, included nine mini-performances by distinguished singers who have passed through Mahy’s studio, video and in-person tributes, a surprise mass singing of Schubert’s An die Musik, and a reception in the Warner lobby. As the audience gathered, a slideshow of photos of students and colleagues from Mahy’s long career flashed across a big screen. [Read more…]

Akron Baroque: “For the Love of Nature” (June 2)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The seventeen members of Akron Baroque delivered a charming program of music inspired by the natural world on Sunday afternoon, June 2 in Faith Lutheran Church in Fairlawn. The pews were packed on the first truly lovely afternoon of spring as Alan Bodman led the ensemble from his concertmaster’s chair in well-known music by Handel, Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach, lesser-known works by Rameau and Martín y Soler, and never-before-heard pieces by Amy Barlowe. Major solo contributions came from Bodman, organist Robert Mollard, and soprano Susan Wallin. [Read more…]

Early Folk Band musicians to join Apollo’s Fire in “Far Beyond the Sea”

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by Daniel Hathaway

Apollo’s Fire’s Countryside Concerts will feature a new trans-Atlantic collaboration this month. Ian Harrison, Gesine Bänfer, and Steven Player of Europe’s The Early Folk Band will join Clevelanders Amanda Powell, Tina Bergmann, and Brian Kay in five performances of “Far Beyond the Sea” from June 6 through 10. This genre-crossing project involving old world ballads has been contemplated for some time but is just now coming to fruition.

“Jeannette Sorrell is one of our greatest fans, and we’ve been trying to get this sort of thing together for six or seven years,” Harrison and Bänfer said in a tag-team Skype conversation from Freiburg, Germany. “Either we weren’t free or they weren’t free, or we couldn’t decide how to do it, but we’re very happy that it’s now working.” [Read more…]

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