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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…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir: a conversation with Gregory Ristow

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by Daniel Hathaway

The next pair of concerts by Cleveland Chamber Choir this weekend will be led by Gregory Ristow, associate professor of conducting and director of vocal ensembles at Oberlin Conservatory, who has been appointed acting artistic director of the ensemble following the mid-season announcement of founding director Scott MacPherson’s retirement.

The program, “Of Sound Mind: From Darkness into Light,” explores the universality of grief and sorrow, helping us to embrace our common humanity in the struggles we individually and collectively experience. Free performances will take place on Saturday, February 18 at 7:30 pm at St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills and on Sunday, February 19 at 3:00 pm at the Maltz Performing Arts Center in Cleveland. A pre-concert talk with Oberlin musicologist Charles Edward McGuire will begin 30 minutes prior to each performance.

After their Cleveland concerts, the Choir will perform at the 2023 National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in Cincinnati later this month. Of the hundreds of choirs from across the country that auditioned, CCC was one of 28 choirs invited to perform, and will send 32 singers to perform two 25-minute performances to thousands of attendees.

I reached Gregory Ristow by telephone to chat about the repertoire for this weekend, and began by asking how much input he had into the program. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, February 15, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. A special day for guitars: CIM studio at Trinity, Vieaux in Peninsula, Fire & Grace at Oberlin

. Semplice Duo at Oberlin

. Anniversaries of various musicians and composers with a special nod to John Adams

HAPPENING TODAY: 

A day of guitars: Students from the Cleveland Institute of Music guitar studio host the Brownbag Concert at Trinity Cathedral today at Noon, their mentor, Jason Vieaux, plays a solo recital at Happy Days Lodge in Peninsula tonight at 7, and Oberlin presents its new faculty member, violinist Edwin Huizinga in concert with his Fire & Grace (pictured) colleague, guitarist William Coulter at 7:30 in Fairchild Chapel. Another Oberlin event features the Semplice Duo, Cristina Ballatori, flute & Kevin T. Chance, piano, to Kulas Recital Hall, also at 7:30.

ALMANAC FOR FEBRUARY 15:

In an unusual coincidence, early German composer Michael Praetorius departed this life in Wolfenbuttel on February 15, 1621, the same date on which he was born in Creuzberg an der Werra in 1571.  [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, February 13, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. New episodes of SalonEra & Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, Rowley returns to BW

. R.I.P. YSU’s Stephen L. Gage, Cleveland Orchestra releases Blossom schedule, Apollo’s Fire adds a performance

. Almanac anniversaries: Sor, Wagner & Kleinsinger

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Les Délices releases SalonEra 3.5: Finding Lisette. Baritone/scholar Jean-Bernard Cerin traces the history of the Haitian Creole song “​Lisette quitté la plaine” and explores how the song becomes a lens through which we can explore the dynamic, fraught history of Haiti and its occupiers.

From 2-4 pm, Eric Charnofsky hosts Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, featuring music by David Dzubay, Douglas Lilburn & Arthur Bliss

And at 7:30 pm, Baldwin Wallace welcomes back its distinguished graduate, soprano Jennifer Rowley (pictured as Tosca), for a solo recital, and CIM sponsors a Music for Food Concert to benefit the Cleveland Kosher Food Pantry. See our Concert Listings for details. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, February 10-12, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

EVENTS THIS WEEKEND:

Visiting artists include cellist Seth Parker Woods (with the Oberlin Sinfonietta on Friday), Broadwas and jazz singer Aisha de Haas (with Cleveland Pops on Friday), conductor Klaus Mäkelä (with The Cleveland Orchestra on Saturday and Sunday, Mahler Symphony No. 5).

Local soloists and ensembles on Saturday feature organist Todd Wilson (Lake Erie College), the Akron Symphony’s Gospel Meets Symphony (pictured), and on Sunday, Cleveland Ballet and  Inlet Dance Theatre (with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance), Heights Chamber Orchestra (with trumpeter Ron Goldberg in Cleveland Hts.), and Steven Plank’s Cleveland Consort of Voices (at the Church of the Saviour).

And two organizations are raising a toast to Valentine’s Day: M.U.S.i.C. (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics) in Pepper Pike, and The Cleveland Opera (formerly Opera Circle, in Shaker Hts.) 

See our Concert Listings for details. [Read more…]

CIM Hosts Music for Food Benefit in Mixon Hall on February 13

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by Daniel  Hathaway

How do musicians — who spend their lives giving concerts — go about raising funds for worthy causes? They give concerts, of course, as seventeen faculty members and students at the Cleveland Institute of Music will do on February 13 at 7:30 pm in CIM’s Mixon Hall to benefit the Cleveland Kosher Food Pantry.

The performance, co-sponsored by Music for Food and the CIM Student Government Association, will feature violin professor Jaime Laredo, cello professor Sharon Robinson, pianist Pin-Hsuan Huang, and student artists Minji Lee & Karisa Chiu, violin, Paolo Dara & Steven Song, viola, Cecelia Swanson, cello, Trey Floyd, tenor, and the Aeronaut Woodwind Quintet (Daniel Lopez, flute, Grayson Eichmeier, oboe, Shihao Hugh Zhu, clarinet, Brittney Delpey, bassoon & Liam McConlogue, horn).

The program will include Ernest Bloch’s “Nigun” from Baal Shem (1923), Valerie Coleman’s Tzigane for Wind Quintet (2011), Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 in G, and a traditional spiritual arranged by Hall Johnson. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, February 8, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Local #4 Music Fund sponsors the Amethyst String Quartet, the CIM Orchestra plays at Severance Music Center

. Piano Cleveland announces 32 contestants for this summer’s Young Artist Competition, CIM alums among Grammy winners & Gustavo Dudamel, following Deborah Borda to the NY Philharmonic, exchanges the west coast for the east

. Almanac: the premiere of Sibelius’ (pictured) Violin Concerto called “dismal” and “a disaster.” Follow links to Leonidas Kavakos’ recordings of the first (1904) and second (1905) versions

HAPPENING TODAY: 

Local #4 Music Fund of the Musicians Union will pick up the tab for the Amethyst String Quartet’s 1:30 concert on the Haff-Paluck Chamber series at Rocky River Senior Center, 21014 Hilliard Blvd, Rocky River. Free. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, February 6, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Today: Charnofsky spins underplayed classical music, Rocky River Chamber Music Society presents the Butler Piano Trio

. R.I.P. legendary Ohio arts advocate and patron William P. Blair III (pictured)

. A reminder, & broadcaster Karl Haas remembered in today’s Almanac

HAPPENING TODAY: 

From 2-4 pm, Eric Charnofsky hosts Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, featuring works by Dorothy Hindman, Malcolm Arnold, George Crumb Adrienne Albert, Carl Vollrath & selections from the album “Come, Gentle Night” –  Music of Shakespeare’s World. Click here to listen to the internet feed or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.

Tonight at 7:30 pm, Rocky River Chamber Music Society presents the Butler Piano Trio (Sandy Yamamoto, violin, Joshua Gindele, cello & Colette Valentine, piano, with Lembi Veskimets, viola) in Rachmaninov’s Trio Élégiaque No. 1 in g, Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D, Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost,” and Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, 20401 Hilliard Blvd., Rocky River. Free. Attend in-person free, or click here for a live stream. [Read more…]

DIARY: Weekend, February 3-5, 2023

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Opportunities to hear multiple performances of the same program around the region.

. Mäkelä conducts & coaches cellists, Tuesday Musical extends scholarship deadline

. Almanac remembers Mendelsssohn, Dallapiccola, Alain & Leinsdorf

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

Apollo’s Fire visits early Baroque instrumental & vocal works by Franz Biber and his contemporaries, featuring violinist Alan Choo (Friday & Saturday in Cleveland Hts., Sunday in Rocky River).

The Cleveland Orchestra welcomes Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä back for music by Norman, Debussy & Ravel (Fri, Sat & Sun), and Mäkelä appears in his alter ego as a cellist (pictured) to teach a Cleveland Cello Society master class on Saturday morning. [RESCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7 AT 7:00 PM]

New music ensemble No Exit joins forces with its Twin Cities cousins Zeitgeist on  Friday (Spaces Gallery), and Saturday (Heights Arts).  [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire: early Baroque treasures feature the bow of violinist Alan Choo

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by Daniel Hathaway

Most people who work multiple jobs have to factor commuting time into their schedules, but Apollo’s Fire concertmaster Alan Choo, recently also appointed assistant artistic director of the ensemble, doesn’t reckon his travel in hours. Home is in Singapore, where Choo founded Red Dot Baroque in 2018, and that’s 9,465 air miles from Cleveland.

Choo is in town for a few weeks this time to be featured in Apollo’s Fire’s “Muse of Fire” programs that begin on Thursday, February 2, in Akron and end on Sunday, February 5 in Rocky River, with two nights at St. Paul’s in Cleveland Heights in between.

His main assignment is the solo violin role in two of 17th-century Bohemian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Rosary Sonatas — musical meditations on the five Joyful Mysteries, the five Sorrowful Mysteries, and the five Glorious Mysteries of the life of Christ.

Probably written in the 1670s, but unknown to modern ears until first published in 1905, the devotional work is preserved in a beautiful manuscript held in the Bavarian State Library. [Read more…]

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