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ChamberFest Cleveland:
“Echoes from the Valley”

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by Mike Telin

Whenever three adventurous musicians share a stage, the programming possibilities are endless. On Friday, November 4 at 7:30 pm at the Cultural Arts Center at Disciples Church, ChamberFest Cleveland will present soprano Amanda Powell, clarinetist Franklin Cohen, and pianist Peter Takács in “Echoes from the Valley,” a program of global folk songs. Tickets are available online.

“We’ve programmed concerts like this before during ChamberFest,” Cohen said during a recent telephone conversation. “I’ve admired Amanda’s talent for years. I’ve heard her with Apollo’s Fire and at different clubs and her talent is not confined to one little box. Everyone loves her work, and she’s been a very important part of the ChamberFest family for a number of years.” 

Powell will be featured in Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (“The Shepherd on the Rock”) and Ravel’s Cinq melodies populaires grecques. The trio will also present an exploration of international folk songs — from the Appalachian Mountains to the Greek seaside to a classical Arabic muwashshah — in arrangements by Dave Morgan, as well as Two Ladino Songs arranged by Paul Ferguson. “The arrangements are fantastic and we’re looking forward to playing them,” Cohen said. 

[Read more…]

No Exit kicks off season 
with a quartet of events

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by Mike Telin

During the past couple of years, No Exit has taken the online concert format to a new level. As ClevelandClassical.com’s Jarrett Hoffman noted: “Plenty of pre-recorded concerts have offered audiences some sort of new and compelling experience. But few organizations have mined that format with as much joy and silliness — and in general, personality — as Cleveland’s new music ensemble No Exit.”

Keeping that tradition alive, the ensemble chose to open their 2022-23 season with an online concert in collaboration with St. Paul-based Zeitgeist. “As far as the presentation goes it’s probably the best online concert we’ve ever done,” No Exit artistic director Timothy Beyer said during a recent telephone conversation.

The playlist includes Stephen Dembski’s Alta, Per Nørgård’s Night Descending, and the world premiere of Nasim Khorrassani’s Primary Call. That concert, released last week, is available for viewing on No Exit’s website. Click here to watch. 

Beyer noted that beginning this week, the ensemble will put on its presenter hat. “I’m very excited about the next three events, because each one will be amazing. I know we’re always saying that, but it’s really true.” 

[Read more…]

Yolanda Kondonassis:
Five Minutes for Earth
at Cleveland Museum of Art

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by Mike Telin

“When we see an idea expressed in the language of art, our sensory reactions often open the heart and mind to interaction in ways that mere facts may not,” writes Yolanda Kondonassis, who is not only a celebrated harpist but also the founder and director of the Earth at Heart foundation. “Action is the goal, but a visceral call to engagement can be the catalyst. There is not a minute to lose in our battle to protect the future of our planet, and an inspired commitment can make all the difference.”

On her latest recording, Five Minutes for Earth, Kondonassis asked fifteen composers to write five-minute works for solo harp that “expressed our Earth in some condition or atmosphere.”

Released in April 2022 on Azica Records, the album features music by Jocelyn C. Chambers, Chen Yi, Michael Daugherty, Daniel Dorff, Reena Esmail, Keith Fitch, Patrick Harlin, Stephen Hartke, Nathaniel Heyder, Takuma Itoh, Aaron Jay Kernis, Philip Maneval, Máximo Diego Pujol, Gary Schocker, Arturo Sandoval, and Zhou Long.

On Sunday, October 23 at 7:00 pm at Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, Kondonassis will present a program that includes the world-premiere live performances of all fifteen works along with recently composed pieces, poetry, and visual art. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Tuesday Musical: Scottish Chamber Orchestra to feature Anna Clyne’s Stride on Oct. 20 

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by Mike Telin

On Thursday, October 20 at 7:30 pm, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Maxim Emelyanychev, will kick off Tuesday Musical’s 2022 season at E.J. Thomas Hall. The program features Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”) and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Nicola Benedetti as soloist. The performance is part of the Orchestra’s current U.S. tour.

A Concert Conversation between local theater aficionado Ian Haberman and Scottish Chamber Orchestra CEO Gavin Reid will begin at 6:45 pm in EJ’s Flying Balcony Club. Complimentary refreshments and wine will be provided. Tickets are available online.

Thursday’s program also includes Anna Clyne’s Stride, which is inspired by Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in c (“Pathétique”). “I was fortunate to be the SCO’s associate composer from 2019 until 2022,” Clyne said during a recent telephone conversation. “During that time I wrote several commissions for them, one of which was Stride, so I’m very happy they picked it up for their U.S. tour.”

An eleven-minute work for string orchestra, Stride was a co-commission by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: Mark Kosower talks Schelomo

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by Mike Telin

Since joining The Cleveland Orchestra as principal cello in 2010, Mark Kosower has thrilled audiences with his performances of concertos by Ginastera, Haydn, Dvořák, Barber, and Tchaikovsky.

On Thursday, October 13 at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Kosower will once again move to the front of the stage. The work: Bloch’s Schelomo, Hebraic Rhapsody. Under the direction of Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, the concert also includes Al-Zand’s  Lamentation On The Disasters of War and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”). The program will be repeated on Friday at 11:00 am, Saturday at 8:00 pm, and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with the Wisconsin native by phone and began our conversation by asking him when he first encountered the Rhapsody.

Mark Kosower: I’ve known about it since I was a boy. My father’s a cellist, although I don’t think he performed it very much. My first time performing it was in 2007 when I had the chance to play it with the Spokane Symphony in Washington with Gunther Schuller conducting. It was a wonderful and interesting experience.

[Read more…]

CIM Orchestra: Carlos Kalmar reflects on the past year

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by Mike Telin 

Tonight at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Carlos Kalmar will lead the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra in an eclectic program featuring Ligeti’s Atmosphères, Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. The free concert is the second of seven the ensemble will perform at the storied venue through a new partnership between CIM and The Cleveland Orchestra.

The occasion also marks the one-year anniversary of Kalmar’s debut as Principal Conductor and Director of Orchestral Studies at CIM. I caught up with the thoughtful, friendly maestro by telephone and began our conversation by congratulating him on his anniversary. 

Carlos Kalmar: It’s interesting that you say that, because for me, this is not my one-year anniversary. Last year was a transitional year in which we did a lot of planning and a lot of thinking in terms of the [orchestral studies] program that I constructed with an entire team. So this is now the first year, and when we talk a year from now you can say hey, let’s celebrate a year.

[Read more…]

Les Délices opens season
with “The Highland Lassie” 
(Sept. 24)

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by Mike Telin

Why is it that people never seem to tire of 18th-century Scottish folk songs? The moment we hear the poems of A red, red rose, they conjure up the image of the lonely romantic, sitting alone next to a fireplace or in the corner of a village pub while a band entertains the other patrons.

On Saturday afternoon, September 24, Les Délices brought these images to life during their season opener, “The Highland Lassie.” The program mixed an entertaining set of songs steeped in romantic sentimentality, with fiddle tunes that made it impossible not to tap along. The venue — Dunham Tavern Museum — provided the perfect ambiance for the capacity crowd to sit back and enjoy the 60-plus minutes of top-notch performances that blurred the lines between folk song and art song.

[Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra 
& Cleveland Chamber Choir — 
together again at last 

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by Mike Telin 

We all know that the pandemic forced many performing arts organizations to put their plans on hold. Case in point, the collaboration between BlueWater Chamber Orchestra and the Cleveland Chamber Choir that was scheduled for May of 2020. 

Now, after a long wait, the two ensembles will come together on Saturday, October 8 at 7:30 pm at the Church of the Covenant for a performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C and American composer Gwyneth Walker’s emotionally intense The Golden Harp, featuring Ideastream Public Media’s John Mills as narrator. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Oberlin Conservatory musicologist Charles Edward McGuire 30 minutes before the performance. The concert is free.

The performance will be under the direction of both Gregory Ristow, Associate Professor of Conducting and Director of Vocal Ensembles at Oberlin, and Daniel Meyer, Artistic Director of BlueWater.

I caught up with Ristow and Meyer via Zoom and began by asking them how they came to pair the Walker with the Beethoven.

[Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series:
a conversation with “musical alchemist”
Francesco Turrisi

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by Mike Telin 

For nearly 150 years, Oberlin College and Conservatory’s Artist Recital Series has been a centerpiece in the musical offerings of Northeast Ohio. Now, after a two-year absence, the series returns with a noon performance in Finney Chapel on Tuesday, October 4 featuring musical trailblazer Rhiannon Giddens. The Grammy Award winner, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, and Oberlin alum will be joined by multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. Click here to find out more about Giddens. Tickets are available online.

Turrisi, himself an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, has been called a “musical alchemist” and a “musical polyglot.” In 1997 he left his native Italy to study jazz piano and early music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where he obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Since then he has released five albums as a leader and two as co-leader with the ensembles Tarab (which blends Irish and Mediterranean traditional music) and Zahr (which celebrates the connections between southern Italian traditional music and Arabic music).

Since Turrisi teamed up with Giddens in 2018, the duo has released two albums that combine Mediterranean music with music from the African diaspora in the Americas — There Is No Other (2019) and They’re Calling Me Home (2021), which won a Grammy for best folk album.

[Read more…]

Balourdet String Quartet to kick off Rocky River Chamber Music Society season

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by Mike Telin

It’s no secret that many young people have had their professional careers sidelined because of the pandemic. Take, for example, the Balourdet String Quartet, which was formed as a student ensemble at Rice University in 2018.

After attending the Aspen Music Festival as a quartet and taking second prize in the Quartet Division at the 2019 Carl Nielsen Chamber Music Competition, violinists Angela Bae and Justin DeFilippis, violist Benjamin Zonnoni, and cellist Russell Houston decided to make their ensemble a full-time commitment.

“Just as things began to rev up, the pandemic hit,” Justin DeFilippis recalled during a recent Zoom conversation. “Fortunately we auditioned for the New England Conservatory residency program — which we are still part of — right before it hit. And we were accepted two weeks before everything shut down.”

On Monday, September 26 at 7:30 pm, the Boston-based Balourdet Quartet will headline the Rocky River Chamber Music Society’s new season at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church. [Read more…]

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