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…]
There is no one path that a person follows to become a conductor. Raffaele Ponti’s early musical training came via the piano, violin, and later trumpet. That instrument led Ponti to the Cleveland Institute of Music where he was a student of Bernard Adelstein, the legendary principal of The Cleveland Orchestra — Ponti was also fortunate enough to play with that orchestra on numerous occasions. After graduating from CIM, he went to Italy to study conducting first in Siena, and later in Rome with Giuseppe Sinopoli.
After impressive performances by six young violinists during the second round of the Cooper International Violin Competition, the jury selected three to advance to the final round. On August 19 at Oberlin Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall, the talented violinists presented concertos by Tchaikovsky and Brahms with the Canton Symphony under the direction of Gerhardt Zimmermann.
After the final notes of the 2022 Cooper International Violin Competition had been played, the jury announced that the First Prize winner was Seohyun Kim of South Korea. 
Bianca Ciubancan (16, Chicago, Il) began the afternoon session with Jessie Montgomery’s Rhapsody No. 1 for solo violin. Playing with a warm, rich sound, Ciubancan brought a thoughtful, intimate approach to the work, highlighting each of its distinct episodes. 
Describing pianist Jackie Warren, critic Carlo Wolff wrote, “To hear her is to fix on her, because Jackie Warren is a lover of the piano. She plays the instrument so well, it makes love back.”
Two-time GRAMMY Award-nominated pianist and contemporary jazz master Benito Gonzalez combines a long lineage of American jazz traditions with rhythms from around the world. His sound is recognizable for the powerful rhythm section and Afro-Latin patterns he prioritizes across his projects, working with luminaries from across the spectrum of jazz.
“For me, coming back to Cleveland is like coming home,” conductor Giancarlo Guerrero said during a Zoom conversation from Nashville where he has served as music director of the Nashville Symphony since 2009. “The Cleveland Orchestra was my family for almost ten years and this concert is the project this year that I am looking forward to the most because of my history with this orchestra — I am beyond excited to see everyone.”
Winner of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and Professor at the Curtis Institute of Music, pianist Michelle Cann returns to Cleveland on Thursday, August 11 for a 7:30 pm performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall. Presented as part of PianoDays @CLE, her program features works by Chopin, Brahms, Clara Schumann, Florence Price, and Margaret Bonds. Purchase tickets