ClevelandClassical.com Header
Ad
Ad
Ad
Ad
Ad

Conductor Ruth Reinhardt to make Blossom debut 

by

by Mike Telin

What led Ruth Reinhardt to conducting? “It was by accident,” Reinhardt said during a recent telephone conversation from Switzerland.  “The conductor of my youth orchestra asked if one of us wanted to conduct. I was packing up and I just raised my hand — I don’t know why — I thought it might come in handy at some point.”

Indeed, conducting has come in handy for her. On Saturday, July 30 at 7:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Reinhardt will return to the Cleveland Orchestra podium to lead a program featuring Grażyna Bacewicz’s Overture, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with soloist Alexi Kenney replacing Sergey Khachatryan, who has withdrawn due to visa complications, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 5. Click here for tickets and more information. [Read more…]

The Cooper International Violin Competition Returns to Oberlin

by

by Mike Telin

Since 2010 the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition has brought talented young violinists and pianists to the campus of Oberlin College and Conservatory every summer.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Competition will return beginning on August 15. The 2022 edition for violin will feature a revised format and the largest prize package in the competition’s history.

The competition includes a week of performances in Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall. To kick things off, all eighteen participants will give 30-minute recitals with piano on August 15 and 16. [Read more…]

PianoDays @CLE: The Concert Truck is coming your way 

by

by Mike Telin

When award-winning pianists Nick Luby and Susan Zhang were searching for a way to use their musical training to give back to the community, an interesting question arose: does a mobile concert hall exist?

Enter The Concert Truck, a 16-foot box truck that transforms into a fully functioning mobile concert hall complete with lights, sound system, and piano. Anywhere that Luby and Zhang can park the truck can turn into a concert venue.

As part of Piano Cleveland’s PianoDays @CLE, the Concert Truck will be coming your way. [Read more…]

PianoDays @CLE: the chemistry of Duo Amal

by

by Mike Telin

One can never predict where life will take you, but wherever it does, friendships, artistic and personal, endure. If in doubt, just ask pianists Yaron Kohlberg and Bishara Haroni.

Kohlberg, the second prize winner at the 2007 Cleveland International Piano Competition, and Bishara Haroni first came together for a peace concert at the Oslo Opera House in 2011. After that, the two pianists chose to redirect their professional energies away from solo careers in favor of pursuing their career paths as a duo piano team — and Duo Amal was born.

On Sunday, July 24 at 2:00 pm, Duo Amal will kick off Piano Cleveland’s inaugural PianoDays @CLE in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art with a program featuring music by Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Milhaud, Elgar, Rachmaninoff, and Schubert. Read a Festival preview here and purchase tickets here.

[Read more…]

Piano Cleveland launches PianoDays @CLE

by

by Mike Telin 

What is PianoDays @CLE? “It’s a festival that celebrates the piano in all of its forms,” Piano Cleveland president Yaron Kohlberg said during a recent Zoom conversation. “We want piano lovers from around the city and the region to be able to enjoy not only traditional classical performances but also performances that offer something for everybody.”

While Piano Cleveland’s signature event is the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Kohlberg said that it is important for them to engage with their audience while attracting new people to that event and to classical music. “It’s our role to tackle these things and to influence people — we are responsible for the future.”

To get people in the piano mood, there will be two Forte Friday events — the first on July 15 at 6:30 pm at Crocker Park and the second on July 22 at 5:30 at the Van Aken District. “Last year we saw that the pop-up events like these were a great way to attract new audiences and to generate excitement for our big performances,” Kohlberg said, adding that like last year, these will also feature music of many genres and styles.

[Read more…]

Pianist Juho Pohjonen returns to ChamberFest

by

by Mike Telin

Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen enjoys a varied career that regularly takes him to recital and symphony halls across Europe, Asia, and North America. A computer enthusiast, in 2019 he launched MyPianist, an AI-based iOS app he both designed and programmed that provides interactive piano accompaniment for musicians. This week he makes his second appearance at ChamberFest.

I spoke to Pohjonen over Zoom from Minneapolis where he was performing Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin and Piano with Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra. I began by asking him to share his insights on Debussy’s Cello Sonata, which he will perform with Jonathan Swensen on June 30.

Juho Pohjonen: The interaction between the cello and the piano is so intimate. The music is like an exchange of ideas and that is one of the most rewarding aspects of the piece.

Debussy was able to create new colors without resorting to any fancy techniques like playing inside the piano or things like that. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: A chat with violinist Stephen Waarts

by

by Mike Telin

Still in his mid-twenties, violinist Stephen Waarts has already amassed an impressive resumé. Among his successes, he was a prizewinner at the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition and secured the majority vote of the television audience. In March 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, and he was winner of the International Classical Music Awards Orchestra Award by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in 2019.

One of the few things Waarts has not done is to perform at ChamberFest Cleveland. That will change later this week. We reached the friendly violinist by telephone in Brussels where he was rehearsing for an upcoming recording project. [Read more…]

Soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon to make ChamberFest Cleveland debut

by

by Mike Telin

This week music for voice will take center stage when the dynamic soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon makes her ChamberFest debut.

Fitz Gibbon has appeared as a soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Albany, Richmond, Tulsa, and Eureka Symphonies.

Just prior to our telephone conversation she had performed a recital for the Berkeley Early Music Festival and was a guest artist at SongFest at the San Francisco Conservatory. There she sang contemporary works by American composers including a song-cycle by Sheila Silver and the West Coast premiere of a cycle by John Harbison.

Mike Telin: We’re looking forward to your ChamberFest performances, but this is not your first visit to Cleveland.

Lucy Fitz Gibbon: That’s right. I was there in 2018 for the Art Song Festival. [Read more…]

Harpist Sivan Magen returns to ChamberFest Cleveland

by

by Mike Telin

This week harpist Sivan Magen will make a return visit to ChamberFest Cleveland. “I’m excited to come back to Cleveland and play with those incredible players,” Magen said via Skype from Los Angeles, where he was preparing for a concert with his Israeli Chamber Project. “After that we’re heading to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the American Harp Society Conference where we’ll be giving a concert, master classes, and talks.”

Born in Jerusalem, Magen studied at the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance. After completing his military service, he continued his studies at the Paris Conservatory and went on to complete his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland:
catching up with Alexi Kenney

by

by Mike Telin 

Violinist Alexi Kenney was in his early twenties when he made his ChamberFest Cleveland debut. Still, his résumé up to that point was already impressive. He had won the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, had given recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and was the recipient of top prizes at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition and the Mondavi Center Competition.

Since then Alexi Kenney has established a career that is his own. He regularly creates  experimental programs, commissions new works, solos with major orchestras around the world, and is a constant figure at renowned chamber music festivals. He is also the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

And this week Kenney will once again return to ChamberFest. I caught up with the violinist by telephone. 

[Read more…]

Follow ClevelandClassical.com

Contact us