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Piano Cleveland presents: Prelude to Piano Days 2022 Listening Series

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by Mike Telin

Piano Cleveland has a lot in store for Northeast Ohio this summer. But before PianoDays@CLE kicks off on July 24, why not take a deep dive into how to listen to piano music by enrolling in the Prelude to Piano Days 2022 Listening Series? During the three sessions you’ll discover how two pianists work together, what it means to immerse yourself in the work of a single composer, and what exactly is involved in improvisation. Click here for more information.

“We call this ‘education for adults,’” Piano Cleveland president Yaron Kohlberg said during a Zoom conversation. “It’s all part of our mission to make piano music as accessible as possible. And to help everybody, regardless of their knowledge of piano music, find something to connect with.”

Following the success of last year’s listening series which touched on the basics, Kohlberg said that this year the series will go one step further. “Everything that is being presented during the listening series will be heard during the summer performances. So there is a direct connection.” [Read more…]

Conductor Kahchun Wong makes Cleveland Orchestra debut this week

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by Mike Telin

When visa issues prevented conductor François-Xavier Roth from leading this week’s Cleveland Orchestra concerts, the door opened for Kahchun Wong.

On Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 pm, the Singaporean conductor will make his Severance Music Center debut with a concert featuring Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff, and Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta. The program will be repeated on Friday at 11:00 am and Saturday at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

What were his first thoughts when he got the call telling him that he was needed in Cleveland? “Honestly, I didn’t have time to be nervous. All I could think about were all of the logistical matters,” the 35-year-old said during a recent telephone conversation.

With one residence in Japan — he is the principal guest conductor of the Japan Philharmonic — and another residence in Germany — he is the chief conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra — his first task was to locate his scores. “It wasn’t until I was on the flight that I thought, oh my, I’m going to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra.” [Read more…]

Pianist Gerardo Teissonnière: Beethoven’s Last Sonatas

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by Mike Telin

In many ways the current state of world affairs is strikingly similar to those Beethoven was experiencing as he entered his Late Period, which coincided with the defeat of Napoleon, the reinstatement of the monarchy, and economic depression.

In spite of this, as pianist Gerardo Teissonnière writes in the liner notes of his recent recording Beethoven The Last Sonatas, “These three extraordinarily diverse works present us with some of the composer’s most beautiful, innermost, surprising, and transcendental musical expressions.”

If you were thinking that perhaps the world doesn’t need another recording of Op. 109, 110, and 111, think again. During the 69 minutes of the album, released on the Steinway label, Teissonnière brings a crystalline sound, formidable technique, and exquisite musical taste to his interpretations.

[Read more…]

Les Délices goes live
with The White Cat

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by Mike Telin

For centuries the fairy tale of Puss in Boots, the wily cat who stops at nothing to gain power and wealth for his penniless master, has been a source of inspiration for composers and choreographers.

“For some time I’ve been thinking about how to bring attention to the women authors of fairy tales from late 17th-century France,” Debra Nagy said during a telephone conversation. “I started reading them and thinking about which stories would be appealing to a 21st-century reader, and Catherine D’Aulnoy’s The White Cat really drew my attention. It’s an interesting rewrite of Puss-in-boots from the point of view of her humility, kindness, and generosity which is in contrast to the manipulative Puss-in-boots who gets ahead almost entirely through trickery.”

On Friday, April 1st at 7:30 pm at the Akron Public Library, Les Délices will present their new 65-minute opera, The White Cat. [Read more…]

ChamberFest & Chamber Music Society come together April 5 “For the Love of Chamber Music”

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by Mike Telin

Examining the mailing lists of an arts organization can reveal a lot. First and foremost that list tells you who is attending the events. And when comparing the mailing lists of two like-minded organizations, for example ones devoted to chamber music, one would expect to find more than a fair amount of overlap.

“Many of us at Cleveland Chamber Music Society have gone to a lot of ChamberFest concerts over the years and admired their exceptional quality and creative programming,” Steve Somach, the CCMS director of programming, said by telephone. “We have commented amongst ourselves that when we attend those concerts, there are so many unfamiliar faces.”

During a separate conversation these sentiments and observations were echoed by Franklin Cohen, one of ChamberFest Cleveland’s artistic directors. “I’ve always loved going to CCMS concerts,” he said, adding that it is a different audience.

After some discussion, the two organizations decided to compare their respective mailing lists, and they were met with a surprising discovery — there was very little duplication. “It became apparent that having a collaborative event would be a great way for Cleveland-area chamber music lovers to be introduced to both organizations,” Somach said. [Read more…]

Pianist Imogen Cooper
returns to Severance  

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by Mike Telin

It’s difficult to believe that it was in April of 2014 that the inimitable British pianist Imogen Cooper last appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra. Interestingly, it was Dame Jane Glover who was on the podium for that engagement. 

On Thursday, March 24 at 7:30 pm, Cooper and Glover will reunite with the Orchestra on the Severance Music Center stage. The program will include music by Britten, Mozart, Tallis, and Vaughan Williams. Performances continue through Sunday and tickets are available online.

From the beginning of our recent telephone conversation, it was clear that Cooper is excited to be back in Cleveland. “It’s lovely to be here. The sun is shining and I can’t wait to renew my relationship with the orchestra. It’s going to be a real joy,” the pianist said from her hotel room. “And that gorgeous hall that I love so much. I don’t think there’s a more beautiful hall in the world.” 

[Read more…]

New Wine in Old Bottles: Cleveland Composers Guild goes Baroque

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by Mike Telin

Although it is often said that you cannot put new wine in old bottles — or wineskins, on Friday, March 25 at 7:30 pm in Kulas Music Hall at Baldwin Wallace University, the Cleveland Composers Guild will show that it can be done.

“New Wine in Old Bottles” features recently composed works by Guild members — new wine — performed by Burning River Baroque’s Malina Rauschenfels (Baroque cello,viola da gamba, and voice), Paula Maust (harpsichord), and guest David Ellis (Baroque cello, viola da gamba, and bass gamba) — old bottles.

“I don’t think the Composers Guild has ever collaborated with an early music group,” Guild president Margi Griebling-Haigh said during a recent telephone conversation. “We were just brainstorming, as we do in Guild meetings, about what projects we would like to pursue in the future. This idea came up and everyone thought it was interesting. So we thought ‘Let’s branch out and see what it’s like to write for gamba and harpsichord.’” [Read more…]

Baldwin Wallace Opera: Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro

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by Mike Telin

A mainstay of the opera repertoire, The Marriage of Figaro is the first of Mozart’s collaborations with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The plot is filled with mistaken identity, surprise paternity, and intrigue, as the servants Figaro and Susanna triumph in marriage while comically thwarting the attempts of the philandering Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna.

On Thursday, March 24 at 7:30 pm at Gamble Auditorium, Baldwin Wallace Opera Theater will launch Mozart’s comic opera in a production directed by Scott Skiba, with Dean Buck conducting the BW Orchestra. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Performances run through Sunday, March 27. Tickets are available online. The performances will also be live streamed.

Based on a Pierre Beaumarchais play, Figaro is a social commentary about the lower versus the upper class — servants outsmarting the aristocracy. And it is the combination of comedy  and great music that makes the opera a masterpiece. “I think it’s one of the greatest pieces in all of theater, whether it’s opera or musicals,” Scott Skiba said during a recent telephone conversation. “The Beaumarchais plays are brilliant and the Mozart/DaPonte collaboration is equally brilliant.” [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera: Field & Larkin on Cimarosa’s ll matrimonio segreto

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by Mike Telin

Domenico Cimarosa’s ll matrimonio segreto (“The Secret Marriage”) was a hit with the public from its premiere at the Imperial Hofburg Theatre in Vienna in 1792. And still today the opera has not lost any of its audience appeal.

On Thursday, March 24 at 8:00 pm at Hall Auditorium, Oberlin Opera Theater will present Cimarosa’s two-act comic opera in a production directed by Jonathon Field, with Christopher Larkin conducting the Oberlin Orchestra. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Performances run through Sunday. Tickets are available online.

Larkin has been a regular in the Hall Auditorium pit since 2007 when Field staged Mark Adamo’s Little Women, an opera for which he conducted the premiere in Houston. 

On a recent sunny morning at a popular Oberlin coffee shop, I sat down with Jonathon Field and Christopher Larkin to talk about the opera and the production. This conversation was one of those where you simply turned on the recorder and the two longtime collaborators took it from there.

[Read more…]

Harpist Parker Ramsay brings the Goldberg Variations to Trinity Cathedral

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by Mike Telin

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Aria with Thirty Variations — nicknamed (not by the composer) after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, the harpsichordist who was retained to play them on command for an insomniac patron — have been adapted by performers for many other instruments, most notably for the piano and most famously by Glenn Gould.

Joining a long list of arrangers, Parker Ramsay has transcribed the Variations for the modern pedal harp, an instrument for which he holds a master’s degree from Juilliard, in addition to a degree in history from Cambridge University, plus a master’s in historical performance (organ and harpsichord) and an artist diploma (organ) from Oberlin.

Ramsay returned to his undergraduate haunts to record the Goldbergs in Henry VI’s wonderful chapel at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was the first American to serve as organ scholar. Bach: Goldberg Variations was released in September of 2020 on King’s own label.

On Monday, March 21 at 7:30 pm, Parker Ramsay will perform his arrangement of Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations in a Bach Birthday Concert to benefit Music and Art at Trinity Cathedral. Click here for more information. [Read more…]

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