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Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: musical magic from start to finish (Feb. 20)

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by Mike Telin

Over the years, audiences have had the privilege of hearing many outstanding performances by winners of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra’s annual concerto competition. But on Sunday, February 20, the sizable crowd at Severance Music Center witnessed nothing short of musical magic during Dasara Beta’s brilliant performance of Alexander Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto.

Playing with an unblemished, focused sound, the Rocky River High School senior embodied the concerto’s musical intricacies, beautifully capturing the soul of the Armenian folk-inspired melodies. His instinctive sense of meter served him well during the work’s numerous complex rhythmic and technical passages. The slower, muted section was thoroughly romantic and the long cadenza totally thrilling. [Read more…]

DIARY: Friday, March 4, 2022

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by Mike Telin

In today’s issue:

  • Concerts by carillonneur George Leggiero, The Cleveland Orchestra, Oberlin Orchestra, and Quire Cleveland.
  • Herbert Blomsted discusses the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
  • The Cleveland Orchestra debuts the next installment of their In Focus series, DANCECleveland  performance to feature pianist Simone Dinnerstein, and Anna Netrebko will not appear at the Metropolitan Opera this season or next.
  • Almanac: We celebrate the births of Antonio Vivaldi and MarioDavidovsky.

FRIDAY’S CONCERTS:

At 12:15 pm carillonneur George Leggiero performs a McGaffin Carillon Concert and Live Stream in support of the People of Ukraine. The concert is one of many from the 680 carillons worldwide this weekend. [Read more…]

Duo Noire to make Cleveland Classical Guitar Society Debut

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by Mike Telin

Although they wouldn’t meet for some time, Thomas Flippin and Christopher Mallett long shared a musical trajectory.

They both grew up in Southern California and were steeped in their local punk rock scenes, playing in bands during high school. They both found their way to the classical guitar in their late teens. They both did their undergraduate studies in the Midwest — Flippin at the University of Chicago and Mallett at Oberlin Conservatory — and they both went on to study at Yale University, becoming the first two African American guitarists to be admitted into the program. Yale was also where they formed Duo Noire, taking the name of the French term for both “black” and “quarter note.”

On Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society will present Duo Noire in a program that explores the many ways music expresses the essence of place. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

DIARY: Friday, February 25, 2022

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by Mike Telin

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can play weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.— Charles Mingus

IN TODAY’S ISSUE:

• Concerts by Carillonneur George Leggiero, pianist Caroline Oltmanns, the Krantz/Carlock/Lefebvre trio, The Cleveland Orchestra, Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, and Les Délices.

• Ian Pomerantz says that it’s time to talk about antisemitism in the early music field.

• The Cleveland Cello Society has rescheduled their annual fundraiser, i Cellisti, And Valery Gergiev will not conduct the Vienna Philharmonic in concerts at Carnegie Hall.

• Almanac: the births of Dame Myra Hess (pictured) and Maryanne Amacher. [Read more…]

Richard Hawkins & Friends at the Rocky River Chamber Music Society

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by Mike Telin

When the Oberlin Conservatory’s Richard Hawkins was asked to curate a concert for the Rocky River Chamber Music Society, he knew right away that it was an opportunity to program works that would include his Oberlin Conservatory faculty friends. “It’s always nice to present chamber music for winds and strings that people might not know,” the clarinetist said during a telephone conversation.

On Monday, February 28 at 7:30 pm at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, Hawkins will be joined by Sibbi Bernhardsson (violist), Kirsten Docter (viola), James Howsmon (piano), Dmitry Kouzov (cello), Drew Pattison (bassoon), and Jeff Scott (horn) in a forgotten quintet from the turn of the 20th century, a light-hearted trio from the early 1980s, and a masterpiece sextet from 1935. The performance is free and face masks are required. The event will be live streamed on the RRCMS Facebook page. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir hosts composer Cecilia McDowall

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by Mike Telin

During the pandemic, the anxiety caused by an unknown future and the longing to return to normal have been beautifully expressed by thousands of people around the globe who participated in the Global Vaccine Poem project. Lines from these poems served as the inspiration for British composer Cecilia McDowall’s On the Air (Dear Vaccine).

Commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Choir, the work will receive its premiere on Saturday, February 26 at 7:00 pm at Amasa Stone Chapel and on Sunday, February 27 at 5:00 pm at Waetjen Auditorium under the direction of Scott MacPherson. The program, “Cecilia and Her World,” will feature nine of McDowall’s works along with music by composers who have influenced her style.

Joining CCC will be choirs from Cleveland, Kent, and Youngstown State Universities as well as Case Western Reserve University. A pre-concert talk, “In Conversation: Cecilia McDowall with Charles Edward McGuire,” will begin 45 minutes before each performance. Both concerts are free. Click here to download the program and here for COVID-19 protocols.

The Global Vaccine Poem project is the brainchild of David Hassler, director of Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center, and Tyler Meier, executive director of the University of Arizona’s Poetry Center. So far, the project has received over 2,200 poems from people in 118 countries and every state in the U.S. [Read more…]

At the movies with the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra  

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by Mike Telin

It was historical performance practice at its best this past Wednesday when the Cleveland Silent Film Festival presented a screening of the 1928 Buster Keaton classic comedy Steamboat Bill, Jr. at Oberlin’s historic Apollo Theater. Accompanied by the brilliant Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, the evening captured the allure of the “Golden Age” of film.

During his brief opening remarks, Mont Alto director and pianist Rodney Sauer explained that the music that would be heard was from one of the group’s “compiled scores” assembled from a library of “photoplay” music — pre-written works that depict certain scenes. He added that much of the music had been written by Cleveland native and film music pioneer John Stepan Zamecnik. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: a conversation with trumpeter Dasara Beta  

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by Mike Telin

Think of works for trumpet and orchestra, and two pieces immediately come to mind. “When I tell someone that I’m playing a concerto, they always say — are you playing Haydn or Hummel?” Dasara Beta said during a recent telephone conversation. “This is a pretty popular piece for trumpet players, but if you don’t play the trumpet, you might not know it.”

On Sunday, February 20 at 3:00 pm at Severance Music Center, Beta will perform Alexander Arutunian’s Trumpet Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. Under the direction of Vinay Parameswaran, the program will also include Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral and Manuel de Falla’s Suites No. 1 & 2 from El Sombrero de Tres Picos (Three-Cornered Hat). Tickets are available online.

2021 was a good year for the Rocky River High School senior. In addition to winning the COYO concerto competition, Beta was also the First Prize winner of the High School Division of the World Trumpet Society’s Daniel Patrylak Memorial Orchestral Competition as well as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Friday, February 11, 2022

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by Mike Telin

HAPPENING TODAY:

Bells at Noon: The McGaffin Carillon Concert & Live Stream features guest carillonneur Sheryl Modlin (pictured) in spirituals, hymns, and music by Black composers to mark Black History Month. Tonight’s agenda includes Opera at Kent (a Julia Child sendup and an Offenbach comedy), Symphonies at Severance (Herbert Blomstedt leads Beethoven’s Fifth and Nielsen’s Fourth), and a CD release party (McDaniel & Kirkwood’s new single, Patterns on Dufy) at the Bop Stops. Details in the Concert Listings.

IN THE NEWS: 

For Black History Month, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra will highlight some of the jazz artists who created music as a way to protest. Their latest newsletter tells you more about the artists and their songs. Access it on CJO’s Facebook page or view the newsletter here. [Read more…]

Cleveland Silent Film Festival & Colloquium: The Fascinating Life of John Stepan Zamecnik
(second of two articles)

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by Mike Telin

Until recently, only a select few would have recognized the name John Stepan Zamecnik (1872–1953) if it had come up in conversation. But in the past few months the Cleveland-born violinist and composer is experiencing a resurgence. His music and accomplishments are being featured as part of the Cleveland Arts Prize Past Masters Project. And on Sunday, February 13 at 3:00 pm at the Hermit Club, Zamecnik’s music and life will take center stage during the opening event of the inaugural Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium.

The program will include chamber works by Zamecnik and his mentor, Antonín Dvořák, performed by violinists Isabel Trautwein, Alicia Koelz, and Katherine Bormann, violist Eric Wong, cellist Tanya Ell, clarinetist Robert Woolfrey, and pianist Rodney Sauer, who is also the director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and who will deliver remarks on Sunday. Click here for tickets and here to read the previous article in this series, an overview of the Festival. A complete list of events and ticket information can be found at the end of this article.

In addition to selected movements from Zamecnik’s String Quartette in B-flat and Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello, the concert will include three of the composer’s Photoplay Scenes: Ode to Spring (1923), A Gruesome Tale (1922), and Bon Vivant (1917). 

[Read more…]

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