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ChamberFest Cleveland & Piano Cleveland partnership brings James (Zijian) Wei back to town

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by Mike Telin

Not only did James (Zijian) Wei win First Prize at the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition, he also won four special prizes, one of which was the ChamberFest Cleveland Prize. That prize was awarded for the first time during the 2024 CIPC and was the result of a new partnership between Piano Cleveland and ChamberFest Cleveland.

How did that partnership come about? “Yaron Kohlberg is one of my old friends from Israel, and ChamberFest has been wanting to collaborate with the Piano Competition for a long time,” pianist and ChamberFest co-artistic director Roman Rabinovich said during a Zoom conversation.

“We’re always exploring opportunities to bring our winners back to Cleveland and create partnerships with local organizations,” Piano Cleveland artistic director Yaron Kohlberg said by phone, “and ChamberFest is a natural fit.” [Read more…]

Margi Griebling-Haigh’s The Higgler to receive world premiere

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by Mike Telin

When composer Margi Griebling-Haigh happened across English author A.E. Coppard’s The Higgler while in high school, she knew the short story about life’s missed opportunities was fodder for an opera.

On Saturday, June 7 at 7:30 pm at Disciples Christian Church Griebling-Haigh’s tragi-comic chamber opera The Higgler will receive its world premiere, directed by Marla Berg and conducted by Steven Smith.

The cast includes tenor Brian Skoog in the title role, soprano Gabrielle Haigh as Mary Sadgrove, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Frey as Mrs. Sadgrove, mezzo soprano Denise Milner Howell as Mrs. Witlow, and soprano Lisl Wangerman as Sophy Dawes. The production will be repeated on Sunday, June 8 at 3:30 pm. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with conductor Steven Smith and began by asking him how he prepares to conduct the premiere of a new work.

[Read more…]

Resonance Project presents: Songs of Nature

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by Mike Telin

With the mission to make classical music accessible for first-time listeners by engaging with the audience in ways that extend beyond normal concert settings, The Resonance was the first classical music series on Seattle’s Eastside associated with a dedicated performance space, Resonance at Soma Towers.

Now based in Cleveland, The Resonance Project will continue that audience engagement  on Sunday June 1 at 5:00 pm in Forest Hill Church with  “Songs of Nature.” Baroque instrumentalists join West African drummer and vocalist Assane M’Baye for a program combining Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in g, “Summer,” with Senegalese folk song. Also on the playlist is Davide Perez’s Sinfonía, “La tempestad del Mar,” and Jean-Féry Rebel’s Les Élémens. Pay-what-you-can, tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire to feature flamenco guitarist Jeremy Garcia in ¡HISPANIA! concerts

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by Mike Telin

On Wednesday, May 28 at 7:30 pm in Harkness Chapel, Apollo’s Fire will present a send-off concert of their popular program ¡HISPANIA! before traveling to Puerto Rico to perform at the Casals Festival.

When they return, the ensemble will bring a new version of that program to the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland for five performances from June 5–8 and to Avon Lake United Church of Christ for a single performance on June 9. Tickets are available online.

This all-instrumental version of ¡HISPANIA! led by Jeannette Sorrell features the lively dance rhythms of “tangos and fandangos” from Spain and Argentina. An 11-piece ensemble explores the influence of Arab-infused flamenco dance music on Spanish Baroque composers – including Diego Ortiz, Gaspar Sanz, and Santiago de Murcia.

[Read more…]

No Exit: The International Sounds of The Collective

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by Mike Telin

Big things are happening for the innovative new music ensemble No Exit. In June they will embark on a two-week European tour that will include stops in Greece, Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands.

If you’re unable to follow the ensemble to Europe, but want to hear their tour program, you’re in luck. On Wednesday, May 28 in Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art, No Exit will play works by members of The Collective, an international consortium of composers that includes Agata Zubel, Mathew Rosenblum, Douglas Knehans, Spiros Mazis, Amy Kaplan, Constantine Koukias, Edward Smalldone, and Timothy Beyer. The program will be repeated on Friday, May 30 at The Bop Stop and Saturday, May 31 at Heights Arts. All concerts begin at 7:00 pm and are free.

No Exit’s Laura King spoke to Spiros Mazis and Agata Zubel. The interviews are reprinted with the permission of No Exit. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland Season 13 — “Lost and Found”

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by Mike Telin

Programming a summer music festival is not easy. There are so many pieces of the puzzle — not all of them artistic — that need to fit together.

But undaunted, ChamberFest Cleveland artistic directors Diana Cohen, Franklin Cohen, and Roman Rabinovich, along with executive director Jessica Peek Sherwood, have assembled what promises to be the most interesting Festival to date. With the theme of “Lost and Found,” season thirteen runs from June 11–28. Click here for tickets and more information.

[Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra Opera and Humanities Festival: “Vox Humana”

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by Mike Telin

We have all been there — sitting near someone who is having a telephone conversation. We don’t know who is on the other end of the call, but we do know the person near you is not pleased — their tone of voice and body language makes that clear.

It’s a similar one-sided telephone conversation that serves as the basis for Francis Poulenc’s forty-minute-long, one-act opera, La voix humaine. This week at Severance Music Center, French soprano Sarah Aristidou will make her Cleveland Orchestra debut in Poulenc’s mono-drama under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst.

The performances — Friday, May 23 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, May 24 at 8:00 pm — are presented as part of The Orchestra’s Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Opera and Humanities Festival. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra: Jenůfa, an opera about reconciliation

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by Mike Telin

The 2025 edition of The Cleveland Orchestra’s Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Opera and Humanities Festival has adopted “Reconciliation” as its theme.

No opera treats the power of forgiveness and reconciliation better than Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa. Set in a rural Moravian village, its intense drama centers around Jenůfa, who gives birth to an illegitimate child, and her stepmother the Kostelnička (the church sacristan), who kills the baby in order to protect Jenůfa’s honor and, more importantly, her future.

On Saturday, May 17 at 7:00 pm in Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in Janáček’s 1904 opera based on Gabriela Preissová’s play Její pastorkyňa (Her Stepdaughter).

The cast features sopranos Latonia Moore (Jenůfa) and Nina Stemme (Kostelnička) and tenors Samuel Levine (Laca) and Miles Mykkanen (Števa). The production will be repeated on Thursday, May 22 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, May 25 at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Choir celebrates tenth birthday

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by Mike Telin

On Saturday, May 17 at 7:30 pm in Trinity Cathedral, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra and Cleveland Chamber Choir present “I Believe! Knitted Voices of Justice and Faith,” with conductor Daniel Meyer and soprano Katherine Jolly. The program includes Margaret Bonds’ Credo and Mozart’s “Great” Mass in c. Pay-what-you-wish tickets are available at the door and online.

The concert also marks the culmination of the tenth anniversary season for Cleveland Chamber Choir. We spoke to CCC’s president, Melissa Vandergriff, who helped found the Choir in 2015 along with the ensemble’s first artistic director, Scott MacPherson. We also spoke to ensemble member and executive director Kira McGirr as well as Gregory Ristow, who became the group’s second artistic director in August 2023. [Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra turns fifteen! (Part 2)

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by Mike Telin

On Saturday, May 17 at 7:30 pm in Trinity Cathedral, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra and Cleveland Chamber Choir present “I Believe! Knitted Voices of Justice and Faith,” with conductor Daniel Meyer and soprano Katherine Jolly. The program includes Margaret Bonds’ Credo and Mozart’s “Great” Mass in c. Pay-what-you-wish tickets are available at the door and online.

The concert also marks the culmination of the fifteenth anniversary season for BlueWater Chamber Orchestra. We spoke to BlueWater founding member and administrator Nancy Patterson and music director Daniel Meyer.

[Read more…]

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