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ChamberFest Cleveland announces Season Eight

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ChamberFest Cleveland, the celebrated summer music festival founded by Franklin Cohen, principal clarinet emeritus of The Cleveland Orchestra, and his daughter, Diana Cohen, concertmaster of The Calgary Philharmonic, returns to the Cleveland scene with Season 8, “Under the Influence.” The festival will take place from June 13 through June 29, 2019, at venues throughout Greater Cleveland, and will include nine concerts plus a special late-night electronic violin performance at The Wine Spot on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.

Concerts kick off on Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 pm at Mixon Hall. ChamberFest will also make stops at Cleveland State University’s Drinko Hall, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, and Harkness Chapel on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

ChamberFest will welcome back many favorite musicians in addition to Co-founders and Co-artistic Directors, Franklin and Diana Cohen. Yura Lee, Alexi Kenney, Oliver Herbert, Peter Wiley, Roman Rabinovich, Julie Albers, Amy Schwartz Moretti, and more will join new artists including Israeli Philharmonic principal oboe Dudu Carmel and Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen. Four up-and-coming players will take part in ChamberFest’s “Rising Stars” program.

[Read more…]

M.U.S.i.C. hosts Spring Cabaret (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics)

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by Mike Telin

Providing performance opportunities for emerging musicians in Northeast Ohio is the driving principle behind M.U.S.i.C. (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics). Under the discerning guidance of artistic director Jodi Kanter, the organization finds venues, arranges concerts, and supplies printed programs, publicity and refreshments. They also pay their performers, most of whom are students at one of the area’s conservatories or schools of music.

On Sunday, April 7 at 3:30 pm in Orange Village Hall, M.U.S.i.C. will present its Classical Cabaret No. 22. “A Celebration of Spring” will feature violinists Maria Park and Alexandra Switala, cellists Chauncey Aceret, Alex Glaubitz, Benjamin Rogers, and Rebecca Shasberger, pianists Gastón Frydman, Arseniy Gusev, Alexander Kostritsa, Nikolay Pushkarev, and Amy Tan, double-bassist Henry Samuels, oboist Devin Hinzo, and vocalists Bryant Bush and Jung Eun Oh.

The program includes Beethoven’s “Scherzo” and “Rondo” (Spring Sonata), Mozart’s “Allegro vivace assai” (Spring Quartet) and “Per questa bella mano,” Piazzolla’s “Primavera,” Prokofiev’s “Spring Fairy” (Cinderella), excerpts from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring for piano four hands, Ravel’s Bolero arranged for cello quartet, and songs by Mahler and Debussy. Tickets include food and beverages and are available online.

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Les Délices closes 10th Anniversary Season with The Elements

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by Mike Telin

Over the past ten years the music of Jean-Féry Rebel has become familiar to Les Délices audiences. The ensemble has performed several of the composer’s violin and trio sonatas, scenes from his opera L’Ulysse which highlighted the Odyssey-inspired program Myths & Allegories, and his early choreographed symphonies such as Caractères de la danse, which have become signature pieces for the group.

This week Les Délices will return to the music of Rebel when they present a program titled “The Elements” which is centered around Rebel’s 1737 masterpiece of the same name. The program also includes music of Rameau and the premiere of a new, nature-inspired piece for period instruments by Theo Chandler.

Concerts take place on Friday, April 5 at 7:30 pm at Akron’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Saturday the 6th at 8:00 pm at Lakewood Congregational Church, and Sunday the 7th at 4:00 pm in Herr Chapel at Plymouth Church. Tickets are available online. On Saturday beginning at 3:00 pm at the Bop Stop, Les Délices will present “Mother Nature Makes Music,” a free 45-minute program designed for children ages 5-12.

[Read more…]

The Escher Quartet returns to Tuesday Musical on March 28

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by Mike Telin

When the Escher Quartet began planning their 2018-19 season, they knew it would include a new piano quintet by Anthony Cheung. Soon another commissioning opportunity from the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music came their way. Earlier this month the Escher gave the premiere of Chris Rogerson’s String Quartet No. 4 (2019) as part of the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival.

On Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, the Escher — Adam Barnett-Hart and Danbi Um, violins, Pierre LaPointe, viola, and Brook Speltz, cello — will give the second performance of Rogerson’s new work. Presented by Tuesday Musical, the program will also include Mozart’s Quartet in F, K. 590 and Beethoven’s monumental Quartet in C-sharp, Op. 131. A conversation with the musicians led by composer James Wilding will begin at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online.

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Russian Duo plays ragtime at Nighttown

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by Mike Telin

“I wrote my Free Spirit Rag around 1985,” composer and pianist Brian Dykstra said during a telephone conversation. “I guess Terry Boyarsky heard a recording of it on WCLV, and got the idea of arranging it for balalaika and piano. You can imagine my surprise when I heard this back in the fall of 2017.”

On Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm at Nighttown, Russian Duo (Oleg Kruglyakov, balalaika and vocals, and Terry Boyarsky, piano) will present a program that includes the Duo’s arrangement of Dykstra’s Free Spirit Rag, as well as variations on Russian folk melodies, classical music, and Soviet compositions. Prior to the performance there will be a screening of director Chris Bohan’s and cinematographer Steve Hacker’s short film You Go First, which features music performed by Russian Duo. Tickets are available online.

Dykstra did send the music to Boyarsky and Kruglyakov, and gave them permission to make the arrangement. “Some months later Terry invited me to her house for dinner,” Dykstra said. “

[Read more…]

NEOSonicFest kicks off on Friday at Mahall’s

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by Mike Telin

Cleveland Chamber Symphony launches its sixth NEOSonicFest on Friday, March 29 at 9:00 pm at Mahall’s in Lakewood with a concert in partnership with Fresh Perspectives. Uno Lady (Christa Ebert), a one-woman choir, will create electronic loops, harpist Stephan Haluska will present his own electro-acoustical compositions, and Buck McDaniel and Jacob Kirkwood will present a concert version of their live electro-acoustic score written for Cleveland Public Theatre’s Fire on the Water, a meditation on the 50th anniversary of the burning of the Cuyahoga River. The evening will also feature “signature cocktails” available for purchase. Tickets go for $7.

In a recent conference call, Fresh Perspective’s Devin Hinzo said that when they were looking for a venue to present McDaniel’s and Kirkwood’s piece, they immediately thought of Mahall’s. “They support local and emerging musicians as well as music that doesn’t fit any particular genre, so it seemed like a natural fit.”

[Read more…]

Burning River Baroque tells
the “Other Side of the Story”

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by Mike Telin

Curating thoughtfully-programmed, politically-inspired concerts has become a calling card for the innovative, Cleveland-based ensemble Burning River Baroque.

In the past year, soprano Malina Rauschenfels and harpsichordist Paula Maust have presented “Suppressed Voices: Music of the Banished” which featured music by Johann Rosenmüller —  a German who escaped to Italy after being imprisoned for homosexuality — and Peter Philips, who was imprisoned as a Catholic in Anglican England, then later fled to the Spanish Netherlands. “Destructive Desires” examined works by Couperin, Rameau, Jacquet de la Guerre, Caccini, Eccles, and Courbois under the light of the #MeToo era.

On Wednesday, March 20 at Glo, Rauschenfels and Maust will be joined by Sarah Lynn, baroque flute, and Glenna Curren, baroque cello, in a concert titled “The Other Side of the Story.” The program, which draws on ancient mythology, literature, and Biblical passages, highlights characters whose viewpoints are underrepresented.

Presented by Fresh Perspectives, the evening includes a 6:45 pm pre-concert talk with host Devin Hinzo and musician Zach Manzi. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera Theater to present Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites

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by Mike Telin

Francis Poulenc’s The Dialogues of the Carmelites recounts a fictionalized version of the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, Carmelite nuns who, during the closing days of the Reign of Terror, were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their vocation.

Beginning on Wednesday, March 13 at 8:00 pm in Hall Auditorium, Oberlin Opera Theater will present the first of four performances of Poulenc’s haunting opera. Performances continue on Thursday and Friday at 8:00 and on Sunday at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

“It’s a fascinating piece,” director Jonathon Field said during a telephone conversation. “Poulenc’s music is phenomenal and describes the dramatic situation quite well. I think that’s why it keeps getting produced over and over again by opera companies around the world.”

Poulenc’s libretto is based on the play of the same name by Georges Bernanos, based on Gertud von Le Fort’s novella Die Letzte am Schafott (The Last on the Scaffold). [Read more…]

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns to Tuesday Musical stage

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by Mike Telin

On Tuesday, March 12 at 7:30 pm, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will return to Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall stage as part of Tuesday Musical’s Mainstage Series. The program of Russian music will feature Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque in g for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher for Violin and Piano, Prokofiev’s Sonata in C for Two Violins, and Taneyev’s Piano Quintet in g. Tickets are available online.

“I’m so excited to be able to play this program,” pianist and CMS artistic director Wu Han said during a telephone conversation. “People know the names Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev, but they may not know these pieces, and Sergei Taneyev is a name that music lovers in the United States should be more familiar with.”

Han, who will be joined by her CMS colleagues Arnaud Sussmann and Alexander Sitkovetsky, violins, Matthew Lipman, viola, and Nicholas Cannellakis, cello, said the program is built around the relationship that Taneyev had with Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev.

“He was Rachmaninoff’s and Scriabin’s teacher, and he claimed that he was Prokofiev’s teacher as well. And at one point, Tchaikovsky was Taneyev’s teacher.” [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland launches House Concert Series: a conversation with Franklin Cohen

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by Mike Telin

It’s wonderful to hear great chamber music performances in a concert hall, but it’s an entirely different experience to hear it in someone’s home with light appetizers and your favorite beverage.

“As I get older I’m really enjoying situations where the audience is five feet away from you and you can feel everyone’s energy,” clarinetist and ChamberFest Cleveland co-artistic director Franklin Cohen said. “There’s something very special about that environment that I can’t even describe — it’s a wonderful thing.”

On Friday, March 8 at 7:30 pm, ChamberFest Cleveland will present the Cohen Candlelight House Concert, featuring Franklin Cohen and the Callisto Quartet. The program will include Ligeti’s String Quartet No. 1, “Métamorphoses nocturnes” and Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. Light appetizers and beverages will be served after the concert. Tickets are available online, and the address will be provided upon purchase.

Cohen said that the House Concert Series provides the perfect opportunity to present “a local ensemble that has received national recognition.” [Read more…]

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