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No Exit: a conversation with composer Emily Koh

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by Mike Telin

Emily-KohComposers never know how and when they will find inspiration for a new work. For Emily Koh it was during a visit to a museum. “I was walking around the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and a painting by Esphyr Slobodkina caught my attention,” Koh said during a recent telephone conversation. “Her pieces are abstract, colorful, and angular — all the things I find interesting, not only in music, but in art and sculpture as well.”

On Saturday, February 4 at 8:00 at SPACES Gallery, No Exit will present the world premiere of Emily Koh’s esphyr, performed by violinist Cara Tweed, pianist Nicholas Underhill, and percussionist Luke Rinderknecht. The concert will also include Lou Harrison’s Suite for Solo Piano (tribute to Arnold Schoenberg), Christopher Deane’s Mourning Dove Sonnet for vibraphone, Nicholas Underhill’s Habanera for violin, and George Antheil’s Violin Sonata No. 2. The program will be repeated on Monday, February 6 at Cleveland State University’s Drinko Auditorium, and on Saturday, February 11 at Heights Arts. Both concerts begin at 8:00 pm.  [Read more…]

CMA celebrates Philip Glass’s 80th with screenings of the Qatsi Trilogy

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by Mike Telin

Trilogy“Philip Glass is turning 80 on the 31st of this month, and I thought that was certainly cause for tipping the cap to one of the most famous composers of our time,” said Tom Welsh, Cleveland Museum of Art’s Director of Performing Arts, during a recent telephone conversation. “As a composer, Glass had a real impact on the whole world — not just in classical music, but everything — and I thought that was worth recognizing.”

Beginning on Friday, January 27 and continuing through Sunday, CMA and the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque will celebrate Glass’s 80th birthday with a presentation of The Qatsi Trilogy: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi by filmmaker Godfrey Reggio with landmark musical scores by Glass. [Read more…]

Boston’s A Far Cry chamber orchestra to perform at Baldwin Wallace on January 24

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by Daniel Hathaway

A-Far-Cry-2017Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, the Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry will journey to Berea this week to conduct a residency and play a concert at Baldwin Wallace University.

The ensemble of string players, who perform without conductor, share all aspects of decision-making among the membership, a process the orchestra will discuss with BW students and faculty during its sojourn later this week.

The musical results of their approach to self-governance will be on display in a 7:00 pm concert on Tuesday, January 24 in Gamble Auditorium. The program will include J.S. Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, Lembit Beecher’s The Conference of the Birds, Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, and selections from the medieval Codex Calixtinus. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical: a conversation with Imani Winds bassoonist Monica Ellis

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by Mike Telin

Imani-Winds-2017In today’s classical music world, there are many ways to define the term “modern music,” with all its cross-pollinations of styles and genres,” Imani Winds bassoonist Monica Ellis said during a recent telephone interview. “I think this program has an overriding commonality of modernism, yet that is expressed in so many different ways.”

On Wednesday, January 25 at 7:30 pm, the Imani Winds — Valerie Coleman, flute, Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe, Mark Dover, clarinet, Jeff Scott, horn, and Monica Ellis, bassoon — will return to the Tuesday Musical series in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall for a concert titled “Considered Modern.” The program will feature works by Elliott Carter, Paquito D’Rivera, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Simon Shaheen, and Imani’s own Valerie Coleman and Jeff Scott. This writer will conduct a pre-concert interview with members of the ensemble beginning at 6:30 pm.

“The program also embodies who we are as an ensemble, and the mission we established when the group was formed 20 years ago,” Ellis said. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera Theater to present Philip Glass song cycle January 27-29

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by Mike Telin

GlassWhen composer Philip Glass released his Songs from Liquid Days in 1986, the groundbreaking album featuring lyrics by Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, David Byrne, and Laurie Anderson quickly became Glass’s most successful album to date. Writing for The New York Times, critic Stephen Holden noted: “The album’s six songs are short, oracular reflections on time and love, with imagery that explicitly evokes mystical connections between people and objects, the living and the dead, and portrays dreams as portholes into eternity.”

This weekend those portholes into eternity will be reimagined by Jonathon Field when Oberlin Opera Theater presents Glass’s Songs From Liquid Days as part of Cleveland Opera Theater’s {NOW} Festival. Performances will take place on January 27 and 28 in Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall, and on January 29 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. (Seating is limited for the Oberlin performances. Ticketing information for all events is below.) [Read more…]

Cleveland Opera Theater launches {New Opera Works} Festival

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by Mike Telin

Amelia-LostThe presentation of new and recently composed operas has been part of Cleveland Opera Theater’s mission since it was founded in 2006. Beginning on Friday, January 20, the company will launch its first festival dedicated to new opera works.

Scott Skiba, executive artistic director of COT, said that this year’s {New Opera Works} Festival features works that are in the beginning, middle, and ending stages of development. “Federico García Lorca’s final play, The House of Bernarda Alba, is in the initial stages of being adapted into an opera, and there will be a reading of the English translation by Lorca scholar Caridad Svich,” Skiba said during a recent interview.

Representing the middle period of development will be a preview of Scene Three from composer Nkeiru Okoye’s and librettist David Cote’s new opera We’ve Got Our Eye on You. “This will be a teaser of the complete opera, which will be presented during next year’s {NOW} Festival,” Skiba said. A recently completed work at the Festival will be Amelia Lost, a new opera by Larry Delinger and Brad Carroll which had its world premiere in Knoxville back in 2014 (pictured above). [Read more…]

Cellist Elinor Frey to join Les Délices for “Mozart in Paris” this weekend

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by Mike Telin

frey-elinorMozart made an excellent impression visiting Paris with his father and sister in the mid-1760s. However, when he returned to the city in the spring of 1778, things didn’t go so well. “Despite the successful premiere of his Paris Symphony, and a few other commissions, he felt misunderstood,” oboist Debra Nagy said during a recent conversation. “But it was his bad attitude that was ultimately his undoing.”

On Saturday, January 21 at 8:00 pm at 2731 Prospect Gallery, Les Délices will present “Mozart in Paris.” The program, which marks the ensemble’s first full concert featuring music from the Classical era, will include Mozart’s Quartet for Oboe and Strings, quintets by Luigi Boccherini and Christoph Willibald Gluck, a string quartet by Giuseppe Cambini, and an etude by renowned French cellist Jean-Louis Duport. The program will be repeated on Sunday, January at 4:00 pm at Herr Chapel in Plymouth Church. In addition to Nagy, performers include violinists Julie Andrijeski and Beth Wenstrom, violist Cynthia Black, and cellist Elinor Frey. [Read more…]

CD Review
Dana Jessen: Carve

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by Mike Telin

JESSEN-CD-CarveOn her debut album Carve, bassoonist Dana Jessen challenges listeners to discard any preconceived notions they may have about the instrument, and allow themselves to be swept away into a magical world of colorful acoustic and electronic soundscapes. Released on Innova Recordings, Carve features four alluring commissioned works by American composers — Paula Matthusen, Sam Pluta, Peter V. Swendsen, and Kyle Bruckmann — interwoven with playful improvisations by Jessen. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: a chat with CMS pianist Alessio Bax

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by Mike Telin

Alessio-Bax-Lisa-Marie-MazzuccoWhether it’s a sports team or a chamber music ensemble, it’s all about assembling the perfect combination of people who together can achieve the highest performance standards. “This is a dream team,” pianist Alessio Bax said of his Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center colleagues during a recent telephone conversation. “I’ve worked with each of them separately on many occasions, but to have them all together for these concerts is amazing. They are all fantastic musicians, great people, and we all like each other, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

On Tuesday, January 17 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, Bax will be joined by violinist  Ani Kavafian, violist Yura Lee, and cellist Paul Watkins for a Cleveland Chamber Music Society concert that will feature piano quartets by Brahms and Fauré. [Read more…]

Zeitgeist to join No Exit for three Cleveland concerts

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by Mike Telin

zeitgeist“Groups like ours appeal to the most adventurous of listeners,” Zeitgeist percussionist Heather Barringer said during a recent Skype conversation. “They’re people who enjoy listening to something that hasn’t been listened to before.”

Beginning on Friday, January 13 at 7:30 pm at Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern, the St. Paul, Minnesota-based new music ensemble will join forces with Cleveland’s own No Exit for three free concerts featuring experimental music that explores the possibilities of multimedia, improvisation, and electroacoustics.  Performances continue through Sunday. See below for a complete list of programs, times, and locations.

“These concerts are going to be really amazing, and each program is a little different,” No Exit artistic director Timothy Beyer wrote in an email. “These Cleveland concerts are the second leg of our multi-city collaboration. The first part of this season’s ensemble exchange program took place in St. Paul in the fall, and now Zeitgeist will be in Cleveland to return the favor.” The collaboration grew out of the two ensembles’ shared goal to bring greater national visibility to composers and performing artists who make their homes in the Midwest. [Read more…]

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