by Mike Telin
The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society begins each season with a free Showcase Concert. This year that event will be held on Saturday, September 24 at 7:30 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. The evening will feature performances by Adam Larison, Duo Allant (Kathryn Thomas Umble, flute, and François Fowler, guitar), and the Gruca White Ensemble (Robert Gruca, guitar, and Linda White, flute, left). [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
First in a series of articles.
French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez passed away on January 5, 2016, at the age of 90. In his obituary the following day, The Guardian (London) wrote:
Pierre Boulez was arguably the single dominant figure of the classical musical world through the second half of the 20th century and beyond. Without his compositions, his legacy of recordings as a conductor, his writings on music, and his administrative skill and drive, the musical scene today would be of a quite different order.”
On Sunday, September 25 at 4:00 pm in Mixon Hall, the Cleveland Institute of Music will present the first of seven events celebrating “The Boulez Legacy.” [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
As The Cleveland Orchestra gears up to launch its fall Severance Hall season, we caught up with Ross Binnie, the Orchestra’s Chief Marketing Officer, and asked him to give his insights into the array of programs. He described them as “a blend of the curious and the familiar which will be wonderful for the audiences.”
The season kicks off on September 29 and 30 when Franz Welser-Möst leads performances of Ives’s Symphony No. 3 (“The Camp Meeting”) and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2. And organist Paul Jacobs (below) will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut as soloist in Copland’s Symphony for Organ and Orchestra. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Since presenting its first concerts in 1878, Oberlin College’s Artist Recital Series — one of the oldest continuing concert series in the United States — has showcased more than 1,000 of the world’s foremost musicians, conductors, orchestras, chamber ensembles, and composers. The stellar list of performers who have graced the stage of historic Finney Chapel includes Dave Brubeck, Alicia de Larrocha, Juan Diego Flórez, Glenn Gould, Denyce Graves, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz, Yo-Yo Ma, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, to name a few.
On Saturday, September 17 at 8:00 pm, the Artist Recital Series will kick off the 2016-2017 season with a performance by genre-versatile clarinetist Eddie Daniels. Known for performances in both the jazz and classical worlds, Daniels will be joined by his longtime jazz companions: bassist Darek Oles, pianist Alan Pasqua, and drummer Joe LaBarbera. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“Attending an experimental music concert is almost like a spectacle,” composer and instrumentalist Chris Auerbach-Brown said during a recent telephone conversation. “You watch and listen to the musicians do amazing things and play very difficult music, but there’s often a strong dividing line between the performers and the audience.” On Saturday, September 17 at 8:00 at SPACES Gallery, Auerbach-Brown will attempt to blur that line when he and his Quiet Trance Ensemble host their first Community Jam Session. The event is free, and all you need to do is bring a noise-making device of your choosing and be ready to make music.
“I want to get the audience involved with the creation of the music because it gives them an ownership of the process,” Auerbach-Brown said. “And the musicians I’ve chosen to work with are all great improvisers who can pretty much take any noise, and turn it into music.” [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Founded in 1972 by Julian Fifer and a group of like-minded musicians, the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has been recognized for performances that combine the intimacy and warmth of a chamber ensemble with the grandness of an orchestra.
Most importantly, the conductorless ensemble has been recognized for its collaborative leadership style in which the musicians collectively decide on their interpretations of musical scores. On Saturday, August 27 at 8:00 pm, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will make its long-awaited debut at Blossom Music Center with a program featuring Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3, 5, 6, and 2.
by Mike Telin
Why should tailgating parties be limited to sporting events — how about opera tailgating? On Sunday, August 14, gather your friends and family, pack up your blankets and lawn chairs, and head to Cleveland’s Midtown area for an evening of opera favorites presented by Cleveland Opera Theater at the Dunham Tavern Museum. The performance is part of the company’s Summer Series.
Hosted by WCLV’s “Queen of the Morn,” Jacqueline Gerber, the free concert will feature opera and light opera favorites performed by sopranos Rachel Copeland, Rebecca Freshwater, and Marian Vogel, tenor Timothy Culver, and baritone Brian Keith Johnson, assisted by pianist Judith Ryder. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham formed the band Led Zeppelin in 1968, little did they know that their guitar-driven sound and music rooted in blues, psychedelia, and folk music would lead them to become one of the most successful rock groups in history.
On Saturday, August 20 at 8:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, conductor and arranger Brent Havens will lead the Blossom Festival Orchestra in Windborne Productions’ “Music of Led Zeppelin.” The evening will feature classic Zeppelin tunes, including Good Times Bad Times, Black Dog, All My Love, Kashmir, and of course, Stairway to Heaven. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Now that the four finalists of the Cleveland International Piano Competition have completed their chamber music performances with the Escher String Quartet, we had a chance to sit down and meet them for the first time in the Case Western Reserve University dormitory where the contestants are being housed. On Friday, August 5 and Saturday, August 6 the finalists will play their concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Bramwell Tovey at Severance Hall. (L-R: Leonardo Colafelice, Georgy Tchaidze, Dinara Klinton, and Nikita Mndoyants).
We first spoke with Nikita Mndoyants of Russia and Leonardo Colafelice of Italy.
Mike Telin: So far, what has been the most memorable moment of the competition?
Nikita Mndoyants: For me it was playing the chamber music round. It was a pleasure to play with such great musicians. And I am really looking forward to playing with The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Long before the pianists arrive and each session begins, a whole group of people arrive to begin work backstage at Gartner Auditorium — making sure that microphones and cameras are properly placed and focused, that the audio and video feeds are working, that pianos are tuned, that radio broadcasts are announced, and that ushers are ready to take tickets, seat the audience, and deal with latecomers.
When I arrived in the lobby one hour prior to the 7:00 start time for the chamber music segment of the finals on Tuesday, the ushers were busy preparing to receive the audience, and volunteers were stocking the competition gift shop with program books, CDs and other CIPC items.
When audio engineer Alan Bise meets me and takes me backstage, the piano technician is busy tuning the Hamburg Steinway that both Georgy Tchaidze and Nikita Mndoyants had chosen for their performances with the Escher String Quartet. [Read more…]