by Mike Telin
After the completion of its String Quartet Intensive on Sunday, July 2, ENCORE Chamber Music moved its home base from Gilmour Academy to the Cleveland Institute of Music to begin its three-week-long String and Collaborative Piano Academy. [Read more…]
by Samantha Spaccasi
The Cleveland Institute of Music will continue the “Lunch and Listen” series on July 11, 18, and 25. Each concert will take place in CIM’s Mixon Hall at 12:30 pm. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
On July 14, The Syndicate for The New Arts will embark on a seven-city Rust Belt Tour. The program will feature six works by composers who were chosen to create new compositions for the ensemble. [Read more…]
by Samantha Spaccasi
“Lake Erie is in trouble, and getting worse by the year,” reads an August 2014 article in The New York Times that describes the water crisis in Toledo. The disaster spawned another national conversation about the state of the country’s drinking water and environmental pollution. For composer Margaret Brouwer, that conversation, coupled with her love of Lake Erie, spawned an idea — a new piece titled Voice of the Lake.
In a recent phone conversation, Brouwer described her newest work about Lake Erie’s beauty, but also about its serious environmental problems. I reached her at Interlochen, which she called “a great place to compose.” Brouwer explained her process of creating Voice of the Lake. She’s been working on it for over a year and said it’s “3/4 complete.” [Read more…]
by Samantha Spaccasi
What could be better than an evening of sitting on the lawn of Blossom Music Center — summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra, wine in hand, enjoying a picnic dinner while waiting to hear the ensemble play with pianist Aaron Diehl? Not much. On July 2, Diehl and the Orchestra, conducted by Jahja Ling, performed an array of favorites. [Read more…]
by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com
It’s common for productions of lyric theatre works to be placed in countries other than their original setting. But The Music Man is so American it’s hard to envision it taking place anywhere other than River City, Iowa. From the first whistle of the unseen drum major leading the ‘band’ during the overture, feet began to tap on the Freedlander Theatre floor — mine included. (Once a band member, always a band member.) [Read more…]
by Samantha Spaccasi
Dunham Tavern Museum is a perfect venue for an afternoon of chamber music. On Sunday afternoon, June 25, the seventh installment of this year’s ChamberFest explored the theme of “Youth” and featured early works by Beethoven and Bartók. The concert began with Wilhelm Popp’s Rigoletto Variations, performed by flutist Demarre McGill and pianist Zoltán Fejérvári. McGill gave a nuanced performance of this flashy piece, bringing it to light with impeccable phrasing. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Life has quickly changed for the Milton String Quartet. After winning the grand prize and string division gold medal at the 44th Annual Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in May of this year, violinists Roman Fraser and Maithéna Girault, violist Evan Robinson, and cellist Joshua Morris are already receiving invitations to perform recitals and at festivals.
Formed in 2015 at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, the ensemble is also ENCORE Chamber Music’s Fellowship Quartet, and on Friday, June 30 at 7:00 pm, they will present a free recital at the Tudor House on the campus of Gilmour Academy. The program will include Joseph Haydn’s Quartet in F, Op. 77, No. 2, Béla Bartók’s Quartet No. 3 in C#, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 4 in e.
The Milton are the Festival’s first Fellowship Quartet. “I heard about the program from Clara Engen, who is ENCORE’s Head of Operations,” Joshua Morris said during a conference call with his quartet colleagues earlier this month. “Clara and I both did our undergraduate studies at Oberlin and we’ve kept in touch. She encouraged us to apply. We did, and we won, and we’re very happy about that.” In addition to Friday’s concert, the Quartet are also performing outreach concerts, playing in master classes, and receiving daily coaching with the Cavani Quartet as part of the Fellowship. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
After jazz pianist and composer Aaron Diehl made his New York Philharmonic debut in September of 2016 performing George Gershwin’s Concerto in F, Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times wrote: “Mr. Diehl played magnificently. He had brilliance when called for during jazz-tinged passages of Lisztian runs and octaves. The roomy freedom of Mr. Diehl’s playing in bluesy episodes was especially affecting. He also folded short improvised sections into the score, and it’s hard to imagine that Gershwin would not have been impressed.”
On Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2 at Blossom Music Center, the Columbus, Ohio native will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut performing that same Concerto under the baton of Jahja Ling. The 8:00 pm concerts will also include Shostakovich’s Tahiti Trot, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture, and Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture. [Read more…]
by Samantha Spaccasi
“The Cavani Quartet is the heart and soul of ENCORE Chamber Music,” festival director Jinjoo Cho said before the group’s performance Friday night at the Gilmour Academy’s Tudor House. The Quartet proved why they are beloved during enjoyable performances of Shostakovich, Joaquín Turina, and Schubert. [Read more…]