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ENCORE’s 11th Music & Ideas Festival finds a way home

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by Stephanie Manning

“HOME,” the theme of this year’s ENCORE – Gates Mills Music & Ideas Festival, has been on Jinjoo Cho’s mind for a while.

“I am a homebody that is not allowed to be at home very much,” the artistic director and violinist said, speaking by phone from a midpoint in her drive from Chicago to Cleveland. She’s lived in Chicago since 2024, when she began teaching at Northwestern University, and she spent six years before that at McGill University in Montreal.

Given that relocation back to the U.S. from Canada, the concept of home “encapsulates a lot of thoughts I’ve had throughout the past two years,” she said. “It’s kind of a peculiar science what conditions need to be met for someone to truly feel secure and safe. This festival theme is really my attempt to pinpoint what those conditions are.”

From June 5 to June 20, the eleventh season of ENCORE’s Music & Ideas Festival will present five headline concerts in different venues around Northeast Ohio. These events take place concurrently with the Summer Academy, which provides training, mentorship, and performance opportunities for young musicians ages 13 to 26. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Trobár examines the female experience in “The Lady of Medieval Song” (May 22)

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by Stephanie Manning

Obviously, the male perspective was not the main focus in a program called “The Lady of Medieval Song.” On May 23, Trobár’s audience at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church primarily heard repertoire written by or about women, favoring female voices and perspectives as much as possible.

However, more than five centuries removed from this music’s origin, these kinds of pieces are rare. And the reasons why are inextricably tied to the men who undervalued it — and often preferred their own point of view instead. Four of the selections listed in the program appeared under the headline “The Male Gaze,” with the pointed logic behind that choice to be revealed as the concert went on.

Although the pool of surviving music by women is limited, Trobár tapped into the larger availability of woman-authored texts, borrowing tunes from elsewhere when needed. [Read more…]

Baritone Edward Vogel creates a sentimental “Palace in the Wild” (May 11)

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by Stephanie Manning

Plenty of concerts trace a kind of journey, using music to tell a story. But Edward Vogel’s recent recital with the Rocky River Chamber Music Society felt particularly personal.

The baritone, who has lived and performed in Cleveland for five years, announced to the audience at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church that he and his husband would be relocating to Tennessee the very next day. Thankfully, before that happened, we got to hear “A Palace in the Wild: Journeys in British Art Song,” the beautiful program he brought to Rocky River on May 11.

Together with pianist Jenny Parker, Vogel guided the listeners through the five-part evening, contributing oral program notes throughout. The selections celebrate the “beautiful and underrated” genre of art song, specifically from British composers — a combination Vogel noted is less-often heard in the U.S. The structure followed the path of a life, from youthfulness, to seeking adventure, to grappling with a changed meaning of home.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra’s spring concert features solo trombone, ‘New World’ symphony (May 10)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Like clockwork, spring has sprung, and so too has the traditional Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra spring concert — a celebratory affair that marks the final, bittersweet performance for the high school seniors in the group.

This annual concert always features the ensemble’s most recent Concerto Competition winner, an honor bestowed this year on trombonist Grace Berendt. With so much wonderful string and piano literature, wind and brass instruments often face an uphill battle during these types of competitions, making Berendt’s opportunity feel particularly exciting.

On Sunday, May 10, the Aurora High School senior came to the front of the Mandel Concert Hall stage to perform Ferdinand David’s Trombone Concertino under the direction of James Feddeck.

[Read more…]

Isidore String Quartet and Jeremy Denk collaborate for Cleveland Chamber Music Society season finale

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by Stephanie Manning

When the Isidore String Quartet performed in Northeast Ohio last year, they faced some unusual circumstances. On the way to their Tuesday Musical engagement with pianist Jeremy Denk, violist Devin Moore came down with a painful case of strep throat, and the group had to find a substitute player at the last minute.

In their more than three years of touring, the Isidore have faced obstacles like flight delays and other illnesses. But “ that was actually the first time that we’ve had to call someone else in,” said violinist Phoenix Avalon. Eva Kennedy, the violist of the Callisto Quartet, drove up from Columbus in time for the day-of rehearsal and soundcheck. ” It was very last-minute, but we were glad that she could come in.”

Next Tuesday, the Isidore will return to the area — with all four members thankfully in good health — for their 7:30 pm concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art, presented by the Cleveland Chamber Music Society. The Juilliard-trained group will present quartets by Haydn and Ligeti and reunite with Jeremy Denk for Brahms’ Quintet for Piano and Strings in f minor. Tickets for the May 19 concert are available online. [Read more…]

Les Délices and soprano Hannah de Priest leave audiences “Starstruck” (Apr. 26)

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by Stephanie Manning

Part season finale, part album release party, Les Délices’ recent “Starstruck” program celebrated both its past and its future.

The group’s latest CD, Arcadian Dreams — released on March 13 — collects a group of pastoral pieces that local audiences heard live in 2024, featuring soprano Hannah de Priest. Last week, de Priest marked the album’s release by returning for “Starstruck,” a program of music exclusively by Georg Frederic Handel. The performances toured Akron and Cleveland Heights before the final rendition on Sunday, April 26, at Rocky River’s West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church.

Les Délices have been more than happy to support the exciting, early career of de Priest, who first met artistic director Debra Nagy as a Case Western Reserve University student and currently works as the group’s communications director. As Nagy put it, Les Délices decided to record a CD with her before anyone else did — and the wisdom of that choice is apparent once you hear her sing.

[Read more…]

Jörg Widmann featured as composer-conductor in first of two weeks with The Cleveland Orchestra (Apr. 30)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — When the lights dimmed in Mandel Concert Hall on Thursday night, April 30, audience members were greeted not by a stage full of seated musicians, but by a collection of empty chairs and stands, waiting for their players to file on from the wings. An unconventional beginning — but unconventional is what Jörg Widmann does best.

A conductor, composer, and clarinetist, Widmann is no stranger to Severance Music Center. He served as The Cleveland Orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow from 2009 to 2011, and his music has resurfaced in the Orchestra’s programs ever since. But this week marked his debut on the podium.

To celebrate the occasion, Widmann paired three works of his own, including a U.S. premiere, with Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, “Reformation.”

[Read more…]

Renée Fleming’s “Voice of Nature” caps off Tuesday Musical season (Apr. 21)

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by Stephanie Manning

It’s too bad that Earth Day — April 22 — didn’t fall on a Tuesday this year. But the eve of Earth Day still felt like a fitting time to hear “Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene,” the program Renée Fleming recently brought to Tuesday Musical.

The superstar soprano’s current touring concert — based on her Grammy-winning album of the same name — is a product of her increasing connection to nature during the early days of the pandemic. Fleming’s visit to Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall on April 21st brought out one of the biggest crowds in recent memory, greeting her with a celebrity welcome.

Although the album and the concert program share a title, only some of the original tracks were present, specifically Nico Muhly’s Endless Space and Kevin Puts’ Evening. Pieces by Edvard Grieg, Gabriel Fauré, and Franz Liszt were swapped for a more eclectic combination of genres, including Björk’s “All Is Full of Love” and Hazel Dickens’ “Pretty Bird.” Throughout, Fleming sang both with a handheld microphone, and unamplified.

[Read more…]

Soprano Midori Marsh marks a homecoming with BlueWater Chamber Orchestra

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by Stephanie Manning

When the Phantom of the Opera North American tour visits Playhouse Square in April 2027, Midori Marsh will have plenty of reasons to celebrate. The soprano — who is currently playing the role of Carlotta — grew up in Cleveland Heights, and the city is still home to many of her friends and family.

But Marsh’s first milestone homecoming actually arrives this week. On May 2 and 3, she will join BlueWater Chamber Orchestra for their program “Rustic Reverie,” singing Joseph Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne. Douglas Moore’s Farm Journal and Haydn’s Symphony No. 99 in E-flat Major round out the program, conducted by artistic director Daniel Meyer. Tickets and venue information are available online.

Marsh’s parents still live in Cleveland Heights, and she occasionally comes back to sing for the Church of the Covenant’s Christmas Eve service. “But when it comes to a capital ‘G’ gig, I think this might be my first one in Cleveland,” she said. “So it’s a bit of a thrill, really.” [Read more…]

Pianist Alexander Kantorow’s thoughtful artistry defines his Cleveland debut (Apr. 16)

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by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — On the cover of the Severance Music Center’s April 16 program book, Alexandre Kantorow stares at the viewer from one end of the piano keyboard, his face mirrored in the glossy fallboard. That stylistic presentation felt quite fitting for the French pianist, a musician who brings out the contrasting sides in every piece and whose playing often produces a reflective, translucent quality.

Currently on a multi-week tour of the U.S., Kantorow made his Cleveland debut on Thursday night at Severance Music Center. Dressed in all black, he initially cut an unassuming figure, an impression that quickly dissolved with the intense opening chords of Franz Liszt’s Variations on Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen after J.S. Bach.

[Read more…]

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