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ChamberFest Cleveland: opening concert (June 15)

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by Timothy Robson

CFC061517-BachWith the theme of Cycles: Phases, the sixth ChamberFest Cleveland opened Thursday evening, June 15, in Mixon Hall, at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The theme reflects on “the complexity of the human experience at each stage of life, and ultimately circles around all types of musical, political and emotional phases.”

The concert showed off the qualities we have come to expect from ChamberFest: brilliantly imaginative programming, with a mix of old, new, familiar, and unfamiliar works, in superior performances by (mostly young) musicians hand-picked by festival directors Franklin and Diana Cohen. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra with pianist Catharine Baek (May 12)

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by Timothy Robson

COYO-MitchellThe Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra played an ambitious program of works by Joan Tower, Maurice Ravel, and Sergei Prokofiev at Severance Hall on Friday evening, May 12, the last concert of their 2016-17 season. It was a bittersweet occasion. Not only did the Orchestra bid farewell to a group of graduating seniors, but it was conductor Brett Mitchell’s 29th and final concert with COYO, marking the end of his four-year term as Associate Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra before taking up duties as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony. [Read more…]

CMA: cellist Jeffrey Zeigler at Transformer Station (April 26)

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by Timothy Robson

ZieglerCellist Jeffrey Zeigler’s April 26 recital at Transformer Station, sponsored by the Cleveland Museum of Art, typified his performances: variety and virtuosity aplenty — something for everyone willing to open their ears. Zeigler falls into that category of “super-performer” whose technique is seemingly unlimited, and who can make the most thorny contemporary music sound approachable, however austere and dissonant. [Read more…]

Choir of New College, Oxford at Trinity Cathedral (Mar. 31)

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by Timothy Robson

New-College-Choir-at-Trinity-Cathedral-033117The adjective “new” is a relative term at the University of Oxford. New College was founded by William of Wykeham in 1379, and a choir has been a part of the college from its beginning. The current ensemble of sixteen boy choristers and fourteen adult clerks — a mixture of professional singers and undergraduate students — visited Trinity Cathedral on Friday, March 31, as part of their North American tour. [Read more…]

Organist Emmanuel Arakélian at the Cleveland Museum of Art (February 19)

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by Timothy Robson

Arakelian-EmmanuelFrench organist Emmanuel Arakélian made his local debut on Sunday afternoon, February 19 at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium. The Avignon native, born in 1991, is currently studying organ with Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard at the Paris Conservatory. His Cleveland program featured an intriguing mix of well-known standards and transcriptions, as well as a new work by the young French composer Grégoire Rolland. [Read more…]

Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Dec. 4)

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by Timothy Robson

Oberlin-CME-MastroianniThe Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble gave a rock-solid and virtuosic concert on Sunday afternoon, December 4, in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Director Timothy Weiss assembled a program of eclectic works by leading composers of our day, all of which received professional-level performances by the student ensemble. [Read more…]

Organist Katelyn Emerson at St. John’s Cathedral (November 15)

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by Timothy Robson

emerson-katelynOberlin graduate Katelyn Emerson showed impressive technical facility and musicianship in her first Cleveland recital since winning First Prize in the American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition. The November 15 concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist was co-sponsored by the Cathedral and the Cleveland Chapter of the AGO. [Read more…]

Boulez Legacy Series at CIM concludes with CIM new Music Ensemble (Oct. 30)

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by Timothy Robson

thomas-boulez“Boulez the Advocate and Mentor,” the last of five concerts at CIM honoring the late Pierre Boulez, took place on October 30 at Mixon Hall. Appropriately, the CIM New Music Ensemble, directed by Keith Fitch, was joined by soloist Joshua Smith (CIM faculty member and Cleveland Orchestra principal flute), who performed many times under Boulez’s direction. [Read more…]

Organist Frederick Swann at Fairmount Presbyterian (Oct. 2)

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by Timothy Robson

swann-frederickLegendary American organist Frederick Swann — famous for his many years as organist at the Riverside Church in New York and the Crystal Cathedral in California, and for his countless recitals around the world — gave his next-to-last recital, ever, at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights on Sunday afternoon. Co-sponsored by the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, the concert drew a large audience to celebrate Swann’s impending retirement at the age of 85. [Read more…]

The Boulez Legacy: Boulez the Modernist I at Mixon Hall, CIM (September 25)

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by Timothy Robson

boulez-tco-musicians-youtubeOn Sunday afternoon, September 25th, The Cleveland Institute of Music began a series of seven concerts celebrating the musical legacy of French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, whose relationship with The Cleveland Orchestra and other Cleveland musical institutions spanned almost 50 years. [Read more…]

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