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Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute: Week One, Day Two (Tuesday, June 20)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Meyerson-HuddleAt BPI, as elsewhere in the musical universe, master classes are the principal conduit for transferring wisdom from teachers to students. Rather than just dryly lecturing on abstract topics, distinguished musicians use performances of selected works as the springboard for discussions of matters both wide and narrow.

Harpsichord master classes on Monday with Lisa Goode Crawford, Mark Edwards, and Mitzi Meyerson offered a long list of takeaways, but also introduced BPI’s 22 harpsichordists to the unique personalities of their mentors [Read more…]

Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute: Week One, Day One (Monday, June 19)

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by Daniel Hathaway

AnnaHoffmanIntroductionOn Sunday evening, Anna Hoffmann, the indefatigable and unflappable manager of summer programs, welcomed 120-some participants to the 2017 Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute at an organizational meeting in Kulas Recital Hall.

During a roll call, faculty members sorted out details particular to their students. ‘Need to borrow a baroque bassoon? We can loan you one.’ (‘Or at least part of a bassoon,’ quipped another teacher.) And BPI director Kenneth Slowik urged students, who range in age from high school to octogenarians, to make the most of the experience by venturing out of their comfort zone to try other instruments or disciplines — an opportunity you wouldn’t be offered at most other summer music camps. [Read more…]

ClevelandClassical.com to cover Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute from the inside

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by Daniel Hathaway

Oberlin BPI Viol ClassOn Sunday, your editor is going off to summer camp for two weeks.

In a recent conversation with Oberlin Conservatory baroque flute professor Michael Lynn, Mike Telin and I mused about covering the annual Baroque Performance Institute from a new perspective in this, its 46th season. Thus the idea was hatched of imbedding someone in the Institute to report on the experience from the perspective of a student. Lynn noted that this summer’s activities would especially favor the harpsichord, so guess who was put forward as the logical choice.

By the end of the day, members of the BPI faculty had enthusiastically signed off on the idea, so on June 18, I will join 123 other participants whose birth dates span a remarkable range from 1927 to 2003 for “Traveling Through the Baroque 1650-1750.”   [Read more…]

Cavani Quartet announces appointment of new cellist

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by Samantha Spaccasi

Screen Shot 2017-06-05 at 7.56.02 PMThe second change in two years has transformed one of Cleveland’s most prominent chamber music ensembles. Si-Yan Darren Li will be the new cellist for the Cavani Quartet, joining Annie Fullard and Mari Soto, violins, and Eric Wong, viola. Li will replace Merry Peckham, one of the group’s founding members.

The addition of Li marks a new era for the Cavani. Formed in 1984, the ensemble was one of the first all-female string quartets. Until last year, when Eric Wong replaced longtime violist Kirsten Docter, the group had undergone only two personnel changes in its history. [Read more…]

Spaccasi named Young Writer Fellow for ClevelandClassical.com

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by Daniel Hathaway

SpaccasiSamantha Spaccasi is joining the staff of ClevelandClassical.com as its fourth annual Nicholas R. Jones Young Writer Fellow for the months of June and July. The position has been renamed in honor of Jones, the recently retired Oberlin College English professor who served as a distinguished correspondent for the publication since its founding in 2008.

A Maryland native and 2017 graduate of Oberlin College in Environmental Studies, Spaccasi studied music criticism with Daniel Hathaway, Mike Telin, and Donald Rosenberg and served as a Conservatory Communications Assistant during her last two semesters at the College. [Read more…]

Cliburn Competition finals to hit the big screen on June 10

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by Daniel Hathaway

CliburnThe eventual six finalists in Fort Worth’s 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition will play concertos with Leonard Slatkin and the Fort Worth Symphony on Saturday afternoon, June 10. For the first time, the final round will be streamed live in HD to select theaters beginning at 12:55 pm. Click here to locate a local screening venue.

On Tuesday, May 30, twelve semifinalists were named — including two competitors who will be familiar to Northeast Ohio piano fans (above): Georgy Tchaidze won fourth prize in the 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition, and Tony Yike Yang was first prize winner in Oberlin’s 2014 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition. [Read more…]

Cuyahoga Arts & Culture announces 2017 awards

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by Mike Telin

CAC-Logo-SquareSince 2007, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC), one of the largest public funders of arts and culture in the nation, has invested over $154 million in more than 300 organizations that help to make Cuyahoga County a vibrant cultural community.

On Monday, November 14, at a public meeting of CAC’s Board of Trustees at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood, CAC announced the investment of $14,573,833 in grants to 241 nonprofit organizations through CAC’s 2017 grant programs.

The grants, which will support arts and cultural organizations and projects of all sizes throughout Cuyahoga County, were unanimously approved by CAC’s Board of Trustees. The 2017 awards included 32 more projects than in 2016, as well as an increase of $255,988 in grant dollars.  [Read more…]

Thomas J. Knab: an appreciation

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by ClevelandClassical.com Staff

knab-headsetThe passing of Grammy-winning audio engineer and information specialist Tom Knab on September 25 at the age of 61 was devastating not only to his family and friends, but also to a long list of colleagues, artists, ensembles, and institutions with whom he worked, and who treasured his expertise in recording and post-producing their music, both for distribution and for posterity. (Read an obituary in the Case Western Reserve University Daily, where he served as Chief Information Officer in the College of Arts and Sciences.)

Erica Brenner was one of Knab’s closest colleagues in the recording industry. They first met at Telarc, when she and Tom were “off hours” editors long before that company was sold and changed its emphasis. “We often handed projects off to each other,” she said in a recent conversation. [Read more…]

Brett Mitchell to take the helm of the Colorado Symphony

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by Mike Telin

mitchell-mastroianniThe Colorado Symphony announced on September 12 that Brett Mitchell has been appointed music director designate for the 2016-2017 season, and will assume the post of music director in July, 2017. “It’s a great opportunity to be the Music Director of a great orchestra in a great city,” Mitchell said during a recent telephone conversation. “I don’t know how you could ask for more than that. I really don’t.” [Read more…]

McCalmont’s List 14: Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894)

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by Neil McCalmont
Last in McCalmont’s List Series

DebussyGenre: Symphonic Poem — an orchestral work based on a narrative
Scoring: Orchestra
Era: Late 19th century / Impressionist
Length: c. 10 minutes
Will you recognize it? The opening flute solo is a staple of classical music
Recommended Recordings: Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, or Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Composer: Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Debussy was a maverick of Western music clashing with tradition even as a student. Many of his professors found his early works far too dissonant and experimental. Though scholars largely associate him with the Impressionist movement in the visual arts, Debussy rejected the term for his own music. [Read more…]

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