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Karen Gomyo returns to Blossom with Shostakovich

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by Mike Telin

When violinist Karen Gomyo made her Cleveland Orchestra debut, she brought the Mendelssohn concerto. When she returned in 2014 she delivered a gripping performance of Saint-Saëns’s third concerto.

On Saturday, July 18th, Gomyo will heard in Shostakovich’s haunting Violin Concerto No. 1. The 7:00 pm Blossom Music Center program led by Semyon Bychkov, will also include Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. Tickets are available online.

I spoke to the violinist by phone and began our conversation by asking her to share her history with the Concerto.

Karen Gomyo: It’s a piece that has impacted me profoundly since I first heard it when I was about 13 . I had really immersed myself in the world of Shostakovich at that time. My entry into this concerto was the recording by David Oistrakh. I was just captivated by his playing and by the music.

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Garrick Ohlsson to open Summers at Severance

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by Mike Telin

Since his debut in 1975, Garrick Ohlsson has appeared frequently with The Cleveland Orchestra, and his magical performances have fittingly earned him the title of fan-favorite. “There’s no place I’d rather play,” the pianist said during a Zoom conversation.

On July 16 at 7:00 pm, Ohlsson will make his 27th appearance with the Orchestra when he opens the Summers at Severance series with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Under the direction of Semyon Bychkov, the program also includes Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau” from Má vlast and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. Tickets are available online.

Ohlsson recalled that he was introduced to Rachmaninoff’s first concerto as a kid. “Back in the age of LPs, there was a RCA Victor issue of Rachmaninoff himself playing the Paganini Rhapsody. On the other side was Concerto Number 1. It had a marvelous cover with a wintery scene of the back of an elderly woman trudging through the snow. And above it was this gloomy face of Rachmaninoff. That’s when I first heard the piece — I was ten years old and I fell in love with it.”

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Tri-C JazzFest returns for 2026

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by Ben Giesen

The 47th edition of the Tri-C JazzFest will be taking place at Playhouse Square from Thursday, June 25th through Saturday, June 27th. With eleven ticketed indoor events and numerous free outdoor performances and festivities, this celebration of Cleveland’s musical heritage will offer no shortage of entertainment.

The indoor line-up will feature a unique group of musicians ranging from jazz giants like bassist Ron Carter, who has shared the stage with Miles Davis, “Cannonball” Adderly, and Thelonious Monk — among many others — to rising stars like Durand Burnarr, who has been gaining significant traction in the neo soul world since receiving a Grammy Award for his 2025 album, Bloom.

Neo soul fans will also want to hear bassist MonoNeon as well as Chris Dave & The Drumheads featuring Stokely. World renowned jazz vocalist and lyricist, Kurt Elling, will be performing music from his ongoing duo album series, Wildflowers, with pianist Fred Hersch. Keep an eye out for Cleveland’s own Dominick Farinacci and Lauren Talese who will be performing in the Hanna Theater on the 26th at 6 PM and on the 27th at 7 PM.

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Oliver Herbert: a decade at ChamberFest Cleveland

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by Mike Telin

A recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant, ChamberFest Cleveland cellist Oliver Herbert’s career spans solo performance, chamber music, and curatorial projects.

Those projects have included concert curations for Deutschlandfunk Raderbergkonzerte and the TICA Festival in Hong Kong. He has premiered works by composers Andrew Moses, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, and Helena Winkelman. In 2025, he was selected for the Orpheum Foundation’s development program for young soloists.

Since making his ChamberFest Cleveland debut as a “Rising Star” in 2016, Oliver Herbert has appeared regularly at the Festival. This week he returns for concerts on June 25, 26, and 27. More information and tickets are available online.

I caught up with Herbert by phone in Chicago, where he was preparing to play the Shostakovich first concerto with the Grant Park Orchestra. I began by asking him how ChamberFest Cleveland has helped him advance his career. [Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra Summer Choral Institute: Considering Matthew Shepard

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by Mike Telin

On October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, accepted a ride home from two men at the Fireside Lounge in Laramie. Instead, Shepard was driven to a remote area where he was pistol-whipped, tortured, tied to a fence, and left for dead. Shepard died six days later from brain damage.

Shepard’s murder would later become the inspiration for Craig Hella Johnson’s oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard.

On June 26 at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Lisa Wong will lead selections from Johnson’s haunting work featuring bass-baritone Dashon Burton, members of The Cleveland Orchestra, and participants in the new Summer Choral Institute. Tickets are available online.

During a recent telephone conversion, Cleveland Orchestra Director of Choruses Lisa Wong said that this is the first time they have hosted the summer institute.

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Violinist/composer Michelle Barzel Ross makes her first visit to ChamberFest

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by Mike Telin

On Thursday, June 25 at 7:30 pm in Mixon Hall at CIM, violinist/composer Michelle Barzel Ross will make her ChamberFest Cleveland debut with her own Birds on the Moon for String Quartet. The program, “Flights of Fancy,” will also include Franz Joseph Haydn’s Piano Trio in E-Flat and Reynaldo Hahn’s Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor. A prelude talk presented by Dr. Ira D. Sasowsky begins at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online.

I reached Ross by phone and began our conversation by asking her how the invitation to Chamber Fest came about.

Michelle Barzel Ross: I have been friends with Roman and Diana for a long time. We were at Juilliard and the Marlboro Music Festival and I’ve always looked forward to one day being able to perform at this amazing festival. So I’m really thrilled to be having my first time at the festival as a performer and composer.

Mike Telin: Your String Quartet, Birds on the Moon, has been played a lot by the Juilliard Quartet.

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Renovare partner with flutist Mary Kay Fink for “Influences and Inspiration”

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by Stephanie Manning

With their most recent concert program, Renovare is trying something new. “To my knowledge, this is our first time collaborating with a woodwind player,” violist Clara Prinston said in a recent interview. “It’s been really fun.”

Prinston is one-third of the close-knit string trio and its newest member, having joined violinist Lalia Curtis and cellist Rebecca Shasberger in 2024. The group, founded in 2018 with a mission of “bringing hope and healing through music,” teaches weekly lessons in local prisons and presents public concerts about four times a year.

For their program “Influence and Inspiration,” Renovare is joined by Mary Kay Fink, the longtime piccolo player of The Cleveland Orchestra. “She’s such a wonderful musician,” Prinston said. “Our rehearsals have been such a great learning experience for me.”

The group began their performances last week at the Mansfield Correctional Center and are continuing them this week at the Northeast Reintegration Center and Grafton Correctional Institution. The series will culminate in a public concert at The Hermit Club on Thursday, June 18 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Week Two at ChamberFest Cleveland

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by Mike Telin

Week Two of ChamberFest Cleveland is packed full of events. As the Festival’s executive director Jessica Peek Sherwood says — “there is something for everyone.”

On Monday, June 15, “Celebrating Frank” is everyone’s opportunity to pay tribute to Franklin Cohen, the founding father of ChamberFest Cleveland. His professional highlights include his tenure as Principal Clarinet of The Cleveland Orchestra and 50 years on faculty at CIM. Cohen’s colleagues, alumni, friends, and musical family will share the stage to say thank-you.

Week two will also welcome three artists who will be making their ChamberFest debuts on Wednesday, June 17.

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Last lap at Ohio Light Opera: a few questions for Steven A. Daigle

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by Daniel Hathaway

2026 will mark the end of an era for Ohio Light Opera at the College of Wooster. Artistic director Steven A. Daigle will retire at the end of this summer’s season, which makes this a good opportunity for an exit interview. What has his job entailed for the past quarter century, and how does he see OLO moving into the future?

I reached Steve by telephone on Memorial Day in a moment of calm before the cast, orchestra and crew descended upon the Wayne County campus to set things in motion for this season’s six shows. I began by asking how he and his colleagues go about choosing the titles for a season.

Steven Daigle: Well, there is a formula that we’ve been using since I’ve been artistic director. ’Doc,’ James Stewart, used one before, but since then we’ve expanded the repertory to include musical theater. With our mission now, we pick three musicals, and we try to have one of them be an early musical — this summer, it’s The Boys from Syracuse.

We try to choose stylistically different titles for the other two, and I think we’ve achieved that in My Fair Lady and Damn Yankees. They’re golden age musicals from the 1950s and 1960s, but in a way they couldn’t be more different from each other. [Read more…]

Percussionist Jeff Stern debuts at ChamberFest

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by Mike Telin

“I wasn’t sure if music was even going to stick until I found myself enthralled by percussion,” Jeff Stern said during a telephone conversation.

“It suits me in a lot of ways, particularly because it has so many options in the kinds of instruments you can play, and the kinds of music and musical settings that it lends itself to.”

On Wednesday June 17 at 7:30 pm in Mixon Hall, Stern, who serves as Instructor of Percussion at the Peabody Conservatory as well as the executive director, co-artistic director, and founding percussionist of  the two piano, two percussion group the icarus Quartet, will make his ChamberFest debut.

I began our conversation asking him how he will fit into a Spanish Baroque trio sonata. [Read more…]

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