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Clive Driskill-Smith & Joseph Gramley bring Organized Rhythm to Akron

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by Daniel Hathaway

The idea of forming an organ/percussion duo arose in 2003 after British organist Clive Driskill-Smith gave an “Organ Plus” concert at London’s Westminster Abbey, pairing organ with various solo instrumentalists including percussionist Colin Currie.

“Clive said he’d love to do that kind of program again,” his now duo partner Joseph Gramley recalled in a telephone conversation. “We happened to have the same concert management, so Clive went on the Phillip Truckenbrod website, saw my name, and cold-called me. He was living in Oxford at the time so we got together in Hartford during his next visit. We hit it off and decided to tour together.”

Driskill-Smith and Gramley will bring their Organized Rhythm duo to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron on Sunday, April 7 at 4:00 pm for a free concert of works by Aaron Copland and Gustav Holst they have arranged themselves, as well as original and commissioned pieces by Paul Creston, Jacob Rogers, and William Susman. [Read more…]

David Ellis brings together his two string orchestras

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by Jarrett Hoffman

When Cleveland native David Ellis decided to study cello as an undergraduate at Oberlin Conservatory, he had an inkling that conducting might be in his future. He also had a feeling he should wait on that pursuit.

“I was thinking that as great as it is, it’s tough being a young conductor,” Ellis said during a recent telephone conversation. “You’re thrust into a position that most people shouldn’t be in until much later. I felt like I needed a little more musical maturity before I could be comfortable on the podium.”

Eventually, that time came. Ellis returned to Oberlin to study in the master’s program in conducting, in addition to receiving a master’s in historical performance. Flash forward to the present, and we find Ellis directing two local string orchestras: Earth and Air, and the Camerata Chamber Orchestra at Case Western Reserve University. And for the first time, he’ll have the opportunity to unite those two ensembles under one roof.

[Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland announces Season Eight

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ChamberFest Cleveland, the celebrated summer music festival founded by Franklin Cohen, principal clarinet emeritus of The Cleveland Orchestra, and his daughter, Diana Cohen, concertmaster of The Calgary Philharmonic, returns to the Cleveland scene with Season 8, “Under the Influence.” The festival will take place from June 13 through June 29, 2019, at venues throughout Greater Cleveland, and will include nine concerts plus a special late-night electronic violin performance at The Wine Spot on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.

Concerts kick off on Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 pm at Mixon Hall. ChamberFest will also make stops at Cleveland State University’s Drinko Hall, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, and Harkness Chapel on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

ChamberFest will welcome back many favorite musicians in addition to Co-founders and Co-artistic Directors, Franklin and Diana Cohen. Yura Lee, Alexi Kenney, Oliver Herbert, Peter Wiley, Roman Rabinovich, Julie Albers, Amy Schwartz Moretti, and more will join new artists including Israeli Philharmonic principal oboe Dudu Carmel and Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen. Four up-and-coming players will take part in ChamberFest’s “Rising Stars” program.

[Read more…]

M.U.S.i.C. hosts Spring Cabaret (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics)

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by Mike Telin

Providing performance opportunities for emerging musicians in Northeast Ohio is the driving principle behind M.U.S.i.C. (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics). Under the discerning guidance of artistic director Jodi Kanter, the organization finds venues, arranges concerts, and supplies printed programs, publicity and refreshments. They also pay their performers, most of whom are students at one of the area’s conservatories or schools of music.

On Sunday, April 7 at 3:30 pm in Orange Village Hall, M.U.S.i.C. will present its Classical Cabaret No. 22. “A Celebration of Spring” will feature violinists Maria Park and Alexandra Switala, cellists Chauncey Aceret, Alex Glaubitz, Benjamin Rogers, and Rebecca Shasberger, pianists Gastón Frydman, Arseniy Gusev, Alexander Kostritsa, Nikolay Pushkarev, and Amy Tan, double-bassist Henry Samuels, oboist Devin Hinzo, and vocalists Bryant Bush and Jung Eun Oh.

The program includes Beethoven’s “Scherzo” and “Rondo” (Spring Sonata), Mozart’s “Allegro vivace assai” (Spring Quartet) and “Per questa bella mano,” Piazzolla’s “Primavera,” Prokofiev’s “Spring Fairy” (Cinderella), excerpts from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring for piano four hands, Ravel’s Bolero arranged for cello quartet, and songs by Mahler and Debussy. Tickets include food and beverages and are available online.

[Read more…]

Les Délices closes 10th Anniversary Season with The Elements

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by Mike Telin

Over the past ten years the music of Jean-Féry Rebel has become familiar to Les Délices audiences. The ensemble has performed several of the composer’s violin and trio sonatas, scenes from his opera L’Ulysse which highlighted the Odyssey-inspired program Myths & Allegories, and his early choreographed symphonies such as Caractères de la danse, which have become signature pieces for the group.

This week Les Délices will return to the music of Rebel when they present a program titled “The Elements” which is centered around Rebel’s 1737 masterpiece of the same name. The program also includes music of Rameau and the premiere of a new, nature-inspired piece for period instruments by Theo Chandler.

Concerts take place on Friday, April 5 at 7:30 pm at Akron’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Saturday the 6th at 8:00 pm at Lakewood Congregational Church, and Sunday the 7th at 4:00 pm in Herr Chapel at Plymouth Church. Tickets are available online. On Saturday beginning at 3:00 pm at the Bop Stop, Les Délices will present “Mother Nature Makes Music,” a free 45-minute program designed for children ages 5-12.

[Read more…]

CUSP: Tatsuya Nakatani and his Gong Orchestra

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Next up on the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s concert series is an event that’s truly rare.

There is only one ensemble in the world made up of gongs played with bows, and that’s the Nakatani Gong Orchestra, which will give a free performance at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ohio City on Saturday, March 30 at 8:00 pm.

The group was founded by Tatsuya Nakatani, who describes the project on his website as nomadic. That’s because for each performance, he loads up his van with instrument stands, bows and gongs — now seventeen of them — and heads out on the road. Where are the players, you might ask?

[Read more…]

The Escher Quartet returns to Tuesday Musical on March 28

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by Mike Telin

When the Escher Quartet began planning their 2018-19 season, they knew it would include a new piano quintet by Anthony Cheung. Soon another commissioning opportunity from the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music came their way. Earlier this month the Escher gave the premiere of Chris Rogerson’s String Quartet No. 4 (2019) as part of the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival.

On Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, the Escher — Adam Barnett-Hart and Danbi Um, violins, Pierre LaPointe, viola, and Brook Speltz, cello — will give the second performance of Rogerson’s new work. Presented by Tuesday Musical, the program will also include Mozart’s Quartet in F, K. 590 and Beethoven’s monumental Quartet in C-sharp, Op. 131. A conversation with the musicians led by composer James Wilding will begin at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Russian Duo plays ragtime at Nighttown

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by Mike Telin

“I wrote my Free Spirit Rag around 1985,” composer and pianist Brian Dykstra said during a telephone conversation. “I guess Terry Boyarsky heard a recording of it on WCLV, and got the idea of arranging it for balalaika and piano. You can imagine my surprise when I heard this back in the fall of 2017.”

On Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm at Nighttown, Russian Duo (Oleg Kruglyakov, balalaika and vocals, and Terry Boyarsky, piano) will present a program that includes the Duo’s arrangement of Dykstra’s Free Spirit Rag, as well as variations on Russian folk melodies, classical music, and Soviet compositions. Prior to the performance there will be a screening of director Chris Bohan’s and cinematographer Steve Hacker’s short film You Go First, which features music performed by Russian Duo. Tickets are available online.

Dykstra did send the music to Boyarsky and Kruglyakov, and gave them permission to make the arrangement. “Some months later Terry invited me to her house for dinner,” Dykstra said. “

[Read more…]

NEOSonicFest kicks off on Friday at Mahall’s

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by Mike Telin

Cleveland Chamber Symphony launches its sixth NEOSonicFest on Friday, March 29 at 9:00 pm at Mahall’s in Lakewood with a concert in partnership with Fresh Perspectives. Uno Lady (Christa Ebert), a one-woman choir, will create electronic loops, harpist Stephan Haluska will present his own electro-acoustical compositions, and Buck McDaniel and Jacob Kirkwood will present a concert version of their live electro-acoustic score written for Cleveland Public Theatre’s Fire on the Water, a meditation on the 50th anniversary of the burning of the Cuyahoga River. The evening will also feature “signature cocktails” available for purchase. Tickets go for $7.

In a recent conference call, Fresh Perspective’s Devin Hinzo said that when they were looking for a venue to present McDaniel’s and Kirkwood’s piece, they immediately thought of Mahall’s. “They support local and emerging musicians as well as music that doesn’t fit any particular genre, so it seemed like a natural fit.”

[Read more…]

CMA: a conversation with violinist Carolin Widmann

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by Jarrett Hoffman

German violinist Carolin Widmann rarely performs in the U.S. — and we Americans might be feeling a tad neglected.

To smooth things over, the winner of the 2017 Bayerischer Staatspreis für Musik will bring a solo program of Medieval, Baroque, and contemporary music to Transformer Station on Friday, March 29 at 7:30 pm as part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Performing Arts Series. Get tickets here.

I caught her on the phone in Leipzig, where she was happy to be home for a day between performances in Italy and Frankfurt. I began by asking her if there’s a reason she doesn’t perform in America more often?

[Read more…]

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