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LCCC Signature Series: a conversation with violist Marina Thibeault

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by Daniel Hathaway

Canadian violist Marina Thibeault, who will play a solo recital on the Lorain County Community College Signature Series on Monday, March 4 at 7:30 pm, switched from violin to viola early on. “There weren’t that many violists in Quebec City when I was growing up. I heard a concert that included both Brahms sonatas when I was 15 and if I had known earlier that such an amazing sound existed, I probably would never have played the violin,” she said in a recent telephone conversation from her home in Montreal. [Read more…]

West Shore Chorale to sing Mozart, Conte & Bernstein at St. John’s Cathedral

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by Daniel Hathaway

At the midpoint of its 51st season, The West Shore Chorale will sing a program on the Helen D. Schubert concert series at St. John’s Cathedral on Friday, March 1 at 7:30 pm. John Drotleff, who has conducted the Rocky River-based chorus since 1984, will lead his singers and an instrumental ensemble in music by Mozart, David Conte, and Bernstein.

I caught up with Drotleff by telephone at his home in Lakewood to ask about Friday’s program, and began by complimenting him on choosing what must be a challenging program.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: François-Xavier Roth and his laboratoire

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by Jarrett Hoffman

François-Xavier Roth could certainly be called versatile, though there might be a better term for him. His orchestra Les Siècles, which he founded in 2003, harbors a collection of instruments spanning the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern eras, matching instruments with the appropriate repertoire. With all of that at his fingertips, maybe Roth would describe himself as a kind of musical scientist, always looking to experiment.

“I see Les Siècles as a kind of laboratoire where I can explore with the instruments, but also with an orchestra of absolutely adventurous and flexible people,” Roth said during a recent telephone conversation from Paris.

[Read more…]

Urban Troubadour: a live film score by Les Frères Méduses

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Some authors pull material from their own experiences. Others are fascinated by things that are totally foreign to them. If you had to guess, which of those types describes the writer of The Unknown, a 1927 silent film about a carnival performer who throws knives with his feet?

Next week, Randall Avers and Benoît Albert of the guitar duo Les Frères Méduses, and violinist Jennifer Choi — or as they sometimes call each other, Randy, Ben, and Jenny — will perform the guitarists’ original score to The Unknown during a screening at The Nightlight.

That makes up the cinematic portion of Urban Troubadour’s “Dinner and a Movie” program on Monday, March 4 in Akron. A 6:30 pm dinner at Blu Plate with live music by pianist Michael Leamon will be followed by dessert, popcorn, and prosecco at 8:15 at The Nightlight.

[Read more…]

CIM/CWRU to produce Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie

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by Daniel Hathaway

As part of the 50th Anniversary of the Case/CIM Joint Music Program, the two schools will collaborate on a production of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie from Wednesday through Saturday, February 27-March 2 in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Harry Davidson leads the joint CIM/CWRU orchestra.

I sat down with CIM Opera Head Dean Southern, stage director Ellen Hargis, and choreographer Julie Andrijeski (both from the CWRU Historical Performance faculty) last week just before the Sitzprobe for Rameau’s 1733 opera. I began by asking how this Baroque opera project came about. [Read more…]

The music of Hochelaga, Land of Souls: a conversation with composer Gyan Riley

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by Mike Telin

François Girard’s latest film, Hochelaga, Terre des âmes (“Hochelaga, Land of Souls”), is a historical drama that investigates and dramatizes the long struggle for the land that became Montréal. Like all of the French-Canadian director and screenwriter’s work, which includes Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould and The Red Violin, a great deal of attention has been placed on the musical score — here Girard has turned to the father and son team of Terry Riley and Gyan Riley.

Hochelaga, Land of Souls, which will be screened at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Friday, March 1 at 7:00 pm, features performances by the Kronos Quartet and violinist Tracy Silverman.

[Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition Series: a conversation with Xiaoxuan Li

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by Mike Telin

When I asked Xiaoxuan Li how he started playing the piano, he gave me an honest answer. “I was four years old, so I remember nothing, but my mom let me study it and I really loved it,” Li said during a telephone conversation. “She said that many kids didn’t want to practice but I was totally different.”

On Saturday, March 2 at 8:00 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, the Cleveland International Piano Competition Concert Series will present Xiaoxuan Li, the winner of the 2018 CIPC for Young Artists Competition senior division. His program will include works by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt. The evening will also feature Eva Gevorgyan, winner of the 2018 junior division. Together, Li and Gevorgyan will play four-hand arrangements of excerpts from The Nutcracker.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: a conversation with Paul O’Dette

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by Mike Telin

The life of a court musician during the Renaissance was not that bad. “They were highly paid, highly prized, and were provided with great instruments and a lot of flexibility to travel to other courts and meet other musicians,” lutenist Paul O’Dette noted during a recent conversation. “There were a lot of opportunities particularly for the lute players. Because it’s a very quiet instrument, they were given security clearances to parts of the court that others were not permitted to be in — meaning the private chambers of the monarch.”

On Saturday, February 23 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, O’Dette will present a concert titled “The Secret of the Muses,” featuring works by Vieux Gautier, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, Nicolas Vallet, Robert Johnson, and Daniel Bachelar, performed on a 10-course lute built by Ray Nurse after Hans Frei. Due to the softer nature of the instrument, the concert will be held in the intimate Herr Chapel. The evening is part of the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s International Series. Tickets are available online.

What is special about a 10-course lute? (No, the evening does not include a 10-course meal.) O’Dette explained that a course is a pair of strings tuned to the same pitch or to an octave, and that during the 16th century lutes were primarily 6-course instruments akin to a 12-string guitar. [Read more…]

Dana Piano Trio to celebrate school’s 150th with Carnegie Hall recital

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by Daniel Hathaway

It’s not every day that a recently-formed ensemble gets to put a Carnegie Hall debut on its schedule, but Youngstown State University’s Dana Piano Trio — violinist Joseph Kromholz, cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman, and pianist Cicilia Yudha — is doing just that on Friday, March 22.

As the old saw goes, the way you usually get to Carnegie Hall is to practice, practice, and practice, but this gig essentially fell into the Trio’s lap. As Yudha told us in a telephone conversation, “Our Dean just said that as part of the Dana School of Music’s 150th anniversary celebrations and the Pippino Concert Series, ‘I’d like to send you to New York.’ How about that!”

Although Yudha and Kromholz had joined the Dana faculty earlier, Cahn-Lipman only arrived in 2017, and the Trio was formed soon afterward. “Since the three of us are in residence, we’re able to do a bunch of outreach and recruitment activities with high school students, so that’s worked out very nicely.”

By way of preparation for their New York debut, the Trio will be trying out its Weill Recital Hall program in three upcoming concerts. [Read more…]

Heights Chamber Orchestra: getting to know Dean Buck

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Dean Buck grew up on the West Side of Cleveland, then headed to New York City for four years of school and five years of work. Now he’s back, pursuing a master’s in conducting at the Cleveland Institute of Music and digging into the city’s freelance scene.

Two things he’s enjoyed since being back? For one, the cost of living. “You have substantially less rent to make each month,” he said, laughing. And two, the music scene. “It’s fun — there are some great groups and great people. I’m almost wary about saying how good it is here because it’s like, oh no, everyone’s going to come.”

Having led a couple of workshop performances during Cleveland Opera Theater’s {NOW} Festival in recent weeks, next up for Buck is a guest conducting opportunity with Heights Chamber Orchestra. What stands out most on that program on Sunday, February 24 at 3:30 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church: a concerto for the Wagner tuba.

[Read more…]

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