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The lutes are coming! — LuteFest-2018 at CWRU

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by Delaney Meyers

LRPpicThe Lute Society of America’s annual LuteFest draws people from all over the world, and is the largest early plucked instrument festival of its kind. From Sunday, June 24 through Friday, June 29 on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, LuteFest-2018! will present concerts by world-class faculty, and festival participants will take part in all kinds of workshops — they’ll learn about lute technique as well as the instrument’s history and repertoire

“One of the great things about this festival is that every participant gets private lessons with the faculty members,” Assistant Director Chris Wilke said during a recent telephone conversation. “It’s like going to a cello conference and getting a private lesson with Yo-Yo Ma.” Lessons are open to anyone who registers, regardless of their level or background with the instrument.

[Read more…]

Flutist Lorna McGhee to join ChamberFest for George Crumb’s Voice of the Whale

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by Jarrett Hoffman

lornamcgheeIn 1969, George Crumb heard the complex, otherworldly singing of the humpback whale — then a deeply endangered species — and was inspired to write Vox Balaenae (“Voice of the Whale”). A trio for flute, cello, and piano, all amplified, the work continues to fascinate audiences with its imitation of whale song, and the feeling it conjures of time standing still.

Taking the composer’s suggestion, ChamberFest Cleveland will cast a deep blue light over the stage of Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music on Thursday evening, June 21, when they present Crumb’s underwater epic as part of a 7:30 pm concert titled “A Turn in the Road.” The program will also include Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 3 in f and the “Adagio” from Berg’s Chamber Concerto.

I recently spoke with Scottish-born Lorna McGhee, principal flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony and professor at Carnegie Mellon University. [Read more…]

ChamberFest’s “Forging New Paths” to highlight Rabinovich Brahms arrangement

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Rabinovich pc balazs borocz“When a father-in-law asks, it’s the law,” Roman Rabinovich said during a recent conversation. As fans of ChamberFest Cleveland know, that father-in-law is co-artistic director Franklin Cohen. His request? An arrangement of Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel to be performed at the Festival — and his son-in-law happily obliged.

Rabinovich’s nonet version of that solo piano work will receive its premiere on Saturday, June 23 at 7:30 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. And the web of connections in that program, titled “Forging New Paths,” is worth spending an evening on itself. There’s the Handel-to-Brahms thread: on one end of the program is the Baroque composer’s Trio Sonata in c, HWV 386a, while on the other end are Brahms’ Handel Variations — in their new clothes picked out by Rabinovich. And in between is Ligeti’s homage to Brahms: the Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano — a rare instrumentation for which the big B also composed.

You’ll see Rabinovich at the harpsichord in the Handel sonata, but our conversation focused on his arrangement of the Brahms for flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon, string quartet, and double bass. [Read more…]

ChamberFest’s “A Free for All”: A conversation with bassist Nathan Farrington

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by Delaney Meyers

FarringtonChamberFest’s Tuesday, June 19 concert, “A Free for All,” will take place in the Crawford Rotunda at The Cleveland History Center, which houses the restored Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel. Bassist Nathan Farrington says it will feature “a spectrum of pieces,” offering everyone at least one thing they can “dip their toes into.”

The unconventional program will include music by virtuoso fiddler and composer Mark O’Connor, a diverse set of old folk songs played by Farrington and clarinetist Franklin Cohen, Dvořák’s folk-inspired Songs My Mother Taught Me with soprano Amanda Powell. In a phone conversation, Farrington said he is most looking forward to playing one of the lesser known pieces on the program: Krzysztof Penderecki’s Duo Concertante for violin and bass, written in 2010 and inspired by the composer’s long-term friendship with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
[Read more…]

76 Trombones Head to CSU: 7th Annual Cleveland Trombone Seminar

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by Alice Koeninger

CTS-Group-2016From June 16-24, the Cleveland Trombone Seminar, spearheaded by Cleveland Orchestra assistant principal trombone Shachar Israel, will feature a series of performances by faculty and students in Drinko Hall at Cleveland State University. CTS is a week-long seminar for young trombonists designed to further their professional education. In addition to master classes, it presents clinics on form and performance anxiety and focuses on optimal progress through correct practice.

Guest instructors include Randall Hawes, bass trombone for the Detroit Symphony and professor at Northwestern University; Stephen Lange, second trombone for the Boston Symphony and New England Conservatory faculty; and Craig Knox, tubist for the Pittsburgh Symphony and faculty at Carnegie Mellon. Tickets can be purchased at the door for all concerts and recitals. Ticket pricing and parking info are available here. [Read more…]

Syndicate for the New Arts: a septet from Atlanta & a duo from Cleveland

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by Jarrett Hoffman

faun-and-a-pan-fluteMaybe in the future, a barcode will be slapped on every piece of music, and you’ll just whip out your handy scanning device to identify any and all genres at play. Until then, listeners will have to settle for being delightedly mystified by the sounds of Atlanta-based septet Faun and a Pan Flute and Cleveland-based Duo Decibel System. That double-bill will give a concert this Tuesday, June 19 at 8:00 pm at St. John’s Ohio City, presented by Syndicate for the New Arts.

Faun and a Pan Flute is a band of cello, alto saxophone, guitar, bass guitar, marimba, percussion, and tuba (Benjamin Shirley, Peter Webb, David Gray, Dan Bailey, Chris Childs, John Gregg, and Julian Hinshaw). They draw on rock, impressionistic jazz, and modern classical music, and over the years have ranged in size from four to twelve members.

Collectively they lead, and collectively they compose.

I recently spoke with John Gregg, the group’s friendly, laid-back percussionist, who had just been watering some of his herbs when he picked up the phone. [Read more…]

Opinion:
The Cleveland Orchestra — Prometheus or Epimetheus?

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by David Kulma

Heinrich_fueger_1817_prometheus_brings_fire_to_mankindAs noted in The Cleveland Orchestra’s program book for The Prometheus Project, the  mythological Titan’s forgotten brother Epimetheus “spent much of his time thinking about yesterday, and last week, or looking at the history of a hundred years ago.”

The Orchestra ended its 100th season celebrating two revolutionaries: Prometheus and Ludwig van Beethoven. Music director Franz Welser-Möst’s goal for The Prometheus Project was to link the light-giving Titan to the powerful Enlightenment composer, and through them connect to “the idea of fighting for good.” This celebration of revolutions past is noble, but it also points out how the Cleveland institution appears more like his backward-looking sibling than Prometheus himself.

In a way, TCO’s festival of Beethoven symphonies and overtures makes all the sense in the world. [Read more…]

No Exit: a clarinet and five flutes at Appletree Books on June 15

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Gunnar Owen Hirthe and Hong-Da ChinClarinetist Gunnar Owen Hirthe + flutist Hong-Da Chin = quite the duo.

Combining Chinese traditional music with contemporary repertoire, their upcoming concert — presented by No Exit on Friday, June 15 at 7:00 pm at Appletree Books — will include three duets (one of them by Hong-Da), six solo works, and six instruments (the two likely suspects, in addition to four Chinese flutes).

Let’s start with the bookends of the program. Giacinto Scelsi’s Ko-Lho and David Liptak’s Duo meld together the sounds of the clarinet and Western flute to fascinating effect, treating the instruments almost like conjoined twins.

Hearing an all-Scelsi program at Bowling Green State University is what first drew Hirthe to that composer. “I was really struck by how simple and powerful his music is,” the No Exit clarinetist, Flint Institute of Music faculty member, and BGSU doctoral candidate said during a recent telephone conversation. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera at 40: season preview, part one

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

OLO Calendar 2018_previewUsually, the celebration of an anniversary results in gifts offered by the visitors to the host. But not this time! Ohio Light Opera is celebrating its 40th anniversary this summer, but they’re gifting the audiences with five OLO premieres! That’s correct – five productions that have never graced the stage of Freedlander Theatre, their home in Wooster, Ohio.

Four of the premieres — The Pajama Game, Babes in Arms, Fifty Million Frenchmen, and Candide — are from America’s Lyric Theater tradition, while the fifth — CloClo — is steeped in the Viennese operetta tradition. The season is rounded out with two old friends of OLO, Iolanthe and La Périchole.

Opening on Saturday, June 16 at 7:30 pm, The Pajama Game is known for wonderful tunes and sassy choreography by Bob Fosse (one of his dancers was Shirley MacLaine), debuted in New York in 1954. [Read more…]

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