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The Texas Tenors at Stambaugh Auditorium: a conversation with John Hagen

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by Mike Telin

Texas-Tenors“It’s fun to see people stretch their musical tastes in opposite directions,” tenor John Hagen, who is one third of the popular classical crossover trio, The Texas Tenors, said during a telephone conversation. “You take the fan who’s at one end of the spectrum, either classical or country, and hear how they have come to appreciate other genres of music that they haven’t listened to very often, if at all.”

On Sunday, October 22 at 7:30 pm at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown, The Texas Tenors — opera singer John Hagen, country music singer JC Fisher, and pop singer Marcus Collins — will present a concert of country, classical, Broadway and pop selections. Tickets are available online.

Since their debut eight years ago on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, the Trio has amassed a list of awards including three Emmys for the PBS special You Should Dream. [Read more…]

Cleveland Museum of Art presents Lou Harrison Centennial October 20

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Harrison-LouFamous for his integration of traditional musics of Asia into classical music of the West, composer Lou Harrison died in 2003 at the age of 85 as he was on his way to Ohio State University for a week of performances of his music. A few months shy of his 100th birthday, the Cleveland Museum of Art will celebrate the composer’s centennial this Friday, October 20 at 7:30 pm at CMA’s Gartner Auditorium.

The program includes Harrison’s Concerto for Piano with Javanese Gamelan and his Suite for Violin with American Gamelan, and will feature pianist Sarah Cahill, violinist David Bowlin, and the Boston-based group Gamelan Galak Tika, directed by Evan Ziporyn, playing two of the composer’s own sets of gamelans. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical presents Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble October 19

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by Mike Telin

AcademyStMartinChamberEnsCreated in 1967 to perform larger chamber works, the Chamber Ensemble of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performs in all shapes and sizes, from quintets to octets, drawn from the principal players of the orchestra. On Thursday, October 19 at 7:30 pm in E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical will present the venerable ensemble in a performance that will include music by Antonín Dvořák and George Enescu. Tickets available online.

Although the London-based Ensemble is celebrating its 50th year, “what many don’t know is that the Academy began as a chamber ensemble playing Baroque music in Neville Marriner’s living room,” violinist Harvey de Souza said by telephone from Northridge, California, where the Ensemble was in the middle of their North American tour. “At that time, people were into these huge massive forces performing Handel’s Messiah with a thousand-voice chorus and huge orchestras and I think he got tired of that. He wanted to get back to the purity of playing concerti grossi with a pair of violins, and that is how it all got started.” [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire: a chat with Jeannette Sorrell about the Baroque orchestra’s 26th Season

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by Daniel Hathaway

SORRELL-JeannetteApollo’s Fire crowned its 25th anniversary season over the summer with sold-out performances at Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Cain Park. I reached Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell to ask what’s ahead for Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra in 2017-2018.

Daniel Hathaway: You’ve planned some big works to begin and end your new season — Handel’s Israel in Egypt in the fall, and Monteverdi’s Orfeo in the Spring. I understand that you’ve created a special version of Handel’s famous, double-chorus oratorio for the October 12-15 performances in Northeast Ohio.

Jeannette Sorrell: I’ve always felt that Israel in Egypt is a great work, but performances I’ve heard didn’t always work for me. The original piece was in three parts, beginning with the “Lamentation on the Death of Jeremiah” and continuing with “Exodus” and “The Song of Moses.” Audiences today usually only hear the second and third parts, but the “Lamentation” contains some beautiful, poignant funeral music.

[Read more…]

Roberto Plano to open Tri-C Classical Piano Series October 15

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by Daniel Hathaway

Plano-RobertoAfter Roberto Plano won the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2001, he returned to his native Italy to teach and concertize. On Sunday, October 15 at 2:00 pm, Plano will revisit Cleveland to open this year’s Tri-C Classical Piano Series in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art with a free concert of music by Liszt, Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, and Gershwin.

A year ago, Plano accepted a position at Boston University, and he and his wife and three daughters moved to the United States. In a telephone interview from Boston, Plano noted that the transition has been both difficult and rewarding. “I knew the United States very well, but I never lived here for more than a couple of weeks at a time,” he said.

[Read more…]

Classical guitarist Celil Refik Kaya makes Cleveland debut on CCGS Series

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by Hannah Shoepe

Cecil-Rafik-kayaThe Cleveland Classical Guitar Society will present a night of exotic guitar sounds across an eclectic range of genres, featuring renowned guitarist Celil Refik Kaya. Kaya makes his Cleveland debut on October 14 at 7:30 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights.

The program begins with works by Mauro Giuliani, as well as selections from J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Bridging the gap to the contemporary portion of the evening will be Kaya’s transcription of Enrique Granados’ Valses poéticos. The second half of the program includes Kaya’s own Sonatina and works by Jorge Morel and Joaquín Rodrigo. Click here for ticket information. [Read more…]

TCO announces 2017-18 tour schedule

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by Jarrett Hoffman

TCOMusikvereinThe Cleveland Orchestra has announced details of its Centennial Season tour schedule, marking the ensemble’s 17th and 18th international tours to be led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. Twenty concerts spanning seven weeks will include an October trip to Europe, two concerts at Carnegie Hall in January, and season-capping appearances in Vienna and Tokyo during May and June. Complete details of the tour can be found below.

“Touring is important for The Cleveland Orchestra,” said Welser-Möst in a press release. “It requires an enormous amount of flexibility to find ‘our sound’ playing in different acoustics. We refine this sound every day in our home, Severance Hall, and bring this to audiences outside of Cleveland.”

The music director praised the strong will that exists in the community. “With the history of Cleveland, ups and downs economically, there has been an enormous determination in this community to maintain and enhance a world-class orchestra. Going around and showing that to the world is gratifying. [Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society to present Green Mountain Chamber Players

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by Hannah Schoepe

Green-Mountain-PlayersThe Rocky River Chamber Music Society opens its 59th season with a free concert by the Green Mountain Chamber Players on Monday, October 9 at 7:30 pm at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church. The program of piano trios will include Beethoven’s Fourteen Variations in E-flat, Op. 44, the Cleveland premiere of Evan Chambers’ A Hundred Ways, and Brahms’ Trio No. 1.

Made up of violinist Kevin Lawrence, cellist Brooks Whitehouse, and pianist Clara Young, the Green Mountain Chamber Players include members of the faculty from the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, held each summer in Burlington, Vermont, where they work with today’s top string students from the United States and across the globe. [Read more…]

Hilo Duo — Caroline Chin and Brian Snow — head to LCCC for Signature Series

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Hilo-DuoA married couple and parents to a 2 ½-year-old and 4-month-old, violinist Caroline Chin and cellist Brian Snow also both teach at Bowling Green State University — and together make up the Hilo Duo.

On Tuesday, October 10 at 7:30 pm at Cirigliano Studio Theatre at the Stocker Center for the Arts, Hilo Duo will perform 20th- and 21st-century works by Richard Carrick, Elliott Carter, Jeffrey Mumford, and Maurice Ravel. The free concert, part of Lorain County Community College’s Signature Series, is open to the public.

How do Chin and Snow feel about working together as Duo partners? “It’s always great to have a chance to perform together,” said Snow in an email, “and it’s especially enjoyable when we have a chance to play music that we love.”

[Read more…]

Danish String Quartet to open Cleveland Chamber Music Society series

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Danish-SQWhen you play the first track of Last Leaf, the Danish String Quartet’s new album of Nordic folk music, a tune over a drone in the harmonium meets your ears. Whether “Despair Not, O Heart,” a Lutheran chorale known mostly as a funeral hymn, finds a certain spot in you called soul or just some hidden nook of the brain, it feels special.

Praised by the Washington Post as “one of the best quartets before the public today,” the Danish String Quartet — Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and Frederik Øland, violins, Asbjørn Nørgaard, viola, and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, cello — follow up Last Leaf with an October tour beginning in the U.S. and wrapping around to Denmark and Germany.

On October 10, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society brings the Quartet to Plymouth Church UCC in Shaker Heights with a program of Bartok’s String Quartet No. 1, Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 59, No. 1, and Nordic folk music arranged by the Quartet.

[Read more…]

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