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Cleveland Opera Theater: a conversation with The Marriage of Figaro’s title character

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by Mike Telin

Holmes-Christopher“The challenge of performing the role of Figaro is holding onto all of the words, but the character is so much fun,” Christopher Holmes said. “As a baritone, I’m used to playing the bad guy, which is a lot of fun too, but this role is written so well that I’m really looking forward to it.” This week the Oberlin graduate will make his Cleveland Opera Theater debut, singing the title role of Mozart’s popular opera buffa Le nozze di Figaro.

Directed by Scott Skiba, performances will take place at the Cleveland Masonic Auditorium in MidTown on Friday, April 28 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 30 at 3:00 pm. Domenico Boyagian will conduct the Cleveland Opera Theater Orchestra and cast, which includes Christopher Holmes as Figaro, Marian Vogel as Susanna, Brian Keith Johnson as Count Almaviva, and Rachel Copeland as Countess Rosina. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. [Read more…]

Kent State New Music Ensemble to honor composer Donald Erb

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by Mike Telin

Erb-Donald“Don’s approach was unique because it really wasn’t part of any kind of school of thought,” Kent State University professor of composition Frank Wiley said of the late Donald Erb. “It was a separate thing, but his music was always very passionate, and that came across forcefully. Sometimes people had a hard time dealing with that, but you can’t have a light-hearted, casual relationship with his music. You have to be invested in it.”

On Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 pm in Ludwig Recital Hall, Kent State University’s Hugh Glauser School of Music will honor legendary composer and KSU alum Donald Erb with a “90th Birthday Concert.” The evening will also include the unveiling of the new Donald Erb Collection in KSU’s Performing Arts Library, based on material donated by the late composer’s wife, Lucille Erb. The performance is free. [Read more…]

Russian Duo to appear on John Knox Performance Series

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by Mike Telin

Russian-Duo“Russian Duo is an international project, and this program will show that,” balalaika virtuoso Oleg Kruglyakov said during a recent telephone conversation along with his longtime artistic partner, pianist Terry Boyarsky. On Friday, April 28 at 7:00 pm at John Knox Presbyterian Church in North Olmsted, Russian Duo will present a concert that features Russian folk music, romances, classical music, gypsy melodies, bluegrass, ragtime, tango, film scores, and Soviet songs. The free concert is part of the John Knox Performance Series.

“In this program audiences will hear everything from Handel to tango. It also shows the range and versatility of this school of Russian composers. As always, we’ll tell stories about the music so the audience can feel a part of the history and musical journey.” [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical: a chat with Escher Quartet cellist Brook Speltz

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by Mike Telin

Escher-Quartet“The string quartet repertoire is perhaps richer than any other musical form,” cellist Brook Speltz said during a recent telephone conversation. “There is a purity to the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass combination of instruments that is equal to a choir, and that has inspired many composers.”

On Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 pm in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, Speltz will join his Escher String Quartet colleagues — violinists Adam Barnett-Hart and Aaron Boyd and violist Pierre Lapointe — in a performance featuring works by Claude Debussy, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Felix Mendelssohn. The concert, presented by Tuesday Musical, marks the culmination of the Escher’s first year as TMA’s Quartet-in-Residence, a performance and education initiative.

Speltz said that Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 6 in f makes a great opener. “His last fully completed string quartet is known for its drama — that carefree Mendelssohn that exists in almost all of his music is nowhere to be found. He wrote it after the death of his sister, who was his best friend and sort of life companion, and it’s relentless in its combination of anxiety and passion that at times almost feels like anger.”

[Read more…]

Cellist Jeffrey Zeigler to play at Transformer Station April 26

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by Mike Telin

Jeffrey Zeigler photoTo make it in the music business, you need to be able to capitalize on any opportunity that comes your way. Someone who has always been prepared to do exactly that is the versatile cellist Jeffrey Zeigler. A former member of the Kronos Quartet, Zeigler has premiered works by John Adams, Henryk Gorecki, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and John Zorn. He has collaborated with a diverse roster of artists including Laurie Anderson, Vijay Iyer, Glenn Kotche, David Krakauer, Kimmo Pohjonen, and Tom Waits. On Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 pm at Transformer Station, Zeigler will present a solo recital as part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Performing Arts Series.

Given Zeigler’s diverse career, what does he have in store for his Transformer Station concert? “I’m excited about the program that I’m bringing to Cleveland,” the cellist said during a recent telephone conversation. “It’s a bit eclectic and will include some technology and some good, old-fashioned solo cello pieces. I think the musical language has a really nice breadth to it, so I hope to take the audience on a sonic and emotional journey.”

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra to feature three of its own as soloists this week

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by Mike Telin

TCO-SoloistsThis week The Cleveland Orchestra, under the direction of guest conductor Andrew Davis, will feature three of its principal players as soloists — one in Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Oboe Concerto and two in Richard Strauss’s epic tone poem Don Quixote. Concerts at Severance Hall are scheduled for Thursday, April 20 at 7:30 pm, Friday, April 21 at 11:00 am (without the Vaughan Williams), and Saturday, April 22 at 8:00 pm.

The program, which begins with Frederick Delius’s Brigg Fair, An English Rhapsody, will also be presented in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel on Friday, April 21 at 8:00 pm as part of the school’s Artist Recital Series.

TCO principal oboe Frank Rosenwein said that Vaughan Williams’s Concerto for Oboe and Strings, written in 1944, is both pastoral and nostalgic. “He lived through the first world war, and this Concerto was written near the end of the second world war. The piece does cultivate a kinder, gentler world.” [Read more…]

Stambaugh Auditorium Organ Series: catching up with Christopher Houlihan

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by Daniel Hathaway

Houlihan-Christopher-by-SteinerNew York-based organist Christopher Houlihan returns to the restored E.M. Skinner organ at Youngstown’s Stambaugh Auditorium on Sunday, April 23 at 4:00 pm for a program of music by Louis Vierne, Olivier Messiaen, J.S. Bach, and César Franck.

Houlihan is well-known in Northeast Ohio, having played Bach, Franck, and Vierne at Stambaugh in November 2012, Vierne and Liszt at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights in April 2013, and most recently, Bach, Franck, and Vierne at Christ Presbyterian Church in Canton on March 19 of this year.

That repertoire list gives a big hint about Houlihan’s musical tastes, which run heavily toward French Romantic music, a national tradition the organist imbibed first-hand during a year he spent in Paris serving as assistant organist at the American Cathedral. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: prepping to hear Beethoven with the Takács Quartet

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by Daniel Hathaway

TakacsQuartetOne of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society’s favorite ensembles, the Takács Quartet, will return to Plymouth Church on Tuesday, April 18 at 7:30 pm for a program of works by Ludwig van Beethoven — one quartet each from his early, middle, and late periods.

On Tuesday, violinists Edward Dusinberre and Károly Schranz, violist Geraldine Walther, and cellist András Fejér will play the quartets in B-flat, Op. 18, No. 6, in F, Op. 135, and in C, Op. 59, No. 3, the “Razumovsky,” arranged not in chronological order, but in an uplifting spiral of rising fifths from B-flat to F, to C.

It’s common knowledge that Beethoven turned music on its ear during his creatively eventful career, but it’s worthwhile reminding ourselves from time to time exactly how he changed the course of musical composition and performance. [Read more…]

Hussain & Sharma up next on CMA Performing Arts Series

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by Mike Telin

HUSSAIN-SCHARMAThe sounds of Indian classical music will fill Gartner Auditorium when tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and acclaimed santoor player Rahul Sharma bring their unique blend of traditional and contemporary music to the Cleveland Museum of Art on Wednesday, April 12 at 7:30 pm.

Considered a lead architect of the contemporary world music movement, Grammy Award-winning Zakir Hussain is the recipient of many other awards and honors, including Padma Bhushan, National Heritage Fellowship, and Officier in France’s Order of Arts and Letters. In 2015, he was voted Best Percussionist by both the Downbeat Critics’ Poll and Modern Drummer’s Reader’s Poll.

Rahul Sharma first learned music and the santoor from his father, the legendary Pt. Shivkumar Sharma. Since then he has become a leader in the world of Indian classical and fusion world music. [Read more…]

85th BW Bach Festival takes a
detour to examine
Bach’s influence on Brahms

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by Daniel Hathaway

GarnerWesthuizensWhen you’re in your mid-eighties, it’s good to stimulate your grey matter by taking up something new. This year, the 85th Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival will make a little detour from its normal four-year cycle of performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s B-minor Mass, the two Passions, and the Christmas Oratorio.

On the weekend of April 7-8, the Festival will focus on the theme of how Bach’s music inspired Johannes Brahms, and the featured choral work will be the German Requiem. Pianists Pierre and Sophié van der Westhuizen, who perform as the Westhuizen Duo, will also play a central role in this year’s Festival.

In a conference call with Festival director Dirk Garner and Pierre van der Westhuizen, Garner was quick to assure Bach Festival regulars that this year’s departure from the norm is a special case. [Read more…]

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