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Second Species (Hannah Hammel & Ben Roidl-Ward) to perform in Oberlin and Hingetown March 2 & 3

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by Mike Telin

Second-SpeciesSometimes the only way to make something happen is to take the bull by the horns and do it yourself. A case in point is the enterprising duo of flutist Hannah Hammel and bassoonist Ben Roidl-Ward, a.k.a. Second Species. On Wednesday, March 2 at 9 pm in Oberlin’s Fairchild Chapel and Thursday, March 3 at 8pm in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ohio City’s Hingetown neighborhood, the duo will present a diverse program of new and recently commissioned works. Thursday’s performance is sponsored by the Syndicate for the New Arts and the St. John’s Institute. [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire’s St. John Passion:
a chat with tenor Nicholas Phan

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by Daniel Hathaway

PHAN-NicholasWhen Apollo’s Fire presents its four area performances of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion later this week under the direction of Jeannette Sorrell, the burden of storytelling will fall to tenor Nicholas Phan.

Although Bach assigned individual parts to singers who will take the roles of Jesus, Pilate, and other individual characters, Phan will narrate the Passion of Jesus Christ from the Gospel According to John. Bach’s two extant Passion settings are the closest the composer came to writing opera, and Apollo’s Fire promises to offer an especially dramatic version of the St. John.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Women’s Committee Benefit to feature Joela Jones, Michael Sachs & Massimo La Rosa on March 4

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by Mike Telin

JONES-SACHS-LAROSA“Behind every great institution there are women,” Cleveland Orchestra principal keyboard Joela Jones pointed out during a conversation in the Taplin Room at Severance Hall. The Women’s Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra will sponsor a benefit for the Orchestra on Friday, March 4 beginning at 6:00 pm at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights. Joela Jones will join her Orchestra colleagues Michael Sachs, principal trumpet, and Massimo La Rosa, principal trombone, for a special evening of music and conversation. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra to join Youth Chorus for March 4 concert

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by Mike Telin

COYO-MitchellOn Friday, March 4 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will perform what director Brett Mitchell says is the most challenging piece the orchestra has played during his tenure. “Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka is certainly a challenging undertaking even for the best of professional orchestras,” Mitchell pointed out during a telephone interview. “But I’ve been with COYO long enough to know that whatever challenge is put in front of the musicians they will, without fail, rise to the challenge. In fact, they always end up exceeding my expectations.” [Read more…]

NEOSonicFest: flutist Carlton Vickers to play two concerts on March 4 & 5

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by Mike Telin

VICKERS-CarltonThe avant-garde flutist Carlton Vickers last played in here in March of 2013. “I’m looking forward to being back in Cleveland — I’ll be stepping things up a bit this time,” he said during a telephone conversation. Vickers, who specializes in the most demanding works of the contemporary and electro-acoustic repertoire, will give two concerts as part of NEOSonicFest. Vickers’ appearances, once again presented by the Cleveland-based new music ensemble No Exit, are scheduled for March 4 at SPACES Gallery and March 5 at Heights Arts. His program for both performances will include music by Jason Eckardt, Marc Yeats, James Erber, and Brian Ferneyhough. [Read more…]

NEOSonicFest: FiveOne Experimental Orchestra to perform at Rising Star Coffee Roastery March 5

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by Mike Telin

51XO-Group“We feel more at home in a post-industrial setting, and we’re happy to have found Rising Star Coffee Roastery,” Five One Experimental Orchestra executive director Jeremy Allen said during an interview. “We always try to create a unique concert experience in collaboration with a non-traditional venue that benefits all parties — there are Rising Star patrons that are yet unfamiliar with what 51XO is all about, and I’m sure some of our fans will be newly introduced to this fabulous coffee roastery that’s right here in our great city of Cleveland.”

On Saturday March 5 at 8:00 pm, 51XO will perform works by Nico Muhly, Greg Pattillo, John HC Thompson, Jeremy Allen, Buck McDaniel, and Sarah Kirkland Snider, plus a new “experiment” conceived of and led by 51XO’s Tracy Mortimore at Rising Star Coffee Roastery, 3617 Walton Avenue, Cleveland. The concert is presented as part of the 2016 NEOSonicFest. [Read more…]

Chagin Concert Series: a conversation with guest clarinetist Howard Klug

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by Daniel Hathaway

KLUG-HowardThe Chagrin Concert Series continues on Sunday, March 6 at 3:00 pm in Valley Lutheran Church in Chagrin Falls with a free performance of trios and duos by violinist Hristo Popov, clarinetist Howard Klug, and pianist Eric Charnofsky.

Howard Klug is Professor of Clarinet in The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. We reached him in Bloomington, Indiana to ask about the music he and his colleagues will be playing on Sunday. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: 15 minutes with pianist Richard Goode

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by Daniel Hathaway

GOODE-RIchardAmerican pianist Richard Goode will play music by J.S. Bach, Arnold Schoenberg, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert on the next Cleveland Chamber Music Society concert at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights on Tuesday, March 8 at 7:30 pm.

Goode is a celebrated interpreter of the music of Beethoven, and was the first American-born pianist to record all 32 sonatas (for Nonesuch in 1991). Earlier, he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1961, took first prize in the Clara Haskil Competition in 1973, and won the Avery Fisher Prize in 1980. He recently completed a 14-year tenure as co-director (with Mitsuko Uchida) of the Marlboro Music School and Festival, the Vermont summer retreat where he spent a total of 22 summers beginning at the age of 14. [Read more…]

CIM Opera to stage Hector Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict February 24-27

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by Mike Telin & Daniel Hathaway

CIM_Beatrice_Benedict_1Directed by David Bamberger, CIM Opera Theater will present four performances of Hector Berlioz’s comic opera Béatrice et Bénédict in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music beginning on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30 pm and continuing through Saturday, February 27. An adaptation of William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, Berlioz conceived the piece as early as 1833, but completed it only in 1862 at the behest of a casino owner in Baden-Baden, Germany, where it was first performed at the Theater der Stadt in August of that year.

“It’s not performed that often, and most people only know it from the overture, which is such a great piece in itself,” conductor Harry Davidson said in a telephone conversation. “For the opera, Berlioz took out all the tragic elements that appear in the play — Héro being accused of adultery and her father disowning her — none of that is there. But it’s very stageworthy and the music is really quite delightful and charming.” [Read more…]

Blue Streak Ensemble to present “Down Home Classical” February 25

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by Carlyn Kessler

Brouwer-Margaret“I thought the name ‘Down Home Classical’ fit perfectly because chamber music originally started in the home,” composer Margaret Brouwer explained in a telephone conversation. “Back before television, families would get together and play chamber music in the home, and all of this music is very much that kind of chamber music. And the place where we’re performing, Dunham Tavern, is like a great big living room. The audience will be sitting pretty close to the musicians, which will be almost like a home environment.”

On Thursday, February 25 at 7:30 pm at Cleveland’s Dunham Tavern Museum, the Blue Streak Ensemble (BSE), directed by award-winning composer Margaret Brouwer, will present “Down Home Classical,” an evening of American porch music. “It’s very American music,” said Brouwer. “There are a lot of beautiful melodies, wonderful sparkling sounds, and fun, catchy rhythms.” [Read more…]

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