by Mike Telin
On their debut recording Together, celebrated harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and Grammy Award-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux take listeners on a beautiful sonic journey that will mesmerizes from the first note to the last. On Thursday, May 28 at 8:00 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Kondonassis and Vieaux will perform all of the music from the album in a recital presented as a part of the 2015 Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. The program will also include Antônio Carlos Jobim’s A Felicidade (arranged for solo guitar) and Carlos Salzedo’s Chanson dans la nuit, for solo harp. CIM student performances will take place in the Pogue Lobby from 7:00 to 7:45 pm. [Read more…]
On Friday, May 29 at 8:00 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ricardo Gallén will present a recital featuring Bach’s complete works for the lute as part of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. We reached him by Skype at his home in Weimar, Germany, where he is professor of guitar at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt.” 
Deemed a “master guitar maker,” Canadian luthier Joshia de Jonge has gained international acclaim for her acoustically and aesthetically stunning instruments. On Saturday, May 30 from 11:30 to 12:45 pm at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Studio 113, de Jonge will lead a workshop entitled The Art of French Polishing, in which “participants will be taught through demonstrations and hands-on exercises how to apply shellac finish to wood surfaces using traditional French polish technique.” This event is open to the public and free of charge. De Jonge graciously agreed to an interview via e-mail, and her responses were enlightening. 
On Saturday, May 30 at 4:00 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Paul Galbraith (Scotland) will present a recital as part of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. Galbraith’s program will feature Bach’s “Allemande” from the Lute Suite in E minor, BWV 996 and Cello Suite No. 5, BWV 1011 and No. 1, BWV 1007. The program also includes Mozart’s “Allemande” from the unfinished Suite in C, K. 399 and the Piano Sonata in F, K. 570.
British countertenor David Acres will lead the professional singers of Contrapunctus Early Music in a free program of vocal music by Spanish composers of the 13th to 17th centuries on Sunday, May 31 at 3:00 pm in Mary Queen of Peace Church on Pearl Road in Old Brooklyn. “We hope people will come and enjoy music they’ve never heard before,” Acres said in a telephone conversation.
by Mike Telin
“It’s a minor miracle,” said Burning River Brass artistic director Heather Zweifel. “Burning River Brass is giving a concert that’s not a Christmas gig!” That’s going to take place on Wednesday, May 27 at 7:00 pm at Pilgrim Church in Tremont as a special, bonus concert on the Arts Renaissance Tremont series. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.
“One day my husband put an article on my desk about the plight of homeless children in New York City,” Eugenia Strauss, executive director of CityMusic Cleveland recalled during a recent telephone conversation. “I read the article and was astonished by the facts, so I began to make some telephone calls to find out what the situation is here in Cleveland.” What Strauss learned from those telephone calls became the seed that grew into CityMusic’s most recent project devoted to heightening community awareness of a social issue.