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Preview: Piano Competition audiences to hear a vast range of repertoire choices from 28 contestants

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by Mike Telin

CIPC-ButterflyFollowing tonight’s opening ceremonies at the Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland International Piano Competition gets underway on Wednesday, July 31 beginning at 1:00 pm in the Museum’s Gartner Auditorium. Unique to CIPC, each of the twenty-eight contestants has the opportunity to perform in two rounds.

The Competition’s rules state:

Use the five requirements listed below to choose repertoire for the first two rounds. Over the course of the First Round and the Second Round, each of the five requirements must be represented once. Candidates may present their choice of works in any order, provided the First Round performance does not exceed 30 minutes and the Second Round performance does not exceed 35 minutes. All contestants perform two rounds before the first jury vote.

If you’re wondering how this will play out in real time, let’s have a look at the repertoire the contestants have chosen to fulfill each of these five requirements. [Read more…]

Preview: Sarah Goslee Reed to perform at Cain Park on August 3

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by Mike Telin

REED-Sarah-GosleeOn Saturday, August 3, Mt. Vernon, Ohio based singer-songwriter Sarah Goslee Reed returns to her hometown along with her Firefly Band for a performance beginning at 7:00 pm in the Alma Theatre at Cain Park. The concert is part of Cain Park’s Full Folk Saturday’s series.

Sarah Goslee Reed grew up surrounded by music. Her father, the late George Goslee, served as principal bassoonist of The Cleveland Orchestra from 1943 until 1988 and her mother played cello and bass. And although she says that “classical music is in my bones,” from an early age Sarah has always had a love for folk music. Even while pursuing her undergraduate degree in microbiology from Miami University of Ohio and a graduate degree in the same field from the University of Akron, singing and writing songs has always been a part of her life. “I’m a strange, sciencey sort of person but I think that fuels me with interesting things to write about,” she jokes.

In addition to performing at venues and festivals throughout Ohio, Sarah Goslee Reed is a dedicated music educator and can often be found giving concerts and leading workshops for kids into which she ingeniously interweaves her love of music with her love of the earth sciences. [Read more…]

Preview: Violinist Gil Shaham talks about playing Tchaikovsky at Blossom and about his new CD, Nigunim

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by Mike Telin

Shaham,-Gil---by-Christian-Steiner“We are so lucky to have this Tchaikovsky violin concerto, it’s one of the great inspirations,” says violinist Gil Shaham. “And I think Tchaikovsky felt the same way about it.” On Saturday, August 3 beginning at 8:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Gil Shaham will perform Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Kirill Karabits. In addition to the Tchaikovsky, the all-Russian program also includes Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.

In addition to his superb musicianship, Gil Shaham is thoroughly entertaining on stage and never leaves one wondering if he is having fun. “I do find a lot of joy in playing these days and I think I enjoy it now more then ever before,” he told us by telephone from Aspen, Colorado. “Maybe it is not such a good thing because I think that our job is very similar to the job of an actor. We have the ideal that the composer wrote for us, often dealing with very serious subjects…and the most extreme conditions of human experience. But I have to say that I really do enjoy it. When you are playing some of these great masterpieces like the Tchaikovsky, I feel very lucky to be there and to be playing it, and my gosh, to be able to play it with an orchestra like the Cleveland Orchestra!” [Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition — video interviews with four of the pianists: Qi Xu, Julia Kociuban, Konstantin Shamray and Ben Kim

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by Mike Telin

CIPC-ButterflyThe 2013 Cleveland International Piano Competition officially kicks off on Tuesday, July 30 with a 6pm opening ceremony in Gartner Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Art. After the performance of a Mozart concerto by 2011 winner Alexander Schimpf and CityMusic Cleveland, piano fans will meet and greet this year’s 28 contestants in person for the first time.

CIPC has kindly arranged for ClevelandClassical to follow some of the contestants during the competition, and four pianists have graciously agreed to be interviewed by Mike Telin from time to time. Our initial conversations were conducted the last week in June and the first week in July via Skype video, when we got to know more about the personalities of four of these interesting and engaging musicians, who range in age from 18 to 30. Each spoke about how they began playing and talked about their personal interests and activities. Many thanks to the competition and the four contestants for making these conversations possible. [Read more…]

Preview: Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra to play at Blossom on July 27, including a side-by-side with The Cleveland Orchestra

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by Mike Telin

FEDDECK-James2After four weeks of immersing themselves in the wonderful world of chamber music, this week the participants at the Kent/Blossom School will turn their focus to orchestral music. On Saturday, July 27 beginning at 7:00 pm, the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of James Feddeck, will perform Debussy’s Clair de lune and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major.

“I think the opportunity to study at a summer festival like the Kent/Blossom School presents a unique intensive period of real saturation into one’s study,” James Feddeck told us by telephone. “So the opportunity to take a few weeks — relocate and have an intense experience is of enormous benefit. And in this case the students at the festival have a great deal of contact with Cleveland Orchestra members.”

Following the 7:00 pm concert by the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra, the students will have a side-by-side experience with The Cleveland Orchestra in a performance of Ravel’s La Valse. The 8:00 pm concert also features the Overture to Les Francs-juges of Berlioz, the Piano Concerto No. 2 of Saint-Saëns and Debussy’s La Mer. [Read more…]

Preview: Three soloists to make their debuts with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom: Part one — Cédric Tiberghien

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by Mike Telin

Tiberghien-CedricIt’s always a special occasion when a musician has the opportunity to perform as a soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, and if it’s your own debut there is even more excitement added to the occasion. This summer three young musicians will be making their Cleveland Orchestra debuts — pianist Cédric Tiberghien (Saint-Saëns’s Concerto #2 in g minor on Saturday, July 27); violinist Ray Chen (Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on Sunday, August 11); and pianist Martin Helmchen (Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #1 in C major on August 24). All three gentleman are lively conversationalists who had plenty to say about being part of the new generation of artists committed to engaging with and attracting new audiences to classical music.

And what does a performance with the Cleveland Orchestra mean to the three? “It’s one of the things that when I look at my calendar it’s a little bit unbelievable,” says Martin Helmchen. For Ray Chen, the opportunity brings on extra excitement: “I remember going to concerts at Blossom and sitting on the lawn when I was a student in 2006 and 2007 at the Encore School for Strings. So this performance has a very personal connection. To have been there as a kid and now to be on the other side, it’s just great!” Cédric Tiberghien calls it “absolutely amazing. It’s an incredible opportunity for me and I’m really looking forward to it.” Today is the first of three features spotlighting the debuting soloists. [Read more…]

Oberlin Cooper Violin Competition: a chat with two members of the jury and four competitors

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by Mike Telin and Daniel Hathaway

OberlinCooperLogoThe first round of the Oberlin Cooper International Violin Competition got underway on Saturday, July 20 — the first step in the process that begins with twenty-four young violinists aged 13-18 and will ultimately bring three finalists together for concerto performances with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra next Friday evening, July 26 at Severance Hall. On Friday, we spoke with jury members Gregory Fulkerson and David Bowlin and four of the competitors — Gallia Kastner, Kristie and Karen Su and Jieming Tang — to gain their insights into what makes music competitions worthwhile and to learn a bit more about what makes four of the young players tick (links to audio at the end).

Oberlin violin professor Gregory Fulkerson, who is chair of the competition, is excited about the field of competitors. “We could not be happier with the quality of this year’s contestants,” he told us in his studio at the Oberlin Conservatory. “These are the future stars of the violin world.”

We asked David Bowlin, assistant professor of violin at Oberlin, why it’s important for young musicians to play in such competitions. “Good question, because on the surface it’s easy to think that competitions are something that brings out the worst in us, but I think that’s the wrong way to look at it. If students go in with the idea that they are entering a competition as a challenge to themselves – to learn repertoire, to perform in front of an audience, to perform in front of a jury from whom they have the opportunity to receive feedback — the intensity of a competition makes it powerfully educational.” [Read more…]

Preview: Cooper International Violin Competition begins this week at the Oberlin Conservatory

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by Mike Telin

Top Three

On Thursday of this week twenty-four aspiring violinists between the ages of thirteen and eighteen will arrive at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music all hoping to be one of only three finalists who will have the opportunity to perform a full concerto with The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall on Friday, July 26.

In 2010, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music joined with the Cleveland Orchestra to offer the first Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, an important new international competition for young musicians (the competition alternates annually between piano and violin). In addition to getting a chance to perform with The Cleveland Orchestra, contestants are also vying for cash prizes of $10,000 for the first-place winner, $6,000 for second place, and $3,000 for third place winner, fourth, fifth, and sixth prizes of $1,000, and the Audience Prize of $500.

Reading the resumes of these twenty-four young players, it’s difficult to call them young — perhaps in age but not in accomplishments. All have been highly successful in competitions in their home regions, nationally and internationally. All have performed in master classes with some of the world’s most noted teachers and performers. And, as a result, many perform regularly with orchestras as well as performing chamber music and solo recitals. [Read more…]

Preview: Joshua Smith and Franklin Cohen to be featured soloists in next weekend’s Cleveland Orchestra concerts at Blossom

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by Daniel Hathaway

SMITH-COHENViolinists and pianists — with cellists not so close behind — are the usual suspects for concerto soloists with a symphony orchestra, but this weekend, The Cleveland Orchestra will reach into its own wind section for soloists in concertos by Wolfgang Amadè Mozart and Oscar Navarro. Principal flutist Joshua Smith will play Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 1 in G under Nicholas McGegan on Saturday, July 20 at 8 pm and principal clarinetist Franklin Cohen will join his colleagues for Navarro’s II Concerto on Sunday, July 21 at 7 pm under the baton of James Feddeck, taking over for Robert Porco, who is indisposed.

Joshua Smith finds Mozart’s first concerto entirely delightful. “Is it on the same level of writing as the piano concertos? No, but it’s Mozart in a young, charming, good mood,” he told us on the phone. “It’s frothy, really operatic in the slow movement, and the minuet is completely fun. The finale is a real gas to play with lots of things bouncing back and forth between the soloist and the orchestra.”

Mozart wrote the two flute concertos as part of a commission for the Dutch flutist Ferdinand de Jean but he never got around to a promised third concerto. [Read more…]

Preview: Concert at St. Paul, Cleveland Heights to feature music by Margi Griebling-Haigh played by family & friends

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by Mike Telin

Nostalgic-TalesSummer is a time when people take time to reunite with families and friends, doing whatever it is they enjoy doing together. On Tuesday, July 23 beginning at 12:00 noon in Tucker Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, a 70-minute free chamber music concert will be presented featuring the music of composer Margi Griebling-Haigh.

The idea to put the concert together came when Griebling-Haigh and her husband, Cleveland Orchestra first assistant principal bassist Scott Haigh learned that their daughter Gabrielle would be home on break from Clare College, Cambridge where she has been studying Classics as well as singing in the renowned Clare College Choir. “Gabrielle has been having a fair amount of success in Cambridge, getting to perform solo parts in concert on tour and in recordings, so I thought since she was home it would be very nice to do recital as a family.” [Read more…]

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