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Re:Sound festival — new & experimental music in concert, workshop & installation

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project will present the 2024 edition of its Re:Sound festival from Friday to Sunday, May 17-19.

Presenting both local and visiting artists who span all different strands of new and experimental music, the festival takes place at two locations. Convivium 33 Gallery will host a triple-bill concert each day at 7:30 pm, as well as a 2:30 pm workshop on Saturday led by festival headliner Elliott Sharp.

Meanwhile, three sound art installations will be presented on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm at Cleveland Museum of Art’s Community Arts Center, located at the Pivot Center for Art, Dance and Expression. Tickets for the festival are available here.

A headlining act is something new for Re:Sound, as Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) managing director Stephan Haluska explained during a recent interview. “He’s the only artist we booked ahead of our call for applications.”

[Read more…]

The Many Moods of Melodrama:
Sentiment, Satire, Horror, and Noir in silent film

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by Mike Telin

When we think of modern-era film composers, the names Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Danny Elfman, and Howard Shore immediately come to mind. But who was responsible for creating the music that accompanied films during the silent era?

During the past three and a half months, a group of Oberlin students have been diligently learning how to create film scores from a historical perspective.

Emily Laurance, a visiting associate professor of musicology at Oberlin Conservatory and executive director of the Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium, said during a telephone conversation that one of the objectives of her class — Music and Melodrama on Stage and Screen — was for the students “to get a feeling of music in melodrama, and to get a sense of the history of the silent film genre by learning how to compile a musical score.”

The class will culminate in a performance on Friday, May 10 at 7:00 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Transformer Station. [Read more…]

Peter Takács—A Half Century Celebrated

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by Stephanie Manning
This article was originally published on the Oberlin Conservatory website.

Peter Takács may be retiring from Oberlin, but that doesn’t mean he’ll stop coming to campus anytime soon.

“They can’t get rid of me quite so easily,” the piano professor says, with a knowing smile. After all, he and his wife live in town, and there are still performances and recording sessions to look forward to.

Still, this spring marks the official conclusion of Takács’ tenure, after an incredible 48 years of teaching. Many of his former students from around the world are set to convene— either live or via video—for a celebratory concert in Warner Concert Hall on May 12. A reception and Piano Play-a-thon will round out the festivities that day.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Takács studied piano in France and the United States before accepting his teaching job at Oberlin in 1976. Described by The New York Times as “a marvelous pianist,” he has performed and given master classes around the world.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society concludes season with Garrick Ohlsson

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by Mike Telin

“This is going to sound like a commercial, but coming to Cleveland — and the wider area — is always one of the high points of my artistic life,” Garrick Ohlsson recently said by telephone. And the pianist has performed in Northeast Ohio enough times to make that claim. He has been a regular soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra for some time and has performed on Akron’s Tuesday Musical and Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series. And he has already been to the area twice this calendar year — first making a return engagement with the Canton Symphony, then replacing Igor Levit with The Cleveland Orchestra..

One Tuesday, May 7 at 7:30 pm at Disciples Christian Church, Ohlsson will revisit the Cleveland Chamber Music Society with a program that features the music of Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society: A celebration of friendship

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by Mike Telin

“The thing about this concert is that it’s grounded in friendship and family,” Rocky River Chamber Music Society board member Dan McKelway said during a telephone conversation.

On Monday, May 6 at 7:30 pm at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, Rocky River Chamber Music Society will host Cleveland Orchestra principals, clarinetist Afendi Yusuf and violist Wesley Collins, with pianist Dawoon Chung, in a program that will feature trios by Bruch, Mozart, and Robert Schumann. The concert is free. Click here to watch the livestream.

[Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra: Jason Vieaux plays Vivaldi & Dorman

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by Mike Telin

“I’m really looking forward to this concert because the last time I played with BlueWater was around ten years ago, when I played Rodrigo’s Concierto Aranjuez with them,” guitarist Jason Vieaux said during a telephone conversation. “The Vivaldi concerto is very popular and well-known to audiences, and I think it will pair well with Avner Dorman’s concerto.”

On Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 pm at the Church of the Covenant, Vieaux will join the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra in performances of Vivaldi’s Concerto in D, RV 93 and Avner Dorman’s How to Love. Under the direction of Daniel Meyer, the program also includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. The concert is presented in partnership with the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society. Pay-what-you-wish tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: Concerto Competition winner Elena Ziegler

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by Mike Telin

For a young musician, winning a concerto competition is always an honor. And performing that concerto with an orchestra is a moment to cherish. “I’ve played many concertos before with piano, but this is my first time with an orchestra and I’m enjoying it a lot,” Elena Ziegler said.

On Friday, May 3 at 8:00 pm at Severance Music Center, Ziegler will perform Lalo’s Cello Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. Under the direction of Daniel Reith, the program also includes Valerie Coleman’s Umoja and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Tickets are available online.

I reached the Copley High School junior by telephone and began our conversation by congratulating her on winning the competition and asking how she came to choose the Lalo.

[Read more…]

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen to make Apollo’s Fire debut in two of J.S. Bach’s Easter works

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by Daniel Hathaway

Countertenors lead interesting and varied professional lives that are reflected in the wide range of roles they sing.

Take the example of Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, who will make his Apollo’s Fire debut this weekend in a pair of Johann Sebastian Bach’s rarely performed Easter works.

Cohen, who graduated from Princeton in 2015, will come to Cleveland immediately after returning to his alma mater to sing the role of the Angel in Edward Elgar’s mystical Roman Catholic oratorio The Dream of Gerontius. 

And with Apollo’s Fire, the countertenor, who grew up in a Jewish household, sang in synagogue, and studied cantorial music, will sing the allegorical role of Fear (Furcht) in Bach’s Cantata 66, then take on the persona of Mary Magdalene in the composer’s Easter Oratorio —  two Pietist Lutheran works.

“My two alter egos,” Cohen quipped in a recent telephone interview. [Read more…]

Conductor David Afkham to make Severance Music Center debut

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by Mike Telin

“I am looking forward to being back in Cleveland,” conductor David Afkham said over Zoom from his home in Germany. “This will be my third time with the Orchestra — the first two were at Blossom Music Center, so I’m excited to lead one of the world’s greatest orchestras in that wonderful hall.”

On Friday, April 26 at 7:30 pm, Afkham will make his Severance Music Center debut with a concert that features Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Beatrice Rana, and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. The program will be repeated on Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

Regarding this week’s concerts, Afkham, who serves as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquestra y Coro Nacional de España, said, “When I was asked to fill in for my friend Lahav Shani back in March, I looked at the program and thought — I like it a lot, I don’t want to change a thing.”

[Read more…]

“Game On!” — a night of game-show fun with the Singers’ Club 

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by Max Newman

“I am fairly certain that in the 131 years of the Singers’ Club, this will be our first event with an interactive audience element.”

What Don Verkuijlen is referring to is the “Game On!” program that the Singers’ Club of Cleveland will present on Friday, April 26 at 7:00 pm at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland. Tickets are available here.

The brainchild of Verkuijlen, the program is “essentially going to be played like a game of Jeopardy,” he said during a telephone conversation. “When you walk in, there will be a big screen showing various categories. The audience will raise their hands and call out a category, and instead of video clues, the choir will actually be singing a piece of music for each category.”

[Read more…]

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