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CIPC for Young Artists Senior winner: A conversation with Saehyun Kim

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by Mike Telin

A native of Seoul, South Korea, 16-year-old Saehyun Kim is no stranger to international competitions — in 2022 he won First Prize at both the Morningside Music Bridge International Concerto Competition and the New England Conservatory (NEC) Preparatory School Concerto Competition.

Kim has appeared as a soloist with the Sendai Philharmonic, and Korean Symphony, and was invited to give interviews and performances for national music channels such as JTBC Classic Today and KBS Classic FM. Currently he is a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and a junior at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, studying with HaeSun Paik, faculty at the New England Conservatory.

On Saturday July 15, Kim added another win to his list when he was awarded First Prize ($10,000) in the Senior Division of the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. He was also awarded the Audience Prize, Senior Division ($500) and the Junior Jury Prize, Senior Division ($500).

[Read more…]

CIPC for Young Artists Junior Winner: A conversation with Elisey Mysin

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by Mike Telin

Born in Stavropol, Russia, 12-year-old Elisey Mysin began studying piano at the age of four. He currently attends the Central Music School in Moscow where he is a student of Natalia Trull and Daniil Tsvetkov.

Mysin has already amassed several wins at international competitions including First Prize at the 2022, 4th Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians in China, and has performed concertos with the State Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad, and the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Mysin has appeared at many festivals including the Baikal Stars, InClassica International Music Festival (Dubai, UAE, 2021), and Bieszczady bez granic (Sanok, Poland, 2022, main prize of the festival).

On Saturday July 15, Mysin added another win to his list when he was awarded First Prize ($5,000) in the Junior Division of the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. He was also awarded the Audience Prize, Junior Division ($500) and shared the Mozart Prize (tie, $250 each) with Yanyan Bao (16, China).

[Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Yvonne Kálmán, A Link to the Silver Age of Operetta

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by Daniel Hathaway

After the Gilbert & Sullivan Savoy Operas, the most frequently performed titles by Ohio Light Opera in the last four decades have been those of the Viennese composer Emmerich Kálmán. This summer, Arizona Lady marks the 14th Kálmán operetta OLO has produced, and the composer’s daughter Yvonne, who now lives in Mexico, is in town to see it. I caught up with her by telephone for a chat that covered a lot of ground in half an hour.

Daniel Hathaway: Are you enjoying your visit to Wooster? 

Yvonne Kálmán: Very much. I love it here. I’ve been here many times. They’ve done 14 of my father’s operettas. I haven’t been to all, but I’ve been to several, and I’ve enjoyed it very much. I’ve made some wonderful friends here and love coming back.

DH: OLO’s a great company, isn’t it? 

YK: It’s the best. The works are performed with complete devotion, and they bring out the best of the author’s intentions.

DH: And I think they’ve done more of your father’s operettas than those of any other composer. 

YK: Well, I’m very happy about that, but we’re not over yet. They have three more to do, and then I want them to start back at number one. [Read more…]

Kahchun Wong brings Akutagawa, Shostakovich, and Debussy to Blossom this weekend

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by Mike Telin

The opportunity for conductor Kahchun Wong to make his Cleveland Orchestra debut in April of 2022 came when visa issues prevented François-Xavier Roth from leading that week’s concerts. On Saturday, July 22 at 7:00 pm, Wong will return to the podium, this time at Blossom Music Center, to lead a program that includes Yasushi Akutagawa’s Music for Symphony Orchestra, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Zlatomir Fung as soloist, and Debussy’s La mer. Tickets are available online.

“I’m so excited to be returning to Cleveland, especially with this program,” Wong said during a telephone call from his home near Kanagawa, Japan. He added that it was fitting for us to be talking on Monday, July 17. “Today is Sea Day — it’s a public holiday and there are a lot of festivals.” He noted that the holiday is a time for people to give thanks for the sea. “Where I live — on the coast — I can see Mt. Fuji. It always gives me inspiration. And today it, and the sea, are beautiful.”

[Read more…]

Cellist Zlatomir Fung brings Shostakovich for his July 22 Cleveland Orchestra debut

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by Mike Telin

If asked, many musicians can tell you exactly when they heard a piece of music that changed their lives. For Zlatomir Fung that piece was Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1. “I must have been eleven years old,” Fung recalled during a recent interview. “I believe it was the debut recording that Rostropovich made with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and it was one of the first cello videos that was on YouTube. I came across it and I was just blown away. And that was the recording that made me want to be a cellist.”

On Saturday, July 22 at 7:00 pm, Fung will bring that concerto to the Blossom Music Center stage when he makes his Cleveland Orchestra debut. The program, under the direction of Kahchun Wong, also includes Yasushi Akutagawa’s Music for Symphony Orchestra and Debussy’s La mer. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with the celebrated young cellist by phone and began by asking him to share his thoughts about playing with The Cleveland Orchestra for the first time.

[Read more…]

Refreshed Oberlin Artist Recital Series Returns This September

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This article is posted with the permission of the Oberlin Conservatory

Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series has presented celebrated musical artists for more than 140 years. That legacy continues with this season’s lineup of brilliant performers and ensembles whose music ranges from classical to gospel to jazz to world music.

The series kicks off on September 22 with the Emerson String Quartet as they give one of their “Farewell Concerts”—and their only performance in Ohio this season—after nearly five decades of performing together. The following programs through April will showcase artists and ensembles presenting an expanded range of music and musicmakers for this historic series, concluding with a performance of folk and ancestral music by Silkroad.

All programs on the six-concert series will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Finney Chapel at 90 N. Professor Street in Oberlin.

A bonus concert at 7:30 p.m. on March 7, featuring Imani Winds, will be held in the Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall.

[Read more…]

Piano Cleveland: CIPC for Young Artists Prizes awarded after final round (July 15)

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After the final concerto round with Steven Byess and the Canton Symphony in Gartner Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Art on Saturday evening, July 15, Piano Cleveland president Yaron Kolhberg announced the prize winners of the 2023 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists.

Senior Division Prize Winners

First Prize ($10,000): Saehyun Kim (16, South Korea)
Second Prize ($5,000): Yanyan Bao (16, China)
Third Prize ($2,500): Ryan Wang (15, Canada) [Read more…]

The Final Six: Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists  

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by Mike Telin

This summer Piano Cleveland has turned its attention to the stars of the future. Earlier this week the six finalists — three in the Junior Division (ages 11 -14) and three in the Senior Division (ages 15 – 18) — were selected to come to Cleveland for the Final Round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists.

Qinyaoyao Ji (13, China), Elisey Mysin (12, Russia), and Zhonghua Wei (14, China) will vie for the top cash prize of $5,000 USD while Yanyan Bao (16, China), Ryan Wang (15, Canada), and Saehyun Kim (16, South Korea) will compete for the first prize of $10,000 USD.

The six were selected from 32 contestants who recorded their First Rounds performances at locations in London, Hamburg, Cleveland, New York, Beijing, and Seoul, in partnership with Steinway & Sons galleries. All First Round performances are available to watch on Piano Cleveland’s YouTube Channel. Read the pianists’  biographies here. [Read more…]

Stanislav Kochanovsky brings Rachmaninoff for his Cleveland Orchestra debut

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by Mike Telin

“Every debut with a new orchestra is a special moment you never forget. But the famous Cleveland Orchestra is definitely one of the most extraordinary musical institutions in the world,” Russian conductor Stanislav Kochanovsky wrote in an email. “I have so many of their historical recordings with Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, and Lorin Maazel in my private collection and I can’t wait to hear the unique voice of the orchestra with my own ears.”

Next week he will have just that opportunity. On Saturday, July 15 at 7:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Kochanovsky will lead an all-Rachmaninoff program featuring the Symphony No. 1 and the Piano Concerto No. 3 with Nikolai Lugansky as soloist. Tickets are available online.

Mike Telin: You’re bringing a wonderful program. Why did you choose these particular pieces?

Stanislav Kochanovsky: This year the whole world is celebrating Rachmaninoff’s 150th  anniversary. As I have almost all of his works in my repertoire, I proposed the rarely performed and not so well known First Symphony. Later I found out that The Cleveland Orchestra has never performed it in their history. This fact makes my debut even more exciting! As for the Piano Concerto, I think it was the soloist’s choice.

[Read more…]

Michael Lynn acquires 18th-century book with unique flute music by Marin Marais, includes selections on BPI faculty concert

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by Daniel Hathaway

The Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute faculty concert on Tuesday afternoon, June 20 featured flutist Michael Lynn, harpsichordist Mark Edwards, and gambist Rebecca Reed in recently-discovered works by Marin Marais and Michel de la Barre.

The pieces were drawn from a large collection of dance suites offered for sale at a book auction earlier this year in Paris. Lynn learned about it in an email from the auctioneer, who wrote that there was “something related to the flute” in the collection being sold.

“As it turned out there was only a single music book in a very large library of books described as being from the Chateau de Champagne, but it is a superb collection of the earliest traverso solo and duo music written and published in France,” Lynn said during a recent conversation in the Special Collections room at the Oberlin Conservatory Library prior to Tuesday’s concert. “The composers, de la Barre, Hotteterre, and Marais, were all employed by Louis XIV and the music is all from his lifetime.”

[Read more…]

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