by Jarrett Hoffman
In one way, the next event in ENCORE Chamber Music Institute’s Music & Ideas Festival has a wide appeal. As I said to artistic director Jinjoo Cho during an interview, the music on Friday’s program is both brilliant and, without a doubt, fun.
Still, Cho pointed out that it might not be for all audiences. One piece, Derek Bermel’s Coming Together for clarinet and cello, is composed entirely of glissandos, often wild ones. And depending on the listener, you might hear those as depicting — well, one half of the title of this program.
“Food & Desire” will be presented on Friday, June 17 at 7:00 pm at the Dodero Center for Performing Arts in Gates Mills, preceded by a 6:00 conversation featuring Brandon Chrostowski, founder of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute. In addition to the Bermel, the program includes music by Svante Henryson, Andrew Rindfleisch, Paul Schoenfield, and Bohuslav Martinů — much of it influenced by jazz. In-person and livestream tickets are available here.
Coordinating the schedules of musicians and festivals is often a long, and at times, a complicated process. Take violinists Joseph Lin and Sarah Kapustin for example. Both have been on ChamberFest Cleveland’s list of invitees from the Festival’s beginning, but the stars have simply never aligned. Until now.
Like nearly every performing arts organization in the world — especially those reliant on vocalists — 
Scott MacPherson frequently programs concerts for his Cleveland Chamber Choir that deal with current social issues, and its programs at Akron’s St. Sebastian Church on Saturday, June 11 at 6:30 pm (freewill offering, live stream available), and at Chagrin Falls Federated Church on Sunday, June 12 at 5:00 pm (tickets 
Born in Minneapolis in 1999, pianist Evren Ozel has established a stellar reputation in Northeast Ohio.
There’s a beloved type of small ensemble that is rarely heard in programs of chamber music: the 
For over four decades Ohio Light Opera has enthralled audiences with performances of the complete Gilbert & Sullivan catalog as well as American and European operettas and titles from the Golden Age of musical theater. Performed in the intimate Freedlander Theatre located on the campus of Wooster College, 
When Cathy Lesser Mansfield was asked to write a piece for the youth theater program at the Jewish Community Center in Cleveland Heights in 1977, little did she know that her creation would mark the beginning of her journey to compose an opera.
“Everyone has a story, and we are all storytellers,” ENCORE Chamber Music founder and artistic director Jinjoo Cho noted during a telephone conversation. “Storytelling is our craft, it’s at the core of everything we do.”
Since its founding, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) has engaged the Northeast Ohio community by championing the creation and performance of new music. One of the ways it does that is through its annual Re:Sound Festival of New and Experimental Music.