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Shapiro begins third Beethoven cycle this Sunday on Hudson’s MFTWR Series

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by Daniel Hathaway

“The first time I did the whole thing within a month — two a week for four weeks. That was kind of crazy. The second time it was one concert per month, which is what I’m hopefully doing now.”

“Now” refers to the current season, when pianist Daniel Shapiro begins his third expedition into Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas on Sunday, September 13 with a 5:00 pm performance on the Music From The Western Reserve series at Christ Church in Hudson. Because COVID-19 has precluded live audiences at the beginning of the season, Shapiro is pre-recording his recital this week for streaming on Sunday.

In a telephone conversation, Daniel Shapiro noted that he had played that first “kind of crazy” cycle in 1995 when he was teaching at the University of Iowa, and the second in 2001-2002 after he had joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. The third will be spaced throughout 2020-2021 at several area venues, details still to be announced. [Read more…]

Violinist Wendy Case joins faculty of YSU’s Dana School of Music

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by Daniel Hathaway

Although this is not an optimal moment to start a new job, violinist Wendy Case is enjoying her new position on the faculty of the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University.

“So far it’s been fantastic. We’re doing all the classes online, and private lessons and chamber groups in person, both indoors and outside, where we have some spaces we can use.”

Case, who studied at the University of Michigan, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook, has recently held teaching positions in Chattanooga, Tennessee at Berry College, Covenant College, and Chattanooga State. Founding violinist of the Brahms’ Ghost Piano Trio, she has served as artistic director of the Scenic City Chamber Society and performed with the Tetris Duo, the Pitch Pipe Foundation, the Nashville Opera, and the Atlanta Symphony. Her current projects include recordings and a series of presentations on the interplay of advanced string technique and acoustical physics.

Originally a Michigander, Case says she’s excited to move back North. “I’m glad to be here. I’ve loved Northeast Ohio for a really long time.” [Read more…]

M.U.S.i.C. offers “Garden Concerts” featuring Arseniy Gusev premiere

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Fresh from Piano Cleveland’s online Virtu(al)oso Competition, where he played one of his own works in the final round en route to winning Second Prize, Russian-born Arseniy Gusev will have another opportunity to showcase his dual musical abilities in September, this time with a live performance and a new piece.

On September 10 and 12 at 5:00 pm at a private location in Orange Village, M.U.S.i.C. – Stars in the Classics will host two “Garden Concerts” featuring the premiere of Gusev’s Rondellus for piano and violin. That’s part of a program devoted to Russian and Scandinavian composers, including Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Glinka, and Grieg, in addition to a work of Danish folk music.

These outdoor, socially-distanced concerts are the last of the year in M.U.S.i.C.’s garden series. Click here for the address to the venue, rain dates, masking requirements, food and drink options, ticketing, and RSVP. [Editor’s note: both evenings are now sold out.]

Joining Gusev to perform Rondellus will be Victor Beyens, to whom the piece is dedicated. “He’s a wonderful violinist and a good friend of mine,” the composer said by email. “I was very grateful for the opportunity to work on the commission for such a fine musician, even though the piece was meant to be rather short.”

[Read more…]

Al Fresco events take off
in Northeast Ohio

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by Daniel Hathaway

Apollo’s Fire sold out all seven of its outdoor “Tuscan Sun” concerts last week, and now patrons of Akron’s Tuesday Musical “Music al fresco: Passport 2020” have snapped up all the available seats — socially distanced, of course — for its three Sunday afternoon performances in September and October at historic Barder House in West Akron.

That’s a nice problem to have, and TMA has solved it by adding an extra 1:00 pm performance to the existing 3:00 pm performances on September 6 (Russian Duo), September 20 (Black Squirrel Winds), and October 11 (Found Sounds: Ghana, Trinidad, Brazil).

Executive Director Cynthia Snider wrote in a press release, “We have carefully designed Music al fresco: Passport 2020 to provide a safe entertainment option for audiences in Northeast Ohio where most live arts events have been canceled for months because of COVID-19.”

Snider added that strict safety protocols will be in force in coordination with Summit County Public Health. [Read more…]

Les Délices: the SalonEra series and a look at its first three programs

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Early on in the pandemic, Baroque oboist and Les Délices artistic director Debra Nagy decided to avoid spending time on social media. It wasn’t just the clickbait articles, or the echo chamber of opinions, or the anxiety that it can provoke in even the best of times.

It was also, as she told me in April, the “sea” of invites to live concerts streamed from living rooms. It was overwhelming. One thing she found nourishing was programming potential concerts, planning for a future where artists could once again “collaborate in meaningful ways.”

Looking back now, it’s clear that Nagy was always going to find her own unique way to approach music-making in the time of COVID. Enter SalonEra, a free series that begins August 24 and represents one half of Les Délices’ 2020-21 season.

[Read more…]

41st Tri-C JazzFest
goes virtual Aug. 21-23

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by Jarrett Hoffman

The Tri-C JazzFest kicks off its all-virtual 41st edition this weekend, August 21-23, with a focus on local acts and a schedule that’s designed like a variety show. Each night’s free 7:00 pm presentation will be made up of recent pre-recorded performances, live music, interviews, and features from the archive.

Of course, precautions around COVID-19 played a large part in how it all came together. “If we were going to try to honor our local musicians and our local scene, we needed to make something that would be as safe as possible,” director Terri Pontremoli said by Zoom.

During the month of July, one band per day recorded a short set inside the 600-seat Simon and Rose Mandel Theater on the eastern campus of Cuyahoga Community College. “Because we’re part of a big institution, the COVID safety guidelines were very serious, and the musicians felt really good,” Pontremoli said. “We got them in and out, and kept it all as clean as possible.”

Those sessions proved to be a powerful experience for everyone involved. “I have to tell you, it was so heartwarming to see the musicians play together, because it had been such a long time, and they were so grateful.” She recalled one message that bassist Kip Reed delivered backstage. “He said, ‘Playing means so much to me that I literally dream about it these days.’”

[Read more…]

Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: Berta Rojas performs online after cancelled Cleveland debut

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas was set to make her Cleveland debut on March 14 in a presentation by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society. Then the coronavirus crisis intervened.

Now, Rojas and the Guitar Society have worked out an alternative. On Saturday, August 15 at 7:30 pm, she’ll give a free, pre-recorded online concert, broadcast on YouTube and entirely devoted to the music of Agustín Barrios Mangoré, a fellow Paraguayan who lived from 1885 to 1944.

That programming choice shouldn’t surprise anyone who was looking forward to her concert in March, which would have been all-Barrios during its second half. It also shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s followed Rojas’ career, from her 2008 album Intimate Barrios to her four-year tour, “In the Footsteps of Mangoré,” with clarinetist and saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera.

[Read more…]

Virtu(al)oso Piano Competition: Final Rounds (August 7 & 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The pianists who remained on the bench after the rather brutal cut on Wednesday evening in Cleveland Piano’s Virtu(al)oso Competition (the field was reduced from 30 to 6) played virtual 30- to 35-minute programs in the Final Round on Friday and Saturday, pre-recorded at international Steinway locations at the same time as their First Round performances. Here are some impressions.

Friday, August 7 — Session 1

Tamila Salimdjanova (28, Uzbekistan) brought two works to the session: Debussy’s Estampes and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7. She gave the three-movement Debussy (“Pagodes,” “La soirée dans Grenade” and “Jardins sous la pluie”) a fluent performance, but the scenes offer more color possibilities than she exploited, and an abundance of dynamic details that went overlooked. Salimdjanova played the Prokofiev masterfully, but the outer movements needed more sheer brutality to reflect the Sonata’s Stalinist context and to offset the sentimental slow movement. [Read more…]

Piano Cleveland Virtu(al)oso: Questions for the six finalists

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by Daniel Hathaway

On Friday evening, August 7 at 7:00, the first three of six finalists in Piano Cleveland’s Virtu(al)oso online competition will be heard playing 30-35 minute programs previously video recorded at Steinway locations in the U.S. and abroad. The remaining three finalists will go online on Saturday, August 8.

We caught up with all of them either by email or Skype to ask versions of these questions:

1) Waiting is always a part of competitions, but this one is unusual. How did it feel to have so long to wait between recording your program and having it streamed in the First Round.

2) Did you listen to yourself in the first round? What was that like?

3) Do you plan to listen to yourself in the final round?

4) What’s your favorite piece in your final round program, and why?

5) Based on your experience with Virtu(al)oso, if the pandemic continues well into the future, would you consider entering a virtual competition again? [Read more…]

Six Virtu(al)oso finalists named, to play on Friday & Saturday

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by Daniel Hathaway

On Wednesday evening, Piano Cleveland’s Virtu(al)oso jury named the six pianists who will play 30- to 35-minute programs in the final round of the 2020 online competition. The sessions will be streamed on Friday and Saturday at 7:00 pm. Click here for their bios and programs.

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