by Jarrett Hoffman
When it comes to classical music, there’s not much better party material than a rondo. It’s easy to follow, the refrain lodges itself into your memory like any great pop-song chorus, and most importantly, the music tends to be fast and fun.
The folks over at ENCORE Chamber Music decided that rondos would be just the thing to keep the festivities going with this season’s focus on Bohemian music and the Romani people. “There is such a danceable spirit to our theme, ‘La Bohème,’ and we felt that rondo movements celebrated that in a really lovely way,” artistic director Jinjoo Cho said during a recent interview.
A concert titled “Round Round Rondo” — the refrains, of course, come round and round — takes place this Friday, June 28 at 7:00 pm in the Tudor House at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills. The program includes two pieces that conclude with that musical form — Mozart’s Viola Quintet in g and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in g — as well as Kodály’s Serenade, Op. 12.
“This year’s ChamberFest — the way everything’s turned out — is really quite satisfying. It makes me smile.” I could almost hear Franklin Cohen grinning through the phone. 
How did a first-generation Korean-American from Ann Arbor, Michigan find her way to Spain and form a Spanish Jazz quartet? “I’m not sure why, but from an early age I have always been drawn to Spanish melodies,” Maureen Choi said by telephone. “Growing up studying classical violin, my favorite pieces were the violin concertos with a little bit of Spanish flair. And when I started studying jazz I discovered Latin rhythms and became intrigued by their complexity.”
This weekend a collection of carefully placed screws, bolts, and pieces of wood, cloth, and rubber will make the Steinway in CIM’s Mixon Hall sound less like a piano and more like an ensemble of percussion instruments.
From its inception, the nurturing of young artists has been an important part of