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Ohio Light Opera: a look ahead — part one of two previews

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

en·sem·ble /änˈsämbəl/
noun
1. a group of musicians, actors, or dancers who perform together.

That definition perfectly describes the company of magicians who form Ohio Light Opera, a summer organization housed on the campus of The College of Wooster that provides a colorful look at musical theater of the past. Mostly — the past is always encroaching on the present.

Those who follow the company can’t help but be continually impressed by the camaraderie and inclusiveness of the 150 or so musicians, actors, and dancers, as well as the designers who build the sets and costumes, and the technicians who enhance the whole with light and sound and present magic to the audience at every single performance. In fact, there are 56 performances of 7 productions between June 15 and August 10 of imaginary examples of time and space not our own. [Read more…]

Jupiter flyby: this week at ENCORE

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by Rory O’Donoghue

The Jupiter Quartet comes home this weekend. “Cleveland’s one of our favorite places — we love coming back,” cellist Dan McDonough remarked in an interview last Friday. “Three of us went to school at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Cavani Quartet were our mentors. It’s always so nice to come back and catch up with them.”

Jupiter aligns at the 2019 ENCORE Chamber Music Festival in concerts on Friday, June 7 and Sunday, June 9, with master classes in between, all at the Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills. This is the quartet’s second ENCORE appearance, and McDonough identifies festival-director-dynamo Jinjoo Cho as a crucial factor in the enterprise’s rapid ascendency. “Jinjoo and all the faculty build a wonderful sense of community and collaboration. All of the ideals that the Cavani taught us twenty years ago are still cherished, and taught with great enthusiasm.” [Read more…]

Early Folk Band musicians to join Apollo’s Fire in “Far Beyond the Sea”

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by Daniel Hathaway

Apollo’s Fire’s Countryside Concerts will feature a new trans-Atlantic collaboration this month. Ian Harrison, Gesine Bänfer, and Steven Player of Europe’s The Early Folk Band will join Clevelanders Amanda Powell, Tina Bergmann, and Brian Kay in five performances of “Far Beyond the Sea” from June 6 through 10. This genre-crossing project involving old world ballads has been contemplated for some time but is just now coming to fruition.

“Jeannette Sorrell is one of our greatest fans, and we’ve been trying to get this sort of thing together for six or seven years,” Harrison and Bänfer said in a tag-team Skype conversation from Freiburg, Germany. “Either we weren’t free or they weren’t free, or we couldn’t decide how to do it, but we’re very happy that it’s now working.” [Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: a conversation with Xuefei Yang

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by Mike Telin

When given her choice, guitarist Xuefei Yang likes to present programs that represent a variety of musical styles. “The guitar is such a diverse instrument, and I think of myself as a diverse player as well,” Yang said via Skype from her home in the U.K.

On Friday, June 7 at 7:30 in Mixon Hall at CIM, Xuefei Yang will present a program that ranges from traditional Chinese music to 21st-century works. The concert is presented as part of the 2019 Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival.

[Read more…]

Re:Sound 2019 — a conversation with vocalist Stephanie Lamprea

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by Mike Telin

Vocalist Stephanie Lamprea has always had an interest in solo vocal music that challenges the conventional use of language. “Nowadays there are more doors opening than closing when it comes to new music, so different kinds of sounds can now live at the same time,” she said in a telephone conversation.

On Saturday, June 8 at 1:00 pm, the Boston-based vocalist will bring her intriguing array of sounds to Praxis Fiber Workshop as part of this year’s Re:Sound Festival. The lineup will also include Dykes & Young — the duo of bassist Laura Dykes (Austin, TX) and violinist Jeffrey Young (Boston, MA). Click here to purchase tickets. [Read more…]

Re:Sound 2019 presents ~Nois

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by Mike Telin

What do ‘Rollicking Monkeys Landing on Mars’ sound like? The answer to this and other curious musical prompts proposed by Pauline Oliveros can be heard on Thursday, June 6 when the Chicago-based saxophone quartet ~Nois performs her Thirteen Changes at 7:30 pm at Negative Space Gallery.

The concert kicks off the 2019 edition of the Re:Sound Festival of New and Experimental Music. The evening’s lineup also includes Cleveland’s Miralia/Stranahan Duo, and Detroit’s art-rock quartet saajtak. Click here to purchase tickets.

[Read more…]

Akron Baroque to play nature-based program June 2

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by Daniel Hathaway

Akron Baroque’s season finale this weekend takes its inspiration from the natural world.

“For the Love of Nature,” to be presented at Faith Lutheran Church in Fairlawn on Sunday, June 2 at 4:00 pm, will feature a European mix of Spanish, British, Italian, German and French works, in addition to the premiere of a new piece by the Orchestra’s founder, Amy Barlowe. Admission is free.

Her The Peace of Wild Things, based on a poem by Wendell Berry, will be sung by soprano Susan Wallin. “Berry is an environmentalist and a farmer who lives in the Midwest,” Barlowe said in a telephone conversation. “He’s a very interesting person and philosopher, and I thought the text was particularly timely in view of all the environmental conflicts we have today. I think it was Einstein who said ‘Look to Nature for the answers.’ In this time of craziness and chaos, I feel that nature and music are intertwined — they have the ability to restore body and soul. I thought this little piece might touch people in some way.” [Read more…]

Re:Sound Festival — inside the mind of Joo Won Park

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by Jarrett Hoffman

It’s one thing to push yourself out of your comfort zone. It’s quite another to deliberately put yourself in risky situations over and over again — part of the artistic strategy of electroacoustic composer and improviser Joo Won Park. “I like to solve a puzzle in front of the audience,” he said during a telephone conversation from Detroit.

That might include choosing an electronic instrument or gadget that he doesn’t totally understand, and bringing that onstage without knowing what will happen. “That’s the exciting moment,” he said. Likewise performing with another improviser. “I go onto the stage expecting that my partner will do something unexpected. That’s the approach that I love.”

Park and fellow composer/improviser Molly Jones will bring their Detroit-based duo ParkJones to the Bop Stop on Sunday, June 9 during a 4:00 pm concert as part of the Re:Sound Festival. The program opens with the new music ensemble No Exit presenting works by Yoon-Ji Lee and premieres by area high school students Emma Eddy and Mya Vandegrift as part of the CoLab project. Following ParkJones, pianist Ju-Ping Song will perform works by Amy Beth Kirsten and Nicole Lizée based on trauma and fallibility. Tickets are available here.

[Read more…]

Re:Sound Festival — drummer & improviser Leo Suarez

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Two main ideas make up the improvisational language of drummer Leo Suarez on his solo album Marbles On Tile. Slowly-decaying or “soft” sounds form his base, and quickly-decaying or “hard” sounds are layered overtop.

But describing what that actually sounds like is more difficult. During a telephone conversation last week, Suarez brought up a helpful comparison: the Bauhaus paintings of Kandinsky. Clouds of color make up the background, “but on top there’s this highly complex construction of very defined shapes and lines,” Suarez said. “Even though that wasn’t exactly my inspiration, I was reading about his work at about the same time, and it all kind of made sense to me.”

Suarez will bring that musical language to CODA on Saturday, June 8 during a 9:00 pm concert as part of the Re:Sound Festival. Joining Suarez on the double-bill will be a fellow Philadelphian: madam data (Ada Adhiyatma), whose main tools of music-making are alto clarinet, handmade computer programs, field recordings, and old samplers. madam data’s set includes their Biological Time 1, described as “a structured improvisation that engages with the body’s sense of ‘waiting’ by framing durations of silence.”

[Read more…]

ENCORE Chamber Music: 2019 festival overview

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Bohemian music celebrating life and the arts is the theme for ENCORE Chamber Music’s fourth season, titled “La Bohème.” From June through mid-July, the festival will present eight ticketed faculty concerts, seven free student performances, and seventeen free master classes, all at the Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills. Both single tickets and season passes are available.

The Jupiter String Quartet (above) kicks off the season on Friday, June 7 at 7:00 pm at the Tudor House with a program that includes Puccini’s Crisantemi (“Chrysanthemums”), Janáček’s Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata,” and Dvořák’s Quartet No. 13 in G.

Another side of the Jupiter will be on display the next day, June 8 during master classes at 10:00 am and 4:00 pm at the campus’s middle school band room.

[Read more…]

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