by Daniel Hathaway
As part of his prize for winning the 2018 American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance, Aaron Tan won a period of professional representation by Karen MacFarlane Artists, Inc. That brought him to Cleveland’s Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on Friday evening, February 8, for a cleverly conceived and finely wrought recital on its 1947 Holtkamp organ, an event co-sponsored by the Cathedral and the Cleveland Chapter of the AGO. [Read more…]
Is it possible to take the standard song and dance forms of your time and turn them into virtuosic devotional meditations on the life of Christ? The composer and master violinist Heinrich Biber answered this question in the affirmative back in the 1670s with a set of 16 violin works — 15 sonatas with continuo and a solo passacaglia — meant to take the musicians through the Mysteries of the Rosary. And not only are these works demanding in scope, they require complex 
Variety can be the salvation or the undoing of a concert. A century and a half ago, most Americans would have heard what we now think of as the bedrock repertoire of the classical tradition in bewildering shows that often included comedy and drama as well. In recent decades, however, even diversity of historical period and musical style — let alone type of entertainment — has become optional, rather than expected. In a recent concert led by Daniel Meyer, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra successfully embraced stylistic pluralism, mixing new music and a rarity with standard audience favorites.
The second installment in the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s concert series featured two guest artists at Historic St. John’s in Ohio City on Saturday, February 2. Chicago-based violist Ammie Brod and Bowling Green-based flutist Kenneth Cox gave electronically augmented solo sets meditating on expanded ways to play their familiar instruments.
The audience may have been more restrained than the appreciatively foot-stomping listeners who typically pack into Finney Chapel back home — but not by much. The crowd in New York’s Carnegie Hall gave two ensembles from Oberlin College and Conservatory a warm reception on January 19, with loud cheers and even some shoutouts to the players onstage. All well-deserved.
“The music as always speaks its own language.” In a program note for his new piece 