by Daniel Hathaway
Although ChamberFest Cleveland dubbed its third concert “The Independent Spirit,” it might just as aptly have been titled “The Indefatigable Pianist” in honor of Roman Rabinovich. He spent the entire evening at the keyboard on Saturday, June 16 in Mixon Hall, flawlessly spinning out one elegantly articulated phrase after another. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
The seventh season of Chamberfest Cleveland opened on Thursday, June 14 at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall. The festival, brainchild of Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinet emeritus Franklin Cohen and his daughter, violinist Diana Cohen, concertmaster of the Calgary Symphony, has become an imaginative and well-attended fixture of June in Cleveland. The opening program typified the festival by combining familiar works with the more unusual. [Read more…]
by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com
Who would ever have thought that labor troubles in a pajama factory in Iowa could become the fodder for an award-winning musical comedy that is still lively and topical at almost 65 years of age? The twentieth century might almost have been known as the century of the labor union, which peaked in the 1950s. At that time, they were still a major force, as cheekily demonstrated in the buoyant presentation of The Pajama Game that opened the Ohio Light Opera season in Wooster on Saturday evening, June 16. [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
Last Friday evening, June 15, ENCORE presented an enchanting program of chamber music featuring the Cavani String Quartet, soprano Chantal Mathias, and pianist Hyun Soo Kim. The concert, in the Tudor House at Gilmour Academy, was a delightful mélange of short, intimate pieces with neo-Romantic, folk-song, and nostalgic connections. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
The Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s first Re:Sound New Music Festival was an ear-opening experience for the musically adventurous in eight events across four days in five venues from June 7 through 10. Featuring 56 musicians performing 26 sets and 50 pieces created by 45 composers and improvisers, this intense weekend of staggering, high-quality performances showed the virtues of a performer-oriented festival where each act is fully invested in its own chosen music. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
On Sunday afternoon, June 10, at Visible Voice Books, as a part of the Re:Sound New Music Festival, co-artistic director Sophie Benn led a fascinating panel discussion featuring performers Elizabeth Baker, Will Mason, and the Popebama duo — Erin Rogers and Dennis Sullivan. Lasting an hour, their dialogue touched on topics ranging from artistic identity and the difficulties of the musical life to the definition of “new music” itself. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
The first annual Re:Sound New Music Festival closed its four-day run on Sunday evening, June 10, at Bop Stop at The Music Settlement on Detroit Road in Cleveland’s Hingetown area. The four acts presented were more experimental than the opening concert that I heard on Thursday evening, and with the exception of one of the acts, not as consistently interesting and successful. [Read more…]
by Alice Koeninger
Flutist Alexa Still recently released her second solo album on the Oberlin Music label. Syzygy is comprised of six pieces by Venezuelan-American composer and conductor Efraín Amaya. Assisted by her fellow Oberlin faculty member, pianist Robert Shannon — as well as a few other Oberlin professors and alums — Still showcases her exquisite lyricism and virtuosity on every track.
[Read more…]
by Alice Koeninger
Many of the sounds heard at the Re:Sound New Music Festival performances at the Bop Stop and CODA on Saturday, June 9 were reminiscent of noises made by ‘90s computers and played on old science fiction space TV shows. Relying heavily on electronics and other sound-manipulation techniques, each artist or group gave festivalgoers a taste of their music in a series of increasingly strange and interesting pieces. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Presented in the intimate, acoustically-pleasing Mistake Lab, Austin-based cellist James Burch began his set with Phong Tran’s Durability Problems (2017). Burch brought a dark, rich sound, loads of technique, and great intonation to the five-minute, mercurial work full of sudden tempo changes and mood shifts. [Read more…]