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Akron Symphony introduces a vivid Firebird with drum circle

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by Daniel Hathaway

ASO-Alchemy-CWAkron Symphony Music Director Christopher Wilkins has continued his resourceful community engagement initiatives by inviting the young members of Akron’s Alchemy, Inc., founded by G. Kwame Scruggs, to undertake a study of the Russian Firebird myth. To begin the second half of the program on Friday evening, February 10 at E.J. Thomas Hall, a dozen Alchemy drummers set up a stirring groove before tag-team narrating an introduction to Stravinsky’s complete Firebird ballet, illustrated by musical examples from the Orchestra. [Read more…]

Pianist Lucas Debargue at Reinberger Chamber Hall (Feb. 3)

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by Daniel Hathaway

DebargueFrench pianist Lucas Debargue inspired a standing ovation after only the second piece he played during his Cleveland debut in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Hall on Friday evening, February 3. That tribute from a rapt audience might have come even earlier had he not made a direct segue from Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata, K. 132 into Chopin’s Ballade No. 4. No wonder he wowed both critics and audience at the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition. [Read more…]

“Karel Paukert Up Close and Personal” at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Heights (Jan. 30)

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by Daniel Hathaway

PaukertInterview-KellerRemember the reality documentary series This Is Your Life? On Sunday afternoon, January 30, the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists honored Karel Paukert with a retrospective of his distinguished career, together with a recital that included the world premiere of a new work by Frank Wiley. [Read more…]

Pianist Lara Downes spreads a message of hope in Oberlin (Feb. 4)

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by Larry & Arlene Dunn
special to ClevelandClassical.com

Downes-and-DoveAmerican pianist Lara Downes, a frequent visitor to Northeast Ohio, just completed a four-day stint in Cleveland, Oberlin, and Akron. On Saturday, February 4, she performed and discussed works from her recent CD America Again for an enthusiastic audience in Heiser Auditorium at the Kendal at Oberlin retirement community. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical: Imani Winds at E.J. Thomas Hall (Jan. 25)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Imani-Winds-2017The Imani Winds returned for their third appearance on the Tuesday Musical Association series in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall on Wednesday evening, January 25. Their exuberant performance of brightly-hued works by Elliott Carter, Paquito D’Rivera, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Simon Shaheen, and the quintet’s own Jeff Scott and Valerie Coleman proved that two decades on the road together has only added depth and sheen to their distinguished reputation. [Read more…]

A reverent and raucous homage to Vienna from the Canton Symphony Orchestra (Jan. 28)

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by Tom Wachunas

CSO-012817On one level, the January 28 concert by the Canton Symphony Orchestra, billed as “A Night in Vienna,” was unarguably a dazzling homage to Strauss family waltzes and polkas. But on quite another, it was an unprecedented occasion for some memorable shenanigans on the part of music director Gerhardt Zimmermann. [Read more…]

Boston’s A Far Cry chamber orchestra in concert at Baldwin Wallace (Jan. 24)

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by Daniel Hathaway

A-Far-Cry-Jordan-HallNow ten years old, Boston’s conductorless string orchestra A Far Cry made a long-distance runout performance in Gamble Auditorium at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory on Tuesday, January 24, part of a three-day residency at BW. The orchestra’s wide-ranging program reached back to the 12th-century Codex Calixtinus in arrangements of some very early polyphony, then leapfrogged into more modern times for double violin concertos by J.S. Bach and Arvo Pärt and a commissioned work by Lembit Beecher.

[Read more…]

Les Délices: “Mozart in Paris” (Jan. 22)

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by Daniel Hathaway

LesDelicesPlymouth012217The 21-year-old Mozart planned to take Paris by storm on his second visit in 1778, but he chiefly succeeded in alienating colleagues and patrons alike with his arrogance. The composer fared far better on Sunday afternoon, January 22 at Plymouth Church, when Les Délices presented “Mozart in Paris,” a program that surrounded his Oboe Quartet with works by Gluck, Cambini, Duport, and Boccherini, all pieces that the Parisian public might have heard in the French capital during that period. [Read more…]

Akron Symphony: Beethoven with Benjamin Zander & HaeSun Paik (Jan. 21)

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by Daniel Hathaway

ASO-Beethoven-PaConc3Charismatic conductor and motivational speaker Benjamin Zander made the most recent of his periodic appearances with the Akron Symphony Orchestra on January 21 at E.J. Thomas Hall. The all-Beethoven program featured the Ninth Symphony and the Third Piano Concerto with soloist HaeSun Paik.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Piano Quartets from Lincoln Center (Jan. 17)

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by Daniel Hathaway

ccms-011717The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center launched a seven-city tour of Piano Quartets with its January 17 concert at Plymouth Church for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society. Large-scale, early works by Gabriel Fauré and Johannes Brahms received masterful performances from pianist Alessio Bax, violinist Ani Kavafian, violist Yura Lee, and cellist Paul Watkins. [Read more…]

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