by Neil McCalmont
Raphael Jiménez led the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in its season-opening concert in Finney Chapel on Thursday evening, September 22. The program was a survey of early 20th-century works by some of the era’s greatest masters: Stravinsky, Ravel, and Copland. [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
On Saturday, September 24, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society kicked off its season at Plymouth Church with a Showcase Concert featuring the Gruca White Ensemble, Duo Allant, and soloist Adam Larison. The highlight of the evening was the set performed by flutist Linda White and guitarist Robert Gruca. Their performance of Chick Corea’s landmark composition Spain absolutely sparkled. [Read more…]
by Neil McCalmont
On September 27, Tuesday Musical opened its 129th season with the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Shroud as performed by one of the world’s leading chamber groups, the Emerson String Quartet. With their legendary clarity and musicality, violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violist Lawrence Dutton, and cellist Paul Watkins brought to life the Turnage and works by Mozart and Beethoven. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
In a thrilling and revelatory recital on September 23, Cleveland Orchestra principal cello Mark Kosower and pianist Jee-Won Oh celebrated the centenary of Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. Drawing a large audience to Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Kosower visited all three of Ginastera’s style periods and offered his own tribute to Aurora Nátola, who inspired most of the composer’s works for the cello. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Duo-piano teams pop up with some frequency on recital series, but duo-organists not so much. The Atlanta-based husband and wife team of Raymond and Elizabeth Chenault have four-handedly (and four-footedly) set out to change that dynamic, having commissioned and performed some 60 organ duets during their four decades of sharing an organ bench. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Though the Bascom Little Fund — named after the late Cleveland architect and avocational composer — may be obscure to many music lovers, it’s quite well-known among composers and musicians. Created “for the promotion through the media of concerts, publications, and recordings of serious and semi-popular music, newly composed and performed in or near Cleveland, Ohio,” the charitable trust has funded numerous projects over the last five decades. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
On Sunday afternoon, September 25th, The Cleveland Institute of Music began a series of seven concerts celebrating the musical legacy of French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, whose relationship with The Cleveland Orchestra and other Cleveland musical institutions spanned almost 50 years. [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
Last Saturday evening, September 17, the Youngstown Symphony inaugurated its 90th Anniversary Season with an interesting program celebrating the city’s ethnic heritage born of the steel industry and a predominantly Eastern European immigrant population. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Jones
For its 2016 season-opener on September 17 at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Burning River Baroque assembled a fascinating and diverse program of music by women composers, both “famed and forgotten.” The pieces they chose — spanning ten centuries! — gave a taste of what gems lie beyond the patriarchal canon, particularly in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Flutist George Pope, who played principal with the Akron Symphony from 1978-2002 while teaching at the University of Akron, has released a CD on the Crystal Records label featuring seven works he either commissioned, or were written for or first performed by him. In the liner notes, he reveals the musical preferences that informed his choice of repertoire: “beautiful melodies and colors, intricate passagework, energetic rhythms, and a strong current of jazz and popular music.” [Read more…]