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Oberlin Cooper Violin Competition: final round with The Cleveland Orchestra (July 31)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cooper-Finals-2015Because five out of the ten contestants who played the concerto round in last week’s Thomas and Evon Cooper Violin Competition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music had chosen the Tchaikovsky concerto, the odds were that we might have heard two if not three Tchaikovskys on Friday evening in Severance Hall, when the finalists played with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra. Happily for the audience, it turned out that there were three different concertos on the program — Glazunov, Shostakovich and Brahms — and all three performances were superb. [Read more…]

Oberlin International Cooper Violin Competition: six competitors play in the recital round (July 29)

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by Daniel Hathaway & Mike Telin

Cooper-Six-072915The pressure was on in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music on Wednesday evening, July 29, when six young violinists played 30-minute recitals to determine who would advance to perform concertos with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra on Friday, July 31 at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall. The concert, hosted by Jacqueline Gerber, and emceed by Robert Conrad, was carried live over WCLV, 104.9 FM and wclv.com. [Read more…]

Oberlin Cooper Violin Competition: ten contestants play full concertos (July 28)

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by Mike Telin & Daniel Hathaway

Oberlin-Cooper-BannerAfter three days of semifinal rounds, the original field of 22 young violinists ages 13-18 representing seven countries was narrowed down to ten performers, each of whom played full concertos with piano accompaniment in afternoon and evening sessions on Tuesday, July 28 in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory. [Read more…]

Report from Chicago: Stanislav Khristenko at Ravinia (July 26)

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by Daniel Hautzinger

khristenko, stanislavIt’s not unusual that a competition-winning pianist is able to play an indomitable, finger-tangling terror like Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata with aplomb. Less expected is that he can toss off Gershwin with blithe wit, as though he were a nineteenth century virtuoso reincarnated as a cocktail pianist. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Yeoman of the Guard or The Merryman and His Maid (July 22)

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by Kelly Ferjutz, special to ClevelandClassical

Yeoman-1897Before opening night, director Julie Wright Costa freely admitted that Yeoman of the Guard was her “very fave of all of Gilbert & Sullivan’s creations.” Having appeared in several productions of it through the years, she was eagerly looking forward to putting her own vision onstage at Ohio Light Opera. And what a splendid vision it is! With a bit of help from conductor J. Lynn Thompson, the production zipped right along, while still allowing everyone time to breathe. [Read more…]

Credo: Complete Bach Brandenburg Concerti in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance (July 26)

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by Carlyn Kessler

Credo-BrandenburgOn Sunday night, July 26, participants in Credo’s Brandenburg Project performed all six of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg concerti at Severance Hall’s Reinberger Chamber Hall, following an intensive weeklong festival and July 24 performance at Symphony Center in Chicago, IL. The program seemed right at home in Reinberger. The ornate hall, with its candlesticks and gold plating resembling an 18th century salon, perfectly transported audience members back to Bach’s time, if only for an evening.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom with Stéphane Denève & Paul Lewis (July 25)

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by Robert Rollin

LEWIS-PaulLast Saturday night at Blossom, The Cleveland Orchestra, under French guest conductor Stéphane Denève, presented a lively, varied, and interesting concert of Russian and German music. The evening’s highlight was Robert Schumann’s A Minor Piano Concerto, Op. 56 sensitively performed by talented British pianist Paul Lewis. Successful as a soloist with many of the world’s great orchestras, as a recitalist, and as a recording artist for the Harmonia Mundi label, Lewis tossed off the difficult passagework with the elegant grace obtainable only through major professional experience.

[Read more…]

Cuyahoga Valley Chamber Players at Happy Days Lodge (July 26)

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by James Flood

Music-by-Nature-2The Cuyahoga Valley Chamber Players (CVCP) performed last Sunday evening, July 26, at the Happy Days Lodge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The ensemble comprised flutist Jane Berkner, cellist Miles Richardson, guitarist Stephen Aron, and violist Ann Cirvenic, who arranged themselves in a variety of combinations which included two duets, a trio and a quartet. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra with Jahja Ling: Franklin Cohen farewell concerto (July 26)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cohen-072615When it’s time for a musician to say goodbye to an ensemble and its audience after 39 years, what piece should he choose for his swan song? Long-time Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinet Franklin Cohen revisited Carl Maria von Weber’s second concerto on Sunday night, July 26 at Blossom, winning a standing ovation before he even played a note. [Read more…]

Decho Ensemble at Bop Stop (July 19)

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by Mike Telin

Decho-EnsembleWhen the Belgian instrument maker Adolph Sax invented the instrument that bears his name in 1840, it’s unlikely that he imagined the many ways the saxophone would be employed by musicians of differing musical genres. On Sunday, July 19 at the Bop Stop, the excellent Decho Ensemble (Jacob Swanson, soprano sax, Sarah Marchitelli, alto sax, Nicholas Child, tenor sax, Jared Yackiw, baritone sax) played a concert of music on vintage instruments that highlighted the saxophone’s classical origins, as well as celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Adolph Sax. [Read more…]

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