by Kevin McLaughlin
It somehow seemed wrong to clap and cheer at the end of Cleveland Chamber Choir’s “Meditations and Mysticism” program on October 26. Less a concert than an administering of musical healing, the event left us feeling more like sitting quietly and sipping measured breaths to prolong our newfound tranquil state.
In a program of ten carefully conceived and sequenced musical episodes, artistic director Gregory Ristow brought a politically weary crowd some much-needed spiritual succor and peace through music. [Read more…]
The theme of the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s latest concert season emphasizes the new and different — with plenty of debuts, contemporary works, and creative ways of looking at music. That was the case on October 26 for Jorge Caballero’s program. All three pieces he brought to the Maltz Performing Arts Center were rare to hear, each for different reasons.
On a sun-drenched fall afternoon, Sunday, October 20, a lucky few got to hear five new organ pieces masterfully brought to life by five remarkable organists at Lake Erie College. If the music wasn’t conceived for this particular organ — the Skinner opus 647 — it surely benefited from it, not to mention from the architecturally splendid setting of Helen Rockwell Morley Hall.
Just before the Akron Symphony began their October 19 concert with Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question, the audience was suddenly presented with a question of their own. Why were the musicians leaving the stage right after tuning?
