by Jarrett Hoffman
When my colleagues and I have the opportunity to both interview and review an artist, it becomes interesting to see whether the ideas behind their program translate to the actual performance. Sometimes, from my perspective, they don’t, but the concert might still flourish in some other, unforeseen way.
And occasionally, everything comes together brilliantly, almost exactly the way the artist described. That was the case with Caroline Oltmanns’ online recital for the Tri-C Classical Piano Series on March 21, which she pre-recorded at home for the occasion.
Over the years, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society has presented a seemingly endless roster of outstanding players on their International Series. That tradition continued on Saturday, March 20 when Emanuele Buono made his series debut with an impressive pre-recorded concert that left you wondering if the Italian guitarist was born with the instrument in his hands.
With the novel coronavirus surrounded but not yet defeated, Apollo’s Fire’s February program “Elegance: The Harper’s Voice” morphed from in-person performances to a recording session at First Baptist Church on February 27 that yielded a fine video of a high-quality concert, released on March 10. A few invited souls sprinkled throughout the pews provided enough of an audience to make a brave noise when cheering was called for, and that was often.
Once again Les Délices scores a winner with the latest installment of the French Baroque ensemble’s online subscription series. Debuting on Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 pm, “Women of Genius” takes a historically thoughtful and musically fascinating look into the music of female composers who influenced French musical culture. After its debut, the video will be available on-demand through March 29. Read our preview article 
In Episode 6 of the 
Since The Cleveland Orchestra’s In Focus programs run about an hour each, it seems odd to label Alisa Weilerstein’s program of J.S. Bach’s six solo cello suites — three hours’ worth of music and commentary — merely as a “bonus” episode. Whatever the packaging, her recordings from Severance Hall that debuted on the Adella platform on February 18 add yet another distinguished set of performances to the many we’ve been able to enjoy over the years — and especially during the early days of COVID-19, when streaming performances of the Suites became something of a cottage industry among quarantining cellists. 
Aaron Diehl is a magnificent pianist. He possesses an innate sense of rhythm and musical line. Everything he plays has purpose. Every note he plays sparkles. 
When Debra Nagy made the decision to reinvent her French Baroque ensemble Les Délices as a production company — whose interface with its subscribers would take the form of high-quality videos in the place of live concerts during the pandemic — many of us were curious to see how that would affect one of Cleveland’s cultural treasures.
Live music brings risk, and when it comes to live-streamed concerts, that risk extends to technology. A recital on February 15 from the Rocky River Chamber Music Society hit a few snags in that area early on, but that didn’t steal the spotlight from the dazzling performances we heard from Steven Banks and Xak Bjerken in a compelling program of music for saxophone and piano.