by Daniel Hathaway
COVID-19 may have interrupted the celebration of Beethoven’s 250th Birthday in December 2020, but the Cavani String Quartet has made that event a moveable feast.
On Sunday, September 19, the ensemble will play the first of eight concerts featuring all sixteen of LvB’s quartets. The “Beyond Beethoven” performances, to take place in eight different venues, will match pairs of his quartets with contemporary works, culminating in a grand finale in Severance Hall on December 7.
This is not the first time the Cavani have tackled the complete Beethoven quartets — its “Beethoven and Brotherhood” cycle in 2008-2009 took the repertoire to public libraries around the area — but the 2021 iteration will be new to three-quarters of the musicians. And the current series will be presented for three different audiences: patrons of prominent Cleveland concert series, school-age students, and residents of senior living centers as well as “non-neurotypical audiences” and their families.
Violinist Catherine Cosbey, violist Eric Wong, and cellist Kyle Price will join Cavani’s founder and first violinist Annie Fullard in programs that will include contemporary works by Eric Gould, Gabriela Lena Frank, Tan Dun, Dinuk Wijeratne, Caroline Shaw, Jessie Montgomery, Osvaldo Golijov, and the world premiere of a work commissioned from Joshua Henderson.
The individual concerts will intersect with series presented by The Music Settlement, Arts Renaissance Tremont (for which the Cavanis have recently been named artistic directors), the Temple-Tifereth Israel, Music From The Western Reserve, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, and Cleveland State University.
The Cavani will also be working with regional orchestra programs and their directors, including Shaker Heights High School (Donna Jelen), Lakewood High School (Elizabeth Hankins), Cleveland Heights High School (Daniel Heim), Strongsville High School (Andrew Hire), and The Cleveland School of the Arts (Dianna Richardson).
The complete schedule of public performances follows. Click here to register for tickets.
Concert 1 — Sunday September 19, 4:00 pm
Cleveland State University Drinko Recital Hall
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 18, No. 3
ERIC GOULD He Speaks in Shadows
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 18, No. 1
Concert 2 — Sunday September 26, 5:00 pm
Music From The Western Reserve, Christ Church, Hudson
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 18, No.5
GABRIELA LENA FRANK Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 59, No.1
Concert 3 — Sunday October 10, 4:00 pm
The Music Settlement, University Circle Campus
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 18, No. 4
DINUK WIJERATNE Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 131
Concert 4 — Sunday October 24, 4:00 pm
The Bop Stop, Ohio City
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 18, No.1
TAN DUN Eight Colors forQuartet
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 59, No. 1
Concert 5 — Sunday November 7, 4:00 pm
The Temple-Tifereth Israel, Beachwood
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 18, No. 6
CAROLINE SHAW Blueprint
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 130 with Große Fugue Op.133
Concert 6 — Sunday November 21, 4:00 pm
Arts Renaissance Tremont Series, St. Wendelin Church
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op.74
JESSIE MONTGOMERY Strum
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 132
Concert 7 — Tuesday December 7, 7:30 pm
Cleveland Chamber Music Society Series
Plymouth Church, Shaker Heights
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 95
OSVALDO GOLIJOV Tenebrae
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 127
Concert 8 — Tuesday December 14, 7:30 pm
Grand Finale, Severance Hall
With student Guest Artists and Dr. Ronald Crutcher, cello and emcee
BEETHOVEN Quartet Opus 135
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op. 59, No. 3
Published on ClevelandClassical.com September 8, 2021.
Click here for a printable copy of this article
