by Mike Telin
The inside cover of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s 2013–14 concert series brochure encourages audiences to “Make a night of it,” when they attend one of CMA’s alluring and varied concerts. And if you have not visited the innovative Gallery One, the new West Wing, or taken a stroll through the majestic Ames Family Atrium, perhaps taking in a concert is what is needed to get you to CMA and “Make a night of it.”
Formerly known as VIVA! & Gala, the chain of performances is now called the CMA Performing Arts Series. Massoud Saidpour, curator of performing arts and music, says the change in name came about because of a change in structure. With “the new orientation of the performing arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art as a curatorial department, the museum acknowledges the multidisciplinary nature of artistic expression and regards performance-based art forms as essential disciplines to be explored in their own right.”
Saidpour added that it was the right decision for the museum at this moment. “This change allows for the realization of curatorial concepts as well as development of original, in-depth and research-oriented projects that set the standards of quality in these respective fields. Through meaningful dialogues between the museum’s visual arts collection and the performing arts, new vistas of artistic experience are explored.”
For the 2013-14 season Saidpour has assembled some of the world’s greatest music masters and has been curated the series around four themes: Masters of the Violin, Flamenco Festival, Asian Performances and Mother and Child. Performances will be complemented by pre-concert talks by experts in the field, on-stage conversations with the performing artists and films to provide in-depth background information. Prix fixe menus will be offered at the museum’s Provenance restaurant in conjunction with select concerts. All concerts begin at 7:30 pm in Gartner Auditorium unless otherwise indicated.
Masters of the Violin showcases the many facets and styles of what is perhaps the most versatile musical instrument in the world through not only traditional classical music, but also Celtic, gypsy and American bluegrass. The series also offers an unusual opportunity to hear some of the rarest Italian violins in the world made by master luthiers.
• Friday, October 4 – The Paganini of Indian Classical music, L. Subramaniam. A pre-concert talk at 6:00 by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, will preview the reopening of the Indian and Southeast Asian galleries.
• Wednesday, October 30 – O’Connor String Quartet (pictured above). A discussion between Mark O’Connor and Joel Smirnoff, president and CEO of the Cleveland Institute of Music begins at 6:00.
• Friday, November 1 – Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI. At 6:00 Savall will discuss the early precursors of the violin.
• Friday, November 15 – Fiddlers Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy. Massoud Saidpour, leads a discussion with MacMaster and Leahy beginning at 6:00.
• Wednesday, November 20 – Kamancheh (Persian spiked fiddle) player Kayhan Kalhorn.
• Thursday, February 6 – Gil Shaham performs a solo violin recital on the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivari. 6:00 pm special lecture, Rare Italian Violins, by Philip Kass, curator of string instruments at the Curtis Institute of Music.
• Wednesday, February 12 – Violinist Ray Chen with pianist Julio Elizalde. Chen will perform on the 1702 “Lord Newlands” Stradivari on loan from the Nippon Foundation.
• Wednesday, February 19 – Baroque Violinist Riccardo Minasi and Musica Antiqua Roma.
• Saturday, April 12 – Violinist Midori performs on the 1734 Guarneri del Gesù “ex-Huberman”.
• Friday, May 2 – Gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos and his ensemble.
Mother and Child highlights the universal theme of Mother and Child as seen in the museum’s collection of medieval art.
• Wednesday, December 4 at 9:00 pm in the Ames Family Atrium – State Symphony Capella of Russia (pictured above) & Valery Polyansky. At 7:30 David J. Rothenberg, associate professor of music at Case Western Reserve University, discusses Marian music and ties to the museum’s collection. A Special Pre-Concert Dinner: Russian Prix Fixe begins at 7:00.
• Saturday, December 14 beginning at 2:00 – This themed choral event focuses on music inspired by holy imagery of the Virgin and Child in the museum’s collections of medieval and Renaissance art. Beginning in the Reid Gallery, Quire Cleveland sings music by Palestrina. The audience is next led to the museum’s Ames Family Atrium where the Cleveland Orchestra Youth and Children’s Choruses sing music by Arvo Pärt, Gian Carlo Menotti, John Rutter, and Morten Lauridsen, among others. Then organist and conductor Todd Wilson leads a finale in Gartner Auditorium featuring the Trinity Cathedral Choir in Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols and the museum’s McMyler organ in music for organ and brass. Free, no tickets required. A pre-concert talk on Virgin and Child imagery by Stephen Fliegel, curator of medieval art, begins at 1:00 in the Recital Hall.
• Sunday, May 11 at 2:00 in the Ames Family Atrium – Mother and Child: Sujatha Srinivasan is a program tailored for families on Mother’s Day. Sujatha and a group of her talented students explore the myth of the mother and child in Indian mythology by drawing from episodes of the child Krishna and his mother, Yasoda.
Asian Performances, part one: Subcontinent India features performances showcasing the dance and music of India and Pakistan. Held in celebration of the new Indian galleries opening in December 2013, the performances will inaugurate a two-year Asian Performances mini-series.
• Friday, October 4 – The Paganini of Indian Classical music, L. Subramaniam (pictured above)- A pre-concert talk at 6:00 by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art will preview the reopening of the Indian and Southeast Asian galleries.
• Wednesday, March 19 – Sufi Devotional Music: Asif Ali Khan will be Joined by a musical ensemble of Indian Classical musicians.
• Friday, April 11 – Nrityagram Dance Ensemble presents Saṃyoga, the outcome of years spent in finding the perfect balance of art and craft, strength and grace, technique and spirit, confidence and vulnerability, as well as of a male godhead and his essential feminine divine. Living and working together for the past twenty years in Nrityagram Dance Village.
• Sunday, May 11 at 2:00 in the Ames Family Atrium – Mother and Child: Sujatha Srinivasan is a program tailored for families on Mother’s Day. Sujatha and a group of her talented students explore the myth of the mother and child in Indian mythology by drawing from episodes of the child Krishna and his mother, Yasoda.
Flamenco Festival Cleveland concerts bring together music, voice and dance with some of the most renowned contemporary artists in Spain.
• Wednesday, March 5 – Ballet Flamenco Eva Yerbabuena (pictured above).
• Wednesday, March 12 – Vocalist Estrella Morente.
• Friday, March 14 – Guitarist Tomatito. A Spanish Tapas Party begins at 5:30.
Please visit CMA’s Performing Arts Series website for full concert details.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com September 19, 2013
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