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McGill, Huang & Perroni sing at Cleveland Chamber Music Society (March 28)

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by Peter Feher

Clarinetist Anthony McGill brought star power to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society on March 28. In a concert that was all about singing — that, in fact, included two pieces with soprano — McGill stood out as the most prominent voice.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the clarinetist, who, since taking the principal chair with the New York Philharmonic in 2014, has cultivated the kind of celebrity career more often reserved for singers, string players, and pianists. McGill’s penchant for vocal music is no secret either. He previously served as principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the style and sound he picked up in the pit are still present in his playing today.

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Cleveland Chamber Music Society:
an important second performance

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by Jarrett Hoffman

“First is the worst, second is the best…” It may not be the most profound of old sayings, but there might just be some slight bit of wisdom — I said slight — that can be gleaned from that schoolyard refrain. After all, when it comes to new music, premières get most of the attention, but the far-less-common deuxième performances (aren’t we fancy?) can be just as significant.

Perhaps that’s especially true when it comes to Chava’s Daughters Speak by James Lee III (left). Its premiere in May 2021 at New York City’s 92nd Street Y was presented virtually, with only a limited in-person audience due to the pandemic. And what was to have been the second performance, in Boston last year, was canceled at the last minute when soprano Susanna Phillips developed laryngitis.

That brings us to tomorrow, Tuesday, March 28, when the piece will receive that long-awaited second hearing — its first in front of a full audience — as part of a Cleveland Chamber Music Society concert at Disciples Christian Church. Two of the three performers are holdovers from the premiere: clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Myra Huang, who will be joined here by soprano Elena Perroni. Tickets are available here. [Read more…]

Anthony McGill and Daniel Schlosberg at Kent Blossom Music Festival (July 13)

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by Jacob Strauss

On Wednesday July 13, clarinetist Anthony McGill, pianist Daniel Schlosberg, and soprano Colleen Longshaw Jackson gave a masterful performance in Ludwig Recital Hall at Kent State University’s Kent Blossom Music Festival.

The scheduled program by the McGill/McHale Trio was changed due to the unavailability of flutist Demarre McGill and pianist Michael McHale, but there was no change in expectation for the artistry that was going to occur. Anthony McGill is world-renowned, and Daniel Schlosberg is a talented composer and performer who has collaborated with some of our best contemporary musicians.

Jackson began the program with a recitation of Langston Hughes’ poem “Helen Keller” — the first of five poems by Hughes that served as interludes between each piece on the first half. [Read more…]

Second Kent Blossom concert to feature the McGill/McHale Trio

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Two Chicagoans and an Irishman walk into a bar — or rather, a university. That’s the origin story of the McGill/McHale Trio.

The university is none other than Bowling Green, where flutist Demarre McGill and clarinetist Anthony McGill were artists in residency in 2014. There they performed alongside a pianist hailing from Belfast — Michael McHale — and a long-term partnership began to brew.

The Trio will return not quite to the scene of the crime, but close, when they perform on the Kent Blossom Music Festival’s Faculty Concert Series as Kulas Visiting Artists on Wednesday, July 13 at 7:30 pm at Kent State’s Ludwig Recital Hall. Tickets are available here.

Their program will draw on Portraits, the album they recorded in 2017 on the Cedille Records label, which featured a slew of world-premiere recordings of works by living composers: Valerie Coleman (Portraits of Langston), Chris Rogerson (A Fish Will Rise), Paul Schoenfield (Sonatina for Flute, Clarinet and Piano), and Philip Hammond (the trio version of his Lamentation of Owen O’Neil).

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2021: A roundup of recordings

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As a guide to gift-giving (and don’t we all need a little help!), enjoy a chronological look over the CD reviews our correspondents have written over the last twelve months — plus a look ahead at some reviews to come in early 2022.

Note that many of these recordings are available as downloads rather than physical discs. And while streaming platforms are invaluable resources, it’s important to remember that payments received by the artists are generally small (and ridiculously confusing to calculate in some cases!)

Finally, don’t forget to make an end-of-year gift to your favorite local performing organization to support our musicians. Happy holidays!

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CD Review — Uncovered Vol. 1: Catalyst Quartet in music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

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by Jarrett Hoffman

If an album has a musical half-life, which we’ll define here as the amount of time its impact will remain to be felt, it’s likely longer than that of a concert performance. So in order for the classical music world to diversify in a lasting way, programming has to change not only on the concert stage, but also in the recording studio.

The Catalyst Quartet and Azica Records have taken that to heart with the Uncovered series, conceived in 2018 and devoted to music by Black composers. The first volume, released in February, focuses on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, spanning three beautifully performed, remarkable pieces: quintets on either end featuring pianist Stewart Goodyear and clarinetist Anthony McGill, and a quartet in the middle.

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Tuesday Musical: Anthony McGill with the Pacifica Quartet (May 4)

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by Timothy Robson

“We are so happy to be performing in front of a live audience again. Just saying the words gives me shivers.” These were the words of Mark Holloway, violist in the Pacifica Quartet, at their splendid performance with clarinetist Anthony McGill, presented by Tuesday Musical on May 4 at E.J. Thomas Hall.

In addition to Holloway, the quartet members are Simin Ganatra and Austin Hartman, violins, and Brandon Vamos, cello. The audience was intentionally limited to 300, with strict social distancing and required face masks. There was a muted but celebratory atmosphere in the hall as friends greeted each other. [Read more…]

Roundtables discuss the black experience in music and how to make change

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Two roundtable discussions this month — one with strong local ties, another that was more nationally oriented — were centered around the black experience in music and how administrators, educators, and other individuals in the field can join the fight for equality.

On Friday, June 19 (Juneteenth), fifteen recent Oberlin graduates and current students gathered over Zoom on the topic of “Black Voices in the Conservatory.” Presented by the Oberlin College Black Musicians’ Guild and moderated by Troy Stephenson, a 2020 graduate in viola performance, that discussion included perspectives from both the jazz and classical spheres.

Broadcast on social media by Young Concert Artists and The Violin Channel on Wednesday, June 10, “Learning to Listen” brought together twelve diversity advocates and classical musicians from across the country — soloists, orchestral players, chamber musicians, educators, composers, and administrators — including a few faces familiar to Northeast Ohio.

[Read more…]

Anthony McGill begins #TakeTwoKnees movement

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by Jarrett Hoffman

In response to the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, and the killing of so many other black people in this country, clarinetist Anthony McGill has begun a call to action to #TakeTwoKnees “in the struggle for justice and decency.”

On Wednesday, May 27, the principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic posted to his Facebook page a powerful written message and a short video: his performance of a deeply sad arrangement of America the Beautiful. Since then, 70,000 people have watched that original video, and a countless number of musicians and other artists have responded by adding their voices in solidarity.

Hymns, spirituals, jazz, classical, folk songs, pop, new compositions, dance performances, visual art, or no art at all — the responses have been highly varied, though nearly all of them include the gesture of getting down on two knees in a moment of silence. The emotional experience of taking in these forms of expression cannot be put into words.

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“At Home with Hawkins” — conversations on music and clarinet

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by Jarrett Hoffman

In almost every interview with a musician, there’s some special piece of conversation that later falls flat when put on a page. For those elusive moments — some inflection of voice, some bit of body language, or a laugh that’s nice and genuine — you can’t beat long-form interviews captured on video.

And when the interviewer and guest share a warm chemistry, and both are musicians at the top of their field, the result is a conversation that gives off a special sense of human connection and more nuggets of wisdom than you can count.

That’s what Oberlin Conservatory clarinet professor Richard Hawkins has captured in his new series of interviews, “At Home with Hawkins.” Episodes stream live on Facebook — some on the page of Backun Musical Services, others on Clarineat: The Clarinet Podcast.

[Read more…]

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