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Piano Cleveland Live: piano, violin, and an Ohio City pub (Feb. 5)

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by Stephanie Manning

“How do we bring in people who are interested in piano music, but might be intimidated by their first experience being in a concert hall?”

That’s the question Marissa Moore said she and the Piano Cleveland team were considering when they started a series of free performances held in local bars.

As the host of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Piano Cleveland puts on plenty of events in Severance Music Center — “which is the most beautiful but probably the most intimidating space you can imagine,” said Moore, the organization’s executive director. “We thought it was really important to pair that with places that have more accessibility.”

Since 2022, these small, relaxed concerts in neighborhood pubs have been going strong, and are now part of the series “Piano Cleveland Live.” Last week’s event on Wednesday, February 5 brought folks to Forest City Brewery to sip drinks, eat food, and listen to the music-making of pianist Arseniy Gusev and violinist Shannon Lee. [Read more…]

M.U.S.i.C. offers “Garden Concerts” featuring Arseniy Gusev premiere

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Fresh from Piano Cleveland’s online Virtu(al)oso Competition, where he played one of his own works in the final round en route to winning Second Prize, Russian-born Arseniy Gusev will have another opportunity to showcase his dual musical abilities in September, this time with a live performance and a new piece.

On September 10 and 12 at 5:00 pm at a private location in Orange Village, M.U.S.i.C. – Stars in the Classics will host two “Garden Concerts” featuring the premiere of Gusev’s Rondellus for piano and violin. That’s part of a program devoted to Russian and Scandinavian composers, including Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Glinka, and Grieg, in addition to a work of Danish folk music.

These outdoor, socially-distanced concerts are the last of the year in M.U.S.i.C.’s garden series. Click here for the address to the venue, rain dates, masking requirements, food and drink options, ticketing, and RSVP. [Editor’s note: both evenings are now sold out.]

Joining Gusev to perform Rondellus will be Victor Beyens, to whom the piece is dedicated. “He’s a wonderful violinist and a good friend of mine,” the composer said by email. “I was very grateful for the opportunity to work on the commission for such a fine musician, even though the piece was meant to be rather short.”

[Read more…]

Virtu(al)oso Piano Competition: Final Rounds (August 7 & 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The pianists who remained on the bench after the rather brutal cut on Wednesday evening in Cleveland Piano’s Virtu(al)oso Competition (the field was reduced from 30 to 6) played virtual 30- to 35-minute programs in the Final Round on Friday and Saturday, pre-recorded at international Steinway locations at the same time as their First Round performances. Here are some impressions.

Friday, August 7 — Session 1

Tamila Salimdjanova (28, Uzbekistan) brought two works to the session: Debussy’s Estampes and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7. She gave the three-movement Debussy (“Pagodes,” “La soirée dans Grenade” and “Jardins sous la pluie”) a fluent performance, but the scenes offer more color possibilities than she exploited, and an abundance of dynamic details that went overlooked. Salimdjanova played the Prokofiev masterfully, but the outer movements needed more sheer brutality to reflect the Sonata’s Stalinist context and to offset the sentimental slow movement. [Read more…]

Piano Cleveland Virtu(al)oso: Questions for the six finalists

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by Daniel Hathaway

On Friday evening, August 7 at 7:00, the first three of six finalists in Piano Cleveland’s Virtu(al)oso online competition will be heard playing 30-35 minute programs previously video recorded at Steinway locations in the U.S. and abroad. The remaining three finalists will go online on Saturday, August 8.

We caught up with all of them either by email or Skype to ask versions of these questions:

1) Waiting is always a part of competitions, but this one is unusual. How did it feel to have so long to wait between recording your program and having it streamed in the First Round.

2) Did you listen to yourself in the first round? What was that like?

3) Do you plan to listen to yourself in the final round?

4) What’s your favorite piece in your final round program, and why?

5) Based on your experience with Virtu(al)oso, if the pandemic continues well into the future, would you consider entering a virtual competition again? [Read more…]

Six Virtu(al)oso finalists named, to play on Friday & Saturday

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by Daniel Hathaway

On Wednesday evening, Piano Cleveland’s Virtu(al)oso jury named the six pianists who will play 30- to 35-minute programs in the final round of the 2020 online competition. The sessions will be streamed on Friday and Saturday at 7:00 pm. Click here for their bios and programs.

M.U.S.i.C. – Stars in the Classics to host backyard garden concert Aug. 15

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by Mike Telin

Over the past few weeks, area musicians and performing arts organizations have presented concerts on front porches, parking lots, and even at a baseball field. Another obvious place would be a spacious backyard — should you be lucky enough to have one.

When everything shut down, M.U.S.i.C. – Stars in the Classics began posting archival videos and later employing their musicians to create new ones. “We’re still doing that,” M.U.S.i.C’s Artistic Director Jodi Kanter said by telephone. “Then one of our musicians asked, ‘Why can’t we create an outdoor performance where everyone can be socially distanced?’” As luck would have it, Kanter happens to have a large backyard.

On Saturday, August 15, M.U.S.i.C. invites you to spend “A Musical Summer Evening in the Garden.” The outdoor event will be held at the artistic director’s house in Orange Village, where audiences can enjoy a live program while maintaining social distancing. Seating will begin at 6:30 pm and the concert starts at 7:00 pm. The audience will be limited to 40 people. Click here for tickets and location information. The rain date is Sunday, August 16 at 7:00 pm.

[Read more…]

Virtu(al)oso Piano Competition: Questions for Arseniy Gusev

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by Daniel Hathaway

Russian pianist Arseniy Gusev was born in St. Petersburg in 1998, where he studied both piano and composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

He came to the U.S. in 2018 to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music — piano with Sergei Babayan, and composition with Keith Fitch.

Gusev will play selections by Schönberg, Schubert, and J.S. Bach in Session 3 of Piano Cleveland’s virtual competition on Saturday, August 1, beginning at 7:00 pm. At his request, we sent him some questions by email, and received delightful and thoughtful responses.

The pandemic has upset everyone’s lives. I hope your family in Russia is safe and well. How long has it been since you last saw them?

I am grateful for a chance to see and communicate with my family in my dreams. Even though we are in touch through email and social media, and it’s been a lot of months since we saw each other in person, for me the most important bond which helps to keep the family together is to cherish each of the family members in my heart like a treasure. [Read more…]

M.U.S.i.C. hosts Spring Cabaret (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics)

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by Mike Telin

Providing performance opportunities for emerging musicians in Northeast Ohio is the driving principle behind M.U.S.i.C. (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics). Under the discerning guidance of artistic director Jodi Kanter, the organization finds venues, arranges concerts, and supplies printed programs, publicity and refreshments. They also pay their performers, most of whom are students at one of the area’s conservatories or schools of music.

On Sunday, April 7 at 3:30 pm in Orange Village Hall, M.U.S.i.C. will present its Classical Cabaret No. 22. “A Celebration of Spring” will feature violinists Maria Park and Alexandra Switala, cellists Chauncey Aceret, Alex Glaubitz, Benjamin Rogers, and Rebecca Shasberger, pianists Gastón Frydman, Arseniy Gusev, Alexander Kostritsa, Nikolay Pushkarev, and Amy Tan, double-bassist Henry Samuels, oboist Devin Hinzo, and vocalists Bryant Bush and Jung Eun Oh.

The program includes Beethoven’s “Scherzo” and “Rondo” (Spring Sonata), Mozart’s “Allegro vivace assai” (Spring Quartet) and “Per questa bella mano,” Piazzolla’s “Primavera,” Prokofiev’s “Spring Fairy” (Cinderella), excerpts from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring for piano four hands, Ravel’s Bolero arranged for cello quartet, and songs by Mahler and Debussy. Tickets include food and beverages and are available online.

[Read more…]

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