by Timothy Robson
Christa Rakich, currently Visiting Professor of Organ at Oberlin Conservatory, played an intriguing and unusual program on Sunday afternoon at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron. The concert was presented in a “hybrid” format for an in-person as well as an at-home audience.
by Daniel Hathaway
Music From the Western Reserve, Music and Art at Trinity Cathedral, and Arts at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church all streamed concerts online in September, all without audiences present.
As organizations gingerly take steps to open up for business, it’s refreshing to have new content to listen to and write about after a solid six months of archival footage. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
Like many song cycles, Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin — originally for high voice and piano — has been transposed for different vocal ranges. And like other beloved works of any genre, it has taken on different forms through arrangements by musicians eager to experience it and lend a new perspective.
On Sunday, September 20 at 4:00 pm, Akron’s Arts at Holy Trinity will present Die schöne Müllerin in a recently-recorded, virtual performance by baritone Michael Kelly and guitarist David Leisner. Adding another touch of interpretation, visual artist Kevork Mourad will offer prepared animation and imagery to accompany the music. Click here to register to attend.
During a recent Zoom call with Leisner, who made the arrangement, and who chairs the guitar department at the Manhattan School of Music, I asked about the inspiration behind moving this cycle into the world of the guitar.
by Daniel Hathaway
When the Baltimore Consort presents their program “Adew Dundee: Early and Traditional Music of Scotland” at Akron’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Sunday, October 28 (note date correction!) at 4:00 pm, the ensemble will be revisiting its roots. As violist da gamba Mary Anne Ballard said in a telephone conversation, “Our first recording was of that repertoire. We’ve always been in love with the tunes of Scotland.”
Before that, the Consort was inaugurated by Roger Harmon, who taught guitar at the Peabody Conservatory. “He played a lot of lute music on guitar, and wanted to find ensemble music that involved the lute,” Ballard said. “He found Thomas Morley’s Consort Lessons of 1599, which was written for treble viol, flute or recorder, lute, cittern, pandora, and bass gamba, and formed a similar ensemble in 1979. It’s a wonderful sound to have a melody floating over plucked instruments that underpin the tune with rhythmic chords or running diminutions.”
Beyond the Morley collection, the written repertoire from the turn of the 17th century wasn’t huge. “There are only four main sources from around 1600,” Ballard said, “and we used those as a template for our own arrangements of popular songs and dances — the kind of tunes mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays that most people would have known.”
Thus the genesis of “Adew Dundee,” a group effort for which Ballard served as coordinator. [Read more…]