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Arts @ Holy Trinity, Akron: Organist Peter Sykes (Nov. 19)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The last time that Boston-based organist Peter Sykes played at Akron’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, his program featured his own arrangement of Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

On Sunday afternoon, November 19, Sykes returned to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Arts @ Holy Trinity concert series with an engaging program of miniatures by William Byrd, Max Reger, and Louis Vierne, introduced and concluded by big works by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Sebastian Bach.

With a nod to his hosts and a twinkle in his eye, Sykes quipped in his opening remarks that his concert would begin and end with pieces by Lutherans. [Read more…]

Arts @ Holy Trinity:
Miguel Espinoza Fusion
(Oct. 8)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Imagine a small band of musicians, each skilled but of dissimilar traditions, combining their talents for a banquet of world styles — Celtic, flamenco, Brazilian, and French — and you have an idea of the artistry of Miguel Espinoza Fusion. Presented at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron on Sunday, October 8, this was the inaugural concert of Arts @ Holy Trinity’s 40th season.

[Read more…]

“The Story of a Pianist” —
Ukrainian-born Inna Faliks
on her monologue-recital
& her home country

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Inna Faliks has always found it natural to mix and match the arts.

“I think that’s directly related to growing up in Odessa, Ukraine, in a musical household, but also a household of people who love books,” the UCLA piano professor said during a recent telephone conversation. “I feel like the arts speak to each other in a way that’s extremely natural, so exploring that has never been anything that I decided to do. It’s always been second-nature to me.”

That’s been evident throughout Faliks’ career in projects combining music with poetry and theater. In the category of musical autobiography is her monologue-recital “Polonaise-Fantaisie: Story of a Pianist,” which she will bring to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron on Sunday, March 27 at 4:00 pm as part of the Arts @ Holy Trinity series.

Faliks has described this one-woman show as her most personal. The narrative, spanning from immigration to music and love, is interspersed with works by Rodion Shchedrin, J.S. Bach, Jan Freidlin, Niccolò Paganini, Franz Liszt, Mozart, Chopin, and Beethoven. Admission is free. Click here to see the full program and to register for the livestream option.

[Read more…]

Bayan + flute: Arts @ Holy Trinity to present Stasera Duo

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Recently, maybe just by coincidence, Akron’s Arts @ Holy Trinity series has been highlighting uncommon, intriguing pairings of instruments — ones that often represent different spheres of the musical world, but that overlap in some slight way.

Last month brought clarinet and acoustic guitar, which share the same basic material: wood. And next up is flute and accordion, which derive their sound from the same place: air.

More specifically, when Stephanie Jutt and Stanislav Venglevski of the Stasera Duo give a virtual concert on Sunday, March 21 at 4:00 pm (register here), the combination that will be on display is flute and bayan, a type of chromatic button accordion developed in Russia that’s known for its wide range and rich sound.

Their program is diverse — it’s mostly made up of Venglevski’s original works, but also includes music by Astor Piazzolla, Isaac Albéniz, Alexander Tziganov, Raimundo Pineda, Claude Debussy, Henry Mancini, and J.S. Bach. It’s also very recent. The Duo was scheduled to record it on Monday at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

[Read more…]

Arts @ Holy Trinity celebrates Mardi Gras with Guy Van Duser & Billy Novick

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by Jarrett Hoffman

A guitarist walks up to a clarinetist and asks, “You play any jazz?” What sounds like the start of a bad joke was actually the start of a musical relationship that hits 45 years this month.

That makes two reasons to celebrate. Both that milestone and the festival of Mardi Gras will be in the air when guitarist Guy Van Duser and clarinetist Billy Novick visit Akron’s Arts @ Holy Trinity series on Fat Tuesday, February 16 at 7:00 pm.

For the occasion, they’ve put together a pre-recorded concert largely built around classic New Orleans jazz, a staple of their repertoire. The playlist includes works by Jelly Roll Morton, George Gershwin, Andy Razaf, Hoagy Carmichael, Scott Joplin, Jimmie Noone, and Duke Ellington, as well as an original by Novick.

[Read more…]

Organist Christa Rakich talks about her Akron program

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by Daniel Hathaway

The second concert in the Arts at Holy Trinity series in Akron will be an organ recital by Oberlin Visiting Professor Christa Rakich on Sunday, October 4 at 4:00 pm. It’s a hybrid event that you can either attend in person — following the usual health protocols — or watch on Holy Trinity Lutheran Church’s live stream.

I caught up with the jovial recitalist in her Oberlin studio to talk about her wide-ranging selection of pieces, each of which comes with a story or a personal connection attached. Noting that she’s going to be playing settings of Vom Himmel hoch, In dulci jubilo, and Puer natus in Bethlehem, I suggested that she’s getting ready to celebrate Christmas early.

“Most organists do. Our heads are in the coming season and not really in the present. We’re all thinking about how we’re going to handle Advent and Christmas during the pandemic.”

Rakich said that her discovery of a piece by David Arcus, an Oberlin grad who went on to teach at Duke, was the springboard for the opening set of the program. [Read more…]

Chatham Baroque & friends at Holy Trinity in Akron (May 20)

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by Nicholas Stevens

20180520-ChathamBaroqueInAkronFor all its fantastic variety of styles and scenes, the Baroque era has left us with only a few household composers’ names. History is cruel. However, thanks to ensembles like Chatham Baroque, music that has fallen through the cracks breathes anew. Pieces by Legrenzi, Bertali, Buxtehude, and especially Kapsberger stood as highlights in a recent program, which also included music by Handel, Vivaldi, and Monteverdi. [Read more…]

Organist Bruce Neswick at Holy Trinity Akron (May 15)

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by Timothy Robson

NESWICK-Bruce2The distinguished American church musician and organist Bruce Neswick appeared in recital in Akron on Friday, May 15 as part of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church’s Arts @ Holy Trinity concert series. Neswick is Interim Canon for Music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. He was previously on the faculty at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and served as director of music for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

[Read more…]

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