by Mike Telin
Founded in 2010 by violist Kim Kashkashian, the Boston-based non-profit Music for Food is a musician-led initiative for local hunger relief. On Sunday, November 8 at 2:00 pm, the newly-formed Cleveland chapter of Music for Food, spearheaded by noted cellist and educator Sharon Robinson, will present its inaugural benefit concert at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland, 2728 Lancashire Road in Cleveland Heights. There is no admission charge, but the freewill offering will benefit the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
“Hunger knows no boundaries,” Robinson said during a recent conversation. “The Greater Cleveland Food Bank does an amazing job, and for every dollar we raise they can feed four people a good meal. I think if we all do our part we can help to relieve this terrible hunger crisis everywhere.” [Read more…]
Arts Renaissance Tremont opened its twenty-fifth anniversary season Sunday with an ambitious and satisfying program of two masterpieces of the piano trio repertoire: Beethoven’s Opus 97 in B-flat (“Archduke”) and Shostakovich’s Opus 67 in e-minor. Performing were the members of the Autana Trio (Venezuelan violinist Rubén Rengel, cellist Anna Hurt — originally from Utah — and South Korean pianist Yuri Noh), who are participants in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Advanced Piano Trio Program, directed by noted cellist Sharon Robinson. 
Since its founding in 1973, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition — the largest chamber music competition in the world — has helped launch the careers of many notable chamber music ensembles. Alumni and past winners with ties to Northeast Ohio include the Aeolus Quartet, Cavani Quartet, eighth blackbird, Imani Winds, Jasper Quartet, Jupiter Quartet, Miami String Quartet, Miro Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, and Prima Trio. Most recently, the Omer Quartet, representing the Cleveland Institute of Music, won the senior division string and grand prizes in 2013.