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Ayreheart to play two area performances this weekend

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by Mike Telin

AyreheartOn Thursday, April 7 at 8:00 pm at the Bop Stop, the band Ayreheart (Ronn McFarlane, lute, Brian Kay, vocals and lute, Will Morris, colascione, and  Mattias Rucht, percussion) will present a concert titled “Will You Walk the Woods so Wild.” The concert will be repeated on Friday, April 8 at Kent Unitarian Universalist Church in Kent, also at 8:00 pm.

“We do call ourselves a band, but we’re hard-pressed to figure out what kind of band we are,” Ronn McFarlane joked during a recent telephone conversation while en route to Michigan to start Ayreheart’s ten-day, nine-concert tour. “We formed to play original music that I was writing for lute, and songs with lute and other instruments like percussion and bass. But we also love the old music, so even when we have concerts focused on the new we always play a good bit of old.”   [Read more…]

The Syndicate for the New Arts presents triple bill at the Bop Stop April 9

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by Mike Telin

Bop-Stop-040916On Saturday, April 9 at 8:00 pm at the Bop Stop, The Syndicate for the New Arts will continue their season with a triple bill evening that highlights the diversity of today’s contemporary classical music scene.

The evening will kick off with Costa Rica-born composer Julio Zúñiga’s 24 (2014) performed by Syndicate members Ben Rempel (percussion), Caitlin Mehrtens (harp), and Austin Lewellen (contrabass). The Syndicate set will also include Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Particles (2007) — a duo for harp and percussion performed by Rempel and Mehrtens. [Read more…]

Grand Valley New Music Ensemble to perform at Bop Stop March 16

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by Mike Telin

GVSU EnsembleSince giving their first concert in April of 2006, the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, under the direction of Bill Ryan, has been on a fast track to establishing itself as one of the premier collegiate groups dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music.

To celebrate the ensemble’s tenth anniversary, Ryan and his young musicians will begin their five-day tour with a performance at the Bop Stop on Wednesday, March 16 beginning at 8:00 pm featuring their new Music in their Words project. The evening will also include selections from their CD In C Remixed as a tribute to Terry Riley’s 80th birthday year as well as commissions from their National Parks project, dance-inspired commissions, and a soundtrack to an animated short film. [Read more…]

Ches Smith, Craig Taborn &
Mat Maneri Trio bring their debut
CD, The Bell, to Bop Stop

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by Mike Telin

BopStop-022016“I’ve been listening to Mat (Maneri) for a long time…and I just really loved his playing,” drummer and composer Ches Smith (left in the photo) told us in a telephone conversation. “I’ve seen Craig (Taborn) around and like what he does, but when a gig opportunity came along to improvise with both of them, I jumped on it. And that led to all of this.” The “this” Smith is referring to is the Trio’s debut CD on the ECM label, The Bell. On Saturday, February 20 at 8:00 pm, the Smith, Taborn, Maneri trio will present a concert at Bop Stop featuring through-composed material from the album designed to stimulate open-ended improvisation. The concert is a co-production with New Ghosts.

Since drummer Ches Smith, pianist Craig Taborn, and violist Mat Maneri debuted as a trio during the 2014 New York Winter Jazzfest the three musicians have dedicated much of their professional careers to making the album. [Read more…]

Inspired by Bop Stop,
Music Settlement to expand
its West Side presence

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by Daniel Hathaway

Bop-Stop-RecitalIn December, the Music Settlement’s trustees approved a plan to establish a second campus for the 103-year-old music school in the Hingetown neighborhood on Cleveland’s near-West Side.

The University Circle institution had already established a presence across the Cuyahoga River when it accepted the gift of the Bop Stop, a former jazz club at West 29th Street and Detroit Avenue, and re-opened it as a performance and education venue in the fall of 2014.

The new 19,000 square-foot campus, to be located at the corner of Detroit Avenue and West 25th Street, will be ready to launch in the fall of 2017 and will serve the Settlement’s programs in preschool, music, and music therapy. The nearby Bop Stop, which has established itself as a first-rate concert venue in its own right, will function as the performance hub for the new campus. [Read more…]

BOP STOP enters its second season: a chat with manager Gabe Pollack

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by Mike Telin

POLLACK-GabeAnyone who’s a fan of the long-running television sitcom Cheers will undoubtedly remember the show’s catchy theme song which includes the “philosophical” line,  ‘sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.’ Since the BOP STOP began regularly presenting concerts during the fall of 2014, manager Gabe Pollack has taken that line to heart.

He’s usually the first person to say hello when you enter the inviting venue — if he doesn’t know your name, he soon will. And by the time you leave you’ll likely know the names of most of the other audience members, as well as those of the performers. Pollack is the venue’s Sam Malone, and his friendly staff is the supporting cast. Between June 27, 2014 and September 6, 2015 Pollack welcomed nearly 8,000 “Bop Stoppers” to performances at The Music Settlement’s West Side venue. [Read more…]

Decho Ensemble at Bop Stop (July 19)

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by Mike Telin

Decho-EnsembleWhen the Belgian instrument maker Adolph Sax invented the instrument that bears his name in 1840, it’s unlikely that he imagined the many ways the saxophone would be employed by musicians of differing musical genres. On Sunday, July 19 at the Bop Stop, the excellent Decho Ensemble (Jacob Swanson, soprano sax, Sarah Marchitelli, alto sax, Nicholas Child, tenor sax, Jared Yackiw, baritone sax) played a concert of music on vintage instruments that highlighted the saxophone’s classical origins, as well as celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Adolph Sax. [Read more…]

“Sneak Peek in Chill Setting” — John HC Thompson on FiveOne’s album preview concert at the Bop Stop

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by Jarrett Hoffman

FiveOne-Experimental-Orchestra“We like to keep a very loose atmosphere at our concerts, almost like a party or a rock show, where people can move around, drink, and chat,” said FiveOne Experimental Orchestra’s artistic director, John HC Thompson. “We play a lot of nuanced, delicate music, but we don’t do it in a stiff, sit-down, traditional classical music way.”

On Friday, May 8 at 9:00 pm, FiveOne Experimental Orchestra (51XO) will offer Bop Stop listeners a glimpse of the group’s upcoming album. In addition to premiering Michael Bratt’s Atari Punk, they will perform works by Jeremy Allen, John HC Thompson, David Crowell, Michael Laurello, and Ted Hearne. Admission is free.

[Read more…]

Gruca White Ensemble at Bop Stop (April 18)

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by Jane Berkner

Gruca-White-EnsembleThe Gruca White Ensemble must have a special connection to the number 100. Their formation as a flute and guitar duo dates back to 2013, when they played an hour-long concert on WCLV as a part of The Music Settlement’s Centennial Celebration. Then, at the duo’s concert on Saturday night, April 18, Bop Stop manager Gabe Pollack told the audience that we were attending the 100th performance hosted by The Music Settlement at the facility. Linda White and Robert Gruca became Artists in Residence at The Music Settlement in 2014, and their concert this weekend showcased their appealing collaboration. [Read more…]

The Syndicate for the New Arts: launch party at BOP STOP April 12

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by Mike Telin

SyndicateFlyerWith so many outstanding conservatories and schools of music located in Northeast Ohio, it was only a matter of time before the area became a new hotbed for contemporary classical music. And why shouldn’t it be? On Sunday, April 12 at 6:00 pm, the most recent addition to this increasingly vibrant scene, The Syndicate for the New Arts, will make its debut with a Launch Party at the BOP STOP. The evening will feature works by Jeffrey Mumford, John Sokol, Geoffrey King, Peter Kramer, Andrew Stock, John Burnett, Jessie Downs and Joshua Rosner. In celebration of the event, the BOP STOP chefs (Scene Magazine award winners for best food truck) will prepare a special menu to accompany the concert. [Read more…]

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