Boris Allakhverdyan Archives - Cleveland Classical

Oberlin Winter Chamber Music Festival: the Prima Trio in Kulas Hall (January 10)

January 13, 2015 by Daniel Hathaway

by Daniel Hautzinger

Certain chamber music ensembles make intuitive sense. A string quartet has four voices with matching timbres, perfect for writing balanced counterpoint, while a wind quintet provides a variety of colors and allows for cohesive ensemble playing, since all the players must breathe. But the Prima Trio’s combination of clarinet, violin (or viola), and piano is less obvious. Each instrument hails from a different family, each with a distinct tone color and disparate methods of articulation and phrasing. [Read more…]

Prima Trio to perform in Oberlin on January 10: a conversation with clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan

January 6, 2015 by Daniel Hathaway

by Mike Telin

Founded at the Oberlin Conservatory in 2004, Prima Trio (Boris Allakhverdyan, clarinet, Gulia Gurevich, violin and viola, and Anastasia Dedik, piano), were awarded the Grand Prize at the 2007 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. On Saturday, January 10 at 8:00 pm in Oberlin’s Kulas Recital Hall, Prima Trio will present a concert featuring music by Schumann, Piazzolla, Khachaturian, Milhaud and Srul Irving Glick as part of Oberlin’s Winter Term Chamber Music Festival.

Although its members have gone on to establish impressive individual careers, the Trio continues to tour internationally. In recent seasons they have appeared on the “Junge Elite” Series at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany), at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, on the Oakton Chamber Music Series, and on the Dumbarton Oaks series in Washington D.C. They also made their Los Angeles début with three concerts on the Da Camera Society series.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra’s holiday concerts return with plenty of festive cheer (Dec. 11)

by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — If the twinkling lights, leafy green garlands and festive poinsettias didn’t already clue you in, the holidays have arrived at Severance Music Center. ‘Tis the season for annual traditions — including The Cleveland Orchestra’s holiday concerts, which began on Wednesday evening.

Running through December 22, the programs feature plenty of seasonal classics plus some potential new favorites. The first performance proved that this mix is a delightful recipe for festive cheer.

“Look at you all, out on a school night!” conductor Sarah Hicks proclaimed joyfully from the podium. Just as many concertgoers donned red outfits to get into the spirit, Mandel Concert Hall was also decked out with decorations and stage lighting effects.

[Read on…]

Oberlin Conservatory convincingly tells Omar’s story (Dec. 8)

by Stephanie Manning

The Cleveland premiere of Rhiannon Giddens’ and Michael Abels’ Pultizer Prize-winning opera Omar on December 8 at the Maltz Performing Arts Center proved that concert productions of opera can succeed without sets, elaborate costumes and extensive staging. Indeed, the Oberlin Conservatory presentation offered more than enough to keep the audience in the crowded house enthralled.

The Opera, which was also presented at Oberlin’s Finney Chapel two days earlier, is based on the 1831 autobiography of Muslim scholar Omar ibn Said, the only such work written by an enslaved person during their enslavement, and the only such document written in Arabic.

Rhiannon Giddens’ brilliant libretto chronicles the life of ibn Said, beginning in present-day Senegal and following him through his capture, journey via the Middle Passage, and enslavement in North and South Carolina. [Read on…]

Kirill Gerstein is captivating on piano as Cleveland Orchestra recital series continues (Dec. 4)

by Daniel Hathaway

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — There’s no dearth of first-class piano performances to enjoy in Northeast Ohio, but Kirill Gerstein’s contribution to the collective wealth Wednesday night was extraordinary both in concept and execution.

Playing as part of the Cleveland Orchestra’s ongoing recital series at Severance Music Center, Gerstein wove an overarching narrative from the 21 little masked ball portraits in Robert Schumann’s “Carnaval.” Then he helped composer Francisco Coll blow up the idea of the waltz in two striking, brand new pieces written for Gerstein and joined Maurice Ravel in redefining that most civilized of dances in a cataclysmic performance of “La valse.”

[Read on…]

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