by Daniel Hathaway
COVID-19 may have interrupted the celebration of Beethoven’s 250th Birthday in December 2020, but the Cavani String Quartet has made that event a moveable feast.
On Sunday, September 19, the ensemble will play the first of eight concerts featuring all sixteen of LvB’s quartets. The “Beyond Beethoven” performances, to take place in eight different venues, will match pairs of his quartets with contemporary works, culminating in a grand finale in Severance Hall on December 7.
by Stephanie Manning
Though this past year took a lot from musicians, it also gave many the rare gift of time. Jinjoo Cho, artistic director of ENCORE Chamber Music Institute, decided to use that time to bring a long-held idea of hers to fruition — but first, it would require a lot of research. Starting June 6, ENCORE will present its 2021 Music & Ideas Festival, a reimagined format that makes the organization’s sixth season its most ambitious yet.
Combining classical music with innovative ideas, Cho curated programs “sparked by” eight individuals she considers her personal inspirations. This group includes scientists and activists as well as a writer, visual artist, jazz singer, and former president. Each concert will be paired with a preceding panel discussion, with topics ranging from “The Power of Introverted Minds” to “Gen Z’s Crumbling Earth.”
After two YouTube Live events, the concert season, titled FIRE, kicks off on June 11 with a program from the Ariel Quartet inspired by Marie Curie. The pioneering scientist won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 — the same year Maurice Ravel composed his String Quartet in F, which will be paired with works by Robert Schumann and Amy Beach.
by Daniel Hathaway
That the Cavani String Quartet, even in its transitional state, continues to draw a large and devoted following attests to its long and close relationship with the many students the ensemble mentored during its tenure at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Those fans, along with current ENCORE Chamber Music participants, packed the music room at Gilmour Academy’s Tudor House on Friday, June 14 for a program of Mozart, Martinů, and Dvořák. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
Bohemian music celebrating life and the arts is the theme for ENCORE Chamber Music’s fourth season, titled “La Bohème.” From June through mid-July, the festival will present eight ticketed faculty concerts, seven free student performances, and seventeen free master classes, all at the Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills. Both single tickets and season passes are available.
The Jupiter String Quartet (above) kicks off the season on Friday, June 7 at 7:00 pm at the Tudor House with a program that includes Puccini’s Crisantemi (“Chrysanthemums”), Janáček’s Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata,” and Dvořák’s Quartet No. 13 in G.
Another side of the Jupiter will be on display the next day, June 8 during master classes at 10:00 am and 4:00 pm at the campus’s middle school band room.