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ChamberFest Cleveland: talking Cage with Rabinovich

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by Jarrett Hoffman

This weekend a collection of carefully placed screws, bolts, and pieces of wood, cloth, and rubber will make the Steinway in CIM’s Mixon Hall sound less like a piano and more like an ensemble of percussion instruments.

For that we can thank two men: John Cage for inventing the prepared piano (in which objects placed among the strings alter the sound of the instrument), and Roman Rabinovich for playing Cage’s The Perilous Night on Saturday, June 22 during a 7:30 pm concert titled “Sei Solo (You Are Alone),” the sixth of the season for ChamberFest Cleveland.

The sounds that emerge from the instrument will surprise even the man looking down at the keys. “When you get to the prepared piano, it kind of blows your mind because nothing comes out the way you expect,” Rabinovich, winner of the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, said during a recent interview. “It’s a beautiful effect and a very interesting way to approach the instrument.”

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ChamberFest Cleveland: a conversation with Young Artist Evren Ozel

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by Mike Telin

From its inception, the nurturing of young artists has been an important part of ChamberFest Cleveland’s mission. That tradition will continue during the Festival’s opening concert on Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 pm in CIM’s Mixon Hall, when pianist Evren Ozel joins clarinetist Franklin Cohen and cellist Peter Wiley for a performance of Beethoven’s Clarinet Trio in B-flat. “It’s an unbelievable opportunity,” Ozel said by telephone. “This is my first time playing that piece and to get to do it with these great masters of their instruments is very exciting.”

Ozel began his musical studies at age three in his hometown of Minneapolis and in 2014 moved to Massachusetts to attend the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. His many achievements include scholarships from the U.S. Chopin Foundation and the YoungArts Foundation. He has performed three times on NPR’s From the Top, and has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival and International Mendelssohn Akademie Leipzig. He was awarded second prize as well as the Mozart and Chopin special prizes at the 2018 Dublin International Piano Competition.

The pianist is also no stranger to Cleveland-area audiences — he was a finalist and audience prize-winner at the 2014 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition. In 2016 he returned to the Cooper and was awarded second prize. He recently completed his second year at the New England Conservatory.   [Read more…]

Bach and electronics: Alexi Kenney explains his ChamberFest solo program

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Even for Alexi Kenney — who has loved Bach since age six and considers the Chaconne from the Second Violin Partita to be one of the greatest pieces of all time — digesting the work is not easy.

That’s partly because it’s often performed as a standalone. “It’s so hard for me to get into the right headspace to hear something that intricate, monumental, and emotionally deep,” the violinist said during a recent phone call on a hot day in New York City.

That thought set the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient on a quest to put the work in context, and to help audiences feel receptive to what it has to offer. What he devised might surprise you: a solo program that interweaves movements from Bach’s Sonatas No. 1 in g and No. 3 in C with short pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries, some involving electronics, and all leading up to what else but the famous Chaconne. Kenney will present that program, titled “Bach to the Future,” on Tuesday, June 18 at 9:00 pm at The Wine Spot in Cleveland Heights as part of ChamberFest Cleveland.

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June 15 ChamberFest concert prelude to present Golka’s Debussy arrangement

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by Rory O’Donoghue

For pianist Adam Golka, arranging should be organic. Along with his good friend Roman Rabinovitch, he’ll perform his new arrangement of Debussy’s luminous La mer for two pianos on Saturday, June 15 at 6:45 pm in Mixon Hall as a prelude to ChamberFest’s Turning/Tipping Points.

“For many years I was in love with La mer and I yearned for a way to perform it,” Golka said by email, “and though I played around with the idea, it became clear that a two-hand solo version would have too many compromises. There is no way one pianist could bring out all the gorgeous textures and layers of the orchestral score, and each detail is so utterly exquisite.”

La mer premiered in Paris in 1905 to a middling reception, but gained traction over the next few years and secured an enduring place in the orchestral canon following its second Parisian outing in 1908. Its evocative movement titles — “De l’aube à midi sur la mer” (“From dawn to midday on the sea”), “Jeux de vagues” (“Play of the Waves”), and “Dialogue du vent et de la mer” (“Dialogue of the wind and the sea”) — offer ample room for interpretation, and Debussy’s deliberate avoidance of calling it a “symphony” in favor of “three symphonic sketches” all contribute to the work’s enigmatic beauty. [Read more…]

Deng sisters to open for second ChamberFest concert on June 14

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by Rory O’Donoghue

“We’ve been playing together since we were kids – well, not that we aren’t still kids,” 11 year-old violinist Corina Deng said, laughing, in a telephone interview last Friday. She’ll join her 16-year old sister, pianist Athena Deng, for a special performance at 7:15 pm before In Full Swing, this Friday’s 7:30 pm ChamberFest concert in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. For the two young musicians, familial ties are the secret to their success.

“As sisters, there’s something about our communication that’s really special,” Athena said. “We don’t have any filter in telling each other our real thoughts. Usually at the end, we fully understand what the other wants.” The duo will perform Ravel’s Tzigane and Dvořák’s Romantic Pieces, Op. 75 (Nos. 1, 2, and 3), which they both agree will be an excellent opportunity to showcase their respective talents. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland 2019: Under the Influence

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by Mike Telin

Since bursting onto the scene in 2012 with its Big Bang!, ChamberFest Cleveland has established itself as an organization of the highest musical integrity with a seemingly endless number of themed programs. Looking through the archives of this publication, it’s fascinating to see the imaginative and clever way the Festival has reinvented itself each year.

But a closer look reveals that ChamberFest’s mission, “to nurture a deep family-like connection between musicians and audiences of all ages,” has never waned. In summing up the 2016 season, ClevelandClassical.com critic Neil McCalmont noted, “Technical prowess, fierce dedication, and the cultivation of friendships all contribute to ChamberFest’s captivating concerts, which keep audiences coming back season after season.”

Season 8, titled Under the Influence, considers the factors that inspire and influence composers. Cutting-edge pieces by John Adams, John Cage, and Steve Reich will anchor works by other classical composers. Pre-concert talks will be held prior to most concerts and are open to the public. Tickets and subscriptions are on sale now and range in price from $15 to $40. For concert details and additional information, call (216) 471-8887 or visit www.chamberfestcleveland.com.

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ChamberFest Cleveland: Hollingsworth House Concert (May 16)

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by Timothy Robson

The third and final house concert of ChamberFest Cleveland’s spring season took place on May 16 at the home of Mark and Sue Hollingsworth in Shaker Heights. The central “great room,” with its two-story ceiling, surrounding mezzanine, and grand staircase, was a perfect venue for the several dozen people in attendance, who flanked the performers on three sides. The ambiance was intimate but not oppressive. [Read more…]

ChamberFest: catching up with pianist Andrius Žlabys

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by Jarrett Hoffman

“As I get older I’m really enjoying situations where the audience is five feet away from you and you can feel everyone’s energy,” clarinetist Franklin Cohen told us in March. That month ChamberFest Cleveland, which he co-directs with his daughter Diana Cohen, launched its House Concert Series.

To Lithuanian-born pianist Andrius Žlabys, what’s interesting about house concerts is that they are always unique. “There’s much more variety than with regular concerts, from room size to pianos,” he said from New Haven, Connecticut during a telephone conversation last week. “As a pianist, of course I get to meet new instruments all the time, so it’s always an adventure.”

The third and final event in ChamberFest’s House Concert Series takes place on Thursday, May 16 at 7:30 pm in the home of Mark and Sue Hollingsworth in Shaker Heights — the address will be printed on your receipt after you purchase a ticket.

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ChamberFest at Blackstone Organ House (Apr. 11)

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by David Kulma

The second event in Chamberfest Cleveland’s new House Concert Series on April 11 was a feast for the ears as well as the eyes, set at the astounding Blackstone Organ House on Lake Erie in Bratenahl and featuring two ChamberFest regulars, violinist Alexi Kenney and pianist Orion Weiss. Fittingly, the evening opened with Hannah Koby playing J.S. Bach’s Fugue in E-flat, BWV 552/2 on the 7400-pipe Aeolian-Skinner organ. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland announces Season Eight

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ChamberFest Cleveland, the celebrated summer music festival founded by Franklin Cohen, principal clarinet emeritus of The Cleveland Orchestra, and his daughter, Diana Cohen, concertmaster of The Calgary Philharmonic, returns to the Cleveland scene with Season 8, “Under the Influence.” The festival will take place from June 13 through June 29, 2019, at venues throughout Greater Cleveland, and will include nine concerts plus a special late-night electronic violin performance at The Wine Spot on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.

Concerts kick off on Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 pm at Mixon Hall. ChamberFest will also make stops at Cleveland State University’s Drinko Hall, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, and Harkness Chapel on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

ChamberFest will welcome back many favorite musicians in addition to Co-founders and Co-artistic Directors, Franklin and Diana Cohen. Yura Lee, Alexi Kenney, Oliver Herbert, Peter Wiley, Roman Rabinovich, Julie Albers, Amy Schwartz Moretti, and more will join new artists including Israeli Philharmonic principal oboe Dudu Carmel and Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen. Four up-and-coming players will take part in ChamberFest’s “Rising Stars” program.

[Read more…]

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