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ChamberFest Cleveland announces its seventh season, to run June 14-30

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by Daniel Hathaway

COHEN-Frank-&-DianaNine concerts under the banner of “In Search of Freedom” will take place in venues around Cleveland from June 14-30 as ChamberFest Cleveland launches its seventh season with a look into the individual struggles and joys of composers.

Founded by Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinet emeritus Franklin Cohen and his daughter, Diana Cohen, who is concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic, the festival will feature such favorite artists as Yura Lee, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Alexi Kenney, Oliver Herbert, Roman Rabinovich, Orion Weiss, Nathan Farrington, Julie Albers, and Amy Schwartz Moretti. Among the new faces in 2018 will be flutist Lorna McGhee and violist Tanner Menees, one of this summer’s artists in residence. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: Two Concerts and a toast (June 29 & July 1)

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by Mike Telin

CFCJune29Mixon-1Last weekend ChamberFest Cleveland presented the final three concerts of its 2017 edition. I attended two of the performances which exemplified why the Festival has become a crown jewel in the area’s rich classical music scene. The inventive programming ranged from the almost never heard, to the seldom heard, to music by giants of the repertoire. Above all, the performances of the five works were beyond reproach. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: “Sunset” at Reinberger Hall (June 30)

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by Samantha Spaccasi

CFCJune30Reinberger-1Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Hall hosted the penultimate concert of ChamberFest Cleveland’s sixth season on the evening of June 30. It was the first ChamberFest experience for my family, who were visiting from the Washington, D.C. area. I told them they were in for a treat and they weren’t disappointed — the musicians delivered a wonderful performance. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland – “Youth” (June 25)

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by Samantha Spaccasi

DunhamDunham Tavern Museum is a perfect venue for an afternoon of chamber music. On Sunday afternoon, June 25, the seventh installment of this year’s ChamberFest explored the theme of “Youth” and featured early works by Beethoven and Bartók. The concert began with Wilhelm Popp’s Rigoletto Variations, performed by flutist Demarre McGill and pianist Zoltán Fejérvári. McGill gave a nuanced performance of this flashy piece, bringing it to light with impeccable phrasing. [Read more…]

ChamberFest: Josef Špaček on music, travel, and social media

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Josef-Špaček-by-©-Radovan-Subin-4ChamberFest Cleveland brings a new face to town this week. Making his Cleveland debut on Thursday, June 29, violinist Josef Špaček will play three concerts in three days, performing works by Schnittke, Strauss, Mozart, and Dvořák as he helps bring the 2017 edition of ChamberFest to a close.

Born in Třebíč, Czech Republic, Josef Špaček has been concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic since 2011 and was named Associate Artist by the orchestra in 2016. A graduate of Juilliard, Curtis, and the Prague Conservatory, he was a laureate of the International Queen Elisabeth Competition, and won top prizes at the Michael Hill and Carl Nielsen International Violin Competitions. As a soloist, he has performed with such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, and Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.

Špaček picked up the phone after wiping away the tears of his 9-month-old daughter and getting her to bed. “She’s asleep now, but one never knows. Babies kind of wake up any time they want,” he said with his trademark laugh. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland explores “Hommage” (June 23)

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by Joshua Rosner

CFCBachJune23On June 23, as beautiful light poured through Mixon Hall’s many windows, ChamberFest Cleveland presented “Hommage,” a program showcasing composers paying tribute to J.S. Bach. The concert began with the final two movements of Bach’s Suite No. 2 in b, replacing the originally programmed Cantata BWV 209 due to the withdrawal of mezzo-soprano Lauren Eberwein. [Read more…]

“Fin de Siècle” — ChamberFest at Mixon Hall (June 22)

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by Joshua Rosner

CFCBrahmsTrioThe audience at Mixon Hall was abuzz with anticipation Thursday night, June 22 for the fifth installment of the sixth season of ChamberFest Cleveland. “Fin de Siècle” (end of century) was a tapestry of compositions with roots in Austria from before and after the First World War. The evening consisted of works by Brahms, Ravel, and Korngold and was designed to showcase pianist Orion Weiss, a Lyndhurst native. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments at Transformer Station (June 20)

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by Timothy Robson

CFCKafka1György Kurtág, unlike his friend and fellow Hungarian György Ligeti, never softened his composing style. While his early works were more or less tonal, Ligeti’s style turned to modernism in the 1960s before evolving to become considerably more approachable by casual listeners. Kurtág’s severely modernist music is austerely beautiful and darkly dramatic, perhaps more to be admired than loved. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: Itamar Zorman on chamber music

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by Samantha Spaccasi

Screen Shot 2017-06-20 at 1.28.14 PMItamar Zorman is enamored by chamber music. “I love the repertoire! There are so many fun works to play,” he said in a phone conversation. During the past year, the Israeli violinist played all over the world, making appearances in Dublin and Serbia. His next stop? ChamberFest Cleveland, performing this week in “Fin de Siècle,” “Hommage,” and “Youth.” See our Concert Listings for more details.

When he’s not touring, the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition winner remains busy with the Lysander Piano Trio. The group has a similar mission to ChamberFest, something that was attractive to Zorman. “The Lysanders are also working on creative repertoire and enriching our programming, not unlike what ChamberFest does,” he said. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: opening concert (June 15)

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by Timothy Robson

CFC061517-BachWith the theme of Cycles: Phases, the sixth ChamberFest Cleveland opened Thursday evening, June 15, in Mixon Hall, at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The theme reflects on “the complexity of the human experience at each stage of life, and ultimately circles around all types of musical, political and emotional phases.”

The concert showed off the qualities we have come to expect from ChamberFest: brilliantly imaginative programming, with a mix of old, new, familiar, and unfamiliar works, in superior performances by (mostly young) musicians hand-picked by festival directors Franklin and Diana Cohen. [Read more…]

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