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CityMusic Cleveland with Groundworks at St. Stan’s (Feb. 27)

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by Peter Feher

Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time is already a production in itself. The music alone, not to mention the circumstances of its composition, is a lot to untangle.

CityMusic Cleveland brought out the complexities of the piece in a multimedia performance on February 27 that incorporated dance, cinematography, and even the atmosphere of the venue.

A long white sheet hung from the vault to the floor and obscured the altar at the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus on Sunday. The setting was sacred, and Messiaen’s inspiration was pointedly religious (his work quotes from the Book of Revelation), but there was something secular to the setup. [Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland: “Tales and Scenes” (Jan. 21)

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by Stephanie Manning

The Christmas season appeared to still be in full swing at the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus on January 21. Merry wreaths, festive trees, and twinkling lights filled the cavernous space three weeks into the new year. The evening was a chilly one, and most audience members chose to keep their coats on as they settled into their seats for CityMusic Cleveland’s captivating chamber program, “Tales and Scenes.”

The Pantheon Ensemble kicked off the concert with J.S. Bach’s Concerto in f, where pianist Elizabeth DeMio was joined by violinists Masha Andreini and Mari Sato, violist Yaël Senamaud-Cohen, cellist Nataliya Pschenychna, and bassist Tracy Rowell. The group approached the Bach with a rich, dramatic style fitting for both the piece and the venue. But although the architecture of St. Stanislaus is visually impressive, its extremely resonant space was not always beneficial to the ensemble’s blend and balance.

[Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland: 
“Musical Matrix” (Oct. 2)

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by Peter Feher

CityMusic Cleveland has always been on a mission. This season, the group is staying true to its community vision — music for everyone, and concerts for free — even if performances look a little different in 2021. The programming is slimmed down from chamber orchestra to chamber music, and there’s an increased emphasis on new works (each program this season features a world premiere).

Cleverly, CityMusic’s latest concert led listeners through these changes one step at a time. “Musical Matrix” took transformation as its theme, and each piece on the October 2 program at the Maltz Performing Arts Center (the second of two performances) put its spin on the subject. [Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland: “In Search of Peace” (May 15)

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by Jarrett Hoffman

After greeting an in-person audience the night before at Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus, a mixed quartet from CityMusic Cleveland performed for an audience unseen on Saturday, May 15, thanks to the live-streaming capabilities of the Maltz Performing Arts Center.

The program was worth repeating, especially for the finale, Amanda Harberg’s Lucas’s Garden. Inspired by the section of the family garden over which her son Lucas has free rein, the piece appeals with its directness of expression and its unique, varied language, conveying a thoroughly original sense of happiness in music.

[Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland: Identity and “Syncretism”

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by Jarrett Hoffman

syn·cre·tism — the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought (Oxford English Dictionary).

CityMusic Cleveland will explore that concept with an in-person concert of chamber music on Sunday, April 11 at 3:00 pm at Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus. (The audience will be limited to 250 people, and masks and social distancing are required. Click here to RSVP.)

The program begins with a quartet: Jungyoon Wie’s 2019 Han, played by violinists Miho Hashizume and Catherine Cosbey, violist Eric Wong, and cellist Sophie Benn. Then clarinetist Dan Gilbert will join the ensemble for Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 1895 Clarinet Quintet in f-sharp.

On a purely musical level, it’s hard to pick two pieces that deserve a wider audience — one of them a fresh and riveting contemporary piece, the other a beautiful and unjustly neglected gem of the past. But these two composers also represent an intriguing pairing through the lens of syncretism.

[Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland schedules hybrid chamber music concerts

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by Daniel Hathaway

Pivoting from its customary chamber orchestra concerts, last September CityMusic Cleveland announced a series of chamber music programs curated by members of the ensemble celebrating the centenary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which decreed that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Initially offered as live, in-person events for a reduced audience of 100 at the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus, the series went online after the first two programs due to the progress of the pandemic. Subsequent concerts have been streamed from the Maltz Performing Arts Center.

Beginning this week, CityMusic will present pairs of performances — one in-person concert at St. Stan’s, followed by a second performance of the same program streamed from the Maltz.

Executive director Eugenia Strauss noted in a press release that the chamber music format will be continued in 2021-2022, when seven groups will be invited to build programs around the themes of peace, equality, and justice, drawing largely on works by female composers and including commissioned pieces. “We hope to return to present orchestral programs in the 22-23 season,” Strauss wrote. [Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland:
“Baroque Reflections” (Dec. 6)

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by Jarrett Hoffman

On December 6, CityMusic Cleveland continued its season-long chamber series celebrating 100 years of the 19th amendment with “Baroque Reflections,” streamed live from the Maltz Performing Arts Center.

Here are the numbers: seven masked performers (including several period-instrumentalists and, notably for these times, a soprano) alternated through multiple configurations from duo to sextet as they explored music by eight composers of the 17th and 18th centuries.

[Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland:
Pantheon Ensemble (Nov. 8)

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by Jarrett Hoffman

In 2020, our minds have all been occupied by crucial issues of the now: the pandemic, the movement for racial justice, the election. Because of that, one important anniversary has flown a little bit under the radar: the centennial of the 19th amendment, ratified on August 18, 1920, which gave American women the right to vote.

CityMusic Cleveland is celebrating that milestone with this season’s Chamber Music Series, which continued on November 7 and 8 with a performance by six women of the Pantheon Ensemble, made up of CityMusic players and friends. I heard the concert on November 8, a live stream from the Maltz Performing Arts Center.

[Read more…]

A guide to staying home and streaming videos of concerts

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Live streams, re-broadcasts, digital archives, and YouTube channels — here are some videos of performances to keep you occupied during social distancing.

Beginning locally, some performances are still taking place via live stream, without an audience. On Thursday, March 19 at 4:30 pm, Oberlin Conservatory will stream a faculty and guest concert from Stull Recital Hall. Flutist Alexa Still, cellist Mihai Tetel, and pianist Evan Hines come together in Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Assobio a Játo (“Jet Whistle”) and Valerie Coleman’s 2019 Amazonia.

Piano Cleveland, the presenting organization of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, has announced a new weekly series called The Quarantine Concerts, to be streamed every Thursday at 7:30 pm from Steinway Piano Gallery Cleveland. The first concert, on March 19, will feature pianist Yaron Kohlberg as well as the piano duo of Natsumi Shibagaki and Irwin Shung. Online audience members have the opportunity to offer their support directly to these artists by donating to Piano Cleveland’s Musicians’ Fund.

[Read more…]

CityMusic Cleveland to premiere John Clayton’s Home

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by Mike Telin

When Antonín Dvořák arrived in New York City in 1892 to become director of the National Conservatory of Music, one of his primary objectives was to discover the music of African Americans and Native Americans in hope that through the musical styles of these cultures, America would find its own musical identity. Fortunately for Dvořák, this task was realized by the guidance and friendship of his young African American assistant from Erie, Pennsylvania, Henry T. Burleigh.

From Wednesday, March 11 through Saturday, March 14, CityMusic Cleveland will pay homage to this convergence of the two men’s musical lives with performances of Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. Under the direction of music director Amit Peled, the program also includes the world premiere of Home by jazz bassist and composer John Clayton. The new work is a musical commentary on the current social-political struggles that African Americans are facing.

Clayton will be joined in performance by jazz trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, gospel singer Detrich Burgess, spoken word artist Orlando Watson, and The Spirit of the Groove ensemble. The concerts are free. See our Concert Listings for times and locations. [Read more…]

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