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Voices from the Other Side: a celebratory album release concert full of local talent (Feb. 25)

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by Stephanie Manning

An entire album of pieces for eight cellos and one soprano might seem like a daunting prospect. But Voices from the Other Side clocks in at more than an hour’s worth of music — so there’s more out there for this instrument combination than you might think.

Released in September 2024, the album features soprano Gabrielle Haigh and the Erie Coast Cellists in music by Margi Griebling-Haigh, Arvo Pärt, and Heitor Villa-Lobos, all conducted by Steven Smith. The group made the recording at Federated Church in Chagrin Falls — and on February 25, they gathered in that same venue to present the music in concert for the first time.

Presented as part of the Federated Church Performing Arts Series, with support from the Cleveland Cello Society, the album release concert took its audience on a journey of varied, accessible, and enjoyable contemporary music. [Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: music & art with Santiago Cañón-Valencia (Apr. 14)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

On Friday, April 14, a packed LatinUs Theater audience in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood enthusiastically greeted Columbian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia. They in turn were treated to an unforgettable evening of music and art in a compelling black box venue.

The concert, titled “Ascenso,” is also the name of Cañón-Valencia’s latest recording — copies of which the cellist graciously signed in the lobby after the performance.

The experience of each of the five musical works was enhanced and enlarged by the projection of paintings onto a wall at the back of the stage. Each picture, rendered by the cellist himself, served as a kind of commentary on, or in some cases, visual representation of the music, done in the performer’s own abstract, mostly black and white style (“I’m not really a painter,” he declared, modestly). Musicians who paint may not be an unheard-of concept — composers Arnold Schoenberg and George Gershwin and cellist Aldo Parisot all painted, as does pianist Stephen Hough — but seeing the artwork on display while the music that inspired it is being performed makes for a special occasion indeed.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: a conversation with Santiago Cañón-Valencia

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by Mike Telin

While growing up in Bogotá, Colombia, cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia knew from an early age that he wanted to be a musician. “My dad plays bass clarinet and other clarinets in the Bogotá Philharmonic. My mom used to play the cello, and my sister plays the violin, so the house was always full of music and people practicing all the time,” he recalled during a Zoom conversation from Bogotá.

“I picked up the cello as a suggestion from mom. I wanted to play the bassoon but I was four and that’s an impossible instrument when you are that age. So they bought me my first little cello and I was completely in love with it, and I kept going from there.”

Kept going indeed. His many awards include being named a 2022 BBC Next Generation Artist, and winner of the Silver Medal and the Audience Favorite Award at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition.

On Friday, April 14 at 7:00 pm at LatinUS Theater at the Pivot Center for Art, Dance, and Expression, Cañón-Valencia will make his Cleveland debut in a concert presented by the Cleveland Cello Society. His program features works from his latest recording, Ascenso, released on the Sono Luminus label.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: i Cellisti! 2023

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by Mike Telin

“A cello society is supposed to promote the advancement of the instrument and bring  professionals, amateurs, and lovers of the cello together for a rich exchange of ideas. And the Cleveland Cello Society embodies that,” Cleveland Orchestra principal cello Mark Kosower said during a telephone conversation.

On Friday, March 24 at 7:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Cleveland Cello Society will present i Cellisti! 2023, their annual extravaganza that raises funds for their Scholarship Competition. Closing out the evening will be a mass cello ensemble performance of Randall Thomson’s Alleluia. Cellists of all ages and experience are invited to participate. Click here for more information and tickets.

The evening will begin with a performance by Kosower of two works for solo cello.

He noted that as the title suggests, Hans Werner Henze’s Serenade is a light-hearted and entertaining work. “It is a twelve-tone piece, but it doesn’t really sound like it. I find the dissonances to be rather mild in general, and it proves that in the hands of a great composer, great music can be made out of the twelve-tone system.”

[Read more…]

‘i Cellisti!’ — Cleveland Cello Society with Darrett Adkins & Oberlin Choir (Jan. 11)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The Cleveland Cello Society’s annual ‘i Cellisti!’ extravaganza always finds creative ways to bring multiple cellos together, but on Friday, January 11 at St. Paul’s Church in Cleveland Heights, CCS outdid itself. Publicity originally promised a choir of 24 cellos — an impressive gathering — but that number had been upped to 40 last week. Ultimately, 52 cellists were arranged in a vast circle around the nave of the church at the beginning of the concert, along with the 45 members of the Oberlin College Choir. A critical mass indeed. [Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: a chat with recitalist Mark Kosower

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by Mike Telin

kosower-oh“The purpose of a cello society is to raise awareness of the instrument and what it brings to music,” Cleveland Orchestra Principal Cello Mark Kosower said during a recent conversation. “It’s also a place to share ideas about cello playing and music making. So the societies are important to cello communities, and communities at large.”

On Friday, March 10 at 7:00 pm at The Music Settlement, The Cleveland Cello Society will present Mark Kosower and pianist Jee-Won Oh in a recital that will feature works by Beethoven, Brahms, Khachaturian, Martinů, and Schubert.

Kosower said that the cello is one of the most versatile and expressive instruments around. “It’s a remarkable instrument. Few others can compare, in my humble but correct opinion,” he said, laughing. “Its range runs the entire spectrum of the human voice.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: iCellisti at Harkness Chapel, CWRU (Feb. 28)

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by Carlyn Kessler

ICellistiOn Sunday evening, February 28, the Cleveland Cello Society (CCS) welcomed audience members into Case Western Reserve University’s Harkness Chapel for the 18th iCellisti concert, an annual event organized by CCS and directed by cellist Ida Mercer. [Read more…]

Review: iCellisti at Harkness Chapel (January 30)

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by Carlyn Kessler

Cellos1Every week, Cleveland Orchestra audiences look forward to hearing the cello section’s lush sounds emerging from the surrounding group. On Friday night at CWRU’s Harkness Chapel, listeners had the unique opportunity to hear the section showcased outside of its orchestral setting in a remarkably delightful concert. iCellisti is an annual event organized by the Cleveland Cello Society and headed up by Ida Mercer, but this is the first year that the entire Cleveland Orchestra cello section was able to take part — except for one player who had a conflict. [Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: iCellisti to feature mega-cello concert at Harkness

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by Daniel Hathaway

TCO-Cello-Section-MiamiThe Cleveland Cello Society’s annual “iCellisti” concert on Friday, January 30 at CWRU’s Harkness Chapel might set a local record for the number of cellists to appear onstage at the same time. At the end of a program featuring members of The Cleveland Orchestra cello section in various solos, duets and quartets, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra cello section will join their senior counterparts in a work that calls for an ensemble of twelve performers.

“Julius Klengel’s Hymnus looks a little intimidating in the score, with its twelve individual parts,” TCO cellist Bryan Dumm said in a telephone conversation. “But it’s a charming piece in a Romantic style. We’ll be doubling the parts, with Youth Orchestra players sharing stands with Cleveland Orchestra cellists. Having twenty-two cellists onstage at the same time will thicken the texture and make the piece even a bit nicer. It’s going to sound ringing and quite glorious in Harkness Chapel.” [Read more…]

An Interview with cellist Mark Kosower

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by Daniel Hathway

Kosower & OhThe Cleveland Cello Society will begin its new season with Mark Kosower’s Cleveland debut recital. The new principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra made his first solo appearance with the Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Joffrey Ballet at Blossom earlier in September. On Monday, September 27, Kosower will be joined by his wife, pianist Jee-Won Oh in music by J.S. Bach, Tcherepnin, Poulenc and Mendelssohn in an 8 pm performance in Harkness Chapel on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

Mark Kosower was born into a family of cellists in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. After studying with János Starker at Indiana University and Joel Krosnick at Juilliard, he taught cello and chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory before being named solo cellist with the Bamberg Symphony in Germany in 2006. We spoke with him by phone at his new home over Labor Day weekend.

Daniel Hathaway: First of all, I loved the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Joffrey Ballet on Saturday evening. That must have been a new experience.

Mark Kosower: Thank you. It was a new experience. I hadn’t played for a dance company before.
[Read more…]

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