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Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Quinn Kelsey with Craig Ketter (Feb. 3)

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By Kevin McLaughlin

The Cleveland Chamber Music Society’s February 3 recital, presented by Hawaiian baritone Quinn Kelsey with pianist Craig Ketter, offered something both rare and reassuring: a major operatic singer heard up close, singing beautifully and without a lot of fuss.

They offered a program of early- and late-twentieth century American and English songs by Aaron Copland, Florence Price, John Alden Carpenter, Margaret Bonds, Gerald Finzi, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. From the opening notes of Copland’s “The Boatmen’s Dance,” Kelsey demonstrated a full, ringing voice that filled the room.

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Baritone Quinn Kelsey & pianist Craig Ketter revive art song at Cleveland Chamber Music Society

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by Daniel Hathaway
Bright is the ring of words
When the right man rings them,
Fair the fall of songs
When the singer sings them,
Still they are carolled and said—
On wings they are carried—
After the singer is dead
And the maker buried.
– R.L. Stevenson.

One time-honored classical music tradition — the solo voice recital — has nearly disappeared from Northeast Ohio’s concert calendar ever since the Cleveland Art Song Festival ceased operations.

Happily, that intimate art form that weaves words and music into new lyrical creations will be revived on Tuesday, February 3 at 7:30 at Disciples Church in Cleveland Heights, when the Cleveland Chamber Music Society presents Hawaiian-born baritone Quinn Kelsey and pianist Craig Ketter in recital.

Best known for his dramatic interpretation of operatic roles, Kelsey has become a go-to Verdi baritone over his decade at the Metropolitan Opera, winning high critical marks for his performances there as well as in major houses throughout the world.

But on Tuesday, rather than plumbing the depths of an opera character, Kelsey will treat the audience at Disciples to groups of English language songs set or arranged by three well-known composers with unique musical voices — plus settings of the poetry of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes by three not-so-well-known songsmiths. [Read more…]

Takács Quartet return to Cleveland Chamber Music Society (Nov. 11)

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by Stephanie Manning

“At 50, The Takács Quartet Remains As Essential as Ever,” The New York Times declared earlier this year in an article celebrating the group’s semicentennial. We Northeast Ohioans can consider ourselves lucky that the ensemble visits the area regularly — typically as guests of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society.

David Allen’s Times profile highlighted the Quartet’s increased interest in contemporary composers, an attribute quickly confirmed when looking at their recent touring programs. This month, for example, they have been premiering Clarice Assad’s Clash all over the country.

Clash was sadly missing from the Takács’s November 11 appearance at Disciples Church in Cleveland Heights, where they presented a more standard combination of Haydn, Dvořák, and Bartók. But no matter the repertoire, the Quartet’s playing maintained that engaging quality of a group unafraid to take risks and fully express themselves.

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Belcea Quartet at Cleveland Chamber Music Society (Oct. 21)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The complete Shostakovich cycle of quartets that the Jerusalem Quartet served up last May in five well-attended performances at the Cleveland Museum of Art to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society was a hard act to follow.

CCMS allowed its patrons some variety by opening its 76th season with a September concert for violin and piano, followed by a bracing program on October 21 from the Belcea Quartet that balanced extreme textures and dissonance with an abundance of sweetness and nuance, while also producing a rich blend and a vast array of articulations. [Read more…]

James Ehnes and Orion Weiss open Cleveland Chamber Music Society season (Sept. 16)

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by Peter Feher

If James Ehnes ever decided to launch a fan club, one of the first chapters would undoubtedly be formed in Northeast Ohio.

The esteemed Canadian violinist has made occasional concerto appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra over the years, but local audiences have come to know him best through chamber performances that offer an unparalleled experience of his artistry.

This feeling of intimate familiarity united Ehnes and an enthusiastic crowd at Disciples Christian Church on Tuesday, Sept. 16, for the opening concert of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society’s 2025–26 season. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society opens 76th season with James Ehnes & Orion Weiss

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by Daniel Hathaway

After celebrating three quarters of a century in the concert presenting business with an extended season that drew large audiences to the Art Museum for the Jerusalem Quartet’s complete Shostakovich string quartet cycle — fifteen quartets in five concerts in April — the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will return to a more normal but equally enticing season in 2025-2026.

In addition to revisits by the Belcea and Takács Quartets, perennial favorites, the society will present some relatively new ensembles: the Leonkoro and Verona Quartets and the Isidore String Quartet, two of them with guest pianists. Yaron Kohlberg — head of Piano Cleveland, the driving force behind the Cleveland International Piano Competition — will join the Verona for the Dvořák Quintet, and Jeremy Denk will collaborate with the Isidore in the Brahms Quintet. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society Shostakovich Cycle: five concerts by the Jerusalem Quartet (Apr. 21–30)

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Reviews by Kevin McLaughlin, Daniel Hathaway, & Stephanie Manning

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society engaged the dauntless Jerusalem Quartet to play a complete cycle of Dmitri Shostakovich’s fifteen string quartets. The works were performed in chronological order over five evenings in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The performances were treated like an art exhibition accompanied by an elaborate, 45-page catalog full of documentation about the composer, whose life and career under the Soviet system left an indelible mark on his music. A timeline that runs along the bottom of the program pages helped put Shostakovich’s compositions in historical context. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society’s 75th birthday party (Part 2)

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by Mike Telin

The Cleveland Chamber Music Society will continue its 75th anniversary with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Quartets Nos. 10 through 12 on April 29, and Nos. 13 through 15 on April 30, performed by the Jerusalem Quartet —  violinists Alexander Pavlovsky and Sergei Bresler, violist Ori Kam, and cellist Kyril Zlotnikov.

The 7:30 pm concerts will be held in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. James Wilding will give pre-concert lectures at 6:30 pm before each event. Tickets are available online. Click here for more information and to view a full schedule of events.

CCMS’s concerts would not be possible without the dedicated volunteers who have kept the well-oiled machine operating for 75 years. I had the pleasure of speaking to Board President Fern Jennings and Chair of the Programming Committee Steve Somach.

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Cleveland Chamber Music Society celebrates 75th birthday with Shostakovich & the Jerusalem Quartet

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by Mike Telin

In 1948, when three faculty friends from Western Reserve University convinced the Budapest Quartet to come to Cleveland to perform a three-concert series, who could have predicted that the humble event would lead to the creation of one of the city’s venerable presenters of classical music. Since its founding in 1950, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society has gone on to create one of the most respected chamber music series in the country.

In honor of its 75th anniversary, CCMS has planned a five-concert celebration from April 21 through 30 featuring the complete Shostakovich quartet cycle performed by the Jerusalem Quartet —  violinists Alexander Pavlovsky and Sergei Bresler, violist Ori Kam, and cellist Kyril Zlotnikov.

The performances will be held in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. James Wilding will give pre-concert lectures at 6:30pm before each event. Tickets are available online. On April 23 at 3:00 pm in the Museum’s Morley Lecture Hall, there will be a free screening of the 1964 Grigori Kozintsev adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, featuring a searing score by Dmitri Shostakovich. Click here for more information and to view a full schedule of events.

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Cleveland Chamber Music Society: a multifaceted “Spanish Journey” (Feb. 11)

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by Stephanie Manning

Ever since Punxsutawney Phil popped his head out to predict six more weeks of winter, Clevelanders have seen no respite from the cold and snowy weather. So February 11 was as good a winter day as any to escape to sunny Spain, via the latest concert from the Cleveland Chamber Music Society.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center visited Disciples Church in Cleveland Heights for “Spanish Journey,” a program in collaboration with the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society. While a celebration of Spanish music would not be complete without its characteristic dance styles, the evening’s focus on sensitive, romantic selections created a nicely balanced sampling of what that culture has to offer. [Read more…]

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