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Lawrence Brownlee & Shelby Rhoades at Cleveland Chamber Music Society (Apr. 26)

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by Peter Feher

Lawrence Brownlee was still in master-class mode when he visited the Cleveland Chamber Music Society on April 26. The star tenor, born and raised in Youngstown, brought an educational element to his recital at the Maltz Performing Arts Center.

The program, “Song of My Youth,” served as an introduction not just to Brownlee’s artistry but more generally, to the world of classical vocal music. Songs in the three “big” languages (Italian, German, French) filled the first half, and excerpts from opera, musical theater, and elsewhere comprised the second. It all made for a concise overview of the standard styles in which any voice student today should be well versed, and Brownlee played up this aspect of his selections cheerfully. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Rosamunde String Quartet (Mar. 15)

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by Peter Feher

If you were assembling an all-star chamber group, you couldn’t do much better than the Rosamunde String Quartet. The ensemble — a passion project for its members, who play in the string sections of some of the world’s top orchestras most of the year — visited the Cleveland Chamber Music Society on March 15.

One secret to last Tuesday’s polished program at Plymouth Church had to do with the group’s extracurricular nature. Thanks in part to seasons in ensembles including the Berlin, Los Angeles, and New York Philharmonics, the Quartet can pull off a big program easily, and with a certain unity of style. [Read more…]

ChamberFest & Chamber Music Society come together April 5 “For the Love of Chamber Music”

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by Mike Telin

Examining the mailing lists of an arts organization can reveal a lot. First and foremost that list tells you who is attending the events. And when comparing the mailing lists of two like-minded organizations, for example ones devoted to chamber music, one would expect to find more than a fair amount of overlap.

“Many of us at Cleveland Chamber Music Society have gone to a lot of ChamberFest concerts over the years and admired their exceptional quality and creative programming,” Steve Somach, the CCMS director of programming, said by telephone. “We have commented amongst ourselves that when we attend those concerts, there are so many unfamiliar faces.”

During a separate conversation these sentiments and observations were echoed by Franklin Cohen, one of ChamberFest Cleveland’s artistic directors. “I’ve always loved going to CCMS concerts,” he said, adding that it is a different audience.

After some discussion, the two organizations decided to compare their respective mailing lists, and they were met with a surprising discovery — there was very little duplication. “It became apparent that having a collaborative event would be a great way for Cleveland-area chamber music lovers to be introduced to both organizations,” Somach said. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Next up —  the Rosamunde String Quartet 

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by Mike Telin

When looking at the biographies of members of the next ensemble to perform on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series, you ask yourself: how do they possibly have the time to take on anything more?

On Tuesday, March 15 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will present the Rosamunde String Quartet — Noah Bendix-Balgley (1st concertmaster, Berlin Philharmonic), Shanshan Yao (concert violinist and former member of the  New York Philharmonic), Teng Li (principal viola, Los Angeles Philharmonic), and Nathan Vickery (cello, New York. Philharmonic). The program will include works by Beethoven, Barber, and Schubert. Tickets are available online.

Turning on the Zoom camera in Asheville, North Carolina, Bendix-Balgley’s hometown, he and Yao said that their quartet colleagues would soon be arriving to begin rehearsing for their upcoming concerts. “Sometimes scheduling does get a little complicated,” Bendix-Balgley said. “But it always works out,” Yao added. [Read more…]

CCMS: Pianist Richard Goode at Disciples Church (Feb. 22)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland Chamber Music Society has recently had to deal with more than its fair share of postponements and cancellations, but when Cuarteto Casals cut short their U.S. Tour last month due to a medical emergency, the Society was lucky to be able to field a replacement.

Not another string quartet, but rather, the distinguished pianist Richard Goode, who last performed on the series in 2016, and offered glowing and insightful readings of works by Schumann, Schubert, Bartók, and Beethoven at Disciples Christian Church on Tuesday evening, February 22. [Read more…]

Imani Winds embrace modernity in season opener for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society

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by Stephanie Manning

This season, even more than usual, Imani Winds is booked and busy. Rescheduled concerts from last year, combined with new additions to their schedule, promise a season full of travel and performances. “It’s a lot of making up for lost time,” bassoonist Monica Ellis said in a recent interview. “We’re just grateful that we’re able to be back and have live performances again, in one way or another.”

One performance relocated from 2020 is the Imani’s visit to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society on Tuesday, October 5 in CIM’s Mixon Hall. The 7:30 pm performance will be preceded by a 6:30 lecture by Chris Jenkins. Click here for tickets.

[Read more…]

CCMS: Ehnes and Armstrong finally get to wrap up their Beethoven cycle

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by Daniel Hathaway

Blissfully unaware of what was to come, on September 10, 2019, I wrote:

The Cleveland Chamber Music Society will take a bit of a different tack for its 70th Anniversary Season in 2019-2020. Violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong will appear in three of the nine concerts, performing Beethoven’s complete Sonatas for violin and piano, a series that will be presented at the Maltz Performing Arts Center in University Circle on September 17, January 14 (pictured), and April 21.

As we now know, Ehnes and Armstrong had only completed two of their three programs before the novel coronavirus roared into town in March of 2020, causing widespread cancellations and postponements.

The final concert in their Beethoven series will now serve as the finale for CCMS’ 71st season on Tuesday, May 18 at 7:30 pm. The program includes Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in G, Op. 30, No. 3, Sonata No. 7 in c, Op. 30, No. 2, and Sonata No. 10 in G, Op. 96.

Tickets for the in-person concert at St. Paschal Baylon in Highland Heights are available online, and the Society is also offering a free live stream of the event. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society:
Junction Trio in person & online

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by Jarrett Hoffman

When you think of famous, old-school musicians, a certain invincibility comes to mind, but also a distance. So it’s refreshing when today’s virtuosos not only match or exceed the abilities of their predecessors, but also reveal without any hint of pretense that they’re human.

That was my experience last week when I met over Zoom with the New York City-based Junction Trio, made up of violinist Stefan Jackiw, cellist Jay Campbell, and pianist Conrad Tao, who individually have all been awarded Avery Fisher Career Grants, to name just one of their honors.

The basis of our conversation was their upcoming program for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society: works by Beethoven, Charles Ives, and John Zorn which they’ll share in person at Saint Paschal Baylon in Highland Heights on Tuesday, May 11 at 7:30 pm, in addition to offering a free livestream (tickets and information here).

But they also provided a glimpse into the psychological and even the vulnerable side of performing. Perhaps there’s no better place to start than with the process of “auditioning” for a chamber music group.

[Read more…]

CCMS: CMS Front Row National
features clarinetist David Shifrin

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Through a partnership with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society is offering the steamed CMS Front Row National series free of charge.

The latest such program, which premiered on January 29 and remains available through today, February 2, centers around clarinetist David Shifrin. It ties together three performances from the past five years at two Lincoln Center venues, including one outing that’s truly in the can’t-miss category.

[Read more…]

Bennewitz Quartet replaces its CCMS concert with splendid video

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by Daniel Hathaway

When the pandemic kicked the Bennewitz Quartet’s performance off the Cleveland Chamber Music Society calendar in November, the presenter and the ensemble arrived at a clever alternative to simply cancelling or postponing the event.

The musicians agreed to record a full concert in Prague exclusively for CCMS. That video is available for free beginning today on the “Safe With Sound” page of the Society’s website. In addition to luminous performances of works by Haydn, Schulhoff, and Beethoven, the recording includes insightful questions from Safe With Sound artistic director Eric Charnofsky and astute responses by second violinist Štěpán Ježek.

Ježek greets viewers at the beginning from the chamber music hall of the Prague Spring Festival, before joining his colleagues Jakub Fišer (first violin), Jiří Pinkas (viola), and Štěpán Doležal (cello) in Haydn’s Quartet in G, Op. 17/5. That delightful work, largely dominated by the loquacious first violin, immediately introduces the special skills of the players: graceful accents, chains of subtleties, and perfect ensemble even in tricky rhythmic situations. [Read more…]

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