by Daniel Hathaway
Singers on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series never seem to attract the kind of audiences who turn out for string quartets, but anyone who stayed away from the remarkable recital presented by German baritone Holger Falk and British pianist Julius Drake at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church on October 23 missed out on a special evening. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The Cleveland Chamber Music Society will continue its season on Tuesday, November 13 when they welcome the Ehnes Quartet — James Ehnes and Amy Schwartz Moretti, violins, Richard O’Neill, viola, and Edward Arron, cello.
The 7:30 pm concert at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights will include Haydn’s Quartet in G, Op. 76, No. 1, Elgar’s Quartet in e, and Bartók’s Quartet No. 5. A pre-concert lecture by Richard Rodda will begin at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online.
During an email exchange, Amy Schwartz Moretti said that as a proud graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, to be able to bring her colleagues to the place that was so formative in her life means a lot to her. She fondly remembers the “wonderful teaching and influence of the Weilersteins, Cavani Quartet, Peter Salaff, and all the amazing teachers who were there during that time. I love every opportunity to come back to Cleveland! It has been especially meaningful to come back for ChamberFest Cleveland each summer and I’m so thankful to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society for inviting my quartet.”
by Mike Telin
If you don’t know the artistry of Holger Falk, you need to. On Tuesday, October 23 at 7:30 pm at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will present the German baritone and pianist Julius Drake. Their program will include songs by Schubert, Eisler, Poulenc and Satie. A pre-concert lecture by Eric Charnofsky will begin at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online.
Equally at home with repertoire of the Baroque masters as with the music of the 21st century, Holger Falk has been described by Opernwelt magazine as “one of the most intellectually and vocally flexible singers on German stages.” He was honored with the German Record Critics Award in 2017 for his recording Hanns Eisler Lieder Vol. 1, the first of a four-album collection of songs by Eisler. In 2016 he received the ECHO Klassik Award for his recording of Erik Satie: Intégrale des Mélodies et Chansons.
Highlights of Falk’s 2018-19 season will include his debut as Jean-Charles in Hans Werner Henze’s Das Floß der Medusa at the Ruhr Triennale, and the world premiere of Michael Wertmüller‘s Diodati.Unendlich at Theater Basel. In addition to the recital in Cleveland, Falk will bring his program to The Frick Collection and The Phillips Collection as well as to Heidelberger Frühling, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Rathauskonzerte Regensburg and Megaron Athens. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
The splendid Jerusalem Quartet’s return to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society on Tuesday, October 2 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights brought welcome respite in a week full of rancor and bitterness. But the powerful Shostakovich quartet that ended the evening brought the inescapable world back into view, both for the weary and the wary. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Sometimes personalities and musical sensibilities among members of a chamber music ensemble just seem to click. Such is the case with the acclaimed Jerusalem Quartet, who first came together while still in high school. But in a 2015 interview with ClevelandClassical.com, violinist Alexander Pavlovsky said that at that time, becoming a world-class string quartet was the furthest thing from their minds. “We did not think a lot about the future. We were only concentrating on building a repertoire and enjoying every moment of being part of such an amazing ensemble.”
On Tuesday, October 2 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will inaugurate their new season with a return visit by the Jerusalem Quartet — Alexander Pavlovsky and Sergei Bresler, violins, Ori Kam, viola, and Kyril Zlotnikov, cello. The program includes Beethoven’s Quartet in a, Op. 18, No. 5, Ravel’s Quartet in F, and Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 3 in F, Op. 73. CWRU professor David J. Rothenberg will give a pre-concert lecture beginning at 6:30. Tickets are available online.
Tuesday’s concert will mark the Quartet’s fifth appearance on the CCMS series since 2010 — the last was in March of 2017. Looking back at that 2015 interview, we thought it would be nice to re-share some of Alexander Pavlovsky’s responses to questions he graciously agreed to answer by email.
by Daniel Hathaway
Two of Cleveland’s distinguished concert organizations — the Cleveland Chamber Music Society and the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — put their resources and audiences together for a winning end-of-season concert by guitarist Jason Vieaux and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke on Tuesday, May 8 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. Inspired by folk music, jazz, and Broadway, the repertoire may have seemed light compared to what string quartets bring to the CCMS series, but Vieaux and Cooke brought committed professionalism to each item on the menu. [Read more…]
by David Kulma
Every year the Cleveland Chamber Music Society chooses an undergraduate string quartet from CIM to be its outreach arm. Alongside coachings from the Cavani String Quartet, the students perform educational concerts in local school districts. At the end of the season, they are then featured on CCMS’s free Young Artists Showcase. This year’s showcase at First Unitarian Church in Shaker Heights on May 6 showed off the excellent Belka Quartet. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
After first performing together at Music@Menlo in 2010, then following that up with an appearance at the Kennedy Center, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and guitarist Jason Vieaux have long had their eyes on a reunion concert.
The pair of Grammy winners will get that chance this May. They’ll head to the University of California, Davis for a performance on Friday, then cross the country to Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights for a joint recital on Tuesday, May 8 at 7:30 pm.
The program of Spanish and American music is co-presented by Cleveland’s Classical Guitar and Chamber Music Societies (CCGS and CCMS). ClevelandClassical.com’s own Daniel Hathaway will give a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 pm.
“We’ve been working on this for years, so it’s long in coming,” Sasha Cooke said during a phone call. “I’m glad it finally worked out. It’s really beautiful music, and Jason’s a phenomenal guitarist.”
by Daniel Hathaway
In conjunction with Young Concert Artists and with the support of Maison Française de Cleveland, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society brought the young French cellist Edgar Moreau and American pianist Jessica Osborne to Plymouth Church on Tuesday, April 17 for spirited performances of sonatas by Prokofiev, Poulenc, and Franck. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When Edgar Moreau was four years old he saw a girl playing the cello in an antique shop he was visiting with his father. “That was a long time ago even for me,” the 24-year-old said by telephone from Gainesville, Florida, where he had been performing.
“But I do remember the feeling — It was physical. I heard the sound and saw the cello, and the little girl who was playing it had her legs and arms wrapped around it. I said to my father that I need to play this instrument. I didn’t know that name of it, I just knew that it was important for me to play it. Since that moment I fell in love with the cello, and every day I spend with the instrument is wonderful.”
On Tuesday, April 17 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, Shaker Heights, the Parisian-born cellist will make his Cleveland Chamber Music Society and Cleveland debut, joined by pianist Jessica Osborne. [Read more…]