In the spirit of TV shows like “America’s Got Talent,” the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will hold its Third Annual Youth Chamber Music Challenge on Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 pm at the Lyndhurst Community Presbyterian Church. [Read more…]
Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet (Feb. 8)
by Mike Telin
If you follow the stream of distinguished chamber music ensembles that tour Northeast Ohio each year, you get the feeling that many of them are making the area their second home. However, when the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet made their fifth appearance on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series on February 8, their splendid, refined performance made you wish they would come through town more often. [Read more…]
Cleveland Chamber Music Society: a conversation with Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet hornist Fergus McWilliam
by Daniel Hathaway
It’s a great time of year for woodwind quintets in Northeast Ohio. Last week, Tuesday Musical brought the Imani Winds to E.J. Thomas Hall, and on Tuesday, February 7, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will welcome the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet back to Plymouth Church for their latest appearance on the Society’s series.
The Berliners — Michael Hasel, flute, Andreas Wittmann, oboe, Walter Seyfarth, clarinet, Fergus McWilliam, horn, and Marion Reinhard, bassoon — will play a far-reaching program that includes Anton Reicha’s Andante arioso for English Horn and Woodwind Quartet, Kalevi Aho’s Quintet No. 2, György Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles, and Carl Nielsen’s Quintet, Op. 43.
I recently spoke with Fergus McWilliam by telephone from Berlin. Born in the Scottish Highlands, McWilliam was enraptured by the horn as a small child when he attended his first orchestral concert at the Edinburgh Festival. [Read more…]
Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Piano Quartets from Lincoln Center (Jan. 17)
by Daniel Hathaway
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center launched a seven-city tour of Piano Quartets with its January 17 concert at Plymouth Church for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society. Large-scale, early works by Gabriel Fauré and Johannes Brahms received masterful performances from pianist Alessio Bax, violinist Ani Kavafian, violist Yura Lee, and cellist Paul Watkins. [Read more…]
Cleveland Chamber Music Society: a chat with CMS pianist Alessio Bax
by Mike Telin
Whether it’s a sports team or a chamber music ensemble, it’s all about assembling the perfect combination of people who together can achieve the highest performance standards. “This is a dream team,” pianist Alessio Bax said of his Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center colleagues during a recent telephone conversation. “I’ve worked with each of them separately on many occasions, but to have them all together for these concerts is amazing. They are all fantastic musicians, great people, and we all like each other, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
On Tuesday, January 17 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, Bax will be joined by violinist Ani Kavafian, violist Yura Lee, and cellist Paul Watkins for a Cleveland Chamber Music Society concert that will feature piano quartets by Brahms and Fauré. [Read more…]
Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Juilliard returns with new cellist
by Daniel Hathaway
The four-time Grammy Award-winning Juilliard String Quartet will revisit the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights on Tuesday, December 6 at 7:30 pm for a program of quartets by Haydn, Bartók, and Beethoven. The concert, presented in conjunction with the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Winter Chamber Music Festival, introduces the Juilliard’s new cellist, Astrid Schween.
When you’re searching for an adjective to characterize the Juilliard String Quartet, “venerable” certainly fits an ensemble that marks its 70th anniversary this year. But rather than just basking in its rich history, the Juilliard has continuously and incrementally renewed itself over those decades. Formed in 1946 at the Juilliard School of Music in New York by its then president William Schuman and violinist Robert Mann, the original roster included second violinist Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd. The latest personnel change brings the total number of individuals who have played with the Quartet to sixteen. [Read more…]
Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Belcea Quartet at Plymouth (Oct. 18)
by Daniel Hathaway
The members of the London-based Belcea Quartet hail from Romania (first violinist Corina Belcea), France (second violinist Axel Schacher and cellist Antoine Lederlin), and Poland (violist Krzysztof Chorzelski), but they meld their various backgrounds into an arresting blend that is all the more colorful for its multinational origins. On October 18, the Belcea returned to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights — for the first time since 2014 — for riveting performances of early and late quartets by Franz Schubert, with Dmitri Shostakovich’s weird and wild Quartet No. 8, Op. 110, tucked in between. [Read more…]
Belcea Quartet to bring Schubert & Shostakovich to Cleveland Chamber Music Society Series
by Mike Telin
In his review of the Belcea Quartet’s 2014 Cleveland Chamber Music Society performance, Daniel Hathaway of ClevelandClassical.com wrote, “Whether they were playing spooky motives … or crafting wonderful climaxes, … the Belcea were both sonically and visually riveting, playing with complete immersion and dedication.”
On Tuesday, October 18 at 7:30 pm, the Belcea Quartet — Corine Belcea and Alex Shacher, violins, Krzysztof Chorzelski, viola, and Antoine Lederlin, cello — will return to the CCMS stage at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights.
“This year our season’s theme is the music of Schubert and Shostakovich,” Krzysztof Chorzelski said during a telephone conversation from London. “We wanted to play our favorite music by these two composers because we feel they have something in common.” [Read more…]
Cleveland Chamber Music Society: a chat with Montrose Trio cellist Clive Greensmith
by Daniel Hathaway
When cellist Clive Greensmith last visited the Cleveland Chamber Music Society in November of 2012, he appeared with the Tokyo Quartet. Soon thereafter, when that ensemble’s longtime members Kikuei Ikeda and Kazuhide Isomura decided to retire, Greensmith and violinist Martin Beaver at first decided to audition a new violinist and violist, but later resolved to let that estimable quartet fade into chamber music history. Then, a conversation with Jon Kimura Parker, the Tokyo Quartet’s frequent collaborative pianist, led to the creation of a new piano trio which eventually took on the name of the musicians’ favorite French wine, Chateau Montrose. [Read more…]
Romantics and Moderns: the Dover Quartet at the Cleveland Chamber Music Society (May 10)
by Nicholas Jones
The Cleveland Chamber Music Society presented the Dover Quartet on Tuesday, May 10 in the final concert of its 2015-16 season at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. The program ranged from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, unified by a Romantic palette that perfectly matched the expressive playing of this distinguished young ensemble. [Read more…]