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Preview: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — an interview with David Russell

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by Mike Telin

Russell-DavidOn Saturday, March 29 beginning at 7:30 pm in Plymouth Church, Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presents internationally acclaimed classical guitarist David Russell in a concert featuring works by Giuliani, Scarlatti, Granados, Bach and Albéniz. At 6:45 students from the CCGS education program will perform a program under the direction of Teaching Artist Mike McNamara.

Considered one of today’s preeminent musical performers, David Russell received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) for his 2004 recording of “Aire Latino.” His many additional awards include being named a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Music in London and having a conservatory hall and a street in Spain named after him.

While preparing for our conversation I read a number of interviews with David Russell and nearly all the interviewers commented on what a genuinely nice, down to earth guy he is. And I must concur. I reached David Russell by telephone in San Francisco and began by asking him about how he makes his programming decisions.

[Read more…]

Review: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — Gomez and Davin in an enticing tribute to Dowland and Britten (Feb. 22)

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by Timothy Robson

Davin-GomezSoprano Estelí Gomez and classical guitarist Colin Davin presented a splendid and fascinating program on Saturday, February 22, at Plymouth Church, sponsored by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society. The program was a belated tribute to the Benjamin Britten centennial celebration, but was, in fact, as much a tribute to Peter Pears, tenor and Britten’s life partner, and Julian Bream, guitarist, lutenist, and a long-time recital collaborator with Pears.

The two also presented an arresting new work by Caroline Shaw, which easily could have fit into a Pears/Bream recital program. Colin Davin closed the program with Britten’s only solo guitar work, Nocturnal after John Dowland, op. 70, composed for Julian Bream and first performed by him in 1964.

Under the title “Ancient Melodies, Modern Echoes,” Davin and Gomez alternated lute songs by Elizabethan composer John Dowland with songs from Britten’s cycle Songs from the Chinese, op. 58, which was written for Pears and Bream. [Read more…]

Preview: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — Estelí Gomez & Colin Davin on February 22

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by Mike Telin

Davin-Gomez“I love working with Estelí and Colin because they are that wonderful combination of brilliant musicianship and enthusiastic personality,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw. They are both musicians that I admire and respect so much. And we all just get along!”

On Saturday, February 22 beginning at 7:30 pm in Plymouth Church, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presents soprano Estelí Gomez and classical guitarist Colin Davin.The program, “Ancient Melodies, Modern Echoes” includes music by Dowland, Britten and Caroline Shaw. The concert is part of the CCGS’s International Series.

The story of how the three came to be friends and collaborators is fitting for a television movie and begins well before Caroline Shaw won the 2013 Pulitzer. And before Shaw and Gomez became Grammy winners as members of the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth.

“Caroline and I worked together with a composer who writes Rap cantatas. It’s kind of a modern meets baroque meets hip-hop mash-up,” recalls Davin. “We did the business card trade, and I went to her website and started listening to some of her music.”

Shaw and Gomez first met while doing their undergraduate studies at Yale, “at the time she was doing her violin degree,” Gomez said, “then we met again as members of Roomful of Teeth.” And it was after a Roomful of Teeth performance at Lincoln Center that Shaw introduced Gomez and Davin to each other. [Read more…]

Review: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — Beijing Guitar Duo at Plymouth (Jan. 25)

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by James Flood

Beijing-Guitar-DuoDespite Saturday’s prodigious snow, a decent-sized crowd braved hazardous road conditions to greet the Beijing Guitar Duo for their Cleveland appearance. As the snow swirled outside Plymouth Church UCC, the duo warmed the audience with an engaging performance.

Duo members Meng Su and Yameng Wang opened the program with transcriptions of four Domenico Scarlatti harpsichord sonatas. The Beijing Guitar Duo’s warm, gentle, yet full-bodied tone brought an ease and naturalness throughout the four works. In the opening K.173, L. 447 in G minor, their keen sense of phrasing gave the piece an undulating quality. In the second and fourth sonatas of the set (K. 45, L. 265 in D Major, K.151, L. 422 in D minor) Su and Wang established their status as virtuosi with exceptionally fast and effortless scales which moved simultaneously, executed in perfect lockstep between the two. [Read more…]

Preview: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — Beijing Guitar Duo at Plymouth on January 25

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by Mike Telin

Beijing-Guitar-DuoFollowing their May of 2011 performance at Classical Guitar Weekend, ClevelandClassical wrote: “The Beijing Guitar Duo’s recital…was a musically stunning lesson in ensemble playing. Like concentric circles, Meng Su and Yameng Wang performed from a common center: articulations, tonal colors, crescendos, decrescendos, whether jointly or individually were perfectly matched…”

On Saturday, January 25 beginning at 7:30 pm in Plymouth Church, the Beijing Guitar Duo returns to Northeast Ohio for a performance on the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s International Series. The concert features music of Domenico Scarlatti, Tan Dun, Giulio Regondi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Granados and Piazzolla. A pre-concert demonstration of traditional Chinese painting will be given by Jerry Wang.

“We are very excited to be returning to Cleveland,” Meng Su told us by telephone from Baltimore. “We’re especially looking forward to playing Tan Dun’s Eight Memories in Watercolor,’ recalling a visit that she, Yameng Wang and their teacher Manuel Barrueco made to the composer’s home in New York. [Read more…]

Preview: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — Dan Lippel at MOCA Cleveland December 12

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by Mike Telin

LIPPEL-DanCalled a “modern guitar polymath” (Guitar Review), guitarist Daniel Lippel feels fortunate to have carved out such a diverse career for himself. “You need to do a lot of things in this business to make a living,” Lippel told us by telephone from his home in Brooklyn, New York. “I’ve always been interested in a lot of different things and I feel pretty lucky that it’s worked out for me to be able to have a lot of variety in my career. I’m definitely not getting bored.”

On Thursday, December 12 beginning at 8:00 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presents guitarist Daniel Lippel in a concert that features contemporary solo and chamber music. Lippel will be joined by percussionist Luke Rinderknecht, Cleveland Orchestra principal oboist Frank Rosenwein and the Cleveland Institute of Music Guitar Quartet.

In addition to an active career as a solo performer, Lippel has commissioned or premiered more than fifty new solo and chamber works, many of which he has recorded for New Focus Recordings, the independent label he co-founded and directs. [Read more…]

Review: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — Carlos Perez at Plymouth (November 23)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Perez-formalAs part of the 2013-2014 International Series presented by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, Chilean guitarist Carlos Perez charmed a good-sized audience at Plymouth Church on Saturday evening with two short sets of Romantic-era music, half by Spanish composers and half by their Latin American cousins whose forebears had emigrated to Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

Actually, one of those Spanish composers got on a boat as well. Antonio Jiménez Manjón, whose Dos Mazurkas and Aire Vasco opened the program, took up residence at some point in Buenos Aires. Blind since he was 13, Manjón produced some sprightly, cheerful music, judging by Una Flor and Lírica, and some technically demanding works as well, if the “Basque Air” is any indication. Perez played the sentimental Mazurkas with humor and color and tossed off the fleet divisions in the Basque variations with ease and flair. [Read more…]

Preview: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — a conversation with Carlos Perez

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by Mike Telin

Perez-formal“I have chosen music from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century composers because they were all guitar performers and composers. And all of the composers that are represented on my program toured Europe and Latin America a lot,” Chilean classical guitarist Carlos Perez told us about his forthcoming concert via Skype from his home in Santiago.

“They all wrote in the romantic style and at that period of time, the classical guitar school in South America was very influenced by the Spanish school. Many Spanish guitar players went to Buenos Aires and began to develop and spread the technique as well as the music of this period across Latin America. I’ve been reading the old newspapers about those concerts and the reviews and all of the composer/players on this program were very successful at that time.”

On Saturday, November 23 beginning at 7:30 pm in Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presents Carlos Pérez in a concert featuring the music ofAntonio Jiménez Manjón, Emilio Pujol, Tomás Damas, Agustin Barrios, Julio Sagreras and Ernesto Nazareth. As part of CCGS’s Educational Outreach programs, middle school students from Buchtel Community Learning Center of Akron will give a special guitar orchestra performance beginning at 6:50 pm. [Read more…]

Preview: Cleveland Chamber Music Society anticipates a thrilling season

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by Daniel Hathaway

CCMS-Logo-64The lineup for the sixty-fourth season of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society has its board members buzzing with enthusiasm. “Yes, there are world famous string quartets,” said Melvin Arnoff, “but also three pianists, a guitarist, a soprano, clarinets, flutes and percussion. And the composers range from Bartók, Beethoven and Britten to Dean, Dessner and Parry. This promises to be a “WOW” season.”

Anthony Addison agrees and mentions his favorites. “All six Bartók quartets and a return of eighth blackbird are the high spots of the season, as far as I am concerned. Cuarteto Casals with Manuel Barrueco on guitar, and Pavel Haas playing Janáček, Britten and Beethoven are a very close second. It’s a fascinating season.”

CCMS’s season begins at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights on Tuesday, October 15 at 7:30 with a program of salon music from the British Isles, Russia, France, Germany and Italy performed by soprano Susanna Phillips, pianist Anne Marie McDermott and violist Paul Neubauer.

Barbara Green is especially enthusiastic about the first concert in the series. “I first heard Susanna Phillips when she was still a student at Juilliard and a participant in the Art Song Festival. She had a lovely voice, a fine command of the texts, and that certain quality which I can only describe as ‘presence’. I have followed her career for many years and was delighted to read the review of her performance [at the Metropolitan Opera] in today’s New York Times. How exciting it will be to hear her again!” [Read more…]

Preview: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — a season of concerts and educational projects

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by Mike Telin

Lincoln-West-HOBNortheast Ohio is home to a vibrant classical guitar community and the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society (CCGS) plays a vital role in bringing that community together through its International Series, Local Artist and Rising Stars series, Open Recitals and master classes. The area is also home to many of the finest classical guitar teachers in North America and on Sunday, September 22 beginning at 3:00 pm in Plymouth Church, CCGS presents its annual Showcase Concert.

The afternoon will include performances by Duo Amaral: Baldwin Wallace professor Jorge Amaral and Mia Pomerantz-Amaral; Duo Allant: Kathryn Thomas Umble, flute and François Fowler, guitar, professors at Youngstown State University; AronBerkner Duo: Jane Berkner, flute, and Stephen Aron, guitar, professors at the University of Akron and Oberlin Conservatory; and Jason Vieaux, professor at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. (see our concert listings page for further details)

CCGS is also committed to education by providing free classical guitar instruction to students of Lincoln West High School in Cleveland and Buchtel CLC in Akron. But, as CCGS executive director Erik Mann points out, they have been faced with some challenges in creating a program that serves the needs of a diverse student body. [Read more…]

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