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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…]

Review: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — Marcin Dylla at First Unitarian, Shaker Heights (April 5)

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by James Flood

Dylla-IMG_5703The young Polish guitarist, Marcin Dylla, delivered the final concert of the Cleveland Classical Guitar Socety’s Master’s Series on Friday, April 5 at First Unitarian Church in Shaker Heights. Dylla has been sweeping competitions around the world, earning 19 first-place awards with his exceptionally refined playing.

Dylla opened the program with Manuel Ponce’s Sonata Romantica, an homage to Franz Schubert. The work showcases Ponce’s compositional talent in writing a substantive work imitating the style of Schubert, with undulating melodies and, at times, rich chromaticism. Marcin Dylla’s playing is eminently smooth. His touch is gentle. Even his physical gestures bespeak the approach he takes, his arms and hands very fluid and relaxed. [Read more…]

Preview: Cleveland Classical Guitar Society — a conversation with Polish guitarist Marcin Dylla

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by Mike Telin

Dylla-IMG_5703Polish classical guitarist Marcin Dylla has been hailed as “among the most gifted guitarists on the planet” by the Washington Post. Mr. Dylla has earned his place among the world’s classical guitar elite, having won 19 first prizes at international music competitions including the Gold Medal at the 2007 Guitar Foundation of America International Competition in Los Angeles. On Friday, April 5 beginning at 7:30 PM in First Unitarian Church of Cleveland, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society presents Marcin Dylla in a recital featuring works by Manuel Maria Ponce, Magnus Lindberg, Anton Diabelli, Franz Schubert and Enrique Granados

Marcin Dylla is currently on a twenty-concert tour of North America which in addition to his performance in Cleveland includes his debut at Carnegie Hall. We spoke to Mr. Dylla by telephone and talked about what first attracted him to the guitar and why he thinks the instrument is experiencing a renaissance with audiences around the world. We began by asking him about his program. [Read more…]

Review: Classical Guitarist Gideon Whitehead at Happy Days Lodge (March 17)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Gideon WhiteheadA classical guitar concert of mostly Russian music held on St. Patrick’s Day in a rustic lodge in a national park —with stuffed bison heads staring down at you! Disconnects sometimes make for really successful concerts, as they did last Sunday when guitarist Gideon Whitehead performed at Happy Days Lodge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park under the joint auspices of Music by Nature and the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society.

Whitehead, a Michigander who studied at CIM and is now pursuing an artist diploma at the Curtis Institute with Jason Vieux and David Starobin, appeared as part of CCGS’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series.

Each half of his cleverly-constructed program began with a suite (Sylvius Leopold Weiss’s real baroque Partita in g and Paul Lansky’s witty modern knock-off, Semi-Suite), proceeded to an evocative set of variations, Sergei Rudnev’s on The Old Lime Tree, or a narrative work, Nikita Koshkin’s Usher Waltz, and ended with a tone poem, Grigori Korchmar’s White Nights Serenade and Agustin Barrios Mangoré’s La Catedral. [Read more…]

Preview: Music by Nature & Cleveland Classical Guitar Society join to present Gideon Whitehead at Happy Days Lodge

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by Mike Telin

WHITEHEAD-GideonOn Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 pm, classical guitarist Gideon Whitehead returns to Northeast Ohio for a performance at the Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Mr. Whitehead’s performance is part of The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series and is presented in conjunction with Music by Nature. The program features works by Weiss, Rudnev, Korchmar, Lansky, Koshkin and Barrios Mangoré.

Gideon Whitehead began playing the guitar at age 14 in his native Michigan. Mr. Whitehead has had much success at competitions including top prizes at the 2011 James Stroud Guitar Competition and at the 2010 and 2011 University of Louisville International Guitar Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in guitar performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is currently pursuing and Artist Diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music.

We reached Gideon Whitehead by telephone in Philadelphia. [Read more…]

Preview: Music by Nature & Cleveland Classical Guitar Society join to present Gideon Whitehead at Happy Days Lodge

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by Mike Telin

 

On SundayWHITEHEAD-Gideon, March 17 at 3:00 pm, classical guitarist Gideon Whitehead returns to Northeast Ohio for a performance at the Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Mr. Whitehead’s performance is part of The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series and is presented in conjunction with Music by Nature. The program features works by Weiss, Rudnev, Korchmar, Lansky, Koshkin and Barrios Mangoré.

 

Gideon Whitehead began playing the guitar at age 14 in his native Michigan. Mr. Whitehead has had much success at competitions including top prizes at the 2011 James Stroud Guitar Competition and at the 2010 and 2011 University of Louisville International Guitar Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in guitar performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is currently pursuing and Artist Diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music. [Read more…]

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