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Music by J.S. Bach’s the choice for the second live stream performance by Vieaux & Davin

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by Daniel Hathaway

Early in June, the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival stepped into the in-person performance void with a live-streamed concert by Jason Vieaux and Colin Davin. Building on the success of that performance, festival director Armin Kelly has invited the two artists to broadcast another live concert on Saturday, November 14 at 2:00 pm. This time they will adapt solo violin and cello music by Johann Sebastian Bach for the classical guitar.

Davin will play the Cello Suite No. 6 in D, BWV 1012, and the Violin Partita No. 2 in d, BWV 1004. Vieaux has chosen the Violin Sonata No. 1 in g, BWV 1001, and the Cello Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007. You can join the event here for a donation of $10.

I caught up with Vieaux and Davin for a Zoom conversation on Monday afternoon and started by asking them how they had decided on an all-Bach program for next Saturday.

Davin: It was sort of our idea, but Armin Kelly was readily enthusiastic about it. We had talked about another program right after we finished the one in June, and I think I might have suggested all-Bach.

Vieaux: You did.

Davin: We thought that two suites each would make a nice program.

Vieaux: By June 6 we were already three months into this quasi-isolation, pandemic thing, and preparing a half hour of music and sharing a program with a great guitarist seemed like getting a whole concert together. I’ve been practicing three different Bach suites over the last two months trying to decide what to play, and that was just wonderful. It felt like being a musician again. [Read more…]

Stroud Competition Finals impress with high musical & production values (Oct. 16)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Although it wasn’t the original plan to go online last weekend for the final round of the James Stroud Classical Guitar Competition, moving to a digital format suited the event well. Young performers Aytahn Benavi, Patricia Hernandez, Ian Tubbs, and Eric Wang played in the intimate setting of their own homes, giving everyone who tuned in a front row seat. [Read more…]

Stroud Classical Guitar Competition goes digital, with finals this weekend 

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by Daniel Hathaway

Among the many best-laid plans that went awry when the coronavirus pandemic came to town was the premiere of James Stroud’s new Classical Guitar Competition, reconfigured for young guitarists ages 14 to 18, and scheduled to make its debut during the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival last May at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

The contest goes on this weekend, thanks to digital technology. The four contestants who have advanced so far via preliminary video performances have sent in final round videos for streaming on Friday, October 16. After vetting by a panel of judges, prizes of $10,000, $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000 will be awarded.

Hudson resident James Stroud launched his competition 20 years ago, and decided to change its emphasis and move it to CIM after holding previous contests at the University of Akron and Oberlin. “I always wanted to turn this into a national thing,” he said in a recent telephone conversation. “When I asked a number of guitarists and teachers how I could make the greatest impact, they advised me to concentrate on high school students.

“There are great kids coming up. I knew that Armin Kelly’s Festival at CIM was the best in the country, I love Mixon Hall, and (CIM President) Paul Hogle was super responsive to the idea.” Then the virus hit. When Kelly postponed his 2020 Festival, Stroud decided to move his competition online. [Read more…]

Colin Davin & Jason Vieaux in a live online recital (June 6)

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by Daniel Hathaway

After weeks of watching online streams of archived concerts and ad hoc performances from quarantined musicians’ living rooms and bedrooms, it was thrilling to be able to advertise, preview, and report on two real-time webcasts last Friday and Saturday that embraced high production values and addressed the persistent issue of how to compensate musicians for online services. Saturday afternoon’s joint recital by Colin Davin and Jason Vieaux was sponsored by the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, whose 2020 iteration, scheduled for that weekend at the Cleveland Institute of Music, vanished in the wake of the pandemic. [Read more…]

CICGF: a live-streamed recital from Jason Vieaux and Colin Davin

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by Jarrett Hoffman and Mike Telin

While the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival won’t be happening onsite at the Cleveland Institute of Music as usual, that doesn’t mean you should clear the Festival from your calendar entirely.

On Saturday, June 6 at 2:00 pm (Eastern Time), CICGF will offer a live-streamed concert featuring two mainstays of the Festival: Jason Vieaux and Colin Davin, who co-head the guitar department at CIM in addition to sharing numerous honors between them as performers. Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased online, with all proceeds directly benefiting the artists.

ClevelandClassical.com’s Jarrett Hoffman reached Colin Davin by Zoom to talk about his half of the program: Pedro Elías Gutiérrez’s Alma Llanera (arranged by Alirio Diaz), Leo Brouwer’s El Decameron Negro, Radamés Gnattali’s Brasiliana No. 13, Agustín Barrios Mangoré’s Julia Florida, and Fernando Bustamante Misionera (arranged by Jorge Morel).

[Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: Colin Davin plays electric & acoustic (June 6)

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by Rory O’Donoghue

Guitarist Colin Davin explored the relationship between old and new on his opening recital of the 19th Annual Cleveland International Guitar Festival on June 6, pairing Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint with David Crowell’s Point Cloud (a Cleveland premiere) and two Bach transcriptions. The two-time prizewinner of the Guitar Foundation of America International Competition, who currently teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music, presented an evening of utmost musicianship at Mixon Hall.

[Read more…]

Elizabeth Kenny at the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival (June 8)

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by Mike Telin

During the years of covering the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, I have had the pleasure of hearing recitals performed on Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern instruments as well as the lute. But somehow, a theorbo recital had not crossed my path. That was until Saturday, June 8 in CIM’s Mixon Hall when Elizabeth Kenny (England) presented “Theorbo Fantasy: old and new music for the long-necked lute.” I was captivated from beginning to end. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: Lynn McGrath and Xuefei Yang (June 7)

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by Mike Telin

If it’s the beginning of June, it’s time for classical guitarists from around the world to gather at the Cleveland Institute of Music for the annual Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. And as we have come to expect, the 2019 edition, which ran from Thursday, June 6 through Sunday, June 9, artistic director Armin Kelly assembled an outstanding lineup of performers, clinicians, and lecturers. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival — chatting with Lynn McGrath

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by Mike Telin

Necessity is the mother of invention, and when guitarist Lynn McGrath needed to figure out how to simultaneously play the music and recite the poetry of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, she found a way to do it.

On Friday, June 7 at 6:30 pm in Studio 113 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Lynn McGrath will present a lecture recital titled “Guitar With Spoken Word.” The program features selections from Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Platero y yo (Platero and I). The free event is presented as part of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival.

Inspired by the 1914 book by the Nobel Prize-winning author Juan Ramon Jiménez, Platero y yo tells the story of a poet and his silvery gray donkey, the poet’s traveling companion and confidant. [Read more…]

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