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Classical Guitar Festival: Jiji & Lippel (May 28)

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by Jarrett Hoffman

The second concert of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival brought another intriguing contrast of artists, from repertoire to presentation and videography.

Situated in front of several leafy houseplants, Jiyeon Kim, also known as Jiji, began her program of five short works with her own arrangement of Renaissance composer Claudia Sessa’s Occhi lo Vissi di Voi. Her performance was full of drama and sensitively paced, with extra-special moments achieved through her light touch.

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Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: Colin Davin & the piece that brought back his spark

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Leo Brouwer’s Sonata del Caminante is a remarkable piece in its own right. But it also has a personal significance to guitarist Colin Davin, who will play it during a virtual recital that airs on YouTube on Friday, June 11 at 7:30 pm as part of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival.

“This piece has meant a lot to me this year because it got me out of my rut,” Davin said during an interview last week. “Like a lot of artists, I had a real valley of motivation. I was still going through the motions — I got the guitar out every day and did some technique work — but I was pretty down.”

On better days, he’d do some sight-reading, and on one of those days, he picked up the score to the Brouwer. “And something just clicked — like, man, this is cool, this is great — and I got the spark back.”

Composed in 2007, the Sonata was dedicated to Odair Assad. “He’s a monster guitarist who can do a lot of stuff that most of us can’t,” Davin said. “So we have Brouwer, who before injuries was quite a virtuoso himself, writing for a great virtuoso. I was kind of like, let’s see if I can hang on.” And he did. “For whatever reason, a lot of Brouwer’s guitar tricks clicked for me pretty quickly.” (He’ll say more about those tricks during a brief talk as part of his program.)

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Lute and guitar converge at the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival

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by Stephanie Manning

On the second concert of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, lutenist Nigel North and guitarist Robert Gruca proved to be a pleasantly balanced combination. The two recorded performances, which premiered on YouTube the evening of May 21, were presented back-to-back in a single video. At just over an hour long, the wide-ranging program showcased the distinct styles of the British and American pair of musicians with repertoire that spanned from the 17th century to the present day.

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Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: eight strings and YouTube with Drew Henderson

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Several things can stand in the way of a smooth musical arrangement, including the range of the instrument of destination.

“There used to be so many instances in arranging music when I said to myself, I wish I had some extra strings,” guitarist Drew Henderson said during a recent call from Toronto. So when an opportunity presented itself to purchase an eight-string guitar for a good price, he went for it. “And I haven’t looked back.”

Henderson will share the bill with Petra Polácková during a free, pre-recorded concert on Friday, June 4 as part of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. The Canadian guitarist will make use of the eight-string instrument for his own arrangement of the Prelude, Sarabande, and Boureés from J.S. Bach’s Fourth Cello Suite. His program also includes Joaquín Turina’s Sonata and Johann Kaspar Mertz’s arrangement of Schubert’s Lob der Tränen.

Henderson’s portion of the evening airs here at 7:30 pm, while Polácková will take the reins at 8:15 pm here with a program of music by John Dowland, Miguel Llobet, and Mertz. Admission is free, and donations can be placed here to support the artists.

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Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: Dan Lippel to play well-tempered Bach

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by Daniel Hathaway

On Friday, May 28, Dan Lippel’s program on this year’s all-online Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival will feature music by Johann Sebastian Bach played on a guitar tuned to a Baroque temperament. Most classical music fans know that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a collection of preludes and fugues in all 24 keys called The Well-Tempered Clavier, but if asked to explain why he did that, many would get it wrong.

It’s not that the composer wanted to demonstrate the wisdom of tuning a keyboard instrument in such a way that a piece in G Major would sound just as in-tune if you transposed it to E-flat. That would describe equal temperament. Instead, Bach was referring to a tuning compromise: a “well temperament” where all keys are more or less acceptable to the ear, but each is different in character from the other.

During the Renaissance, instruments were usually tuned in “just intonation,” a system that produced a handful of beautifully in-tune keys, but things began to get ugly if you wanted to move very far away from C or F major. That’s when “the wolf” raised its ugly voice, forcing musicians to make a compromise between moving freely from key to key and enjoying perfect in-tuneness.

“It’s a relatively new area of interest for me over the last three or four years. But I’m hooked,” Lippel said in a recent telephone conversation. [Read more…]

Armin Kelly talks about taking this year’s International Classical Guitar Festival online

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival founder Armin Kelly was planning to celebrate the second decade of the event when the novel coronavirus crashed the party. “The 2020 shutdown was too close to our festival time to put an alternate plan together,” he said in a recent phone conversation. “So we put up one streamed concert, and that was our 20th anniversary season.”

That concert featured perennial festival favorites Jason Vieaux and Colin Davin performing from the audition room of Guitars International, the business Kelly runs out of his house. “It made me very happy to present them, because Jason and Colin had had all of their concerts cancelled and hadn’t been able to perform for anyone for a month or two,” Kelly said. He added that he had more fun than anyone else at his own party. “There was so much excitement behind the scenes. It really touched my heart.” [Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: a conversation with Robert Gruca

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by Mike Telin

From the time he moved to Northeast Ohio to attend the Cleveland Institute of Music, Robert Gruca has always looked forward to the annual Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. “When you’re a student it’s a huge opportunity to hear such great artists and have master classes with them — and to be able to pick their brains about professional life,” Gruca said during a recent interview.

On Friday, May 21, Gruca and lutenist Nigel North will have the honor of kicking off the 2021 edition of that Festival with a split-bill, pre-recorded recital beginning at 7:30 pm. Viewing access is free — watch here — and donations are encouraged.

Since his student days, the guitarist has gone on to enjoy an active career as a performer, educator, and clinician. Hailed by Audaud.com as “a brilliant player with gorgeous tone and a flawless sense of rhythm,” Gruca has earned several first prizes in national guitar competitions and released two solo recordings. He launched the first Suzuki Guitar program in Northeast Ohio at The Music Settlement in 2013. Along with flutist Linda White, he is one-half of the acclaimed Gruca White Ensemble. 

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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…]

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