by Nicholas Stevens
Last week, as part of the seventh annual Cleveland Trombone Seminar, a concert by Mark Lancaster Lusk took listeners into the heart of the brass player’s world: a region dominated by vocal music, modernist explorations, and jazz.
76 Trombones Head to CSU: 7th Annual Cleveland Trombone Seminar
by Alice Koeninger
From June 16-24, the Cleveland Trombone Seminar, spearheaded by Cleveland Orchestra assistant principal trombone Shachar Israel, will feature a series of performances by faculty and students in Drinko Hall at Cleveland State University. CTS is a week-long seminar for young trombonists designed to further their professional education. In addition to master classes, it presents clinics on form and performance anxiety and focuses on optimal progress through correct practice.
Guest instructors include Randall Hawes, bass trombone for the Detroit Symphony and professor at Northwestern University; Stephen Lange, second trombone for the Boston Symphony and New England Conservatory faculty; and Craig Knox, tubist for the Pittsburgh Symphony and faculty at Carnegie Mellon. Tickets can be purchased at the door for all concerts and recitals. Ticket pricing and parking info are available here. [Read more…]
AHA! Festival concert to feature ChamberFest Cleveland piano trio
by Hannah Schoepe
Whisking the listener away on a diverse journey of sounds, the AHA! Festival will present a piano trio from a fellow local summer series, ChamberFest Cleveland. Pianist Roman Rabinovich, cellist Oliver Herbert, and violinist David Bowlin will come together to play gems of the chamber music repertoire by Brahms, Kodály, and Janáček on Friday, June 8 at 2:00 pm in Drinko Hall at Cleveland State University.
Friday’s program will feature Brahms’ effervescent Piano Trio No. 1 in B, completed in 1854 and revised throughout the composer’s life. One of the most popular trios of all time, it reflects both the vivaciousness of Brahms’ youth and the emotional depth of his maturity. We recently spoke with David Bowlin, who admitted that the work is his favorite on the program. “I love the whole B-major trio,” he said. “Everyone loves the B-major trio!”
The concert also includes a modern twist: the Kodály Duo for Violin and Cello, and Janáček’s Pohádka (“Fairytale”) for piano and cello.
No Exit and Patchwork to become “partners in crime”
by Mike Telin
On Friday, April 27 at SPACES, the adventuresome new music ensemble No Exit and the pioneering saxophone and drum set duo Patchwork (left) will celebrate spring with an evening of premieres. The concert will include works by Derrik Balogh, Victoria Cheah, Osnat Netzer, Christopher Stark, and Evan Ziporyn. The program will be repeated on Monday, April 30 at Cleveland State University’s Drinko Auditorium and on Saturday, May 5 at Heights Arts. All three concerts begin at 8:00 pm and are free of charge.
“We’re excited to be able to premiere Christopher Stark’s Ved sjøen (‘By the Sea’),” No Exit artistic director Timothy Beyer said by telephone. “It’s an evocative rumination inspired by the time he recently spent living in Norway. He’s phenomenal and in my mind, one of those composers that everyone should know. I met Chris many years ago when we were both composers in residence at a festival in Salt Lake City. We hit it off, and we’re honored and pleased that he wrote something for us.”
Boston’s Hub New Music at CSU’s Drinko Hall (March 26)
by David Kulma
What happens when a flutist, clarinetist, violinist, and cellist come together to play music? They commission composers, because preexisting works for this quartet of instruments are a rarity. And, gratifyingly, based on Monday night’s concert at Drinko Recital Hall — presented as part of Cleveland State University’s Cleveland Contemporary Players Artist in Residency Series — Hub New Music is building a fascinating repertoire and playing it beautifully.
Hub New Music to premiere Andrew Rindfleisch’s Fun House at CSU and LCCC
by Jarrett Hoffman
Next week, Boston-based quartet Hub New Music will make their Cleveland debut in two free concerts, highlighted by the premiere of Fun House by Andrew Rindfleisch, director of the composition department at Cleveland State.
Flutist Michael Avitabile, clarinetist David Dziardziel, violinist Zenas Hsu, and cellist Jesse Christesen can be heard at CSU’s Drinko Recital Hall on Monday, March 26 at 8:00 pm, after a short residence working with the university’s composition department. Then they’ll head to Cirigliano Studio Theatre on Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 pm to perform on LCCC’s Signature Series.
Opposite Fun House on the program is Soul House (2017), a commission from composer Robert Honstein, but there’s no connection between the two Houses. “Our program sounds like something off of HGTV,” Avitabile joked. “It’s funny that the pieces turned out that way,” he said in a recent conversation from Jamaica Plain in Boston — “I’m at the very end of the Orange Line.”
Alarm Will Sound at CSU (March 30)
by Mike Telin
The opportunity for young composers to work directly with professional musicians is crucial to their development. Each year, as part of Cleveland Contemporary Players Artist in Residency Series, students at Cleveland State University are able to work directly with some of the leading artists and ensembles in the world of contemporary classical music. Over the past few years, Andrew Rindfleisch, CSU professor of composition and director of the series, has brought the Slee Sinfonietta, the Jack Quartet, and pianist Jenny Lin to the CSU campus for residencies that have include workshops, master classes and lectures. Additionally, students have the chance to hear their compositions performed by visiting artists. [Read more…]
Alarm Will Sound: a conversation with artistic director Alan Pierson
by Mike Telin
Since forming in 2001, the clever, innovative contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound has gone on to become one of the most successful composer-musician collectives touring today. The group is the resident ensemble at the Mizzou International Composers Festival at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Each year the festival features eight world premieres by emerging composers.
On Monday, March 30 at 8:00 pm in Drinko Recital Hall Cleveland State University, Alarm Will Sound will present a concert featuring works by Charles Wuorinen, Sean Friar, Aphex Twin, Steve Reich, Andrew Rindfleisch, and Clint Needham. The performance is presented by the Cleveland Contemporary Players Artist in Residency Series at CSU. In addition to Monday’s concert, the ensemble will present two reading sessions of new works by CSU composition students. [Read more…]
Review: The Great Lakes Trombone Ensemble
By Daniel Hautzinger
If you’re near the music building of Cleveland State University this week, you’re likely to run into a number of people carrying trombones. Beginning its third year last Saturday and continuing through Sunday the 15th at CSU, the Cleveland Trombone Seminar (CTS) seeks to teach trombonists important musical skills in addition to physical and mental wellness while performing and practicing. The Seminar is the brainchild of Cleveland Orchestra Assistant Principal Trombone and CSU Faculty member Shachar Israel. It also features a series of concerts by faculty, guests, and participants in CSU’s Drinko Hall.
On Monday, June 9, the Great Lakes Trombone Ensemble, a nonet featuring professional orchestral trombonists from the Great Lakes region, gave the second concert of the Seminar. [Read more…]
Preview: Singer/Songwriters to be featured on next Contemporary Youth Orchestra concert
by Mike Telin
The Contemporary
Youth Orchestra (CYO) under the direction of Liza Grossman, presents My Gift is My Song on Saturday, March 16, beginning at 7:00 pm in Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University. The concert features the winners of CYO’s first-ever singer/songwriter contest and is presented as part of CYO’s annual “Music and its Industry” concert.
The concept for the concert was inspired by the annual CYO Hidden Talent Show Scholarship Award Night, CYO founder and music director Liza Grossman told us by phone. “Two members’ hidden talent was that they were singer/songwriters. I was so moved by the music they had written and the lyrics were so personal and happy. The songs reflected so much about who they were. So everything spawned from that.” [Read more…]
