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Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: Sharon Isbin with Colin Davin (Nov. 4)

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by Timothy Robson

Isbin-DavinFor reasons unknown, Sharon Isbin, one of the leading classical guitar virtuosos of our time, had never performed in Cleveland until Saturday evening, November 4, when she appeared in a recital for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society at Plymouth Church of Shaker Heights. During the second half of the evening, she was joined by Cleveland native Colin Davin, a former Isbin student and current faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Baldwin Wallace University. [Read more…]

Classical Guitarist Sharon Isbin to make her Cleveland debut

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by Mike Telin

IsbinIn an appearance on the Tavis Smiley show, celebrated classical guitarist Sharon Isbin said that she came to the instrument by accident. “Our family was living in Italy when I was nine years old, and when an older brother said he wanted guitar lessons — and my parents learned there was a famous teacher who commuted to our village from Milan who was touring all over Italy and had studied with Segovia — they brought my brother for the interview. He said, ‘What? Classical? No, no, I want to be Elvis Presley.’ He bowed out before the first lesson, and out of family duty I volunteered to take his place.” The rest is history.

The winner of two Grammy Awards and Guitar Player magazine’s “Best Classical Guitarist,” Isbin has appeared as soloist with over 170 orchestras and has given sold-out performances in the world’s finest halls. Her documentary Troubadour has been viewed by millions of people on over 200 television stations.

On Saturday, November 4 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society will present Sharon Isbin in her Cleveland debut as part of its International Series. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: five recitals (June 9-11)

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Jason Vieaux, guitar
by Daniel Hathaway

Vieaux-(Tyler-Boye)The 17th Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival got off to an auspicious start at the Cleveland Institute of Music on Friday evening, June 9 with a beautifully structured recital by Jason Vieaux. Originally scheduled for Mixon Hall, the performance was moved to Kulas Hall because of the demand for tickets. In cases like that, it’s nice to have a second venue right across the lobby. Any doubts about how the sound of a solo guitar would fare in the larger space were immediately put to rest by Vieaux’s sonorous performance of Fernando Sor’s Mes Ennuis at the top of the program. [Read more…]

Guitarist Colin Davin and harpist Emily Levin to close out CICGF 2017

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Davin_Levin“Guitar and harp is such a rare, unique combination,” said guitarist Colin Davin in a recent conversation. “To the extent that there’s an epicenter for that kind of duo, it might be Cleveland. Jason Vieaux and Yolanda Kondonassis have performed and recorded an album together, and in the past few years, some of the students here have formed guitar and harp duos. We like to think we’re starting something that will catch on.”

On Sunday, June 11 at 7:30 pm in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall, Colin Davin and harpist Emily Levin will close out the 2017 Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival with a duo recital featuring a world premiere by Dylan Mattingly and a recent work by Will Stackpole, with the Duo’s own arrangements of works by Maurice Ravel and Manuel de Falla as bookends. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival celebrates its 17th season June 9-11

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by Mike Telin

CICGF-ArtistsBeginning on Friday, June 9 and continuing through Sunday, June 11, Guitars International will present the seventeenth annual Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

“I cannot believe it’s the 17th season,” CICGF founder and artistic director Armin Kelly said during a recent telephone conversation. “Over the years I’ve learned a lot about what to do and what not to do, but it was a steep learning curve.”

Kelly noted that the Festival has grown beyond what he had ever imagined possible. “I was interested in figuring out how to fill a void in the presentation of the classical guitar in Cleveland,” Kelly said. “There were guitar programs at CIM, Oberlin, the University of Akron, and other schools in the area, but there really wasn’t an established concert presenter for the instrument.” [Read more…]

Winter Chamber Music Festival begins on December 1 at CIM

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by Mike Telin

cim-chamber-musicAs the fall semester come to a close at the Cleveland Institute of Music, it’s once again time for the school’s annual Winter Chamber Music Festival. From December 1 through December 4, students, faculty, and guests will present thirteen concerts featuring over forty unique chamber music compositions.

In addition to performances by woodwind, brass, and percussion ensembles, the school-wide festival of chamber music will feature participants in the Intensive String Quartet and Intensive Duo Seminars, the Advanced Piano Trio Program, and CIM’s Preparatory Friday Night Chamber Music, as well as the Young Artist Programs. As always, the Festival will feature an all-evening Chamber Music Marathon. All performances are free unless otherwise noted.

“The Winter Chamber Music Festival is one of the true musical highlights of the year here in Cleveland,” Cavani Quartet violinist Annie Fullard said via email. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: closing recital by Colin Davin (June 5)

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by Mike Telin

DavinFollowing Colin Davin’s May 2013 performance at the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, ClevelandClassical.com wrote: “Davin is in his twenties, and it is rare to have such a young guitarist achieve the level of sophistication and refinement that was on display throughout his distinguished program.” [Read more…]

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: a conversation with Colin Davin

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by Mike Telin

DAVIN-Colin“I’ve been attending these concerts at CIM since I was in middle and high school — before it was officially a festival,” Bay Village native and CIM faculty member Colin Davin recalled during a telephone interview from his home in New York. “I grew up on this Festival and it was where I learned to really love the classical guitar community.”

On Sunday, June 5 at 7:30 pm in CIM’s Mixon Hall, everything will come full circle for Colin Davin when he brings the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival to conclusion with a recital of Spanish music by de Falla, José, Mompou, Tárrega, Torroba, and  Turina.

Why a program of Spanish music? “In my youthful rebellion I kind of rejected the Spanish repertoire,” Davin said. “I wanted to set myself apart and I became very involved in new music as well as finding some hidden gems of 19th century repertoire.”   [Read more…]

Colin Davin to appear on Letterman with opera legend Jessye Norman

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DAVIN-ColinClassical guitarist Colin Davin, a native of Bay Village, will appear with Jessye Norman on The Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday, November 20 at 11:35 pm EST on CBS.

Davin currently lives in New York, where he received his master’s degree from Juilliard. He has performed throughout the U.S., in France and Spain, and is a regular teacher at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul and the Aspen Music Festival and School. (ClevelandClassical’s video interviews with Davin from Kabul can be viewed here.)

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…]

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