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Collegium Musicum Oberliniense November 30 and December 1

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by Abigail Hakel-Garcia

Choosing works that complement one another is not always an easy task. That is, unless a theme emerges. For this weekend’s concerts, Collegium Musicum Oberliniese director Steven Plank has chosen a program that juxtaposes the music of two composers who are usually cast as polar opposites —  Giovanni da Palestrina and Claudio Monteverdi.

On Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1 at 8:00 pm in Fairchild Chapel, Plank will lead the ensemble in Jean Mouton’s Nesciens mater, Claudio Monteverdi’s Adoramus te, Christe a6, Felle amaro, O stellae coruscantes and Ave maris stella, Giovanni da Palestrina’s Missa Ut Re Mi Fa Sol La, Eric Whitacre’s Lux arumque, and Giovanni Gabrieli’s Cantate domino. The concerts are free and open to the public.

In his program notes, Plank suggests that while Palestrina was the musical icon of Counter-Reformation Rome, on the other hand, Claudio Monteverdi claims an equally iconic status as the master of seventeenth-century musical modernism. [Read more…]

Ars Organi at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Heights: Christie reveals secrets of the Italian organ (Sep. 19)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Christie-James-DavidFor his contribution to the Ars Organi Festival at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights on September 19, Oberlin professor James David Christie was charged with demonstrating the eloquent musical possibilities of the North Italian-style Baroque organ built by Gerhard Hradetzky in 1986 for the rear gallery of the nave. Not only did he place the instrument in its historical-liturgical context — with the help of Steven Plank and a group of women’s voices from the Oberlin Collegium Musicum — but he went far beyond a history lesson to show how delightful music by nine composers of the period can be when matched up with the right instrument. [Read more…]

Paukert plans Ars Organi to celebrate music program at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Hts.

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by Daniel Hathaway

PAUKERT-KarelBoth during his tenure as curator of musical arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1974-2004), and since 1979 as organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Karel Paukert has combined unerring musical taste with an uncanny ability to acquire splendid keyboard instruments. The three organs and harpsichord owned by St. Paul’s will be the subject of Ars Organi, a seven-event festival beginning on September 15 that matches the instruments with the particular interests of some of Paukert’s colleagues, friends, and students.

“I don’t want to say this is my swan song,” Paukert said in a telephone conversation,  “but I want to pay homage to St. Paul’s Church and its generous donors with this festival. They have maintained this music program all the way back to Walter Blodgett, who was kind of a legend here.”

St. Paul’s Church moved to the Heights from 40th and Euclid in 1928, but the Great Depression and World War II delayed its building plans beyond the construction of a parish hall until 1952. [Read more…]

Trinity Brownbag Concerts: Collegium Musicum Oberliniense (May 3)

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by Mike Telin

Oberlin-Collegium-TrinityHearing choral music in Trinity Cathedral is always enjoyable, but the experience can become truly magical when the performers are refined and well-disciplined. This was the case on Wednesday, May 3 when the Collegium Musicum Oberliniense, under the direction of Steven Plank, performed a captivating program titled “Touches of Sweet Harmony.” The concert was presented as part of the Cathedral’s popular Brownbag series. [Read more…]

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