by Peter Feher
The guitar is an instrument that can travel anywhere and play just about anything. Listeners got the chance to take in some of that variety at the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, which returned in person to the Cleveland Institute of Music last weekend. Original arrangements and inventive pairings — pieces with harp, cello, and more — added to the schedule, but a sense of what makes a performance “classical” emerged as well.
Studied expertise might be one answer. It was certainly the quality Duo Melis had in spades playing the Festival’s headlining concert on Saturday, June 4 in Kulas Hall. Husband-and-wife guitarists Alexis Muzurakis and Susana Prieto brought decades of musical knowledge to several cornerstones of the repertoire, while still leaving a little room to explore. [Read more…]
When COVID-19 crashed the party in March of 2020, it arrived just as musical organizations were putting final touches on their summer festival plans.
The last in a series of split-bill, pre-recorded recitals in this year’s Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival debuted on June 11, containing excellent performances by Cleveland’s own Colin Davin on the first half, and Duo Melis of Spain and Greece on the second.
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.”
Beginning on Friday, June 8 and continuing through Sunday, June 10 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the 2018 edition of the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival will feature thirteen artists and ensembles, five concerts, nine master classes, and three lectures. 