by Mike Telin
“I think everybody who plays an instrument has a piece that when they heard it for the first time, they said — this is what I want to do with my life because I want to play this piece as many times as I can,” harpist Yolanda Kondonassis said during a Zoom call.
On Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 pm at Church of the Covenant, Kondonassis will perform Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra. Under the direction of Daniel Meyer, the program will also include the world premiere of Takuma Itoh’s Kohola Sings for harp and chamber orchestra, Roland’s Suite by Lully, and selections of Fauré’s Incidental Music to Pelléas et Mélisande with soprano Amanda Powell. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish.
Kondonassis recalled hearing the Ravel live for the first time at the Cleveland Institute of Music while she was still in high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy. “My teacher at Interlochen brought me to Cleveland with her on spring break. She was a student of Alice Chalifoux — who would become my mentor and teacher. I stayed with Alice and would go with her to CIM when she taught. I happened to go to somebody’s degree recital and I remember hearing the Ravel in The Pavilion, where Mixon Hall is now, and thinking it was the most phenomenal ear candy I had ever experienced.”