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ENCORE celebrates their loved ones with “In Your Arms at Last” (June 13)

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by Stephanie Manning

Each time a new group of musicians took the stage at Federated Church on June 13, excited whoops and cheers arose from the students of the ENCORE Summer Academy. As is traditional, the young musicians had been bussed in to hear their faculty mentors perform as part of the ENCORE – Gates Mills Music & Ideas Festival — and their delight at seeing their teachers onstage brightened the atmosphere considerably.

That Saturday evening marked the second-to-last performance of the Festival with a program titled “In Your Arms at Last,” presented on a temperate summer evening at the venue in Chagrin Falls. “Today’s program is all about love,” violinist and artistic director Jinjoo Cho told the audience from the stage. Works by Wagner, Beethoven, Strauss, and Robert Schumann focused on moments of tenderness and transformation. [Read more…]

ENCORE: Fantasies of Aino Sibelius at Federated Church (June 6)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

At a charged turning point in Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, the arrival of D major brings release: upper strings turn glassy and weightless, a sound like snowfall. It was a memorable sonority, one of several that lingered in “Fantasies of Aino Sibelius,” the second concert of ENCORE’s Music & Ideas Festival, presented on Saturday, June 6, at Federated Church in Chagrin Falls.

The program centered on Ainola, the house in Finland where Jean Sibelius and his wife Aino lived for half a century. Artistic Director and violinist Jinjoo Cho reminded us in her welcoming remarks that home is “not simply an address, but a set of conditions — rooms, landscapes, and people that make belonging possible.” [Read more…]

ENCORE’s 11th Music & Ideas Festival finds a way home

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by Stephanie Manning

“HOME,” the theme of this year’s ENCORE – Gates Mills Music & Ideas Festival, has been on Jinjoo Cho’s mind for a while.

“I am a homebody that is not allowed to be at home very much,” the artistic director and violinist said, speaking by phone from a midpoint in her drive from Chicago to Cleveland. She’s lived in Chicago since 2024, when she began teaching at Northwestern University, and she spent six years before that at McGill University in Montreal.

Given that relocation back to the U.S. from Canada, the concept of home “encapsulates a lot of thoughts I’ve had throughout the past two years,” she said. “It’s kind of a peculiar science what conditions need to be met for someone to truly feel secure and safe. This festival theme is really my attempt to pinpoint what those conditions are.”

From June 5 to June 20, the eleventh season of ENCORE’s Music & Ideas Festival will present five headline concerts in different venues around Northeast Ohio. These events take place concurrently with the Summer Academy, which provides training, mentorship, and performance opportunities for young musicians ages 13 to 26. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

ENCORE embraces the journey with “Tales of Travel & Transformation”

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by Stephanie Manning

Summer 2022 has seen a surge in travel, as those who were kept from family, friends, and favorite places over the past two years try to make up for lost time. The upcoming July 4 weekend should be one of the busiest yet. But for those staying in the Cleveland area, the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute’s Music & Ideas Festival is offering audiences a musical getaway on July 3 at 4:00 pm with “Tales of Travel & Transformation.”

The featured performers, the Verona Quartet, are a group of world travelers themselves. Hailing from four different countries, the musicians — violinists Jonathan Ong and Dorothy Ro, violist Abigail Rojansky, and cellist Jonathan Dormand — have performed as a group across four continents. Over the past two years of their residency at Oberlin Conservatory, the Quartet has appeared in venues all over Northeast Ohio — this weekend, they will add the Gilmour Academy’s Dodero Center to that list.

[Read more…]

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper bring joyful enthusiasm to the ENCORE stage

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by Stephanie Manning

In a typical year, the ENCORE Chamber Music Festival is not somewhere audiences would expect to hear bluegrass playing. And yet, on July 4, Michael Cleveland and his band Flamekeeper took the stage at the Dodero Performing Arts Center in Gates Mills for a wildly fun concert that truly encapsulated the spirit of chamber music.

[Read more…]

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper bring bluegrass to new audiences in July 4 celebration at ENCORE

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by Stephanie Manning

As has been the case throughout this season, on July 4, the ENCORE Music & Ideas Festival will once again try something new. In a celebration of American music, classical and bluegrass will share the stage at the Dodero Center for Performing Arts in Gates Mills. The 4:30 pm concert will begin with Copland’s Appalachian Spring performed by ENCORE artists, before shifting to Michael Cleveland and his band Flamekeeper, who will deliver what is certain to be a high energy performance.

“We’re gonna get up there and jam out,” Cleveland said in a recent phone interview. “That’s what we do.” The band won’t formally decide on a set list until concert day, but the fiddler said the performance will last 30 to 45 minutes and will include songs from their records.

With six albums to their credit, Flamekeeper has a lot of music to choose from. Their most recent release, Tall Fiddler, won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. Cleveland, who is blind and partially deaf, has wowed audiences with his fiery playing from a young age. He formed the group in 2006, which includes Chris Douglas on bass, Nathan Livers on mandolin, Josh Richards on guitar, and Jasiah Shrode on banjo.

[Read more…]

ENCORE’s Music & Ideas Festival ignites creative spark in performers and audiences alike

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by Stephanie Manning

Though this past year took a lot from musicians, it also gave many the rare gift of time. Jinjoo Cho, artistic director of ENCORE Chamber Music Institute, decided to use that time to bring a long-held idea of hers to fruition — but first, it would require a lot of research. Starting June 6, ENCORE will present its 2021 Music & Ideas Festival, a reimagined format that makes the organization’s sixth season its most ambitious yet.

Combining classical music with innovative ideas, Cho curated programs “sparked by” eight individuals she considers her personal inspirations. This group includes scientists and activists as well as a writer, visual artist, jazz singer, and former president. Each concert will be paired with a preceding panel discussion, with topics ranging from “The Power of Introverted Minds” to “Gen Z’s Crumbling Earth.”

After two YouTube Live events, the concert season, titled FIRE, kicks off on June 11 with a program from the Ariel Quartet inspired by Marie Curie. The pioneering scientist won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 — the same year Maurice Ravel composed his String Quartet in F, which will be paired with works by Robert Schumann and Amy Beach.

[Read more…]

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