Gracelyn Jack Archives - Cleveland Classical

Cleveland Composers Guild at Fairmount Presbyterian (Jan. 21)

January 31, 2024 by Sicily Xiao

by Sicily Xiao

On January 21, a serene Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Composers Guild curated the second concert of its 2023-2024 season at Fairmount Presbyterian Church. The program, dedicated to cutting edge chamber music compositions, included the 1st prize winner of the Guild’s 11th Collegiate Composition Contest.

The concert began with Ty Alan Emerson’s Pan Songs played by percussionist Dylan Moffitt on a version of the modern steelpan which avoided precise tuning, resulting in a distinctive harmonic and spatial system. The emphasis on sound, color, and rhythm beautifully showcased Emerson’s concepts. In the second movement, Moffitt traded mallets for brushes, more commonly used in jazz, adding a layer of flexibility to the timbral palette.

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Cleveland Composers Guild: A conversation with Collegiate Competition Winner Gracelyn Jack

January 19, 2024 by Sicily Xiao

by Sicily Xiao

Gracelyn Jack, a student at the College of Wooster, won the 2024 Cleveland Composers Guild Collegiate competition with her chamber work Less Than Ten Days, which will have its public premiere in a concert presented by the Cleveland Composers Guild on Sunday, January 21, at 3:00 p.m. at Fairmont Presbyterian Church.

The program will also include works by Guild members Ty Alan Emerson, Karen Griebling, Inna Onofrei, Matthew C. Saunders, Ryan Charles Ramer, and Chris Neiner.

I recently met up with Jack on Zoom to learn more about her and her work.

Sicily Xiao: How did you first become interested in composition?

Gracelyn Jack: I played the clarinet in the symphonic band all through middle and high school and am still in the symphonic band in college. I loved how band pieces fit together and how they worked. I thought that it would be cool to write some of my own stuff. As I got more into writing music, I began to infuse my own emotions and discovered that I love communicating my personal experiences through music.

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VOCES8’s Oberlin debut: a delightful 20th anniversary program (Oct. 28)

by Stephanie Manning

VOCES8’s 20th anniversary called for plenty of celebration and plenty of humor.

When the British a cappella group visited the Oberlin Artist Recital Series on October 28, they brought a program of audience favorites that delighted the sold-out crowd in Finney Chapel. Known for their ethereal voices and crystal clear harmonies, the octet demonstrated all that and more as they bridged the sacred and secular in “Songs From 20 Years.”

This two-decade milestone gave good reason to celebrate not only the singers, but also their longtime arranger-in-residence, Jim Clements. Responsible for some of the group’s most requested pieces, Clements is like “the secret burger sauce in the Big Mac,” joked tenor Blake Morgan.

[Read on…]

Guitarist Leonela Alejandro makes engaging Cleveland debut at CCGS (Oct. 25)

by Stephanie Manning

When an artist is on tour for months at a time, it can be hard not to feel homesick. Leonela Alejandro knows that experience well. Her current cross-country tour — celebrating her win at the 2024 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition — began in September and continues through next May.

That’s a lot of time away from Puerto Rico, where the 25-year-old guitarist grew up and began her musical education. So, as she explained to the audience at the Maltz Performing Arts Center on October 25, her Cleveland program brought a little bit of her home country with her. Presented by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, Alejandro’s local debut brought out her most engaging abilities as a performer, making the case that she is a young artist to watch. [Read on…]

No Exit opens season with “American Descent” at Praxis Fiber Workshop (Oct. 25)

by Mike Telin

There was not an open seat to be had at Praxis Fiber Workshop on Saturday, October 25 when the adventurous new music ensemble No Exit began their 17th season with a program of four thoroughly engaging works.

As a prelude to the program, James Rhodes presented two movements from Garth Knox’s Viola Spaces, a collection of eight etudes each of which focus on an extended technique.

No. 2, “Ghosts,” examines the technique of sul tasto — on the fingerboard. Beginning with a pitchless bowing on the strings, Rhodes brilliantly produced spooky, breathy, brushing sounds. In No. 6, “Harmonic Horizons,” Rhodes took listeners on a tour of the instrument’s harmonic series. Here he produced an interesting mix of straight-tones, double-stops, trills, and slides in every register of the viola.

[Read on…]

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