by Daniel Hathaway
Singers on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series never seem to attract the kind of audiences who turn out for string quartets, but anyone who stayed away from the remarkable recital presented by German baritone Holger Falk and British pianist Julius Drake at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church on October 23 missed out on a special evening. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
If you don’t know the artistry of Holger Falk, you need to. On Tuesday, October 23 at 7:30 pm at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will present the German baritone and pianist Julius Drake. Their program will include songs by Schubert, Eisler, Poulenc and Satie. A pre-concert lecture by Eric Charnofsky will begin at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online.
Equally at home with repertoire of the Baroque masters as with the music of the 21st century, Holger Falk has been described by Opernwelt magazine as “one of the most intellectually and vocally flexible singers on German stages.” He was honored with the German Record Critics Award in 2017 for his recording Hanns Eisler Lieder Vol. 1, the first of a four-album collection of songs by Eisler. In 2016 he received the ECHO Klassik Award for his recording of Erik Satie: Intégrale des Mélodies et Chansons.
Highlights of Falk’s 2018-19 season will include his debut as Jean-Charles in Hans Werner Henze’s Das Floß der Medusa at the Ruhr Triennale, and the world premiere of Michael Wertmüller‘s Diodati.Unendlich at Theater Basel. In addition to the recital in Cleveland, Falk will bring his program to The Frick Collection and The Phillips Collection as well as to Heidelberger Frühling, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Rathauskonzerte Regensburg and Megaron Athens. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Sometimes personalities and musical sensibilities among members of a chamber music ensemble just seem to click. Such is the case with the acclaimed Jerusalem Quartet, who first came together while still in high school. But in a 2015 interview with ClevelandClassical.com, violinist Alexander Pavlovsky said that at that time, becoming a world-class string quartet was the furthest thing from their minds. “We did not think a lot about the future. We were only concentrating on building a repertoire and enjoying every moment of being part of such an amazing ensemble.”
On Tuesday, October 2 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will inaugurate their new season with a return visit by the Jerusalem Quartet — Alexander Pavlovsky and Sergei Bresler, violins, Ori Kam, viola, and Kyril Zlotnikov, cello. The program includes Beethoven’s Quartet in a, Op. 18, No. 5, Ravel’s Quartet in F, and Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 3 in F, Op. 73. CWRU professor David J. Rothenberg will give a pre-concert lecture beginning at 6:30. Tickets are available online.
Tuesday’s concert will mark the Quartet’s fifth appearance on the CCMS series since 2010 — the last was in March of 2017. Looking back at that 2015 interview, we thought it would be nice to re-share some of Alexander Pavlovsky’s responses to questions he graciously agreed to answer by email.