by Mike Telin
Music is in a constant state of flux — adapting and taking on new life as it crosses borders, cultures, and time. Just as tectonic plates shift slowly but inevitably, musical traditions push against one another, sparking something new.
Diana Cohen | Franklin Cohen | Roman Rabinovich
Artistic Directors
With the theme of “Continental Drifts,” the fourteenth edition of ChamberFest Cleveland will launch on Wednesday, June 10 at 7:30 pm in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Tickets to all events are available online.
The evening will begin with a 6:30 pm welcome by CFC executive director Jessica Peek Sherwood. The program, titled “Global Fanfare,” will kick off with virtuosic drumming from djembefola Weedie Braimah.
The program will also include Steve Reich’s Piano Phase, Yang Baozhi’s Ambush on All Sides, Miguel del Águila’s Clocks: I. Shelves Full of Clocks, Matthew Hindson’s Rush for Piano Trio, and Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet in G major, Op. 36. The audience is invited to stay for a Postlude Reception to celebrate Opening Night.
The Akron Symphony fully embraced tradition with its opening-night concert this season. In an all-out performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on September 29 at E.J. Thomas Hall, the Orchestra was recreating a major moment from its history. And at the end of the evening, as the finale of the “Ode to Joy” resounded throughout the hall, the program transformed into a complete celebration.
Just before the Akron Symphony string section began a work by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate on Saturday evening, conductor Christopher Wilkins turned to the audience, raised a document, and began to read. What he had in his hand wasn’t program notes. As a pairing to the work by Tate — a member of the Chickasaw nation — Wilkins read a land acknowledgement for the city of Akron, honoring the Indigenous people to whom the land belongs.
A swirl of CIM connections pervades the next program from the school’s New Music Ensemble, starting with the featured guest: Jerod Impichch