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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…]

Trio Seoul: warmth and thoughtfulness at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Jan. 14)

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by Stephanie Manning

Despite the frigid Wednesday weather dumping snow outside the Cleveland Museum of Art, January 14 almost felt like a pleasant spring day inside Gartner Auditorium. That phenomenon had nothing to do with temperature and everything to do with Trio Seoul, whose warm camaraderie and excellent musicianship brightened the venue considerably.

Pianist Kyu Yeon Kim, cellist Brannon Cho, and violinist Jinjoo Cho — whose ENCORE Chamber Music Institute co-presented the event — started things off with their sunniest piece, Joseph Haydn’s Piano Trio No. 39 in G. The musicians kept the affect light and flowing, centered on the tasteful piano lines from Kim.

[Read more…]

ENCORE celebrates its first decade with “The Golden Waltz” (June 17)

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by Stephanie Manning

Ten years have gone by in a blink for the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute. So it’s only fitting that its official anniversary concert began with a healthy dose of nostalgia.

Artistic director Jinjoo Cho introduced the June 17 performance at the Maltz Performing Arts Center with a slideshow documenting  the evolution of the Music & Ideas Festival and Summer Academy. “Cleveland is home to me,” she said, clicking through photos of old programs, early notebook brainstorming sessions, and past students — many of whom are now professional musicians in their own right.

That trip down memory lane was a prelude to the musical portion of the concert, titled “The Golden Waltz.” [Read more…]

ENCORE Music & Ideas Festival dances its way to the 10-year mark

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by Stephanie Manning

When you’re excited about something, sometimes all you want to do is get up and dance. Hence the title of this year’s ENCORE–Gates Mills Music & Ideas Festival: “By Leaps & Bounds.”

“ We wanted to have an image of a celebratory dance for our 10th anniversary,” said artistic director Jinjoo Cho in a recent interview. “And the theme also looks forward to the next ten years of our festival. So it just seemed like a perfect double meaning.”

Since 2016, the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute has hosted its annual summer concert series here in Northeast Ohio, featuring performances by local and visiting artists. The Summer Academy, which takes place simultaneously, provides training, mentorship, and performance opportunities for young musicians ages 13 to 26. This year’s Music & Ideas Festival begins on June 6, and tickets are available online. [Read more…]

ENCORE: “Director’s Carte Blanche” at Oberlin (June 14)

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by Max Newman

This year’s ENCORE Music & Ideas Festival, themed around “Planet Earth,” graced the Cleveland area with some brilliant performances over the course of this month. One of those came on the evening of June 14, when Oberlin Conservatory played host to the series. 

Violinist and founder Jinjoo Cho, violinist Mathieu Herzog, and pianist Hyunsoo Kim starred in a terrific performance at Warner Concert Hall. The event also featured a conversation with Chris Stanton, the Senior Naturalist at Lorain County Metro Parks, which perfectly served ENCORE’s season theme as an ode to the natural world.

[Read more…]

ENCORE returns with an ode to Planet Earth

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by Mike Telin

Each summer, ENCORE Chamber Music Institute’s Music and Ideas Festival brings artists and speakers from around the world to present engaging performances and thought-provoking discussions that are inspired by a theme such as Creatures of Emotion, Storytelling, and FIRE. The 2024 edition of the Festival will feature six concerts under the theme of Planet Earth.

“I wanted to highlight the universal connection that we humans have with nature,” ENCORE founder and artistic director Jinjoo Cho said during a telephone interview.  “Anybody who takes a walk in the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park — listening to the sounds of nature — will feel more calm and more centered.”

Planet Earth begins on Friday, June 7 at Kendall Lake at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. “Roma Jazz on a Starry Night” features the Olli Soikkeli Band — Olli Soikkeli (guitar), Brad Brose (rhythm guitar), Paul Sikivie (bass), and Evan Arntzen (clarinet/saxophone). “Olli has a special place in that repertoire, and we’re excited to do our first concert with him.”

[Read more…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra: Jinjoo Cho soars in Barber Concerto (Nov. 17)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

In a pre-holiday offering, Bluewater Chamber Orchestra’s audience received gifts simple and somber, with intermittent thrills, on Friday evening, November 17. In an all-American program, the pleasures were many: Cindy McTee’s moving Adagio for strings, Barber’s firework of a Violin Concerto, and Copland’s wise portrait of rural America, Appalachian Spring.

[Read more…]

Violinist Jinjoo Cho: Barber with BlueWater & writing a book

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Following up on her Tchaikovsky Concerto performance four years ago, violinist Jinjoo Cho will make a return appearance with BlueWater Chamber Orchestra on Friday, November 17 at 7:30 pm at Church of the Covenant.

This time, the first prize winner of the 2014 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis will focus on the Concerto of Samuel Barber — part of an all-American program led by Daniel Meyer that will also include Cindy McTee’s Adagio for String Orchestra and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring: Suite for Full Orchestra. Pay-what-you-wish tickets are available here. [Read more…]

ENCORE Chamber Music Institute Music & Ideas Festival gets underway

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by Mike Telin

Since June of 2016, young violinists, violists, and cellists have made their way to Northeast Ohio to take part in the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute. Earlier this week, 92 students ages 13 to 26 arrived on the campuses of Gilmour Academy and John Carroll University to participate in either the String Quartet Intensive or the Summer Academy.

Both programs include masterclasses and workshops under the guidance of renowned artists, teachers, and guests. Over the course of three weeks, students will also perform fifteen community concerts as part of ENCORE in Cle and the concluding Blooming Young Artist Concerts.

“The students also have movement classes, morning practice sessions, and lessons in the afternoon,” ENCORE founder and artistic director Jinjoo Cho said during a recent telephone conversation. “It’s a lot to handle, but this is probably the highest-level student pool that we have ever had. They come from all over the world, and it’s very exciting to hear them.”

[Read more…]

ENCORE: A Tasteful showcase— “Tales of Travel & Transformation” (July 3)

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by Jacob Strauss

ENCORE Chamber Music held a musical tasting on Sunday afternoon, July 3rd at the Dodero Center for the Performing Arts. “Tales of Travel and Transformation” featured members of the Verona Quartet, artistic director Jinjoo Cho, and other faculty of the summer institute.

Cellist Max Geissler led off with composer-in-residence Andrew Rindfleisch’s Quiet Music for Solo Violoncello. Gymnastic hand positions land on natural harmonics in “Waltz Music.” Heavy rhythmic lines roll under chords played assertively by Geissler in “Fast Music,” then become quiet while wind chimes glisten in “Slow Music.” [Read more…]

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