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Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Juilliard String Quartet (Nov. 27)

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by David Kulma

The standard chamber music concert format is so unremarkable to a regular concertgoer that it becomes like water to a fish. Three works in a row, one intermission; masterpieces, and every now and again a new piece. After a while, it’s easy to forget that other formats are possible. But sometimes a well-executed, no-frills concert with the usual shape comes along, and the reason all of that became the norm makes sense again. The Juilliard String Quartet’s performance at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights on Tuesday, November 27 was such an evening. [Read more…]

New violinist, new piece: Cleveland Chamber Music Society presents the Juilliard String Quartet

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Armed with both a new first violinist, Areta Zhulla, and a new piece by Lembit Beecher, the Juilliard String Quartet will head to Plymouth Church on Tuesday, November 27 for a 7:30 pm concert presented by the Cleveland Chamber Music Society.

Zhulla joined her new colleagues — violinist Ronald Copes, cellist Astrid Schween, and violist Roger Tapping — in September. That same month, the Quartet premiered Beecher’s One Hundred Years Grows Shorter Over Time, commissioned for them to honor the centennial of the South Mountain Concerts series in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Born in Greece, Zhulla went on to study at the Juilliard School and join CMS Two of Lincoln Center, making her name as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician performing across multiple continents. She’s been named “Young Artist of the Year” by the National Critics Association in Greece, and is a recipient of the Triandi Career Grant and the Tassos Prassopoulos Foundation Award.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society presents The Jerusalem Quartet

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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.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Juilliard returns with new cellist

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by Daniel Hathaway

juilliard-quartet-2016-2The four-time Grammy Award-winning Juilliard String Quartet will revisit the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights on Tuesday, December 6 at 7:30 pm for a program of quartets by Haydn, Bartók, and Beethoven. The concert, presented in conjunction with the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Winter Chamber Music Festival, introduces the Juilliard’s new cellist, Astrid Schween.

When you’re searching for an adjective to characterize the Juilliard String Quartet, “venerable” certainly fits an ensemble that marks its 70th anniversary this year. But rather than just basking in its rich history, the Juilliard has continuously and incrementally renewed itself over those decades. Formed in 1946 at the Juilliard School of Music in New York by its then president William Schuman and violinist Robert Mann, the original roster included second violinist Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd. The latest personnel change brings the total number of individuals who have played with the Quartet to sixteen. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society brings some favorites back for its 2016-2017 season at Plymouth Church

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by Daniel Hathaway

juilliard-quartet-2016-2For its 67th season, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will present its customary lineup of seven world-class chamber music groups — plus a young artists showcase and a young artists competition. You won’t see the names of any new ensembles on the roster for 2016-2017, but there’s a major personnel change and an interesting realignment of musicians that will be of primary interest to chamber music lovers.

“I’m looking forward to the new configuration of the Juilliard String Quartet (pictured left),” said CCMS president Barbara Green in a telephone conversation last weekend. “It’s the first time the Juilliard have included a woman [cellist Astrid Schween, who replaces Joel Krosnick], and I’ve heard every permutation since the very beginning. And then there’s the Cleveland debut of the Montrose Piano Trio, which includes violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Greensmith — the two remaining members of the Tokyo Quartet — plus pianist Jon Kimura Parker, who played for CCMS some years ago with the Berlin Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet.” [Read more…]

Review: Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Juilliard String Quartet at Plymouth Church (December 4)

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by Daniel Hathaway

“EveryJuilliard-SQ time a string quartet replaces a player, it becomes a new quartet,” said Cleveland Institute of Music President Joel Smirnoff, when asked to give a few remarks before the Cleveland Chamber Music Society’s concert by the Juilliard String Quartet at Plymouth Church on December 4.

Smirnoff is in a position to know about that. Having played with the Juilliard since 1986, he moved from second to first fiddle in 1997 before withdrawing in 2008 to take up his new duties in Cleveland. Since then, there have been two more new first violinists. The latest, Joseph Lin, joined only last year and would be making his Cleveland debut on Tuesday evening. You have to imagine that Smirnoff and CIM’s chamber music festival had something to do with the large number of students who packed the house to the point where the ushers ran out of programs — a nice problem for a chamber music society to have.  [Read more…]

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