by Stephanie Manning

Hao Yang and Kevin Loh have performed as the Kaleido Guitar Duo fewer than five times, but that felt far from obvious after hearing their recent concert at the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. The two musicians — Yang from China, Loh from Singapore — have a natural chemistry, committed to exploring new works and performing them at a high level.

The opening piece on their June 5 concert, Stephen Dodgson’s Pastourelle, emphasized this alignment in vision. The two guitarists treated the audience in Mixon Hall to a work that is by turns playful and mysterious, keeping an effortless synchronization all the while.

While Dodgson wrote extensively for guitar, the rest of the program spent plenty of time venturing outside the standard repertoire. That’s the Kaleido Duo’s bread and butter, Loh explained from the stage. Both musicians are interested in lesser-known works, transcriptions, and arrangements that capture the kaleidoscope of musical possibility. [Read more…]