by Jarrett Hoffman
One challenge of concert previews is balancing a discussion of the music against a portrait of the artist. In the case of pianist Arsentiy Kharitonov, who will visit the Rocky River Chamber Music Society for a free concert on Monday, November 15 at 7:30 pm at Lakewood Congregational Church (masks required), those two worlds of content collided. The way he described his program — works by Bach, Schubert, Schumann, Johann Strauss, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff — was very telling about the way he thinks about music.
The Russian-born Kharitonov, who is a first-prize winner of both the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition and the All-National Composer’s Competition (Russia), spoke to me by telephone from his current homebase of Denton, Texas, not far from Dallas.
Jarrett Hoffman: One thing that stands out about your program is that each half contains a transcription of Bach: Ferruccio Busoni’s take on the famous violin Chaconne, and the Alexander Siloti version of the Organ Prelude in g. Are transcriptions in general an interest of yours?
Les Délices has added a new twist to their acclaimed Baroque-jazz fusion program. Previously known as “Songs Without Words” — in the form of both a live concert and a beautiful album from 2018 — it’s now called “Torchsongs Transformed,” and adds soprano Hélène Brunet to the core of Debra Nagy (Baroque oboe), Mélisande Corriveau (viola da gamba and pardessus de viole), and Eric Milnes (harpsichord).
“Holidays Old & New” describes Cleveland Chamber Choir’s performances this weekend in more than one way. The main thread that artistic director Scott MacPherson has woven through the program is the pairing of ancient and modern holiday works — from as far apart as the 14th and 21st centuries — that bear the same text. 
No longer just a French Baroque ensemble, Les Délices has recently branched out into earlier and later musical periods and crossed national borders. In the latest development, founder, artistic director, and oboist Debra Nagy invited fortepianist Sylvia Berry and three period wind instrument colleagues — clarinetist Colin Lawson, bassoonist Wouter Verschuren, and hornist Todd Williams — to join her in well-known quintets from the Viennese Classical period.
All it took was one visit.
CityMusic Cleveland closed out its 15th season with five concerts in worship spaces across the Cleveland area the third week in May. The enjoyable and excellently curated program, “Hidden Gems,” was led by Mélisse Brunet and featured cellist Amit Peled. I heard the Friday, May 17 performance at Lakewood Congregational Church.
Israeli cellist Amit Peled is a warm person, a deep thinker, and a big Cavaliers fan — all equally important aspects of any great artist’s personality.
Over the past ten years the music of Jean-Féry Rebel has become familiar to 
Local listeners might know that CityMusic Cleveland’s music director, Avner Dorman, is also a composer. His separate but related talents of the baton and of the pen will be on display when he leads the orchestra in the world premiere of