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Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project to host “Toasty Tunes” at the Bop Stop

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by Mike Telin

Even-BennConversations between two like-minded people over coffee can often inspire great ideas. Such was the case a year and a half ago when saxophonist Noa Even and cellist Sophie Benn got together to discuss ways to promote new music in Cleveland. The result of that meeting was a new addition to the area’s music scene — the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project.

On Thursday, January 18 at the Bop Stop, CUSP will host “Toasty Tunes,” a winter fundraiser to support the organization’s Re:Sound New Music Festival, to be held from June 7-10 of this year. The doors will open at 7:00 pm for a meet-and-greet with the evening’s performers and the CUSP team. Performances by saxophone duo Ogni Suono (Noa Even and Phil Pierick) and saxophonist/composer Nick Zoulek will begin at 7:30 pm. Attendees can learn more about CUSP and Re:Sound during a conversation with the founders moderated by me, Mike Telin. Click here for tickets and event information. The evening will conclude with a late-night improv jam session at 10:00 pm. Bring your own instruments and join in — that session is free but donations will be appreciated.

Noa Even said during a recent telephone conversation that the timing of that meeting over coffee was fortuitous. [Read more…]

Oberlin student Neil McCalmont named 2016 Young Writer Fellow for ClevelandClassical.com

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by Staff

McCalmontClevelandClassical is pleased to announce that New Hampshire native Neil McCalmont has been named the 2016 ClevelandClassical.com Young Writer Fellow. The two-month summer fellowship is designed for aspiring writers who wish to hone their skills and prepare for careers on the new frontiers of musical journalism.

McCalmont is completing his second year at Oberlin where he is a double degree student majoring in Classics and Musical Studies with a focus on Greek and Latin literature and Wagnerian opera. “I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity,” he said. “As an aspiring music writer, I will gain great journalistic experience through this fellowship by writing reviews and previews, and conducting interviews with artists.” [Read more…]

Oberlin Winter Term Chamber Music Festival: “The Chamber Musician’s Approach to the Media” (January 23)

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Strauss-PhotoJanuary has been all about chamber music at Oberlin. On Friday, January 23 in Stull Recital Hall, the school gave a taste of the media side of the field with the help of three Cleveland-based music critics, also Oberlin faculty members: Mike Telin and Daniel Hathaway serve as editors of ClevelandClassical.com, while Donald Rosenberg is editor of Early Music America magazine and former chief music critic at The Plain Dealer. [Read more…]

Oberlin’s Bassoon Christmas turns 25 this December

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by Jeremy Reynolds, guest contributor
courtesy of The Oberlin Review

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There is perhaps only one commonality between the 2008 Summer Olympics, Harry Potter, the much-anticipated 2012 apocalypse and Georges Bizet’s beloved opera Carmen. It is true that two of these incidents feature music composed by John Williams and that two of these tales speak of great catastrophe. It is true that three of these four phenomena have occurred during the new millennium. But the only event that truly binds these disparate happenings together will take place on Thursday, December 11 at 12:30 pm, in the Conservatory Lounge. Immediately following Pizza with the Deans, Professor of Bassoon George Sakakeeny will celebrate his 25th anniversary of coordinating and conducting that jovial holiday tradition, Bassoon Christmas.

Sakakeeny began teaching at the Conservatory in 1989. His predecessor, Ken Moore, oversaw the first run of Bassoon Christmas. One of Moore’s former students, Mike Telin, OC ’84, recounted how one of his fellow bassoonists came up with the idea for a Christmas concert to blow off some steam during reading period.

“Ken was all for the idea,” he said. “We did the first one in flash mob style; we took over the lounge and started playing.” [Read more…]

Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition: Interviews with the Co-Directors

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By Mike Telin

The Meg Quigley Vivaldi Bassoon Competition and Symposium gets underway on Friday, January 15 at the Oberlin Conservatory. As background to the event, I reached Founders and Co-directors Kristen Wolfe Jensen and Nicolasa Kuster for phone interviews last week.

Kristin Wolfe Jensen

MQVC Co-Director Kristin Wolfe Jensen has been the bassoon professor at the University of Texas at Austin since 1995, and is also on the faculty of the International Festival Institute at Round Top, and the Eastern Music Festival, where she is Principal Bassoonist of the Eastern Philharmonic. Ms. Jensen is Principal Bassoonist with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and previously has toured Europe with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and served as Acting Principal Bassoonist of the Houston Grand Opera. The American Record Guide reviewer said of her solo CD Shadings, “…She has simply turned in the finest-played Bassoon recital I have ever heard… She obviously sees tone quality as the foundation for her fluent technique…It is a ravishing sound, siren-like in its attractive flair…Ms. Jensen could teach a lot about musicality to a number of famous violinists…”. Her other chamber music and solo recordings can be heard on the Cambria, Opus One, Klavier, and Centaur labels.

Mike Telin: How did the idea for this competition come about?

KWJ: Nicolasa and I were sitting in a Café in Buenos Aires at the 2001 International Double Reed Society Convention. We had been friends at Oberlin, and we were talking about how we would like to see more young women bassoonists empowered. It seemed as though the majority of bassoonists who were participating in International competitions for the bassoon were male although at least 50% of bassoon students enrolled in music schools were female; so why are female bassoon students not succeeding in International Competitions? We had to ask ourselves what was causing this to happen. I think at that time about 72% of principal bassoonists in orchestras in the United States were male, and why were the females not rising to the top? There has been some change in this in the past decade, which is good.

[Read more…]

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