by James Flood
The Cuyahoga Valley Chamber Players (CVCP) performed last Sunday evening, July 26, at the Happy Days Lodge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The ensemble comprised flutist Jane Berkner, cellist Miles Richardson, guitarist Stephen Aron, and violist Ann Cirvenic, who arranged themselves in a variety of combinations which included two duets, a trio and a quartet. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
This July, the Music by Nature series invites audiences to Cuyahoga Valley National Park for two concerts by very different groups. On Sunday, July 12, the Cuyahoga Valley Chamber Players will perform “Summer Winds,” a program of three works for woodwind quintet. Two weeks later, on Sunday, July 26, “A Romantic Summer’s Eve” will feature the Chamber Players in an assortment of works for flute, guitar, viola, and cello. Both concerts are at 6:30 pm at Happy Days Lodge. Audiences are invited to bring a picnic beginning at 5:00 pm and to join the musicians for a post-concert dessert reception. Tickets can be purchased here.
We spoke about Music by Nature with flutist Jane Berkner, interim flute professor at the University of Akron. Berkner has also served on the faculties of Ashland and Muskingum Universities, and she is director of Arts and Enrichment for the Conservancy of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
By Mike Telin and Daniel Hautzinger
A colorful mélange of sounds fills the Cuyahoga Valley National Park during summer. There are the obvious tweets of birds and rustlings of wildlife, but less natural sounds can be heard in the park as well. Strains of Sibelius and Tchaikovsky or the stadium rock of The Kings of Leon may waft over from the Blossom Music Center in the southern part of the park. If you wander farther north a Beatles song in an a cappella arrangement may catch your ear, or a choral version of a beloved movie theme might draw you closer.
That’s because on July 20 at 6:30PM, the Akron-based choral group Singers Companye will present a concert entitled “Sounds Familiar?” at the Happy Days Welcome Lodge in the National Park, as part of the Music By Nature series held there over summer. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When Music by Nature presents the River Bottom Quartet on Sunday, July 7 beginning at 6:30 in the Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, audiences will have the unique opportunity to hear a performance by an ensemble of instruments far too often neglected on the concert stage. As with all Music by Nature concerts, audiences are invited to bring a pre-concert picnic beginning at 5 and invited to stay for a dessert reception and an artist meet and greet following the performance.
River Bottom Quartet is comprised of members of the euphonium and baritone horn section of the acclaimed Pittsburgh-based River City Brass. “The quartet is surprisingly capable of producing a variety of sounds,” says River Bottom Quartet member Matthew Murchison. “Some of the guys will double during the performance so for example I’ll play tuba and a couple of the guys will play trombone.” The moment I heard some of the quartet’s music and met Matthew I knew we had to have them on the series” says Jane Berkner of Music by Nature.“They’re a fantastic group and very funny.” [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
On Sunday, June 9 beginning at 6:30 pm at the Happy Days Lodge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Music By Nature presents Russian Duo, Oleg Kruglyakov, balalaika & Terry Boyarsky, piano in a concert featuring Russian, classical, Soviet & folk music. As always, Music By Nature audiences are invited to picnic on the grounds beginning at 5 pm, and a dessert reception follows the performance.
Although the combination of balalaika and piano may seem a bit unusual, Terry Boyarsky and Oleg Kruglyakov think the variety of musical styles that are included in their nature-inspired program highlight the range of possibilities the combination of instruments are capable of producing. “I think the idea is that we are taking music from different parts of the planet and blending them [together] with these instruments and it does sound like nature re-united, like the United Nations,” says Kruglyakov. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
A classical guitar concert of mostly Russian music held on St. Patrick’s Day in a rustic lodge in a national park —with stuffed bison heads staring down at you! Disconnects sometimes make for really successful concerts, as they did last Sunday when guitarist Gideon Whitehead performed at Happy Days Lodge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park under the joint auspices of Music by Nature and the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society.
Whitehead, a Michigander who studied at CIM and is now pursuing an artist diploma at the Curtis Institute with Jason Vieux and David Starobin, appeared as part of CCGS’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series.
Each half of his cleverly-constructed program began with a suite (Sylvius Leopold Weiss’s real baroque Partita in g and Paul Lansky’s witty modern knock-off, Semi-Suite), proceeded to an evocative set of variations, Sergei Rudnev’s on The Old Lime Tree, or a narrative work, Nikita Koshkin’s Usher Waltz, and ended with a tone poem, Grigori Korchmar’s White Nights Serenade and Agustin Barrios Mangoré’s La Catedral. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
On Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 pm, classical guitarist Gideon Whitehead returns to Northeast Ohio for a performance at the Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Mr. Whitehead’s performance is part of The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series and is presented in conjunction with Music by Nature. The program features works by Weiss, Rudnev, Korchmar, Lansky, Koshkin and Barrios Mangoré.
Gideon Whitehead began playing the guitar at age 14 in his native Michigan. Mr. Whitehead has had much success at competitions including top prizes at the 2011 James Stroud Guitar Competition and at the 2010 and 2011 University of Louisville International Guitar Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in guitar performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is currently pursuing and Artist Diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music.
We reached Gideon Whitehead by telephone in Philadelphia. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
On Sunday
, March 17 at 3:00 pm, classical guitarist Gideon Whitehead returns to Northeast Ohio for a performance at the Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Mr. Whitehead’s performance is part of The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series and is presented in conjunction with Music by Nature. The program features works by Weiss, Rudnev, Korchmar, Lansky, Koshkin and Barrios Mangoré.
Gideon Whitehead began playing the guitar at age 14 in his native Michigan. Mr. Whitehead has had much success at competitions including top prizes at the 2011 James Stroud Guitar Competition and at the 2010 and 2011 University of Louisville International Guitar Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in guitar performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is currently pursuing and Artist Diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music. [Read more…]