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Anthony McGill & Emanuel Ax on Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series (Feb. 5)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The crackle in the air on February 4 was perhaps more or less routine for clarinetist Anthony McGill and for Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series, which always seems to bring out the best in performers. But still, his kind of artistry doesn’t come along every day. Add to it pianist Emanuel Ax’s exquisite contributions, and you had a real night to remember in Finney Chapel.

Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke Op. 73 (Fantasy Pieces) are heard with equal pleasure performed on clarinet (Schumann’s original) or cello. But McGill showed the advantages of his instrument with his branded suppleness, his crayon box full of sound colors, and a chameleon’s ability to be heard or veiled at will.

The duo emphasized the picturesque over the dramatic in these three miniatures — Schumann originally entitled them “Soirée Pieces.” [Read more…]

Old Friends, New Collaboration: Anthony McGill and Emanuel Ax bring recital tour to Oberlin

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

Throughout his decades of playing chamber music, Emanuel Ax has kept his friends close. “ It’s wonderful to have people on stage that you like,” the pianist says. “I’m pretty gregarious as a person, so I like being with someone, especially old friends.”

Now in his 70s, the esteemed musician has performed with many of the same collaborators for decades, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinists Issac Stern and Leonidas Kavakos. But his next recital tour brings him together with someone new: clarinetist Anthony McGill.

The duo’s upcoming performances feature a program of wide-ranging music, and their travels include a stop at Finney Chapel. That concert, on February 4 at 7:30 pm, will be presented as part of Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series. [Read more…]

Finding the Joy with Seckou Keita: Senegalese kora player visits the Oberlin Artist Recital Series

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

The kora, a West African stringed instrument akin to a harp or guitar, doesn’t appear in most orchestral works. So Seckou Keita wrote his own.

Creating African Rhapsodies — which he released in 2023 with the BBC Concert Orchestra — was an “amazing” endeavor, he says. But his entry into the world of opera later that year was another thing entirely.

“When you have classical music meeting the kora, it’s amazing. But then when you have opera on top of that, it’s something else,” says the UK-based Senegalese musician. “That made me really excited.”

The opera he’s referring to is Omar’s Journey, a shortened version of Rhiannon Giddens’ Omar scored for voices and chamber ensemble. Keita was among the small group of musicians who performed Omar’s Journey at the Ojai Music Festival last year. “It kind of confirmed to me that voice is one of the really pure instruments in life. All those other instruments in the world have been made by humankind — but this, people are born with it,” Keita says.

Keita is no stranger to using his voice either, singing to accompany his playing in much of his solo material. And Oberlin audiences have a chance to experience his music making on December 7 at 7:30 pm, when he performs in Finney Chapel as part of the Artist Recital Series. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Takács Quartet with Julien Labro (Sept. 28)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The Oberlin Artist Recital Series opened its new season in Finney Chapel on September 28 with a late afternoon concert that brought a celebrated string quartet together with a virtuoso on a fascinating instrument.

The wonderfully constructed program, performed in a single 70-minute set without intermission, was created for the Takács Quartet’s 50th anniversary and features Julien Labro both as soloist and ensemble player on the bandoneon and accordina. [Read more…]

Thinking Outside the Box: Takács Quartet and Julien Labro bring their collaborative program to the Artist Recital Series

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Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

by Stephanie Manning

Twirling tango music, or maybe the composer Astor Piazzolla, might come to mind when you think of the word “bandoneon.” Or maybe nothing does. After all, the accordion-like instrument often flies under the radar within the classical and jazz scenes.

“It’s going to take some time until my instruments are household names of either genre,” says Julien Labro, who plays both the bandoneon and its musical cousin, the accordion. “I don’t necessarily think it’s going to happen, but at the same time, I’m very optimistic about the trajectory that they’ve taken in the last 50 years—it’s amazing to witness.”

[Read more…]

Keeping Creation Collaborative with Silkroad

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by Stephanie Manning

Ask Haruka Fujii what instrument she plays, and she won’t be able to tell you exactly.

“I play anything that makes noise,” the percussionist says. “Anything that I can make music with—including pure water, to ceramic rice bowls, to anything.”

A specialist in contemporary music, Fujii says she focuses on working with living composers to “innovate and invent the boundary of what the percussionist can do.” Since 2010, she’s been doing just that as a member of the Silkroad Ensemble, a musical collective dedicated to cross-cultural collaboration.

On April 26, she’ll be coming to Oberlin for the first time, as part of the group performing Silkroad’s program “Uplifted Voices.” Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Artemis captivates at Finney Chapel (Mar. 13)

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by Max Newman

For students at Oberlin College, jazz is something that is always present. It floats through quads, down streets, over buildings, from speakers, and live from students in the Conservatory’s jazz department. That makes Oberlin a perfect destination for groups of jazz visionaries when it comes to performing, really strutting their stuff. And for the unbelievably talented collective Artemis, who performed at Finney Chapel on March 13, strutting their stuff is exactly what they did in a mesmerizing performance that will last long in the minds of all who were there.

Highly notable was the chemistry among the five musicians, who gave the impression of being a single living entity experiencing complex emotions as it moved through the world. When one musician moved forwards for a solo, it didn’t feel like a separate act, but rather an extension of this collective expression. It was impossible to look away.

[Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series Presents Artemis

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Re-posted courtesy of Oberlin College and Conservatory

2023 DownBeat Readers Poll “Jazz Group of the Year” to perform in Finney Chapel. While on campus they’ll also work with students.

What do the words powerful, wonderful, extraordinary, appealing, undeniable, palpable, natural, immediate, unique, organic, and brilliant have in common?

They are all adjectives that have been used to describe the musical chemistry of Artemis, the collective of modern jazz bandleaders and composers that was named “Jazz Group of the Year” in the 2023 DownBeat Readers Poll.

The results of that musical chemistry?

“All of us know each other so well now, and we know each other’s playing, so it’s fun and inspiring to write for each person’s strengths,” says pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes.

[Read more…]

Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series Sets the Stage for a Gospel Experience

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by Stephanie Manning
Reposted courtesy of Oberlin College and Conservatory

Trey McLaughlin & The Sounds of Zamar blur the boundaries of genre with contemporary gospel arrangements. Their latest tour, “The Zamar Experience,” arrives in Oberlin February 10 for a community workshop and concert on the Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel.

For Trey McLaughlin, each and every rehearsal is the creation of something special.

“It’s where  the magic first happens, you know,” says the vocalist and director. “It’s that moment where you’re starting a new piece and you’re starting to hear what it could be.”

For McLaughlin, who has been singing since age four, his love for rehearsing started early. “I would line up my mom’s perfume bottles on her dresser, or my toys, or anything that would stand, and I would have choir rehearsal,” he says. A CD recording would serve as the finished product. But that was almost an afterthought—his favorite part was the teaching.

The singer and arranger is leading plenty of rehearsals these days thanks in part to his touring group, Trey McLaughlin & The Sounds of Zamar. The contemporary gospel choir will take their latest show around the U.S. and Canada this February, stopping in Oberlin for the first time. Their February 10 performance in Finney Chapel is part of the 2023-24 Artist Recital Series. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Dynamic Buffet from Pianist Jeremy Denk (Nov. 30)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Oberlin alumnus Jeremy Denk returned to Finney Chapel on Thursday, November 30 to play an intriguing program on the Artist Recital Series. Inspired in part by Judy Chicago’s 1979 permanent installation at the Brooklyn Museum that sets 39 personalized place settings for famous women at an enormous table, for the first half of his program, the pianist chose pieces by nine women to create a dynamic musical menu.

The second half featured a pair of 19th-century works by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, composers with close personal connections to Clara Schumann, whose Romanze, Op. 21, No. 1 launched the whole evening. [Read more…]

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