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Oberlin Artist Recital Series welcomes genre-mixing Russian Renaissance

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by Jarrett Hoffman

More and more, today’s musicians are shrugging off divisions of genre. Another trend in programming? Folk instruments from places far and wide are being welcomed into the world of mainstream classical music. Give those unfamiliar instruments a listen and be rewarded.

A perfect example of all that is the 2017 M-Prize-winning ensemble Russian Renaissance, which visits Finney Chapel as part of the Oberlin Artist Recital Series on Friday, February 28 at 7:30 pm. The quartet of Ivan Kuznetsov (balalaika), Anastasia Zakharova (domra and domra alto), Alexander Tarasov (button accordion), and Ivan Vinogradov (balalaika contrabasso), aims to “marry tradition and modernity, creating a fusion of styles and eras.”

That’s echoed in Friday’s program, which ranges from the Baroque and Romantic eras to folk, jazz, and tango, including music by J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, Richard Galliano, Piazzolla, Egberto Gismonti, Zequinha de Abreu, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Béla Fleck, Django Reinhardt, and the members of Russian Renaissance themselves. A full program and ticket information are available online. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Orchestra & Choir of the Age of Enlightenment (Nov. 22)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Britain’s Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment brought smashing performances of well-known Baroque works to Oberlin’s Finney Chapel on Friday, November 22 as part of the college’s Artist Recital Series. Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto in d, and Vivaldi’s Gloria are titles you can routinely encounter on programs by avocational ensembles — they’re well within the capabilities of amateur musicians — but hearing them burnished to such a high gloss by 32 professional period instrumentalists and singers was revelatory. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series:
A conversation with Iestyn Davies 

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by Mike Telin

Singing has always been an important part of Iestyn Davies’ life. As a boy treble, he began singing in the choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. In his teens he discovered his falsetto, and became a countertenor at Wells Cathedral School, and after completing the British equivalent of high school, he entered St John’s College as a choral scholar, graduating with a degree in archaeology and anthropology. And as they say, the rest is history.

On Friday, November 22 at 7:30 pm in Finney Chapel, Iestyn Davies will join the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment in performances of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Vivaldi’s Gloria under the direction of Jonathan Cohen. Presented as part of the Oberlin Artist Recital Series, the program also includes Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto No. 2 in d, Op. 9. Tickets are available online.

During a Skype interview, Davies said that like Vivaldi’s Gloria, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater has also been used in many films and advertisements. “People will recognize the opening movement. For that reason alone, I think the two pieces are a great combination.”

He noted that although they are religious pieces, like Bach’s B-minor Mass and his two Passions, they are more often performed in a concert situation rather than an ecclesiastical setting. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (first of two articles)

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by Mike Telin

Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and celebration of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

On Friday, November 22 at 7:30 pm in Finney Chapel, the Oberlin Artist Recital Series will present the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment. Under the direction of Jonathan Cohen, the program will include Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto No. 2 in d, Op. 9, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. The concert will feature sopranos Katherine Watson and Rowan Pierce, countertenor Iestyn Davies, and oboist Katharina Spreckelsen. Tickets are available online.

Following the performance, you can unwind with members of the OAE during The Night Shift. The free hangout and performance will take place at the Birenbaum club, on the lower level of the Hotel at Oberlin. Capacity is limited, and guests will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.

[Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Spring Quartet at Finney (Apr. 17)

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by Nia Burger
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

The Spring Quartet — bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, saxophonist Joe Lovano, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and pianist Leo Genovese — was warmly welcomed to the Finney stage by a sold-out audience on April 17. The show, part of the Artist Recital Series and the 30th anniversary of Oberlin’s Jazz Studies program, started with a fitting tune titled Spring Day written and led by Lovano. Each player was individually brilliant in personal style, and yet they also melded seamlessly into a powerfully dynamic quartet. [Read more…]

The Spring Quartet: a conversation with Joe Lovano and Jack DeJohnette

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by Mike Telin

On Wednesday, April 17 at 7:30 pm in Finney Chapel, the Oberlin Artist Recital Series will present The Spring Quartet, an all-star ensemble that includes drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxman Joe Lovano, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, and pianist Leo Genovese. The concert is part of the 30th anniversary celebration of the Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Program. Tickets are limited and available online.

Click here to read a preview of tomorrow night’s concert. Here we continue our conversations with Lovano and DeJohnette to talk about their careers and how they came to jazz.

Joe Lovano was born in Cleveland, where his father was a noted tenor saxophonist. After graduating from Euclid High School he went on to study at the Berklee College of Music. Lovano is a self-proclaimed Cleveland ambassador and is thrilled to have recently spent two nights at the Bop Stop recording for National Public Radio’s Jazz Night in America. When I spoke to him, he was in a four-day residency at San Francisco Jazz.

[Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: pianist Alexandre Tharaud (Apr. 3)

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by Daniel Hathaway

It’s a near-sacred tenet of the concert business that the show must go on. Happily for the Oberlin Artist Recital Series, French pianist Alexandre Tharaud made that happen when he stepped in on very short notice — and soon after an international flight — to replace Piotr Anderszewski in Finney Chapel on April 3. And with J.S. Bach’s daunting “Goldberg” Variations, no less. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: The Spring Quartet

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by Mike Telin

It’s been three decades since the Oberlin Conservatory launched its Jazz Studies Program, and beginning on Monday, April 15, the school will mark the milestone with a three-day celebration. (A full schedule is below.) The festivities will culminate on Wednesday, April 17 at 7:30 pm in Finney Chapel with an Artist Recital Series performance by The Spring Quartet, an all-star ensemble that includes drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxman Joe Lovano, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, and pianist Leo Genovese. Tickets are limited and available online.

The membership of the Spring Quartet spans three generations, something that DeJohnette, a 2012 NEA Jazz Master, said makes for a nice balance of older and younger generations. “There’s this exchange of inspiration from Esperanza and Leo and you need that young energy,” he said during an interview.

In a separate interview Joe Lovano said that the group shares a common musical vocabulary which is the reason the four members “clicked from the very first downbeat.”

DeJohnette agreed. “Sometimes people come together and the magic happens,” he said. “We have a lot of love and respect for each other as people and as artists, and the propensity to work together cooperatively is greatly enhanced because of that.” [Read more…]

Tharaud to replace Anderszewski on Oberlin Artist Recital Series April 3

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by Daniel Hathaway

French pianist Alexandre Tharaud will step in on short notice for Piotr Anderszewski on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series this Wednesday evening, April 3 at 7:30 pm in Finney Chapel. Anderszewski has withdrawn from his current recital tour due to illness. Tickets for the cancelled recital will be honored at the door, and new ticket buyers can reserve online here.

On Wednesday, Tharaud will play J.S. Bach’s so-called Goldberg Variations, followed by a question and answer session moderated by Oberlin piano professor Robert Shannon. The popular title of the work refers to the tale — now regarded as spurious — of a harpsichordist named Goldberg who is supposed to have appealed to Bach for a work to entertain his insomniac patron during sleepless nights.

One of the only Bach works printed during his lifetime, the 1741 copper plate engraving by Nuremberg publisher Balthasar Schmid is titled “Keyboard Exercise, consisting of an ARIA with diverse variations for harpsichord with two manuals.” [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Joyce DiDonato in Songplay (Feb. 27)

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by Rory O’Donoghue

Joyce DiDonato wants you to play with the song, and she’ll tell you why. The multiple Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano brought a full house to Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel on Wednesday, February 27, backed by an all-star ensemble. The program featured an array of songs from her recent album Songplay, and although moments bordered on theatrical cheese, DiDonato delivered the goods with her signature panache. [Read more…]

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