by Daniel Hathaway
Toronto’s Baroque orchestra Tafelmusik brought its multidisciplinary show “J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation” to Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel on Tuesday, February 28. It’s an impressive celebration of the Thuringian master’s genius in the field of instrumental music, as devised by the orchestra’s bassist Alison Mackay. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Jones
I walked into the St. Lawrence String Quartet concert at Oberlin’s Finney Chapel on Friday, November 11 hoping for a respite from the tensions and anxieties of the week’s events, and I was not disappointed. With total conviction and attentiveness, the St. Lawrence played music that soothed the nerves and stimulated the heart. I was expecting beauty, focus, and artistry. But I was not prepared for a further impact: the powerful message of how the St. Lawrence plays. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“I think many people have heard Pinchas Zukerman in a concerto setting, but to hear him in a chamber music setting is an incredible way of experiencing the artistry and magic that he brings to everything that he plays,” Zukerman Trio pianist and Oberlin Conservatory faculty member Angela Cheng said during a recent telephone conversation.
“And Amanda Forsyth is an incredible cellist, so I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work with two wonderful artists. To be able to play this concert at home is something I will remember for a long time.”
On Friday, September 30 at 8:00 pm in Finney Chapel, the Oberlin Artist Recital Series will present The Zukerman Trio. The program will include selections from Reinhold Glière’s Eight Pieces For Violin And Cello, Op. 39, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Trio No. 2 in e, Op. 67, and Franz Schubert’s Trio in B-flat, D. 898. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Since presenting its first concerts in 1878, Oberlin College’s Artist Recital Series — one of the oldest continuing concert series in the United States — has showcased more than 1,000 of the world’s foremost musicians, conductors, orchestras, chamber ensembles, and composers. The stellar list of performers who have graced the stage of historic Finney Chapel includes Dave Brubeck, Alicia de Larrocha, Juan Diego Flórez, Glenn Gould, Denyce Graves, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz, Yo-Yo Ma, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, to name a few.
On Saturday, September 17 at 8:00 pm, the Artist Recital Series will kick off the 2016-2017 season with a performance by genre-versatile clarinetist Eddie Daniels. Known for performances in both the jazz and classical worlds, Daniels will be joined by his longtime jazz companions: bassist Darek Oles, pianist Alan Pasqua, and drummer Joe LaBarbera. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Music from the Classical era will be on tap when guest conductor Jane Glover makes a return visit to Severance Hall. On Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 pm, she will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in performances of Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 6 (“Le Matin”) and Wolfgang Amadè Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp and Symphony No. 39.
Mozart’s pieces will be featured during the Orchestra’s Fridays@7 Series on April 15, and the full program will be repeated on Saturday, April 16 at 8:00 pm. On Sunday, April 17 the Orchestra will travel to Finney Chapel for a 4:00 performance on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The Miró Quartet, two of whose current members formed the ensemble at the Oberlin Conservatory in 1995, visited the campus on Thursday, March 10 to play a gripping Beethoven marathon concert on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series. Founders violinist Daniel Ching and cellist Joshua Gindele joined violinist William Fedkenheuer and violist John Largess for Beethoven’s three “Razumovsky” Quartets, Op. 59. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“Northeast Ohio is an important place for the quartet. We’ve spent a lot of time there,” Miró Quartet cellist Joshua Gindele said during a telephone conversation from his studio at the University of Texas Butler School of Music, where the ensemble is Quartet in Residence. “We formed the original group in 1995 when we were students at Oberlin. Then we studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and later taught at Kent State University, so we know a lot of people in the area.”
On Thursday, March 10 at 8:00 pm in Finney Chapel, Gindele and his current Miró Quartet colleagues — violinists Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, and violist John Largess — will return to the area for a performance on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series. The program will feature Beethoven’s three Op. 59 “Razumovsky” Quartets. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Many performances are memorable for their excellence, but only a few can be called transcendental experiences. On Friday, February 23 in Finney Chapel, pianist Sir András Schiff took his large audience into another realm with his exceptional performances of late sonatas by Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadè Mozart, and Franz Schubert. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
The rising young American tenor Nicholas Phan joined pianist Myra Huang in a musically substantial and intellectually satisfying recital on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel on Wednesday, February 3. Phan has a clear, well-managed lyric voice, with surprising heft at musical climaxes. Myra Huang, a sensitive collaborator, played with technical mastery and supportive musicianship. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
What makes a great art song composer? “They need to have a strong appreciation for literature,” tenor Nicholas Phan answered without hesitation during a recent telephone conversation. “I know it sounds strange to say, but there is a literacy to their compositions — they have to be able to paint the words through music.” On Wednesday, February 3 at 8:00 pm in Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel, Nicholas Phan and pianist Myra Huang will present a program of works by four great art song composers as part of the Oberlin Artist Recital Series.
Named one of National Public Radio’s Favorite New Artists of 2011, Phan has quickly garnered attention for his performances with many of the leading orchestras in North America and Europe. A rising star of the opera world, Phan is also a champion of vocal chamber music. As a recording artist, his 2011 debut solo album, Winter Words, was included on the “Best of 2011” lists of The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, TimeOut NY, and the Toronto Star. [Read more…]