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Garrick Ohlsson to make Oberlin Artist Recital Series Debut February 10

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by Mike Telin

Ohlsson-Garrick2After winning the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has gone on to establish a reputation as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. The celebrated pianist is certainly no stranger to area audiences: in addition to his frequent appearances as soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, he has also presented recitals for Akron’s Tuesday Musical Series, collaborated with the Takács Quartet for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, and performed a benefit concert for ChamberFest Cleveland. Still, there is one Northeast Ohio series that has eluded him — the Oberlin Artist Recital Series.

Two and a half years ago, in an interview with ClevelandClassical.com, Ohlsson said that he looked forward to making his debut on the Oberlin Artists Recital Series on November 1, 2012. “I did play in Oberlin once on a run-out with The Cleveland Orchestra. It was one of those go out, try the piano, play the concert and go back to Cleveland. This will be a more profound experience because I will get to practice in the Chapel. So that’s exciting.”

However, hurricane Sandy had other ideas and forced the cancellation of that performance. His recital was rescheduled for February 12, 2013 — then, unfortunately, due to illness, the pianist was forced to withdraw.

[Read more…]

Calder Quartet begins its Oberlin residency with Artist Recital Series Concert (September 30)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Calder-QuartetOberlin’s new quartet-in-residence through 2016 introduced itself with a lengthy but compelling concert on Tuesday, September 30 in Finney Chapel. The performance by violinists Benjamin Jacobson and Andrew Bulbrook, violist Jonathan Moerschel and cellist Eric Byers also launched this season’s Artist Recital Series. [Read more…]

Calder Quartet begins official residency at Oberlin with Artist Recital Series concert on September 30

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by Mike Telin

Calder-QuartetAs their first “official” duty as Quartet-in-Residence at the Oberlin Conservatory, The Calder Quartet will present the inaugural concert of the 2014-15 Oberlin Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel on Tuesday, September 30 beginning at 8:00 pm. The quartet will perform works by Adès, Janáček and Schubert.

[Read more…]

Review: Oberlin Artist Recital Series — The Takács Quartet (April 13)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Takacs-Quartet-2What’s better than getting to hear the Takács Quartet twice in a week? Getting to hear them three times within a month!

Violinists Edward Dusinberre and Károly Schranz, violist Geraldine Walther and cellist András Fejér gave the Cleveland Chamber Music Society a pair of electrifying evenings with the six Bartók quartets on March 17 and 18 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. Then, after concerts in Boston, Berkeley, Richmond, Charlottesville and Philadelphia, they returned to the area on April 13 to conclude this season’s Oberlin Artist Recital Series with a no-less riveting program of works by Shostakovich, Webern and Beethoven in Finney Chapel.

The Takács are a classy quartet who bring a fine sense of style and deep levels of absorption to everything they play. [Read more…]

Oberlin announces Artist Recital Series for 2014-2015

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Calder-Quartet

Before the Takács Quartet’s performance on April 13, Oberlin Conservatory Dean Andrea Kalyn announced dates for the forthcoming 136th Artist Recital Series. All performances will take place in Finney Chapel. Tickets will go on sale in the summer.

Tuesday, September 30 – The Calder Quartet
Tuesday, February 10 – Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Friday, February 20 – St. Lawrence Quartet
Saturday, February 28 – Bang on a Can All-Stars
Thursday, April 2 – John Relyea, bass-baritone
Sunday, April 12 – Jennifer Koh ’97, violin
Friday, April 24 – The Cleveland Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki, conducting, with Jeremy Denk ’90, piano

Preview: Oberlin Artist Recital Series — a conversation with Takács Quartet violist Geraldine Walther

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By Mike Telin

WALTHER-Geraldine“I think it’s going to be a great experience playing this program, especially in Finney Chapel”, Takacs Quartet violist Geraldine Walther told us by telephone from Colorado. “It’s a gorgeous place and we love playing there.”

On Sunday, April 13 beginning at 4:00 pm. Walther and her Takács colleagues Edward Dusinberre and Károly Schrantz, violins and András Fejér, cello, will perform quartets by Shostakovich, Webern and Beethoven as part of Oberlin College’s Artist Recital Series.

The Takács were recently in the area for performances of the complete Bartók Quartet cycle, but looking at their concert schedule you discover that it’s not unusual for them to be back on the road with an equally intense program.

“Yes, we do kind of go for the gusto,” Walther said laughing. “But it’s great and we do enjoy it a lot. The string quartet repertoire is such that you can’t just let a piece sit, you’ve got to look at it again and refresh it. So it’s a constant process of revisiting pieces. Even if it’s something that we’ve played two weeks prior, we do sit down and rehearse it.” [Read more…]

Review: Mezzo-Soprano Susan Graham to sing both on Oberlin Artist and Tuesday Musical Series on April 6 and 10

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by Mike Telin

GRAHAM-Susan[Note: on Friday, April 4, Ms. Graham’s management announced the cancellation of her Oberlin concert and masterclass due to illness. The performance will not be rescheduled.]

Susan Graham, the vocalist Gramophone called “America’s favorite mezzo,” and pianist Bradley Moore will present recitals on Sunday, April 6 at 4:00 pm in Finney Chapel as part of Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series and on Thursday, April 10 at 7:30 pm in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall as part of the Tuesday Musical Series.

Internationally acclaimed as an operatic singer and known for embracing a challenge, Susan Graham’s repertoire spans works from the 17th through the 21st centuries. She has earned critical accolades as well as a Grammy Award for her recording of Ives songs. Recognizing her commitment to French music, the French government awarded her the prestigious Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.

The Oberlin and Akron performances will feature music that celebrates great women throughout history and literature, and spans from the Baroque period with Purcell’s Tell me, some pitying angel (The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation) through the 20th century with Poulenc’s song cycle, Fiançailles pour rire, and Joseph Horovitz’s Lady Macbeth. [Read more…]

Review: Oberlin Artist Recital Series — Pianist George Li (March 2)

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by Allen Huszti, Guest Contributor

LI-George2Since 1878, Oberlin College’s Artist Recital Series has presented performances by some of the world’s finest musicians. On Saturday evening, March 1, the audience in Finney Chapel had the special opportunity to hear a recital by an artist just beginning his career. George Li was 14 when he won first-prize in Oberlin’s inaugural Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition in 2010. Now 18 and a joint student at Harvard and the New England Conservatory, Li has since won the prestigious Young Concert Artists auditions.

The first half of the recital included works by Beethoven and Schoenberg, the foremost composers of what we now call the First and Second Viennese Schools. Arnold Schoenberg’s, Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke (Six Little Piano Pieces), op. 19, opened the program. Together, the six pieces last only about four minutes and are excellent examples of expressionism in music — the kind of music that makes the listener hold his breath in wonder or awe. Li’s playing was marked by a high degree of sensitivity. [Read more…]

Preview: Oberlin Artist Recital Series — Cooper Competition winner George Li returns to Oberlin on March 1

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by Mike Telin

LI-George2Since his First Prize win at the inaugural Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition in 2010 at age 14, American pianist George Li is quickly establishing himself as a young pianist to watch. On Saturday, March 1st beginning at 8:00 pm, in Finney Chapel, George Li will return to Oberlin for his debut performance on the Oberlin College Artist Recital Series. Li’s program includes Schoenberg’s Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke, op. 19, Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in c, op. 111, Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a theme of Corelli, op. 42 and Ravel’s La Valse.

Praised by the Washington Post for combining “staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression, Li was also a First Prize Winner in the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2012 Li won the Gilmore Young Artist Award and received the Tabor Foundation Piano Award at the Verbier Academy. He has performed as soloist with orchestras including the Spartanburg Philharmonic, the Akron Symphony, the Xiamen Philharmonic in China, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela to name a few. Li’s 2013-14 season include recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and he appears as soloist with the Richmond Symphony, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, and the Nordic Chamber Orchestra. He is currently in the Harvard University/ New England Conservatory joint program. [Read more…]

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Imani Winds with Gilbert Kalish (February 9)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Imani2Downsizing seems to be one of the buzz concepts of our era, but the ever-game-for-a-challenge Imani Winds took the idea to a new level of miniaturization on Sunday afternoon in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel, when that excellent woodwind quintet, performing on the Artist Recital Series, impressed the sox off a good-sized audience with their ear-boggling performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in an arrangement by Jonathan Russell.

Well, OK, not the whole piece, but Russell gives the quintet a good twenty-minutes worth of Stravinsky’s score redeployed for flute (and piccolo), oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, and it worked. In her introduction, oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz noted that the audience would be able to hear inner details that had heretofore been “covered up by loud percussion and obnoxious brass — you know who you are!” she joked to the balconies where some of those blushing conservatory offenders were sure to be found. [Read more…]

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