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Save the dates: January events to log in your classical music calendar

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by Daniel Hathaway

gaffigan-jamesFormer assistant conductor James Gaffigan will return to the podium at Severance Hall from Thursday, January 5 through Saturday, January 7 to lead The Cleveland Orchestra and pianist Kirill Gerstein in Bernard Hermann’s Suite from Psycho, Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto, the original, jazz band version of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. Performances include Thursday and Saturday evenings, a Friday matinee and a Fridays@7 event.

From January 6-8, the Philadelphia-based vocal ensemble, The Crossing, will give sixeen performances of David Lang’s Lifespan in Gallery 218 — the glass house that rises above the Cleveland Museum of Art’s East Boulevard façade. Surrounding a 4-billion-year-old rock suspended from the ceiling, three vocalists will whistle and breathe, moving the rock like a pendulum, “a poetic form of wind erosion” (read a preview here). Performances are scheduled for Friday at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 7:45 and 8:30 pm, and on Saturday and Sunday on the hour from noon to 4:00 pm. Weigh in on your experience by sharing your own comments on the ClevelandClassical.com Facebook page. [Read more…]

Cooper International Piano Competition: final round with Jahja Ling & The Cleveland Orchestra (July 22)

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by Daniel Hathaway

CooperThree2016In a savvy move, The Cleveland Orchestra wrapped the final round of Oberlin’s Thomas & Evon Cooper International Piano Competition into its Summers@Severance series this year. As a result, a large audience turned out on Friday evening, July 22 to hear Nathan Lee, Evren Ozel, and Ryota Yamazaki play concertos by Rachmaninoff and Beethoven with Jahja Ling and the orchestra. Though the evening was sultry, the party setup on the front terrace gave the proceedings a celebratory air. [Read more…]

Cooper International Piano Competition: six play recital rounds at Oberlin (July 20)

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by Daniel Hathaway

SIx-Semifinalists-2016A large audience gathered in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music on Wednesday evening, July 20, to hear sixty busy fingers — attached to six talented young musicians — play half-hour recitals. Wednesday’s round would determine which three contestants in the Thomas & Evon Cooper International Piano Competition would advance to the stage of Severance Hall to play full concertos with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra on Friday, July 22. [Read more…]

Oberlin’s Cooper International Competition features young pianists
in 2016

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by Mike Telin

Tony-Yike-Yang-Oberlin-Cooper-Finals-(Mastroianni)Since its inauguration in 2010, the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition has established an impressive track record for identifying young pianists with potential. That year 14 year-old American pianist George Li took home the top prize. Since then, Li has quickly established himself as a young pianist to watch on the international concert scene. In 2015, Li won 2nd prize at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition.

In  2012, 16-year-old Italian Leonardo Colafelice won the top honors, and he too quickly cultivated an impressive career. In 2014 the first prize was awarded to 15 year-old Canadian Tony Yike Yang (left, with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra), who at the age of 16 won the fifth prize at the International Chopin Piano Competition, making him the youngest prizewinner in the history of that competition. [Read more…]

Milt Hinton Institute convenes at Oberlin & Milt Hinton Day scheduled for June 16

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by Mike Telin

Hinton-MiltFor seven decades, bassist Milt Hinton played with the most influential artists in American music. While doing so, Hinton chronicled his experiences through the lens of his ever-present camera. This week the Oberlin Conservatory will celebrate its ties to the late performer with the Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass, a biennial summer program for developing musicians that takes place on the Oberlin campus from June 12 to 19.

Designed for bass students ages 13-21 of all ability levels, the Institute consists of a week of master classes, performances, bass ensembles, studio sessions, lectures, and workshops. [Read more…]

Oberlin student Neil McCalmont named 2016 Young Writer Fellow for ClevelandClassical.com

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by Staff

McCalmontClevelandClassical is pleased to announce that New Hampshire native Neil McCalmont has been named the 2016 ClevelandClassical.com Young Writer Fellow. The two-month summer fellowship is designed for aspiring writers who wish to hone their skills and prepare for careers on the new frontiers of musical journalism.

McCalmont is completing his second year at Oberlin where he is a double degree student majoring in Classics and Musical Studies with a focus on Greek and Latin literature and Wagnerian opera. “I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity,” he said. “As an aspiring music writer, I will gain great journalistic experience through this fellowship by writing reviews and previews, and conducting interviews with artists.” [Read more…]

Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
at Harkness Chapel, CWRU (April 17)

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by Mike Telin

dido-aeneas-4When talented young conservatory students are given permission to unleash their creativity, wonderful things can happen. A case in point is Jason Goldberg’s imaginative production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, which received area performances on April 15 and 16 at Fairchild Chapel on the campus of Oberlin College, and on April 17 at Case Western Reserve University’s Harkness Chapel (which I attended). From start to finish the production vividly captured all of the opera’s action, magic, love, and heartbreak. [Read more…]

Cleveland Women’s Orchestra: catching up with Jinjoo Cho

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by Daniel Hathaway

CHO-JinjooOn Sunday, May 1 at 3:30 pm, Robert Cronquist will lead the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra in its 81st anniversary concert at Severance Hall. The program will include Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Zoltán Kodály’s “Intermezzo” from Háry Janós, Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in G, and Henri Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in d.

Not for the first time, the concert will feature violinist Jinjoo Cho, who first performed with CWO when she was in her teens. We caught up with the busy violinist on her cell phone while she was enjoying “a wonderful and rare morning off” walking her dog. We began by asking her how many times she’s appeared with the Women’s Orchestra. [Read more…]

Nevermind, French baroque ensemble at Fairchild Chapel, Oberlin (Feb. 23)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Nevermind-Oberlin-022316Nevermind, which describes itself as “un jeune ensemble de quatre musiciens et amis issus du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris,” visited the Oberlin Conservatory of Music this week at the behest of baroque flute professor Michael Lynn to give master classes to historical performance students. The three-year-old ensemble of “musicians and friends” also delighted a capacity audience with a concert of French Baroque music in Fairchild Chapel early Tuesday evening. Those 90 minutes count as one of the most stimulating baroque music experiences these ears have ever witnessed. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: conversations with English hornist Robert Walters and composer Bernard Rands

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by Mike Telin

WALTERS-RobertWhen Robert Walters performs the world premiere of Bernard Rands’ Concerto for English Horn with The Cleveland Orchestra on Friday, November 27 in Severance Hall, it will bring to fruition a composer-performer collaboration whose roots go back more than two decades.

The 8:00 pm concert, under the direction of Lionel Bringuier, will also feature Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. The program will be repeated on Saturday, November 28 at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, November 29 at 3:00 pm. [Read more…]

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