Oberlin Winter Chamber Music Festival Archives - Cleveland Classical

Oberlin Winter Term Chamber Music Festival: “The Chamber Musician’s Approach to the Media” (January 23)

January 28, 2015 by Daniel Hathaway

by Jarrett Hoffman

January has been all about chamber music at Oberlin. On Friday, January 23 in Stull Recital Hall, the school gave a taste of the media side of the field with the help of three Cleveland-based music critics, also Oberlin faculty members: Mike Telin and Daniel Hathaway serve as editors of ClevelandClassical.com, while Donald Rosenberg is editor of Early Music America magazine and former chief music critic at The Plain Dealer. [Read more…]

Oberlin Winter Term Chamber Music Festival: Pianist Misha Namirovsky with Oberlin faculty (Jan. 21)

January 27, 2015 by Daniel Hathaway

by Jarrett Hoffman

Listening to a concert is like hugging: you can tell when someone is into it and when they aren’t. A performer might revel in a slow movement or delight in a fast one — or every now and then they might just go through the motions. Both ways of playing were on display Wednesday night, January 21 in Oberlin’s Kulas Recital Hall. [Read more…]

Oberlin Winter Chamber Music Festival: Faculty and Guest Recital (January 14)

January 20, 2015 by Daniel Hathaway

by Daniel Hautzinger

Northeastern Ohio has some fantastic musicians. Case in point: the chamber concert in Oberlin’s Kulas Recital Hall on January 14, part of the conservatory’s Winter Chamber Music Festival. Featuring the abundant talents of members of The Cleveland Orchestra, Oberlin faculty, and one student, it offered a cornucopia of musicality, passion, and delight. [Read more…]

Pianist Yuja Wang creates magic with The Cleveland Orchestra (Nov. 28)

by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Thanksgiving weekend concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra often center around a big-ticket soloist or a popular piece.

This year’s program offers both, thanks to star pianist Yuja Wang and Maurice Ravel’s brilliant orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

On Friday November 28, the snow cleared just in time for the crowds to arrive at Severance Music Center for the evening event. Led by conductor Petr Popelka, the resulting concert equally displayed the prowess of Orchestra and soloist over the course of three fascinating works.

György Ligeti’s Piano Concerto stood out in contrast to the lush textures and easy-to-follow melodies of the works that surrounded it. Premiered in 1988, its dissonant and avant-garde music might have come from another world. But both Wang and the Orchestra rose to meet the challenge of its devilishly tricky rhythms with an assured confidence.

Les Arts Florissants make Vivaldi’s Four Seasons feel fresh and inspired (Nov. 18)

by Stephanie Manning

Performing a work as ubiquitous as Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons requires a delicate balance. At its best, the musicality and intention must be crystal clear, so that the end result feels as fresh as it does familiar. It’s a high bar, but one that Les Arts Florissants cleared with the utmost ease.

On November 18, the renowned French baroque ensemble visited Tuesday Musical to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi’s famous quartet of violin concertos. Soloist Théotime Langlois de Swarte led the spirited group in the Vivaldi-focused program, which also included works by Marco Uccellini and Claudio Monteverdi. [Read on…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra with violinist David McCarroll in Rocky River (Nov. 23)

by Daniel Hathaway

Let’s cut to the chase and simply say that it would be difficult to imagine a more perfect and moving performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto than the one David McCarroll gave with Daniel Meyer and BlueWater Chamber Orchestra on Sunday afternoon, November 23 at Rocky River Presbyterian Church. We’ll come back to that thought.

The straight-through performance preceded the Beethoven with works by Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer and a youngish Aaron Copland.

Brouwer’s engaging and popular The Art of Sailing at Dawn evokes memories of growing up on the Great Lakes. A flute conjures sonic images of gulls, and subtle waves support a lovely oboe solo before the wind kicks up and dark clouds assemble. A storm erupts, but soon passes, leading to a quiet ending. [Read on…]

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