by Mike Telin
Describing pianist Jackie Warren, critic Carlo Wolff wrote, “To hear her is to fix on her, because Jackie Warren is a lover of the piano. She plays the instrument so well, it makes love back.”
On Sunday August 14 at 5:00 pm at The Madison, Piano Days @CLE will feature Warren in a Dueling Piano Gala as she faces off with GRAMMY Award-nominated pianist and contemporary jazz master Benito Gonzalez. Purchase tickets here.
I caught up with Cleveland’s First Lady of Jazz by telephone and began our conversation by asking her how she met Gonzalez. [Read more…]
Winner of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and Professor at the Curtis Institute of Music, pianist Michelle Cann returns to Cleveland on Thursday, August 11 for a 7:30 pm performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall. Presented as part of PianoDays @CLE, her program features works by Chopin, Brahms, Clara Schumann, Florence Price, and Margaret Bonds. Purchase tickets 
Local audiences may remember Stanislav Khristenko from his electrifying performances at the 2013 Cleveland International Piano Competition, where his performance of the Brahms Concerto No. 1 with The Cleveland Orchestra helped him to take home the grand prize. This summer, competition organizer Piano Cleveland has invited him back to perform as part of the inaugural PianoDays @CLE.
When award-winning pianists Nick Luby and Susan Zhang were searching for a way to use their musical training to give back to the community, an interesting question arose: does a mobile concert hall exist?
One can never predict where life will take you, but wherever it does, friendships, artistic and personal, endure. If in doubt, just ask pianists Yaron Kohlberg and Bishara Haroni.