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Peter Takács—A Half Century Celebrated

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by Stephanie Manning
This article was originally published on the Oberlin Conservatory website.

Peter Takács may be retiring from Oberlin, but that doesn’t mean he’ll stop coming to campus anytime soon.

“They can’t get rid of me quite so easily,” the piano professor says, with a knowing smile. After all, he and his wife live in town, and there are still performances and recording sessions to look forward to.

Still, this spring marks the official conclusion of Takács’ tenure, after an incredible 48 years of teaching. Many of his former students from around the world are set to convene— either live or via video—for a celebratory concert in Warner Concert Hall on May 12. A reception and Piano Play-a-thon will round out the festivities that day.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Takács studied piano in France and the United States before accepting his teaching job at Oberlin in 1976. Described by The New York Times as “a marvelous pianist,” he has performed and given master classes around the world.

[Read more…]

Myer + Miami return to Kent Blossom Music Festival

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Over the years, performances by pianist Spencer Myer with the Miami String Quartet at the Kent Blossom Music Festival have happened so regularly that you could almost set your watch to them. But 2020 derailed that, and in 2021 schedules didn’t line up to make it happen either.

Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in g will be the focus when Myer and the Miami get this tradition going again on Tuesday, July 19 at 7:30 pm at Kent State University’s Ludwig Recital Hall. Of course, the Quartet will be minus one fiddle for that piece, but not to worry: violinists Benny Kim and Cathy Meng Robinson, violist Scott Lee, and cellist Keith Robinson will all come together in string quartets by Joseph Haydn (Op. 77, No. 1) and Samuel Barber (Op. 11). Tickets are available here.

Myer has played Fauré’s First Piano Quartet before, but the g-minor — which he described as grittier and with more gravitas — is new to him. And what a warm welcome it gives to any pianist: a series of quick 32nd-note gestures right at the top, repeated again and again, and again.

[Read more…]

Kent Blossom Music Festival goes virtual beginning July 1

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by Daniel Hathaway

As goes the Blossom Festival, so goes the Kent Blossom Music Festival, the parallel educational program that each summer brings young musicians to the Kent State University campus for several weeks of intensive chamber music coaching by members of The Cleveland Orchestra and other musicians.

In a normal season, multiple student concerts would be on the docket as well as faculty recitals, and a student chamber orchestra would be sharing an al fresco program with The Cleveland Orchestra. But in this thoroughly abnormal summer, nothing will be happening in person either at Blossom or Kent State. Instead, KBMF will be offering five streamed broadcasts of concerts from its archives on Wednesdays beginning July 1.

The performances can be accessed on the Kent Blossom website. Here’s the schedule.

Wednesday, July 1 at 7:30 pm – Concert 1 with the Miami String Quartet & Spencer Myer, piano. Haydn’s Quartet No. 64 in D (“Largo”), Op. 76, No. 5, Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op. 16 & Max Bruch’s Quartet No. 1 in c, Op. 9. [Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society: Mario Diaz-Moresco & Spencer Myer (Mar. 9)

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by Nicholas Stevens

That old saw about absence making the heart grow fonder: how true it feels now! With concerts canceled to prevent the kinds of confined massing that facilitates the spread of COVID-19, musicians are suffering. Critics have already filed reports on the grim uncanniness of clear schedules and empty halls. Just before this writer’s exile from the scene, however, a spark of life shot skyward, and now stands as a last memory of live performance before social distancing. [Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society:
pianist Spencer Myer &
baritone Mario Diaz-Moresco

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by Jarrett Hoffman

On Monday, March 9 at 7:30 pm at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the Rocky River Chamber Music Society will present pianist Spencer Myer and baritone Mario Diaz-Moresco in a free program of art song and solo piano works by Beethoven, Debussy, Barber, and Bolcom.

The recital begins with Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, a work that deserves a special asterisk in the repertoire of this duo and couple: they read through it on their first date. (As Diaz-Moresco said by telephone, they also sang Schumann’s Dichterliebe. He laughed, adding that things have happily turned out better than they do in those poems by Heinrich Heine.)

Asked about that first time reading music together, Myer said in a separate phone call that he remembers an instant connection. “And that’s kind of how our relationship has been the entire six years. Everything has just been easy and natural, and I think that comes through when we perform together as well.” [Read more…]

Kent Blossom: Spencer Myer joins the Miami String Quartet (July 10)

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by Rory O’Donoghue

The Miami String Quartet brought a traditional approach to works by Haydn, Beethoven, and Bruch during their performance on July 10 as part of Kent Blossom Music Festival’s Faculty Concert Series. The group delivered their old-school sound with exuberance, and welcomed acclaimed pianist Spencer Myer to shine in the Beethoven.  [Read more…]

Kent Blossom: Spencer Myer on Beethoven

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by Jarrett Hoffman

The Faculty Concert Series at Kent Blossom Music Festival continues next week with the latest chapter in a long partnership: the Miami String Quartet and pianist Spencer Myer.

This year they turn their attention to Beethoven’s Op. 16 in E-flat. It’s most often played by a quintet of piano and winds but will be performed here in its quartet version for piano and strings. The Miami will open the program on Wednesday, July 10 at 7:30 pm in Ludwig Recital Hall at Kent State with Haydn’s Quartet No. 64 in D, “Largo,” and they’ll conclude the evening with Bruch’s Quartet No. 1 in c. Tickets are available here.

Myer, the Gold Medalist in the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition, had just finished up a trip to the gym when I reached him by telephone. His coaching duties at Kent Blossom weren’t set to begin for over a week, but he was already in town, having taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Summer Sonata program.

[Read more…]

Kent Blossom celebrates 51st season

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by Rory O’Donoghue

The Kent Blossom Music Festival returns this weekend, marking the 51st season of Kent State University’s collaboration with The Cleveland Orchestra. From June 30 to August 4, the Festival boasts a five-concert Faculty Series and a ten-concert Young Artist Series, including its annual side-by-side performance between students and The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Bramwell Tovey. 

“Our faculty concert series will feature fantastic artists from The Cleveland Orchestra, Kent State’s revered faculty, the Miami String Quartet, pianist Spencer Myer and other guest artists,” Festival director Ricardo Sepúlveda said in his letter introducing this year’s season. For these musicians, their tenure at Kent Blossom is more than just performance based — they’ll be working closely with the 43 visiting students accepted this year.  [Read more…]

CD Review —
Brian Thornton, Afendi Yusuf & Spencer Myer, Debussy: Cello Sonata, Brahms: Clarinet Trio

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by Rory O’Donoghue

Cellist Brian Thornton explores late chamber works by Debussy and Brahms with creative polish and refined sensitivity on his latest album from Steinway & Sons. Joined in masterful collaboration by a fellow Cleveland Orchestra member, principal clarinet Afendi Yusuf, and the superb pianist Spencer Myer, Thornton pairs Debussy’s 1915 Cello Sonata with Brahms’ 1891 Clarinet Trio, Op. 114, a thoughtful juxtaposition of the composers’ mature styles. [Read more…]

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