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After the Cooper Competition: catching up with Sophia Shuya Liu (age 14)

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 by Mike Telin

History was made on August 4, when for the first time in the history of the Cooper Competition for Piano, the top prize was awarded to two participants. Pyotr Akulov and Sophia Shuya Liu were named co-champions following their concerto performances with David Robertson and The Cleveland Orchestra that Friday evening.

Not one to rest, Sophia Shuya Liu presented a recital in Philadelphia the day after the competition as part of the Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy. I reached her by phone at her home in Montréal.

Mike Telin: The recital in Philadelphia went well?

Sophia Shuya Liu: It went very well. My teacher was also there, so it was really an amazing event. It was just so fantastic to perform in front of an audience the night after my concert with The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland 2019: behind the scenes with Franklin Cohen

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by Rory O’Donoghue

“This year’s ChamberFest — the way everything’s turned out — is really quite satisfying. It makes me smile.” I could almost hear Franklin Cohen grinning through the phone.

Prior to the beginning of this year’s festival, I had the opportunity to talk with Cohen, principal clarinet emeritus of The Cleveland Orchestra and co-artistic director of ChamberFest, about the current season and the evolution of the Festival. Above all, he’s immensely appreciative of how far he’s come: “It’s just so wonderful to be able to do this, to have this life of music. I fell in love with music as a child, lying under the piano when my mother would practice. I couldn’t escape the spell, and still can’t.”

ChamberFest emerged in 2012 with its first season, Big Bang!, and has been on the rise ever since. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: a conversation with Young Artist Evren Ozel

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by Mike Telin

From its inception, the nurturing of young artists has been an important part of ChamberFest Cleveland’s mission. That tradition will continue during the Festival’s opening concert on Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 pm in CIM’s Mixon Hall, when pianist Evren Ozel joins clarinetist Franklin Cohen and cellist Peter Wiley for a performance of Beethoven’s Clarinet Trio in B-flat. “It’s an unbelievable opportunity,” Ozel said by telephone. “This is my first time playing that piece and to get to do it with these great masters of their instruments is very exciting.”

Ozel began his musical studies at age three in his hometown of Minneapolis and in 2014 moved to Massachusetts to attend the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. His many achievements include scholarships from the U.S. Chopin Foundation and the YoungArts Foundation. He has performed three times on NPR’s From the Top, and has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival and International Mendelssohn Akademie Leipzig. He was awarded second prize as well as the Mozart and Chopin special prizes at the 2018 Dublin International Piano Competition.

The pianist is also no stranger to Cleveland-area audiences — he was a finalist and audience prize-winner at the 2014 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition. In 2016 he returned to the Cooper and was awarded second prize. He recently completed his second year at the New England Conservatory.   [Read more…]

Oberlin Cooper Piano Competition culminates in concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra (July 20)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Because contestants’ repertoire is selected well before the finalists get chosen, it’s always a cliff-hanger to see not only who makes it to the final round in the Thomas and Evon Cooper Competition, but what pieces they’ll be playing. As it turned out this year in Oberlin’s biennial piano competition, three separate works were on the docket for Friday evening’s finals with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall on July 20 — both of the Chopin concertos and Tchaikovsky’s first. [Read more…]

Six play Cooper Piano Competition Recital Round at Oberlin (July 18)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Although they didn’t have to pass through trials by silence, water, and fire like Papageno, the six young pianists remaining in the draw on Wednesday evening, July 18 at the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition reached the recital round by surviving earlier sessions that had trimmed the original 31 performers down to 16, then to 10. With no questions remaining about their technical aptitude, it was up to these six to prove their musical and interpretive mettle and their ability to communicate their ideas to the jury in 30-minute solo programs. All of the pianists were impressive, but some were standouts. [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…]

Cooper International Piano Competition: Concerto Rounds at Oberlin (July 19)

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by Daniel Hathaway & Neil McCalmont

Oberlin-Cooper-BannerTen young pianists, ages 13-17, advanced to the Concerto Round of the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition at Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall on Tuesday, July 19. In afternoon and evening sessions, the jury and audience heard performances of concertos by Sergei Prokofiev (No. 3, three times), Edvard Grieg (twice), Sergei Rachmaninoff (No. 2, twice), Ludwig van Beethoven (Nos. 1 and 4) and Frédéric Chopin (No. 1). [Read more…]

Jahja Ling to lead two concerts this weekend at Severance and Blossom

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by Mike Telin

Tony-Yike-Yang-Oberlin-Cooper-Finals-(Mastroianni)This weekend is going to be a busy one for conductor Jahja Ling. On Friday, July 22 at 7:00 pm he’ll lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a Summers@ Severance concert featuring the three finalists of the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition (left, in 2014). The following evening at 8:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Ling and the Orchestra will present a concert featuring Igor Stravinsky’s Four Norwegian Moods, Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1 in e, and Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist.

Jahja Ling has enjoyed a long relationship with The Cleveland Orchestra. He served as Associate Conductor during the 1984-85 season, Resident Conductor for 17 years from 1985-2002, and as Blossom Festival Director for 6 seasons (2000-05). Working with young musicians has always been an important part of his musical life. He founded both the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, and has also conducted TCO during the finals of the Cooper Competition since its inception in 2010. [Read more…]

Looking forward to the summer season: a conversation with Cleveland Orchestra artistic administrator Ilya Gidalevich

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by Mike Telin

Blossom-Lawn-071115Now that summer is officially upon us, it’s time to locate the picnic basket, fill it with your favorite summer foods, and head to the Cuyahoga National Park with family and friends to enjoy a Cleveland Orchestra concert at Blossom Music Center. And, if anyone in your vehicle is under the age of 18, their seat on the lawn is free.

If you can’t make it to Blossom, the Orchestra has scheduled three early Friday evening concerts in its Summers@Severance series. Special “happy hour” drink prices will be offered one hour prior to each concert on Severance Hall’s front terrace. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early and enjoy the outdoor delights of University Circle.

“As usual the summer season is a mix of musical genres and artists,” Cleveland Orchestra artistic administrator Ilya Gidalevich said during a recent telephone conversation. [Read more…]

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