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Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: Duo Noire at the Maltz (Nov. 15)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Duo Noire — Thomas Flippin and Christopher Mallett — returned to the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society stage at the Maltz Center on Saturday evening, November 15, with a program that spoke as much to their values as to their technique. The Duo prizes an inclusive repertoire that gives space to new and underrepresented voices.

While everyone settled in, Flippin announced a surprise guest. Damien Goggans, a rising professional and alumnus of the CCGS Education Program, stepped forward to sing Thomas Flippin’s “Etude #1, Oh Mother Glasco (Lullaby)” from 14 Études on the Music of Black Americans. Goggans then joined the Duo for the same piece in a trio arrangement, also by Flippin.

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Jorge Caballero tries something new for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society

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by Stephanie Manning

Playing an entire symphony on classical guitar? It’s more possible than you’d think. And it’s become second nature for Jorge Caballero, known for performing transcriptions of works like Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

But Caballero’s upcoming program with Cleveland Classical Guitar Society is something a bit different. “For me, it’s somewhat of a departure from what I’ve been doing recently,” he said in a recent interview. True, his setlist at the Maltz Performing Arts Center includes Antonín Dvořák’s entire Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). But not just because it’s a technical achievement — it’s also part of a broader thematic connection between Black spirituals and Western classical music.

The concert on Saturday, October 26 begins at 7:30 pm, and tickets are available online. And a free prelude event, “Strings of the Spirit,” takes place at Karamu House on Thursday, October 24 at 7:00 pm. Learn more here. [Read more…]

Duo Noire to make Cleveland Classical Guitar Society Debut

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by Mike Telin

Although they wouldn’t meet for some time, Thomas Flippin and Christopher Mallett long shared a musical trajectory.

They both grew up in Southern California and were steeped in their local punk rock scenes, playing in bands during high school. They both found their way to the classical guitar in their late teens. They both did their undergraduate studies in the Midwest — Flippin at the University of Chicago and Mallett at Oberlin Conservatory — and they both went on to study at Yale University, becoming the first two African American guitarists to be admitted into the program. Yale was also where they formed Duo Noire, taking the name of the French term for both “black” and “quarter note.”

On Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society will present Duo Noire in a program that explores the many ways music expresses the essence of place. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]

Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: Creative Fusion from start to finish

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by Jarrett Hoffman

One grant, given to two organizations, presenting three artists-in-residence, joined by over one hundred guest artists, in nine videos designed to increase awareness around an array of social and cultural issues.

The sum of those numbers is a virtual series presented by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society and El Comité Mexicano de Cleveland (Mexican Committee of Cleveland) through funding from the Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion program. The series is ongoing: six videos have been released since early June — watch them here — with three still to come beginning on Friday, July 30.

First, some background about Creative Fusion in general, and in particular the 2020 edition, delayed twelve months due to the pandemic. The program invites artists from around the world to participate in residencies in Cleveland, and since 2016, each year has been designed around a different theme.

The 2020 edition, titled Contar, was to be centered in Clark-Fulton, which contains the La Villa Hispaña neighborhood, known as an emerging cultural, social, and economic hub for the Hispanic community. The dual meanings of contar — Spanish for both “to count” and “to tell” — were tied into the 2020 Census.

[Read more…]

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