by Kevin McLaughlin
On June 20, the day when the two warm seasons join, ChamberFest Cleveland put on a program that was more about springtime than summer.
Titled “Rite of Spring” — for Stravinsky’s ballet and the stem-winder of an arrangement for two pianists and two percussionists that ended the concert — tonight’s program was distinctly light in mood, including silly songs by Bernstein and P.D.Q. Bach, a couple of tearjerkers by Dvořák and Kurt Weill, and dance music by HK Gruber and Martinů.
by Jarrett Hoffman
It’s a familiar feeling for musicians: to have mastered a difficult piece, then discover someone a quarter their age playing it twice as well. “It’s amazing from year one to now,” Marc Damoulakis said in a recent conversation about the Modern Snare Drum Competition. “Stuff that we used to think was hard, these kids are coming in younger and younger and playing with ease. And I honestly don’t think it would’ve happened without this competition.”
Damoulakis, who joined The Cleveland Orchestra in 2006 and was appointed principal percussion in 2013, has been a fixture on the competition’s judging panel. This 11th edition, to be presented by Pearl and held at the Cleveland Institute of Music on Saturday and Sunday, May 12 and 13 — open to the public on Sunday — will mark his 10th time judging.
by Mike Telin
There are competitions for everything, so why not one for snare drummers? When the Atlanta Symphony’s principal percussionist Tom Sherwood took a job with The Cleveland Orchestra, he brought his Modern Snare Drum Competition along with him.
The 2016 edition will get underway with preliminary rounds beginning at 9:00 am on Friday, May 27 in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. On Saturday, May 28 beginning at 10:00 am, the competition will move to Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The final round is scheduled to begin at 1:30 pm. All sessions are free and open to the public. [Read more…]