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Tuesday Musical: a conversation with pianist Jonathan Biss

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by Daniel Hautzinger

BISS-JonathanBeethoven is a big part of Jonathan Biss’s life. That might be an obvious assertion to make about a touring classical pianist, but the great German master looms perhaps larger over Biss than for most. In his case, Beethoven is the subject of recordings, writings, a commissioning project, and even a college course. On January 20 in the University of Akron’s E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, you can hear one aspect of his devotion to the composer, when he will present a program for the Tuesday Musical Association that begins and ends with Beethoven. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical joins with Akron Symphony to present violinist Joshua Bell (November 7)

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by Robert Rollin

BELL-JoshuaLast Friday night E. J. Thomas Hall overflowed to the rafters for an appearance by the stellar violinist Joshua Bell with the Akron Symphony. Conducted by music director Christopher Wilkins, the Symphony collaborated with the Tuesday Musical Association to sponsor the event. Bell’s exemplary performance of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in g, op. 26, was the highlight of the evening. [Read more…]

Joshua Bell to be featured in historic collaboration between the Akron Symphony and Tuesday Musical

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by Daniel Hathaway

BELL-JoshuaThe last time violin superstar Joshua Bell appeared on Akron’s Tuesday Musical Series, he caused a major traffic jam outside E.J. Thomas Hall and the audience was so large that the Association ran out of programs. On that occasion in February, 2010, Bell played a recital with pianist Jeremy Denk. He’ll share that same stage with a few more musicians on Friday, November 7, when he plays Max Bruch’s g-minor concerto with Christopher Wilkins and the Akron Symphony Orchestra, a first-ever collaboration between the ASO and the TMA. Better carpool or come early to get a parking space.

One of the most unpretentious and accessible artists on the professional concert circuit, Joshua Bell has been interviewed on many occasions. One of the most recent and engaging looks inside Bell’s life and career was provided by Cleveland pianist Zsolt Bognár in a 44-minute video interview with the violinist in his New York apartment. The sixteenth episode in Bognár’s series, “Living the Classical Life,” you can view that conversation here. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical to open season with Time for Three on October 8

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by Mike Telin

TimeForThree_Neilson_BarnardAlthough they may bill themselves as “the world’s first classically trained garage band,” anyone who has had the good fortune to hear Time for Three, knows they are one of the finest and most innovative ensembles touring today. On Wednesday, October 8 beginning at 7:30 pm in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, violinist Zachary De Pue, violinist Nicolas Kendall and bassist Ranaan Meyer return to Northeast Ohio to open Tuesday Musical’s 2014-15 season. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical announces final award winners in its 59th Scholarship Competition

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TMA_sealTwo Oberlin Conservatory students won top prizes in the 59th Tuesday Musical Association Scholarship Competition Winners Recital on May 18 at Fairlawn United Church of Christ in Akron. In first place was junior violin performance major William Overcash, a student of David Bowlin, who will receive $2,000. Second place winner Silei Gie, a sophomore who studies piano with Peter Takács, will receive $1,000.

One hundred thirty-five students from twenty-one Ohio colleges and universities participated in the Association’s 59th scholarship Competition on March 22 in seven categories: brass, music education, organ, piano, strings, vocal and woodwinds. All first and second place scholarship winners participated in the Winners Recital last Sunday. [Read more…]

Review: Tuesday Musical — Béla Fleck & Brooklyn Rider at E.J. Thomas Hall (November 12)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Fleck-&-Brooklyn-RiderBanjo virtuoso Béla Fleck and the plucky young string quartet called Brooklyn Rider (Johnny Gandelsman & Colin Jacobsen, violins, Nicholas Cords, viola, and Eric Jacobsen, cello) launched their current, multi-city tour on Tuesday evening, November 12 at E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron under the auspices of the Tuesday Musical Association, who had earlier sponsored Brooklyn Rider on its Fuze! series at the Akron Art Museum.

Béla Fleck has long been known for his experiments in bringing the voice of the banjo into jazz, rock and other genres of music. The impetus for connecting these five outstanding musicians came directly from Fleck’s initial foray into classical composition (it was in the stars apparently, since his parents named him Béla Anton Leoš— after Bartók, Webern and Janáček, respectively). After premiering his banjo concerto, The Imposter, with the Nashville Symphony in September of 2011 (he also played it last season with The Cleveland Orchestra), Fleck had the opportunity to record the work for Deutsche Grammophon, but needed something else to fill out the album. [Read more…]

Review: Tuesday Musical: Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma at E.J. Thomas Hall (March 14)

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by Nicholas Jones

Silk-Road-EnsembleThe Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China and the western world, was active for two millennia from before Alexander to the late Middle Ages. Across that highway traveled not only silks and spices but also inventions from gunpowder to printing and ideas from mathematics to Buddhism.

The Silk Road Ensemble, founded by American cellist Yo-Yo Ma over a decade ago, takes that East-West route as a metaphor for cultural exchange today, bringing western and non-western musicians into a vibrant, innovative, and deeply collaborative musical experience. The result is an evening of strange and wonderful sounds that might have delighted Marco Polo or Genghis Khan. [Read more…]

Preview: Tuesday Musical: Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble— conversations with Yang Wei, Johnny Gandelsman & Christina Pato

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by Mike Telin

 

When cellistSilk-Road-Ensemble Yo-Yo Ma decided in 1998 to launch a collaborative enterprise to promote artistic exchanges between cultures, he named it The Silk Road Project after the 4,000-some miles of ancient trade routes that for two millennia linked parts of Asia with Europe and encouraged the trading of art, knowledge, philosophy and religion — as well as silk and other commercial goods.

 

Two years later, The Silk Road Project spawned The Silk Road Ensemble, a collective of some sixty performers and composers from more than twenty countries. Fifteen musicians from eight of those countries, including Yo-Yo Ma, are currently on tour to six cities in the United States, and will perform on the Tuesday Musical Association Series at E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron on Thursday, March 14 at 7:30 pm. We spoke with three of them, pipa (Chinese lute) player Yang Wei, violinist Johnny Gandelsman and gaita (Galician bagpipes) player Christina Pato (who will also play piano) to ask how they first became involved in the Silk Road Ensemble and to glean some of their insights into what makes it tick. [Read more…]

David Krakauer: Fuze! series at the Akron Art Museum—a conversation

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by Mike Telin

Clarinetist David Krakauer closes out this season’s Fuze! Series at the Akron Art Museum on Thursday, April 22 at 6:30, a series co-sponsored by Tuesday Musical Association. We reached him by telephone in Brooklyn, NY to talk about the forthcoming concert.

Mike Telin: What can the Akron audience expect to hear next Thursday? Will this be your Klezmer Madness project?

David Krakauer: For this concert, I will be bringing what I call my Klezmer Madness Acoustic Quartet. It’s the same Klezmer Madness repertoire, only performed acoustically. Klezmer Madness normally includes an electric guitar, and a sample player so that we can bring in the sounds of folk, rock, and jazz, those kinds of influences that need electronics. Because this is an acoustic project, we have a drummer, although he is treating everything more like percussion. He has this rule of one drum at a time. This way he is not overwhelming in an acoustic setting. There will also be bass and accordion players.

We will be playing a mixture of my compositions along with traditional Klezmer songs. It does have the new Klezmer approach, but it is acoustic. It’s kind of on the chamber music side.  I’ve been offering this group to smaller venues or venues that are acoustically suited for a string quartet. When you start bringing in things like a full drum set, electric guitar, samples and everybody amplified, it’s just too much. [Read more…]

On the road for five weeks: conversations with Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk

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by Mike Telin

On Tuesday evening February 2, the Tuesday Musical Association of Akron will present violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jeremy Denk at the University of Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall. This performance marks the beginning of a five-week, 20-concert tour of the US. A second performance at Oberlin on Wednesday, February 3 is sold out.

We were curious to know how two musicians handle the rigors of being on the road for extended periods of time, as well as the musical decisions that go into programming and performing an intense series of recitals, which is different from being the guest soloist with an orchestra. We reached each artist separately by phone.

Joshua Bell
Mike Telin: We are looking forward to your two performances in Northeast Ohio next week
Joshua Bell: Yes, I’m really looking forward to starting my tour there. That will be the beginning of a five-week recital tour around the country so. We’ll be starting out in Akron and then in Oberlin the next night.

MT: Yes, I was looking at your schedule, and although this tour in the States is only five weeks, you seem to be very busy until the end of May.
JB: That’s right, but for me, basically it doesn’t stop because the beginning of June I go to Asia, and then the summer tour starts. So basically it never stops. [Read more…]

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