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Tuesday Musical: an eclectic — and electric program by VOCES8 at E.J. Thomas (Oct. 19)

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by Peter Feher

VOCES8 sings a little something for everyone. The British a cappella ensemble had a packed house at E.J. Thomas Hall on October 19, ready for the group’s polished take on any song. The program, the first performance in Tuesday Musical’s 2021–2022 Akron Concert Series, ran from Renaissance music to jazz — styles that don’t intuitively go together.

But the key to unlocking the octet’s approach came in the first piece after intermission. A swinging, singing arrangement of Bach’s Bourreé II from the Second English Suite was a bridge between musical worlds. The number, not a VOCES8 original but something of an a cappella standard, takes the composer’s quintessential Baroque keyboard writing and delivers it with a wink, in la-la-la’s and doo-be-doo’s. A lighthearted way with otherwise staid classics might make for the group’s mission statement. [Read more…]

VOCES8 returns to Northeast Ohio for Akron performance on October 19

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by Daniel Hathaway

Last heard in a brilliant concert at Old Brooklyn’s Mary Queen of Peace Church in 2016, the British a cappella double quartet VOCES8 will return to our area on Tuesday, October 19 for a concert in Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall co-sponsored by Tuesday Musical and the University of Akron.

Their appearance is part of an eleven-performance tour, the first the ensemble has been able to organize since the novel coronavirus called a halt to nearly everyone’s travel plans a year and a half ago.

“We were on tour in the U.S. just before the lockdown,” founder, artistic director, and countertenor Barnaby Smith told me in a recent Zoom conversation from his studio in London. “I was on one of the last planes bound for Europe after taking a small holiday in Vancouver — I can think of worse places to be marooned!”

After weathering the forced sabbatical of the pandemic, during which VOCES8 launched a series of intriguing online events, things are gradually returning to something approaching normal for the ensemble. “We’re about twenty live concerts into the season now, with a smattering of performances this summer in the U.K. Of course, we’re taking all the extra precautions and testing like crazy, but it’s a joy to be back,” Smith said. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical: Chanticleer in Akron (July 27)

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by Timothy Robson

Chanticleer, the legendary all-male vocal ensemble, appeared on Tuesday Musical’s series at E.J. Thomas Hall on July 27. Founded in 1978, the ensemble presented one of their trademark eclectic programs, in which a Renaissance motet by William Byrd could bump up against Burton Lane’s pop song On a Clear Day, or a commissioned work might transition to a gospel song. Part of their first post-pandemic tour, this was their first performance in Northeast Ohio under new music director Tim Keeler, who had previously sung countertenor in the group.

[Read more…]

Chanticleer at Akron’s Tuesday Musical: a conversation with music director Tim Keeler

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by Daniel Hathaway

When Chanticleer sings a concert on the Tuesday Musical series at E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron on July 27, it won’t just be business as usual for the twelve male singers of San Francisco’s “orchestra of voices.”

The ensemble, which normally spends much of the year on the road, has been becalmed by the pandemic for more than a year. Akron will be the next-to-last stop on its current, eight-concert tour, the first since the shutdown.

“We’ve had to reinvent everything for each venue,” Music Director Tim Keeler said in a telephone call from Chicago. “We’re grateful to each presenter for helping us figure everything out. There’s no rulebook for how to sing choral music at the end of a pandemic.”

[Read more…]

Tuesday Musical presents Sphinx Virtuosi in person

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by Jarrett Hoffman

One of the Sphinx Organization’s most important representatives onstage is the Sphinx Virtuosi. That string orchestra, primarily made up of Sphinx Competition alumni, is dedicated to increasing racial and ethnic diversity in classical music.

The Virtuosi embody that mission not only in their roster, but also through their programming. On Wednesday, May 26 at 7:30 pm, in a concert presented by Tuesday Musical, a quintet from the ensemble will visit E.J. Thomas Hall to share “Land of the Free.” The program includes works by Xavier Foley, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Andrea Casarrubios, Samuel Barber, and Antonín Dvořák. (Tickets are available here.)

In addition to showcasing a diversity of American and American-inspired composers, the selections explore interesting territory when it comes to instrumentation: chamber orchestra pieces scaled down as quintets, string quartets scaled up a notch with a double bass, and a solo cello piece in the middle.

[Read more…]

Tuesday Musical: Anthony McGill with the Pacifica Quartet (May 4)

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by Timothy Robson

“We are so happy to be performing in front of a live audience again. Just saying the words gives me shivers.” These were the words of Mark Holloway, violist in the Pacifica Quartet, at their splendid performance with clarinetist Anthony McGill, presented by Tuesday Musical on May 4 at E.J. Thomas Hall.

In addition to Holloway, the quartet members are Simin Ganatra and Austin Hartman, violins, and Brandon Vamos, cello. The audience was intentionally limited to 300, with strict social distancing and required face masks. There was a muted but celebratory atmosphere in the hall as friends greeted each other. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical presents Edgar Meyer — in person

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by Mike Telin

Virtuoso double bassist and composer Edgar Meyer is a musical omnivore. His collaborators read like a who’s-who in folk, jazz, country, classical, and bluegrass music. Meyer’s diverse discography includes the celebrated Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites Performed on Double Bass. In 2011 he teamed up with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, and Chris Thile for The Goat Rodeo Sessions. And in addition to being a multi-Grammy winner, Meyer is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, an Avery Fisher Prize, and a MacArthur Award.

On Tuesday, April 20 at 7:30 pm, Edgar Meyer and his bass will take center stage at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall for an in-person recital presented by Tuesday Musical. The program will include Bach’s First Cello Suite, as well as Meyer’s own compositions. A limited number of tickets are available for advance purchase — click here for details — and free student tickets in the balcony can be secured the evening of the performance. The box office will open at 6:30 pm.

Thoughtful and soft-spoken in conversation, the Oak Ridge, Tennessee native has an ‘it’s all in a day’s work’ philosophy about his busy, multifaceted career. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical to present London’s Academy of St. Martin in the Fields  

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by Mike Telin

Although it is common to hear performances of Baroque and some classical period orchestral repertoire performed without a conductor, you don’t often think of a Paganini violin concerto or a Brahms symphony being performed without one. Think again.

On Tuesday, February 25 at 7:30 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall, violinist Joshua Bell will lead the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in performances of Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. Presented by Akron’s Tuesday Musical, the evening will be preceded by a conversation with Academy musicians at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online.

The concert is part of the Ensemble’s 20-day, 16-concert North American tour. “We’re very excited to be coming back to Akron,” Academy violinist Harvey de Souza said by phone from Bethesda, Maryland. “This is probably the biggest group that we have toured. I think there are 54 of us, which for us is very large.”

De Souza, who joined the Academy in 1993, said the Brahms symphony is a lovely piece and a joy to play. It’s also the largest work they have ever taken on tour. [Read more…]

Announcements

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Tuesday Musical invites college-age students pursuing careers as music performers and/or educators to apply online for its 2020 Scholarship Competition to be held in Akron on March 21. The deadline is February 1. Click here for information.

Cleveland’s Broadway School of Music and the Arts is hiring part-time teachers of violin, piano, woodwinds & drums for classes on weekdays between 2:00 and 8:00 pm and possibly on Saturdays. Click here to download application details.

Cleveland Chamber Symphony will be accepting scores from Northeast Ohio composers until midnight on January 17 to be considered for its April 7 NeoSonicFest concert at Baldwin Wallace. Click here for criteria and details.

Tuesday Musical: pianist Fei-Fei in Annual Baxtresser Concert (Nov. 21)

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by David Kulma

How can a composer tell a story through instrumental music? Although it’s a complex topic among music intellectuals, great performers can easily cut to the quick with carefully considered performances full of imagination. In Tuesday Musical’s annual concert dedicated to the late Margaret Baxtresser on November 21 at E.J. Thomas Hall, the pianist Fei-Fei brought both engaging musicality and delightful spoken commentary that showed how vivacious and poetic pianism can create a compelling narrative. [Read more…]

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