Xavier Foley Archives - Cleveland Classical

Akron Symphony:
“Serenade for Strings”
(Jan. 14)

January 18, 2023 by Kevin McLaughlin

by Kevin McLaughlin

The Akron Symphony Orchestra was particularly well represented by its string section on Saturday, January 14, as it continued to put on display both the strength of its players and its capacity for varied and engaging programming.

The concert, titled “Serenade for Strings,” featured six chamber works, all performed on the ASO’s home stage at E.J. Thomas Hall. The players were seated in front of a scrim to enhance projection and simulate a chamber setting. The program included J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Julia Perry’s introspective Pastoral, and Xavier Foley’s Double Concerto “For Justice and Peace,” written in 2019. Also a double bassist, Foley was featured twice as soloist — first, alongside violinist Eunice Kim in the Double Concerto and following intermission, in Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto No. 2. The evening concluded with a deft performance of Tchaikovsky’s intimate Serenade for Strings.

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ChamberFest Cleveland: introducing bassist Xavier Foley

June 13, 2017 by Samantha Spaccasi

by Mike Telin

When asked, most musicians are able to pinpoint an event that led them to make the decision to pursue music as a career. For bassist Xavier Foley, it was in 2006 when at eleven years old and in the sixth grade, he shifted his attention away from his teacher Miss King’s discussion of nouns, adverbs, and clauses, in favor of making a bow and arrow out of a paper clip and a rubber band. Click here to watch a video where the Marietta, Georgia native explains all. And yes, it’s quite funny.

Since that fateful day, Foley has gone on to become a First Prize winner in 2014 at the Sphinx Competition and Astral Artists National Auditions, as well as a winner at the 2016 Young Concert Artists Auditions. [Read more…]

Pianist Yuja Wang creates magic with The Cleveland Orchestra (Nov. 28)

by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Thanksgiving weekend concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra often center around a big-ticket soloist or a popular piece.

This year’s program offers both, thanks to star pianist Yuja Wang and Maurice Ravel’s brilliant orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

On Friday November 28, the snow cleared just in time for the crowds to arrive at Severance Music Center for the evening event. Led by conductor Petr Popelka, the resulting concert equally displayed the prowess of Orchestra and soloist over the course of three fascinating works.

György Ligeti’s Piano Concerto stood out in contrast to the lush textures and easy-to-follow melodies of the works that surrounded it. Premiered in 1988, its dissonant and avant-garde music might have come from another world. But both Wang and the Orchestra rose to meet the challenge of its devilishly tricky rhythms with an assured confidence.

[Read on…]

Les Arts Florissants make Vivaldi’s Four Seasons feel fresh and inspired (Nov. 18)

by Stephanie Manning

Performing a work as ubiquitous as Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons requires a delicate balance. At its best, the musicality and intention must be crystal clear, so that the end result feels as fresh as it does familiar. It’s a high bar, but one that Les Arts Florissants cleared with the utmost ease.

On November 18, the renowned French baroque ensemble visited Tuesday Musical to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi’s famous quartet of violin concertos. Soloist Théotime Langlois de Swarte led the spirited group in the Vivaldi-focused program, which also included works by Marco Uccellini and Claudio Monteverdi. [Read on…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra with violinist David McCarroll in Rocky River (Nov. 23)

by Daniel Hathaway

Let’s cut to the chase and simply say that it would be difficult to imagine a more perfect and moving performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto than the one David McCarroll gave with Daniel Meyer and BlueWater Chamber Orchestra on Sunday afternoon, November 23 at Rocky River Presbyterian Church. We’ll come back to that thought.

The straight-through performance preceded the Beethoven with works by Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer and a youngish Aaron Copland.

Brouwer’s engaging and popular The Art of Sailing at Dawn evokes memories of growing up on the Great Lakes. A flute conjures sonic images of gulls, and subtle waves support a lovely oboe solo before the wind kicks up and dark clouds assemble. A storm erupts, but soon passes, leading to a quiet ending. [Read on…]

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