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BlueWater Chamber Orchestra: a remarkable program with Kondonassis (Mar. 16)

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by Peter Feher

The Carnival of the Animals is missing a movement. You could easily believe this listening to Koholā Sings, an enchanting new piece by Takuma Itoh, which uses a harp to conjure up the voice of a humpback whale.

In a sensitive solo turn, harpist Yolanda Kondonassis gave the world premiere of Itoh’s work at University Circle’s Church of the Covenant on March 16, joined by BlueWater Chamber Orchestra and conductor Daniel Meyer. Their collaboration was the highlight of a program that was all-around remarkable for its delicate touch.

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BlueWater Chamber Orchestra: a conversation with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis

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by Mike Telin

“I think everybody who plays an instrument has a piece that when they heard it for the first time, they said — this is what I want to do with my life because I want to play this piece as many times as I can,” harpist Yolanda Kondonassis said during a Zoom call.

On Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 pm at Church of the Covenant, Kondonassis will perform Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra. Under the direction of Daniel Meyer, the program will also include the world premiere of Takuma Itoh’s Kohola Sings for harp and chamber orchestra, Roland’s Suite by Lully, and selections of Fauré’s Incidental Music to Pelléas et Mélisande with soprano Amanda Powell. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish.

Kondonassis recalled hearing the Ravel live for the first time at the Cleveland Institute of Music while she was still in high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy. “My teacher at Interlochen brought me to Cleveland with her on spring break. She was a student of Alice Chalifoux — who would become my mentor and teacher. I stayed with Alice and would go with her to CIM when she taught. I happened to go to somebody’s degree recital and I remember hearing the Ravel in The Pavilion, where Mixon Hall is now, and thinking it was the most phenomenal ear candy I had ever experienced.”

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Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis unveils Five minutes for Earth at CMA (Oct. 23)

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by Jacob Strauss

“When we see an idea expressed in the language of art, our sensory reactions often open the heart and mind to interaction in ways that mere facts may not,” writes the celebrated harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, who is the founder and director of the Earth at Heart foundation. “Action is the goal, but a visceral call to engagement can be the catalyst. There is not a minute to lose in our battle to protect the future of our planet, and an inspired commitment can make all the difference.”

On October 23 in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Kondonassis gave the world premiere of the fifteen works on her latest album, Five Minutes for Earth, as well as two never-before-heard compositions by Steven Mark Kohn and the legendary  jazz artist and composer Arturo Sandoval. That’s seventeen premieres in a single evening. [Read more…]

Yolanda Kondonassis:
Five Minutes for Earth
at Cleveland Museum of Art

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by Mike Telin

“When we see an idea expressed in the language of art, our sensory reactions often open the heart and mind to interaction in ways that mere facts may not,” writes Yolanda Kondonassis, who is not only a celebrated harpist but also the founder and director of the Earth at Heart foundation. “Action is the goal, but a visceral call to engagement can be the catalyst. There is not a minute to lose in our battle to protect the future of our planet, and an inspired commitment can make all the difference.”

On her latest recording, Five Minutes for Earth, Kondonassis asked fifteen composers to write five-minute works for solo harp that “expressed our Earth in some condition or atmosphere.”

Released in April 2022 on Azica Records, the album features music by Jocelyn C. Chambers, Chen Yi, Michael Daugherty, Daniel Dorff, Reena Esmail, Keith Fitch, Patrick Harlin, Stephen Hartke, Nathaniel Heyder, Takuma Itoh, Aaron Jay Kernis, Philip Maneval, Máximo Diego Pujol, Gary Schocker, Arturo Sandoval, and Zhou Long.

On Sunday, October 23 at 7:00 pm at Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, Kondonassis will present a program that includes the world-premiere live performances of all fifteen works along with recently composed pieces, poetry, and visual art. Tickets are available online.

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CD Review—
Yolanda Kondonassis:
FIVE MINUTES for Earth 

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by Nicolette Cheauré

The closing line in the description of Yolanda Kondonassis’ latest CD FIVE MINUTES for Earth is “What is at stake…is only everything we have.” With a line like that, one can reflect on the consequences of their actions, which are often irreversible when applied to such imperative matters like climate change and Earth conservation. A labor-of-love project that commissioned fifteen composers to write for solo harp, this album — released by Azica Records on April 1 — cherishes, urges to protect, and aims to preserve the planet.

Several tracks depict nature or natural disasters, starting with Takuma Itoh’s Kohola Sings (Humpback Whales), Michael Daugherty’s Hear the Dust Blow, Chen Yi’s Dark Mountains, and Aaron Jay Kernis’ On Hearing Nightbirds at Dusk.

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CD Single: Sachs & Kondonassis in Kernis’ Elegy…for those we lost (Azica)

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by Daniel Hathaway

When British musicians have needed a piece of memorial music, their choice since the turn of the 20th century has often been the “Nimrod” movement from Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, or Henry Walford Davies’ A Solemn Melody. 

Since 1935 when it was born as the second movement of his Op. 11 String Quartet, Americans have frequently turned to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, a piece the composer later texted with the words of the Agnus Dei and re-published for unaccompanied chorus.

A more recent and very personal entry into the category of musical laments is Aaron Jay Kernis’s Elegy…for those we lost, originally a piano piece composed after the composer had contracted and recovered from COVID-19.

He has written, “I strived to create music to counterpoint the terrible pandemic and honor the dead — to try to give some measure of solace to families by sharing a personal expression of grief.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra In Focus 12: Kernis, Kernis & Suk (June 3)

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by Daniel Hathaway

What has happened to June? The sudden flood of openings and return to in-person performances has made the month fly past, but also left some unfinished business — like a review of The Cleveland Orchestra’s In Focus Episode 12, subtitled “Celestial Serenades” that features works by Aaron Jay Kernis and Josef Suk.

The video captures a moment when the live concert world was still on hiatus, and face masks were more than merely de rigueur. Though we have moved on from that point in several ways, it’s good to have a reminder that the pandemic will remain with us for some time into the future, and that we’re not through with pondering mortality and creating memorials quite yet. [Read more…]

Oberlin Stage Left: 
“Something for everyone”

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by Mike Telin 

Artists, arts organizations, and schools of music have found inventive ways of providing homebound audiences with a seemingly never-ending stream of performances during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The question is, what will make yours stand apart from the others? 

Beginning on Tuesday, April 14 at 7:30 pm, the Oberlin Conservatory will debut Oberlin Stage Left, a new online series featuring faculty and students, as well as fascinating guests from throughout the musical world. The programs promise to be fun, informative, and “distinctly Oberlin.” New episodes will be broadcast on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. The inaugural performance will feature harp professor Yolanda Kondonassis and the Oberlin Orchestra, Raphael Jiménez, conducting, in Ginastera’s Harp Concerto, preceded by a recently recorded interview with Kondonassis by Conservatory Dean William Quillen.

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Kondonassis & Azica Records are among  2020 Grammy Award Nominees  

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by Mike Telin

Yesterday the Recording Academy announced that Cleveland-based Azica Records’ release of Jennifer Higdon’s Harp Concerto performed by Yolanda Kondonassis and the Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by Ward Stare, had received a Grammy nomination in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category. The recording on the album American Rapture was produced and mixed by Alan Bise, and engineered by Bruce Egre. Commissioned by Kondonassis, Higdon’s concerto was also nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

“This nomination is always such a huge honor with all the amazing talent out there. To be in this small group is humbling and I’m thrilled beyond belief,” Kondonassis said in an email. “Enormous thanks go to Jennifer Higdon, Ward Stare, The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Alan Bise, Bruce Egre, and Azica Records. These projects are never easy, but what an amazing team to make it all happen!” [Read more…]

“A rip-roaring good time”:
Yolanda Kondonassis talks about
Jennifer Higdon’s Harp Concerto

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by Rory O’Donoghue

For Yolanda Kondonassis, premiering a new concerto is an on-going project. 

“The whole mechanism of getting pieces played isn’t always factored into the commissioning of a piece,” the world-renowned harpist said by phone from New York. “You’ve got to premiere music, and then launch it. It’s like the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where after risking everything, the precious artifact gets hoisted up on a forklift and chucked onto the top shelf of the National Archives to gather dust — that’s sadly what happens to so many pieces of music. There’s a big difference between having the music, and having the music stay alive.”  [Read more…]

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