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Cellist Zlatomir Fung brings Shostakovich to his Cleveland Orchestra debut (July 22)

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by Peter Feher

The Cleveland Orchestra put together an intricate and intriguing musical puzzle on July 22 at Blossom Music Center. Each piece on the brilliantly balanced program — which showcased the sensibilities shared by 20th-century composers in France, the Soviet Union, and Japan — held the key to understanding and appreciating the others.

The Orchestra, guest conductor Kahchun Wong, and the evening’s soloist, cellist Zlatomir Fung, (left) were more than up to the task of fitting it all together. Spareness, precision, and sensitivity to detail were the features uniting the mix of repertoire, and the musicians gave superb performances where not a note was wasted.

Claude Debussy’s La mer is a study in symphonic texture — all the more beguiling because the composer was not, by usual standards, a master orchestrator. [Read more…]

Kahchun Wong brings Akutagawa, Shostakovich, and Debussy to Blossom this weekend

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by Mike Telin

The opportunity for conductor Kahchun Wong to make his Cleveland Orchestra debut in April of 2022 came when visa issues prevented François-Xavier Roth from leading that week’s concerts. On Saturday, July 22 at 7:00 pm, Wong will return to the podium, this time at Blossom Music Center, to lead a program that includes Yasushi Akutagawa’s Music for Symphony Orchestra, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Zlatomir Fung as soloist, and Debussy’s La mer. Tickets are available online.

“I’m so excited to be returning to Cleveland, especially with this program,” Wong said during a telephone call from his home near Kanagawa, Japan. He added that it was fitting for us to be talking on Monday, July 17. “Today is Sea Day — it’s a public holiday and there are a lot of festivals.” He noted that the holiday is a time for people to give thanks for the sea. “Where I live — on the coast — I can see Mt. Fuji. It always gives me inspiration. And today it, and the sea, are beautiful.”

[Read more…]

Cellist Zlatomir Fung brings Shostakovich for his July 22 Cleveland Orchestra debut

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by Mike Telin

If asked, many musicians can tell you exactly when they heard a piece of music that changed their lives. For Zlatomir Fung that piece was Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1. “I must have been eleven years old,” Fung recalled during a recent interview. “I believe it was the debut recording that Rostropovich made with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and it was one of the first cello videos that was on YouTube. I came across it and I was just blown away. And that was the recording that made me want to be a cellist.”

On Saturday, July 22 at 7:00 pm, Fung will bring that concerto to the Blossom Music Center stage when he makes his Cleveland Orchestra debut. The program, under the direction of Kahchun Wong, also includes Yasushi Akutagawa’s Music for Symphony Orchestra and Debussy’s La mer. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with the celebrated young cellist by phone and began by asking him to share his thoughts about playing with The Cleveland Orchestra for the first time.

[Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: “Carnival of the Animals” (June 24)

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by Peter Feher

Camille Saint-Saëns forbade public performances of The Carnival of the Animals during his lifetime, but he might have made an exception for ChamberFest Cleveland this summer.

On June 24 at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Kulas Hall, ChamberFest conjured some of the informal spirit of Saint-Saëns’ lighthearted work as it would have been heard in 1886 among the composer’s circle of intimates. It was in keeping with ChamberFest’s theme this season — “Lightness of Being” — even when the evening seemed elaborate and embellished and the music-making sounded seriously first-rate. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland — Together Again (June 13)

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by Mike Telin

The weather on Sunday morning, June 13, was bright and sunny but not too hot  — perfect for a ChamberFest lawn concert. Not to miss out on the occasion, a multitude of people, lawn chairs in hand, made their way down Guilford Road in Cleveland Heights to hear a wonderfully varied program titled Bach and More. [Read more…]

ENCORE and ChamberFest: World Class Music in the eastern suburbs (June 11 & 12)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Since many Clevelanders don’t have a clue why State Route 91 in Cuyahoga and Lake Counties is called SOM Center Road, maybe it’s time to rename at least one five-mile segment of that thoroughfare that passes through the centers of Solon, Orange, and Mayfield townships.

Based on recent events, its new designation might well be “Chamber Music Way” in honor of the fine performances that are taking place this month at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills and The Grove Amphitheatre in Mayfield, courtesy of ENCORE Chamber Music Institute and ChamberFest Cleveland, respectively. In addition to the distinction of presenting some of the first in-person performances to come onto the calendar since the pandemic, both organizations were making their debuts in new venues. [Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: a conversation with Shai Wosner

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by Mike Telin

After a long wait, the next edition of ChamberFest Cleveland will kick off on Wednesday, June 9 at 7:00 pm at The Grove Amphitheatre in Mayfield. Admission is free, but reservations are required. The program, titled “Legends,” will include Antonín Dvořák’s Legends, Enrique Granados’ Sonata for Violin and Piano, Paul Wiancko’s American Haiku, and Franz Schubert’s Trio No. 2 in E-flat.

The evening will begin with pianist Shai Wosner’s arrangement of the Dvořák performed by clarinetist Franklin Cohen, violist Dimitri Murrath, and Wosner, who will be making his ChamberFest debut.

Originally written for piano four-hands, the ten pieces that comprise the work were later arranged for orchestra by the composer. I asked the pianist why he decided to make his own arrangement, and why he chose this particular instrumentation?

[Read more…]

ChamberFest Cleveland: a chat with Zlatomir Fung

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by Daniel Hathaway

Photo Credit: I-Jung Huang

Bearing a name that reflects his Bulgarian-Chinese heritage, 21-year-old cellist Zlatomir Fung scored a big victory in the 2019 XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, becoming the first American in forty years to win Gold — and the youngest contestant ever to earn that distinction in the Russian contest.

Fung will make his first visit to Cleveland this week to play six works in the first four concerts of ChamberFest Cleveland. “I’ve worked with Roman Rabinovich and New York’s Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. We’d been hoping for a few years that I could come, and now it’s finally panned out,” he said in an early morning phone call on Tuesday before heading off to a rehearsal.

ChamberFest will keep Fung busy during his sojourn in Cleveland. He’s slated to play Paul Wiancko’s American Haiku with violist Dimitri Murrath, Schubert’s Trio No. 2 with violinist Itamar Zorman and pianist Shai Wosner, Ernö Dohnányi’s Piano Quartet No. 2 with Zorman, violinist 
Diana Cohen, Murrath, and Wosner, Alexander Zemlinsky’s Clarinet Trio, Op. 3
 with Franklin Cohen and pianist Roman Rabinovich, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Lamentations Suite
 for cello solo, and Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello with Zorman.

[Read more…]

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