Faculty concerts mark “Back to School” early in the month of September

by Daniel Hathaway

Recitals and chamber music concerts by faculty members at Northeast Ohio conservatories, colleges and universities add to the rich menu of classical music in the region. Usually free, these events begin coming onto the calendar in September. Here’s a quick look at the first performances of the fall.

Oberlin Conservatory faculty members David Bowlin, Gregory Fulkerson and Marilyn McDonald, violins, Peter Slowik and Michael Strauss, violas, Darrett Adkins and Catharina Meints, cellos, and Monique Duphil, piano, will play Mozart’s String Quintet in c minor, K. 406, and Brahms’s Piano Quintet in f minor, op. 34 in Kulas Recital Hall at the Conservatory on Thursday, September 4 at 8:00. The free concert will be streamed via Oberlin’s “Listen Live” service.

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Preview: Kent/Blossom Festival launches on June 26 with Miami Quartet, Spencer Myer & CD release

by Daniel Hathaway

“It’s bigger than ever, and we’re really excited about it,” exclaimed Danna Sundet, who along with cellist Keith Robinson, is one of the co-artistic directors of the Kent/Blossom Festival. This year’s festival officially begins on June 26 with a concert featuring the Miami String Quartet and pianist Spencer Myer in Ludwig Recital Hall on the Kent State University Campus. “We’re releasing our first-ever Kent/Blossom CD at a gala party afterward,” Sundet said during a conference call. Robinson jumped in with more news. “We’re also having our first Kulas Guest Artist, clarinetist David Shifrin, who used to play in The Cleveland Orchestra before he went on to fame and fortune with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.”

Those concerts are only two of the seventeen events Kent/Blossom will offer between now and July 27. There will be six performances by Cleveland Orchestra members and friends (who make up the faculty for the chamber music-oriented summer festival which began when the Blossom Music Center opened in 1968), and six concerts by students — three at the end of each of the two-week chamber music sessions. At the end of the festival following an orchestral week, the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra will play Ravel’s La Valse in a side-by-side concert with The Cleveland Orchestra on July 27 preceded by its own set under the baton of James Feddeck, who will lead the student ensemble in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and Debussy’s Clair de lune.

Review: Pianist Bruce Murray at KSU (February 3)

by Daniel Hathaway

Pianist Bruce Murray, long associated with the Brevard Music Center and now chairman of the music department at Miami University of Ohio, was guest artist for the latest recital in the Kent Keyboard Series. In Ludwig Recital Hall on Sunday afternoon, Murray played an intense but accessible all-J.S. Bach recital beginning with the fifteen Sinfoniae (Three-part inventions), followed by two of the six Partitas and the Concerto in the Italian Style.

Bruce Murray plays all variety of repertory but it seems he has a special feel for Bach. His touch is sure and clear and his interpretations are thoughtful and lucid. His teachers have included Claude Frank and Leonard Shure and their influences are apparent.

James F. Meyers Memorial Concert at KSU • February 13

A Musical Offering

to honor the memory of
James Fowler Meyers

(June 7, 1947 — January 23, 2010)

Ludwig Hall, Kent State University
Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 3:00 pm