Cleveland Classical | Mike Telin

Founded in 2012 by Diana and Franklin Cohen, ChamberFest Cleveland has become a highly anticipated event each June for people seeking an immersive chamber music experience.

If the absence of live Festival performances this summer is leaving a void in your soul, take note: ChamberFest is collaborating with WCLV 104.9 Ideastream to broadcast nine programs drawing on material from all eight festival seasons on the station’s Wednesday evening “Ovations” Series and six, one-hour Sunday evening broadcasts. WCLV co-founder Robert Conrad will host and produce the series. Click here to view the schedule.

It’s no secret that since the pandemic caused the cancellation of all live performances, there has been a seemingly never-ending “stream” of performances by musicians and arts organizations over the Internet. Coupled with the reality that our lives are now spent in front of a glowing computer screen, this has caused our eyes and minds to grow weary.

Read the full article

Cleveland Classical | Daniel Hathaway

ChamberFest Cleveland patrons will be thrilled to learn that the popular early summer concert series founded in 2012 by Diana and Franklin Cohen won’t be completely missing in action this year due to the pandemic.

In lieu of its ninth season of live performances, ChamberFest is collaborating with WCLV to broadcast nine programs from its high-quality concert archives. The performances, which draw on material from all eight festival seasons, will be broadcast on the station’s Wednesday evening “Ovations” Series on June 24, August 5, and August 12 from 8:00 to 10:00 pm, and in a series of six, one-hour Sunday evening broadcasts from June 28 through August 2, all at 8:00 pm.

Read the full article

Dear Friends,

Over the past several weeks we, like many, have been waiting and watching with hope for a sign that gathering together again in large groups would be safe and welcome. Today we accept with sadness that this is not to be, and announce that our 2020 Festival, Carte Blanche!, will not take place this June as planned. The health and safety of all is paramount and our hearts go out to those who are on the front lines confronting the reality of a pandemic.

While we are heartbroken not to be bringing live performances to the stage for our beloved audiences, our community of musicians are already remarkably and resiliently working with us to reschedule Carte Blanche! in 2021.

Please stay tuned.. Thanks to our Digital Performance Library on YouTube, radio station WCLV, and so many other new and fun ways to connect nothing will deter us from the mission that inspired us: “to nurture a deep family-like connection between musicians and audiences of all ages.”

Music is alive and well and we will all be together again soon.

Yours in music,

Franklin Cohen and Diana Cohen, Co-Artistic Directors

Cleveland Classical | Mike Telin

ChamberFest Cleveland wrapped up its seventh season with an excellent concert on Saturday, June 30 at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. “Dawn of a Revolution” included works by Claude Debussy, a world premiere by Sebastian Chang, and a musical tapestry woven with inspired new choreography by David Shimotakahara.

The performance of Debussy’s sublime Violin Sonata by Noah Bendix-Balgley and pianist Roman Rabinovich was, in a word, stunning. Playing with a smooth, liquid tone, Bendix-Balgley made the intricate lines of the opening Allegro vivo sound easy. He brought clarity to the recurring, downward triadic motif that ties the movement together. Rabinovich matched that clarity with his light touch. The duo made everything so effortless it was easy to forget how complicated Debussy’s writing is. The Intermède: Fantasque et léger was highlighted by refined, well-shaped lines and nuanced articulations, while the Finale: Très animé exuded thoughtful energy, bringing this gripping performance to a brilliant close.

Read the full article

Cleveland Classical | Nicholas Stevens

In the fifth concert of this year’s ChamberFest Cleveland season, programming took “A Turn in the Road” amid the festival’s theme of searching for freedom. Three trios played works by Alban Berg, George Crumb, and Antonín Dvořák, each of whom sought liberation from aesthetic constraints in some way. The resulting musical experience on June 21 in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall had remarkable stylistic and sonic range.

Spoken commentary prefaced the performance by Diana Cohen, Franklin Cohen, and Roman Rabinovich of Berg’s Adagio for violin, clarinet, and piano. Rabinovich pointed out some of the compositional intricacies that lace the score, and even played one of Berg’s themes in a harmonization more reminiscent of Richard Strauss, a contemporary. That the Cohens and Rabinovich viewed Berg’s work as a modernist alternative to Straussian sensuality became clear in performance.

Read the full article