A Classical Cabaret w/ Upcoming Stars
Sun 10/21 @ 4pm
By Isaac Mell
Hitting the right notes is but a portion of a performance. Only when a musician is moved by their music will that musician, in turn, move you.
“I look for musicians who can communicate emotionally,” Jodi Kanter, artistic director of Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics (M.U.S.i.C.), says. She seeks out current students and recent graduates of local conservatories who marry technical virtuosity with emotional openness.
“I started doing concerts with students when I was hosting competitors for the International Piano Competition,” Kanter says. “Some of them really had no money, so I set up a little private concert, and people gave donations to help with their expenses.”
Performing classical music is hard work; the weeks or months of preparation for any one particular concert are just the tip of an iceberg of a lifetime spent practicing. Kanter believes in rewarding her musicians, financially as well as experientially—a chance to be paid and to connect with their peers and appreciators.
“Beyond what’s even possible at school, they need these other venues as outlets,” Kanter says. “Young people are playing classical music, and I want to encourage that by having performing opportunities, because ultimately one wants to play for other people.”
Performing through M.U.S.i.C. elevates the act of practicing from the theoretical to the real.
“They think, ‘I’ve got this performance, I’ve got to work on this and make it perfect,’” Kanter says. “It puts an edge on it; it gives them a goal of why they are practicing.”
But these are not novices: The members of M.U.S.i.C. are alumni of worldwide concerts and competitions.
“It’s this international climate here,” Kanter says, noting as an example Fedor Amosov, a Russian cellist and Cleveland Institute of Music student. Amosov has won the International Youth Tchaikovsky Competition in Japan and the Concertino Prague International Music Competition. His musical tastes are as far-ranging as his travels: “He’s introduced me to composers I’ve never heard of,” Kanter says.
Indeed, M.U.S.i.C. concerts also serve as an introduction to exciting, unfamiliar material. A June performance featured a piece by Josef Molnar, who left his native Austria for Japan and whose impressionistic music reflects this blend.
“People come and they say: ‘That’s something that we’ve never seen before, and we liked it!’” Kanter says.
On Sun 10/21, Orange Village Hall (4600 Lander Road) hosts Classical Cabaret, the fifth event in M.U.S.i.C.’s cabaret series. Enjoy performances by pianists Alexander Kostritsa, Elena Loskova and John Simmons, violinists Michelle Abraham and Suliman Tekalli, cellists Fedor Amosov and Cicely Parnas, mezzo-soprano Samantha Gossard and soprano Jung Eun Oh. Music begins at 4pm (doors open at 3:30pm).
Meet the musicians after the concert at a reception with food and beverages. Student admission costs $5, general admission $25, and patron seating $40. Among other pieces, the program features Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1, Maurice Ravel’s Rhapsodie Espagnole, and Robert Schumann’s Spanisches Liederspiel.
Reserve tickets for the Sun 10/21 performance by phone (216.702.7047), e-mail (stars@intheclassics), or internet, (http://StarsInTheClassics.org).
Isaac Mell grew up in South Euclid, OH and attended American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He welcomes conversations with potential employers, collaborators and friends.
Orange, OH 44022