Sun 12/4
Just as WCLV’s Sunday night show Innovations confirms on a weekly basis, Northeast Ohio’s classical music scene is thriving with composers. The program often features professional recordings written by members of the Cleveland Composers Guild, which a handful times a year collaborates with various musical organizations in the area.
CoolCleveland talked to Cleveland Composers Guild chairman Margi Griebling-Haigh about the nonprofit organization and its upcoming free collaborative show with The Syndicate for the New Arts scheduled for Sun 12/4 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ohio City.
Tell us about the Cleveland Composers Guild.
The Cleveland Composers Guild is probably the oldest continually active guild of professional composers in the country. We have about 40 members. The mission statement, in sort of a tongue-in-cheek way, you might call us a self-help organization for composers. We are all professional-level composers with training. Some people are college professors, some are freelancers. We have kind of a gamut, but the whole mission is for us to have a good way to get very high-level professional performances and recordings of our music. We exist so we can get our things played with other groups. Also, about half of our concerts a year we call open chamber music concerts where the composers themselves find their own performers and the Guild hires them. So some of our concerts are sort of internally run and others are collaborations like this current one coming up with the Syndicate for the New Arts. They approached us.
What was it about the Syndicate for the New Arts that made it a good fit for Cleveland Composers Guild?
They seemed like a very dynamic new organization of young professional performers who are very, very eager to champion the cause of new music written by specifically Rust Belt composers, if you will. And who better than the Guild? Our membership is made up exclusively of professional-level composers residing in Northeast Ohio. So the Syndicate approached us. Most of them are fairly recent graduates of Oberlin. That’s how they formed and got together. So we’ll give them a go. We haven’t worked with them or used any of their players before so we’re excited.
Is there a certain style or genre common to Rust Belt composers?
I don’t think I could describe that because each one of us has an individual voice, for sure. We all live here. I think some people are probably affected somehow by living in an area and some people are transplants from other areas. So I think this is more championing just who happens to be living and working here. We have composers all across the board stylistically, although we would all be termed as classical composers.
Can you describe the Cleveland Composers Guild collaborative process?
When we collaborate with another group they provide the performers and we send them a chunk of music. Anybody with the Guild can submit music. In this case, the Syndicate for the New Arts chooses a program of their liking. So from our standpoint, we don’t know who is going to be chosen. And so they put together a concert they think will be pleasing, interesting and diverse and take the most advantage of their instrumentation.
The Syndicate for the New Arts selected your solo harp piece “Cipher.” Can you describe the song?
The Syndicate has a core instrumentation that is sort of interesting. Their core ensemble is weirdly enough percussion, saxophone, harp and guitar. And then I think the violin and flute were added but not as part of their core ensemble. So people mostly sent in music that featured at least one or several of those instruments. I sent in “Cipher” because I think it’s an interesting little piece.
What’s unique about the Cleveland Composers Guild is it doesn’t have its own venue.
Right, we perform in venues around the area. We try to sort of share our concerts throughout the year between the West Side, East Side, University Circle and sometimes Summit County. We don’t have a core ensemble of our own because we’re a group of composers. So sometimes we perform in churches, conservatories or colleges.
Regarding the upcoming show, it sounds like music lovers should expect a night of various styles and genres.
It will be, considering the composers that are chosen. You might get some that are neo-romantic, you might get some that are cutting-edge and avant-garde, and some in between. We all have our own style and voices under the umbrella of being classical music composers.
Cleveland, OH 44113