Variety Is the Spice of Music for Miles

Three Spring concerts at Waterloo Arts

The Music for Miles season at Waterloo Arts opens on Sunday March 12 with the always impressive Impreza Trio, Eric Charnofsky at the piano, Emily Cornelius, violin and Lauren Dunseath, cello. Their program will combine minimalism with early and late romanticism – an exercise in creative listening.

The Estonian composer Arvo Part is the minimalist. In his Mozart Adagio,  what he called his tintinnabulation style is in balance with Mozart's composition, creating a sort of fusion of the 18th and 20th centuries.

Beethoven and Brahms contribute the Romanticism. Beethoven published his Piano Trio in C minor as Opus 1, No. 3 – an announcement of his musical approach. When the pieces were first performed, probably in 1793, Haydn praised them but advised against publishing the third, and boldest, on the grounds it was too hard to understand. Critics repeated that judgement, but the buying public disagreed.

The Brahms Piano Trio #1 in B Major, Op. 8, is the only one of that composer’s trios that ends in a minor key, and among the few multi-movement works to begin in a major key and end in the tonic minor (another example being Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony).

This musical elegance will be followed on April 9 by a drum circle, led by the master of that art, Karl Dustman, in an event that turns the audience into players. This should be a good concert choice for young music lovers. Karl has an enormous collection of percussion instruments and years of experience playing everywhere from the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, to Cleveland’s CLASSICS restaurant to the Vienna Residence Orchestra in Austria.

And on Mothers’ Day, May 14, Mary Beth Ions will come back with her singing violin and her infectious enthusiasm. Mary Beth has performed for Hillary Clinton and President Bush, as backup for Mannheim Steamroller and Sarah Brightman, at Blossom and on Playhouse Square. Her solo programs are virtually irresistible.

All the concerts will be held in Waterloo’s Creative Space at 397 E156, at 4 pm on a second Sunday. Admission is free, children are welcome, conversation with the musicians is encouraged – as are glasses of wine or other refreshment from the adjoining Callaloo Café.

In March, the All-City Show, brought to us by the National Arts Program, will be hanging in the Waterloo Arts gallery. In April and May, the Art of the Book will be on display.

These concerts are presented with the support of Local 4 Music Fund, the Music Performance Trust Fund, the Waterloo Arts Friends’ Committee, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, and Ohio Arts Council.

Waterloo Arts, 15605 Waterloo Road  Cleveland44110, 216-692-9500, waterlooarts.org..

Nan Kennedy

Founding member of Arts Collinwood; chair of Waterloo Arts' Friends of Music for Miles; writer of Neighborhood Notes e-letter; grandmother of Emma, Jane and Attila.

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Volume 9, Issue 3, Posted 3:59 PM, 03.09.2017