Brett Dean's Epitaphs: scintillating sorrow at Chamberfest Cleveland

Roman Rabinovich and Fleur Barron

Geneva Lewis, Itamar Zorman, Sterling Elliott, Kim Kashkashian and Emad Zolfaghari

Itamar Zorman, Roman Rabinovich and Jonathan Swensen

By Frank Kuznik, 29 June 2025

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“Barron’s expression is off the charts – there’s not a single note she doesn’t feel”

Reviewed at Harkness Chapel, Cleveland on 27 June 2025

Debussy, Chansons de Bilitis

Dean, Epitaphs for string quintet

Tchaikovsky, Piano Trio in A minor, "In memory of a Great Artist" Op.50

Fleur Barron, Mezzo-soprano

Geneva Lewis, Violin

Itamar Zorman, Violin

Kim Kashkashian, Viola

Emad Zolfaghari, Viola

Sterling Elliott, Cello

Jonathan Swensen, Cello

Roman Rabinovich, Piano

A ChamberFest Cleveland premiere offers a powerful lament

Frank Kuznik, 20th June

Contemporary programming at this year's festival brings a sensitive social issue close to home, culminating in Judith Markovich's “Oh, my son…”

***11

Paradise lost and found in Cleveland

Frank Kuznik, 21st June

An idiosyncratic outing at Chamberfest Cleveland recounts original sin in ragtime and finds redemption in a neglected wartime masterpiece.

****1

"Fantastic Tales" come to life at Chamberfest Cleveland

Frank Kuznik, 15th June

Smart sophistication and creepy entertainment go hand-in-hand in an excursion to odd corners of the chamber repertoire.

****1

Music for star-crossed lovers with Ludovic Morlot and the RSNO

Simon Thompson, 2nd December

Ludovic Morlot conducts the RSNO in a relationship that blossoms into love... eventually.

***11

Hungarian flair at ChamberFest Cleveland

Sam Jacobson, 25th June

ChamberFest Cleveland’s Hungarian evening traversed works of Liszt, Eötvös, and Dohnányi, alongside Brahms’ apt Hungarian Dances.

****1

Songful Schumann from Sir Roger Norrington and the RSNO

Simon Thompson, 20th October

Norrington's Schumann cycle with the RSNO begins convincingly.

****1

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Frank Kuznik

Frank Kuznik is the former Editor-in-Chief and Culture Editor of The Prague Post, Central Europe’s premier English-language weekly newspaper. He currently divides his time between Prague and his hometown in the US, Cleveland, where he covers northeast Ohio's dynamic classical music scene. In Prague he is an habitué of the Rudolfinum, National Theater, State Opera and other storied classical music venues, and an unabashed fan of Czech music.