A ChamberFest Cleveland premiere offers a powerful lament

Dominic Armstrong sings “Oh, my son...”

James (Zijian) Wei and Roman Rabinovich

By Frank Kuznik, 22 June 2025

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“easy accessibility to a complex work brimming with clever turns of phrase”

Reviewed at Cleveland Institute of Music: Mixon Hall, Cleveland on 20 June 2025

Lutosławski, Variations on a Theme by Paganini for two pianos

Sheng, Four Movements for Piano Trio

Markovich, “Oh, my son...” (World premiere)

Schubert, String Quintet in C major, D.956

Dominic Armstrong, Tenor

Franklin Cohen, Clarinet

Diana Cohen, Violin

Kristin Lee, Violin

David McCarroll, Violin

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, Viola

Oliver Herbert, Cello

Raman Ramakrishnan, Cello

Roman Rabinovich, Piano

James (Zijian) Wei, Piano

Alexander Cohen, Percussion

Brett Dean's Epitaphs: scintillating sorrow at Chamberfest Cleveland

Frank Kuznik, 27th June

Lively performances offer fresh perspectives on elegies old and new in the penultimate ChamberFest Cleveland concert.

****1

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.