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Catching Up with
Our Kids in Cleveland
By Marci Janas ’91
RELATED:
-Top Honors to Oberlin Jazz Ensemble at 44th Annual Collegiate Jazz Festival
PHOTO
CREDIT: MARCI JANAS
Finney, Kulas, and Warner are not the only game in town – if you
define "in town" in the broadest sense of the term.
In addition to performances this past season at Oberlin’s hip new
arts space in downtown Cleveland, the Here Here Gallery, at the Cleveland
Museum of Art, and in Severance Hall, Oberlin Conservatory musicians and
composers have been showcased at several other venues in the Big City.
Here are two recent accounts.
Created for the occasion as the Oberlin Jazz Quartet, Matthew "Moppa"
Elliott ‘02 (double bass), Nick Lyons, ‘04 (alto
saxophone), Rob Schwartz ‘04, (drums), and Jason McMahon
‘04 (guitar) performed Sunday, May 12, at Fat Fish Blue as part
of WCLV’s "classic fusion champagne brunch." The radio
station has been broadcasting live from the restaurant on Sundays, and
listeners heard the Oberlin troupe perform Autumn Leaves and Elliott’s
original piece Pinpoint. Restaurant patrons enjoyed a full set
of tunes. WCLV’s Bill O’Connell interviewed Elliott, a native
of Factoryville, Pennsylvania, and a student of Professor of Jazz Studies
and Double Bass Peter Dominguez,
on the air.
Two Oberlin composition students, Grisha Krivchenia ’03 and
Michael Weyandt ’04, had works featured in an April 25 concert
titled "Music by Young & Emerging Composers" presented by
the Cleveland Chamber Symphony (CCS) at Drinko Recital Hall on the campus
of Cleveland State University.
Krivchenia studies principally with Assistant Professor of Composition
Jeffrey Mumford, but
says Oberlin composition faculty Lewis Nielson, Randolph Coleman, and
Anna Rubin "have all been very supportive of my development here."
His Incantations (for chamber orchestra) is the first of three
orchestral pieces on which the Marietta, Ohio, native is working.
"Having a professional performance of an orchestral work was motivating
for me," says Krivchenia. "I’ve written mostly for small
chamber ensembles because I knew that those works could get performed
– and performed very well – here at Oberlin. This was an invitation
to try out a new medium, and I was very encouraged by the results. CCS’s
performance was sensitive to what I had been aiming for in the music."
At Oberlin, Weyandt has studied with Professor of Composition and Music
Theory Randolph Coleman,
Associate Professor of Composition
Lewis Nielson, and Assistant Professor of Composition
Anna Rubin. When at home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, however, he studies
privately with Libby Larsen.
Weyandt submitted Primrose (for two flutes, oboe, two clarinets,
two bassoons, two horns, violin, three violas, three cellos, and contrabass).
"I saw the opportunity posted on the composition department’s
bulletin board and I thought, ‘Why not?’" he says.
"I appreciated the opportunity to experience working with a professional
ensemble, with all the scheduling and practical considerations that involves.
It was a wonderful chance to experience the process of composing for an
ensemble and a deadline," Weyandt says.
That posted opportunity also "filled me with a sense of support.
It’s wonderful to know that some ensembles are willing and excited
to devote time to developing young composers," he says.
Edwin London ’52 is music director of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.
Back to the Backstage Pass
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