Quire Cleveland

Heaven & Earth: Schubert & Ives

David Simmons-Duffin — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:30:22 +0000

CityMusic Cleveland — James Gaffigan, music director and conductor — presents “Heaven & Earth: Music of Franz Schubert & Charles Ives,” featuring Quire Cleveland and vocal soloists. The program includes Franz Schubert’s Stabat Mater and Mass in G Major, and Charles Ives’s “Camp Meeting” Symphony and “Washington’s Birthday” from New England Holidays.

May 5-10, 2009
Six Concerts in Northeast Ohio:
Cleveland Heights, Elyria,Willoughby Hills,
Slavic Village, Cleveland, and Rocky River

All CityMusic Cleveland concerts are free and everyone is invited. No tickets are required; many venues offer free child-care. For more information, visit the CityMusic Cleveland website.

Flemish Choral Masterworks from Ockeghem to Lassus

Beverly Simmons — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Quire Cleveland presents a concert of masterworks by Flemish composers from the late 15th and 16th centuries. Featuring works by Johannes Ockeghem, Josquin des Prez, Roland de Lassus, and others, the program will include both sacred and secular music.

Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 7:30 pm.
Harkness Chapel
11200 Bellflower Road
Case Western Reserve University campus

(near the intersections of Ford & Bellflower, across the street from the Frank Gehry-designed Peter B. Lewis Building). Tickets will be available at the door.

Tudor Choral Music & Choral Evensong

Beverly Simmons — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:15:01 +0000

On Sunday, February 8, 2009, Quire Cleveland performs at Christ Church Episcopal in Hudson, Ohio. At 4:15 pm, Quire presents a concert of Tudor Choral Music; at 5 pm, Quire provides the music for a Choral Evensong Service.

Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Christ Church Episcopal
21 Aurora Street
Hudson, OH

For more information, visit christchurchhudson.org or phone 330.650.4359.

José Gotera

Beverly Simmons — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:45:53 +0000

José Gotera began his choral training at the age of eight at St. Michael’s Choir School in Toronto, Ontario. At the University of Toronto, he sang with the Hart House Chorus, Trinity College Chapel Choir, and Tafelmusik, while pursuing degrees in Human Biology and Music History. He completed an MA in Early Music at Case Western Reserve University. During his studies at Case, he sang with the Early Music Singers and St. Paul’s Episcopal Choir. More recently, he has sung with Apollo’s Fire and the chorus of Opera Cleveland. He has sung solo roles with Cleveland Opera on Tour, Opera Circle, and the West Shore Chorale. At present, José is a music instructor at Hiram College, where he teaches voice and vocal pedagogy, and directs opera/musical theater workshop and the men’s chorus. He is also a section leader and baritone soloist at Trinity Cathedral.

Welcome addition

Beverly Simmons — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:19:16 +0000

a welcome addition to Cleveland’s musical scene

Joyful sounds

Beverly Simmons — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:18:40 +0000

the joyful sounds could easily have soared to the very heavens

Instant Karma

Beverly Simmons — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:13:54 +0000

Listening to the presentation of Quire, the new professional a capella choir during their premiere performance, one had the impression that the joyful sounds could easily have soared to the very heavens, had not the beautifully ornate gothic roof of St. John’s Cathedral stood in the way. The concert was titled “Sing Joyfully,” appropriate as the first work performed was a piece by that name, from the composer William Byrd. Several other pieces by him were also presented, as were songs by Thomas Tallis, Thomas Weelkes and Orlando Gibbons. Englishmen all, they lived between perhaps 1505 to 1625. It is the sort of music that this sort of edifice displays in all its glory.

The program was subtitled Sacred Choral Music from Tudor England. Byrd and Tallis survived the trauma of Henry VIII and the rise of the Protestant faith, rather than the Catholic church in which they had been raised. This change also promoted the use of English texts rather than the previously used Latin.

The eighteen crystalline voices (with no vibrato at all) filled the huge space with ease, as they sang with the effect of one multi-voiced instrument. The long reverberation time allowed the pure sounds to slowly drift off into the distance, leaving the listener filled with a strong sense of peacefulness.

Some of the songs were in English, but most were in ecclesiastical Latin. Still, one didn’t need to discern the words for the meaning, so careful was the intonation and emotion expressed by singers and conductor. British-born CASE professor Peter Bennett and his new Quire are a welcome addition to Cleveland’s musical scene.

The audience in the nearly-full sanctuary was enthusiastic in responding to the music. Everyone — performers and audience — seemed to be wearing large and contented smiles at the conclusion. For information about the remainder of its busy season, visit the website http://www.quirecleveland.org.

This concert was part of The Helen D. Schubert Concert Series presented at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist during the year. For more information, visit http://www.saintjohncathedral.com.

Read the original article at www.coolcleveland.com

Subtle guide

Beverly Simmons — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:59:17 +0000

Bennett was a subtle guide … conveying the music’s messages through gestures that nurtured the expressive moment.

Shading and Shape

Beverly Simmons — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:57:18 +0000

A keen sense of shading and shape pervaded everything the chorus touched.

New Choir, Quire, Offer Joyous Debut

Beverly Simmons — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:51:40 +0000

In olden days, a choir was known as a quire. The spelling may be considered obsolete now, but not the concept, as the newest professional ensemble in town appears happy to proclaim.

The debut concert of Quire Cleveland on Wednesday at St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Cleveland ends a drought of two decades. Not since the Robert Page Cleveland Singers closed shop has the city possessed a professional chorus. As led by Peter Bennett, a British-born faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, Quire Cleveland has set out to explore unaccompanied works mostly from the late medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras.

Bennett and his 18 singers introduced themselves with a bounty of sacred English music from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The program’s title, “Sing Joyfully,” was reflected in sophisticated, alert artistry. Quire Cleveland’s superb voices hail from such local choral ensembles as Apollo’s Singers and the Case Early Music Singers.

Experiencing the chorus for the first time in St. John’s reverberant acoustics left some of the group’s qualities to the sonic imagination. Words weren’t always clear — not a matter of enunciation, but of the vast space.

Bennett’s attention to phrasing, balance and harmonic implication allowed works by William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Thomas Weelkes and Orlando Gibbons to achieve their lofty impact. Most of this music speaks of deep reflection, and the repertoire might have been more varied in mood and pace to provide greater contrast.

Still, the program was ample evidence of Quire Cleveland’s potential to secure a firm place in our musical life. A series of Tallis pieces unfolded as rich tapestries, their lines seamlessly joined and interwoven. The dissonances that color the texts at several points were emphasized to telling effect.

A keen sense of shading and shape pervaded everything the chorus touched. Among the luminous pieces was Byrd’s “Ave verum corpus,” whose hushed utterances floated on purest streams of sound.

The three Gibbons selections that ended the evening gave the ensemble an opportunity to enter diverse musical worlds. The English words weren’t always discernible (again, the acoustics), but the spirit behind them fairly leaped as the choristers sang their songs of praise.

Bennett was a subtle guide throughout the program, conveying the music’s messages through gestures that nurtured the expressive moment. The singing had unpressured beauty, as well as urgency. Getting to know Quire Cleveland better should be a rewarding adventure.

Read the original article at www.cleveland.com