Cleveland Duo performs in Chapel

Jennifer Hoehn
News Editor

   Contemporary classical music filled Brown Chapel on Oct. 6 as the Cleveland Duo and James Umble performed a concert entitled "Tangos, Rags and All that Jazz" to a crowd of students, faculty and community members.

   The Cleveland Duo is composed of husband and wife Stephen Warner, violinist, and Carolyn Gadiel Warner, pianist and violinist. The Warners are accomplished musicians and have performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, considered one of the foremost orchestras in the United States, since 1979.

   James Umble, currently a professor at Youngstown State University, is a noted classical saxophonist, according to the concert program, and he regularly performs with the Warners.

   With the somewhat unusual trio of piano, violin and saxophone, much of the music the group performs is transcribed to fit the instrumentation.

   "It is a challenge to reduce the orchestration to three," Umble said during the performance. "With most great music, it seems to work beautifully."

   Taking cues from each other in the form of subtle glances and head nods, the Cleveland Duo and James Umble performed a variety of songs by twentieth century composers, including "Le Grand Tango," by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, two songs by American composer John Adams and two pieces by Irish fiddler and composer Evan Chambers.

   The songs by Chambers, "I Gave My Love a Cherry" and "Drill Ye Tarriers, Drill," were commissioned specifically for the trio in 1994.

   In a switch of pace, the Warners played a violin duo version of three songs by composer George Gershwin from the musical "Porgy and Bees" transcribed by Carolyn Warner.

   For their final song, the trio added additional variety to the show with their performance of "Imaginary Voyage" by Jean-Luc Pont, with Carolyn Warner on the keyboard and Stephen Warner on the electric violin.

   Umble explained that he first fell in love with the piece in the 1970s. The trio later decided to add it to the show. "We found this piece to be very exciting, an experiment to add another color to an already eclectic evening," Umble said.

   The crowd was receptive to the trio's music, and at the close of the evening, the performers received a standing ovation.

   Following the concert, a reception was held in the basement of Brown Chapel.

   The Cleveland Duo and James Umble have performed and lectured at numerous national and international conventions. They were chosen to perform by the Special Events Committee during the 2002-2003 school year.

   This year's committee is headed by chair Ken McCollum, who said that he was pleased with the show. "I think they played very well together," McCollum said.

Have a comment? Please e-mail us.