Monday, November 29, 2010

Violist Eliesha Nelson Plays at Event for 'Cleveland Orchestra Center For Future Audiences'

[Quincy Porter, Complete Viola Works; Eliesha Nelson, viola; John McLaughlin Williams, violin, piano, harpsichord; Douglas Rioth, harp; Northwest Sinfonia, John McLaughlin Williams, conductor; Dorian Recordings DSL 90911 (73:47) (2009)]

Violist Eliesha Nelson has been featured by AfriClassical in connection with her CD, Quincy Porter, Complete Viola Works. Eliesha is a violist for the Cleveland Orchestra. A recent entry on her blog describes a major effort to increase the number of young people in the Cleveland Orchestra's audience:

Eliesha Nelson's Blog
November 10th, 2010
“A couple of weeks ago, I participated in a fun 5 minute piece at the end of a press conference introducing the new Cleveland Orchestra Center For Future Audiences. It’s a broad initiative to bring in new and/or younger audience members to Severance Hall to listen to classical music. I think it’s exciting, and very good news for the city of Cleveland. The Maltz Family Foundation pledged a 20 million dollar gift, stressing the importance of maintaining our cultural institutions for future generations.

“Of course I think this is great! I work there! But besides that, I see the arts as a vital part of being human. What would this world be if we were to take it all away – music, dance, visual arts, architecture, poetry? We would have no creativity, and even those basic subjects like reading, writing and arithmetic would be stunted without an artistic outlet. We would lose all those myriad and important ways to catharsis and emotional growth.”
“A slight non sequitur, I’m a huge Salar Nader fan! He’s an awesome tabla player and fantastic musician. I saw him in Kite Runner at the Cleveland Playhouse, and his playing was mesmerizing! It was a treat to play with him, as well as Jamey Haddad and my colleagues at the Orchestra and Cleveland Institute of Music.





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