Close Encounters |Bach and his Art of the Fugue

Featuring The Blossom Quartet, the second concert in our 18th season of this music program opens allows a rare opportunity to experience a live performance of Bach's creative culmination. This music is evocative, moving, and expressive.

Close Encounters is Heights Arts’ signature Sunday afternoon chamber music series, and this concert in this season's series features performers Stephen Tavani, violin, Yun-Ting Lee, violin, William Bender, viola, and Dane Johansen, cello.

These intimate Sunday afternoon concerts, curated by Cleveland Orchestra cellist Dane Johansen, are performed by some of the world's most renowned musicians. Held in unique venues and local residences, they offer a rare opportunity for audiences to experience chamber music as it was meant to be heard—up close and personal.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

The Art of Fugue Part I, BWV 1080 (1750)

The Art of Fugue Part II, BWV 1080 (1750)

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A performer without an audience is like a tree that falls in the forest with no one to hear. In both cases, the essence of the experience—the sound of the falling tree or the energy of the performance—depends on the presence of witnesses.

Your Impact: When you purchase a ticket or RSVP and show up to our event, you’re not just filling a seat—your presence gives our performers the energy and excitement that fuels their performance. But without a full and engaged audience, their efforts won’t shine as brightly.

Please RSVP only if you’re certain you can attend. Of course, we know that sometimes unexpected issues might prevent you from coming. If you realize you or your guest(s) can’t make it, please let us know as soon as possible. This will allow us to give the open spot to someone else. There’s nothing more disappointing for us than turning people away because of a sold-out event only to find that we could have placed them. You get it, right? We know you do.

The Reward: Your commitment to attending means a lot to Heights Arts, even more to those who are taking the stage, and most importantly to YOU. We have no doubt you will be inspired by our featured talent. When you attend, you will even get a little extra something as a thank you from us in celebration of our 25th anniversary.

Thanks for your understanding. We’ll see you soon!

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Refunds: Tickets are non-refundable, unless we cancel the event.

Same Event Transfers: Tickets may be transferred to another person(s) by notifying us in writing with the name(s) and contact information of the new ticketholder(s) at least 24 hours prior to the concert.

Future Event Transfers: Tickets may be transferred or exchanged for a future event if 1) the future event is in the same season and has tickets available, and 2) we have a waitlist for the current event and are able to place another person from the waitlist.

Conversion: Ticketholders who cannot attend or transfer their tickets to another party or event, can convert them upon request to a tax-deductible donation (less taxes and fees if 1) we have notice of 72 hours or more, and 2) we can place a person from the waitlist into the event.

Health and Safety: Health and safety requirements will be determined based by the homeowners (if applicable), artists (musicians, poets, visual artists), and Heights Arts staff, and may be communicated to ticketholders up to the day of the event. Ticket purchasers and guests agree to abide by these restrictions.

Email us at [email protected] with questions about our policy or the event.

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Violinist Stephen Tavani joined The Cleveland Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster in 2018. He was featured playing Rismky Korsakov’s Scheherazade with the Cleveland Orchestra at the 2022 summer Blossom season. He appeared as guest concertmaster with the Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic, and before joining the Cleveland Orchestra, he was concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He has performed as soloist with the Youngstown Symphony, the Orchestra of the Americas, and at the MasterWorks festival. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Tavani has appeared at many music festivals and chamber music series, including the Marlboro Music Festival, Dresden Music Festival, Music From Angel Fire, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Colburn Chamber Music Society, Curtis Recital Series, and with Curtis On Tour. Tavani visits Northeast Ohio inmates with the Cleveland- based Renovare to help provide hope and healing through music. He is a member of Third Culture Ensemble, which serves diverse communities through music. He also is involved with the MasterWorks Festival, which integrates Christian faith and life in the performing arts. Stephen resides on Cleveland’s east side with his wife Amanda, a double bassist and music educator, and their two young sons. He grew up in Northern Virginia in a musical family; his mother is a voice teacher and lyric soprano, his father a family physician and pianist. Learn more about Mr. Tavani at his website: stephentavani.com, and visit his youtube page at youtube.com/stavani1 to see many of his live performances.

Taiwanese-American violinist Yun-Ting Lee joined the second violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2013. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where his principal teachers were David Cerone, William Preucil, and David Updegraff. He has also studied with Dr. Phyllis Skoldberg and Ming-De Zhang. Yun-Ting has appeared as soloist with Spoleto Festival USA, Music Academy of the West, Cleveland Institute of Music, National Repertory, and Phoenix Symphony orchestras. A dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Lee received the Dr. Bennett Levine Memorial Award in Chamber Music from CIM. Yun-Ting has collaborated with Orion Weiss, Lyrica Baroque Ensemble, and members of the Juilliard, Cavani, and Tokyo String Quartets. He has also performed in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial concert series and the Duluth Chamber Music Festival. Yun-Ting has performed with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Musicfest, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra. Mr. Lee was also a member of the Canton symphony and Citymusic Cleveland. He is an alumnus of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Holland International Music Sessions, Encore School for Strings, and the Pacific Music Festival.

William Bender was appointed to the viola section of The Cleveland Orchestra in November of 2021. Before Cleveland, he was Assistant Principal Viola of The Philharmonia Orchestra in London, England. While in London, Mr. Bender played principal viola with The Philharmonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Echor Music, and the London Concertante. Mr. Bender is an enthusiastic performer of the chamber music repertoire. He plays in a quartet with fellow TCO members Stephen Tavani, Yun-Ting Lee, and Dane Johansen. Hailing from Franklin, Tennessee, Mr. Bender studied with Kathryn Plummer at Vanderbilt University’s Blair Academy (pre-college), Heidi Castleman at The Juilliard School, and Robert Vernon at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Dane Johansen joined The Cleveland Orchestra in 2016. He was formerly the cellist of the Escher String Quartet, and was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Martin Segal Award from Lincoln Center. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician around the world. Mr. Johansen made his Lincoln Center debut in a performance of Elliott Carter’s Cello Concerto under the direction of James Levine in celebration of the composer’s centennial. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as first winner of the Juilliard Leo Ruiz Memorial Award and, in 2016, performing William Walton’s Cello Concerto, made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. For many years, Dane Johansen has dedicated time and energy exploring Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello. He performed them at New York’s Alice Tully Hall in 2010 and also throughout his 580-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain in 2014; the story of his adventure on the Camino with Bach was made into a documentary film called Strangers on the Earth. A native of Fairbanks, Alaska, Dane Johansen studied with Richard Aaron at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Michel Strauss at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, and with Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School, where he earned his artist diploma. He studied with Bernard Greenhouse for the last five years of the legendary cellist’s life, fostering a connection through him to the legacies of Pablo Casals, Emanuel Feuermann, and the Beaux Arts Trio.

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