This week's Cleveland Ovations was a recent recital from Cleveland State University's John Flower Faculty Concert Series featuring trumpet player Joe Miller. Joe and pianist Shuai Wang spoke with WCLV's John Simna at intermission.
From Jazz to R&B to Broadway to Rock to Hip Hop, Joe Miller is one of the most sought-after trumpet players in the area. Trained in classical music as well as Jazz, he has toured and performed extensively with international, regional and local artists. Mr. Miller was a member of the Grammy-nominated Acid/Groove/Jazz group, Liquid Soul, playing with internationally known DJs, including DJ Logic. His recording credits are many and varied, including Kenny Anderson and the late Gerald Levert. Joe toured with Bobby Caldwell and has played lead and solo trumpet for Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Frankie Valli, The Funk Brothers and many others and has been a featured soloist at the TriC JazzFest and with The Contemporary Youth Orchestra. A Cleveland State University alum and former student of Charles Couch and Kenny Davis, Joe currently holds the lead trumpet chair at Playhouse Square and is a featured soloist with the Bill Ransom Quintet and “Jazz Meets Hip Hop,” and performs with Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Paul Ferguson’s Jazz Orchestra, Sammy Deleon’s Orquestra and fronts Sammy’s Latin Jazz group.
Praised by the press for her “astute musical sensibilities” and “extraordinary finesse” Dr. Shuai Sophia Wang is an accomplished soloist and chamber musician. She has given numerous solo and chamber concerts throughout the United States, China and Europe. She has performed in prestigious venues such as the Lincoln Center (NYC), Merkin Hall (NYC), Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston), Symphony Space (NYC), Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Sailfish Point Culture Center (Florida), Cleveland Museum of Art (Ohio), Wooster Chamber Music Series (Ohio) and University of Georgia Performing Arts Center. Wang has performed chamber music concerts in Stuttgart (Germany), Budapest (Hungary) and has presented solo recitals and master classes throughout China (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chengdu, Chongqing). Wang has appeared on the Plain Dealer, Cleveland Magazine, ClevelandClassical, Washington Times and HuffingtonPost. She performed as a soloist with the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra, Tianjin Symphony Orchestra (China), the Canton Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra. Her concerts have been broadcasted on WCLV 104.9, WQSR 105.9 and WNED 94.5.