Japan Calling

Posted: Oct 21, 2009 - 10:22:40 PM in: news_2009

Paavo Järvi on the cover of Ongaku-no-tomo magazine ("Friend of Music")

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by music director Paavo Järvi will make a return trip to Japan October 22 to November 5. Though Järvi, who is extremely popular in Japan, has toured the country numerous times with his European orchestras, this will be his first Japanese tour since November, 2003 with the CSO.
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Haydn or Rosetti?

Posted: Oct 17, 2009 - 4:13:47 PM in: news_2009

***image2*** The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra conducted by music director Mischa Santora offers Haydn, Stravinsky and Ginastera on its Oct. 18 program at Memorial Hall in downtown Cincinnati (with repeat Nov. 22 at Anderson Center in Anderson Township). Or is it Haydn? The Concerto for Two Horns attributed to him may actually be by Italian composer Antonio Rosetti. However, there is no mystery about "Pulcinella,"which Stravinsky based on music by 18th-century composer Giovanni Pergolesi. WCPO-TV's Dennis Janson will narrate an adaptation of "Pulcinella" by Santora. Soloists in the Haydn (??) are CCO French hornists Steven Gross and Randy Gardner. Also on the program is Alberto Ginastera's "Variaciones concertantes."
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A Clutch of Sopranos

Posted: Oct 16, 2009 - 4:19:26 PM in: news_2009

Soprano Emily Pulley

Love a soprano? Who doesn't? The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra led by music director James R. Cassidy has a fab four for you Oct. 16 and 17 in the new Francis K. Carlisle Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame Academy in Park Hills, Kentucky. Hear favorites like "O mio babbino caro," "Habanera" "Song to the Moon" and "Glitter and Be Gay" sung by Audrey Luna, Stacey Rishoi, Emily Pulley and Heather Buck on this vocal sonarama.
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Take Off with the CSO

Posted: Oct 15, 2009 - 1:45:08 PM in: news_2009

Violinist Sayaka Shoji

Figuratively speaking, you can take off with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a preview of its upcoming tour of Japan Oct. 15-17 at Music Hall. Guest artist is Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji in the Sibelius Violin Concerto. CSO music director Paavo Järvi conducts Barber's Adagio for Strings and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, also to be performed on the Oct. 22-Nov. 4 tour.
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As American As You Can Get

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 - 1:06:18 AM in: news_2009

Conductor/pianist William Eddins

With pianist/guest conductor William Eddins performing Gerhswin's Piano Concerto In F and leading works by Aaron Copland and Roberto Sierra, the Oct. 9 and 10 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concerts at Music Hall are American through and through. Also this weekend are a "Strings and Winds" program by the Linton Chamber Music Series; pianist James Tocco, violinist Arnold Steinhardt and the Amernet String Quartet at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music; and a salute to Motown by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra led associate conductor by Steven Reineke.
And congratulations are due to conductor Kelly Kuo and pianist Awadagin Pratt, Kuo for winning a 2009 Solti U.S. Career Assistance Award, Pratt for his invitation to perform at the White House Nov. 4 as part of "Classical Music Day."
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A Tango Primer: One of the first "World Musics"

Posted: Oct 2, 2009 - 5:44:41 PM in: news_2009

Carel Kraayenhof playing the bandoneon (photo by Rob Becker)

Tango can move you to tears, so be careful if you attend the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra premiere of Astor Piazzolla's tango-influenced Concerto for Bandoneon Oct. 2 and 3 at Music Hall in Cincinnati. Soloist is one of world's premier bandeonists, Carel Kraayenhof. That Kraayenhof is Dutch makes not a bit of difference, since tango, with which the bandoneon is inextricably associated, is one of the first "world musics." Guest conductor Kristjan Järvi, who is embarked on a Latin music project with Kraayenhof and has performed the Piazzolla Concerto with him in Europe, leads the CSO in an all-Latin American program, also including music by Alberto Ginastera and Silvestre Revueltas.
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Lotsa Latin, Plus Food on the Musical Menu

Posted: Oct 1, 2009 - 12:06:31 AM in: news_2009

Kristjan Järvi (photo by Peter Rigaud)

Latin is on the menu for both the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and concert:nova this weekend. Guest conductor Kristjan Järvi does the honors for the CSO Oct. 2 and 3 at Music Hall with bandoneonist Carel Kraayenhof in Piazzolla's Concerto for Bandoneon "Aconcagua." Concert:nova performs with bandoneonista Ben Bogart and dancers from Cincinnati's Tango del Barrio at the Contemporary Arts Center Oct. 4.
There's food on the musical menu, too, with Cincinnati super-chef Jean-Robert de Cavel who joins the CSO in the first of his pre-concert "Moveable Feasts" Oct. 2 and fellow "J.R.," James R. Cassidy, music director of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra for a gourmet fund-raiser Oct. 4 at the Riverview 360 in Covington.

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Latin Just Another Focus for Kristjan Järvi

Posted: Oct 1, 2009 - 12:00:00 AM in: news_2009

Estonian-born American Kristjan Järvi is about as versatile as they get on the podium today. Pianist, conductor, creator of his own electro-acoustic chamber ensemble (Absolute Ensemble), advocate for new music and new ways of presenting it, he is versed in jazz, rock and world music, in additional to the classical he imbibed as the son of Neeme Järvi and younger brother of Paavo Järvi, both also conductors. A recent focus has been Latin American music, which he will conduct Oct. 2 and 3, 2009 when he guest conducts the Cincinnati Symphony at Music Hall.
In an interview for the Cincinnati Post on July 10, 2007 ("Kristjan Järvi His Own Man") Järvi said he wasn't sure he wanted to be a conductor at all until his piano teacher pointed him in that direction. Here is a re-print of that interview.
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Cincinnati Symphony's "Pathways" Series to Bring Järvi Closer to His Audience

Posted: Sep 25, 2009 - 3:16:19 PM in: news_2009

Paavo Järvi (photo by Mark Lyons)

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is bringing music director Paavo Järvi closer to his audience. The orchestra's new four-concert Sunday matinee series at Music Hall includes post-concert discussions by Järvi, guest artists and members of the CSO. The new format is barrier-breaking in other ways, too, with an abbreviated program (about an hour of music) and tickets priced 25 percent less than CSO evening concerts. The series opens at 3 p.m. Sept. 27 at Music Hall with violinist Alina Pogostkina in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Erkki-Sven Tüür's Symphony No. 7, "Pietas." The discussion, with Järvi, Pogostkina and Tüür, will be moderated by Mark Perzel of radio station WGUC, FM 90.9.
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Tüür Returns to Cincinnati for U.S. Premiere

Posted: Sep 23, 2009 - 6:08:15 PM in: news_2009

Erkki-Sven Tüür (photo by P. Vähi)

This story, originally published in 2003 in The Cincinnati Post, looks at the background and career of Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür. Tüür returns to Cincinnati for the U.S, premiere of his Symphony No. 7, "Pietas," with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati May Festival Chorus led by CSO music director Paavo Järvi, Sept. 25-27 at Music Hall.
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Cincinnati Symphony 2009-2010: Beethoven, Berlioz and "Carmina Burana"

Posted: Sep 21, 2009 - 8:46:18 PM in: news_2009

Paavo Järvi

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and music director Paavo Järvi open the orchestra's 2009-2010 season Sept. 25-27 at Music Hall. The program -- a U.S. premiere, a warhorse concerto, a debutante soloist and a well-loved work that just happens to utilize chorus -- is a representative example of the orchestra's 115th season, traditional masterworks set off by touches of spice. The Sept. 27 concert also introduces the CSO's new "Pathways" Sunday matinee series, which offers shortened programs, post-concert discussions by the artists and reduced ticket prices.
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Cincinnati Symphony to Open with Tüür, Tchaikovsky

Posted: Sep 21, 2009 - 1:02:05 PM in: news_2009

Alina Pogostkina

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by music director Paavo Järvi officially opens its 2009-2010 season Sept. 25-27 at Music Hall with an enticing program of Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Richard Strauss and Erkki-Sven Tüür.
Tüür and Tchaikovsky (but not Borodin and Strauss) will be heard Sept. 27, first concert of the CSO's new "Pathways" Sunday matinee series, which feature a shortened format (one hour of music) and interactive post-concert discussions with the artists.
A sold-out pre-season gala Sept. 17 with superstar pianist Lang Lang -- the CSO's first sell-out in five years in 3,516-seat Music Hall -- set the bar high for the season ahead.
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Bumming Around Bonn

Posted: Sep 19, 2009 - 12:10:26 PM in: news_2009

A visit to the 2009 Beethovenfest in Bonn, Germany afforded a welcome opportunity to do some first-time sightseeing in the composer's birthplace. Here are some images, from the festival and the city.
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Mida oli* 92009

Posted: Sep 18, 2009 - 11:19:58 PM in: news_2009

Anna Reider

"What's happening" ("mida oli" in Estonian) September 20, 2009: Violinist Anna Reider performs Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Clermont Philharmonic goes "South of the Border," CCM on CBS ("Sunday Morning"), the Rhine Quartet debuts at Northern Kentucky University and something called "Classical Revolution."
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Cincinnati Symphony Opening Gala Features Lang Lang

Posted: Sep 16, 2009 - 2:36:32 PM in: news_2009

Lang Lang alert: The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by music director Paavo Järvi performs with piano Olympian Lang Lang in a one-time-only gala concert September 17 at Music Hall.
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