"Frankenstein!!" Comes to the Emery

Posted: Oct 25, 2012 - 9:55:00 PM in: reviews_2012

You never know what to expect from concert:nova, Cincinnati's experimental chamber ensemble. Formed five years ago by members of the Cincinnati Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the group's mission is to take music "out of the box" by presenting cross-disciplinary programs in non-traditional venues. They brought H.K. Gruber's 1977 theater piece "Frankenstein!!" to the spooky haunts of Cincinnati's historic Emery Theater Oct. 21, just in time for Halloween. Narrator was prodigious New York cabaret artist Isengart, with projections by Cincinnati visual artist Peter Haberkorn. (first published in The Cincinnati Enquirer Oct. 23, 2012)
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Constella Trio in Thoughtful Program at Mayerson JCC

Posted: Oct 20, 2012 - 2:47:40 PM in: reviews_2012

The Constella Trio (Ilya Finkelshteyn, Tatiana Berman, Yaël Senamaud)

The Constella Trio commemorated Daniel Pearl World Music Days at the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Jewish Community Center in Cincinnati, Ohio with a thoughtful program Oct. 14. Violinist Tatiana Berman, violist Yaël Senamaud and cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn performed Beethoven's String Trio Op. 3, No. 1 in E-flat Major, and the String Trio by Gideon Klein. Both were written when their composers were 24. Klein was transported to Auschwitz nine days after his Trio was introduced at Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1944 and died in 1945 at age 25. Beethoven lived considerably longer after completing his Trio, dying in 1827 at 56.
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Vocal Arts Ensemble Opens Season with Choice Program

Posted: Oct 18, 2012 - 3:05:27 PM in: reviews_2012

Patrick Dupre Quigley leading the Vocal Arts Ensemble with guitarist Jeremy Collins Oct. 7 at Memorial Hall in Cincinnati

Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble, directed by Donald Nally, is committed to the performance of new American choral music. The VAE opened its 2012-13 season in collaboration with Cincinnati's new Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts October 7 at Memorial Hall. It was a choice program, including works by Jake Runestad, Ingram Marshall, Alvaro Bermudez, Morten Lauridsen and Jeffrey Van. Guest conductor was Patrick Dupré Quigley of Seraphic Fire, a conductor to the manner born. A highlight of the concert was Van's 1991 "A Procession Winding Around Me" on Civil War poems by Walt Whitman. Van's work was ideally situated in historic Memorial Hall, built in honor of Civil War veterans in 1906. Joining the VAE in Van's work was guitarist Jeremy Collins. The concert was presented in collaboration with Cincinnati's new Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts (Sept. 30-Nov. 6).
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Kentucky Symphony Orchestra's "Pirates" Swashbuckling Tribute to Film Music

Posted: Oct 16, 2012 - 7:07:45 PM in: reviews_2012

Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in "Pirate of the Caribbean"

Music contributes immeasurably to the impact of film, as demonstrated by the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra's live accompaniment of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" Oct. 13 at Florence Baptist Church at Mt. Zion in Florence, Kentucky. Led by KSO music director James R. Cassidy, the show made for a gripping and thoroughly engrossing experience. It was that and more for Cassidy, who had the daunting task of synchronizing the KSO with the action on screen. (first published in the Cincinnati Enquirer Oct. 16)
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Pops Superheroes Concert "Marvelous"

Posted: Oct 15, 2012 - 10:05:05 PM in: reviews_2012

It was superheroes night at the Cincinnati Pops Oct. 12 at Music Hall and all the caped and masked marvels were there, musically speaking. Led by Pops conductor John Morris Russell, the concert featured excerpts from "Dark Knight," "The Avengers," "Captain America," "Spiderman," "The Fantastic Four" "Iron Man" -- even the song by Black Sabbath ("Iron Man") for extra spice -- and Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" in tribute to perhaps the first superheroes composer. Russell (JMR) also introduced a new comic hero, Conduktor, and his nemesis Perfect Pitch. (first published in The Cincinnati Enquirer Oct. 15)
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Nico Muhly Meets the Digitorium

Posted: Oct 13, 2012 - 7:01:46 PM in: reviews_2012

Griffin Hall, Northern Kentucky University

Nico Muhly, composer-in-residence with the 2012 Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts, brought his cutting-edge music to Northern Kentucky University's cutting edge Digitorium Oct. 9. With abstract imagery by electronics artist Jordan Munson of Indiana-Purdue University in Indianapolis, it made for for an eye/ear-opening, mind-bending experience. Featured work was the world premiere of Muhly's Three Songs for tenor and violin with tenor Grant Knox of NKU and violinist/Constella artistic director Tatiana Berman.
(first published in The Cincinnati Enquirer Oct. 12, 2012)
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Charles Wadsworth a Treat for Constella

Posted: Oct 11, 2012 - 4:59:08 PM in: reviews_2012

Charles Wadworth (left at the keyboard) performing with violinist Tatiana Berman, cellist Nathaniel Chaitkin and flutist Nina Perlove

It's not every day that an eminence like Charles Wadsworth comes to town. Recently named to the Cincinnati-based American Classical Music Hall of Fame, the chamber music legend performed with musicians of the Constella Festival of Music and Fine arts Oct. 6 at Northern Kentucky University. It was a down-to-earth event, too, with Wadsworth addressing the audience with abundant charm. Joining him in the mostly French program were violinist/Constella artistic director Tatiana Berman, cellist Nathaniel Chaitkin and flutist Nina Perlove.
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Frühbeck Brings Mahler's Epic Vividly to Life

Posted: Oct 6, 2012 - 9:55:46 AM in: reviews_2012

Mahler put the world into his Symphony No. 3. Under creative director Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra did the same Oct. 5 in Cincinnati's Music Hall, a venue ideal to contain it logistically and acoustically. Performing with them were mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, the women of the May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Boychoir, an aggregate of over 250 that nevertheless fit on the Music Hall stage. Frühbeck led a splendid performance, informed and heartfelt, which drew a unanimous ovation from the audience.
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Fruhbeck Commands CSO, Enthralls Audience

Posted: Oct 2, 2012 - 2:32:54 PM in: reviews_2012

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra welcomed Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, creative director of the CSO for the second season in a row, back to Music Hall Sept. 28 and 29. It was a sure-fire program, including Respighi's "Pines of Rome" and music from Falla's "El amor brujo," but granted that, it was clear in no uncertain terms that there was a master on the podium. Joining the orchestra in a painterly performance of Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" was Mexican-born pianist Jorge Federico Osorio. (first published at www.ConcertoNet.com)
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Joshua Bell Matchless in CSO Opener

Posted: Sep 22, 2012 - 3:42:32 PM in: reviews_2012

Photo by Tasha Pinelo

"No one does it better" fits no one better than violinist Joshua Bell. The Indiana-born superstar opened the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's 2012-13 season Sept. 21 at Music Hall in war horses by Max Bruch and Camille Saint-Saens. No matter the mileage on these works, Bell made them compelling. Guest conductor William Eddins was in step with fine performances of works by Ravel and Reznicek.
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Fleming Down to Earth Diva

Posted: Sep 19, 2012 - 4:33:50 PM in: reviews_2012

Renée Fleming with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Sept. 18, 2012, Music Hall

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra opened its 2012-13 season Sept. 18 at Music Hall with a gala, and a significant one, featuring the Cincinnati debut of soprano Renée Fleming. Fleming was a huge hit in more ways than one, not only with her peerless singing, but her personality. Guest conductor was Sebastian Lang-Lessing, music director since 2010 of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra.
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Ariel Quartet Bows In at CCM

Posted: Sep 12, 2012 - 5:09:57 PM in: reviews_2012

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music has a new resident string quartet, the Ariel Quartet, which made its debut in Werner Recital Hall on Sept. 11. In honor of the fateful date, the Quartet performed Benjamin Britten's Quartet in C Major, Op. 36, composed in the wake of World War II. Framing it were two "jokes," Haydn's Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2 ("The Joke") and Beethoven's amiable Quartet, Op. 135, wherein a joke is hidden just preceding the final movement.
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Dream Come True: Music Hall in the Park

Posted: Aug 4, 2012 - 2:02:06 PM in: news_2012, reviews_2012

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is famous for its free concerts in the parks. A crowning event in the series, "Music Hall in the Park," a concert in newly reopened Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine, attracted a crowd topping 6,000 August 3 to the Park's Civic Lawn on Elm St. opposite Music Hall. The rare event united the four performing arts tenants of Music Hall, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (parent of the Cincinnati Pops), Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Ballet and the Cincinnati May Festival Summer Chorus.
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From Cincinnati Opera, With Love

Posted: Jul 31, 2012 - 9:16:41 PM in: reviews_2012

Ailyn Pérez and Stephen Costello in "La Traviata" (photo by Philip Groshong)

Verdi's "La Traviata" was performed by Cincinnati Opera for the 113th time in its 92-year history July 26 at Cincinnati's Music Hall. It is unlikely that many of those prior outings were more affecting than this one starring soprano Ailyn Pérez and tenor Stephen Costello as the lovers Violetta and Alfredo. The husband and wife team headed a luxury cast powerfully conducted by Carlo Montanaro, with sensitive, insightful staging by director Jose Maria Condemi.
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Cincinnati Does the Tango

Posted: Jul 30, 2012 - 10:39:35 AM in: reviews_2012

left to right: Jairo Cuesta, Catalina Cuervo, Luis Alejandro Orozco

"Maria de Buenos Aires" by Astor Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer is a metaphor for the tango, a musical artifact inextricably connected to the history and culture of Argentina. From humble beginnings in the barrios of Buenos Aires, tango has evolved into a symbol of national pride and an art form incorporating jazz and European classical music. The chamber ensemble concert:nova and Cincinnati Opera brought "Maria" to -- appropriately enough -- the Music Hall Ballroom in Cincinnati July 27 in an ingenious production directed by Argentine Jose Maria Condemi. Starring as Maria was Colombian soprano Catalina Cuervo, with Mexican-American baritone Luis Alejandro Orozco as the Payador and Colombian actor Jairo Cuesta as the Duende. Renowned tango dancers Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo enriched the production with their sweeping, scorching tangos. (first published at www.ConcertoNet.com)
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