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Constella, Cincinnati's new city-wide arts extravaganza, opens Sept. 30 with clarinetist Anthony McGill and closes Nov. 6 with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.  Events, presented by Constella and 15 partner organizations, include chamber music, ballet, voice, drama, early music, world premieres, jazz and the as-yet unclassifiable, with internationally known guest artists, the best of the best in the Cincinnati area and affiliated visual artists and art presentations. Visit www.constellafestival.org to learn what's up during the month-long event, which aspires to bring international attention to the city.
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Cincinnati's September song is filled with voices -- resplendently so, with soprano Renee Fleming -- as the calendar flips into fall. Opera diva Fleming will make her Cincinnati debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Sept. 18 at Music Hall.  Spanning the month, the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra's KSO Boogie Band says farewell to summer with a 1970s-1980s "battle of the bands" Sept. 1, and the 2012 Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts opens Sept. 30 with clarinetist Anthony McGill. In between, find chamber music, symphony and symphonic pops, jazz, choral music and more in combos all over town.
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July is Washington Park, Cincinnati's new, restored outdoor venue, the Cincinnati Pops at Riverbend and Mozart at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Just around the corner is the 2012-2013 season, with program announcements, updates and news of special events.
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2012 World Choir Games poster by C.F. Payne

July in Cincinnati is singing. First the World Choir Games, which take place in Cincinnati (and for the first time in the United States) July 4-14 at several venues in the downtown area. Cincinnati Opera is very active, too, with “Porgy and Bess” and “La Traviata” at Music Hall, and in a first-ever collaboration with concert:nova and some nationally known tango dancers, “Maria de Buenos Aires” a 198 tango "operita"by Astor Piazzolla. (Fittingly enough, the performances will take place in the Music Hall Ballroom.) Orchestrally speaking, there’s the Cincinnati Pops at Riverbend with Michael Feinstein.
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***image6*** June in Cincinnati means opera. Cincinnati Opera opens its 92nd season with a double bill of "Pagliacci" and  "Gianni Schicchi."  Projekt Wolfgang, a new series devoted to chamber opera, follows suit with a pairing of Mozart's "Der Schauspieldirektor" and "Bastien und Bastienne." Also on the menu are Duke Ellington, Celtic music, French music, music of the Renaissance and the Cincinnati Pops, both at Riverbend and in its newly revived Concerts in the Park series.
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Herald trumpeters at Cincinnati May Festival

May in Cincinnati has been dominated historically by the May Festival, and the well loved songfest returns again for two weekend of choral orchestral music at Music Hall. Also on the calendar are Lang Lang at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, opera (Stravinsky's "The Rakes's Progress") at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and music from films by the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. To close the Linton Series 2011-2012 season, co-artistic directors Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson will perform the Cincinnati premiere of Richard Danielpour's "Inventions on a Marriage" for violin and cello, co-commissioned by Linton in honor of their 35th wedding anniversary.
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Wole Soyinka

April in Cincinnati brings lots of piano, at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Northern Kentucky University.  There's Jean Yves Thibaudet, Serge Polusmiak and "Pianopalooza" (six Steinways onstage at once at CCM). chamber music, early music and "Classical Roots," a celebration of the African-American experience at the CSO. "Truth: Listening to Liberation," a collaboration by the Vocal Arts Ensemble and concert:nova at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center will feature the world premiere of "Zealot Canticle" by Lansing McLoskey, based on texts by Nigerian activist and Nobel laureate for literature, Wole Soyinka.
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***image2*** In March in Cincinnati, you can enjoy Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" performed by Cincinnati Ballet with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere of Philip Glass' Cello Concerto No. 2 with cellist Matt Haimovitz and the CSO and the latest installment of Music Now, Cincinnati's annual new music festival.  Add violinist Midori (with the CSO), a concert performance of Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" by the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and Vocal Arts Ensemble (plus much else) and it adds up to a noteworthy Spring.
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February, the red-letter month, brings lots of Valentine-inspired events -- at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati Pops and others.  Some look on the bright side OF LOVE ("Love Notes" at the CSO), while some explore the dark side ("Don Giovanni," "The Damnation of Faust" at CCM). 
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"ADORATION OF THE MAGI" BY HIERONYMUS BOSCH (METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK)

A new "Amahl and the Night Visitors" will make its debut in December, 2012 in Cincinnati.  A really new "Amahl," in discussion for three years by Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra music director Mischa Santora and
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Marco Panuccio

Lyric tenor Marco Panuccio, 37, pursues an international career on the opera stage.  A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he makes his home in Cincinnati where he will return Dec. 16 to sing his self-produced Christmas show "O Holy Night" at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral.
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Christmas music, holiday music, "Messiahs" aplenty, but December also brings chamber music, Russian music and the Mighty Wurlitzer.  On the guest list are conductor Andrew Grams, violinist Ray Chen, the Afiara String Quartet, Chanticleer and with the Cincinnati Pops, Sandi Patty.
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Interior, Emery Theatre, Over-the-Rhine

Cast your eye over November and you will find Russian music at the Cincinnati Symphony, a staged St. Matthew Passion (Bach) at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and  "An Emperor's Rise and Fall" (yes, Napoleon) at the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. 
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Cincinnati's new Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts stands to become to it what the Spoleto Festival is to Charleston.  Organized by a dynamo named Tatiana Berman (violinist), the festival comprises 13 concerts and multi-media events in 27 days.  It's a starry array, too, with violinists Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell and Philippe Quint, pianist Alexander Toradze, saxophonist Ted Nash and male soprano Michael Maniaci.  Some of the top musical organizations in Cincinnati are also taking part, including Cincinnati Ballet, Chamber Music Cincinnati (St. Lawrence String Quartet), the Linton Music Series (pianist Menahem Pressler), Catacoustic Consort and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.  Art exhibits by Brazee Studios and 5th Street Gallery are also a part of the festival.  (first published in Express Cincinnati October, 2011)
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