VAE, Concert:nova Collaboration Artistic Event of the Season

Posted: Apr 30, 2012 - 3:36:47 PM in: reviews_2012

The Slave Pen at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble and the experimental chamber ensemble concert:nova presented their first collaboration April 29 in the shadow of the Slave Pen at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center on the banks of the Ohio River in Cincinnati. The program, led by VAE music director Donald Nally, was all-American, all 21st-century and all by living composers, two of them, Lansing McLoskey and Philip Lasser, present for the concert. Featured work was McLoskey's "Zealot Chronicle," based on verses by Nigerian poet, Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka in its world premiere. Also on the program were Lasser's "The Dream Keeper, Alvin Singleton's "Truth" and David Lang's "Statement to the Court."
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Ramsay and Allen Close Matinee Musicale's 99th Season

Posted: Apr 29, 2012 - 2:31:16 AM in: reviews_2012

Scott Ramsay

From lieder by Richard Strauss to arias by Verdi and Massenet, lyric tenor Scott Ramsay and pianist Christopher Allen made a perfect duo for Cincinnati's Matinee Musicale April 26 at Mayerson Jewish Community Center in Amberley Village. It was splendid conclusion to the organization's 99th season.
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Rach 2 Marks Polusmiak's Farewell

Posted: Apr 26, 2012 - 11:45:59 PM in: reviews_2012, news_2012

Sergei Polusmiak

In one of the more regrettable actions on the arts and culture front in the tristate region, Northern Kentucky University has decided not to renew pianist Sergei Polusmiak's contract when it expires at the end of the spring semester. NKU music department chairman Kurt Sander calls it a "change of focus," with the school seeking someone in the area of collaborative piano. A student of Regina Horowitz in his native Ukraine, Polusmiak, 61, has been artist-in-residence and Tom and Christine Neyer Family Professor of Piano at NKU since 1998. For his final concert at NKU, Polusmiak performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the NKU Philharmonic Orchestra led by Frank T. Restesan April 24 in Greaves Concert Hall.
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Songs of Bernadette

Posted: Apr 23, 2012 - 8:36:41 PM in: reviews_2012

Bernadette Peters

Bernadette Peters returned to the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra April 20 for the first time since February, 1992, when she was guest of the Pops under the late Erich Kunzel. She brought lots of roles with her, signature and otherwise, for an evening of Broadway that lit up Music Hall. Kunzel's successor, John Morris Russell, who has the Pops playing at the top of its game, led the orchestra during the first half in music from Broadway, Disney and even Edvard Grieg. Peters' longtime collaborator Marvin Laird joined her to lead the second half. (first published in the Cincinnati Enquirer) - [Read more]

Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra's "American Romantics" An Adventure

Posted: Apr 23, 2012 - 4:31:12 PM in: reviews_2012

Joseph Johnson

Music director Mischa Santora and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra ventured beyond the familiar with their "American Romantics' program April 22 in Mayerson Theater at the School for Creative and Performing Arts. Heard were Aaron Copland's "Music for the Theatre," Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto with guest artist Joseph Johnson, a jazz sampler by pianist Michael Chertock and Dvorak's "American Suite," Op. 98b.
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Berman and López: Gifts to Cincinnati

Posted: Apr 16, 2012 - 10:55:38 PM in: reviews_2012

Antoine-François López and Tatiana Berman with the Ensemble Vita at Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church

Violinist Tatiana Berman and conductor Antoine-François López brought their complementary gifts to bear on a Cincinnati audience organized by the Cincinnati MacDowell Society April 15 at Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church. The concert featured an exquisite performance of Tchaikovsky's "Souvenir d'un lieu cher," Op. 34, in the version for violin and string orchestra by Romanian-Dutch composer Alexandru Lascae. López led the Ensemble Vita, a 28-member chamber orchestra he founded comprising students from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, in works by Beethoven and Wagner.
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Thibaudet, Denève Say It in French with the CSO

Posted: Apr 13, 2012 - 7:45:11 PM in: reviews_2012

Jean-Yves Thibaudet

They called it "The French Connection," and all the links were in place as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by guest conductor Stephane Denève performed an all-French program April 12 at Music Hall. Guest artist was another Frenchman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who performed the rarely heard Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Egyptian") by Saint-Saëns.
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Glass Cello Concerto,"Naqoyqatsi," Powerfully Moving

Posted: Apr 3, 2012 - 4:27:36 PM in: reviews_2012

Philip Glass

Philip Glass' Cello Concerto No. 2, "Naqoyqatsi," received its world premiere by cellist Matt Haimovitz and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by guest conductor Dennis Russell Davies March 30 and 31, 2012 in Music Hall in Cincinnati. Derived from Glass' score for the film ("Life is War") by experimental filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, the concerto centralizes the cello, the voice of reason and humanity. In doing so, it gives more power to that voice, which can be obscured by the film's disturbing images. Davies led Bruckner's Symphony No. 6 on the same program, a thoughtful pairing since Bruckner's use of repetitive structures influenced Glass. (first published at www.concertonet.com) - [Read more]

MusicNOW in Orbit

Posted: Apr 3, 2012 - 10:08:35 AM in: reviews_2012

Cincinnati's MusicNOW 2012 concluded March 30 at Memorial Hall with a workshop presentation of "Planetarium," a collaborative song cycle by Nico Muhly, Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner. Also on the wide-ranging program were flamenco guitarist Pedro Soler and cellist Gaspar Claus, performing selections from their 2011 album "Barlande," and a soothing set by the folk band "This is the Kit." (part three of MusicNOW 2012)
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Philip Glass Drops in on MusicNOW

Posted: Apr 2, 2012 - 11:43:28 AM in: reviews_2012

Philip Glass

Composer Philip Glass was honored on the second night of MusicNOW 2012, the contemporary music festival now in its seventh season in Cincinnati. Guest artists May 29 at Memorial Hall were eighth blackbird, who performed Glass' "Music in Similar Motion," with Glass sitting in on keyboard. Members of the sextet also performed "Knee Play 2" from Glass' opera "Einstein on the Beach," his piano piece "Mad Rush" and music by Nico Muhly, Timothy Andres and David Lang. Sandro Perri and his band from Toronto opened. (part two of MusicNOW 2012)
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MusicNOW 2012 Engages Cincinnati

Posted: Mar 31, 2012 - 4:27:30 PM in: reviews_2012

Eclecticism -- the flavor of the moment in music of all kinds -- is the hallmark of MusicNOW, the contemporary music festival now in its seventh year in Cincinnati. Performing for MusicNOW 2012 were organist James McVinnie of Westminster Abbey in London, folk artist Sam Amidon, the chamber ensemble eighth blackbird, flamenco guitarist Pedro Soler and cellist Gaspar Claus and composers Philip Glass and Nico Muhly. (part one of MusicNOW 2012)
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CCO + VAE = Rake²

Posted: Mar 19, 2012 - 8:51:33 PM in: reviews_2012

William Hogarth, "A Rake's Progress," 1733, scene in Bedlam"

The annual concert by the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Vocal Arts Ensemble is one of Cincinnati's happiest collaborations. This year, the two groups joined in a delightful concert performance of Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress." Guest artists Scott Ramsay (tenor), Nadine Sierra (mezzo-soprano), Gus Andreassen (bass-baritone) and Kirstin Chavez (mezzo-soprano) sang Tom Rakewell, Ann Trulove, Nick Shadow and Baba the Turk, respectively, with the VAE serving as the chorus and filling secondary roles. The one-time-only performance, March 17 at the School for Creative and Performing Arts' Corbett Theater, was conducted by CCO music director Mischa Santora.
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Spring at Ascension

Posted: Mar 19, 2012 - 2:00:58 PM in: reviews_2012

Samadhi Trio (l to r: violinist Nancy Caralyn Illman, pianist Melody Wallace and cellist Jennifer Higgins-Wheatley)

Among the wealth of music offered at churches in the Greater Cincinnati area is the chamber concert series at Ascension Lutheran Church in Montgomery. Organized by tenor David Bezona, director of music at Ascension, the 2012 spring series opened March 17 with the debut of the Samadhi Trio, comprising violinist Nancy Caralyn Illman, cellist Jennifer Higgins-Wheatley and pianist Melody Wallace.
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Mischief with the Kentucky Symphony

Posted: Mar 11, 2012 - 9:33:25 PM in: reviews_2012

Alexander Fedoriouk demonstrating the cimbalom

The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra was up to no good March 11 at Notre Dame Academy in Park Hills, Kentucky. The program, fourth of the KSO's 20th anniversary season, was entitled "Mischievous Music," with selections from Dukas' "Sorcerer's Apprentice" to Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks." Star of the show was the cimbalom, played by Alexander Fedoriouk, heard in the "Hary Janos" Suite by Zoltán Kodály. KSO music director James R. Cassidy conducted.
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Lees, Finkelshteyn Gripping in CSO Collaboration

Posted: Mar 11, 2012 - 5:13:39 PM in: reviews_2012

Miklós Rózsa

Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa is better known for his 97 film scores ("Ben Hur," "Spellbound") than for his "absolute" music, as demonstrated by the Cincinnati Symphony premiere of his Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Cello and Orchestra March 10 and 11 at Music Hall. It was high energy music, with the sweep of an epic film score, part Hungarian, part Hollywood. Soloists were CSO concertmaster Timothy Lees and principal cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn in a superb collaboratiion. Guest conductor was Thierry Fischer, music director of the Utah Symphony. (first published in the Cincinnati Enquirer March 11, 2012)
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