Alexander Gavrylyuk (left) and Louis Langrée

There was no better way to escape Black Friday Nov. 28 in Cincinnati than to attend the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's all-Tchaikovsky program at Music Hall. Making a notable CSO debut was Ukrainian pianist Alexander Garylyuk. in the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, while music director Louis Langrée led a magnificent performance of the Symphony No. 5.
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Hansel and Gretel after shoving the Witch into the oven (photo by Mark Lyons)

The timeless classic "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck came deliciously to light Nov. 23 in Corbett Auditorium at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Directed by opera department chair Robin Guarino the production was easily updated to the 1930s Depression Era.
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Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson performing Andre Previn's Double Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by Louis Langree

André Previn's newly composed Double Concerto for Violin and Cello received a sunny and evocative performance in its world premiere by violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by music director Louis Langrée Nov. 21 at Music Hall. Sharing the program were the Symphonies No. 34 and 41 ("Jupiter") by Mozart.
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L to R front: mezzo-soprano Paulina Vallereal, Annalisa Pappano, Earl Rivers (photo by Andrew Higley)

Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 is the earliest work that continues to be regularly performed. Forces of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music led by Earl Rivers gave it a grand and stirring reading November 16 at Christ Church Cathedral downtown.
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Louis Langrèe

"Louis' Listening Party," a first-ever program by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Louis Langrée, combining a verbal analysis of a work with musical examples and a full performance, thoroughly engaged and informed a CSO audience November 17 at Music Hall.
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Louis Langrée

Gustav Mahler's First Symphony, as performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, led by music director Louis Langrée Nov. 14 at Music Hall, was un-excelled in this reviewer's memory. Also on the concert, the CSO's 2014 "One City, One Symphony," were Beethoven's "Coriolan" Overture and Albérich Magnard's "Hymne à la justice."   - [Read more]

L to R: Laura Sabo and Stephanie Akou

Classical Revolution Cincinnati is a monthly series of casual performances at Northside Tavern on Hamilton Avenue in Northside. A wide range of performers can be expected, including members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Dayton Philharmonic and faculty and students from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Xavier University. On the menu Nov. 9 were duos for bass clarinet, plus music for brass quintet, saxophone and the Indian tabla.
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Johann Sebastian Bach

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory welcomed one of the world's musical aristocrats, the Academy of Ancient Music, Nov. 9 in CCM's Corbett Auditorium. The ensemble, based in Cambridge, England, performed the complete orchestral suites of Johann Sebastian Bach. It was a historically informed performance and much more. Rarely, one felt, has Bach been so well served.
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Benjamin Schmid

Everybody gets into the act on Halloween and it was the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's chance Oct. 30, 2014 at Music Hall. Guest conductor in "A Russian Hallows' Eve" was Andrey Boreyko. The program included Mussorgsky's obligatory "Night on Bald Mountain" (about a witches sabbath), as well as Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major and Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in G Major. Soloist in the Prokofiev was the superlative Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid.
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Queen City Chamber Opera has enriched the opera scene in Cincinnati for the past two seasons. They did it again Jan. 26 at the Arts Center in Dunham in West Price Hill with act I of Richard Wagner's "Siegfried" (a Cincinnati premiere). Led by Queen City Chamber Opera founder/artistic director Isaac Selya, the fully staged production boasted some genuine Wagner voices, including heldentenor Matt Tschimperle as Siegfried, and a 43-piece orchestra.
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André Watts

Pianist André Watts brought Edward MacDowell's Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Minor back to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a splendid performance after more than 40 years Oct. 24 at Music Hall. Also on the program, skewed a bit toward Halloween, was Bartók’s "The Miraculous Mandarin" and "Dances of Galánta" by Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály.
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Leave it to Cincinnati's concert:nova to come up with a thoughtful program -- and locale -- for a concert. They did it again with "A Gothic Halloween" Oct. 21 on the set of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's production of "The Birds."
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Peterloon Estate

Music for All Seasons, a recital series held at historic Peterloon Estate in Indian Hill, with proceeds benefiting scholarship programs at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, opened its 2014-2015 season Oct. 12 with songs from Austria and Germany. Heard were songs by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Richard Strauss and Friedrich von Flotow, sung by entry level artists from CCM.
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Kazem Abdullah

American conductor Kazem Abdullah returned to Cincinnati to make his debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Oct. 9 at Music Hall in a well-chosen program, including a CSO premiere, a well-loved symphony and a pair of iconic 20th-century works. Born in Indiana, Abdullah grew up in Dayton, was principal clarinetist of the CSO Youth Orchestra and graduated from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
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Emanuel Ax

Louis Langrée and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra brought the sea closer to Cincinnati Sept. 26 at Music Hall, with Debussy's "La Mer" and other maritime-themed works. Drenching the program with virtuosity was guest artist Emanuel Ax in Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor.
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