Thomas Meglioranza

The Linton Music Series has discovered the formula for a successful musical experience:  performances up close and personal in a warm, intimate environment.  They did it again with a recital by baritone Thomas Meglioranza, pianist Reiko Uchida and violinist Timothy Lees February 26 at First Unitarian Church in Avondale.  The program comprised Songs by Schubert, Three Romances by Clara Schumann for Violin and Piano, Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A Minor, and Louis Spohr's Songs for  Baritone, Violin and Piano.
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Earl Rivers, director of choral activities at the University of Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music, enlisted and film maker Raul Barcelona of CCM's E-media division to produce a video for Berlioz' "Damnation of Faust" February 25 in CCM's Corbett Auditorium.  It was an uneasy fit, with factors like comprehension, taste and interference with the music robbing it of effectiveness.  The musical performance was outstanding, however, with participation by the CCM Chamber Choir and Chorale, Cincinnati Children's Choir, the CCM Philharmonia Orchestra and soloists Daniel Ross, mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel and bass-baritone Kenneth Shaw.
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Jonathan Biss

Guest conductor Ludovic Morlot teamed up with the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra and pianist Jonathan Biss in a concert of Liszt, Schumann and Beethoven designed to please its audience February 24 at Music Hall.  For Biss, guest artist in Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor, it was a CSO debut, and an auspicious one.  Morlot, making a return visit to the orchestra, led Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony and the CSO premiere of Liszt's final tone poem, "From the Cradle to the Grave."
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left to right: Megan Selnick, Tatiana Berman and Tracey Lynn Conrad

To promote its 2012 season, the Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts held a combination performance and fund-raiser Feb. 16 at the Bromwell Gallery on Fourth Street in downtown Cincinnati.  Guests enjoyed hors d'oeuvres, desserts, wine and music by the Constella Trio, comprising violinist/Constella artistic director Tatiana Berman, violist Yael Senamaud-Cohen and cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn, who performed music by Haydn, Kodaly and Gideon Klein.  The 2012 Constella Festival will take place in October.  For information, visit www.constellafestival.org
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Xian Zhang

Tiny but mighty might describe Chinese born conductor Xian Zhang, guest conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Feb. 9-12 at Music Hall.  It was a reunion Zhang, who was a student and a faculty member of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music before vaulting to fame in 2002 as winner of the Maazel-Vilar International Conducting Competition and becoming the first woman to serve on the conducting staff of the New York Philharmonic.  For her Cincinnati return, she led a Valentine-theme program comprising Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" Overture-Fantasy, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, with guest artist David Fray, and Schumann's Symphony No. 4 in the arrangement by Gustav Mahler.
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The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music opera department delivers a thoughtful,  potent Valentine with Mozart's "Don Giovanni" Feb. 9-12 in CCM's Patricia Corbett Theater.  Director Nicholas Muni takes Mozart and his librettist (Lorenzo da Ponte) at their word.  Why does Govanni pursue women?  E tutto amore, "it's all for love," and love for all, he says.  
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Finnish conductor John Storgårds, made a strong impression with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at his CSO debut in April, 2010.  He conducted Sibelius at that time, a natural for the chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Storgårds, returned to the CSO Feb. 3 and 4 at Music Hall to lead Beethoven, Brahms and Szymanowski (the Violin Concerto No. 1 with guest artist Christian Tetzlaff).  He solidified that first impression, making himself a potent contender to succeed former CSO music director Paavo Järvi.
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Once a year, the CCM Chamber Players, a professional-level, graduate ensemble at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, goes "in-house," by featuring compositions by CCM composers conducted by CCM conducting students. This year's select crop included works by four CCM students, Danielle Gaudry, Lauren Heller, Angela Holt, Boon Hua Lien and Thanapol Setabrahmana and CCM faculty member Ellen Ruth Harrison's "Seven Devilish Pieces."  Further enhancing the program was CCM countertenor Eric Jurenas in an extremely moving performance of composition student Marko Bajzer's "2011 "Zrikovac."  It was a good year.
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Lang Lang

Pianist Lang Lang has been credited with inspiring 40 million Chinese children to study the piano.  This "Lang Lang Effect" came to Cincinnati Jan. 27 at Music Hall, where his performance of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 drew a near capacity crowd to 3,400-seat Music Hall (the repeat on Jan. 28 was and sold out).  Guest conductor Jun Märkl was a standout, too, in his CSO debut, leading a clockwork accompaniment to the Liszt Concerto and a fine performance of Brahms' Symphony No. 4. (first published at www.cincinnati.com)
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Thom Mariner alias

Express Cincinnati co-publisher Thom Mariner reviews "Shut Up and Play Zappa," presented by Cincinnati's cutting-edge chamber ensemble concert:nova January 22 at the 20th Century Theater in Oakley Square.  It was SRO he said, for this collaboration by c:n artists with some of Cincinnati's rock elite, including guitarist Roger Klug.  In addition to Zappa, the program included music by Edgard Varèse and Igor Stravinsky, two of Zappa's influences. (first published at www.expresscincinnati.com)
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Critic Charles H. Parsons caught the imagery brilliantly in his review of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra's concert performance of Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Dalila" Jan. 20 at Florence Baptist Church at Mount Zion in Florence, Kentucky.  With mezzo-soprano Stacey Rishoi singing Dalila, Samson "didn't have a snow ball's chance in the Negev."  KSO music director led the "sizzling" performance, with tenor Michael Hendrick as Samson, singers from University of Kentucky Opera Theatre and the KSO Chorale. 
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Juanjo Mena

Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe" Suites No. 1 and 2 are not often heard together or with chorus.  The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus did both Jan. 20 in Music Hall in Cincinnati under guest conductor Juanjo Mena.  To use everyday language, it was a performance "to die for."
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Los Angeles Piano Quartet

The Los Angeles Piano Quartet opened the New Year for Chamber Music Cincinnati January 10 in Werner Recital Hall at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  Their program of Mozart, Steven Stucky and Gabriel Faure was well chosen and making it even more of an occasion, was the return to Cincinnati of violinist Yehonatan Berick, violinist of the Quartet and a graduate of CCM.
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Emanuel Ax

Veteran Emanuel Ax and newcomer Pablo Heras-Casado opened the New Year for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with a well chosen program spanning the 18th to the 20st centuries January 5 at Music Hall.  For guest conductor Heras-Casado, 34, it was a CSO debut. (first published at www.concertonet.com)
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Music director-designate Louis Langree and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra climaxed their "One City, One Symphony" initiative with a magnificent performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony November 15 at Music Hall.  The echoes of the cheering crowd are still ringing throughout the hall.
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