The Hannaford Ensemble

Looking for a name for her new ensemble, violist Denisse Rodriguez looked to Cincinnati history, specifically Samuel Hannaford, architect of Music Hall. After all, Music Hall is her place of business and that of her fellow ensemble members, all of whom are also members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
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Robert Treviño

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra associate conductor Robert Treviño overcame a humble background in Texas to conduct in some of the most prestigious houses in the world, including the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Currently a candidate for several music director positions, he has just renewed his contract for a third year with the CSO. Treviño can be heard on CSO Young People's concerts, on Cincinnati Arts Wave's Sampler concert March 2 featuring the CSO, Cincinnati Ballet, Opera, Shakespeare Company and May Festival Chorus, and in his Cincinnati Pops debut with vocalist Judy Collins February 10 at Music Hall.
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Music in Cincinnati contributor Laura A. Hobson writes about the Chapel Music Concert Series at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemerin Hyde Park, now in its fifth season.
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Dwight Parry

Principal oboist Dwight Parry is one of the most visible members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Not only does he play the all-important oboe solos (and incidentally, sounds the A to tune the rest of the orchestra), he gets out into the community by teaching, making presentations in schools and by participating in the CSO's pre-concert Prelude Videos. Parry will be even more "out in front" when he performs Mozart's Oboe Concerto with the CSO Feb. 1 and 2 at Music Hall.
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Louis Langrée

Though he will be onstage for only six of the 20 concerts in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's 2013-2014 season -- his first as music director -- Louis Langrée has assembled a well-rounded and thoughtful lineup. There will be new music and familiar favorites, popular guests and new faces, some intriguing collaborations and continuing community outreach in the form of the orchestra's "One City, One Symphony" project inaugurated in November, 2012.
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Gil Shaham

Violinist Gil Shaham is a risk-taker. At 18, on short notice, he boarded the Concorde and filled in for Itzhak Perlman with the London Symphony, performing not one, but two concertos. He gives this advice to his children now: ‘"You should try something new. Don’t be worried about people making a judgment or you making a mistake. You should always try." Shaham returns to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for concerts featuring the Brahms Violin Concerto Jan. 25 and 26 at Music Hall.  (first published in the Cincinnati Enquirer Jan. 20, 2013)
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Paavo Järvi

It has been nearly two years since Paavo Järvi conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a post he filled with distinction for a decade.  In his first  return to the orchestra since May, 2011 he feels right at home, he said.  He brings with him a program of Schumann (Overture to "Genoveva"), Brahms (Symphony No. 2) and Lutoslawski, with guest artist Stewart Goodyear in the Polish composer's 1987 Piano Concerto. Concerts are Jan. 10 and 12 at Music Hall in Cincinnati, plus there will be a community concert (without the Lutoslawski) Jan. 11 in Hamilton, Ohio.
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Paavo Järvi

It has been almost two years since Paavo Järvi conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which he served as music director from 2001-2011.  He returns Jan. 10 and 12, 2013 to Cincinnati's Music Hall with a program of Schumann ("Overture to Genoveva") and Brahms (Symphony No. 2) with him, as well as the Piano Concerto by Witold Lutoslawsk,i featuring pianist Stewart Goodyear.
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Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory (left) and Otto M. Budig, Jr.

Plans to "revitalize" (i.e. renovate) Cincinnati's 135-year-old Music Hall ground to a halt in June, 2012 when the City, which owns the building, declined to come to an agreement with the privately organized, non-profit Music Hall Revitalization Company (comprising tenants of the building and the Cincinnati Arts Association, which manages the property). In the spirit of the season, a lease agreement between the City and MHRC, along with a grant of $10 million from the City to apply toward the renovation, were announced December 19 at the Music Hall amid holiday lights and greenery.
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Though performed at Easter and Christmas -- and sometimes in between in churches in and around Cincinnati -- Johann Sebastian Bach has had a lower profile than one might expect for such a musically rich city.  Carlton Monroe, director of music at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Terrace Park, is out to change that.  One way has been by initiating "Vespers at St. Thomas," a series of regular performances of Bach's cantatas in the context of services at the church.  Heard December 9, 2012 during Evening Prayer at St. Thomas was the Cantata "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland," BWV 62, with Bach Choir and Bach Ensemble, led by founder/director Monroe.

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Neeme Järvi (photo by Taavi Kull)

Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi spent his 75th birthday doing, what else?  Working.  The conductor whose web site reads "I love all the time, every day, from morning till evening, I love music," spent June 7, 2012 in Gothenburg, Sweden recording symphonies by Kurt Atterberg. Just that much more to add to his remarkable musical legacy.
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French conductor Louis Langrée makes his debut as music director-designate of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in two concerts at Music Hall in November, 2012.  One of them, Nov. 15-18, to include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Schoenberg's "A Survivor from Warsaw," has sparked a city-wide initiative called "One City, One Symphony."  There have been broadcasts of different recordings of the Ninth Symphony on radio station WGUC-FM and community "listening parties" to discuss the iconic work since October.  In conjunction with WCET-TV, the CSO has produced a video of Cincinnatians chiming in on the Symphony's "Ode to Joy," available for viewing on the CSO web site and YouTube.  The initiative will culminate in a live transmission of the Nov. 17 concert to locations in the Cincinnati area. (first published in Express Cincinnati, November 2012)
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Jean-Yves Thibaudet

The 2012 Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts rings the curtain down on another "stellar" season with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet November 6 in Memorial Hall in Cincinnati.  Thibaudet will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Claude Debussy's birth with an all-Debussy program including Préludes, Deuxieme Livre, "Suite Bergamasque," "Estampes" and "L'Isle joyeuse."
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Nico Muhly

Composer Nico Muhly is no stranger to Cincinnati, having been a guest of "Music Now," the city's annual new music festival on several occasions.  Most recently, in March, when his composition "The Planets" was "work-shopped" and performed on the final concert of the festival.  Muhly was back in October as composer-in-residence for the Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts, with two concerts devoted to his music.
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Cincinnati's distinguished recital series, Matinée Musicale, celebrates its 100th anniversary this season.  To kick it off, members of the organization joined with Arthur Murray Dance Studios, also observing its centenary, in a special program Sept. 30 at Anderson Center in Anderson Township.
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