April is . . .

Wole Soyinka

concert:nova
Vocal Arts Ensemble
"Truth: Listening to Liberation"
Donald Nally, conductor
April 29 -- 3 p.m.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

The chamber ensemble concert:nova partners with the Vocal Arts Ensemble to present "Truth: Listening to Liberation," a program of new music on the themes of equality and liberation. VAE music director Donald Nally will conduct. The event, which commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, features the world premiere of "Zealot Canticle" by Lansing McLoskey, based on the words of Nigerian activist, playwright and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. Also on the program are Alvin Singleton's "Truth," which describes how Sojourner Truth got her name; Philip Lasser's "The Dream Keeper," based on poems by Langston Hughes; and "Statement to the Court" by David Lang, based on a speech by Eugene Debs. This is sure to be one of the musical events of the season. Tickets are $25, $15 for students, at the door. Note: Parking will be available in the Banks garage beneath the Freedom Center for $1/half hour beginning at 2:10 p.m. Before that time, there will be a flat fee of $17 because of the Cincinnati Reds home game.
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Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Stephane Deneve, guest conductor
April 12 -- 7:30 p.m.
April 14 -- 8 p.m.
April 15 -- 2 p.m.
Music Hall

Saint-Saens, Ravel, Roussel, Thibaudet, Deneve. It doesn't take much to guess that this concert by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a French theme. "The French Connection" features pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet in Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 5, no matter that it's subtitled "Egyptian." Also on the program are Ravel's "Le tombeau de Couperin" and "La Valse" and the Symphony No. 3 by Albert Roussel. Stephane Deneve guest conducts. Tickets begin at $10 ($5 for children, ages 6-17, on Sunday, April 15).  Opening night April 12 (Thursday) includes free pre-concert buffet in the Music Hall Ballroom.  Call (513) 381-3300, or order online at www.cincinnatisymphony.org
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Music at Ascension
White Orchid Celtic Trio
April 14 -- 7 p.m.
Ascension Lutheran Church
7333 Pfeiffer Rd.

It's not too late to get your Irish on and this concert at Ascension Lutheran Church in Montgomery is just the place to do it. Hear the White Orchid Celtic Trio -- Laura Hazelbaker on fiddle, Amy Roark-Oblak of flute and tin whistle and Lindsay Duncan on harp -- in Celtic favorite including "Planxty Fanny Power," "Wild Mountain Thyme," "Ten Penny Bit," "Amazing Grace" and, of course, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling."  Admission is free. Donations accepted. Information at (513) 237-3636.
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Bearcat Piano Festival
Recital in honor of Frank Weinstock
April 14 -- 7 p.m.
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
University of Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music

The concluding concert of the 2012 Bearcat Piano Festival at CCM is dedicated to former piano department chairman and former interim dean of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Frank Weinstock. Former students of Weinstock will perform, including Lei Weng, Robert Auler, Stephen Pierce, Esther Wang and Timothy Lovelace. Expect to see many other Weinstock students, in-town and out-of-town, to be there. Admission free.
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Tatiana Berman

Ensemble Vita
Tatiana Berman, violin
Antoine-François López, conductor
April 15 -- 2 p.m.
Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church
103 William Howard Taft Rd. #1

Hear violinist Tatiana Berman in a performance with Ensemble Vita, a chamber orchestra founded and conducted by Antoine-François López of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. This special concert features international soloist Berman in "Souvenir d’un lieu cher," Op. 42, by Tchaikovsky, a work she performed at the 2008 David Oistrakh Festival in Pärnu, Estonia. Also on the program are Beethoven's Overture to "Egmont" and Richard Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll." Admission free. Information at http://www.facebook.com/events/287988457943309/
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Pianopalooza VII
"Fingers to Heaven"
April 15 -- 7 p.m.
Corbett Auditorium
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

CCM piano faculty, students and guests celebrate the art of the piano in CCM's seventh annual "Pianopalooza" (subtitled "Fingers to Heaven"). There will be four Steinways on the Corbett Auditorium stage, and, as always, a special surprise encore with all those keyboards in action (8 players, 16 hands). Frank Weinstock, former chairman of the CCM piano department and former interim dean of CCM, will give a farewell performance. Admission is $15, $10 for non-UC students, UC students free. Proceeds from the event benefit the CCM piano department for the support of scholarships, travel expenses for competitions, etc.
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Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts
Constella en fuego
Miller Gallery
2715 Erie Ave.

"On fire" (en fuego) aptly describes this collaboration between Cincinnati's oldest gallery, the Miller Gallery in Hyde Park, and newest festival, the Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts, inaugurated in October, 2011. Guitarist Richard Goering, violinist Tatiana Berman and soprano, Audrey Luna will perform Latin-inspired music by Manuel de Falla, Niccolo Paganini and others. View recent work by Cuban-born, figurative painter Carlos Gamez de Francisco, sculptor Theodore Gall and digital and mixed-media Mexican artist, Mariana Palova. Light bites provided by Poco a Poco, wine by Hyde Park Gourmet Food & Wine. Suggested tax-deductible donation of $20 to support the Constella Festival. For further information, see http://www.constellafestival.org/
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Bernadette Peters

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Bernadette Peters
John Morris Russell, conductor
Marvin Laird, conductor
April 20 and 21 -- 8 p.m.
April 22 -- 2 p.m.
Music Hall

Broadway superstar Bernadette Peters returns to the Cincinnati Pops for the first time in two decades with music of the Great White Way, including "Let Me Entertain You," "There is Nothing like a Dame," "Mr. Snow" and "Children Will Listen." Pops conductor John Morris Russell conducts the first half, with music by Gershwin, Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov, Leroy Anderson and Meredith Wilson. Marvin Laird leads Peters and the Pops on the second half. Adult tickets start at $25, available at (513) 381-3300, or order online at www.cincinnatipops.org  Children and students are $20.
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University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Orchestra      and Choral Series
CCM Chorale
UC Men's and Womenn's Choruses
CCM Concert Orchestra
Cincinnati Children's Choir
Brett Scott and Annuziata Tomaro, conductors
April 21 -- 8 p.m.
April 22 -- 3 p.m.
Corbett Auditorium

Carl Orff's popular "Carmina Burana" is the featured work on this choral extravaganze by choruses of the University of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Cincinnati Children's Choir and the CCM Concert Orchestra. Also on the program are Gerald Finzi's Requiem da Camera and Ralph Vaughan-Williams' Serenade to Music in its original 16-part solo version. Brett Scott and Annunziata Tomaro conduct. Admission $12, $5 for non-UC students, UC students free.
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Rodrick Dixon

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
"Classical Roots"
Rodrick Dixon, tenor
Jacqueline Echols, soprano
John Morris Russell, conductor
April 21 -- 2 p.m.
Music Hall

Last year's first "Classical Roots" concert by the CSO at Music Hall was a sellout. Returning for the second annual event is tenor/creative chair Rodrick Dixon, who will be joined by soprano Jacqueline Echols, a 150-member community mass choir from area African-American churches and the Triumph Dance Company of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the Bi-Okoto Drum and Dance Theatre in a program of spirituals, gospel and contemporary music celebrating the African-American experience. Tickets are $20 for adults, $8 for students. Call (513) 381-3300 or visit www.cincinnatipops.org.  "Classical Roots" is dedicated to civil rights pioneer Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.
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Anna Marsh

Catacoustic Consort
"The Majestic Baroque Bassoon"
Anna Marsh, bassoon
April 21 -- 7:30 p.m.
North Presbyterian Church, Northside

Bassoonist Anna Marsh will demonstrate bassoons from the Renaissance through the Baroque era in the concert by the early music ensemble Catacoustic Consort. Tickets are $20 at www.catacoustic.com
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Joseph Johnson

Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra
"American Romantics"
Mischa Santora, music director
Joseph Johnson, cello
Michael Chertock, piano
April 22 -- 2 p.m.
Mayerson Theater
School for Creative and Performing Arts

The CCO led by music director Mischa Santora is joined by pianist Michael Chertock and cellist Joseph Johnson in a program dubbed "American Romantics."  The program includes Copland's "Music for the Theater," Barber's Cello Concerto No. 1 and Dvorak's "American Suite," plus selections by Thelonius Monk, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children (below 18). Call (513) 723-1182, ext. 102, or order online at www.ccocincinnati.org
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Chamber Music Cincinnati
Weiss Kaplan Newman Trio
April 24 -- 8 p.m.
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

The Weiss Kaplan Newman Piano Trio -- cellist Clancy Newman, violinist Mark Kaplan and pianist Yael Weiss -- perform Newman's "Juxt-Opposition," The Piano Trio (I. Pale Yellow; II Fiery Red) by Jennifer Higdon, Beethoven's Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2, and Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 101 by Brahms. Admission is $25 at the door, or call (859) 581-6877. Information at www.CincyChamber.org
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Scott Ramsay

Matinee Musicale
Scott Ramsay, tenor
Christopher Allen, piano
April 26 -- 11 a.m.
Mayerson Jewish Community Center
Amberley Village

Tenor Scott Ramsay and pianist Christopher Allen will perform songs by Richard Strauss, Francesco Tosti, John Duke and Gene Scheer and operatic excerpts by Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Massenet and Donizetti on this final recital of the 2011-2012 Matinee Musicale season. Note:  Ramsay was heard in Cincinnati in March as Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky's "The Rake's  Progress" performed by the Vocal Arts Ensemble and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Tickets are $15, $3 for students, at the door.
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Mark Gibson

Philharmonia Orchestra
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
Mark Gibson, music director and conductor
April 26 -- 8 p.m.
Corbett Auditorium

The CCM Philharmonia led by Mark Gibson performs the Symphony No. 8 by Anton Bruckner and a world premiere by Jennifer Jolley. Tickets are $12, $5 for non-UC students, UC students free. Call (513) 556-4183.
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Lise de la Saile

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Juraj Valcuha, guest conductor
Lise de la Saile, piano
Robert Sullivan, trumpet
April 27 -- 11 a.m.
April 289 -- 8 p.m.
Music Hall

Guest conductor Juraj Valcuha leads the CSO in Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3 and Passacaglia by Anton Webern. Guest artist in her CSO debut is Lisa de la Saile, pianist, who will perform Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, also featuring CSO principal trumpeter Robert Sullivan. Tickets begin at $10. Call (513) 381-3300 or visit www.cincinnatisymphony.org
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