June is . . . 2012

June in Cincinnati means opera. Cincinnati Opera opens its 92nd season with a double bill of "Pagliacci" and  "Gianni Schicchi."  Projekt Wolfgang, a new series devoted to chamber opera, follows suit with a pairing of Mozart's "Der Schauspieldirektor" and "Bastien und Bastienne." Also on the menu are Duke Ellington, Celtic music, French music, music of the Renaissance and the Cincinnati Pops, both at Riverbend and in its newly revived Concerts in the Park series.

Details:

Cincinnati Opera
"Porgy and Bess" by George Gershwin
June 28, 30 & July 6 -- 7:30 p.m.
July 8 -- 3 p.m.
Music Hall

Gershwin's classic opera about life on Catfish Row comes to Cincinnati Opera for the first time in its history. The performance will be as close to what the composer originally intended said director Lemuel Wade in an interview with Express Cincinnati in its June issue, complete with full orchestra and sung recitatives.  The production is from Houston Grand Opera and will star soprano Measha Brueggergosman as Bess, bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu as Porgy, baritone Gordon Hawkins as Crown and tenor Steven Cole as Sporting Life. David Charles Abell will conduct the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Tickets begin at $25. Call (513) 241-2742 or order online at www.cincinnatiopera.org
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Catacoustic Consort
"A Renaissance Potpourri"
June 28 -- 7:30 p.m.
New Thought Unity Center
East Walnut Hills

Members of the Baltimore Consort will perform Renaissance music from throughout Europe with Catacoustic Consort. Admission is $20 at the door online at www.catacoustic.com.  Students are $5 at the door. Children under 12 admitted free.
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Duke Ellington

Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra
"American Narratives"
Mischa Santora, conductor
Alexandre da Costa, violin
Steve Schmidt, piano
Scott Belck, trumpet
James Bunte, saxophone
June 3 -- 2 p.m. Corbett Theater
   School for Creative and Performing Arts
 June 3 --7:30 p.m. Anderson Center, Anderson

The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra led by music director Mischa Santora closes its 2011-2012, "American Perspectives" season with music by Michael Daugherty and Duke Ellington. Canadian violinist Alexandre da Costa will perform Daugherty's 2003 violin concerto "Fire and Blood," inspired by Mexican artist Diego Rivera's "Detroit Industry" murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts and paintings by Frida Kahlo. Also on the program is "Such Sweet Thunder" by Duke Ellington, a 12-part suite based on the writings of William Shakespeare. Featured in the Ellington are Cincinnati jazz artists Steve Schmidt (piano), Scott Belck (trumpet) and James Bunte (saxophone). Tickets are $10, $5 for children.  Call (513) 723-1182 ext. 102, or order online at www.ccocincinnati.org.
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Taft Museum Chamber Music Series
Foley Road Celtic Ensemble
June 3 -- 2:30 p.m.
Taft Museum of Art
316 Pike St. downtown

The Taft Museum closes its 59th annual chamber music series with a concert in the garden by the Celtic ensemble Foley Road.  Families invited.  Admission free.
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  Seven Hills Sinfonietta
Michael Wheatley, music director
Izabel Zambrzycki, flute
June 3 -- 3 p.m.
B'nai Tzedek Congregation
6280 Kugler Mill Rd.

The Seven Hills Sinfonietta closes its 2011-2012 season with an all-French program, featuring flutist Izabel Zambrzycki in the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by Jacques Ibert. Also on the program, to be led by music director Michael Wheatley in his farewell concert with the orchestra, are Gabriel Faure's Pavane, Op. 50; "L'Arlesienne" Suite No. 1 by Georges Bizet; and selections from "Romeo et Juliette" by Hector Berlioz. Admission is free.
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Ohio River Brass Quintet

Ohio River Brass Quintet
June 8 -- noon to 2 p.m.
Great Hall, Cincinnati Art Museum
Eden Park

Hear glorious brass music in a setting to match, the Great Hall of the Cincinnati Art Museum, by members of the Ohio River Brass Quintet: Audrey Schmid and Barret Newman, trumpet; Jenna McBride, French horn; Katie Thigpen, trombone; and Sean McGhee, bass trombone. All are graduates of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  Free.
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John Morris Russell

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Concert in the Park
John Morris Russell, conductor
June 8 -- 7:30 p.m.
Miami Whitewater Forest
9001 Mt. Hope Rd., Harrison, OH

Cincinnati Pops conductor John Morris Russell (JMR) opens the Cincinnati Pops' newly revived Concerts in Park series at Miami Whitewater Forest with music by Verdi, Wagner, Springsteen, Bernstein, John Williams ("Olympic Fanfare"), Quincy Jones ("Soul Bossa Nova") and John Fogarty ("Proud Mary"). Guest artist is soprano Jacqueline Echols. Free. Rain or shine. There will be concerts also at Otterbein Retirement Community in Lebanon (7:30 p.m. June 15) and Liberty Park in Batesville, Indiana  (8 p.m. June 20). All are free. Information at http://cincinnatisymphony.org/Content.php?id=119
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Natalie Merchant

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Natalie Merchant
John Morris Russell, conductor
June 9 -- 8 p.m.
Riverbend Music Center
rain or shine

The Cincinnati Pops led by conductor John Morris Russell opens the Pops' 2012 season at Riverbend with guest artist Natalie Merchant in her Pops debut. Singer/songwriter Merchant, who got her start as lead singer and lyricist for the pop band, l0,000 Maniacs, has expanded her activities to include performance with symphony orchestras. She will perform songs from her newest album, "Leave Your Sleep," inspired by poetry and children's lullabies.  Tickets begin at $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Students are $13.  Children 12 and under are $13, free on the lawn with a ticketed adult. Call (513) 381-3300, or visit www.cincinnatipops.org
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Projekt Wolfgang
Antoine-Francois Lopez, conductor
Isaac Selya, conductor
June 9 -- 8 p.m. (Lopez)
June 10 -- 8 p.m. (Selya)
Hoffner Lodge
4120 Hamilton Ave.
Northside

Projekt Wolfgang, founded by conductors Antoine-Francois Lopez and Isaac Selya, both students at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, is a brand new organization whose mission is to bring chamber opera to Cincinnati. Their inaugural production, a double bill of one-act operas by Mozart, "Der Schauspieldirektor" ("The Impresario") and "Bastien und Bastienne," will be presented, appropriately enough, at Hoffner Lodge in Northside, a former Masonic lodge (Mozart was Mason) Treated as a play-within-a-play, the operas will be fully staged, with a cast and 26-piece orchestra of CCM students and alumni(ae). Admission is free. Donations will be accepted for MYCincinnati, a youth development program in Price Hill inspired by Venezuela's famed "El Sistema," which uses instruction in classical music to enrich children's lives.
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Momenta Quartet

Accent12
Momenta Quartet
Dorotea Vismara, viola
June 10- 7:30 p.m.
Cohen Family Studio Theater
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

Accent, the summer chamber music and new music festival at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, opens its 2012 edition with a concert by guest ensemble, the Momenta Quartet, with violist Dorotea Vismara (the Momenta Quartet is in residence at Temple University). On the program are Mozart's String Quintet K.516 in G Minor, John Cage's Quartet in Four Parts (1950), Stravinsky's Three Pieces for String Quartet (1914) and "Four to One" (2011) by Eric Nathan. Accent12 continues through June 16 with concerts featuring works by young composers, members of the CCM composition faculty and guest composer George Baker, an honors recital and daily master classes, all free and open to the public. Information at http://ccm.uc.edu/accent
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Concerts on Clifton
The Music of Czechoslovakia
June 10 -- 4 p.m.
Scheuer Chapel
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
3101 Clifton Ave.

Final concert of the season by Concerts on Clifton at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion explores music of Czechoslovakia. Hear Bohuslav Martinu's Three Madrigals, Duo for Violin and Viola;, Erwin Schulhoff's String Quartet No. 1; and Bedrich Smetana's String Quartet No. 1, "From My Life," performed by violinists Sujean Kim and Kris Frankenfeld, violist Yael Senamaud and cellist and Nathaniel Chaiken. Free.
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Classical Revolution
Cincinnati Composers Laptop Orchestra Project
June 10 -- 8 p.m.
Northside Tavern
4163 Hamilton Ave.
Northside

Classical Revolution welcomes members of the Cincinnati Composers Laptop Orchestra for CR's June session at Northside Tavern. (CR sessions are held the second Sunday of every month at this popular location in Northside.) Founded in February, 2011 at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, CCLOP comprises composers and computer musicians from undergraduate to faulty level. They will perform an excerpt from Gavin Bryars' "The Sinking of the Titanic," which uses pre-recorded and processed live sound, still images and video to recreate the legendary 1912 shipwreck. The group also will perform works from their recent tour, including David Schneider's "Germs." Admission is free.
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Cincinnati Opera
"Pagliacci" by Ruggiero Leoncavallo
"Gianni Schicchi" by Giacomo Puccini
June 14 & 16 -- 7:30 p.m.
Music Hall

Cincinnati Opera opens its 2012 summer festival Italian style, with operas by Leoncavallo and Puccini. "Pagliacci" (Leoncavallo) shares the stage with "Gianni Schicchi" (Puccini's only comic opera) in a departure from the more frequent pairing of "Pagliacci" and Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" ("Cav/Pag"). Hear two all-time favorite opera arias, "Vesti la giubba" ("Pagliacci") and "O mio babbino caro" (Gianni Schicchi") and watch for the Volkswagen. Alain Gauthier directs the Montreal Opera production, which integrates the two operas ingeniously (the VW is a hint). Cast members include sopranos Kelly Kaduce and Maria Luigia Borsi, tenors Frank Porretta and Edgaras Montvidas and baritone Roberto de Candia. Richard Buckley conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Tickets begin at $25. Call (513) 241-2742 or order online at www.cincinnatiopera.org
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Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts
Season Announcement Party
June 15 -- 8 p.m.
Bronwelll's Fallery
117 W. Fourth St.

The Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts, which made a splash with its inaugural season last fall, will announce its lineup for October, 2012, at Bronwell's Gallery on W. Fourth St. downtown. Some news is already out, i.e. guest stars will include pianist Jean-Yves Thibeaudet, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and clarinetist Anthony McGill, and two dozen Cincinnati arts organizations will be festival partners. Enjoy small bites, wine and jazz by Matt Anklan, Phil DeGreg, Bobby Sharp and Will Wagner as plans are unveiled for the new season. There will be ticket raffles and one guest will win a Constella Pass. Admission is free. Information at www.constellafestival.org
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Cincinnati Opera
Opera Rap
"Meet the Cast of 'Porgy and Bess'"
June 20 -- 7-8:30 p.m.
Corbett Tower
Music Hall

Cincinnati Opera artistic director Evans Mirageas will provide background on Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," to be presented by the Opera June 28-July 8 at Music Hall. This will be followed by a panel discussion with members of the cast. Admission is free, but reservations are required. Call (513) 241-2742.
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Cincinnati Civic Orchestra
Civic Pops Concert
Laurence Bonhaus, music director
June 21 -- 7-9 p.m.
Parkside Christian Church
6986 Salem Rd.

The Cincinnati Civic Orchestra conducted by music director Laurence Bonhaus opens its summer Civic Pops series in the air-conditioned sanctuary of Parkside Christian Church with music from the movies and patriotic favorites, including "Stars and Stripes Forever," "Olympic Fanfare" (John Williams), "Armed Forces Salute,""American Patrol," "Ol' Man River," "Anastasia," "Somewhere Out There" and music from "The King and I," "Les Miserables" and the 1940 film "The Sea Hawk" (Erich Korngold). Free. Other concerts will take place at 6:30 p.m. June 24 in Glendale Village Square (Sharon Road at Greenville Ave.), and 7 p.m. June 28 in the chapel of Christ Church at Mason, Western Rd. at Mason Montgomery Rd. All are free. For outdoor performances, bring a lawn chair. Information at (513) 861-9978.

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan

Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra
Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor
Paul Stanbery, conductor
June 22 -- 8 p.m.
Tri-County Assembly of God
7350 Dixie Highway, Fairfield

Ronan Tynan, the tenor who sang at President Reagan's funeral, will be guest artist with the HFSO led by conductor Paul Stanbery in a program of Irish tunes and operatic favorites. Tickets are $10-$50 at www.ticketweb.com
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Greater Cincinnati Harmony Festival
June 23 -- 7:30 p.m.
Hall Auditorium
Miami University
Oxford

The Greater Cincinnati Harmony Festival, an a capella music program held on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, in which young people ages 13-18 learn the basics of four-part barbershop singing, closes its 2012 event with a free concert by participating singers. Members of the sponsoring choruses will perform also, including Cincinnati Sound Chorus, Sweet Adelines, Delta Kings, Southern Gateway Chorus and the Barbershop Harmony Society. Special guests will be the 1987 Barbership Harmony Society International Champion Quartet.  Free. Donations to the Greater Cincinnati Harmony Festival will be accepted. Details at www.HarmonyFestival.org
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