May in Cincinnati means the Cincinnati May Festival, oldest continuing choral festival in the Western Hemisphere. Look also for the annual collaboration between the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Vocal Arts Ensemble, the final concert of the Linton Music Series 2012-13 season (a special reunion of the Guarneri String Quartet) and the season finale of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, led by guest conductor Robert Spano.
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April in Cincinnati means "Music Now," a series devoted to what's new in music and the arts, chamber music galore, Steve Reich and something called Igudesman & Joo. Regarding the latter, if you loved Victor Borge, you'll love these two guys, who dispense classical music with wit fit to split (your sides, that is). Mozart is on the calendar, too, with his "Magic Flute" at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra's annual Ohio Mozart Festival.
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March brings Shakespeare to Cincinnati, musically speaking. Also Mahler, Schumann and in a twist on Mussorgsky, "music at an exhibition," with paintings by Linton Music Series founder Richard Waller shown in conjunction with a special performance of Mussorgsky's colorful work. In the new music category, hear Cincinnati composer Frank Proto's new Saxophone Concerto commissioned by the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, to be premiered March at the School for Creative and Performing Arts.
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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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The new year brings Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Lutoslawski and Brahms; also jazz and chamber opera.  Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director laureate Paavo Järvi returns to lead the CSO, which also welcomes pianists Ingrid Fliter and Stewart Goodyear. Peerless violinist Christian Tetzlaff performs a solo recital for Chamber Music Cincinnati to end the month on a high note. 
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December in Cincinnati, 2012, is Bach, Berlioz, Handel, Menotti, Tchaikovsky and more with the usual suspects being "Messiah," "Amahl and the Night Visitors" and "Nutcracker."  Others include chamber music with the Claremont Trio, Amy Grant with the Cincinnati Pops and something called "The Mighty Wurlitzer."
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November 2012 in Cincinnati marks the debut of Louis Langrée as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's music director-designate. Langrée, who succeeds Paavo Järvi as CSO music director in September, 2013, leads concerts Nov. 9, 10, 15, 17 and 18 at Music Hall. November also brings a visit to the CSO by percussionist Evelyn Glennie, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in "Bond and Beyond" and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet in an all-Debussy recital to close the 2012 Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts.
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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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Three Voices (l to r: Mike Sharfe, Rusty Burge, Kim Pensyl)

Cincinnati has a wealth of fine jazz musicians.  To give them a "platform" to perform. bassist Michael Sharfe has established a brand new jazz series at Washington Platform restaurant at the corner of Court and Elm Streets downtown.  A comfortable, intimate venue with easy proximity to Cincinnati's arts district in Over-the-Rhine (Music Hall, Memorial Hall and the School for Creative and Performing Arts) it offers fine jazz in a prime location.
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Constella, Cincinnati's new city-wide arts extravaganza, opens Sept. 30 with clarinetist Anthony McGill and closes Nov. 6 with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.  Events, presented by Constella and 15 partner organizations, include chamber music, ballet, voice, drama, early music, world premieres, jazz and the as-yet unclassifiable, with internationally known guest artists, the best of the best in the Cincinnati area and affiliated visual artists and art presentations. Visit www.constellafestival.org to learn what's up during the month-long event, which aspires to bring international attention to the city.
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2012 World Choir Games poster by C.F. Payne

July in Cincinnati is singing. First the World Choir Games, which take place in Cincinnati (and for the first time in the United States) July 4-14 at several venues in the downtown area. Cincinnati Opera is very active, too, with “Porgy and Bess” and “La Traviata” at Music Hall, and in a first-ever collaboration with concert:nova and some nationally known tango dancers, “Maria de Buenos Aires” a 198 tango "operita"by Astor Piazzolla. (Fittingly enough, the performances will take place in the Music Hall Ballroom.) Orchestrally speaking, there’s the Cincinnati Pops at Riverbend with Michael Feinstein.
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Scene from "Pagliacci," Calgary Opera, November, 2011

Cincinnati Opera opens its 2012 season on both a tragic and comic note, with a double bill of  Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" and Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" June 14 and 16 at Music Hall.  One is a tragedy.  The other is a comedy.  But which will end the show?  Will you leave the hall singing Vesti la giubba or O mio babbino caro? The latter, not only to send the audience home in a good mood, but because "Pagliacci" opens with a prologue and "Schicchi" ends with an epilogue, giving director Alain Gauthier the perfect device to tie the two operas together. (first published in Express Cincinnati, June 2012)
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***image6*** 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.
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Herald trumpeters at the Cincinnati May Festival in Music Hall

Cincinnati's May Festival, 139 years old this season, is the oldest continuing choral festival in the Western Hemisphere. Music director James Conlon returns to lead it May 11-19 at historic Music Hall with blockbusters like Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Brahms' "A German Requiem"; also music by the other two "Bs" (Bach and Beethoven), an all-French program and an evening of Tchaikovsky, including arias and choruses from his operas.  The centerpiece, 130-voice May Festival Chorus will be joined by sopranos Nicole Cabell, Hana Park and Heidi Grant Murphy, tenors John Aler and Rodrick Dixon, baritones Stephen Powell and John Relyea and basses William McGraw and Yohan Yi. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is the official orchestra of the May Festival.
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