If you ever wondered whether Cincinnati's neo-Gothic Music Hall had ever been the scene of a murder mystery, the answer is yes, it has.  R.L.F. McCombs, music critic for the Columbus Citizen, wrote one in 1940.  Copies are still available at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
  - [Read more]

Everyone has their favorites.  Here are mine, a "baker's dozen," from the rich musical offerings in Cincinnati in 2011.  A baker's dozen, by the way, is 13 (or 14), derived from the custom in medieval times of bakers adding an extra loaf to a dozen so as not to incur a penalty -- rather severe in those days -- for under-weighing an order.
  - [Read more]

Preliminary concept for revitalized Music Hall (Ennead Architects)

Cincinnati's Muysic Hall has been a Saengerfesthalle, a convention center, a sports arena, a trade show hall, an opera house, a concert hall and a locus for social events.  As it continues into the 21st century, the civic landmark is slated to become a true "Music Hall" with fit-to-size accommodations for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Ballet and touring shows. (first published in Music Hall Marks, November, 2011)
  - [Read more]

Tenor Shawn Mlynek

Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" was premiered on Good Friday, 1727 at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.  One of the great masterpieces of Western music is beginning to be staged, both in Europe and the U.S.  The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music offers its own staging November 20 at St, Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati.  CCM's head of choral studies, Earl Rivers, will conduct
  - [Read more]

Joshua Bell

With his expanding career, violinist Joshua Bell could not have picked a better place to perform Eugene Ysaÿe than Cincinnati.  The great Belgian violinist was music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1918-1922.  Bell, who begins a U.S. recital tour in Cincinnati Nov. 8, was named music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields earlier this year.  Like Ysaÿe,  he also aspires to compose, he said.  His Cincinnati recital, for the new Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts, includes Ysaÿe's Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor ("Ballade"), Franck's Violin Sonata in A Major, Mendelssohn's Violin Sonata in F Major and Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 7 in C Minor, Op. 30, No. 2.
  - [Read more]

Kristjan Järvi (photo by Peter Rigaud)

At 39, Estonian-American conductor Kristjan Järvi is uniquely endowed to take the art of music into the 21st century.  A musical omnivore who heads his own electro-acoustic chamber ensemble, he is also a much-lauded recording artist, a committed educator, an avid supporter of new music, a pianist and a musician who reveres Bach above all composers.  He returns to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Nov. 4 and 5 at Music Hall with Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," Haydn's Symphony No. 86 and the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with guest artist Mikhail Simonyan.
  - [Read more]

Opening night at the Taft Theatre, September 12, 2011

Cincinnati's Taft Theatre has been host to everything from comedy shows to Rachmaninoff during its 83 years.  The theater, now managed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra subsidiary Music and Event Management, Inc., reopened September 12 to the tune of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra led by John Morris Russell, following three months of renovation.  In addition to being a revenue stream for the orchestra, it will be home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops in 2013-14 when Music Hall will be closed for its own renovation.
  - [Read more]

Adriana Boráková of the cruise ship Viking Sun does more than just fold towels

Apple-cheeked Adriana Boráková knows how to add a sparkle to the cruise experience.  Head Housekeeper aboard the cruise ship Viking Sun on the Rhine River, Adriana does more than just clean cabins.  She makes it a work of art.


  - [Read more]

The new International Järvi Summer Festival fits Estonia like, well, the Järvi's, the prodigious musical family headed by famed conductor Neeme Järvi, including well-known conducting sons Paavo and Kristjan Järvi and numerous other professional musicians.  So when the opportunity arose to create a new summer festival to complement the Järvi Conducting Academy, a master course for conductors held each summer in Pärnu, Estonia, building it around the Järvi's was pure logic. Making it happen was the hard work of a few dedicated people and the devotion of Estonia's musicians.
  - [Read more]

Paavo Järvi conducting Järvi Festival Orchestra and violinist Anna-Liisa Bezrodny in opening concert of 2011 Järvi Summer Festival in Pärnu, Estonia July 28 (photo by Tea Tuhkur)

Estonia's new International Järvi Summer Festival, held July 28-August 4 in Pärnu, Estonia, seems headed for a bright future.  And it's not just Järvi's.  In addition to nine members of the family of conductor Neeme Järvi, there were over 20 Festival guests, four orchestras and ten symphonic and chamber concerts. There was even a "bonus" concert on Leigo Lake in South Estonia August 6, with bonfires, color effects, Beethoven and Johann Strauss, Jr. (photo by Tea Tuhkur)
  - [Read more]

Russian opera has been a rarity at Cincinnati Opera, with only two pieces performed in its 91-year history, "Boris Godunov" and "Eugene Onegin," neither in Russian.  Opera in Russian returns July 14 and 16 with "Eugene Onegin."  It will be the second outing for the opera in Cincinnati (the last was in 1984 in English), with baritone Nathan Gunn as Onegin, soprano Tatiana Monogarova as Tatyana (a signature role) and William Burden as Lensky.  Vasily Petrenko conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. (first published in Express Cincinnati, July/August, 2011)
  - [Read more]

Nathan Gunn

Baritone Nathan Gunn is a matinee idol baritone, a dyed-in-the-wool Midwesterner, an advocate for new music, a "crossover" artist, a teacher and a father of five married to his recital partner Julie Gunn.  He sings the title role in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" July 14 and 16 at Music Hall.  With Moscow native Tatiana Monogarova as Tatyana, it will be Cincinnati Opera's first Russian Opera to be sung in the original language.
  - [Read more]

When asked to compose a work for the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, John Adams turned to folklore, specifically a 2,000-year-old South Indian folk tale about a girl who can change herself into a tree.  Cincinnati Opera brings Adams' 2006 opera -- inspired by Mozart's "The Magic Flute" -- to Cincinnati June 30 and July 2 at Music Hall in a brand new in-house production. (first published in Express Cincinnati, June, 2011)
  - [Read more]

Paavo Järvi's tenth season as music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (2010-20110 was his last.  His international commitments had become such that clearly something had to go.  He led his first concert as music director of L'Orchestre de Paris in the fall, bringing to five the number of orchestras he served, including the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra (chief conductor) Deutsche Kammerphilharmionie Bremen (artistic director) and Estonian National Orchestra (artistic adviser).  He limited his time with the CSO accordingly, conducting only eight of the 20 season concerts, plus a non-subscription fund-raiser with Yo Yo Ma.  As always, there was outstanding music making:  Messiaen's "Turangalila" Symphony, Varese's "Ameriques" and to close out his CSO tenure, Erkki-Sven Tüür's Piano Concerto and Mahler's Fifth Symphony. 
  - [Read more]

Järvi with Lang Lang, Music Hall, September, 2009

The 2009-2010 season was, in effect, Paavo Järvi's last season as Cincinnati Symphony music director.  Not only did he announce his departure from the orchestra (at the end of the 2010-2011 season) but it was the last season during which he conducted a full series of concerts. It was a significant year in other ways, too, with his second tour of Japan and third visit to Carnegie Hall with the Cincinnati musicians. (part nine of a continuing series)
  - [Read more]