Cincinnati Opera has been in Music Hall for only 30 of its 73 years.  For its first half-century the Opera performed at the Cincinnati Zoo, where singers sometimes had to compete with peacocks, seals, roaring lions and soaring heat.  Announced in February, the Opera will expand its commitment to Music Hall with the establishment of the Corbett Opera Center, four-story headquarters for the company, in the north wing of the building.
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The new Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati knows what kids like (and adults, too).  Going out of their way to be welcoming, the Museum is calling its sixth-floor space for young people the Unmuseum.  One of the exhibits is an interactive installation called "Paavo's Hands" where kids can mount a podium and "conduct."  Placing their hands inside the arch framing the podium activates excerpts from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's CD of Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird" Suite, led by CSO music director Paavo Jarvi. 
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Philip Glass

Philip Glass' Symphony No. 5, "Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya," written in celebration of the Millennium, comprises texts from "every period and every continent," including  the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, Koran, Hawaiian Kumulipo and Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, Native American and African sources. "These are thoughts that people have been having as long as you can remember," the composer says.   At 100 minutes, with no intermission, it represents a cycle of creation from chaos to enlightenment.  The massive work will receive its regional premiere in Corbett Auditorium at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music April 26.  Performing will be the CCM Concert Orchestra, Chamber Choir and Chorale, Cincinnati Children's Choir and soloists conducted by Earl Rivers. 
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The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's just-concluded tour of Japan with music director Paavo Jarvi was like a new beginning for the orchestra.  Best known, perhaps, for its Pops activities, the CSO re-asserted its symphonic image powerfully and enjoyed a uniformly positive reception at every stop --  not least in Yamagata, where Järvi had a little "fun" with the orchestra.
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Chinese pianist Yundi Li performing the Grieg Piano Concerto was the star of the show at the Cincinnati Symphony concert Nov. 13 in Kitakyushu, Japan.  There were bouquets, gifts, a crush for Li's CDs at intermission and cell phone cameras held high.
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The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra began its first international tour with music director Paavo Järvi in Sapporo, Japan this week after crossing ten time zones and arriving "tomorrow."  Opening concert at Sapporo's "Kitara" Concert Hall Nov. 6 featured violinist Akiko Suwanai in Brahms' Violin Concerto and Berlioz' "Symphonie fantastique." 
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Cincinnati Symphony music director Paavo Järvi's fast growing discography is a way to keep up with him when he is not conducting the CSO live at Music Hall.  He has made four CDs with the CSO since becoming music director in 2001 and many others with orchestras such as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, of which he is artistic director, and the Estonian National Orchestra where he serves as artistic adviser.  His newest CSO CD, the complete ballet suites from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" will be on sale at CSO concerts next week and in record stores Tuesday.
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Violinist Mark O'Connor will help the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra welcome the return of Tall Stacks, Cincinnati's steamboat extravaganza, with his "American Seasons," a folk/jazz/blues concerto for violin and string orchestra based on the baroque favorite. The all-American program, to be led by guest conductor Michael Morgan, also includes Paul Creston's Fantasy for Trombone and Orchestra featuring CSO principal tropmbonist Cristian Ganicenco, Bernstein's "Fancy Free" and Griffes' "The White Peacock."
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The "UnMuseum" at the new Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati may have been designed for kids, but why not adults, as well?  Opening exhibits include a dripping robotic tree, a "Singing and Ringing Chandelier" that spouts the Queen of the Night's aria from Mozart's "Magic Flute" and a step-up podium, "Paavo's Hands," where fantasies of conducting a symphony orchestra can be gleefully indulged. (first published in The Cincinnati Post June 9, 2003) 
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It'll be like "Auld Lang Syne" when violinist Chee-Yun performs with the Cincinnati Symphony Wednesday evening at Music Hall. She won't play the Robert Burns air heard everywhere on New Year's Eve. You'll hear Saint-Saens' "Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso" and Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen" instead. But the theme of remembrance fits. Chee-Yun, a busy international artist whose home base is Cincinnati, made her debut here with the Saint-Saens in a 1991 Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra concert.  She has performed with the CSO three times, twice with CSO music director emeritus Jesús López-Cobos, with whom she has made two recordings for the London Philharmonic.
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It was the big red "A" that did it. Three resolute travelers – Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra violist Judith Martin, retired CSO violist Allen Martin (Judy’s husband) and I – emerged from the subway in Sapporo, Japan just after 11 p.m. Nov. 4. We were looking for a tall white building, the Hotel Arthur Sapporo, first stop on the CSO’s two-week tour of Japan. It had been a 26-hour trek from Cincinnati and we were ready to call it a day.   - [Read more]

Brian Cole, conducting assistant of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and Demetrius Fuller, music director of Arc Chamber Ensemble, attended master classes led by CSO music director Paavo Järvi's father Neeme Järvi in Pärnu, Estonia last summer. It was their first international conducting workshop and they brought back encounters with greatness and a very surprising country.   - [Read more]

Down from the billboards. Feet on the ground. Paavo Järvi hit the pavement running when he returned to Cincinnati this week. The Cincinnati Symphony music director, who completed a tour with Munich’s Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra Sunday, then flew straight to Cincinnati, opens his third season with the CSO this weekend.   - [Read more]

It’s a big weekend for University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music dean Douglas Lowry. Two world premieres isn’t bad, and that’s how many Lowry works will get their first hearing as the fall concert season unfolds. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by music director Paavo Järvi will open their 2003-04 season with Lowry’s "Exordium Nobile" ("Grand Opening") Friday and Saturday at Music Hall. The Starling Chamber Orchestra will premiere Lowry’s "The Meadow Ground" Sunday in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.   - [Read more]

It was a Neeme Järvi moment. Clutching a bouquet of lilies in his left hand, the Detroit Symphony music director led the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the State Academic Choir of Latvia in an encore from Mozart’s Requiem Sunday evening in Pärnu, Estonia.   - [Read more]