Julian Kuerti

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's search for a successor to music director Paavo Järvi moves into higher gear July 29 at Greenacres Arts Center in Indian Hill.   Guest conductor for the final concert of the CSO's new "Greenacres under the Stars" series will be Julian Kuerti.  Assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony, Kuerti, 33, was a last-minute replacement for Järvi in April when the eruption of volcano Eyjafjallajökull grounded Järvi Europe. Kuerti was an instant success on that occasion in an all-romantic (Berlioz, Respighi) program.  He will test his wings with the orchestra this time in a program of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. 
  - [Read more]

Cincinnati Opera's second annual "Opera Idol" contest, modeled after "American Idol," concludes with online voting through July 19 at www.operaidol.org  Six finalists were chosen by audience vote in a concert July 15 at Jarson-Kaplan Theater in Cincinnati:  bass Mark Aiken, soprano Lauren Bridges, soprano Melissa Eppinger, soprano Denise Luebbe, countertenor Michael Match and mezzo-soprano Shannon Wilson.  Providing commentary on the performances were Cincinnati Opera chorus director Henri Venanzi, soprano/acting coach Michelle Zimmerman and tenor Mark Panuccio.
  - [Read more]

Legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, himself an organist, transcribed a number of works by Johann Sebastian Bach.  Hear a selection on the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra's first concert of the summer season at 7:30 p.m. July 10 at the band shell in Covington's Devou Park.  There'll be kosher Bach, too, with his Violin Concerto in A Minor featuring violinist Maurico Aguiar and the Suite for Orchestra No. 2 in B minor with flute soloist Susan Magg.  KSO music director James R. Cassidy will conduct.
  - [Read more]

Christian Colberg

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's new principal violist, Christian Colberg, hails from Puerto Rico, which has twice honored him for his achievements in classical music.  Colberg, who is also a violinist, composer and conductor, is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore and most recently served as assistant principal violist of the Baltimore Symphony.
  - [Read more]

Historically, opera is what happens in Cincinnati during the summer months.  And it doesn't all happen onstage at Music Hall.  This month you can enjoy opera at church, at the Zoo, the Blue Wisp Jazz Club and at its very own "Opera Idol" singing contest.  Meanwhile, catch the always creative Kentucky Symphony Orchestra in Covington's Devou Park Amphitheater in Bach, The Beach Boys and music of the circus, complete with flying trapeze.
  - [Read more]

The old season is barely ending and a new one beckons, with programming announced by three of Greater Cincinnati's popular arts presenters, the opera, musical theater and drama departments at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Linton Chamber Music Series and Xavier University's Piano and Guitar Series.
  - [Read more]

Ryan Seacrest

Cincinnati Opera, the nation's second oldest opera company (after New York's Metropolitan Opera) celebrates its 90th anniversary this season.  Someone hid the champagne, however, for one thing after another has bedeviled the company since plans were announced a couple of seasons ago.  The economy nixed a new production of "Die Meistersinger," health woes grounded guest conductor James Levine and seven singers canceled soon after.  Levine was to have conducted the Opera's 90th anniversary Gala Concert June 19 as well.  To the rescue?  The Opera is counting on "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest, who will emcee the event.
  - [Read more]

students participating in chamber music recital at CCM's AccentX

Put the accent on the "new" at Accent10 June 11-16 at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. The annual summer festival for college and advanced high school students will showcase new talent both in performance and composition. Organized by artistic director Dorotea Vismara Hoffman, the event features guest artist/violinist Jorja Fleezanis and composer Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, with the Carpe Diem and Rhine String Quartets, artists from CCM and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, plus select students and composers in five days of free recitals and master classes.
  - [Read more]

Cincinnati's enterprising, experimental and ever thought-provoking chamber ensemble concert:nova presents a Saint-Saens'-inspired, multi-media program Sunday and Monday (May 22 and 23) at the Cincinnati Ballet's Mickey Jarson Kaplan Performance Studio on Central Parkway.  Concert:nova's "Carnival of the Animals" features members of the Cincinnati Ballet, including principal dancer Kristi Capps, in a performance of the French composer's popular "Carnival of the Animals," but with a twist:  Saint-Saens' popular 15-movement suite will be interleaved with 15 pieces commissioned by concert:nova to "respond" to and comment on the originals.
  - [Read more]

"Belshazzar's Feast" by Rembrandt

The second and final weekend of the 2010 Cincinnati May Festival has the potential to shake Music Hall to the rafters.  The May 21 concert features Walton's splashy "Belshazzar's Feast," which, among other things, calls for a pair of offstage brass bands and a panoply of percussion.
   The festival closes May 22 with the Prologue and Coronation Scene from Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov," Rachmaninoff's one-act opera "Aleko" (both unstaged) and Tchaikovsky's "1812" Overture.  There will be plenty of bells onstage in the Coronation Scene, but the cannons in Tchaikovsky's "1812" -- RIP Erich Kunzel -- presumably will be taped.  May Festival Chorus director Robert Porco conducts May 21, music director James Conlon May 22.
   The May 21 program also includes the world premiere of Ian Krouse's "Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking," commissioned by current and former members of the May Festival Chorus in honor of Porco's 20th anniversary (2009) with the festival.
  - [Read more]

Michael Gielen

Ann Santen, former general manager of radio station WGUC-FM in Cincinnati, was in Munich this week to attend the ceremony honoring the winner of the 2010 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, Michael Gielen.  Gielen was music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1980-86.  His composition "Un Vieux Souvenir," commissioned by Santen and WGUC-FM in 1985, was performed at the ceremony by the Minguet Quartet. Santen filed this report on May 6 from Munich.
  - [Read more]

Paavo Järvi

Richard Wagner is an infrequent visitor to Cincinnati Symphony concerts, except in the occasional overture form.  The CSO takes an unaccustomed dip into Wagner's extended operatic output with orchestral excerpts from his mythic "Der Ring des Nibelungen" to close the CSO season May 6 and 8 at Music Hall.  CSO music director Paavo Järvi conducts.  Guest artist will be pianist Alexander Toradze in Tchaikovsky's popular Piano Concerto No. 1.
  - [Read more]

Julian Kuerti

Julian Kuerti, assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will guest conduct Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concerts April 23-25 at Music Hall.  He replaces CSO music director Paavo Järvi who has been unable to leave Europe because of flight cancellations caused the eruption of Icelandic volcano Ejyafjallajokull.  Filling in for guest artist Isabelle van Keulen, who has been unable to commute for the same reason, will be violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama in Berlioz' "Harold in Italy."
  - [Read more]

Eyjafjallajokull erupting April 17 (NASA photo)

Misfortune continues to plague arts organizations in Cincinnati and elsewhere.  The biggest culprit has been the ailing economy, but nature has played its part, also.  In addition to having to scrap its new, 90th anniversary production of Wagner's "Die Meistersinger," Cincinnati Opera has lost its scheduled conductor James Levine, bass James Morris (Hans Sachs) and soprano Hei-Kyung Hong (Eva).  Meanwhile, flight cancelations due to the ash cloud hanging over Europe from Icelandic volcano Ejyafjallajokull have forced violist Isabelle van Keulen to cancel her appearance with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra April 23-25 and left a great big question mark over the ability of music director Paavo Järvi to return from Europe.
  - [Read more]

Earth Day (April 22) gets a special musical/culinary salute this weekend by Cincinnati's innovative chamber group concert:nova with a well-season program of Vivaldi, Piazzolla and Kernis followed by dinner inspired by the music.  Elsewhere, there's a bounty of Brahms, Bach, the Beatles and even a piano palooza at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
  - [Read more]