June in Cincinnati: Music Bustin' Out All Over

“Alive with the sound of music” is how it will be at Riverbend this weekend as the Cincinnati Pops hosts the Von Trapp Children and the Cincinnati Symphony (same outfit, different outfits) welcomes young Russian violinist Mikhail Simonyan.
   Concerts are 8 p.m. June 21 for the Pops, 7:30 p.m. Sunday for the CSO.
   Pops music associate and principal composer/arranger Steven Reineke will conduct the Pops. Expect family favorites and lots of “Do Re Mi.”

Steven Reineke

   CSO assistant conductor Eric Dudley will do the honors for the CSO, which offers “Vintage Classics” to complement a special pre-concert wine tasting at 6 p.m. in adjacent National City Pavilion.

Eric Dudley

   Simonyan will perform Saint-Saens’ “Havanaise” and Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen” (“Gypsy Airs”).  Dudley and the CSO will dispense Respighi’s “Fountains of Rome,” Suite No. 1 from Falla’s “Three-Cornered Hat” and chasers by Berlioz and Turina.
    Tickets for the concerts are $18 for the lawn, $26-$46 for the pavilion, $13.50 for students, $12.50 for children 12 and under. Children 12 and under admitted free to the lawn with a ticketed adult.  The pre-concert wine tasting June 22 is $15 and does not include concert ticket.  Senior pricing is available for the CSO concert only at $15 for the lawn, $20-$35 for the pavilion.
   Order online at www.cincinnatisymphony.org or call (513) 381-3300.
   The CSO and Pops Riverbend season continues June 28 with music from the “Star Trek” TV and film series led by Pops conductor Erich Kunzel.  Kunzel will be on the podium in July for a night of George Gershwin introducing pianist Myron Brown, winner of a recent Pops piano competition who will perform “Rhapsody in Blue,” an all-Tchaikovsky concert including the “1812” Overture, and the Pops’ traditional Broadway night with vocal soloists and the May Festival Summer Chorus.
    Reineke leads July 4 and a “Billy Joel and More” program featuring Michael Cavanaugh from the Broadway musical “Movin’ Out” July 12.

The CSO and Pops 2008 Riverbend season

•  June 21. Von Trapp Children. Selections from “The Sound of Music” and more. Steven Reineke, conductor.
• June 22. “Vintage Classics.”  Music by Berlioz, Saint-Saens, Sarasate, Respighi, Turina. Mikhail Simonyan, violin. Eric Dudley, conductor.
•  June 28. “Star Trek: The Music.” John DeLancie (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) and Robert Picardo (“Star Trek: Voyager”). Eric Kunzel, conductor.
•  July 4. “Red, White and Boom.” Jessica Hendy Reiff, Christopher Johnstone, vocalists. May Festival Summer Chorus. Cincinnati Studio for Dance. McGing Irish Dancers. Comet Bluegrass All-Stars. Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks. Reineke.
• July 12.  “Music of Billy Joel and More.” Michael Cavanaugh, singer/pianist. Reineke.
• July 19. “Piano Idol.” A night of Gershwin, including “Rhapsody in Blue.”  Myron Brown, piano. Robert Laws, soprano. Antwayn Hopper, tenor. Gregg Baker, baritone. May Festival Summer Chorus. Kunzel.
• July 20. “Tchaikovsky Spectacular.” “Marche Slave,” Piano Concerto No. 1, selections from “The Nutcracker,” “1812” Overture. Andrew von Oeyen, piano. Kunzel.
• July 26. “Broadway and Beyond.” Kirsten Bracken, soprano. Steven Morgan, tenor. Michael Lowe, baritone. May Festival Summer Chorus. Kunzel.

   Concerts are at 8 p.m. except June 22 and July 20, both Sunday evenings, which begin at 7:30.   Further information and tickets at www.cincinnatisymphony.org or call (513) 381-3300. 

eighth blackbird

Music08 continues at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with free concerts daily in Werner Recital Hall at CCM.  Music by guest composers Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski and Jack Body is featured along with new music by this year’s crop of invited young composers and classics of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.  Catch up on the schedule at www.ccm.uc.edu/musicx and get daily insights from Music08 assistant manager Kyle Werner at his blog, http://kylewerner.com/Site /Blog/Blog.html.   The festival, due to expire this year because of a lack of funding, concludes at 3 p.m. June 22 in the Great Hall at Tangeman University Center with the Cincinnati premiere of Reich’s Double Sextet (a Music08 co-commission) and

L to R: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Michael Gordon, artistic director, Bang on a Can

"singing in the dead of night" by David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe, artistic directors of New York's Bang on a Can, prime movers for contemporary music in New York City.  Performing will be the noted new music ensemble eighth blackbird.  Free.

    The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra concludes its summer mini-festival June 22 with concerts at 2 p.m. in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater, 7:30 p.m. at Anderson Center, 7850 Five-Mile Rd. in Anderson Township.

Indra Thomas

Guest artist is soprano Indra Thomas in songs by Gershwin and (CCM only) Barber’s “ Knoxville, Summer of 1915.”
    Also on the program, which continues the “seasons” theme begun at CCO concerts last weekend, is Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and the world premiere of Cincinnati composer Robert Johnson’s “Three American Landscapes.”
    A CCO commission, Johnson’s work is described as expressing “the feelings one might experience in three different seasons and settings, from the Catskills to the Southwest.”  Come a half-hour early and learn more at the informal “Tune-Up” discussion held before each CCO concert.
   Tickets, $15 and $25 at CCM, $15 at Anderson Center may be purchased at www.ccocincinnati.com or call (513) 723-1182, ext.102.  Children 18 and under are admitted free with an adult ticket purchase.