Music in Cincinnati

May Festival Spellbinding in Second Weekend Opener

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:13:38 PST

photo by Mark Lyons

Stravinsky's "opera oratorio" "Oedipus Rex" had been heard at the Cincinnati May Festival only twice before Friday night's (May 17) concert at Music Hall led by music director James Conlon. It was an event well worth the wait in a semi-staged performance designed by Ed Stern, former producing artistic director at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park. Making it an even more delectable concert were performances of Debussy's La Damoiselle elué and Sirènes from Nocturnes and Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2.

Mischa Santora: Man with a Harmonious Mission

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:26:05 PST

Mischa Santora

Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra music director Mischa Santora has enriched Cincinnati at the helm of the CCO for 13 years, bringing both excellence and a comprehensive mission to the community. More initiatives lie ahead as the orchestra enters its 40th season.

Constella Festival Announces 2013 Season

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:38:17 PST

The Constella Festival, Cincinnati's annual celebration of music, fine arts and dance, promises another stellar season for 2013. Scheduled to appear are violinist Joshua Bell, jazz legend Slide Hampton, pianist Stewart Goodyear and conductor Paavo Järvi. Partners with Constella in presenting the five-week event are nine other Cincinnati arts organizations.

James Conlon, Arts Advocate

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:11:37 PST

James Conlon (photo by Dan Steinberg, Los Angeles Opera)

James Conlon is best known to Cincinnati as music director of the annual May Festival. He is also a writer and maintains a blog on MusicalAmerica.com where he comments on his travels, on music and the arts and issues affecting them in today's world. Conlon took time during his annual visit to Cincinnati to discuss his writing and his love for the May Festival.

Something from Nothing

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:01:36 PST

Sandra Gross-Hutton, sculptor and owner/founder of the Brazee School of Glass in Cincinnati, was asked to deliver a commencement address May 12 to the 2013 graduates of the School of Creative Arts at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Here is what she said.

Requiems Mark May Festival Opening

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:08:37 PST

The 2013 Cincinnati May Festival opened on a more-or-less somber note May 10 and 11 with a pair of requiems, the Requiem, K. 626 by Mozart and Benjamin Britten's searing War Requiem. Music director James Conlon was on the podium for his 34th year with the festival, making him the longest-tenured music director in the May Festival's 140-year history. (first published at www.ConcertoNet.com)

Cincinnati's Arts Ambassadors

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:53:14 PST

Cincinnati's new Arts Ambassador Fellows include a filmmaker, ceramicist, poet, cellist, violinist, puppeteer and sculptor. The 2012-2013 fellowships, which help support new and existing work, were awarded at a presentation May 8 at Memorial Hall, along with samples of the artists' work.

Nally's Farewell "Special"

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:33:08 PST

Donald Nally

Donald Nally, music director of Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble, bowed out after three years with the VAE May 5 at Cincinnati's Covenant First Presbyterian Church. The choir's annual collaboration with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra comprised established classics by Handel, Mendelssohn and Benjamin Britten. As an advocate for new music in Cincinnati during his three-year tenure with the VAE, including Cincinnati premieres by James MacMillan, David Lang, and others, the program truly classified as "special." (first published at cincinnati.com/blogs/arts/2013/05/06/cincinnatis-art-carved-furniture-and-concert-and-a-downtown-church/

CSO Season Ends with Fanfare

Sat, 04 May 2013 16:25:00 PST

Garrick Ohlsson

The Cincinnati Symphony dubbed its final concert of the 2012-13 season "Fanfare for Cincinnati" and for good reason. Not only did it feature Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3, which uses his iconic "Fanfare for the Common Man" (premiered by the CSO in 1943), but there was a CSO premiere, composer/CSO creative director Jennifer Higdon's "All Things Majestic," which included a video presentation by CET of images of the city in celebration of its 225th anniversary. Soloist in a thrilling performance of Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto was Garrick Ohlsson.

Mozart in Context by the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:37:46 PST

It happens in Europe regularly, i.e. Mozart's sacred music as part of the liturgy for which it was composed. The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, the KSO Chorale and Voices of the Commonwealth led by KSO music director James R. Cassidy brought that concept to Cincinnati May 2 -- on the National Day of Prayer, coincidentally -- with a performance of Mozart's "Vesperae solennes de confessore," K. 339 at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cincinnati. Framing the service as Prelude and Postlude were Mozart works heard in the 1984 film "Amadeus."

Reich's Music Receives Remarkable Tribute

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:36:29 PST

Steve Reich

Steve Reich's music could not have been better served than it was by Cincinnati's concert:nova April 29 at Pallet 23 in Northside. The concert, a sellout, featured representative works from his early, experimental "Pendulum Music" to his four-movement psalm setting, "Tehillim." Interleaved with them was music that inspired Reich or was inspired by him, including African drumming, jazz, gamelan-derived and recent works by New York composer David Lang.

May (2013) is . . .

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:56:37 PST

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.

Lamsma, Kalmar Inspire with the CSO

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:35:05 PST

Simone Lamsma and Carlos Kalmar

There have been abundant disasters throughout the world in recent weeks (Boston bombings, West, Texas explosion, Newtown massacre). The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's program of Benjamin Britten, Carl Nielsen and Beethoven seemed to address that April 26 at Music Hall. Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma was a splendid soloist in Britten's elegiac Violin Concerto, while guest conductor Carlos Kalmar led Nielsen's inspiring Symphony No. 4, "The Inextinguishable."

Dowland's Woes Get Worthy Setting

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:12:58 PST

David Walker, lute, Annalisa Pappano, viola da gamba

John Dowland's "Lachrimae" is an iconic work for viol consort. Cincinnati's Catacoustic Consort presented it April 20 in a wonderfully atmospheric setting: by candle light in Cincinnati's century-old St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Terrace Park. It was like a step back in time. Players from as far as New York and San Francisco came to take part in the event. (first published at www.concertonet.com)

"Waiting for Wings" Flies at the Pops

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:15:12 PST

The Cincinnati Pops' Lollipops Family Concert April 20 at Music Hall had a buggy theme. Insects, that is, not carriages. Entitled "Waiting for Wings," it featured the world premiere of a work by Jason Robert Brown and Georgia Stitt inspired by the children's book by Lois Ehlert about the life cycle of the butterfly. Also on the concert, which was led by Pops conductor John Morris Russell, were "Dance of the Mosquito" (Liadov) and "La Cucaracha."

Fleisher's Linton Debut Warmly Welcomed

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:05:04 PST

Leon Fleisher

Pianist Leon Fleisher's debut on Cincinnati's Linton Music Series. long overdue, was a signal event April 21 at First Unitarian Church in Avondale. Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor, with violinists Jaime Laredo and Bella Hristova, violist Ida Kavafian and cellist Sharon Robinson, has rarely sounded so inspired. (first published in the Cincinnati Enquirer April 21, 2013)

Music Lifts Hearts, Fights Measles

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:02:25 PST

MYCincinnati is Cincinnati's "El Sistema," the revolutionary Venezuelan music education initiative that has spread around the world. The MYCincinnati Orchestra, comprising Price Hill students ages 7-13, joined hands with the Red Cross Measles and Rubella Initiative April 19 at Memorial Hall in a concert to raise funds for both organizations.

Cellist David Geringas Joins Ariel Quartet for Season Finale

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:34:57 PST

Ariel String Quartet

The Ariel String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, closed its first season at CCM with a distinguished visitor, cellist David Geringas. The program was both rare and well done, with "David's Song" by Lithuanian composer Anatolijus Šenderovas and the String Quintet, Op. 69, by Alexander Glazunov. The "teaser" was Beethoven's Quartet Op. 18, No. 1, to go with the announcement that the Ariel will present a complete Beethoven cycle at CCM in early 2014.

CCM's "Zauberflöte" Magic

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:51:45 PST

Yi Li as Tamino with the magic flute (photo by Mark Lyons)

Mozart's "The Magic Flute," main stage production by the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music April 7 at Corbett Auditorium, was true to its title. There was enchantment everywhere. CCM's Steven Goldstein directed the all-student cast. Mark Gibson conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra. (first published at http://www.concertonet.com)

Glass' "Naqoyqatsi" a Concerto for Our Time

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:18:35 PST

This winning disc of Philip Glass' Cello Concerto No. 2 is one for our time, with its theme of "life as war" ("Naqoyqatsi"). Cellist Matt Haimovitz brings it vividly to life here with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by Dennis Russell Davies.