Music in Cincinnati

"Florencia" avis raris

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:11:50 PST

Blue Morpho butterfly (morpho peleides)

Mexican composer Daniel Catan's "Florencia en el Amazonas" will light like a Blue Morpho on the stage of Cincinnati's Music Hall at 7:30 p.m. July 10 and 12. Pesented by Cincinnati Opera in the 1996 Francesco Zambello production for Houston Grand Opera, Catan's Garcia Marquez-inspired work is a rarity in the music world, an opera written in Spanish (as opposed to zarzuela, Spain's indigenous music theater). Why this is so seems as elusive as the beautiful butterfly itself.

Steven Monder Hangs Up His Suit and Tie

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:28:53 PST

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra president Steven Monder at Music Hall in Cincinnati

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra president Steven Monder wasn't wearing a tie for his "retirement event" June 29 at Riverbend Music Center. Monder, 63, retired June 30 after 37 years of service to the orchestra, 31 of them in the top leadership position, making him the longest-tenured chief executive of any major American orchestra.

Lucie and Jerry

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:43:49 PST

Sarah Coburn in mad scene from Donizetti's "Lucie de Lammermoor"

Donizetti's "Lucie de Lammermoor," 1839 French version of his Italian warhorse "Lucia di Lammermoor," and Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee's "Jerry Springer: The Opera" opened on the same night in Cincinnati in June, 2008. The popular grand opera played at Music Hall. "Jerry," which is about Cincinnati's former mayor-turned-trash-TV icon, inhabited New Stage Collective's modest alternative space at the opposite end of Over-the-Rhine.

Singing and More

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:33:55 PST

Click http://www.cincinnatiopera.org/webisodes for what you can expect at Cincinnati Opera’s “Lucie de Lammermoor,” to be presented by Cincinnati Opera at 7:30 p.m. June 26 and 28 at Music Hall.

Soviet tank in Tallinn, Estonia, scene from "The Singing Revolution"

Besides Cincinnati Opera, there's a lot of singing going on this week in Cincinnati. Check out Cincinnati World Cinema's "The Singing Revolution" at 7 p.m. June 25 and 26 at the Cincinnati Art Museum to see how it can change the world. www.cincyworldcinema.org And Trekkie alert: The Cincinnati Pops led by Erich Kunzel presents "Star Trek: The Music" June 28, and in news of music in Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music has appointed Robin Guarino of New York's Juilliard School as J. Ralph Corbett Distinguished Chair in Opera effective Sept. 1, 2008.

MusicX Bows Out -- for Now

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:45:34 PST

Steve Reich

Music08, the latest edition of MusicX, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's summer new music festival, took its final bows June 22. At least for now. Funding for CCM's summer new music festival was discontinued last fall, effective in 2009, but options are being explored to keep it going. With the Cincinnati premiere of Steve Reich's Double Sextet, a Music08 co-commission for eighth blackbird, and "singing in the dead of night" by David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe of New York's Bang on a Can, it couldn't have been a stronger leave-taking.

Eighth blackbird Premieres Daniel Kessner, Rzewski/Hoffman Improvise Expertly

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:20:01 PST

eighth blackbird

Music08's June 20 concert at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music featured the world premiere of Daniel Kessner's "Harmonic Space" co-commissioned for eighth blackbird by Music08 and a consortium of other arts groups and organizations. Kessner's work was a beauty and was expertly performed by the noted new music ensemble. The program also showed off an arresting piano duo, Frederic Rzewski and Joel Hoffman. More to come?

Winning Freedom Through Song: Estonia's "Singing Revolution"

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:34:37 PST

Song is powerful. It can even help topple an empire. "The Singing Revolution," a 2007 film about Estonia's bloodless struggle for re-independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has been made into a compelling documentary by James and Maureen Castle Tusty. The 2007, 97-minute film comes to the Cincinnati Art Museum June 24-26.

June in Cincinnati: Music Bustin' Out All Over

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:43:58 PST

Indra Thomas

Popping up with the daisies in Cincinnati this June is a whole lot of music. The Cincinnati Symphony and Pops open their 2008 Riverbend season with (respectively) violinist Mikhail Simonyan and the Von Trapp Children. Music08 continues at the University of College-Conservatory of Music with guest composers Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, Jack Body and more. The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra led by Mischa Santora celebrates the season itself with soprano Indra Thomas ("Summertime") at CCM and Anderson Center.

Sample Simonyan, CSO at Riverbend

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:11:34 PST

Mikhail Simonyan

There's something about Siberia, or at least Novosibirsk, which keeps turning out star violinists. The latest, Mikhail Simonyan, makes his debut with Eric Dudley and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra June 22 at Riverbend Music Center. Simonyan, 22, follows in the footsteps of violinists and fellow Novosibirskians Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin. He will perform Saint-Saens' "Havanaise" and Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen" on a "Vintage Classics" sampler that also features a pre-concert wine-tasting in Riverbend's new National City Pavilion.

Chamber Orchestra Features Classics, Folk Music and Spanish Heroes in 08-09

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:21:40 PST

From Appalachia to Iberia, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra led by Mischa Santora offers three mini-festivals in 2008-09. Highlights include Beethoven with Awadagin Pratt, "Three Kentucky Psalms" by Alice Parker, Manuel de Falla's "Master Peter's Puppet Show" with the Madcap Puppet Theater and a staged performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni."

Kendall, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra Pair Vivaldi, Piazzolla

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:48:35 PST

Nicholas Kendall

Violinist Nicholas Kendall sparked the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra's June 15 "Musical Seasons" concert in the new Anderson Center in Cincinnati's Anderson Township with Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" and Astor Piazzolla's "Cuatro Estaciones Portenos" ("Four Seasons of Buenos Aires"). The pairing was actually an interleaving, with Piazzolla's four pieces heard between corresponding concertos by Vivaldi. CCO music director Mischa Santora presided at the upbeat event as conductor, narrator and host.

Symbiosis at CCM: Music08, Accent08_Crescendo08

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:18:32 PST

Music08, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's annual new music festival, has parallel programs for younger students. Accent08 is for college and advanced high school musicians. Crescendo08 is for high school and middle schoolers. All happen at the same time, June 15-21, in a week-long symbiosis at CCM.

Lamos Production Makes "Madame Butterfly" Universal

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:19:01 PST

Shu-Ying Li as Madame Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini's deathless opera "Madame Butterfly" makes a strong statement against the international sex trade. The message is even more universal in the Mark Lamos/Michael Yeargan production for New York City Opera. Minimalist and transpiring on a stage framed by a pair of huge shoji screens and a stair unit, the production, presented by Cincinnati Opera June 11 at Music Hall and stage directed by Lamos, allows nothing to distract from singers and the music. Nothing did, with a cast of compelling singing actors, headed by Chinese soprano Shu-Ying Li in her Cincinnati Opera debut.

Music08 Showcases Reich, Rzewski and Body

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:18:48 PST

eighth blackbird

Music08, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's annual new music festival June 15-22 at CCM, features guest composers Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski and Jack Body. Highlight of the eight-day event is the Cincinnati premiere of Reich's Double Sextet performed by eighth blackbird. Thought it may be the last of CCM's MusicX new music festivals, at least for a while, it promises to be an upbeat one. To be heard opening night -- 8:30 p.m. June 15 in Robert J. Werner Recital Hall -- will be Rzewski's "The Fall of the Empire," a Music07 commission performed by CCM percussionist Allen Otte, and Piano Trio No. 2, "Lost Traces," by MusicX artistic director Joel Hoffman, head of the CCM composition department. Rzewski and Hoffman will close the show with their joint composition Music08 Music, Part I, for duo piano. Admission is free and open to the public.

Take Center Stage

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:30:43 PST

Member of concert:nova at the Coffee Emporium on Central Parkway, October, 2007 (L to R: flutist Randolph Bowman, clarinetist Ixi Chen, violist Heidi Yenney, bassoonist Jennifer Monroe and cellist Ted Nelson)

Cincinnati Opera Center Stage, a social group comprising young operaphiles, helps launch the Opera's 2008 summer festival with a kick-off party from 8 p.m. to midnight June 14 at the Contemporary Arts Center, Sixth and Walnut Streets, downtown. The party will have rain forest theme, inspired by Daniel Catan's "Florencia en el Amazonas," to be given its regional premiere by Cincinnati Opera July 10 and 12 at Music Hall. There will be music, dancing, a tapas buffet and full cash bar. Special guests will be members of concert:nova, Cincinnati's hip, new chamber ensemble devoted to expanding the concert experience.

Butterfly Season at Cincinnati Opera

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:03:26 PST

Japanese swallowtail butterfly (byasa alcinous)

Cincinnati Opera's 2008 summer festival opens June 11-15 at Music Hall with Puccini's "Madame Butterfly," one of two operas on the season roster that borrow the delicate papillon as central imagery. The other, Daniel Catan's "Florencia en el Amazonas," to be heard July 10 and 12, is about an opera diva in search of her first love and inspiration, a butterfly hunter in the Amazon rain forest. Rounding out the season are Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," June 26 and 28, and Verdi's "La Traviata," July 23 and 27, whose heroines both have symbolic analogues in the world of Lepidoptera.

Future of MusicX Detective Work for Joel Hoffman

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:09:50 PST

Joel Hoffman

For Joel Hoffman, head of the composition department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, saving CCM's annual MusicX new music festival is a matter of patience and sleuthing. The latest edition, Music08, a week-long encounter between master composers and invited members of the younger generation, happens June 15-22 at CCM with guest composers Steve Reich, Jack Body and Frederic Rzewski. Free public performances include the Cincinnati premiere of Reich's Double Sextet June 22 by eighth blackbird. MusicX, along with virtually all of CCM's summer programs, fell to the budget ax last fall, effective in 2009.

Shu-Ying Li: A Butterfly Who Has Everything

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:52:00 PST

Shu-Ying Li as Madama Butterfly

With the look of an Asian. the personality of an Italian and a keen dramatic sense, Chinese soprano Shu-Ying Li is a rare combination to sing Puccini's "Madama Butterfly." Li will sing the tragic heroine for Cincinnati Opera June 11-15 at Music Hall. The production, by Mark Lamos for New York City Opera, with its wide open, minimalist look, seems ideally suited for her with its focus on the music and drama.

From Inner Peace to Iguanas

Fri, 30 May 2008 12:02:35 PST

Meditate with concert:nova, go madcap with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and meet denizens of the Zoo with Cincinnati Opera as Cincinnati arts organizations reach out this week in some surprising ways.

Femme Fatale at CCM

Fri, 30 May 2008 01:55:25 PST

Wesley Lawrence as Giovanni and Paola Gonzalez as Beatriz in Daniel Catan's "Rappaccini's Daughter" at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

"Rappaccini's Daughter," the ultimate femme fatale, comes to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music May 3-June 1. The Spanish language opera by Mexican composer Daniel Catan is both a Cincinnati premiere and first fruit of the new Corbett Foundation Opera Fusion Program, an artistic and academic collaboration between CCM and Cincinnati Opera.