Swedish organist overcomes travel woes and delivers magnificent concert in sold-out Music in the Museum concert

February 27, 2026February 28, 2026 janellegelfandLeave a comment

It took Swedish organist Johannes Skoog 24 hours to get to Cincinnati. Despite a canceled flight — originally out of Helsinki– and almost no sleep or time to rehearse, he performed his program magnificently on the historic 1929 E.M. Skinner Concert Organ in Cincinnati Museum Center on Feb. 25.

Under the circumstances, it was an Olympian feat for him even to play at all. Best of all, Skoog seemed to be enjoying the performance, playing his mostly French repertoire with flair and offering big smiles to the audience. Most of us don’t consider the trials a touring artist must endure, especially in these days of “bomb cyclone” snowstorms and frequent “mechanical” issues. The sold-out audience assembled in the Rotunda of Union Terminal was riveted throughout his two-hour program, thronging him at intermission and awarding a standing ovation at the conclusion.

Skoog is a rising star, who won First Prize and the Bach Prize at the prestigious Canadian International Organ Competition in 2024. Now the Stockholm native is the newly appointed Royal Court Organist and is becoming accustomed to his official duties, mostly at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, he told me, but also at the royals’ charming summer home, Drottningholm.

Skoog’s program included four anthems performed with the combined choirs of Christ Church Cathedral, Stephan Casurella, director, and St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Carlton Monroe, director.Read More »

2025 Year in Review

December 31, 2025December 31, 2025 janellegelfandLeave a comment

It’s always amazing to look back at the wealth of Cincinnati’s arts that we enjoy every year. There were important new arts leaders and new and improved venues. In comings and goings, the new dean of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Peter Jutras, was busy hiring what seems like a record number of new faculty members. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, too, has hired many new musicians that we are all still getting to know. And early this month, the Contemporary Arts Center’s Christina Vassallo announced she will soon be departing from her role as director. She will become executive director of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in Philadelphia.

Assistant principal cellist Norman Johns performed with the CSO for 50 years.

Among those who left us in 2025 was cellist Norman Johns, an inspiring musician, a trailblazer and a role model. He shared his gifts as a teacher, chamber music coach and mentor to legions of students in Cincinnati for most of the 50 years that he performed in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Here is a small tribute to this musical giant.

Sadly, the Cincinnati Symphony also lost its much-admired principal trombonist Cristian Ganicenco. He was 58, and passed away on the eve of Cristian Măcelaru’s first concert as CSO music director. The two shared their homeland of Romania. Here is one of many tributes.

Below are some of my favorite performances, art exhibitions, newsmakers and more!

Welcoming new leaders

New maestro at the CSO –– In February, audiences had a taste of a new vision at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a powerful performance of the familiar Symphony No. 9, “From the New World” under the baton of then-music director-designate Cristian Măcelaru. This season, 2025-26, audiences are getting to know the Romanian-American maestro in his first season as the CSO’s 14th music director.

New leadership at Cincinnati Ballet — For his first season since being named artistic director, Cincinnati Ballet’s Cervilio Miguel Amador curated selections that include four world premieres, the regional premiere of “The Great Gatsby,” the return of “Swan Lake” (coming up in February) and “Director’s Vision: Liberty in Motion,” celebrating the evolution of American choreography in honor of America’s 250th birthday. We can’t wait to see his vision moving forward.

A woman on the podium — This year, Cincinnati Ballet welcomed Alyssa Wang as its new music director, succeeding Carmon DeLeone, a local legend who retired after more than 50 years. I enjoyed watching her conduct “The Nutcracker” last week, and look forward to seeing more of her work.

Notre-Dame Cathedral’s Vincent Dubois impresses on Museum Center’s E.M. Skinner Organ

November 1, 2025November 3, 2025 janellegelfand1 Comment

Vincent Dubois, titular organist of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris

Hundreds of aficionados of organ music — as well as admirers of the stunning Art Deco Rotunda in Cincinnati Museum Center — braved a dark and stormy night on Oct. 29 to attend the opening concert of the Music in the Museum series. The excellent organist Vincent Dubois, now titular organist of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, performed a substantial program on the great E.M. Skinner concert organ built in 1929, the year Union Terminal began construction.

The organ is designed in the American Symphonic Organ tradition, able to produce every tone of a symphonic orchestra, and then some. Cincinnati’s E.M. Skinner organ is one of the treasures of the United States.

At one moment, Dubois paused to thank those who have supported the organ, saying, “It’s rare to find this quality of voicing… I enjoyed discovering so many colors and textures. It’s infinite in that instrument.”

Besides his Paris post, Dubois is newly appointed Professor of organ interpretation and improvisation at the Hochschule für Musik (University of Music) in Saarbrücken, Germany. His wide-ranging selections included many by French composers, some rarely heard, which were a treat to hear.

Dubois opened with J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582. His sound was instantly enthralling, from the deep tones of the repeating bass line (or ground bass) to the wonderful embellishments that unfolded above it. The music in the highest register had a spiritual quality, and you could see that the organist felt every note. The concluding fugue was majestic, and he held its final note at length, allowing the sound to continue ringing in the resonant acoustic of the Rotunda.

Dubois with Kelly Hale conducting behind the organ, and page turner Bert Nelson.

Dubois called upon two collaborators for the next three works: Russell Burge, CCM Professor of Percussion, and Kelly Hale, Professor Emeritus of Opera and Coaching, who conducted the spacially separated duo.

Percussionist Russell Burge was situated against the Rotunda wall, the clearest acoustical spot for the collaboration.

Jean-Philippe Rameau was represented by the dance, “Les sauvages” from Rameau’s 1735 opera-ballet, “Les Indes galantes,” accompanied by marvelous drumming by Burge. The work was inspired by a visit to France by Indigenous American chiefs in 1725.

Dubois then fast-forwarded to 20th-century France with three movements from Francis Poulenc‘s “Suite française,” originally an orchestral suite from his incidental music to a play, “La Reine Margot.” Typical of Poulenc, there were dissonances and witty dialogues between organ and snare drum. The colors of the organ ranged from warm to reedy.