Marco Panuccio in Donizetti’s “Lucie de Lammermoor”/photo by Philip Groshong
I always looked forward to hearing the latest program that tenor Marco Panuccio was planning for his popular “O Holy Night” concert for the holiday season. This year, as I compiled my list of holiday shows, I didn’t hear from Marco, and I missed him. I didn’t know, like many of you, that he was battling a terrible virus named Covid-19. He died last weekend.
This Friday, Cincinnati Opera artistic director Evans Mirageas will devote his weekly segment at around 6:30 p.m. (right after the 6 O’Clock Symphony) to Marco’s memory. He’ll play excerpts from Marco’s performance as Edgard in Cincinnati Opera’s “Lucie de Lammermoor” (in French) in 2008.
The CSO sent out this message today to ticket holders regarding Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov’s recital scheduled for Nov. 10:
Daniil is recovering from a recent elbow injury that will prevent him from performing this Wednesday. The recital has been rescheduled to MAR 1, 2022 at 7:30 pm.
Daniil expressed his regret, stating: “I have been advised to postpone the performance to avoid exacerbating the problem, and have with great disappointment agreed to focus on my health and recovery over the coming weeks. However, I look forward to rescheduling my recital presented by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for March 1, 2022.”
Let’s hope he heals quickly! Trifonov’s Carnegie Hall recital on Nov. 17 of the same program he would have played in Cincinnati is still on tap. Information: carnegiehall.org.
The CSO will automatically honor all previously purchased tickets on the new recital date of MAR 1, 2022. If you are unable to attend the rescheduled date, please contact the Box Office at 513-381-3300 (M-F 10-5; SAT 10-2) for a flexible exchange or refund.
CSO on opening night/photo provided by Hannah Kenney
Since the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra officially opened its subscription season this weekend (here’s the review), I decided to look at the arts calendar to see what musical performances I want to get on my November calendar.
Wow! I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of our performing arts are ramping up. My November calendar looks almost normal, which in Cincinnati means that you can be out every night of the week. So here are some of my picks.
Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. – At CCM, renowned Russian pianist and pedagogue Boris Berman performs a guest recital performance in Robert J. Werner Recital Hall. Admission: FREE.
Nov. 7, 4 p.m. — Linton Music Series “Pure Bach,” featuring violinist Jennifer Koh performing the solo violin works of Bach. First Unitarian Church. For tickets and program, click here.
Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m. – Ariel Quartet, CCM String-Quartet-in-Residence, continues its concert series with Lera Auerbach’s “Frozen Dreams,” which premiered in 2020, and Béla Bartók’s penultimate quartet, String Quartet No. 5. Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Tickets: Prices start at $29.50.
Daniil Trifonov in recital
Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m., Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov performs a recital at Music Hall, presented by the CSO. His program includes music by Karol Szymanowski, Debussy, Prokofiev and Brahms.
Note: For all CSO events and concerts, click here.
Nov. 11, 8 p.m. —Stephen Hough recital at Xavier. Hough is a longtime visitor to the Xavier Piano Series, and is something of a Renaissance man. This month, he graces the cover of BBC Music magazine. His program includes Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Chopin’s Ballade No. 3 and Hough’s own “Partitia.” It’s in Xavier’s Gallagher Center Theater on the XU campus. For tickets and info about the entire Xavier Music Series, click here.Read More »
This week, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra announced it has chosen Nathalie Stutzmann as its fifth music director. She succeeds Robert Spano.
Stutzmann will be the first woman to serve as the ASO’s music director and only the second woman to lead a major American orchestra. Marin Alsop recently stepped down as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In Atlanta, Stutzmann follows past ASO music directors Henry Sopkin, Robert Shaw, Yoel Levi and Robert Spano.
Stutzmann is an operatic contralto with more than 80 recordings and a contract with Warner Bros/Erato records. Currently, she is Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chief Conductor of Norway’s Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. She is also a noted conductor of opera, and was to have made her Metropolitan Opera debut this fall, postponed due to the pandemic.
She studied conducting with the legendary Finnish teacher Jorma Panula and was mentored by Seiji Ozawa and Sir Simon Rattle.
Her recent and future U.S. engagements include orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony, with many other engagements in Europe.
Even a few years ago, choosing a woman as music director was considered to be a bold move. Years ago, my very first feature article in the Enquirer was entitled “The Maestro is a Ms” — because at the time, a woman on the podium was so rare. Over the decades, not much changed.
I would suggest that now times have indeed changed — there are vastly talented musicians of every gender and race, and orchestras and boards of directors are taking note.
About two decades ago, I remember the world premiere of “Millennium Fantasy” for piano and orchestra by American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in music. The soloist was pianist Jeffrey Biegel, who performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Jesús López-Cobos. It was commissioned by a consortium of 27 orchestras — still a novel idea at the time. Zwilich became one of my favorite composers.
Now the talents of Jeffrey Biegel and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich have come together in the creation of “Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” honoring the late Supreme Court Justice. It will be premiered tonight by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya in Meyerson Symphony Center.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, photo provided
Zwilich’s new composition pays homage to and remembers Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the first anniversary of her death in September 2020. The new work will feature texts by poet/librettist Lauren K. Watel and will be performed by mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves – one of Justice Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers, who sang at her memorial – and pianist Jeffrey Biegel.Read More »
Pianist Daniil Trifonov takes bows at last weekend’s MusicNOW Festival at the CSO
After 18 months of virtual and a few outdoor performances, Cincinnati is back to live, in-person performances. Most arts organizations are requiring masking and proof of vaccine or testing to enter theaters. (Here are the rules.) So far, people are flocking back, and the ones I’ve met are happy to be back.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has been performing mini-festivals of new music over the last two weekends.
Here are links to my impressions of the CSO/MusicNOW Festival, founded by Bryce Dessner (who unfortunately was not in town), and an avant-garde program led by creative director Matthias Pintscher.
All were late additions to the calendar, as the CSO won’t launch its subscription season until Oct. 29-30. Watch for a preview about their season later this month in the Business Courier.
The Cincinnati Pops has some “extras,” this fall, as well. John Morris Russell will lead an American program commemorating voting rights for women with singer/songwriter Aoife O’Donovan, Oct. 19 in Music Hall. Info here: cincinnatisymphony.org/pops.
Yesterday, the Cincinnati Jazz Hall of Fame presented an induction ceremony for its sixth class of inductees, at Mount St. Joseph University. Read more here about that organization and how V. Kay Casey came to found it.
Cincinnati Jazz Hall of Fame sponsors a program for young jazz musicians, who play “Jazz at Dusk” around town — seen here at Caffe Vivace in Walnut HIlls
Also this weekend, the 108th season of Matinee Musicale opened in Memorial Hall. I’ll be writing more about that soon… as well as some of my thoughts about the innovative programs of Chamber Music Cincinnati coming up soon.
Isaac Selya led the Queen City Opera Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s rarely-heard Symphony No. 7
Isaac Selya, artistic director and conductor of Queen City Opera, is known for inventive productions, usually of lesser-known operatic repertoire. He often pairs operas with social issues. Even Act I from Wagner’s Walkure featured a partnership with Women Helping Women and a discussion about domestic abuse.
As the arts begin to emerge from Covid-19, it was a good time for Selya to present a non-operatic project. On Sept. 5 in Finneytown Performing Arts Center, he led a rare performance (and possibly the Midwest premiere) of Tchaikovsky’s unfinished Symphony No. 7 in E-flat Major, “Life.” Two excellent young opera singers, tenor M. Andrew Jones and soprano Raquel González, performed arias and scenes from Tchaikovsky’s operas “Eugene Onegin” and “Iolanta.”
Sujari Britt performs the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations 8 p.m. August 6 at Seasongood Pavilion, Eden Park. She returns at 4 p.m. Aug. 8, Moonlite Pavilion, Coney Island for “Restorative Strings”
I caught up with rising star cellist Sujari Britt, who has been studying in Finland, via email in time to ask a few questions before she makes her Cincinnati debut with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra next weekend, Aug. 6 and 8.
Question: Please tell us a little bit about your musical journey. Why did you decide to study cello in Finland at the Sibelius Academy?
Answer: I began my cello travels at the age 4 after studying for a bit on piano and violin. At age 20, it is humbling to reflect that for the past decade-and-a-half I have devoted my time to exploring classical cello literature, techniques and approaches.
I believe it is time well-spent! I remain grateful for the incredible support and guidance of my early studies with Professor Marion Feldman (Manhattan School of Music, NYC). I met my current instructor, Professor Martti Rousi (Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland) when he visited MSM for a master class. We were mutually enthralled, and I am thoroughly enjoying my tenure at Sibelius.
Q: How have you gotten through the pandemic, with your studies and performances?
A: COVID-19 has rocked our planet. The health crisis has been far-reaching in distance, and its impact likely will reverberate for time to come. Our world has shifted due to this illness. Across the globe we have suffered from loss, grief, fear, change. On one hand, COVID-19 surfaced the swirling of not knowing; distrusting, and feeling unsafe, uncertain, alone. For many, solitude, loneliness, and panic became our sole companions.
On another hand, the health crisis seemed to pummel us with warning of our need for each other; for kindness, truth, and humanity. I am fortunate to have toughed-out this pandemic in the company of friends, and in the presence of strangers who paused to notice our shared want.
When the pandemic began in earnest, I was on tour in the states. Having completed a few community events, a decision was made to postpone the main concert and remaining events to protect the audience and musicians. That was March 2020. I am thrilled for the upcoming concert with Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra to once again see eyes and know the ears, hearts, and minds that share the space of sound with me. I look forward with hope.
Q: The CCO season shines a light on musicians and composers of color, as well as on women. How do you think concert programs and even classical music institutions are changing, or will change in the future?
A: I genuinely appreciate CCO’s focus on emerging representatives of our shared joy for the classics. To my mind, the wider we open the door, the braver will be the talent, and the deeper the joy at the shattering of glass ceilings.Read More »
Musica Sacra in a recording session for a livestream during Covid last season. The chorus will return to in-person performances.
As the nation reopens from a year of lockdowns, more choruses are announcing that they will be returning to live performances. Of course, during the pandemic, vocal music was considered the most deadly form of spreading the Covid-19 virus.
Musica Sacra, a 60-member chorus founded in 1965, joyfully returns for its 56th season, live and in person. This year, the chorus will also collaborate with the CCM Chorale in Patricia Corbett Theater on the UC campus.
After a year of virtual programming, this season will be emotional, said director Brett Scott.
“The selections across this season present a range of emotions that may echo what many experienced in the past year,” Scott said. “From the terrifying trumpets at the opening of our first selection, the Lord Nelson Mass, to the poignant chorales of the Christmas Oratorio that are contrasted with grand, exuberant chorus movements, to the exquisitely tender consolation that envelops you throughout the German Requiem, each of these masterworks speaks to the heart of the human experience. They are audience-pleasing works in the best sense of the word and we are thrilled that our audiences will be able to experience them with us this year.”Read More »
The gifted Cincinnati pianist Kasey Shao, 17, received an artist grant of $5,000 from the Cincinnati MacDowell Society earlier this summer. For 108 years, the local chapter of the MacDowell Society has awarded artist grants in various disciplines.
The 2021 Presidential Scholar and Young Steinway Artist began piano at the age of 6 and is currently studying with Ran Dank, faculty member at CCM. When she was 12, she made her concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nezet Seguin as the first place winner of the Albert M. Greenfield Concerto Competition.
Kasey has won numerous awards, and this year was a finalist in the prestigious Gina Bachauer Piano Competition. She has performed with the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra under Michael Chertok and the Louisville Orchestra under Teddy Abrams. Kasey has appeared in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Whitney Hall of the Kentucky Center.
Locally, she was also a 2021 and 2020 Matinee Musicale Nancy F. Walker Memorial Scholarship winner. A cum laude graduate from Walnut Hills High School, Kasey will attend Princeton University in the fall. She plans to study composition and piano.
The Cincinnati MacDowell Society was founded in 1913. It had significant ties with the MacDowell Colony, an artist residency in New Hampshire founded by American composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, Marian MacDowell. It was Marian’s friendship with Cincinnati philanthropist Mary Emery as well as Clara Baur and her niece Bertha Baur, — the founders of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music — that resulted in the society being formed here. For more about the society’s history and current activities, click here.
