Winner Joshua Mhoon with Music Director Cristian Măcelaru, who was also an adjudicator. Photos by Phil Armstrong, with thanks to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
To play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, you need to possess a spectacular technique, expressive power and, not least, endurance. Pianist Joshua Mhoon had all those and more.
Mhoon, 22, won first prize in the Nina Simone Piano Competition, held on Wed. Oct. 7 in Music Hall. Three finalists — Evan Hines, John Paul McGee and Mhoon — competed in the Solo Round followed by the Concerto Round in the competition. Music Director Cristian Măcelaru conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for the Concerto Round, during which the young artists each performed a complete piano concerto.
Mhoon was awarded the $12,000 first prize, as well as a recital at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music presented by Opus 3. Second prize ($4,000) went to Evan Hines. John Paul McGee won third and $2,000. A small audience of symphony fans and piano aficionados was on hand, and gave warm responses to each artist.
The finalists of the Nina Simone Piano Competition: Joshua Mhoon, music director Cristian Măcelaru, Evan Hines and John Paul McGee
The previous rounds of the Artist Division were held at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, said Awadagin Pratt, who is currently professor of piano on its faculty after serving on the piano faculty at CCM for two decades. Pratt is founder of the Art of the Piano Foundation, which hosts the biennial Nina Simone Piano Competition to spotlight talented young African American classical pianists. He is a Yamaha Artist, and the competition was using a Yamaha concert grand piano.
The judges were Pierre Van Der Westhuizen, executive and artistic director of the prestigious Gilmore Piano Festival (and a CCM alumnus); Mikael Darmanie, also a CCM grad, who is busy classical performer, composer and conductor with an eclectic career as a DJ and member of the Warp Trio. Măcelaru served as the third judge.Read More »
CCM’s Opera Department mounted a double bill, including Poulenc’s “Les Mamelles de Tirésias,” shown above. Photos by Mark Lyons
In Poulenc’s surreal opera “Les Mamelles de Tirésias,” (The Breasts of Tirésias), Thérèse opened her blouse and two balloons popped out. As her “breasts” floated away, Thérèse, who decided to become a feminist, promptly popped them, grew a beard, changed her name to Tirésias and sang a ravishing waltz.
It was giggly, outrageous and in many ways, timeless.
Jose Maria Condemi, the new Associate Director of Opera at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, made his directorial debut over the weekend with an impressive double bill of Kurt Weill’s “Mahagonny Songspiel” and Francis Poulenc’s “Les Mamelles de Tirésias.”
Smartly staged and featuring a cast of fresh rising-stars and imaginative sets by students Luke Dufilho (Mahagonny) and EJ Goodman (Les Mamelles), it was an enchanting evening of theater. From the steamy, dissolute world of Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny to Poulenc’s surreal fantasy of Zanzibar — where a man could produce 40,049 babies in one day — the audience was alternately riveted and howling with laughter.
Condemi, who is an alumnus of CCM and has an extensive portfolio, joined the faculty in August of 2025. He’s familiar to Cincinnati Opera fans, who saw him stage “Ainadamar,” “Don Giovanni,” “La Traviata,” “Tosca” and “Lucia di Lammermoor.”
In the small orchestra pit, these two jazzy and bubbly scores received spirited readings by CCM musicians, conducted by William Langley, currently resident conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, among other titles. He’s a gifted and very busy maestro, and has returned several times to lead productions at his alma mater, CCM, where he earned a Master’s Degree with Mark Gibson.
The cast of Kurt Weill’s “Mahagonny Songspiel”
Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “Mahagonny Songspiel” of 1927 is a 30-minute precursor to the full-blown opera, “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.” It offers a grim, cynical picture of Germany between the wars. I saw the Friday (Feb. 27) performance in CCM’s intimate Cohen Family Studio Theater (CCM has alternate casts).Read More »
An image from the live show of this program last March in Music Hall. Photo by Mark Lyons, provided by the CSO/Pops
The Cincinnati Pops announced the release of its newest recording led by Cincinnati Pops Conductor John Morris Russell, Harlem Renaissance, an homage to one of America’s most important artistic movements and the breadth of jazz styles it has nurtured.
The album features piano virtuoso Marcus Roberts in his own arrangement of James P. Johnson’s 1927 piano rhapsody, Yamekraw, based on the music and vibrant culture of Savannah, Georgia’s historically Black neighborhood in the roaring 1920s. In the hands of Marcus Roberts, Yamekraw exists as a living dialogue between Johnson’s original composition and the musical styles that have evolved since.
Harlem Renaissance features the jazz tone poem, Harlem, by Duke Ellington, an evocative soundscape of Manhattan’s legendary neighborhood. The album also includes the first commercial recording of Carlos Simon’s 2024 composition, Hellfighters’ Blues, inspired by World War I bandleader James Reese Europe’s 1919 recording of W.C. Handy’s Memphis Blues.
The album was recorded at Cincinnati Music Hall on March 21–23, 2025. Recording Producer is the Grammy Award winning Elaine Martone, Sonarc Music.
“Harlem Renaissance honors extraordinary Black composers and their kindred spirits — painters, poets, authors, sculptors and dancers — who together defined the ethos of 20th century American culture. We present these works not as museum-pieces but part of a continuum of style that continues to evolve a century later,” Russell said in a release.
“The album captures the nuance, power and virtuosity of the Cincinnati Pops, the thrilling and breathtaking improvisations of the Modern Jazz Generation and the sheer brilliance of Marcus Roberts and his trio. It was an absolute joy to perform these concerts live, and a delight to now share it with the world.”
Songs by Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes, Moisés Simons and Cab Calloway round out the album.
Seven-time Grammy award-winning recording producer and recent inductee into the Resonator Hall of Fame Elaine Martone continues her longstanding relationship with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops as producer for Harlem Renaissance.
Martone has collaborated with the Orchestra on more than 70 albums (Telarc and Fanfare Cincinnati labels), more than any other orchestra in her oeuvre.
Harlem Renaissance extends the Pops’ prolific recording legacy, which includes more than 100 commercial recordings that have sold millions of copies worldwide. Harlem Renaissance is the eighth Pops album led by Russell.
The album credits include Marcus Roberts piano; Marcus Roberts Trio with Marcus Roberts, piano; Jason Marsalis, drums; Marty Jaffe, upright bass; and the Modern Jazz Generation, led by Marcus Roberts Marty Jaffe, upright bass; Jason Marsalis, drums; Joe Goldberg, tenor saxophone & clarinet (Yamekraw); Tissa Khosla, baritone saxophone; Boyce Griffith, alto saxophone; Tim Blackmon, trumpet; Jianni Lazaga, trumpet; Etienne Charles, trumpet; Rashaan Salaam, trombone; and Mykal Kilgore and Tatiana Mayfield, vocalists.
Listeners can hear select tracks on the album beginning streaming on February 13 with Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady, February 20 with Ellington’s The Mooche and February 27 with W.C. Handy St. Louis Blues. The entire Harlem
Renaissance album will be available on all streaming platforms beginning March 13.
Harlem Renaissance is generously supported by gifts from Kelly Dehan & Rick Staudigel, Kathy Grote, Joan Wilson, Joe & Patricia Baker and an anonymous donor.
Claire Huangci wowed in transcriptions and rarities/ photo by Gayna Bassin
The fall season is here, and on Sept. 7, I took in one of the first offerings of the classical music season. American pianist Claire Huangci stepped in on about a week’s notice to perform a recital for Matinée Musicale of virtuoso piano transcriptions by Czerny, Ravel, Earl Wild and Gershwin, and rarely heard pieces by Khachaturian and Florence Price in Memorial Hall.
Although her program seemed to be mostly all that glittered, it was a treat to hear some rarely heard works, such as Price’s Fantasie Negre No. 2 in G Minor, and familiar works in less-played arrangements — such as Rhapsody in Blue for piano solo only. And best of all, she spoke about each piece from the stage, which earned points from the audience.
She told listeners that Cincinnati has a special meaning to her, because in 1999 she participated in the (now defunct) World Piano Competition here. Since performing for Matinée twice before, in 2015 and 2017, she has developed a very busy international career. She is the winner of numerous competitions, and her technical prowess was on display in this program.
The pianist opened with Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata. I enjoyed her singing tone and wonderful way of conjuring atmosphere. Czerny’s Fantasie Brillante sur “Le Nozze di Figaro” was an enchanting journey on tunes from the opera through brilliant technical feats. She summoned orchestral sonorities in Khachaturian’s Adagio of Spartacus, a score heard in movies. And Ravel’s “La Valse” (in the composer’s piano solo version) was a mesmerizing tour de force, with impeccable voicing amidst cascades of filigree, performed with arms and hair flying.
The second half of this substantial program similarly involved spectacular feats, starting with Florence Price’s Fantasie Negre No. 2 in G Minor (she wrote 4 of them). There were four Virtuoso Etudes on some of Gershwin’s most irresistible tunes, including “I’ve Got Rhythm,” arranged by Earl Wild. Huangci finished with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, playing both the piano and orchestra parts. She took it at an extremely fast tempo, and I wondered how she had any energy left at all after what seemed to be an endurance test of a concert.
Sometime, I’d like to hear this pianist play Beethoven again. For an encore, she treated with a charming tune from the film “Amélie,” released in 2001.
Coming up, Matinée presents Cincinnati native Megan Moore, a lyric coloratura mezzo-soprano, in a wide-ranging program that you can see here. The collaborative pianist is Francesco Barfoed. It’s at 3 p.m. Oct. 12 in Memorial Hall. Ticket info: matineemusicalecincinnati.org/recitals
Isabel Leonard will make her Cincinnati debut in recital on Dec. 1/photo by Sergio Kurhajec
Opera star Isabel Leonard has been wowing audiences and critics around the world. She’s about to make her Cincinnati recital debut.
The singer, a mezzo-soprano and New York native, was scheduled to perform one of her signature roles, Rosina, in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville during Cincinnati Opera’s 100th anniversary season in 2020. We all know what happened — Covid caused the whole season to be canceled. Nevertheless, she did a charming podcast with artistic director Evans Mirageas, available here.
Finally, we’ll have a chance to hear Leonard’s artistry in some of her signature operatic arias and much more when she performs a recital with collaborative pianist John Arida for Matinée Musicale Cincinnati on Dec. 1 at Memorial Hall. The concert is at 5 p.m.
Since making her Metropolitan Opera debut as Stéphano in Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette in 2007, she has sung on the world’s leading stages in a range of repertoire. This season (in June 2025), she’ll reprise Rosina in Damiano Michieletto’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Opéra National de Paris. She’s also performing Anita in a concert performance of Bernstein’s West Side Story, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.
In 2020, Leonard appeared with Louis Langrée and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a staged production of Ravel’s one-act opera, L’enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Sorceries). Here’s my review of her enchanting performance. (She also won a Grammy for the recording of this piece.)
Her Cincinnati program will show some of that versatility. Of course, we can’t wait to hear her sing “Una voce poco fa” from Rossini’s Barber of Seville, or “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” from Bizet’s Carmen. There’s also a set of Spanish songs.
But for many in this audience, the icing on the cake will likely be her final set of Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and a song by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan often performed by Kristin Chenoweth, “The Girl in 14G.”
Leonard has won three Grammy Awards — for Michael Tilson Thomas’ From the Diary of Anne Frank on SFS Media; Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges on Decca; and The Tempest from The Metropolitan Opera on Deutsche Grammophon.
Her list of television and movie credits includes an appearance in the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper, in the finale of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” She was just nominated for another Grammy for her performance in Maestro, alongside the London Symphony Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in the category Best Compilation Soundtrack.
Tickets: $15-$35; students $10. Call the box office at 513-977-8838 (Tues-Friday, 1-6 p.m.) or visit matineemusicalecincinnati.org.
Did you ever consider that the harp could be a jazz instrument? The world’s premiere jazz harpist, Park Stickney, is performing at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Feb. 28, in Werner Recital Hall at CCM.
Stickney lives in Switzerland and is on a six-state tour of the United States. He will be performing with local saxophonist James Bunte and bassist Teddy Mechley. The concert is free and no reservations are needed.
While in town, Stickney is spending time with students at CCM, SCPA and Walnut Hills High School.
“The concert will be a mix of my own compositions and jazz standards,” said Stickney. “I’m especially excited about revisiting my own pieces through this instrumentation. I often play them solo, but playing them in trio allows me to hear them completely differently, adds another dimension — and this in addition to the excitement of playing with Cincinnati jazz artists.”
The harpist divides his time between a farm in Switzerland, and Brooklyn, New York. Besides his concerts, he presents master classes and workshops at music festivals worldwide. His performance venues are as diverse as a performance at a mine in South Tyrol, at a New York Mcdonald’s, the White House and on the QE2 ocean liner.
He currently teaches at the Royal Academy of Music, London, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon, France, and the Milan Conservatory. Stickney graduated from the Juilliard School, and later completed a Ph.D. exploring extreme harp pedaling at the Trinity Laban Conservatory, London.
Stickney is a former Juilliard classmate of Gillian Benet Sella, principal harpist of the CSO, who organized the concert. It is co-sponsored by the local chapter of the American Harp Society, CCM Power and the School for Creative and Performing Arts through the Mayerson Foundation.
Bunte is professor of saxophone and Division Head of Performance Studies at CCM. He’s also a regular saxophonist with the Cincinnati Symphony, and has recorded eight discs with the Cincinnati Symphony and the Cincinnati Pops orchestras. Bunte is an experienced saxophonist, having performed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Manhattan Transfer, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and many more.
Mechley plays both stand-up and electric bass at numerous Cincinnati jazz clubs. He’s currently pursuing a degree in jazz bass at CCM.
For more information, visit ccm.uc.edu/onstage.html, call the CCM Box Office at 513-556-4183
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
The Cincinnati Jazz Hall of Fame and Kennedy Heights Arts Center will present a roundtable discussion on the impact of jazz in our community on Aug. 19.
From music and culture to art and education, Jazz has influenced the whole world. Join a robust conversation with a panel of some pillars of the local jazz community: Dr. Isadore Rudnick, Kathy Wade, Laura Gentry, Marc Fields, and Nate Henderson.
The panel, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, will be moderated by Sister Keli, radio host on WHRI-Inspiration and community contributor on WXIX-Fox 19 News.
Doors open at 2:30 p.m. so you can view the special exhibit, “All that Jazz,” at the Lindner Annex of the Kennedy Heights Arts Center, 6620 Montgomery Road. Free. Information: kennedyarts.org and cincyjazzhof.org.
Due to inclement weather, the KSO’s “Boogie Nights” concert has moved from Devou Park to Greaves Concert Hall on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. Free parking in Lots I and D. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Free, general seating with wheelchair accessible area. Food and drinks are not allowed in the concert hall.
Time travel with the KSO’s Boogie Band and vocalists to the era of bell-bottoms, Afros, platform shoes, and the music of Donna Summer, KC & the Sunshine Band, ABBA, The Village People, The Bee-Gees and many more. You will be dancing.
The University of Cincinnati Hillel’s “Campus Superstars,” a collegiate singing competition, 7 p.m. Sunday, April 3, will feature local students competing for a $5,000 cash prize.
A panel of celebrity judges — Kim Mann, Deondra Means, Pamela Myers and Kathy Wade — will narrow 11 finalists down to three. Then you — the audience — will vote for the winner. This year’s competition, held at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson Kaplan Theater, will showcase our region’s superb musical talent. All contestants are full-time, local undergraduate students who have passed multiple auditions for the chance to compete.
They’ll be singing in every genre, including opera, musical theater, jazz, country and spirituals.
This year’s event will honor Lauren Shmalo Berg, an original member of the show’s staff. In October 2021, Lauren suffered a devastating spinal cord injury as the result of a fall. Before the accident, she was a talented singer, dancer, actress, Pilates/Zumbini instructor, preschool teacher, and competitive figure skater who was featured on the classic MTV show “Made.”
After multiple surgeries and 3-1/2 months at the Shepherd Institute in Atlanta, Lauren is now home with her husband and two small children. She is impressing her doctors and therapists and making remarkable progress.
Of course, Lauren’s journey to recovery comes with an exorbitant price tag, much of which is NOT covered by medical insurance. As a result, Cincinnati Hillel will be giving Lauren 50% of all new gifts and gift increases for this year’s event. All contributions made to Help Hope Live (Helphopelive.org) are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law and are used specifically for Lauren’s uninsured medical and injury related expenses.
About the show
The team of professionals to support the contestants includes Susan Winters- assistant director, Pat Kelly-Musical Director, orchestrator, conductor; Steve Hoskins–Woodwinds; Michael Scharfe- Bass; and John Taylor-drums. Also, Andrew Wright, of CCM, is the lighting designer; and Clear Sound Design will be doing the sound.
The competition’s past competitors have gone on to get advanced degrees at some of the nations most prestigious universities including Julliard, Eastman School of Music, Rice, Yale School of Drama and Indiana. Others have starred in or appeared in Broadway and touring productions including Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Prom, Miss Saigon, The Book of Morman and Wicked.
Tickets to the show: Cincinnatihillel.org/campussuperstar-tickets
Philip Paul Trio at Cricket Lounge. Photo by Paula Norton
More than 50 years after playing his last session at King Records, drummer Philip Paul was still performing in jazz clubs and restaurants around Cincinnati.
Mr. Paul – who in person was quiet and always sharply attired – performed over a span of eight decades. Over that time, he became known for his meticulous playing and versatility of style, whether it was blues, country or rock ‘n’ roll. A street was named for him in Cincinnati. He shared his talent and encouraged young musicians. He was world-renowned. The last time Paul McCartney was in town, the Beatles legend wanted to meet Philip Paul.
The former studio drummer for King Records played on the original recordings of “The Twist” and “Fever,” and continued playing with his latest trio until just a few months ago. Mr. Paul, who lived in Evanston not far from King Records, died on January 30 at age 96.
“No one represented the amazing story of King Records better than Philip Paul. King was the most eclectic independent label and Phil’s drums can be heard on the entire rainbow of genres the label produced – driving R&B, jazz ballads, bebop, doo-wop, Country & Western, even bluegrass,” musician and music journalist Larry Nager wrote to me from Hawaii, where he now lives. “As a drummer he had more flexibility than, say, a tenor sax player or guitarist in not being locked into a single style. He even developed his own way of playing country rhythms, using a stick and a brush on his snare to create that “boom-chang” sound. But it was Phil’s calm and coolness and his skill at listening – perhaps the most important skill for a musician – that made him such a great sideman. He was the perfect ambassador for the King legacy, which had been neglected for far too long in a city known for celebrating almost everything about itself, from baseball to chili.”
A few years ago, I enjoyed listening to jazz at the Cricket Lounge in the Cincinnatian Hotel. It was the Billie Walker Trio, featuring that wonderful pianist, now gone. Setting the tone for the trio, unobtrusively and smoothly, was a superb drummer named Philip Paul, with the trio’s longtime bassist Ed Conley.
Mr. Paul’s playing was sophisticated, effortless. It was unforgettable for nearly anyone who ever heard him — or even better, played with him.Read More »
