Alan Rafferty, a cellist in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and CCM professor, is artistic director of a new, three-week festival, Ascent International Chamber Music Festival in Cincinnati. Alan tells me that 70 students have been at the festival, which is based at CCM, coming from all over the U.S.
In addition, there’s a concert series that continues this week, with three more concerts scheduled. The “headliners” include the renowned violinist Cho-Liang Lin and the Miró Quartet.
Performances are in Werner Recital Hall at CCM, which has excellent acoustics.
Visit ascentmusic.org to read more. The concerts are ticketed — visit Event Brite to secure your tickets.
Cincinnati Opera’s 2019 production “Blind Injustice” was by the same creative team. Photo provided.
Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) announce the next workshop in their groundbreaking joint program, Opera Fusion: New Works.
The featured opera currently has the working title of ROBESON Opera and includes music by Scott Davenport Richards and a libretto by Richards and David Cote, with CCM Professor Robin Guarino as dramaturg. Guarino will also serve as stage director. ROBESON Opera will receive a 10-day workshop culminating in a public performance of excerpts on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at 3 p.m. in Music Hall’s Wilks Studio.
Inspired by historical events, ROBESON Opera also resonates with today’s ongoing fights for social justice.
ROBESON Opera (working title) is the latest work from the creative team behind the critically acclaimed 2019 opera Blind Injustice. ROBESON Opera is an epic and inspiring examination of Black singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson (1898–1976). A global superstar, Robeson leveraged his fame to fight on the frontlines for equality. His heroic and uncompromising efforts against fascism and racism worldwide led Robeson to be entangled in the tragic power struggle between the two superpowers of the twentieth century—the United States and the USSR—with his own life and career hanging in the balance.
Funded through a gift from the Mellon Foundation, Opera Fusion: New Works (OF:NW) is a partnership between Cincinnati Opera and CCM dedicated to fostering the development of new American operas. This collaboration is jointly led by Evans Mirageas, The Harry T. Wilks artistic director of Cincinnati Opera, and Robin Guarino, professor of opera at CCM.
Admission: FREE; reservations are required and seating is limited. Contact Cincinnati Opera Box Office (513) 241-2742 M-F, 12-5 p.m.
Last week, I had the privilege of talking to opera star Ryan Speedo Green about his upcoming appearance, 3 p.m. Sunday March 27 at the First Unitarian Church in Avondale, presented by Matinee Musicale.
Currently, he is singing his fifth production this season at the Metropolitan Opera, “Ariadne auf Naxos.”
He told me this inspiring story about his 4th-grade teacher, Elizabeth Hughes, who encouraged and believed in him and stayed in touch through thick and thin. I’ve been reading the excellent book about his life, “Sing For Your Life” by Daniel Bergner, and it’s detailed there.
But we touched on many other topics. He has been to Cincinnati before — to audition for graduate studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. (He ended up going to Florida State University.) He’ll be giving a free master class at CCM on Saturday. And he has a brother in Dayton.
But he has never set foot in Music Hall.
Here’s a bit about Sunday’s program. He’s opening with the spiritual, “Deep River.” Besides some German lieder by Hugo Wolf and opera arias, he will be singing African American art songs.
“I love showcasing African-American music in a classical style. I will throw in spiritual because, obviously, it’s part of my history and part of African-American history,” he said.
“Then, German is sort of my lifeblood at the moment. It’s where I became a man and a musician in the opera world, living in Vienna. I been living in Europe for almost eight going on nine years, and (singing at) one of the greatest opera houses in Europe at the Wiener Staatsoper for five of those years. I learned so much from there, being immersed amongst the Austrian and German culture and really got to hone my German.”
Green will be singing Mahler, Wagner (an aria from “Der fliegende Holländer”) and one his favorite Verdi arias from “MacBeth.” And, we can expect a piece from one of his favorite oratorios, Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.”
“I consider myself operatically a Verdi – Wagner singer,” he said. “I love Mozart. I love all of these composers. I’m going to give you a little bit of a taste of my future.
“I’m excited to showcase my gambit of musical styles.”
Tickets, $25, at matineemusicalecincinnati.org or call 513-977-8838. Green also performs a free master class, 1:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday March 26 in Werner Hall at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Mezzo-soprano Megan Moore. Photo by Jennifer Taylor
Megan Moore, a 31-year-old mezzo-soprano from West Chester Township, has won a 2022 George London Award, which includes a prize of $10,000. She was one of five winners recently announced of the 50th George London Foundation Competition.
The final round with 12 finalists took place at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City on Feb. 25. Susanna Phillips, international opera star and 2005 George London Award winner, was the livestream host. (Watch it here.) Megan’s performance begins at 1:01:50 in the video.
The other 2022 George London Award winners are Erik Grendahl, Timothy Murray, Blake Denson and Eric Ferring.
Megan recently completed an Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School.
Last summer, she created the role of Ino in the world premiere of John Corigliano & Mark Adamo’s Lord of Cries at Santa Fe Opera. Megan looks forward to her Metropolitan Opera debut in Brett Dean’s Hamlet, opening May 13. Among her many awards, she has won top honors from Young Concert Artist International Auditions. She’ll make her Kennedy Center debut on April 11, presented by Young Concert Artists — followed by Merkin Hall on April 20 and Carnegie Hall on May 2.
The competition for young American and Canadian opera singers has many winners who have gone on to international stardom – the list of past winners includes Christine Brewer, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Catherine Malfitano, James Morris, Matthew Polenzani, Sondra Radvanovsky, Neil Shicoff, and Dawn Upshaw.
In the production of Terence Blanchard’s opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones that opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2021-22 season, six George London Award winners were featured in the cast: Will Liverman, Latonia Moore, Ryan Speedo Green, Norman Garrett, Donovan Singletary, and Errin Duane Brooks.
So far, Megan hasn’t appeared lately on Cincinnati stages, but we hope that is in her future!
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 »
Melissa Gelfin De-Poli and Cervilio Miguel Amador dancing The Nutcracker from a previous Cincinnati Ballet season. Photography: Peter Mueller
Thanks to Covid-19, this has been a terrible time for everyone, including workers and performers in the arts, who have been among the hardest hit in the nation. And the new variants have not made their comeback any easier.
Hamilton County has teamed up with ArtsWave to announce that it will award $2 million in nonprofit arts and cultural grants funded through the County’s allocation of American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars.
The grants will be awarded to combat the negative economic impact of Covid-19 on the local arts community and to fuel the region’s economic restart. Links to the applications and funding guidelines are available on the County’s Covid relief site – https://513relief.org/ and https://www.artswave.org/apply.
The Covid-19 relief grants will cover costs incurred due to business disruption, in a two-year period in which performing arts venues and museums lost significant box office and admissions revenue. The grants can also cover costs of mitigation expenses for re-opening and adaptations required for digital programming. Total grant amounts will be based on operating revenue from the prior fiscal year.
ArtsWave will host a virtual information session on Wednesday, February 3, 2022, from 12–1 p.m. answering questions and outlining the eligibility and application process. To join the information session, visit artswave.org/apply and click on “Hamilton County ARP Arts and Culture Grants Information Session.”
View of the CSO performing a livestreamed concert in Nov. 2020
I’ll never forget the fear in the eyes of both performers and audience members in the first few live, indoor performances I saw in the early months of the pandemic in 2020. We were masked, spaced vastly apart and there was no intermission to avoid viral spread. Otherwise, many performances were livestreamed online, with musicians masked and separated by space and screens.
Then in 2021, as vaccines became available and theaters began to reopen to full audiences, there was elation and relief by many who were able to finally attend a show in person.
Every concert, play, ballet or art exhibition I attended in 2021 was deeply moving because it showed the perseverance of artists — indeed of all humanity — during this unprecedented time. I feel that we’ve come a long way.
Now, we are buffeted again by the Omicron variant. Just announced, there are at least two museum “pauses” (Cincinnati Art Museum is closed Jan. 3-12 and the Taft Museum of Art is closed Jan. 3-13).
“Hairspray” is postponed to a later date due to Covid in the cast.
There are also a few postponed performances. At the Aronoff Center, “Hairspray” scheduled to play January 4 – 9, 2022 is being rescheduled due to breakthrough positive Covid cases within the company of “Hairspray.” Ticket holders are encouraged to hold onto their tickets while the engagement is being rescheduled.
At Music Hall, the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati is postponing its January 8 and 9 performances of “The Song Among Us” to a later date, to be announced. The release states that the postponement “is prompted by production challenges exacerbated by the recent rise in positive Covid cases across the nation.” Ticket holders may complete this form or call the box office at 513-381-3300 for ticket options, including donations, exchanges, and refunds.
I prefer to see the glass half full. I believe we will get through this, and the arts will persevere.
Singers Michelle DeYoung and Sean Panikkar share bows in Mahler’s “The Song of the Earth” with the CSO. (Photo by Lee Snow)
I wrote a list of some of my favorite performances in 2021 in a column for the Business Courier. My list begins with Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Music Hall last March, and ends with “The Marriage of Figaro” at CCM in November. I’d like to know some of yours, too. (Let me know here, or on Facebook.)
And looking ahead, here is my list of “best bets” in 2022. It’s really just a broad sweep — because there are so many chamber music, vocal concerts, art exhibitions and dance performances that have yet to be announced. I think we have a lot to anticipate.
Verdi’s opulent “Aida” will be presented at Cincinnati Opera in summer 2022. Photo courtesy of Opéra de Montréal, Yves Renaud
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.
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 »
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.”
