Category: theater

Ed Stern, former Playhouse producing artistic director, has died at 72

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Ed Stern / Photo by Keith Jochim

By now you have heard that Ed Stern, former producing artistic director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, has died. The Playhouse posted this statement:

It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Ed Stern (1946-2019).

Ed served as the Playhouse’s Producing Artistic Director for 20 years from 1992 – 2012, fully one-third of the Playhouse’s history. During his tenure, the Playhouse won two Tony Awards, had three shows on Broadway and one off-Broadway, had productions on four continents, established a new play commissioning program, greatly expanded our education and outreach programs and completed a major renovation of the Playhouse’s public and production support spaces in 1997. Ed set the bar for theatrical artistic excellence within our community. Beyond that, he helped foster the growth of the other professional theatres in town and championed all of the arts. He will long be remembered as one of the Playhouse’s key leaders.

Ed will be deeply missed.

Here is my tribute, for the Cincinnati Business Courier. (The Arts Front may be read for free.)

Donations in his memory may be made to the Edward J. Stern Endowment for Artistic Excellence at Playhouse in the Park or to the University of Virginia Theatre Department.

Music Hall arts groups, FC Cincinnati pledge “good faith” agreement

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A recent acoustical study determined that crowd noise from the FC Cincinnati stadium will infiltrate Music Hall’s Springer Auditorium, where concerts by the CSO, Opera, Ballet and others are held.

For the past week, there have been minute-by-minute reports on how the new $250 million stadium for FC Cincinnati will impact Music Hall, its tenants, and Cincinnati Ballet, which has its headquarters at Liberty and Central Parkway.

I’m publishing the statement from arts groups that arrived in my inbox today. For more, Chris Wetterich at the Business Courier is covering all the news at bizjournals.com/cincinnati. To read the latest news about City Council postponing its vote on FC Cincinnati’s development plan, click here.

JOINT STATEMENT FROM CINCINNATI ARTS ASSOCIATION, MUSIC HALL RESIDENT PERFORMING ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, and MUSIC HALL REVITALIZATION COMPANY

This morning the Arts Organizations entered into an agreement of cooperation and support with FC Cincinnati regarding specifically the relationship between the new stadium and Music Hall. The Parties in regard to Music Hall and Stadium Operations have agreed to work together as good neighbors and in good faith on concerns related to noise, parking, traffic, and scheduling. Our collective goal is to minimize the number of occasions where performances at Music Hall occur at the same time as FC Cincinnati home games, and to minimize the impact of the stadium’s noise on Music Hall on the occasions when there are simultaneous events.

Specifically, this will include minimizing the stadium’s noise impact on Music Hall through stadium design and other sound mitigation measures at Music Hall. Regarding parking, if FC Cincinnati manages the Town Center Garage on game days starting in March of 2021 per an agreement with the City of Cincinnati, the team has committed to making a substantial amount of parking in that garage available to audience members attending performances at Music Hall when games overlap with performances. To be clear, this agreement does not speak to the ongoing negotiations between Cincinnati Ballet and FCC regarding the Ballet Center.

A rendering of the stadium site on the West End near Central Parkway/courtesy Business Courier

Scot Woolley was a multi-talented performer and mentor to many

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Scot Woolley at the keyboard with his brother, CSO violinist Stacey Woolley

Scot Woolley will be remembered as one of Cincinnati’s brightest stars and an indispensable member of the region’s arts community from Northern Kentucky to Dayton.

He was a gifted pianist, singer, conductor, arranger, dancer and composer who worked around the world. He was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a faculty member at Wright State University, where he was music director and voice instructor.

Mr. Woolley died on Jan. 26 after suffering a medical emergency while driving to his Westwood home. He was 60.

“A terrible void has been left and nobody can fill it,” said his brother, Stacey Woolley, a violinist in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. “Scot really revered the Great American Songbook and the old Broadway. He loved Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin and George Gershwin. He revered the lyrics of Johnny Mercer and the high bar that was set by the MGM Studio. That’s what he tried to pass along to the generation that followed, that you must look back and understand that you’re all standing on the shoulders of giants.”Read More »

Who are the next leaders in the arts?

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One of the most interesting stories I have had the privilege to write for the Business Courier was about 10 up-and-coming young arts patrons who will be guiding our great Cincinnati arts institutions in the decades to come. For as long as I’ve covered the arts here, there has been hand-wringing over who will replace those great philanthropists and board leaders who have gone before. The Nipperts and Corbetts are just two of most well-known names from the previous generation, among many others.

Cincinnati has a great history of generosity and stewardship that goes back more than a century. You only need to consider this:

The CSO turns 125 in 2020

Cincinnati Opera turns 100 in 2020

Art Academy of Cincinnati turns 150 in 2019

UC’s College-Conservatory of Music is celebrating its 150th this year.

That kind of legacy takes leadership and creativity. And it takes changing with the times. Who could have imagined that an arts event called Blink could bring a million people downtown last year?

These young leaders already hold some of the city’s most important board roles. I think the arts are and will be in very good hands.

So who are the 10? Read the story here.

Where to find arts news and reviews: Visit the new Arts Front at bizjournals.com/cincinnati. It’s free, but you may need to register for a free subscription. For the latest CSO review of Beethoven’s Ninth, click here.

In memoriam: Theater critic Jackie Demaline

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Attending Cincinnati Opera’s The Barber of Seville with Jackie and Polly Campbell, right, in 2005. Photo courtesy of Jeff Swinger

This was my favorite photo of Jackie, taken at exactly this time of year — opera season — in 2005. You can see Jackie’s exuberance at being there. She did everything exuberantly. She approached her cancer and the final months of her life fearlessly. To echo many of those who knew what she went through, she was the bravest person I know.

Jackie died early this morning at age 68.

Here is my tribute for the Business Courier.

VAE’s ‘Candlelit Christmas’ a radiant celebration of the season

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Earl Rivers with the Vocal Arts Ensemble and Canterbury Brass. The concert will air on WGUC (90.9) at 7 p.m. Thursday. Thanks to John Ewalt, photo.

The Vocal Arts Ensemble’s annual Candlelit Christmas concert offered transformative choral treats spanning centuries and continents.

Sunday’s concert in Over-the-Rhine’s Memorial Hall was packed – the third sellout of the season. And small wonder. The all-professional vocal ensemble has developed a following for its inventive programs and peerless execution.

With the collaboration of the Canterbury Brass, this program captured the holiday spirit with a few entertaining and humorous selections, too. Who could ever forget the brass quintet’s “Twelve Days of Christmas”? The clever arrangement by Howard Cable altered the lyrics to include “some brass music on a CD,” with a dozen snippets from the classical hit parade played by the brass musicians between verses. The audience cheered.Read More »

Review: First impressions of Music Hall

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img_8959“CINCINNATI – A $143 million renovation of the National Historic Landmark pushed the orchestra forward, narrowed the room, and cut 1,000 seats. In the Cincinnati Symphony’s homecoming, the acoustics were still a work in progress.”

Read my first impressions of Music Hall’s acoustics by clicking here:  “Old is New Again in Cincinnati’s Reborn Music Hall” at Classical Voice North America, journal of the Music Critics Association of North America.

img_8950I went back on Saturday for the free Community Open House, and was amazed to see thousands of people of all ages and some with strollers and wheelchairs, pouring through the doors and visiting every nook and cranny of the hall. Read More »

CSO in Spain

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San Sebastian
The audience in San Sebastian, Spain. Photo: Chris Pinelo

On Monday, the Cincinnati Symphony took a charter flight to Bilbao, Spain, which, if you check your map is midway between its two tour destinations of San Sebastián and Santander.  The orchestra performed its Proms program last night (Tuesday) in Palacio de Congresso del Kursaal, San Sebastián as part of that city’s Musical Fortnight Festival. It is a northern port city of breathtaking beauty.

The orchestra was front-page news in a large feature in El Diario Vasco. Tonight (Aug. 30), in the same venue, the orchestra will be joined by violinist Renaud Capuçon in the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1.  On Aug. 31, they’ll repeat that program (which includes John Adams’ “Short Ride in a Fast Machine” and Brahms’ First Symphony) in Santander, in the Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria.

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Meanwhile, reviews are still being posted from their U.K. performances. One from a website called Bachtrack wrote about Bernstein’s “On the Waterfront”:   “Langrée’s interpretation was spot on; an excellent opening solo from principal horn Elizabeth Freimuth – a real trooper who also made a strong contribution to the Tchaikovsky – was full and evocative with just the right level of cinematic dreaminess.” The reviewer rounded out his views of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth by saying,  “Indeed the CSO’s brass section proved to be a major highlight of the evening with its even intonation and broad rotund sound.”

 

CSO reviews from the road

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Reviews are starting to appear for the CSO’s concerts in the UK, including the famous BBC Proms. Photo: Chris Christodoulou

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is basking in the glow of positive reviews for its debut performances at both the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms in Royal Albert Hall, the first leg of its three-week tour of six nations.  Geoff Brown of The Times wrote that the orchestra’s program for the 58th Proms showed them “what we have been missing.”

“There’s that almost inordinate precision and sparkle, best experienced in its encore, Bernstein’s ‘Candide’ overture; and an intense clarity of colour and line, so telling in the early stages of Copland’s ‘Lincoln Portrait.’ And how about the sonic ballast, partly fuelled by the muscular buzz of double basses, placed on risers, facing the front?” he wrote.

By the way, it looks like the editors have corrected their initial spelling of our fair city (Cincinatti).Read More »

Cincinnati Symphony makes Proms debut

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Photos: Chris Christodoulou

Did you hear it? The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Sunday evening debut in London’s Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms was met with deafening cheers and applause from the Proms audience, estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 people.

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The enthusiastic audience for the Cincinnatians in Royal Albert Hall. Photo: Chris Christodoulou

I think the response surprised even the announcer on the BBC’s Radio 3, which was airing the concert live from Royal Albert Hall.

And what a concert it was. The program opened with Bernstein’s suite from the film, “On the Waterfront,” followed by Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” which was premiered by the CSO in 1942. The celebrity narrator was British actor Charles Dance, who spoke Lincoln’s words with a bit of an American accent.

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A capacity crowd of an estimated 6,000 for the CSO’s debut at the Proms in Royal Albert Hall, London. Photo: Chris Christodoulou

The announcer remarked that the piece had not been performed in the U.K. since 1943, when Sir Adrian Boult led its U.K. premiere at the Proms. At the intermission break, the broadcast continued with a panel discussion about Lincoln – interesting to hear from the British perspective.

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A thrilling performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth had the Brits cheering. Photo: Chris Christodoulou

The second half featured Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, given a high-voltage performance led by Louis Langrée. For an encore, Langrée and the orchestra delighted the crowd with Bernstein’s splashy Overture to Candide.

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Note the microphones over the CSO in their BBC Proms debut, broadcast live all over the UK and streamed live to the world. Photo: Chris Christodoulou

The broadcast was also notable because it was the first time that Cincinnatians could hear their orchestra, live in concert on tour across the Atlantic. I was impressed by the quality of the pickup – it was so clear and balanced, they could have been playing in downtown Cincinnati. But then the BBC obviously has lots of experience at recording and broadcasting.

If you missed the show, you’ll find it archived at BBC Radio 3 for another 30 days. In addition, Cincinnati’s WGUC-FM 90.9 is planning to air the American portion of the Proms broadcast, locally at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 6. (WGUC will also air the fabled Last Night of the Proms on Sept. 26).

Today the orchestra flies to Northern Spain.