The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was embedded with the CSO to perform concerts to open the season. Photo by Mark Lyons with thanks to the CSO
Did you go to the CSO’s opening weekend? For the first time, the symphony season opened with a three-night festival in collaboration with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. There was a lot to take in.
Marsalis’ new Symphony No. 5, “Liberty,” was the centerpiece of the first program in Music Hall to open the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s season, Cristian Măcelaru’s second as music director. The combined orchestral programs of the first two nights were eclectic, swinging and riveting. The festival culminated Sunday, Oct. 4, with a show devoted solely to Marsalis and the JLCO. Listeners stood and roared at the conclusion of concerts on all three nights.
Wynton Marsalis and Nicola Benedetti, who performed Marsalis’ Violin Concerto, with CSO music director Cristian Măcelaru. Mark Lyons photo
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, on Sunday. Mark Lyons
Both Marsalis and Măcelaru spoke about this unusual opening weekend for the Business Courier story here.
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Cincinnati Pops is streaming two of their popular holiday shows — 7:30 p.m. Saturday Dec. 9 and 2 p.m. Sunday Dec. 10. You’ll find them here, or on the CSO/Pops YouTube channel.
Led by John Morris Russell, Holiday Pops is always an entertaining potpourri of festive music performed by a host of choruses, vocalists, dancers and handbell ringers. This year, vocalists Capathia Jenkins and Rafael Moras are headliners. They’re joined by the May Festival Chorus, SCPA Chorale, Sycamore High School Select Ensemble, Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble, Q-Kidz Dance Team, Studio for Dance, and handbell ringers from the Cincinnati Collaborative Ringing Project.
Images from last year’s We Are One festival. Photos by Mark Lyons
Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra is announcing events for its “We Are One: Hope” festival (Oct. 19 to Oct. 25) following the arrival of the 12-foot-tall puppet, Little Amal, in Cincinnati last month. Arabic for Hope, “Amal” is a puppet of a 10-year old Syrian refugee.
We Are One: Hope will promote the works and stories of those living in our region who came to the United States as immigrants, refugees, or displaced persons.
“Our goal is to be a leader in the music industry when it comes to using our artform to have a direct, positive impact on members of our community,” says CCO Executive Director Evan Gidley.
Most of this year’s events will take place in Greater Cincinnati neighborhoods that many immigrants and refugees call home, including Price Hill, Westwood, Northside, and Covington, KY. Events will feature both an educational and musical component and will invite the audience to participate in a community chorus that will perform at the final concert on October 25. (Scroll down to view the full lineup.)
“We are thrilled to present the second annual We Are One festival as we offer a platform for conversations that highlight the rich, diverse makeup of Cincinnati. Music and arts have the power to spark dialogue and perhaps even help us reimagine how we can better advocate with and for our refugee, immigrant, and displaced communities,” says CCO Associate Conductor Daniel Parsley.
Visual artist Michael Thompson will be auctioning off a work created at last year’s We Are One festival with proceeds benefiting the CCO.
All festival events are free, but reservations are required and can be obtained by visiting the CCO website at ccocincinnati.org or by calling the CCO box office at 513.723.1182 x2. Tax-deductible donations to the CCO are welcome for those who are able to give in an effort to help keep programming accessible.
The collaborative project features community partners such as Cincinnati Compass, Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA, Ignite Peace, Maketank Inc., and Refugee Connect as well as musical partners including Coro Volante, MYCincinnati, Northern Kentucky University Choirs, Thomas More University Choral Activities, and Little Miami Select Choirs. Organizations serving Cincinnati’s immigrant or refugee communities are invited to exhibit at the opening conversation.
We Are One: Hope is made possible with support from the Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation and Ameritas.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announced today that the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet has withdrawn from this weekend’s performances due to illness. Pianist George Li has agreed to step in on short notice, and in his CSO debut, Li will perform Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, in place of the previously announced Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2. The rest of the program will remain intact. Louis Langrée is conducting.
Li began piano lessons at age 4; at 11 he made his debut at Carnegie Hall. He is currently earning an artist diploma at the New England Conservatory. If you check his page, he has a vast repertory… Learn more about George Li here.
This weekend will mark the CSO’s first-ever Lunar New Year celebration, in partnership with the Alliance of Chinese Culture and Arts. Ticket holders are encouraged to arrive early for performances in the Music Hall foyer by local musicians and dancers representing the vibrant Asian cultures from around the world.
BOLD MOVES PLUS Cincinnati Ballet June 16-20 Aronoff Center P&G Hall [Downtown] This mixed-rep program is being re-imagined with the health and safety of our dancers and patrons top of mind. Wed-Thu, June 16-17 at 7:30pm Fri, June 18 at 8pm Sat, June 19 at 2pm & 8pm Sun, June 20 at 1pm & 6:30pm […]
CCM presents three concert streams featuring piano students performing in Robert J. Werner Recital Hall and in other performance spaces throughout the world!
Presented in conjunction with the CCMONSTAGEOnline series of concert streams, the COVID Etude Project showcases three complete sets of etudes by composers Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy and William Bolcom, performed by CCM students and streamed online nightly from Friday, March 26 through Sunday, March 28. Each concert will stream simultaneously on CCM’s website, YouTube channel and Facebook page.
“The COVID Etude Project is a joint-studio project of mine and Professor Ran Dank,” says CCM Associate Professor of Piano Soyeon Kate Lee. “It was conceived to keep our students motivated and create a sense of purpose and community during this unprecedented time.”
“Many of our students are overseas, some whom we have never met in-person, and we have tried to make the…
This was my review of the last local performance by the great pianist, whose touch and tone were as beautiful as ever two years ago. Leon Fleisher, who became a virtuoso of piano literature for the left hand after suffering injury to his right hand, died on Sunday in Baltimore at 92. May he rest in peace.
Leon Fleisher performed a luminous recital in Werner Hall at CCM on Saturday night.
Perhaps playing the piano is good for longevity. Amazingly, there are still two classical pianists who are concertizing into their 90s.
Earlier this year, Menahem Pressler, 94, the founding anchor of the Beaux Arts Trio, performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488, with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He made his debut with that orchestra under Eugene Ormandy in 1947. And, he’s still teaching at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University.
Over the weekend, Leon Fleisher, who is celebrating his 90th birthday, performed a recital as part of the Art of the Piano festival at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. (The festival’s founder, Awadagin Pratt, studied with Fleisher at Peabody.) As a teacher, Fleisher is a direct descendant of Beethoven, passed down through Carl Czerny, Theodor Leschetizky and Artur Schnabel.
Warm up for the start of the Major League Baseball season with a special virtual performance of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” that showcases UC College-Conservatory of Music students and alumni with MLB players. The performance is available to watch online.
Alumnus Harrison Sheckler (BM Piano, ’19) brought 200 people together for the performance, which was professionally produced with help from former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo. The performance features singers and musicians from CCM and the Brooklyn College. Filling out the roster for the project are Bret Saberhagen (pitcher in the Royals Hall of Fame and 1985 World Series champion and former Met); Jim Day (FOX Red’s baseball announcer); Susan Roush Dellinger (author of “Red Legs and Black Sox” and granddaughter of Baseball Hall of Famer Edd Roush); Nick Martinez (pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball and former Ranger’s pitcher); Aristides Aquino…
