In 2025, Cincinnati Opera to present ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ and opera favorites

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Cincinnati Opera will revive its lavish production of Tosca in 2025. Philip Groshong , photo

For its 105th anniversary this summer, June 12-July 27, 2025, Cincinnati Opera will present the all-time favorite musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” in a new production. The season also will include Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and Puccini’s “Tosca.” The 2025 Summer Festival, which will feature acclaimed casts, will include the return of the popular Studio Sessions, intimate, artist-curated concerts presented cabaret-style. All performances are in Cincinnati’s Music Hall.

This will also mark Evans Mirageas‘ 20th season as Cincinnati Opera’s artistic director.Read More »

Organ series to return to Cincinnati Museum Center Rotunda

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If you’ve ever heard the 1929 Grand E.M. Skinner Symphonic Concert Organ, you know the majesty of this instrument.

This historic organ, lovingly restored and installed in the Rotunda of Cincinnati Museum, can be heard in three concerts this season. Three renowned organists joined by local choirs and musicians will perform selections on the organ from Wagner to Messiaen, using every color of the symphonic spectrum.

Cincinnati Museum Center has announce the 2024–2025 Music in the Museum series, where they look forward to sharing the glorious sounds of the organ with you. Tickets are available now. Full programs are listed below.

During a capacity audience that I heard last season, s Michael Barone, host of “Pipedreams” on American Public Media told the large crowd, “There is no other organ like this in this kind of setting, anywhere. You have a treasure.”

Nearly 5,000 Pipes and four manuals — From 1987–2010, the 1929 Grand E. M. Skinner Symphonic Concert Organ was restored and installed in specially designed organ chambers. The main chambers are located on either side of the Rotunda where it meets the rear concourse. The antiphonal division is over the entrance to the Cincinnati History Museum. The organ has nearly 5,000 pipes played from a console with four manual keyboards.

Here’s the lineup:Read More »

Concert Review: Love letter to the Viola

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Photos by Gayna Bassin

It’s unusual to hear an entire program of music written for the viola. The recital on Sept. 15 in Memorial Hall by violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt and pianist Adam Golka was a rare treat.

They opened the Matinee Musicale concert season with an inventive program that included music by two women composers, born 100 years apart. Pajaro-van de Stadt called it “a love letter to the viola.”

Brahms’ Sonata Op. 120, No. 2 in E-flat Major was the perfect introduction to this duo. (The work was originally written for clarinet and piano.) I was instantly struck by the rich, compelling tone of Pajaro-van de Stadt’s instrument. The warmth was palpable in her phrasing, and she took her time to allow the music to breathe in this wonderful, autumnal work.Read More »

Rick Steves reveals cancer diagnosis; still set to live film Pops show in Music Hall

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Travel writer Rick Steves visiting the Sognefjord in Norway.

The world’s most famous travel writer Rick Steves has just announced on social media that he received a diagnosis of prostate cancer. He sounds upbeat in his message, saying it hasn’t spread and he will likely have surgery in late September.

“I have great trust in my doctor and in Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. And I have lots more to be thankful for…including the support of friends and loved ones and a strong faith that I’m in good hands,” Steves wrote on X.

The Cincinnati Symphony and Pops spokesperson Felecia Tchen Kanney confirms they are moving forward with plans for the concerts, Sept. 13-15, as well as the live filming and recording of the shows that will be made available to PBS stations across the country.

Wishing Rick all the best!

Here are the Pops concert details, with filming in collaboration with CET.

The Cincinnati Pops and CET, Cincinnati’s public television station,  are partnering for the live filming and recording of the Pops’ September 13-15 program, Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey.

John Morris Russell leads the Pops  program, which will feature on-stage narration by popular public television host and best-selling guidebook author Rick Steves. The music will include composers Edvard Grieg, Camille Saint-Saëns, Bedřich Smetana, Johann Strauss Jr., Giuseppe Verdi and others. Steves will host the program and share personal stories of his extensive travels across the continent as well as insights into European history.

All three performances, including occasional shots of Music Hall audiences, will be filmed and made available for PBS stations across the country.

For tickets and more information, visit cincinnatisymphony.org.

CSO adds new “experiences”

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The Fall season is fast approaching. And here are some fun, just-announced Friday Experiences and CSO Proof programs coming up during the CSO season:

NEW FRIDAY EXPERIENCES
COPLAND: SYMPHONY IN LIGHT — Jan. 10, 2025 in Music Hall
For this special concert experience, you’ll be treated to a multi-sensory performance of Copland’s Symphony No. 3,  accompanied by stunning visual and lighting effects created by designer Luke Kritzeck.
DVOŘÁK DECONSTRUCTED — Feb. 7, Music Hall
You’ll start your evening with full performance of Dvořák’s New World Symphony – a work that resonates with emotional depth and continues to evoke a sense of longing, discovery, and the blending of old and new worlds.
After that, choose-your-own adventure by exploring as many of these offerings as you desire:

Read More »

Honoring the legacy of Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood

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BSO principal bassist Ed Barker performs the Koussevitzky Double Bass Concerto on Koussevitzky’s own bass, with Andris Nelsons conducting. (Photo by Hilary Scott provided by the Boston Symphony Orchestra)

I was surprised to learn during my visit last weekend to the Tanglewood Festival, celebrating the 150th birthday of Serge Koussevitzky this summer, that the legendary conductor almost came to Cincinnati.

The distinguished music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949, Koussevitzky was also a composer, a virtuoso of the double bass, champion of new music and influential mentor of dozens of conductors and composers, including Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. In a panel discussion I attended at Tanglewood, he was credited with literally rediscovering American classical music.

But before 1924, the Russian-born conductor was considering posts at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Perhaps his fate was sealed years earlier when Koussevitzky’s onetime teacher and former BSO music director Arthur Nikisch told him that he would oneday be music director of the BSO. (No worries: Cincinnati ended up with Fritz Reiner in 1924 instead.)

The Tanglewood Festival, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops in Lenox, MA, in the beautiful Berkshires, is a magical place. It has long been on my bucket list. This year, the festival welcomed critics and music journalists for the annual meeting of the Music Critics Association of North America. Our schedule included BSO concerts conducted by music director Andris Nelsons, panel discussions and a terrific Festival of Contemporary Music, curated by composers Steven Mackey and the Cuban-American Pulitzer Prize winning composer Tania León. Read More »

Paul McCartney sending message to ‘Liverpool’ opening night audience

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Photo by Mary McCartney

Former Beatle Paul McCartney will not be attending the July 18 opening night performance of “Liverpool Oratorio,” the world premiere of it’s first-ever staged version presented by Cincinnati Opera in Music Hall. But he will send a personal message to Cincinnati opera audiences, officials said on July 15.

“While we’ve just learned that Sir Paul is unable to travel to Cincinnati for opening night, he wanted to be with us at Music Hall however he could. He’s shared an exclusive message intended just for Liverpool Oratorio audience members—only those in attendance at Music Hall will have the chance to experience it,” said artistic director Evans Mirageas, in a note to attendees of “To Sir with Love,” a party taking place after the opening night show.

An audio of Sir Paul’s message will be played for the opening night audience.

Don’t give up — McCartney could potentially appear for another performance during the run, which includes four addditional shows through July 27. That is not confirmed, however.

A city-wide “Get Paul to Music Hall” campaign has been mounted to invite him to the premiere. Tickets are nearly sold out for opening night, but some remain for the rest of the run.

McCartney — along with composer Carl Davis — penned the oratorio for the 150th anniversary of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society in 1991. It’s a love letter to Liverpool, with personal remembrances from McCartney’s boyhood there. The oratorio has never been presented with opera-style staging, sets, lighting and costumes before. There will even be ballet dancers.

You’ll find more information about the production here: I interviewed the creative team and two of the leading cast members. (Cincinnati Business Courier arts stories are free to read.)

For the full synopsis, performance times and tickets, click here.

 

Drama at Music Hall before the opera

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A review of La Traviata is coming… It’s a gorgeous production and a must see. Unfortunately, there was an incident at Music Hall last night just as we were arriving. Here’s the statement from Chris Milligan, general director and CEO, just released:

As you may be aware, there was a police incident outside Music Hall on Thursday, June 27, just as our opening night performance of La Traviata was about to begin.

Police Chief Teresa Theetge offered a public statement that police officers had been in pursuit of a suspect accused of attacking a woman in a neighborhood west of downtown. The chase ended near Music Hall, where the armed suspect was shot by police. The suspect died at the scene.

More information is available here: https://www.wvxu.org/local-news/2024-06-27/police-kill-man-outside-music-hall-after-he-reportedly-pointed-a-gun-at-officers.Read More »

Louis Langrée withdraws from another concert

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Louis Langrée  is shown with soloist Inon Barnatan, the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a 2020 performance of Beethoven’s Akademie 1808 concert in Music Hall/AJ Waltz, photo

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has just announced that music director Louis Langrée has withdrawn from CSO subscription and special programs on May 3 & 4 due to an injury.

CSO Associate Conductor Samuel Lee, recent winner of the 2024 Malko Competition, will conduct the May 3 & 4 CSO subscription concert, Beethoven Symphony No. 7 & Dessner Premieres, which includes the U.S. premiere of Bryce Dessner’s Piano Concerto with Alice Sara Ott.

CSO Assistant Conductor Daniel Wiley will conduct the May 3 CSO special program, WIRES, featuring Bryce Dessner and his Concerto for Two Pianos with internationally acclaimed piano duo and sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque. You may recall that Wiley stepped in on about a day’s notice to lead concerts last weekend. Here is the review.

Langrée is concluding his 11-year tenure this month. He is to lead his final concerts as CSO music director on May 10-11 in Music Hall.

We wish him a very speedy recovery!

Learn more about Samuel Lee here.

Learn more about Daniel Wiley here.