Music in the Museum series

Vincent Dubois comes to Cincinnati Museum Center in October

Many of us were riveted when the great organ of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, was rescued after the fire, refurbished and rededicated at the reopening. Cincinnati Museum Center’s Music in the Museum series will open its season on Oct. 29 with Vincent Dubois, titular organist at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, where he serves alongside Olivier Latry and Philippe Lefebvre.  He is also Professor of organ interpretation and improvisation at the Hochschule für Musik (University of Music), Saarbrücken, Germany.

He has performed in major concert venues throughout Europe, North America, Asia and the Pacific. Dubois’ program will include: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, J. S. Bach; Choral No. 1 in E major, Franck; Prelude in C sharp minor Op.3, Rachmaninoff; Menuet and Rigaudon from Le Tombeau de Couperin, Ravel; Sonata on the 94th Psalm in C minor, J. Reubke; and Carillon de Westminster, Op. 54, No. 6, Vierne.

He’ll also collaborate with University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Professor of Percussion, Russell Burge in Boléro sur un thème de Charles Raquet, P. Cochereau; Fanfare for the Common Man, A. Copland; and Les sauvages from Les Indes galantes by Rameau.

The 1929 Grand E.M. Skinner Concert Organ is the centerpiece for Music in the Museum, a concert series hosted three times a year at Cincinnati Museum Center.

The rest of the series looks great, too:

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Presenting Johannes Skoog, Organist. Johannes Skoog is winner of the First Prize and the Bach Prize at the 2024 Canadian International Organ Competition and he is one of Sweden’s brightest young organists. He will collaborate with the combined Choirs of Christ Church Cathedral, Stephan Casurella, Director and St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Carlton Monroe, Director.

Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Presenting Isabelle Demers, Organist. Isabelle Demers is Associate Professor of Organ at McGill University. Her programs includes arias and other numbers in collaboration with University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Professor of Voice, Tenor, Daniel Weeks. You don’t want to miss “Nessun dorma”!

The concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: visit cincymuseum.org/music-in-the-museum. For questions, call (513) 287-7036

Organ series to return to Cincinnati Museum Center Rotunda

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 »