Snow day: Pay what you wish at CSO tonight

January 22, 2016January 22, 2016 janellegelfandLeave a comment

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is betting that the worst of the storm of the century, Jonas will miss Cincinnati. They are offering a deal — name your own price for Friday night by calling 513-381-3300 and asking for Pay What You Can tickets. Or, for either Friday or Saturday, you can use promo code STAY AWAY JONAS to get half off tickets for either performance. Both concerts are 8 p.m. in Music Hall.

Here’s the program:

Guest conductor Cristian Măcelaru leads Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations, which includes the lovely “Nimrod” heard at Lumenocity 2014. The soloist is the extraordinary percussionist Colin Currie, who performs music written for him by American composer Julia Wolfe.

In riSE and fLY, subtitled “A Body Concerto,” he first plays entirely on his body, with claps, chest slaps and stamps, then moves to a variety of found objects for “street percussion” effects.

Gunther Schuller had lifelong ties to Cincinnati

Also featured on this program is music of Gunther Schuller, who at age 17 was named Principal Horn of the CSO and has composed two works for the orchestra. Here’s my tribute to Schuller, written when he died in June.

Best of 2015

December 29, 2015 janellegelfand1 Comment

Everyone loves lists. Here are just 10 of my favorite concert memories from 2015. As soon as I wrote them, I realized there were many more I had left out, from the superb concert:nova concerts to Xavier Piano Series, the Linton Series, and a wonderful Mahler concert recently by the CCM Philharmonia.

Best rock fusion: Shrieking fans, long lines snaking to the bars, a crush of people surrounding a band in the lobby – those are things you wouldn’t expect at a concert of the 120-year-old Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra’s second annual collaboration in Music Hall with Cincinnati’s MusicNOW Festival, founded by Bryce Dessner a decade ago, rocked. The March concerts included the debut of Dessner’s indie-rock band The National with Louis Langrée and the Cincinnati Symphony – a first for both.

Cincinnati Opera's Turandot — Cincinnati Opera’s Turandot

Best sight gags in an opera: Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte,” directed by Robin Guarino at CCM in April, had bawdy translations and hilarious sight gags that drew belly laughs. The updated production featured a Mid-Century Modern house with a hot tub, and a couple of swinging Albanian strangers looking like John Lennon and George Harrison had just wandered off the set of the “The Magical Mystery Tour.” It was brilliantly sung by CCM opera students and Mozart’s witty music was buoyant and fleet in the hands of conductor Mark Gibson.Read More »

Cincinnati’s philanthropy: Why do people give to the arts?

May 10, 2015May 10, 2015 janellegelfandLeave a comment

There have been some astonishing stories in the past week or two about Cincinnati’s support for the arts. The Lindner family is giving $10 million to the Music Hall renovation project. The CSO has raised $26 million, which will both build back the orchestra to 90 players and balance the books. Read how the orchestra turned itself around in six years.
And the ArtsWave campaign hit a new high.
On Friday, a visitor from New York asked me why there is such passion for the symphony, opera, ballet, museums and theater in such a small market? And why do people care enough to give and keep giving?
I said I think it goes back to those German immigrants of the 19th century– it’s in the DNA.
What do you think?
CSO officials annouce $26 million in gifts on Thursday in Music Hall

joshua Bell signs autographs

A fan takes a selfie

Louie Langree and orchestra taking bows

Festival frenzy

April 6, 2015 janellegelfandLeave a comment

Hilary Hahn and Hauschka appear this Friday at the Art Museum

Has anyone noticed all of the classical music festivals this year? Bryce Dessner’s MusicNOW seemed to be a huge success, with big crowds at the symphony and sell-out crowds at the smaller venues. Here are my articles about the festival:

MusicNOW: Rock, symphony and world premieres

The National, CSO electrify together

CSO, MusicNOW make cutting-edge music together

And Tatiana Berman’s Constella Festival opens on Wednesday with 10 events, as well as two “partner” events. I’m particularly interested in Friday’s concert (7 p.m. April 10), featuring superstar violinist Hilary Hahn with Hauschka ((the musical alias of Germany-based Volker Bertelmann) to give the Cincinnati premiere of their project “Silfra.” at Cincinnati Art Museum, Fath Auditorium. Read More »

Conlon’s departure raises questions about May Festival’s future

March 2, 2015 janellegelfandLeave a comment

James Conlon leading the May Festival chorus, soloists and the Cincinnati Symphony at Carnegie Hall last May

One of the big stories in the arts world this week was the announcement that James Conlon will leave the Cincinnati May Festival after the 2016 season. I posed a few questions in a column today that I think are worth revisiting.

The first question has to do with Music Hall: Read More »

A HIP performance, impressions of Jeremy Denk and other musings

December 28, 2014December 28, 2014 janellegelfandLeave a comment

I had great intentions to go to many more holiday concerts this month before I was laid flat by the Virus that hit Cincinnati. So, here are a few impressions from December:

Pianist Jeremy Denk visited Chamber Music Cincinnati early in the month for a full recital. An overflow crowd crammed into Werner Recital Hall — it’s too bad it wasn’t in the much larger Corbett Auditorium.

Jeremy Denk enthralled a capacity crowd at Chamber Music Cincinnati this month.

Denk recently won the MacArthur Genius fellowship, and small wonder. To give an example of his genius, his performance came fresh off of a Carnegie Hall performance of Steven Stucky’s comic opera, “The Classical Style: An Opera (of Sorts),” for which Denk wrote the libretto. He is Musical America’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year. You can read more of why he’s a Renaissance man here.

His Cincinnati program was both genius and a bit curious.Read More »

My favorite holiday music

December 12, 2014 janellegelfandLeave a comment

Cincinnati Boychoir will join men's voices in Handel's "Messiah" — Cincinnati Boychoir will join men’s voices in Handel’s “Messiah”

My favorite music of the season is inspired, beautiful and intimate. Sure, I enjoy the hoopla of a gigantic “Deck the Halls” for 300 voices, full orchestra and dancing reindeer. But I also welcome the chance to slow down, savor and appreciate. There’s nothing like a choral concert sung a cappella in candlelight to make you feel refreshed.

There’s lots of great music on tap this weekend and next. So, wrap those gifts, bake those cookies, race to that choir practice – but don’t forget to sit back and listen. Here are a few of my favorite things.Read More »

Do the Grammy Awards matter? CSO’s ‘Hallowed Ground’ gets mention

December 8, 2014December 8, 2014 janellegelfand1 Comment

Louis Langrée and Maya Angelou in one of her final public appearances for a live recording in Cincinnati’s Music Hall

In the Grammy Award nominations announced on Friday, the Cincinnati Symphony’s “Hallowed Ground” album with Maya Angelou received just one acknowledgment — as part of a list of albums produced by Elaine Martone, who is up for Classical Producer of the Year. Brava to Ms. Martone, part of the former Telarc team that has produced many CSO and Pops albums. The live performance, recorded in Music Hall in Nov. 2013 during Louis Langrée’s inaugural weekend as music director, was one of Angelou’s final pubic appearances before her death just months later.

Also of local note, Jaime Laredo — co-artistic director of the Linton Series — has been nominated with Jennifer Koh, Vinay Parameswaran and Curtis 20/21 Ensemble for a track from composer Anna Clyne’s Prince Of Clouds albume, entitled “Two X Four.”

The CSO was listed in five categories on the early ballot leading up to the 57th Grammy Awards. I took a look at the list of nominees to see which classical ensembles made the cut. It’s remarkable that the Seattle Symphony’s recording of Dutilleux’s Symphony No. 1 received no fewer than SIX nominations.Read More »

Conversations with André Previn

November 24, 2014November 24, 2014 janellegelfandLeave a comment

André Previn — the composer, conductor, pianist, recording artist and much more — was in town for the premiere of his new Double Concerto, written for violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson. On Friday noon, as I was finishing up my opera review from Thursday’s performance of “Hansel and Gretel” at home and preparing to dash downtown to file it — I noticed a text from Music Hall on my phone. Mr. Previn has a few minutes for an interview. Did I want it?

Andre Previn spoke to a CCM audience on Saturday

Well, yes. With no time to prepare, I flew down I-75 to Music Hall, where Previn was waiting patiently in the Green Room. He said some lovely things about Cincinnati, the CSO and Music Hall (“Big!”) for my iPhone camera, which you can see here. (“Oh, is that the way you take videos these days? That’s amazing,” he said. )

Here are some of his other thoughts during our conversation:Read More »

Reviews in the news

November 24, 2014 janellegelfandLeave a comment

In case you missed them, here are links to the two shows I reviewed this weekend:

On Thursday, the opera “Hansel and Gretel” at CCM: There’s a moment in the fairy-tale opera “Hansel and Gretel,” when the two hungry and terrified children, lost in the woods, kneel and sing the “Children’s Prayer” against softly falling snow. It’s always heart-stopping, as the sleepy children sing about 14 angels who will guard them through the night. What happens next, in the production mounted Thursday by the opera department of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, is unexpected and magical.

On Friday, a world premiere at the CSO in Music Hall: The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has premiered many important pieces since its founding in 1895. On Friday, the orchestra added an engaging new work to the list with the world premiere of a new Double Concerto by the celebrated composer and conductor André Previn. It was performed by violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson. Sophisticated and well-crafted, Previn’s new work is a terrific addition to the double concerto repertoire.