Tag: Matinee Musicale

Jamie Barton’s program

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She’s been called “A once-in-a-generation voice.” Once you hear her sing, you will never forget the extraordinary Jamie Barton.

The renowned, Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano is returning to Cincinnati, 3 p.m. Oct. 25 in Memorial Hall with a concert for Matinee Musicale.

When Barton made her Cincinnati recital debut in 2018 with pianist Kathleen Kelly, her program illuminated the voices of women composers. Barton and Kelly will continue that thread in her return, including Six Lieder by Clara Schumann, “Love after 1950” by Libby Larsen, French art song, opera favorites and contemporary works. This could be my favorite: “In the Beginning” from “Cat Songs” by Jake Heggie.

A lot has happened for Barton since that 2018 visit. She’s now a Grammy winner, with the 2026 Grammy for Best Opera Recording for Intelligence, and her career has taken her to the Met, Carnegie Hall, the BBC Proms and major stages around the world.

Indeed, Barton is now a superstar. Here’s what I wrote for the Cincinnati Enquirer when she made her role debut as Azucena in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” for Cincinnati Opera. It gives you some idea of the extraordinary power of her voice:

“At the opera’s center is the Gypsy, Azucena, who has seen her own mother burned at the stake. Thursday was Barton’s first outing in this role, and it seems ideal for her out-sized, rich mezzo-soprano, with its arresting color in the lower range. She cast a spell as she wove her tale in “Stride la vampa,” describing her mother’s demise at the stake. Her Third Act scene with the Count was chilling, as she communicated heart-rending emotion as well as palpable terror for the fate she was facing.”

Off the stage, she’s outspoken about body positivity, women’s issues and LGBTQ+ rights. Her own Instagram bio pretty much says it all: “Proudly queer opera singer into drag queens, bluegrass, social justice, equality, and cats.”  Take a look at my last interview with her, on this blog! 

For more information and Barton’s complete program, click here.

You don’t want to miss this. The performance is at 3 p.m. October 25 at Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine. Tickets are $24-$54. https://matineemusicalecincinnati.org/Jamie-barton-mezzo-soprano-2026/

 

 

 

 

 

Megan Moore impresses in recital, including new work by Jake Heggie

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Mezzo-soprano Megan Moore with pianist Francesco Barfoed; photo by Gayna Bassin

Mezzo-soprano Megan Moore brought a substantial, varied program to Matinee Musicale on Oct. 12 in Memorial Hall. It was her professional recital debut in the Queen City, although the singer, a native of West Chester and a Lakota West and Miami University grad, sang on Cincinnati Music Hall’s stage at age 14 with the May Festival Youth Chorus under the baton of James Conlon. “I thought I was a rock star,” she said, praising the foundation in the arts that she had received here. Now she enjoys an international career, which includes singing Rosina in “The Barber of Seville” with Seattle Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, and her company and role debut this season as Octavian in “Der Rosenkavalier” at New Orleans Opera.

Her exellent piano collaborator was Danish-born Francesco Barfoed, whom she met when both were at Juilliard. Their program included the second performance of a new song cycle by Jake Heggie, which, she told me later, he tailored to her voice. They gave its world premiere in April at the Morgan Library in New York, presented by the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers.

This was Moore’s first recital since having a baby via C-section seven weeks ago, which was an astonishing feat considering the control needed and the artistry she displayed. A large contingent of friends and family (and baby, too) were on hand, including former high school and college teachers.Read More »

Claire Huangci performs piano showstoppers to open Matinée Musicale

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Claire Huangci wowed in transcriptions and rarities/ photo by Gayna Bassin

The fall season is here, and on Sept. 7, I took in one of the first offerings of the classical music season. American pianist Claire Huangci stepped in on about a week’s notice to perform a recital for Matinée Musicale of virtuoso piano transcriptions by Czerny, Ravel, Earl Wild and Gershwin, and rarely heard pieces by Khachaturian and Florence Price in Memorial Hall.

Although her program seemed to be mostly all that glittered, it was a treat to hear some rarely heard works, such as Price’s Fantasie Negre No. 2 in G Minor, and familiar works in less-played arrangements — such as Rhapsody in Blue for piano solo only. And best of all, she spoke about each piece from the stage, which earned points from the audience.

She told listeners that Cincinnati has a special meaning to her, because in 1999 she participated in the (now defunct) World Piano Competition here. Since performing for Matinée twice before, in 2015 and 2017, she has developed a very busy international career. She is the winner of numerous competitions, and her technical prowess was on display in this program.

The pianist opened with Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata. I enjoyed her singing tone and wonderful way of conjuring atmosphere. Czerny’s Fantasie Brillante sur “Le Nozze di Figaro” was an enchanting journey on tunes from the opera through brilliant technical feats. She summoned orchestral sonorities in Khachaturian’s Adagio of Spartacus, a score heard in movies. And Ravel’s “La Valse” (in the composer’s piano solo version) was a mesmerizing tour de force, with impeccable voicing amidst cascades of filigree, performed with arms and hair flying.

The second half of this substantial program similarly involved spectacular feats, starting with Florence Price’s Fantasie Negre No. 2 in G Minor (she wrote 4 of them). There were four Virtuoso Etudes on some of Gershwin’s most irresistible tunes, including “I’ve Got Rhythm,” arranged by Earl Wild. Huangci finished with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, playing both the piano and orchestra parts. She took it at an extremely fast tempo, and I wondered how she had any energy left at all after what seemed to be an endurance test of a concert.

Sometime, I’d like to hear this pianist play Beethoven again. For an encore, she treated with a charming tune from the film “Amélie,” released in 2001.

Coming up, Matinée presents Cincinnati native Megan Moore, a lyric coloratura mezzo-soprano, in a wide-ranging program that you can see here. The collaborative pianist is Francesco Barfoed. It’s at 3 p.m. Oct. 12 in Memorial Hall. Ticket info: matineemusicalecincinnati.org/recitals

 

 

 

Artist change for opening Matinée Musicale program

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Claire Huangci will step in to perform the season opener for Matinee Musicale/ photo by Mateusz Zahora

Matinée Musicale has just announced that the Japanese pianist Manami Suzuki will not be able to perform in Cincinnati on Sunday, September 7th due to visa issues. Instead, American pianist Claire Huangci has agreed to perform this concert to kick off Matinee Musicale’s 112th season. The series takes place in Memorial Hall.

Huangci performed for

Matinée in 2015 and 2017 and she has gone on to enjoy an impressive international performance career. Her program includes Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight,” Ravel’s “La Valse,” Florence Price’s “Fantasie Nègre” No. 2 in G minor, and lots of Gershwin, include Earl Wild’s Gershwin-inspired Virtuoso Etudes.

It was to have been Suzuki’s U.S. debut, and the organization hopes to be able to present her next season.

Tickets and more information: matineemusicalecincinnati.org/

 

Isabel Leonard to make Cincinnati recital debut

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Isabel Leonard will make her Cincinnati debut in recital on Dec. 1/photo by Sergio Kurhajec

Opera star Isabel Leonard has been wowing audiences and critics around the world. She’s about to make her Cincinnati recital debut.

The singer, a mezzo-soprano and New York native, was scheduled to perform one of her signature roles, Rosina, in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville during Cincinnati Opera’s 100th anniversary season in 2020. We all know what happened — Covid caused the whole season to be canceled. Nevertheless, she did a charming podcast with artistic director Evans Mirageas, available here.

Finally, we’ll have a chance to hear Leonard’s artistry in some of her signature operatic arias and much more when she performs a recital with collaborative pianist John Arida for Matinée Musicale Cincinnati on Dec. 1 at Memorial Hall. The concert is at 5 p.m.

Since making her Metropolitan Opera debut as Stéphano in Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette in 2007, she has sung on the world’s leading stages in a range of repertoire. This season (in June 2025), she’ll reprise Rosina in Damiano Michieletto’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Opéra National de Paris. She’s also performing Anita in a concert performance of Bernstein’s West Side Story, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

In 2020, Leonard appeared with Louis Langrée and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a staged production of Ravel’s one-act opera, L’enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Sorceries). Here’s my review of her enchanting performance. (She also won a Grammy for the recording of this piece.)

Her Cincinnati program will show some of that versatility. Of course, we can’t wait to hear her sing “Una voce poco fa” from Rossini’s Barber of Seville, or “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” from Bizet’s Carmen. There’s also a set of Spanish songs.

But for many in this audience, the icing on the cake will likely be her final set of Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and a song by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan often performed by Kristin Chenoweth, “The Girl in 14G.”

Leonard has won three Grammy Awards — for Michael Tilson Thomas’ From the Diary of Anne Frank on SFS Media; Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges on Decca; and The Tempest from The Metropolitan Opera on Deutsche Grammophon.

Her list of television and movie credits includes an appearance in the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper, in the finale of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” She was just nominated for another Grammy for her performance in Maestro, alongside the London Symphony Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in the category Best Compilation Soundtrack.

Tickets: $15-$35; students $10. Call the box office at 513-977-8838 (Tues-Friday, 1-6 p.m.) or visit matineemusicalecincinnati.org.

Cello/piano duo makes radiant Cincinnati debut

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Julian Schwarz and Marika Bournaki. photo by Gayna Bassin

The married duo of cellist Julian Schwarz and pianist Marika Bournaki performed an excellent program for Matinee Musicale on Sunday, Oct. 29 in Memorial Hall. Schwarz is now one of my favorite cellists. He communicated with a big, warm tone and a romantic vibrato in Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, a work originally scored for French horn. He smiled as he played the phrases of Brahms’ Sonata No. 1 in E Minor — and notably, he performed his entire program from memory. (Schwarz performs on  Neapolitan cello by Gennaro Gagliano of 1743.)

But mainly, it was a joy to hear both of these virtuoso performers. Bournaki has previously appeared on the Xavier Piano Series, and is also a stunning collaborator. There was seamless communication between the two.Read More »

A month of music in Cincinnati

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This is always a busy time of year for Cincinnati’s classical music organizations. I’ve heard some extraordinary concerts between covering the concerts of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (you can find CSO, May Festival, Cincinnati Opera and other reviews here).

Here are a few of my impressions of some other shows, including the debut of a new piano quartet, a stunning piano duo recital and a world premiere at concert:nova:

Linton Chamber Music series, April 24: Besides the piano trio literature, piano quartets are among my favorite genres. So I couldn’t wait to hear the debut of a new ensemble at the Linton Music Series, the Espressivo! Piano Quartet.

Its anchors are the indefatigable Jaime Laredo (violin) and Sharon Robinson (cello), who also serve as co-artistic directors. Rounding out the quartet are pianist Anna Polonsky and violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, both superb artists.

In the wake the death of the esteemed pianist Joseph Kalichstein, who died in March 2022 at age 76, Laredo and Robinson did not want to revisit the piano trio literature that they shared for decades with their extraordinary pianist, “Yossi.” I’m so glad that they have decided to explore the quartets. The “Encore” concert I heard at Congregation Beth Adam was deeply rewarding.Read More »

Ryan Speedo Green to make Cincy debut Sunday

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Ryan Speedo Green, photo by jiyang chen

Last week, I had the privilege of talking to opera star Ryan Speedo Green about his upcoming appearance, 3 p.m. Sunday March 27 at the First Unitarian Church in Avondale, presented by Matinee Musicale.

Currently, he is singing his fifth production this season at the Metropolitan Opera, “Ariadne auf Naxos.”

He told me this inspiring story about his 4th-grade teacher, Elizabeth Hughes, who encouraged and believed in him and stayed in touch through thick and thin. I’ve been reading the excellent book about his life, “Sing For Your Life” by Daniel Bergner, and it’s detailed there.

But we touched on many other topics. He has been to Cincinnati before — to audition for graduate studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. (He ended up going to Florida State University.) He’ll be giving a free master class at CCM on Saturday. And he has a brother in Dayton.

But he has never set foot in Music Hall.

Here’s a bit about Sunday’s program. He’s opening with the spiritual, “Deep River.” Besides some German lieder by Hugo Wolf and opera arias, he will be singing African American art songs.

“I love showcasing African-American music in a classical style. I will throw in spiritual because, obviously, it’s part of my history and part of African-American history,” he said.

“Then, German is sort of my lifeblood at the moment. It’s where I became a man and a musician in the opera world, living in Vienna. I been living in Europe for almost eight going on nine years, and (singing at) one of the greatest opera houses in Europe at the Wiener Staatsoper for five of those years. I learned so much from there, being immersed amongst the Austrian and German culture and really got to hone my German.”

Green will be singing Mahler, Wagner (an aria from “Der fliegende Holländer”) and one his favorite Verdi arias from “MacBeth.” And, we can expect a piece from one of his favorite oratorios, Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.”

“I consider myself operatically a Verdi – Wagner singer,” he said. “I love Mozart. I love all of these composers. I’m going to give you a little bit of a taste of my future.

“I’m excited to showcase my gambit of musical styles.”

Tickets, $25, at matineemusicalecincinnati.org or call 513-977-8838. Green also performs a free master class, 1:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday March 26 in Werner Hall at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

What a year! Looking back and ahead in the arts

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View of the CSO performing a livestreamed concert in Nov. 2020

I’ll never forget the fear in the eyes of both performers and audience members in the first few live, indoor performances I saw in the early months of the pandemic in 2020. We were masked, spaced vastly apart and there was no intermission to avoid viral spread. Otherwise, many performances were livestreamed online, with musicians masked and separated by space and screens.

Then in 2021, as vaccines became available and theaters began to reopen to full audiences, there was elation and relief by many who were able to finally attend a show in person.

Every concert, play, ballet or art exhibition I attended in 2021 was deeply moving because it showed the perseverance of artists — indeed of all humanity — during this unprecedented time. I feel that we’ve come a long way.

Now, we are buffeted again by the Omicron variant. Just announced, there are at least two museum “pauses” (Cincinnati Art Museum is closed Jan. 3-12 and the Taft Museum of Art is closed Jan. 3-13).

“Hairspray” is postponed to a later date due to Covid in the cast.

There are also a few postponed performances. At the Aronoff Center, “Hairspray” scheduled to play January 4 – 9, 2022 is being rescheduled due to breakthrough positive Covid cases within the company of “Hairspray.” Ticket holders are encouraged to hold onto their tickets while the engagement is being rescheduled.

At Music Hall, the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati is postponing its January 8 and 9 performances of “The Song Among Us” to a later date, to be announced. The release states that the postponement “is prompted by production challenges exacerbated by the recent rise in positive Covid cases across the nation.” Ticket holders may complete this form or call the box office at 513-381-3300 for ticket options, including donations, exchanges, and refunds.

I prefer to see the glass half full.  I believe we will get through this, and the arts will persevere.

Singers Michelle DeYoung and Sean Panikkar share bows in Mahler’s “The Song of the Earth” with the CSO. (Photo by Lee Snow)

I wrote a list of some of my favorite performances in 2021 in a column for the Business Courier. My list begins with Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Music Hall last March, and ends with “The Marriage of Figaro” at CCM in November. I’d like to know some of yours, too. (Let me know here, or on Facebook.)

And looking ahead, here is my list of “best bets” in 2022. It’s really just a broad sweep — because there are so many chamber music, vocal concerts, art exhibitions and dance performances that have yet to be announced. I think we have a lot to anticipate.

Verdi’s opulent “Aida” will be presented at Cincinnati Opera in summer 2022. Photo courtesy of Opéra de Montréal, Yves Renaud

My November picks in classical music

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CSO on opening night/photo provided by Hannah Kenney

Since the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra officially opened its subscription season this weekend (here’s the review), I decided to look at the arts calendar to see what musical performances I want to get on my November calendar.

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of our performing arts are ramping up. My November calendar looks almost normal, which in Cincinnati means that you can be out every night of the week. So here are some of my picks.

Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. – At CCM, renowned Russian pianist and pedagogue Boris Berman performs a guest recital performance in Robert J. Werner Recital Hall. Admission: FREE.

Note: Find all CCM events and the calendar here.

Nov. 7, 4 p.m. — Linton Music Series “Pure Bach,” featuring violinist Jennifer Koh performing the solo violin works of Bach. First Unitarian Church. For tickets and program, click here.

Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m. – Ariel Quartet, CCM String-Quartet-in-Residence, continues its concert series with Lera Auerbach’s “Frozen Dreams,” which premiered in 2020, and Béla Bartók’s penultimate quartet, String Quartet No. 5.  Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Tickets: Prices start at $29.50.

Daniil Trifonov in recital

Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m., Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov performs a recital at Music Hall, presented by the CSO. His program includes music by Karol Szymanowski, Debussy, Prokofiev and Brahms.

Note: For all CSO events and concerts, click here.

Nov. 11, 8 p.m. —Stephen Hough recital at Xavier. Hough is a longtime visitor to the Xavier Piano Series, and is something of a Renaissance man. This month, he graces the cover of BBC Music magazine. His program includes Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Chopin’s Ballade No. 3 and Hough’s own “Partitia.” It’s in Xavier’s Gallagher Center Theater on the XU campus. For tickets and info about the entire Xavier Music Series, click here.Read More »