Here are five stories involving the arts in Cincinnati that we’ll be following in 2018:Read More »
Tag: Music Hall
The best things I heard in 2017
In 2017, Cincinnati audiences heard sensational performances by living legends, as well as musical rarities and world premieres. This year’s list – a baker’s dozen — highlights some musical milestones, such as Cincinnati Opera’s first opera by a woman, as well as some of my personal favorites of the past year.Read More »
Review: As Music Hall’s tuning continues, CSO program has its own rewards
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra presented a rewarding concert that featured the Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk in Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, (Pathétique), led by Louis Langrée.
Also notable was the world premiere of Emily Cooley’s “Abound.”Read More »
Writing for May Festival Chorus a ‘dream come true’ for Julia Adolphe
For its fifth week in the just-renovated Music Hall, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is shining a light on the May Festival Chorus. The program looks back to the event that precipitated the construction of Music Hall, when a thunderstorm pounding on the tin roof of its predecessor, Saengerhalle, ruined a May Festival concert.
Besides revisiting the works from that 1875 program by Bach and Brahms, the orchestra and chorus have commissioned a young American composer, Julia Adolphe, to compose a new work for the chorus.
“Equinox,” an a cappella piece for chorus, will have its world premiere this weekend (8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday) in Music Hall.
Adolphe, 29, a New York native, has already written three works for the New York Philharmonic. Her work is also championed by May Festival music director laureate James Conlon, who presented one of her pieces at the 2016 May Festival. She is now at work on her second opera.
We spoke by phone this week after she had taken the red-eye from Los Angeles where she is earning a doctorate at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California (USC).
Question: I recall hearing your atmospheric piece at the Cathedral Basilica during James Conlon’s final May Festival season. Did your Cincinnati connection come about because of Conlon?Read More »
Big weekend
I was happy to be invited to appear on a podcast for WCPO’s “Hear Cincinnati” with host Meghan Wesley Thursday to talk about all of the activities this weekend surrounding the opening of Music Hall after its 16-month, $143 million renovation.
The Music Hall segment is about 27 minutes into the podcast. Listen here.
Listen Friday when I visit 91.7 WVXU at 1 p.m., for “Cincinnati Edition.”
And speaking about events, you can find the lineup of free performances and tours during the FREE community open house at Music Hall, starting with a ribbon-cutting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at artswave.org. You’ll also catch lots of free performances in Washington Park.
And be sure to take a stroll around the neighborhood to see the newly renovated Memorial Hall, the brand-new Cincinnati Shakespeare Theater and recently expanded Ensemble Theatre. All will be open and offer tours and more.
To save you time, here’s Saturday’s lineup:Read More »
A new color scheme for Music Hall
Take a walk through Music Hall’s renovation by clicking here.
What do you think of Music Hall’s new color scheme?
How the performing arts are turning to multimedia
I’ve been noticing that more performing arts organizations seem to be turning to multimedia to augment their presentation. Opening this weekend, the Cincinnati May Festival has hired as its creative partner Gerard McBurney, who will “curate” and “design” two evenings dubbed “Dream Project” at the festival this year. It means adding visuals, projections, actors, atmospheric lighting — whatever — to enhance what otherwise would just be a performance by chorus and orchestra.
It’s being done around the country — such as in Chicago (where McBurney designed “Beyond the Score” events for the Chicago Symphony), and in San Francisco, where designer/director James Darrah has collaborated on a number of productions. I saw his vision for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, which included screens, actors wandering over platforms, projections of the text jumbled up, lighting… To me, it all detracted from the masterpiece at hand and was just too much to absorb.
And yes, the Cincinnati Symphony is also experimenting in a three-year “Pelleas Project” with extra-musical elements, also designed by Darrah.Read More »
Music Hall renovation stories
So, I had asked our techies to put all of our Music Hall stories on one page, so that you, the public, could follow the renovation. However, the page (musichall.cincinnati.com) seems to be not working. Therefore, I have posted as many articles, renderings, letters and opinions as I could find on my Pinterest page. https://www.pinterest.com/janellespics/janelles-arts/
Music Hall then and now
Then: This week, the May Festival provided me with the the 360 photo that was taken for posterity on the final night of the season, May 28, just before demo began. See if you can find yourself by moving your cursor around the photo: http://360around.com/panos/mayfest-tour/mayfest.html
Now: You may have seen The Enquirer’s update of Music Hall’s construction project last week. I’ve included more of my own photos below.Read More »
My diary: When James Levine visited Cincy in 2005
You probably saw the news that James Levine, 72, is stepping down as music director of the Metropolitan Opera after 40 years, for health reasons. He will finish the remainder of his very busy season, and continue as music director emeritus, the first ever position at the Met. He has struggled with Parkinson’s Disease for some time, and has had other severe health issues, as well.
Levine is a Cincinnati native, and having lived in Cincinnati for most of my adult life, I have learned that just about everyone here a) knew his parents b) heard him play piano as a child, or c) went to Walnut Hills High School with him. Read More »
