- 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
Tag: Music Hall
Festival frenzy
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
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 »
With producer Elaine Martone: Behind the scenes of a live recording session
Over the weekend, I was able to go backstage at Music Hall for a few minutes to meet Grammy-winning producer Elaine Martone. She and Chelsea VandeDrink of Cincinnati Public Radio were making a live recording of the Pops “American Originals” concert, to be the Pops’ 95th album.They were tucked in the recording booth/opera props room near the stage.
(Read the review and see a photo gallery here.)
Elaine, of course, has been coming down to Cincy for years from Cleveland, where Telarc is based, for all of Erich Kunzel’s Pops recordings — as well as for those of the CSO — with hubby and Telarc co-founder Bob Woods. (Telarc was later bought by Concord Records and the award-winning production team left in 2009.)
Like most major orchestras, the CSO now has its own label for recording, and Elaine, who is up for Producer of the Year at the Grammy Awards next month, is still very busy. I asked her three questions:Read More »
A HIP performance, impressions of Jeremy Denk and other musings
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.
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 »
Breaking news: Music Hall wins $25 million tax credit
In a press conference today at Music Hall, the Ohio Development Services Agency awarded $25 million in Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits for the rehabilitation of Cincinnati Music Hall.
The agency said the project — which had stiff competition with several others in Ohio — is expected to spur revitalization in Over-the-Rhine.
What this means is that the project can now proceed. It’s a much-needed boost after losing the prospect of gaining $60 million from a new sales tax after being dumped from the “icon tax” levy.Read More »
My favorite holiday music
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
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 »
Follow the Cincinnati Pops on tour
The Cincinnati Pops has a website and a Twitter hashtag so fans can follow the orchestra on its first-ever tour to Florida over the coming week. Get updates from the tour by visiting cincinnatipops.org/florida or follow #PopsOnTour via social media. The site has a map of the tour stops, a blog, videos and information about the artists.
The orchestra’s first performance is this Sunday at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. The other dates are the Broward Center for Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 8; the Ocean Reef Cultural Center in Key Largo on Dec. 10; and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota on Dec. 11.
Read more about the tour in this article.
Here’s a link to my review of Friday’s Pops tour preview program at Music Hall.
And here’s a link to the review of last weekend’s all-Tchaikovsky concert by the CSO in Music Hall.
Conversations with André Previn
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?
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 »
