'Tis the season for lists and here is MusicinCincinnati.com's.  (Behold Janus doing a little bit of typing over the ruins of another year.)  To make it a little different, this one is organized by categories, i.e. new music, early music, more traditional repertoire and multi-media events.  From the cornetto to brass players blowing air through their mouthpieces (Erkki-Sven Tüür's 2009 "Pietas") here's what stood out looking back on music in Cincinnati 2009.
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Bruce Dickey

The cornetto is not a cornet, but a "lost" member of the brass family.  The once glorious instrument suffered neglect and abuse for nearly two centuries before being "re-discovered" in the middle of the last century as part of the early music movement.  One of the pioneers of the newly revived cornetto is Bruce Dickey of Bologna, Italy, who will perform with Cincinnati's Catacoustic Consort December 19 at North Presbyterian Church in Northside.  Joining Dickey in a program of Christmas music from early 17th-century Italy are cornettist Kiri Tollaksen of Ann Arbor, Catacoustic artistic director Annalisa Pappano on bass viol and Daniel Swenberg of Highland Park, New Jersey on theorbo. 
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It was written by a German, premiered in Dublin and became a staple of the English oratorio repertoire.  Handel's "Messiah" will be performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus led by guest conductor/baroque interpreter Nicholas McGegan December 17, 19 and 20 at Music Hall.  Soloists are soprano Dominique Labelle, mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson, tenor Norman Shankle and bass Christopheren Nomura.
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One of Cincinnati's philanthropic angels, Louise Dieterle Nippert, has established an $85 million Musical Arts Fund, 75% of which will benefit the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.  The purpose of the gift, called "transformational" by CSO president Trey Devey, is to help perpetuate the CSO as a full-time, world class orchestra performing at the highest professional level.  The balance of the Fund will go Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Ballet for the purpose of maintaining the CSO as their resident orchestra and to help support smaller arts organizations in Cincinnati on a case-by-case basis.
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"Adoration of the Magi" by Hieronymus Bosch (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Since it made history in 1951 as the first opera written for television, Gian-Carlo Menotti's one-act "Amahl and the Night Visitors" has never gone out of style.  The touching work, about a crippled boy and his mother who are visited by The Three Kings on their way to Bethlehem, has several connections to Ohio and Cincinnati history, including the original Amahl, Chet Arkins, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director (1970-75) Thomas Schippers, who conducted the world premiere telecast.  "Amahl" can be heard again this season at the University of Cincinnati Clermont College in Batavia and Ascension Lutheran Church in Montgomery.
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Tito Munoz

Tito Munoz is no stranger to Cincinnati audiences, having served as assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra during the 2006-07 season.  Munoz, who moved up I-71 to become assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, where he is now in his third year, will guest conduct the CSO Dec. 4 and 5 at Music Hall.  His program comprises Copland's "El Salon Mexico," Elgar's "Enigma Variations" and the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Chopin with guest artist Ingrid Fliter.
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left to right: Greg Noland, Vince Scacchetti, Smiliana Lozanova. Photo by Tiffany Lusht

Visitors to the Northside Tavern on Hamilton Avenue in Cincinnati's Northside neighborhood can now imbibe Bach and Mozart along with refreshments from the bar.  Classical Revolution, which began in 2006 in San Francisco, has spread to "an extremely vibrant scene for classical music," says Vince Scacchetti, director of the local affiliate in Cincinnati, founded in May, 2009.
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Henning Kraggerud (photo by Julia Serafin)

Violinist Henning Kraggerud returns to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in the key of D major November 20 and 21 at Music Hall.  This is the same key as his CSO debut in May, 2006 when he stepped for ailing Akiko Suwani in Beethoven's Violin Concerto.  For his second visit, Kraggerud will perform Mozart's Concerto No. 4 in D Major with the CSO led by guest conductor Stephane Deneve.  In an interview with The Cincinnati Post in 2006, he shared his experience as the second person in history -- and the second Norwegian -- to fiddle on top of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.  Note: Tickets to these concerts are being offered on a "pay what you can" basis, with a $10 suggested minimum, thanks to a subsidy from the CSO's Gift of Music Fund.
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If you haven't had enough of the witching season, there's more at Cincinnati's Music Hall this weekend.  Vocalists Megan Hilty and Julia Murney, Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in "Wicked" on Broadway, will perform with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra led by Steven Reineke at 8 p.m. November 13 and 14, 3 p.m. November 15.  They replace previously announced guest artist and "Wicked" star Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda), who canceled because of illness.  The  program, dubbed "Wicked Divas," will comprise diva moments from Broadway, including "Wicked."   
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Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine has been enriching the lives of inner-city residents for the past 25 years.  There will be a benefit concert for Peaslee -- tickets $15-$25 on a sliding scale -- November 10 in the School for Creative and Performing Arts Auditorium on Sycamore Street in OTR.  Scheduled to perform are African Drum Call, the OTR Steel Drum Reunion Band, MUSE -- Cincinnati's Women's Choir, The Keyboard Club, Morpheus Chamber Ensemble of Miami University and Brazil Band, plus Peaslee performers and special guests.  Emcee is Tracy L. Wilson.
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Making babies is always a serious proposition, but in Francis Poulenc's opera bouffe "Les Mamelles de Tiresias" the subject takes on surreal proportions.  That's because the libretto is by Guillaume Apollinaire, the turn-of-the-century poet who coined the word "surrealism" and was sincerely concerned about replenishing France's population.  The opera will be presented in a semi-staged, Opera Studio production at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music November 6-8, finale of CCM's "Fete Francais" this fall.
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Vocal Arts Ensemble with music director Donald Nally

Donald Nally, newly appointed music director of Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble, is committed to introducing audiences to contemporary music.  He will open the VAE's 30th anniversary season accordingly, with James MacMillan's powerful "Cantos Sagrados" ("Sacred Songs") November 6 at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral.  Each of the VAE's four concerts during the 2009-2010 season will feature "new music," with, among others, works by Kaija Saariaho, John Tavener, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Steven Stucky and David Lang.
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Northside Tavern, Hamilton Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio

The revolution has come to classical music.  "Classical Revolution," that is, a nation-wide movement to take classical music to the people (instead of expecting the people to come to classical music).   Founded in San Francisco in 2006, non-profit "Classical Revolution" has a chapter in Cincinnati now.  Happenings -- concert is too formal a word -- take place the first Sunday of each month at Northside Tavern on Hamilton Avenue in Northside.
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Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Director of Communications Christopher Pinelo has been posting some remarkable videos of the orchestra's current tour of Japan.  They can be seen as part of the CSO's "virtual tour" of Japan on the CSO web site at www.cincinnatisymphony.org/japan and on YouTube.  If you missed them there, the links are posted here as well.  Enjoy!
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Both Cincinnati Ballet and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra are keeping Cincinnati's arts profile high these days despite the troubled economy.  The ballet collaborated with Columbus' Ballet/Met in a splendid production of "Swan Lake" in both cities October 16-25.  The CSO, led by music director Paavo Järvi, is in Japan on a two-week tour calculated to maintain and enhance its image as a world class orchestra. The tour was fully paid for in advance through a combination of presenter's fees and donations by a cadre of generous CSO supporters.
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