Everyone has their favorites.  Here are mine, a "baker's dozen," from the rich musical offerings in Cincinnati in 2011.  A baker's dozen, by the way, is 13 (or 14), derived from the custom in medieval times of bakers adding an extra loaf to a dozen so as not to incur a penalty -- rather severe in those days -- for under-weighing an order.
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Preliminary concept for revitalized Music Hall (Ennead Architects)

Cincinnati's Muysic Hall has been a Saengerfesthalle, a convention center, a sports arena, a trade show hall, an opera house, a concert hall and a locus for social events.  As it continues into the 21st century, the civic landmark is slated to become a true "Music Hall" with fit-to-size accommodations for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Ballet and touring shows. (first published in Music Hall Marks, November, 2011)
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Tenor Shawn Mlynek

Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" was premiered on Good Friday, 1727 at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.  One of the great masterpieces of Western music is beginning to be staged, both in Europe and the U.S.  The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music offers its own staging November 20 at St, Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati.  CCM's head of choral studies, Earl Rivers, will conduct
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Peter Landgren

Peter Landgren, incoming dean at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, aims to get CCM "off the hill," he said, and more involved in the Cincinnati community.  Former associate principal French hornist of the Baltimore Symphony, he also plans to head down to faculty member Randy Gardner's studio sometimes to sit in with the horn students. (first published in Express Cincinnati, Nov. 2011)
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Joshua Bell

With his expanding career, violinist Joshua Bell could not have picked a better place to perform Eugene Ysaÿe than Cincinnati.  The great Belgian violinist was music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1918-1922.  Bell, who begins a U.S. recital tour in Cincinnati Nov. 8, was named music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields earlier this year.  Like Ysaÿe,  he also aspires to compose, he said.  His Cincinnati recital, for the new Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts, includes Ysaÿe's Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor ("Ballade"), Franck's Violin Sonata in A Major, Mendelssohn's Violin Sonata in F Major and Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 7 in C Minor, Op. 30, No. 2.
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Kristjan Järvi (photo by Peter Rigaud)

At 39, Estonian-American conductor Kristjan Järvi is uniquely endowed to take the art of music into the 21st century.  A musical omnivore who heads his own electro-acoustic chamber ensemble, he is also a much-lauded recording artist, a committed educator, an avid supporter of new music, a pianist and a musician who reveres Bach above all composers.  He returns to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Nov. 4 and 5 at Music Hall with Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," Haydn's Symphony No. 86 and the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with guest artist Mikhail Simonyan.
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October in Cincinnati will see the dawning of a brand new festival, the Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts, opening Oct. 13 at Memorial Hall with a recital by violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Valentina Lisitsa.  Twelve other extraordinary events are scheduled through Nov. 7, including violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Alexander Toradze, saxophonist Ted Nash, male soprano Michael Maniaci and season openers by Chamber Music Cincinnati, Linton Music Series and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, among others. 
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Philip Glass

When the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announced its new season in January, 2011, the orchestra faced its first season without a music director since the death of Thomas Schippers over 30 years ago.  The solution, devised by CSO president Trey Devey, was three-fold:  three "Creative Directors," each to plan and oversee a portion of the 2011-2012 season.  The announcement, at a CSO concert January 29, caused a stir in Music Hall.  Co-creative directors for the CSO's 2011-2012 season are Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Lang Lang and Philip Glass (re-posted and revised from "Features," January 30, 2011).   - [Read more]

Opening night at the Taft Theatre, September 12, 2011

Cincinnati's Taft Theatre has been host to everything from comedy shows to Rachmaninoff during its 83 years.  The theater, now managed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra subsidiary Music and Event Management, Inc., reopened September 12 to the tune of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra led by John Morris Russell, following three months of renovation.  In addition to being a revenue stream for the orchestra, it will be home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops in 2013-14 when Music Hall will be closed for its own renovation.
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Adriana Boráková of the cruise ship Viking Sun does more than just fold towels

Apple-cheeked Adriana Boráková knows how to add a sparkle to the cruise experience.  Head Housekeeper aboard the cruise ship Viking Sun on the Rhine River, Adriana does more than just clean cabins.  She makes it a work of art.


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Here's a chance to enjoy two pleasures in one.  The newly organized Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts will hold a special pre-season benefit concert August 26 at the Plum Court Wine Room downtown.
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The new International Järvi Summer Festival fits Estonia like, well, the Järvi's, the prodigious musical family headed by famed conductor Neeme Järvi, including well-known conducting sons Paavo and Kristjan Järvi and numerous other professional musicians.  So when the opportunity arose to create a new summer festival to complement the Järvi Conducting Academy, a master course for conductors held each summer in Pärnu, Estonia, building it around the Järvi's was pure logic. Making it happen was the hard work of a few dedicated people and the devotion of Estonia's musicians.
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Paavo Järvi conducting Järvi Festival Orchestra and violinist Anna-Liisa Bezrodny in opening concert of 2011 Järvi Summer Festival in Pärnu, Estonia July 28 (photo by Tea Tuhkur)

Estonia's new International Järvi Summer Festival, held July 28-August 4 in Pärnu, Estonia, seems headed for a bright future.  And it's not just Järvi's.  In addition to nine members of the family of conductor Neeme Järvi, there were over 20 Festival guests, four orchestras and ten symphonic and chamber concerts. There was even a "bonus" concert on Leigo Lake in South Estonia August 6, with bonfires, color effects, Beethoven and Johann Strauss, Jr. (photo by Tea Tuhkur)
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Russian opera has been a rarity at Cincinnati Opera, with only two pieces performed in its 91-year history, "Boris Godunov" and "Eugene Onegin," neither in Russian.  Opera in Russian returns July 14 and 16 with "Eugene Onegin."  It will be the second outing for the opera in Cincinnati (the last was in 1984 in English), with baritone Nathan Gunn as Onegin, soprano Tatiana Monogarova as Tatyana (a signature role) and William Burden as Lensky.  Vasily Petrenko conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. (first published in Express Cincinnati, July/August, 2011)
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The 55th annual World Piano Competition, held in Cincinnati, concludes this week, with Artist Division events beginning Tuesday (July 12) in Jarson-Kaplan Theater in the Aronoff Center for the Arts.  Meanwhile, the brand new "Art of the Piano" Master Class and Recital Series at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music holds its first Liszt Competition Monday (July 11) in Robert Werner Recital Hall.  There will be live streaming of the Liszt Competition, including the winners recital July 16, and of the master class by CCM professor Awadagin Pratt on July 13.
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