Panuccio's "O Holy Night" Sublime at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral

Posted: Dec 22, 2013 - 7:53:34 PM in: reviews_2013

L to R: Matthew Umphreys, Marco Panuccio and Jesse Leong

Tenor Marco Panuccio kept fans enthralled with his fourth annual "O Holy Night" concert at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in downtown Cincinnati. The show, final stop on a seven-city tour, included works by Handel, Franck, Arvo Pärt, Ennio Morricone, Richard Arnest, Jules Massenet, Pietro Mascagni and (of course) Adolphe Adam's "O Holy Night."
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Brave Souls Rewarded by Denk and the CSO

Posted: Dec 7, 2013 - 12:39:52 PM in: reviews_2013

L to R: CSO concertmaster Timothy Lees, guest conductor Robert Spano and pianist Jeremy Denk

"Snowpocalypse" or not, those who braved the weather forecast Dec. 6 were richly rewarded by the Cincinnati Symphony's matinee concert at Music Hall. Guest artist Jeremy Denk performed an exceptional Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 and guest conductor Robert Spano treated the tiny audience (guestimate: plus-or-minus 200) to Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and his rarely heard Symphony No. 2, "The London Symphony." (first published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Dec. 7, 2013)
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Gershwin, Ravel Shine at the CSO

Posted: Nov 30, 2013 - 1:58:33 PM in: reviews_2013

Kirill Gerstein

Louis Langrée, French-born music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, gave CSO listeners a colorful visit to France and back with a program of Gershwin and Ravel Nov. 29 at Music Hall. Soloist in Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand was pianist Kirill Gerstein. Also on the program were Gershwin's postcard from Paris, "An American in Paris," and Ravel's gentle, touching "Mother Goose" Suite.
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Opera Fusion Nets Promising New Work

Posted: Nov 27, 2013 - 2:18:26 PM in: reviews_2013

Marcus Shields (left) and Joseph Lattanzi in "Fellow Travelers" by Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce (workshop performance at Cincinnati Masonic Center)

Opera Fusion: New Works, the collaborative program by Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music to foster the creation of new American opera, introduced another new opera in a public reading Nov. 26 at the Cincinnati Masonic Center. Set in McCarthy-era Washington D.C., "Fellow Travelers" by Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce, appears headed for a bright future.
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Estonian Choir Opens Cathedral Concert Series with Distinction

Posted: Nov 20, 2013 - 8:15:59 PM in: reviews_2013

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is one of the world's vocal aristocrats. The 26-voice ensemble, led by Daniel Reuss, opened the 2013-14 season of choral concerts at Cincinnati's St. Peter in Chains Cathedral with works by Estonian composers. It was a thoroughly engaging program, both for its beauty and its freshness, with works by Mart Saar, Cyrillus Kreek, Veljo Tormis and Arvo Pärt.

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Linton's "Four Hands" a Crowd Pleaser

Posted: Nov 19, 2013 - 3:24:00 PM in: reviews_2013

Anna Polonsky

Orion Weiss

The Linton Music Series presented an attractive program for its second concert of the season, "Four Hands are Better Than Two" featured pianists Anna Polonsky and Orion Weiss in music for piano four-hands, including Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, Op. 46. Also on the program were works by Schumann, Stravinsky and Halvorsen featuring Linton co-artistic directors Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson.
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Mozart, Pärt Mark Annual VAE, CCO Collaboration

Posted: Nov 18, 2013 - 4:36:22 PM in: reviews_2013

The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble performing in St. Catharine of Siena Church in Westwood

Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble and The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra perform an annual collaborative concert, an events always highly anticipated by fans of both. This year's concert featured Mozart's Mass in C Minor ("Great"), K. 427, and Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's "Te Deum."
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"One City, One Symphony" a Singular Event for the CSO

Posted: Nov 15, 2013 - 2:17:20 PM in: reviews_2013

Louis Langrée, the CSO and soloists for Mozart's "Davide penitente" Nov. 14 at Music Hall

"One City, One Symphony," the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra initiative begun last season, which focuses attention on a particular concert through "listening parties" held in advance, continued into the 2013-2014 season with a concert Nov. 14 at Music Hall led by the CSO's new music director Louis Langrée On the program were Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and Mozart's cantata "Davide penitente," K.469.
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Love at First Beat as Langrée Makes Cincinnati Debut

Posted: Nov 11, 2013 - 10:57:23 AM in: reviews_2013

Maya Angelou and Louis Langrée after performance of Copland's "A Lincoln Portrait" with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Nov. 9, 2013 at Music Hall

Louis Langrée's inaugural concert as music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Nov. 9 at Music Hall was a sellout. Calling it "the beginning of something absolutely wonderful, Langrée led the orchestra in a well chosen program including a CSO premiere, Jennifer Higdon's "On a Wire," featuring eighth blackbird, Copland's "A Lincoln Portrait" (premiered by the CSO in 1942) and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (performed during the CSO's first season in 1895). Narrator in "A Lincoln Portrait" was legendary author Maya Angelou. (first published at http://classicalvoiceamerica.org/)
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CCM's "St. John Passion" Superlative in Every Way

Posted: Nov 8, 2013 - 2:53:07 PM in: reviews_2013

Conor_McDonald_as_Jesus_in_CCM_s_St._John_Passion_1.jpg

Conor McDonald as Jesus in Bach's "St. John Passion" Nov. 3 at Christ Episcopal Church in Cincinnati

Earl Rivers at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music has twice staged passions by J.S. Bach. The "St. Matthew Passion" in 2011 was updated with two Evangelists, one a convicted criminal, the other a televangelist. Bach's "St. John Passion," by contrast, Nov. 3 at Christ Church Cathedral was more conservative with primary emphasis on the music. Singing the Evanglist was tenor Jeffrey Thompson, a noted baroque interpreter, who expressed every drop of feeling from his role.
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Montemezzi Returns to Cincinnati

Posted: Nov 7, 2013 - 4:32:21 PM in: reviews_2013

Bass William Tvrdik as Archibaldo cradles his dying son Manfredo (baritone Gregory Jebaily) in Italo Montemezzo's "L'Amore de tre rei" Nov. 3 at Dunham Arts Center Theater in Cincinnati

Italo Montemezzi's tragic opera "L'Amore de tre rei" ("The Love of Three Kings") was a hot ticket when Cincinnati Opera performed at the Zoo (the last time in 1949). It has since fallen into obscurity, but thanks to Queen City Chamber Opera, the once popular work returned to Cincinnati Nov. 2 and 3 at Dunham Arts Center Theater in Price Hill. (first published at www.ConcertoNet.com)
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2Cellos Wows KSO Crowd

Posted: Nov 4, 2013 - 10:06:30 AM in: reviews_2013

2Cellos performing for a sellout crowd at Florence Baptist Church at Mt. Zion Nov. 2, 2013, their U.S. orchestral debut

The cello duo 2Cellos has become a sensation, in both the classical and popular music worlds, with their "mixing" of genres, rock, classical, pop, you name it. The two, Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser, made their U.S. orchestral debut with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra led by James R. Cassidy Nov. 2 at Florence Baptist Church at Mt. Zion. The crowd, a sellout of oldsters and youngsters (1,421 total), were rewarded with an amazing show, ranging from Vivaldi to Guns and Roses.
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Constella "Improvisations" Mesmerizing

Posted: Nov 3, 2013 - 12:14:19 PM in: reviews_2013

L to R: Sirui Liu and James Cunningham, Tatiana Berman and Eddy Kwon

A dance program has become a regular feature of Cincinnati's Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts. The 2013 edition featured a program of world premieres and improvisations that was mid-blowing, to say the least. Featured Oct. 30 in Harriet Tubman Theater at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center were members of Cincinnati Ballet, with violinists Tatiana Berman and Eddy Kwon.
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Pepe Romero + Frühbeck de Burgos + CSO = Perfect Collaboration

Posted: Nov 2, 2013 - 1:35:41 PM in: reviews_2013

Pepe Romero (left) and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

There are collaborations and there are collaborations. That between guitarist Pepe Romero and guest conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Nov. 1 at Music Hall was as fine as anyone could wish. On the program were Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with Romero as soloist, the Suites No. 1 and 2 from Manuel de Falla's "The Three-Cornered Hat" -- again, splendidly realized by Frühbeck and the orchestra -- and an affectionate reading of Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3 ("Rhenish"). (first published in the Cincinnati Enquirer Nov. 2, 2013)
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Catacoustic Consort Marries Music and Art

Posted: Oct 26, 2013 - 4:29:36 PM in: reviews_2013

L to R: Catharina Meints, Elizabeth Motter and Annalisa Pappano

Catacoustic Consort, Cincinnati's eminent early music ensemble, brought the full meaning of the Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts to life in its season-opening concert Oct. 25, 2013 at the Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills. Guest artist was famed viola da gambist Catharina Meints, who brought examples from her Caldwell Collection of Viols, one of the most important in the world, for performance and display at the concert. It was a stunning marriage of music and fine art.
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