From left-to-right: Vivian Montgomery, harpsichord; vocalists: James Onstad, Derrell Acon and Xi Wang; Jennifer Roig-Francoli, Baroque violin; and Annalisa Pappano, viola da gamba. Photography by Dottie Stover.

CET Cincinnati Public Television will premiere Monteverdi from CCM at 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 12, on the CET Arts channel. This program is part of an exciting new collaboration between CCM and CET, which will bring CCM’s world-class performances to PBS viewers throughout the Greater Cincinnati viewing area.

You can read more about this collaboration here.

Monteverdi from CCM was shot on location in CCM Village in November of 2012. The performance features CCM’s Chamber Choir, Early Music faculty members, students and guest artists presenting highlights from Claudio Monteverdi’s Madrigals of Love and War and Selva Morale e Spirituale.

You can learn more about the November performance here.

Monteverdi from CCM is scheduled to air on the CET Arts channel during the following times:

• 8 – 9:30 p.m. Sunday, May 12
• 8 – 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 13
• 1 – 2:30 p.m. Monday, May 13
• 5 – 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 13
• 10 – 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 14
• 3 – 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14
• 10 – 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14

For additional information and the most up-to-date broadcast information, please visit CETConnect.org.

About the Monteverdi Project
The Monteverdi Project was conceived and initiated by Earl Rivers, CCM’s Director of Choral Studies, following the success of CCM’s Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 concert in November 2010. The Project has since engaged regional, national and international Early Music artist-performers and specialists to coach, rehearse and perform with fifty talented graduate and undergraduate CCM students in highlights from the collections of sacred music and secular music by the greatest Italian composer of the Early Baroque, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643).

About CET
CET is Greater Cincinnati’s leading provider of education and enrichment in both living rooms and classrooms, reaching more than 2 million residents, 470,000 students and 37,000 teachers. Through PBS, local programming, CETconnect.org, innovative multimedia curriculum projects, parent workshops and professional development for teachers, CET positively impacts our community with rich and diverse resources. CET was the first licensed educational television station in the nation, the first high-definition public station in Ohio and, through CETconnect.org, the first public television station to offer a community-based public media on-demand service. For more information about CET, CET Arts or CET Create, visit www.CETconnect.org.

CET serves viewers and residents in the following counties: Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Darke, Fayette, Greene, Hamilton, Highland, Miami, Montgomery, Preble, Springfield and Warren in Ohio; Dearborn, Decatur, Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson, Jennings, Ohio, Ripley, Rush, Switzerland, Union and Wayne in Indiana; Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Harrison, Henry, Kenton, Owen, Mason, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott and Trimble in Kentucky.

CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Sponsor: ArtsWave

Monteverdi Masterworks Sponsor: The Willard and Jean Mulford Charitable Fund of the Cambridge Charitable Foundation

Berg discusses his career at length with Rafael de Acha and provides a preview of what audiences can expect from CCM Musical Theatre during the 2013-14 performance season!

Read the feature-length profile here.

Marie Bucoy-Calavan has been named the inaugural recipient of the May Festival Choral Conducting Fellowship. She will enter her third year of studies in CCM’s DMA in Choral Conducting program this fall.

We are delighted to report that DMA candidate Marie Bucoy-Calavan has been named the inaugural recipient of the May Festival Choral Conducting Fellowship. This new position was established thanks to the incredible foresight and generosity of Ginger Warner and was created as part of an ongoing collaboration between the May Festival and CCM’s Department of Choral Studies. Each year, a May Festival Fellow will be selected from CCM’s pool of Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting students and will serve as the Assistant Conductor of the May Festival Chorus.

“The new May Festival Choral Conducting Fellowship provides unique professional training for CCM’s doctoral choral conducting students,” explains Director of Choral Studies Earl Rivers, “providing them opportunities to conduct rehearsals, as well as to attend May Festival Board and Artistic Planning meetings to learn how a world-renowned Choral Festival is successfully produced.”

Bucoy-Calavan will begin her duties with the May Festival Chorus next fall. As Assistant Director she will be responsible for running select rehearsals and smaller sectional rehearsals. In addition Bucoy-Calavan will conduct some concerts within the community. Commenting on her appointment, Bucoy-Calavan says, “I am very excited and honored at the chance to have a mentorship with [May Festival Director of Choruses] Robert Porco. I attended the Conducting Masterclass that the May Festival held a year ago, and was inspired by his musical insights and skill for teaching conducting. I look forward to the fall and to the prospect of working with the May Festival Chorus.”

Learn more about the May Festival Choral Conducting Fellowship.

About Marie Bucoy-Calavan
Marie Bucoy-Calavan has conducted a diverse range of vocal ensembles, from primary and secondary level choirs, to community, collegiate, and professional choruses and opera productions. Bucoy-Calavan finished her Bachelor of Arts in Music and Masters of Music in Choral Conducting at California State University, Fullerton, where she served two years as the Graduate Assistant Conductor of both the University Singers and Chamber Choir, under the direction and mentorship of Dr. Robert Istad. She has sung with symphonic chorus ensembles under the batons of Carl St. Clair, Bramwell Tovey, John Williams, Eric Whitacre, Keith Lockhart, John Mauceri, Steven Mercurio, and John Alexander in distinguished venues, including Walt Disney Concert Hall, Hollywood Bowl and the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary.

Bucoy-Calavan has also participated as a conducting fellow in masterclasses with Dale Warland, Craig Hella Johnson, Robert Porco, Ragnar Bohlin, Jerry Blackstone, Paul Rardin, John Alexander, Jacques Lacombe, David Hayes, Mark Gibson, Arthur Fagan, William Dehning, Patrick Quigley and Elmer Thomas. Bucoy-Calavan has ventured in opera conducting, having served as the Assistant Conductor of California State University, Fullerton’s full production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Elixir of Love. This past spring, Bucoy-Calavan acted as Assistant Conductor of CCM’s Opera d’Arte undergraduate production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and will be conducting performances of the Spring 2014 production of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges.

Most recently, Bucoy-Calavan placed second in the 2013 American Choral Directors Association National Choral Conducting Competition, held in Dallas, Texas. This fall, she will be begin her third year of pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Choral Studies faculty members Earl Rivers and Brett Scott, will be Director of the University of Cincinnati Men’s Chorus, and teaching introductory conducting for undergraduate students.

The Price Hill String Quartet.

CCM’s new Community Partner the Price Hill String Quartet will present a FREE all-Mendelssohn program beginning at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday, May 2, at the LISH Art Gallery in Price Hill. This concert is open to the general public and will conclude with the first and last movements of the Mendelssohn Octet performed by the Quartet and four members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra!

The Price Hill Quartet is the string quartet of Music for Youth in Cincinnati (MYCincinnati). The Quartet is comprised of two MYCincinnati directors and two current CCM students, and is funded in part by CCM and CCM’s ArtsWave Community Partnership grant.

Learn more about CCM’s New Community Engagement Initiatives here.

About Music for Youth in Cincinnati
Music for Youth in Cincinnati (MYCincinnati) is a free youth orchestra program in Price Hill. Founded on the idea that personal transformation can be achieved by striving towards musical excellence, MYCincinnati offers children in Price Hill the opportunity to learn violin, viola or cello and play in an orchestra.

MYCincinnati is inspired by “El Sistema,” Venezuela’s revolutionary youth orchestra program that uses music as a vehicle for social change. Students enrolled in MYCincinnati meet for 10 hours a week in Price Hill. The program consist of group and private lessons, sectionals, orchestra, musicianship and frequent performance. Learn more about MyCincinnati by visiting http://www.mycincinnatiorchestra.org.

Performance Time
7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2

Location
LISH Art Gallery
3116 Warsaw Avenue
Price Hill, OH 45205

Admission
Admission is free and open to the general public. Concert attendees are also invited to join the Price Hill String Quartet for a pre-concert potluck dinner with students and families from MYCincinnati beginning at 6 p.m. at 3117 Warsaw Avenue.

Community Partner: ArtsWave

Photography by Dottie Stover.

Congratulations to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Class of 2013! You can view a live video stream of UC’s Commencement Ceremonies here. UC will host ceremonies in the Fifth-Third Arena Shoemaker Center at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, 2013.

9 a.m. ceremony will include the following colleges:

• Allied Health Sciences
• Business
• College-Conservatory of Music (CCM)
• Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP)
• Nursing
• UC Blue Ash

2 p.m. ceremony will include the following colleges:

• Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH)
• Engineering & Applied Science
• McMicken College of Arts & Sciences (A&S)
• UC Clermont

Photography by Dottie Stover.

Following the University’s 9 a.m. commencement ceremony, CCM will host a cookout in room 300 of the Dieterle Vocal Arts Center. The luncheon is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and graduates, parents and friends are welcome to attend.

CCM will then celebrate the Class of 2013 with a Graduation Convocation Ceremony at 1:30 p.m. in Corbett Auditorium. Students receiving baccalaureate, masters, doctoral and artist diploma degrees in April 2013 will be recognized at the Convocation.

The ceremony will be in full academic regalia, and will feature a faculty and student procession. The ceremony will also include recognition of this year’s Distinguished Alumnus Award Recipient: Deron Hall (MM, Music Education) and this year’s Distinguished Service Award Recipient: Dianne M. Rosenberg (BSED, Special Education and MED, Special Education). Tickets are required.

Learn more about CCM’s Graduation Convocation Ceremony here.

Photography by Dottie Stover.

CCM Musical Theatre’s graduating class of 2013.

The graduating seniors from CCM’s Musical Theatre program bid a heartfelt farewell to their time at the University of Cincinnati with a performance of Craig Carnelia’s “Flight” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Somewhere” (from the musical West Side Story) accompanied by Julie Spangler:

Learn more about CCM Musical Theatre’s recent graduates here!

CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

• Debbie Denise, CCM ’73, visual effects executive producer
• Jessica Peel-Scott, DAAP ’93, assistant costume designer.

CCM alumna Debbie Denise is executive vice president of production at the Academy Award-winning visual effects and animation studio Sony Pictures Imageworks, which Disney hired for the film. Considered one of the country’s most experienced visual-effects production executives, Denise oversees production of all the company’s films, which have included Harry Potter, The Amazing Spider-Man and Men In Black 3. She is particularly an expert on 3-D Stereoscopic Production.

You can read the entire UC Magazine feature here.

Date, time, venue and admission information is below.

The events begin with the Prep Brass Choir concert on Wednesday, April 24, featuring some of the area’s most talented middle school and high school instrumentalists. Next, on April 26 and 27, the department presents the annual CCM Preparatory Musical: The Little Mermaid Jr. The talents of 44 students ranging in age from 8-14 years old and studying music, theatre or dance will be showcased in this fun-filled, fully staged production. Then on May 4 and 5, the CCM Youth Ballet Company will present works with classic and original choreography by CCM Prep faculty.

On May 5, the Cincinnati Children’s Choir (CCC) conducted by Robyn Lana presents its spring concert at Christ’s Church at Mason in Mason, Ohio. Fresh from their Carnegie Hall debut, the 350 members of the CCC will celebrate spring through song and the energy of youthful choral artistry. This concert will complete the celebration of the program’s 20th anniversary and will feature special guest Rollo Dilworth.

Also on May 5, the Starling Chamber Orchestra directed by Kurt Sassmannshaus will present a concert showcasing the superbly talented young students from the Starling Preparatory String Project.

On Sunday, May 12, the Cincinnati Junior Strings ensemble presents its annual Spring Concert in the Muntz Theater at UC Blue Ash.

The CCM Preparatory Showcase, beginning at 9 a.m. on May 18, will feature ongoing performances by theatre arts and dance students all day in Patricia Corbett Theater, with Achievement Festival Music Recitals all day throughout CCM Village. Audiences will get to experience a year’s worth of hard work and the talents of CCM Prep students from a variety of disciplines.

The Prep season concludes with two performances on the afternoon and evening of Sunday, May 19, with the Preparatory Jazz Extravaganza at 4 p.m. featuring the Prep jazz ensembles and combos, and the CCM Prep Cello Choir at 7 p.m. featuring works and transcriptions for cello choir played by young area cellists in the program.

Event Information
All events listed below take place in CCM Village on the campus of the University of Cincinnati unless otherwise indicated. Admission is free to many CCM performances, although some events do require purchased tickets or reservations. Please see individual event information for details and ordering information.

CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave
__________

8 p.m. Wednesday, April 24
Prep Brass Choir

The area’s finest young brass musicians perform a concert of music composed and arranged for brass choir.

Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Admission: FREE
____

8 p.m. Friday, April 26
8 p.m. Saturday, April 27
CCM Preparatory Musical: The Little Mermaid Jr.
Karie-Lee Sutherland, director
Rebecca Childs, musical director
Elaine Eckstein, choreographer

CCM Prep presents its spring musical, The Little Mermaid Jr. Learn more about this production here.

Location: Patricia Corbett Theater
Tickets: $12 adults, $8 students.
____

7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4
2 p.m. Sunday, May 5
CCM Youth Ballet Company

The CCM Prep Youth Company, Junior Youth and Mini Company (along with the Adult Ballet Group) will perform works featuring classic and original choreography by CCM Prep faculty.

Location: Patricia Corbett Theater.
Tickets: $10 adults, $8 students. Tickets will be sold at the door on the evening of the performance, or they may be purchased in advance by calling 513-556-2595.

____

4 p.m. Sunday, May 5
Cincinnati Children’s Choir
Robyn Lana, conductor
“Spring Concert”

The 350 members of the Cincinnati Children’s Choir, including CCM resident choirs and satellite choirs from across the Tri-state area, will celebrate spring through song and the energy of youthful choral artistry. The concert will complete the celebration of the program’s 20th anniversary and will feature special guest Rollo Dilworth.

Location: Christ’s Church at Mason; 5165 Western Row Road, Mason, OH 45040
Tickets: $12 general, $6 non-UC students, UC students FREE.

____

7 p.m. Sunday, May 5
Starling Chamber Orchestra
Kurt Sassmannshaus, director

Showcasing the superbly talented young students from the Starling Preparatory String Project.

Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Admission: FREE
____

3 p.m. Sunday, May 12
Cincinnati Junior Strings’ Spring Concert

Location: Muntz Theater at UC Blue Ash.
Admission: FREE
____

9 a.m. Saturday, May 18
CCM Preparatory Showcase

Ongoing performances by theatre arts and dance students all day in Patricia Corbett Theater, with Achievement Festival Music Recitals all day throughout CCM Village. Audiences get the chance to experience the year’s worth of hard work and the talents of CCM Prep students from a variety of disciplines. For more information call 513-556-2595.

Location: Various Locations, CCM Village
Admission: FREE
____

4 p.m. Sunday, May 19
Preparatory Jazz Extravaganza

The CCM Prep jazz ensembles and combos are featured in a festive finale for the year.

Location: Patricia Corbett Theater
Admission: FREE
____

7 p.m. Sunday, May 19
CCM Prep Cello Choir
Ellen Shertzer, director

Featuring area cellists, the CCM Prep Cello Choir performs original works and transcriptions for cello choir.

Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Admission: FREE
____

CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

“Chess” runs Oct. 25 – 28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. Photography by Mark Lyons.
Tickets on sale now! Visit ccm.uc.edu for more information. Photography by Mark Lyons.

We are thrilled to announce that CCM class of 2013 MFA Lighting Design student Alan Hanson has won the 2013 Student Lighting Design Competition organized by online entertainment lighting industry publication iSquint and theatre art and technology journal Stage Directions!

Hanson’s lighting design for CCM’s Fall 2012 Mainstage Series production of Chess took the title in this third annual competition, which offers a valuable prize package of lighting software and literature.

View a slideshow of Hanson’s award winning work on Chess here.

The Student Lighting Design Competition is sponsored by lighting technology companies City Theatrical, Nemetschek Vectorworks and Field Template Soft Symbols, and is judged by leading experts in the lighting design field and developers of the software entrants must use to create their design entries. Visit iSquint.net to learn more about this competition.

Congratulations to Alan on this exciting award!

Comprised of CCM graduate saxophone students, the Promethean Saxophone Quartet competes in the Coleman Chamber Music Ensemble Competition Finals on April 27, 2013.

We are excited to share that CCM’s own Promethean Saxophone Quartet will compete in the finals of the 67th annual Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition in Pasadena, California!

The competition will take place this Saturday, April 27, in the Ramo Auditorium at the California Institute of Technology, and winners will be presented in a public concert the following day.

The Promethean Quartet is comprised of CCM graduate saxophone students:

• Alex Magg, soprano saxophone
• Jeremy Castañeda, alto saxophone
• Om Srivistava, tenor saxophone
• Ryan Van Scoyk, baritone saxophone

The Quartet will be competing with Alfred Desenclos’ Quatuor pour Saxophones and David Maslanka’s Recitation Book, based on traditional chorale and Gregorian chant melodies.

The competition appearance is part of a tour that will include performances in Denver, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, CO, as well as at CCM and in Greater Cincinnati. In addition to the competition repertoire, tour repertoire will include an arrangement by the Quartet’s baritone saxophonist Ryan Van Scoyk of Percy Grainger’s beloved piece for wind band, Lincolnshire Posy, and Philip Glass’s Saxophone Quartet.

The members of the Quartet all study under Saxophone Studies faculty member James Bunte. This season, the group has performed around Cincinnati, at Virginia Tech on tour with the CCM Wind Orchestra and at the North American Saxophone Alliance regional conference at Bowling Green State University.

For more details on the tour and competition, keep up with Promethean on Facebook. You can watch and hear these talented artists on the Quartet’s YouTube channel.

About the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition
The Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition began in 1947 as the Coleman Auditions for young, non-professional performers; today’s competing ensembles have an average age of less than 28. From a modest beginning, the annual Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition (renamed in 1982) has become a highly respected national and international event with competitors coming from the major music schools across the country.

Many Coleman Competition winners have gone on to become widely acclaimed artists. An abbreviated list of past winners includes Glenn Dicterow, Grant Gershon, Jeffrey Kahane, Anne-Marie McDermott, Paula Robison, Nathaniel Rosen, Morton Subotnick, the Ahn Trio, eighth blackbird, and the Cavani, Colorado, Pacifica, Tokyo and Vega Quartets.

Held annually in late April, the Competition offers an opportunity for these musicians to perform before an outstanding panel of nationally chosen judges for three prizes totaling $15,500. Previous judges have included Jascha Heifetz, Natalie Limonick, Mehli Mehta, Gregor Piatigorsky, Artur Rubinstein, Eudice Shapiro, Arnold Steinhardt, Henri Temianka, the Beaux Arts Trio, and the Amadeus, Budapest, Opus One and Smetana Quartets.