CCM Slideshows: The Threepenny Opera

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CCM proudly presents The Threepenny Opera, running tonight, March 1, through Sunday, March 10, in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now. This production contains mature subject matter.

Learn more The Threepenny Opera here.

“[Stage Director Robin] Guarino fearlessly goes back to the musical satire’s socio-political roots in 1920s Berlin,” Jackie Demaline writes in her review for the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Everything about The Threepenny Opera carries out Guarino’s vision, as the cast prowl scenic designer John Arnone’s industrial set of catwalks, with the small orchestra (in costume) perched at the top. Musical director Roger Grodsky as always asks much and gets all from singers and musicians.”

Read Demaline’s full review here.

A New Sneak Peek at the Scenic Design of ‘The Threepenny Opera’

Assistant to the Scenic Designer Alexandra Kuntz provides these previews of ‘The Threepenny Opera.’

CCM’s acclaimed Mainstage Series resumes this week with Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s epic musical The Threepenny Opera. Today, we are happy to provide a preview of the show’s set, courtesy of Alexandra Kuntz, a sophomore in CCM’s Scenic Design program and Assistant to Guest Scenic Designer John Arnone on this production.

Learn more about this dynamic new production, which features set designs by Tony Award-winner John Arnone.

“Set in the mid-19th century, Macheath (otherwise known as ‘Mack the Knife’) runs the town with his rag tag band of ruffians and gets what he wants,” Kuntz explains. “His latest want just happens to be Polly Peachum, daughter of the Beggar’s Lord of London (Johnathan Jeremiah Peachum), who doesn’t take too kindly to Mack the Knife’s interest in his daughter. Doing anything to keep them apart, Peachum uses broads, bribes and blackmails to get Mack out of the picture, while Macheath’s life hangs in the balance.”

This production contains mature subject matter.

The Epic Theatre of CCM’s ‘The Threepenny Opera’

Sophomore Hannah Zazzaro as Sukey Tawdry and junior Max Clayton as Macheath. Photography by Mark Lyons.

CCM’s year-long Kurt Weill Festival resumes this month with a dynamic new production of the iconic musical The Threepenny Opera. Composed by Kurt Weill with book and lyrics by dramatist Bertolt Brecht (adapted into English by Marc Blitzstein), The Threepenny Opera weaves the riveting tale of notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath (“Mack the Knife”) and his seedy companions in London’s underworld. Weill’s innovative score invented a new form of musical theatre, leading the way for such shows as Chicago and Cabaret.

CCM’s Mainstage Series production of this jazz-infused musical is directed by Robin Guarino, with musical direction by Roger Grodsky, choreography by Patti James and scenic designs by Tony Award-winning guest artist John Arnone. The Threepenny Opera runs Thursday, Feb. 28, through Sunday, March 10, in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now. This production contains mature subject matter.

CCM Presents the Iconic Musical ‘The Threepenny Opera’ Feb. 28 – March 10

Sophomore Hannah Zazzaro as Sukey Tawdry and junior Max Clayton as Macheath. Photography by Mark Lyons.

Someone sneaking ’round the corner. Is the someone Mack the Knife? Find out for yourself when CCM presents The Threepenny Opera, Feb. 28 through March 10, 2013!

With The Threepenny Opera, composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht weave the riveting story of notorious bandit and womanizer MacHeath (“Mack the Knife”) and his seedy companions in London’s underworld, inventing a new form of musical theatre in the process!

Influencing shows like Chicago and Cabaret, this jazz-infused musical comes to life in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater for two consecutive weekends courtesy of CCM’s stars of tomorrow!

Directed by Robin Guarino, with musical direction by Roger Grodsky, choreography by Patti James and set designs by Tony Award-winning guest artist John Arnone, The Threepenny Opera is the must-see theatre event of the year! Learn more here.

This production contains mature subject matter.

CCM Presents ‘Prism XVI: From Fanfares to Festivities’ on Feb. 27

CCM hosts a musical celebration during the annual Prism Concert!

CCM presents its 16th annual Prism Concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. This perennially popular concert features performances by CCM’s jazz, vocal, brass choir, percussion and wind ensembles.

The Bearcat Bands Drumline, a horn and harp duo, a piano soloist and the CCM Preparatory Department’s Cincinnati Youth Wind Ensemble will also be featured during this concert’s 60 minutes of nonstop music. Glenn D. Price and Terence Milligan conduct.

Keep the chill away by surrounding yourself with warm sounds from various locations in Corbett Auditorium! This year’s theme, “From Fanfares to Festivities,” promises to be exciting from start to finish with iconic music honoring events and celebrations.

CCM Undergraduate Opera Series Presents New Take on Mozart’s ‘The Marriage of Figaro’

CCM Professor of Voice Kenneth Shaw.

CCM’s Opera d’arte Series proudly presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s timeless opera buffa Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) from Feb. 22-24 in UC’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Under the guidance of conductor Brett Scott and stage director Kenneth Shaw, talented undergraduate opera students will present this favorite of the classical opera repertoire with a unique 1960s-inspired aesthetic. Tickets to this production are free and become available at noon on Monday, Feb. 18. Reservations are required.

Mozart wrote this comic opera in Vienna in 1786, basing the work on a play by the French writer Pierre Beaumarchais. “Figaro was the first collaboration between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte,“ Shaw explains, “and for their source material they chose Beaumarchais’ controversial La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro), the second part of a trilogy that began with Le Barbier de Séville (later the basis for the Rossini opera of the same name). Figaro the play was censored in Beaumarchais’ native France over concerns about its ‘subversive’ plot, which depicts the efforts of a Spanish nobleman, Count Almaviva, to seduce Suzanne, a beautiful young servant of his wife, only to be thwarted and humiliated by his wife, the Countess Rosina, working in concert with the Count’s servant, Figaro, who is also Suzanne’s fiancée.”

LISTEN: CCM’s ‘Kurt Weill Festival’ Featured on WVXU’s Around Cincinnati

Theatre composer Kurt Weill in New City, ca. 1945 (photo: Engel). Image courtesy of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

Anne Arenstein discussed CCM’s year-long celebration of Kurt Weill with faculty members Robin Guarino and bruce mcclung on the latest edition of WVXU’s Around Cincinnati.

If you missed the broadcast, you can listen to audio of the entire interview here.

CCM’s Kurt Weill Festival resumes this month with the Mainstage Series production of Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera (running Feb. 28 – March 10). This spring’s festival events will also include concert performances of Weill’s Kiddush (Prayer of Sanctification) and the a capella madrigal “Ho, Billy, O!” from the Weill musical Love Life. View a full schedule of festival events here. Learn more about The Threepenny Opera after the jump.

CCM’s ‘The Time of Your Life’ Earns Two LCT Nominations

CCM presents ‘The Time of Your Life.’ Photography by Mark Lyons.

Panelists for the League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT) have recognized CCM’s Mainstage Series production of The Time of Your Life with two LCT nominations, for Ensemble in a Play and for scenic design (Mark Halpin). Congratulations to everyone involved with this production!

CCM Welcomes Internationally Renowned Trombonist Jörgen van Rijen For Feb. 21 Master Class and Recital

Guest artist Jörgen van Rijen comes to CCM on Feb. 21, 2013.

The CCM Trombone Studio is proud to present acclaimed trombonist Jörgen van Rijen in a 4 p.m. master class and 8 p.m. recital on Thursday, Feb. 21 in UC’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall.

Principal trombone of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Van Rijen’s commitment to promoting his instrument, developing new repertoire, and bringing existing repertoire to a broader audience has taken him throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australia as a soloist and teacher.

According to Luister Magazine, “Van Rijen is a real ambassador of his instrument, which is still not often used as a virtuoso brass instrument among composers. But there are not that many trombonists who reach the brilliant level of Van Rijen. In sound, dynamic colour, musical understanding and expressiveness, Van Rijen is unequalled…”

CCM Slideshows: The Time of Your Life

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CCM proudly presents William Saroyan’s Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics’ Circle Award-winning drama The Time of Your Life, running tonight through Sunday in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now.

You can read the Cincinnati Enquirer‘s preview of the show here and learn more about the production here.