CCM Winds, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Guitar And More On Display This Weekend!

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You will find something for everyone on the CCM stage this weekend!

At 8 p.m. this evening (Friday, April 12), the CCM Wind Orchestra closes out its successful 2012-13 season with a survey of contemporary American composers. The eclectic program will include works by Samuel Barber, Warren Benson and more! Learn more about this performance here.

CCM welcomes acclaimed tenor Lawrence Brownlee to the stage at 8 p.m. this Saturday, April 13, for an encore performance of the program from his recent Carnegie Hall debut. Brownlee will be accompanied by composer, conductor and pianist Damien Sneed for this special performance. Learn more about this performance here.

CCM’s Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab Band will celebrate the impact of adjunct instructor of jazz drums and “living guru of big band drumming” John Von Ohlen with a swinging tribute concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 14. Learn more about this performance here.

CCM Presents Guest Artist Lawrence Brownlee in Recital on April 13

Acclaimed tenor Lawrence Brownlee presents a guest artist recital at CCM on Saturday, April 13, 2013. Photography by Derek Blanks.

CCM presents a special recital by tenor Lawrence Brownlee at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, in Corbett Auditorium. This performance is presented by the CCM Busse Fund. Tickets are on sale now.

Brownlee will be accompanied by composer, conductor and pianist Damien Sneed, whose spiritual arrangements will be featured on the program. In addition, Brownlee will sing works from the 19th and 20th centuries, including music by composers Giuseppe Verdi and Francis Poulenc. Brownlee recently performed the same program at his Carnegie Hall debut, accompanied by pianist and conductor Martin Katz, with whom he recorded an album of Italian songs under EMI Classics in 2006.

Originally from Youngstown, Ohio, Brownlee has had a quick rise to sought-after status as an operatic tenor. Since graduating from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2001, he has won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and received the Richard Tucker Award and Marian Anderson Award. Brownlee has taken the stage with some of the world’s top opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Hamburg State Opera and Opéra National de Paris. In addition to his EMI Classics release of Italian songs, he is featured on EMI’s release of Rossini’s Stabat Mater and on the Metropolitan Opera’s Met in HD recording of Rossini’s Armida, both from 2010.

Brownlee’s performing career has taken him back to Ohio before, for performances of Bach’s Magnificat with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2002 and of Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in 2003. His return for this CCM encore performance of his Carnegie Hall debut program will be an event not to be missed.

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 Presents Bearcat Piano Festival This Weekend

CCM Associate Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence Awadagin Pratt.

CCM proudly presents the fourth annual Bearcat Piano Festival this week. Master classes and recitals run Thursday, Feb. 7, through Saturday, Feb. 9, in UC’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall. Special guests include Daniel Shapiro, Arnaldo Cohen and Dror Biran.

View a schedule of festival events after the jump. All master classes and recitals are FREE and open to the general public. Reservations are not required. The Bearcat Piano Festival is coordinated by Awadagin Pratt, Associate Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at CCM.

CCM Welcomes Jesse Blumberg and Martin Katz for Schubert Residency in February

CCM alumnus Jesse Blumberg, baritone.

Next month, CCM welcomes alumnus Jesse Blumberg, baritone (MM, ’03), and renowned collaborative pianist Martin Katz for FREE performances of Franz Schubert’s two great Lieder cycles!

Blumberg and Katz will perform Shubert’s Die schöne Müllerin at 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11 and Winterreise at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13. Both song cycles will be performed in CCM’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall and are open to the general public. Reservations are not required.

Below, watch Blumberg and Katz perform “Der Wegweiser” from Winterreise at the inaugural Collaborative Works Festival in Chicago.

This residency is made possible by support from the Jeannine Philippe Art Song Fund. Learn more about that fund’s namesake, CCM Professor Emeritus of Voice Jeannine Philippe, here.

CCM Spring 2013 Calendar of Major Events – February Updates

Please note the following updates to CCM’s schedule of major events for the spring:

• The Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem will feature soloists Helen Lyons, soprano; Leah de Gruyl, mezzo-soprano; Daniel Weeks, tenor and Andrew Funk, bass.

• The Feb. 19 Faculty Artist Series featuring Steven Goldstein, tenor, has been cancelled.

You can always find the most up-to-date information on CCM’s calendar of events at ccm.uc.edu.

CCM Announces 2013 Summer Programs

CCM is pleased to announce an exciting lineup of Summer Programs for 2013. Students from around the world have the opportunity to work with CCM’s world-class faculty and renowned guest artists while in residence at the state-of-the-art CCM Village.

These high caliber summer opportunities are open to CCM and non-CCM students alike. For a full list of summer programs organized by discipline, please visit ccm.uc.edu/summer. Learn more about this year’s summer opportunities after the jump!

CCM Video: The Ariel String Quartet

The excitement of the Ariel Quartet’s debut season at CCM continues at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 15, in UC’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall! The performance is scheduled to include Hugo Wolff’s Italian Serenade, CCM composer Joel Hoffman’s String Quartet No. 3 and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127.

Experience the phenomenon for yourself! Tickets are on sale now.

The Ariel Quartet’s Inaugural Concert Series Continues on Jan. 15

The Ariel String Quartet at CCM. Courtesy of The Enquirer/ Liz Dufour.

The internationally acclaimed Ariel String Quartet continues its debut season as quartet-in-residence at CCM with a performance at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 15, in UC’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall. Tickets are on sale now.

Winners of the Fischoff Grand Prize, the Ariel Quartet was featured in a recent Cincinnati Enquirer article spotlighting “10 Who Are Advancing the Arts.” The Enquirer’s Janelle Gelfand writes, “The four musicians are turning heads for their fresh approach to chamber music, both in their exhilarating performances and in their teaching style. They are establishing a new era that could rival that of the LaSalle.” You can read the entire Enquirer article online here.

The Ariel Quartet’s Jan. 15 performance is scheduled to include Hugo Wolff’s Italian Serenade, CCM composer Joel Hoffman’s String Quartet No. 3 and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127.

Ariel String Quartet’s Inaugural CCM Concert Series Continues Dec. 4

The Ariel String Quartet at CCM. Courtesy of The Enquirer/ Liz Dufour

The Ariel String Quartet‘s inaugural CCM concert series continues at 8 p.m. next Tuesday, Dec. 4 in UC’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall. Winners of the Fischoff Grand Prize, the Quartet’s program is scheduled to include:

• Erwin Schulhoff: String Quartet No.1
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, KV 575
• Johannes Brahms: Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 (featuring James Tocco, piano)

Last month, the Quartet visited CET, Cincinnati Public Television to record an episode of Showcase with Barbara Kellar. You can view the entire episode here.

Earlier last month, Musical America also featured the Ariel Quartet in its New Artist Spotlight! You can view the profile here.