During its 150th anniversary season, CCM commemorates the 100th birthday of cultural icon Leonard Bernstein with an unprecedented series of events.
Celebration is in the air at CCM as the 150-year-old performing and media arts institution prepares to commemorate the 100th birthday of an American icon. In 2018, CCM will stage a year-long festival memorializing the legacy of composer, conductor, educator and activist/humanitarian Leonard Bernstein. Beginning on January 26, 2018, this wide-ranging festival will span two concert seasons and include over a dozen major performances, making it one of the world’s most comprehensive Bernstein Centennial Celebrations!
CCM’s Bernstein Festival features the talents of students and faculty members from throughout the college, united in a celebration of the life and career of one monumental artist. Bernstein, who would have turned 100 years old on Aug. 25, 2018, was a towering figure of 20th-century music and culture. He achieved international acclaim as the composer of West Side Story, Candide, On the Town and other stage and orchestral works. The celebrated conductor of the New York Philharmonic and other leading orchestras, Bernstein was equally esteemed as an educator whose televised Young People’s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic created generations of music lovers.
CCM’s festival showcases many of Bernstein’s signature works, including the iconic “Symphonic Dances” from West Side Story, the monumental Age of Anxiety symphony for piano and orchestra, Songfest, the Symphonic Suite from Academy Award-winning film On the Waterfront, poignantly satirical one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti and much more.
In addition to Bernstein’s compositions, CCM’s festival also showcases music by Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, David Diamond and other composers who were championed by Bernstein through his work as a conductor and musical ambassador. According to Interim Dean bruce mcclung, “These works by Bernstein’s colleagues and the younger American composers who he promoted will help provide a cultural and musical context for CCM’s festival.”
For CCM Director of Orchestral Studies Mark Gibson, programming this festival has been fulfilling both artistically and personally. “Lenny is the reason I am on the podium today and have been in the halls of CCM every year for the past 20 years,” says Gibson, who studied with Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center as the Bernstein Conducting Fellow in 1986.
A college-wide celebration of Bernstein’s artistic output and ongoing influence seemed like a natural fit for CCM’s ongoing Sesquicentennial Celebration, too. “During this same year that CCM celebrates the 150th anniversary of its founding, Lenny would have celebrated his 100th birthday. Let’s do it for him, let’s throw him a party all year long.”
The festivities begin on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, as Gibson leads the CCM Philharmonia in a concert featuring Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from West Side Story along with Lenny’s “anthem,” the beloved Overture to Candide. The concert also features CCM Eminent Scholar of Chamber Music and Piano James Tocco in Bernstein’s highly dramatic second symphony, The Age of Anxiety. Like Gibson, Tocco was mentored by Bernstein earlier in his career, working closely with him on the world-premiere recording of Bernstein’s complete works for solo piano in 1983. Tocco has performed The Age of Anxiety with orchestras around the world and recorded it with Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
CCM’s Bernstein Festival continues through March with performances by the Opera d’Arte undergraduate opera series, Wind Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Concert Orchestra, Chorale and much more. The festival then resumes in September with another series of events leading up to the CCM Jazz Orchestra’s performance of Stan Kenton’s West Side Story on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018.
Tune In! Enjoy a preview of the festival courtesy of WVXU’s Around Cincinnati by visiting wvxu.org/post/celebrating-together-150-years-ccm-100th-birthday-bernstein.
Some of CCM’s Bernstein Festival performances are free and open to the general public, while others require paid admission. Audiences can also purchase the “Bernstein Experience” package, which provides access to every ticketed festival event and comes with additional perks. View complete schedule and ticketing information for CCM’s Bernstein Festival below.
____________________
CCM’S BERNSTEIN FESTIVAL
SPRING 2018
8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26
BERNSTEIN FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT
CCM Philharmonia
Featuring Eminent Scholar of Chamber Music James Tocco, piano
Mark Gibson, music director and conductor
BERNSTEIN: Overture to Candide (1956)
BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
BERNSTEIN: Symphony No. 2 (The Age of Anxiety) (1949/65)
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2
8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3
2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4
TROUBLE IN TAHITI
Music and libretto by Leonard Bernstein
THE TELEPHONE
Music and words by Gian Carlo Menotti
TALE FOR A DEAF EAR
Music and lyrics by Marc Bucci
Brett Scott, conductor
Amy Johnson, stage director and co-producer
Kenneth Shaw, co-producer
Gabriela Sam, assistant stage director
The CCM Opera d’arte Series of undergraduate productions proudly presents a triple bill of one-act American operas! Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti candidly portrays the troubled marriage of a young suburban couple. Written between Bernstein’s biggest Broadway successes, Trouble in Tahiti draws upon popular song styles to deliver an uncompromising critique of Mid-century American marriage. The triple bill also includes Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Telephone and Mark Bucci’s rarely produced, but haunting, Tale for a Deaf Ear. Taken together, Opera d’arte’s triple bill offers three contrasting views into the extremes of human relationships.
Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater
Admission: Admission is free. Reservations are required. Tickets become available to Bernstein Festival subscribers at noon on Monday, Jan. 22. They are available to the general public beginning at noon on Monday, Jan. 29. Please visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.
Opera d’arte Sponsor: Rafael & Kimberly Daniel de Acha Foundation
____
4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11
CELEBRATING CCM’S SESQUICENTENNIAL WITH DALE WARLAND
CCM Chamber Choir and Chorale, Cincinnati Children’s Choir Bel Canto, and UC Men’s and Women’s Choruses
Earl Rivers, Robyn Lana, Kevin Coker, Molly Getsinger and Graeme Langager, conductors
CCM’s Sesquicentennial Celebration includes a choral concert featuring guest conductor/composer-in-residence Dale Warland (HonDoc, 2008), inductee in the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and founder of the Grammy Award-nominated Dale Warland Singers. The CCM Chamber Choir presents the world premiere of I Hear America Singing commissioned by the CCM Choral Department and composed by Warland in honor of the 150th anniversary of CCM’s founding. CCM Chamber Choir also presents Leonard Bernstein’s Missa Brevis, and guest conductor and alumnus Graeme Langager leads the CCM Chorale in Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder (New Love Songs).
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16
FUN AND GAMES
CCM Philharmonia
Featuring the winners of the CCM String Quartet Competition
Mark Gibson, music director
Annunziata Tomaro, guest conductor
CCM’s Sesquicentennial Celebration welcomes back CCM alumna and former faculty member Annunziata Tomaro (DMA Orchestral Conducting, 2014) for a can’t-miss concert featuring the CCM Philharmonia with the internationally acclaimed Ariel Quartet!
BERNSTEIN: Overture to Slava!
ADAMS: Absolute Jest
STRAVINSKY: Petrouchka (1911 version)
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25
LENNY AND FRIENDS ON BROADWAY
CCM Philharmonia
Mark Gibson, music director and conductor
Join us for a celebration of Bernstein’s Broadway legacy, including works by Bernstein, Loesser, Weill, Sondheim and Styne.
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $20 general, $15 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
8 p.m. Friday, March 2
BERNSTEIN, KHACHATURIAN, R. STRAUSS: DANCES
CCM Wind Orchestra
Terence Milligan, music director and conductor
Leonard Bernstein was an American treasure and a larger-than-life force in music. We celebrate his 100 years with “Symphonic Dances” from West Side Story and “Three Dance Episodes” from On the Town, along with Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian and Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
8 p.m. Tuesday, March 6
REMEMBERING LENNY: NEW WORKS AND OLD FRIENDS
Café MoMus
Aik Khai Pung, music director and conductor
LUKAS FOSS: Time Cycle
DAVID CLAY METTENS: In This World (World Premiere)
HSIN-LEI CHEN: Vortex•Hymn (World Premiere)
Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater
Admission: FREE
____
8 p.m. Thursday, March 8
BERNSTEIN’S CHICHESTER PSALMS AND SAXOPHONE CONCERTOS
CCM Concert Orchestra and Chorale
Featuring guest artists from the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Convention
Aik Khai Pung and Brett Scott, music directors and conductors
Bernstein’s most popular choral/orchestra work, Chichester Psalms, premiered in 1965 with the composer conducting. The work features a boy soprano (or countertenor), and the texts that Bernstein selected from Psalms 23, 100, 108 and 131 of the Hebrew Bible. Saxophone repertoire to be announced.
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
8 p.m. Friday, March 30
BERNSTEIN’S SERENADE AFTER PLATO’S SYMPOSIUM AND STRAUSS’ ‘GROßMACHTIGE PRINZESSIN’ FROM ARIADNE AUF NAXOS
CCM Concert Orchestra
Aik Khai Pung, music director and conductor
STRAUSS: “Großmachtige Prinzessin” from Ariadne auf Naxos
Featuring the winner of the CCM Voice Competition
BERNSTEIN: Serenade after Plato’s Symposium
Featuring the winner of the CCM Violin Concerto Competition
BRAHMS: Serenade No. 2 in A Major, Op. 16
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
FALL 2018
8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14
LENNY AND FRIENDS
CCM Philharmonia and Concert Orchestra
Mark Gibson and Aik Khai Pung, music directors and conductors
Concert Orchestra
CHAVEZ: Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonia India)
THOMPSON: Symphony No. 2 (1931) excerpt
DIAMOND: Music to Romeo and Juliet (1947)
Philharmonia
COPLAND: El Salón México
HARRIS: Symphony No. 3
BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31
BERNSTEIN AND FRIENDS
CCM Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble
Terrence Milligan and Kevin Michael Holzman, music directors and conductors
COPLAND: Fanfare for the Common Man
BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront
THOMSON: A Solemn Music
COPLAND: Incidental Music from Our Town
BERNSTEIN: Slava!
Additional works to be announced
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1
PIANOPALOOZA CELEBRATES LENNY
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Admission: FREE
____
8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2
SONGFEST AND FANCY FREE
CCM Philharmonia
Featuring CCM Voice faculty members and student soloists
Mark Gibson, music director and conductor
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____
7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4
STAN KENTON’S WEST SIDE STORY
CCM Jazz Orchestra
Scott Belck, music director and conductor
Hear CCM jazz students perform music from Kenton’s West Side Story album, which won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Large Group (Instrumental) in 1962.
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $20 general, $15 non-UC students, UC students FREE
____________________
Purchasing Tickets
Single tickets to all Spring 2018 Bernstein Festival events are now available for purchase through the CCM Box Office in person, over the phone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/bernstein-festival. Ticket prices vary; see individual event listings for additional information. Tickets for CCM’s Fall 2018 Bernstein Festival events will go on sale in August.
Experience the complete Bernstein Festival! CCM subscribers can purchase CCM’s “Bernstein Experience” package for $160, giving them access to every ticketed concert in CCM’s Bernstein Festival at a savings of over 20% off single ticket prices. Bernstein Experience package holders get first access to CCM’s Fall 2018 festival events. Package holders also receive exclusive perks for CCM’s non-ticketed Bernstein Festival events, including early access to tickets for Trouble in Tahiti!
To purchase a Bernstein Experience package, contact the CCM Box Office at 513-556-4183. Already have tickets to some of these events? Call the Box Office to upgrade to the Bernstein Experience package. The Bernstein Experience is available for purchase through January 26, 2018.
Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for information on parking rates.
For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.
For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
____________________
CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation
____________________
Photo of Leonard Bernstein by Al Ravenna, 1955, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
____________________
All event dates and programs are subject to change. For an updated calendar of events, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.
____________________
CCM VILLAGE NEWS ARCHIVES 