CCM’s Studio and Undergraduate Opera Series Celebrate the Baroque Era with ‘The Coronation of Poppea’ and ‘Alcina’

Molly Hanes (DMA candidate, Voice Performance) as Poppea in CCM’s studio opera production of ‘The Coronation of Poppea.’ Photography by Adam Zeek.

CCM will present the operatic works of Claudio Monteverdi and Frideric Handel this spring with L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) running Feb. 20-22 and Alcina running Feb. 27-March 1 both in the Cohen Family Studio Theater.

As part of CCM’s Studio Opera Series and Opera d’arte-Undergraduate Opera Series, respectively, these productions offer free admission but reservations are required.

Associate Professor of Ensembles and Conducting L. Brett Scott conducts both productions.

Despite both focusing on royalty, these masterworks’ themes couldn’t be more different. Directed by Assistant Professor of Music in Opera and Directing Emma Griffin, The Coronation of Poppea is one of the first operas based on real-life historical figures. Monteverdi focuses on the infamous Roman emperor Nero and his affair with a married woman named Poppea Sabina, who, through betrayal, banishment and murder, becomes the emperor’s new wife.

By comparison, Alcina, with direction by Professor of Voice Kenneth Shaw, weaves a lighter, more magical tale. A warrior king is whisked away to a magical island where the sorceress Alcina seeks to place him under her spell of love, and possibly transform him into an animal or tree when she becomes bored of him. Mistaken identities, star-crossed lovers and light-hearted episodes are plentiful in Handel’s opera, which will take the CCM stage for the first time since 1985!

Monteverdi continues to be recognized (due in part to his 1607 masterpiece L’Orfeo) as the first truly renowned opera composer. His Vespers of 1610 is performed often, including CCM’s own presentation this past November by the Chamber Choir and Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra. Meanwhile, Handel’s monumental oratorio The Messiah remains highly popular in its own right and is a Christmas staple for numerous choirs and orchestras across the world.

Both productions will provide an intimate experience for audiences and performers alike inside CCM’s cozy Cohen Family Studio Theater. Tickets will become available for reservation the Monday before each opening–Feb. 16 for The Coronation of Poppea and Feb. 23 for Alcina. Mark your calendars to see two of the greatest works of the Baroque by two of its greatest composers!

UC Professor Lauren Ginsberg from McMicken College’s Department of Classics will host a free talkback session on the historical origins of The Coronation of Poppea immediately following the Sunday, Feb. 22, performance of the opera. The talkback session will also take place in the Cohen Family Studio Theater and will last approximately 30 minutes.

Rafael de Acha provides an in-depth preview of CCM’s upcoming productions of The Coronation of Poppea and Alcina for Seen and Heard International. Read the preview online here.

Ray Cooklis examines the “otherworldly appeal” of early music – including both of CCM’s opera productions –  in the February edition of ExpressCincinnati. Read the story online here.

The Catacoustic Consort provides an overview of all of the Early Music performances happening in Cincinnati this February here.

Event Information
All events listed below take place on the campus of the University of Cincinnati unless otherwise indicated. Tickets can be reserved in person at the CCM Box Office or over the telephone at 513-556-4183. Visit ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice for CCM Box Office hours and location.

All event dates and programs are subject to change. Visit ccm.uc.edu or contact the CCM Box Office at 513-556-4183 for the most current event information.

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 more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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SPRING 2015 STUDIO OPERA AND OPERA D’ARTE SERIES:

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20
8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21
2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22 (a talkback session will immediately follow this performance)
• Studio Opera Series •
L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA (THE CORONATION OF POPPEA)
Music by Claudio Monteverdi
Libretto by Francesco Busenello
Brett Scott, conductor
Emma Griffin, director
Love, power, morality, corruption… Monteverdi’s final masterpiece, The Coronation of Poppea, is often described as his greatest achievement, combining mythic and very human themes and featuring some of his most glorious music. One of the first operas to use historical events and people, it tells the story of Nero’s infatuation with the young and beautiful Poppea as she tries to make him divorce his wife Ottavia and take her as his new queen and empress of Rome. The Coronation of Poppea is a rich, complex and thoroughly modern work; a world populated by ruthless and all-too-human characters where lust and ambition ultimately triumph over virtue.
Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater
Admission: Admission is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at noon on Monday, Feb. 16. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.
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8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27
2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28 (the previously announced Saturday matinee performance has been canceled)
2 p.m. Sunday, March 1
• CCM Opera d’arte – Undergraduate Opera Series •
ALCINA
Music by George Frideric Handel
Libretto by Riccardo Broschi
Brett Scott, conductor
Kenneth Shaw, director
Amy Johnson, producer
A sorceress, an enchanted island, disguised lovers and mistaken identities are woven together beautifully with some of Handel’s most memorable melodies.
Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater
Admission: Admission is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at noon on Monday, Feb. 23. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

CCM Welcomes the Academy of Ancient Music for a Performance of JS Bach’s Orchestral Suites on Nov. 9

The Academy of Ancient Music. Photography by Patrick Harrison.

CCM welcomes the Cambridge-based Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) for a rare stateside performance at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9, in Corbett Auditorium.

Under the direction of Richard Egarr, the acclaimed period-instrument orchestra will present JS Bach’s Orchestral Suites, showcasing the musical sophistication and expressive subtleties of the Baroque era composer.

The Orchestral Suites are a series of grand and graceful dances, paying homage to the French baroque style as championed by the ballet-obsessed King Louis XIV.

Written during Bach’s years in Leipzig, where he had a wider range of instruments at his disposal than ever before, the Suites revel in new sonorous possibilities and employ varied combinations of wind, brass, stringed instruments and timpani.

Watch the Academy of Ancient Music perform an excerpt from the Orchestral Suites below.

Hailed as the “finest period-instrument orchestra in the world” by Classic FM, the AAM’s residency at CCM is supported by the Joseph and Frances Jones Poetker Fund of the Cambridge Charitable Foundation, Ritter & Randolph, LLC, Corporate Counsel.

Learn more about the Academy of Ancient Music’s upcoming visit to CCM courtesy of Catacoustic News here.

About the Academy of Ancient Music
For more than 40 years the Academy of Ancient Music has enriched the lives of thousands the world over with historically informed performances of baroque and classical music of the highest calibre. Founded in 1973 by Christopher Hogwood, the orchestra has since performed on all six inhabited continents and recorded an unrivalled catalogue of over 300 CDs.

In 2006 Richard Egarr succeeded Hogwood as Music Director, and has since led the orchestra on tours of Europe, Australia, the USA and the Far East. His notable recordings with AAM include JS Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Handel’s complete instrumental works Opp.1-7, music by the 17th century English composer Christopher Gibbons, and Birth of the symphony: Handel to Haydn, the first release on the orchestra’s in-house record label AAM Records.

The AAM’s artistic excellence has long been fostered by a range of guest artists. Pianist Robert Levin and singers Dame Emma Kirkby, Dame Joan Sutherland and Cecilia Bartoli were among those performing regularly with the AAM in the early days, and ongoing relationships with mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, counter-tenor Iestyn Davies and violinist Richard Tognetti lie at the heart of the AAM’s present-day artistic success.

The AAM’s 2014-15 season will take listeners on a musical Grand Tour, from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione  di Poppea to Mozart’s magisterial piano concertos via Venice and the North African coast. International plans include a major tour of the United States and Canada, with performances at Washington DC’s Strathmore Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Carnegie Hall in New York. Planned releases on AAM Records in 2014-15 include recordings of JS Bach’s Orchestral Suites and the 1727 version of the St. Matthew Passion.

The AAM is Associate Ensemble at London’s Barbican Centre and Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge. Visit www.aam.co.uk to find out more. 

Repertoire
All works by JS BACH:

• Orchestral Suite No. 4, BWV 1069 (c. 1725)
• Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV 1067 (c. 1738-9)
• Orchestral Suite No. 1, BWV 1066 (c. 1725)
• Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 (1731)

Performance Time
5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9

Location
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village,
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to the Academy of Ancient Music’s performance at CCM are $20 for general admission, $15 for non-UC students and free for UC students with valid ID.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/academy-of-ancient-music. Visit ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice for CCM Box Office hours and location.

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 campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.

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

ArtsWave: Community Partner

The Joseph and Frances Jones Poetker Fund of the Cambridge Charitable Foundation, Ritter & Randolph, LLC, Corporate Counsel: Visiting Artists Sponsor

CET Cincinnati Public Television Broadcasts Premiere of ‘Monteverdi From CCM’ on May 12

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:

‘Music in Cincinnati’ Reviews CCM’s Monteverdi Project

Mary Ellyn Hutton provides a comprehensive review of CCM’s Nov. 28 Monteverdi Project concert for Music in Cincinnati, declaring that “early music is thriving at CCM.” You can read her full review here.

As previously reported, the Nov. 28 Monteverdi concert was recorded for future broadcast as part of an exciting new collaboration between CCM and CET, Cincinnati Public Television. Learn more about this collaboration here or read the News Records‘ coverage here.

Behind-The-Scenes At CET’s First CCM Video Shoot

CCM officially kicked-off its exciting new collaboration with CET Cincinnati Public Television earlier this week with the Nov. 28 Monteverdi Masterworks concert. Today, you can enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at the shoot, courtesy of CET.

Learn more about the collaboration here.

CCM Choral Series Presents Culmination of ‘Monteverdi Project’ on Nov. 28

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.

CCM’s Chamber Choir teams with Early Music faculty, students and guest artists for an evening featuring highlights from Claudio Monteverdi’s secular masterwork (Book 8: Madrigals of Love and War) and sacred collection (Selva Morale e Spirituale) beginning at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28 in Corbett Auditorium.

The performance is the apex of CCM’s Monteverdi Project, made possible through a generous grant from the Willard and Jean Mulford Charitable Fund of the Cambridge Charitable Foundation. Directed by Earl Rivers, and featuring the CCM Chamber Choir, the Monterverdi Project has been coached by CCM Early Music Faculty members Vivian Montgomery, harpsichord, and Annalisa Pappano, gamba and lirone. Guest artist continuo members include Michael Leopold, theorbo; Elizabeth Motter, Baroque harp; Jennifer Roig-Francolí, Baroque violin; James Lambert, contrabass and gamba; Yaël Senamaud, Baroque violin; and Rodney Stucky, archlute and Baroque guitar.

This concert event will be recorded for future broadcast as part of an exciting new collaboration between CCM and CET, Cincinnati Public Television.

CCM Provides Splendid 400th for Monteverdi’s Landmark Vespers of 1610

On Sunday, Nov. 21, CCM held its first Subscriber Thank You Event of the year at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati. The CCM Chamber Choir and Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra performed Montevderi’s Vespers of 1610 at this very special concert. Music in Cincinnati‘s Mary Ellyn Hutton provides an excellent review of the concert here.

CCM’s next Subscriber Thank You Event will be held on Sunday, May 22. Mainstage subscription packages are still available for the remainder of our 2010-11 season. Contact the CCM Box Office at 513-556-4183 for more information.

Monteverdi’s “Vespers” Previewed by Enquirer

Today, Janelle Gelfand provides us with a preview of this Sunday’s concert commemorating the 400th anniversary of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. You can read Janelle’s story here.

Sponsored by CCM’s Tangeman Sacred Music Center, the concert will be held at Christ Church Cathedral on Fourth and Sycamore in downtown Cincinnati at 5 p.m on Nov. 21. Admission to the concert is free. CCM will host a special reception for our Mainstage Subscribers post-concert. You can learn more about the concert here.

View Rehearsals for 400th Anniversary Celebration of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610

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Today, CCM Electronic Media student Matthew Ray provides us with a video preview of this weekend’s Chamber Choir and Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra concert celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. You can learn more about this very special performance here.

CCM Commemorates the 400th Anniversary of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610

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On Sunday, Nov. 21, CCM’s Choral and Orchestral Departments present a concert commemorating the 400th Anniversary of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. The core large-scale masterwork in the international repertory of the Early Music movement, Monteverdi’s masterpiece will be performed by the CCM Chamber Choir and Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra. This lavish presentation will be embellished with guest period instrument artists playing cornettos, theorbo, gamba and Baroque harp. Earl Rivers conducts. Sponsored by CCM’s Tangeman Sacred Music Center, the concert will be held at Christ Church Cathedral on Fourth and Sycamore in downtown Cincinnati at 5 p.m on Nov. 21. Admission to the concert is free. CCM will host a special reception for our Mainstage Subscribers post-concert. More details after the jump.