Get Ready To Watch CCM’s Next Digital Concerts

Please join us this Friday and Saturday for the next two episodes of CCMONSTAGE Online, our new ongoing series of digital concerts and performances.

Tonight’s installment features the CCM Chamber Choir performing an eclectic program of nine musical selections dating from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The program will stream from 7:30-8:30 p.m. EDT.

ABOUT TONIGHT’S CONCERT

LEARN MORE VIA WGUC-FM

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Tomorrow night’s installment features the CCM Ballet Ensemble performing a mixed repertoire dance concert. The program will stream from 7:30-9 p.m. EDT.

ABOUT TOMORROW’S CONCERT

LEARN MORE VIA THE CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER

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Where To Watch

Each digital concert begins streaming at 7:30 p.m. EDT with a brief countdown clock sequence.

CCM WEBSITE

CCM YOUTUBE CHANNEL

CCM FACEBOOK PAGE

If the video does not start autoplaying on your viewing device, please refresh the web page and then click the play button on the video player. If you have any trouble with CCM’s streams, visit our website for additional viewing options.

Each performance will be available for on-demand viewing shortly after the premiere stream concludes.

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• Official Announcement

• Series Teaser Trailer

• Broadway World

• Cincinnati Business Courier

• Cincinnati CityBeat

• Cincinnati Magazine

• Cincinnati Public Radio

• Movers and Makers

• Musical America’s Free Guide to (Mostly) Free Streams

• The Violin Channel

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Video production by MasseyGreenAVP, LLC. This digital performance series is made possible by support from CCMONSTAGE Online Broadcast Sponsors CCMpower and ArtsWave, and CCMONSTAGE Online Production Sponsors Dr. & Mrs. Carl G. Fischer.

CCM’s streaming series continues with a performance by the Chamber Choir on March 19

The UC College-Conservatory of Music’s virtual concert series continues with a powerful performance by the CCM Chamber Choir.

CCM’s “stars of tomorrow” are back on stage, and you get the best seats in the house! The next episode of CCMONSTAGE Online debuts at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Friday, March 19, 2021. The premiere will stream simultaneously on CCM’s website, YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Dubbed Together/Apart, this hour-long virtual concert features the CCM Chamber Choir under the direction of accomplished new faculty member Joe Miller, who was named the director of CCM’s lauded Choral Studies program in 2020.

“The isolation generated by the pandemic is at the heart of Together/Apart,” says Miller. “Strengthening our world by staying apart is a new concept for many of us and one that we both resist and embrace.”

Comprised of nine musical selections dating from the Renaissance to the 21st century, Together/Apart‘s eclectic program takes viewers on an emotional journey that reflects on the impact of COVID-19. Works by Thomas Morley, Claudio Monteverdi and J.S. Bach are featured alongside contemporary pieces like David Lang’s “I Am Walking” and The Wailin’ Jennys’ “One Voice.” The performance is also a collaborative effort with CCM’s Department of Theatre Design and Production, and also features lighting and projections by student designer Emily Rooks.

“Engaging with music allows us to recognize the significance of this isolation,” says Miller. “Together/Apart seeks to provide a musical landscape, reflecting this shared experience.  Sometimes music is the only thing that makes sense.”

Like other episodes in CCM’s new virtual performance series, Together/Apart also features commentary from CCM students. All episodes of CCMONSTAGE Online can be digitally streamed for free. After the premiere broadcast, each installment in this ongoing series will remain available for on-demand viewing on CCM’s website, YouTube channel and Facebook page.

In addition to the performances recorded in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium, portions of Together/Apart were also recorded at Cincinnati’s Old St. Mary’s Church. Video production by MasseyGreenAVP, LLC. This digital performance series is made possible by support from CCMONSTAGE Online Broadcast Sponsors CCMpower and ArtsWave, and CCMONSTAGE Online Production Sponsors Dr. & Mrs. Carl G. Fischer.

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Streaming Premiere

7:30 p.m. EDT Friday, March 19, 2021

Performance Repertoire

• David Lang: “I Am Walking” from Death Speaks
• Thomas Morley: Nolo mortem peccatoris
• Claudio Monteverdi: Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben (from Book VII Madrigals)
• Robert White: Domine quis habitabit (III)
• Paweł Łukaszewski: Responsoria Tenebrae: V. Ecce quomodo moritur
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Komm, Jesu, komm
• Ruth Moody, arr. Marcelline Moody: One Voice
• Nathan Jones: I Would Live in Your Love
• Ola Gjeilo: Ubi Caritas

Performers and Creative Team

CCM Chamber Choir

Joe Miller, music director and conductor
Joseph Taff, graduate assistant conductor
Shane Thomas, Jr., graduate assistant conductor

Soprano

Tori Adams
Jisoo Bae
Tanya Harris
Jennifer Jun
Rachel Kobernick
Maya McGuire
Melodie Spencer

Alto

Reina Dickey
Reed Demangone
Kate Gardin
Natasha Naik
Jaime Sharp
Nia Spaulding

Tenor

Matt Coffey
Andrew Cunningham
Corbin DeSpain
Jarrett Hazelton
Aaron McKone
Greg Miller
Shane Thomas, Jr.

Bass

Matt Lee
Jay Mobley
Andrew Nash
Erik Nordstrom
Nathan Schludecker
Joseph Taff
Emilio Vasquez

Instrumentalists and Soloists

“I Am Walking” from Death Speaks

Tanya Harris, soprano
Shane Thomas, Jr., tenor
Melodie Spencer, violin
Jay Mobley, guitar
Thomas Heidenreich, piano

Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben (from Book VII Madrigals)

Melodie Spencer, soprano
Reed Demangone, countertenor
Christopher Wilke, theorbo

Komm, Jesu, komm

Christopher Wilke, baroque guitar
Thomas Heidenreich, organ
Joshua Bermudez, cello
Zachary Reich, bass

One Voice

Tori Adams, soprano
Maya McGuire, soprano
Kate Gardin, mezzo-soprano
Matt Coffey and Joseph Taff, guitar

Ubi Caritas

Shane Thomas, Jr., conductor
Joe Miller, piano

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Stage Management

Meghan Emanuel, primary stage manager
Morgan Piper, assistant stage manager

Lighting Design

Emily Rooks

Additional Theatre Design and Production Support

Sharon Huizinga, Lighting Design and Technology Faculty Member
Michele Kay, Theatre Design and Production Chair

Piano Technicians

Rebekah Whitacre
Eric Wolfley

Video Production

MasseyGreenAVP, llc
Director – Matt Green
Producer/Editor – Austin Maynard

Camera Operators

John Tapogna
Glenn Hartong
Stacy Doose

Audio Engineers

Simón Sotelo
Joel Crawford (on Thomas Morley’s Nolo mortem peccatoris and Robert White’s Domine Quis Habitabit III)

Senior Director of Performance Operations

Rayburn Dobson

CCMONSTAGE Online Series Concept Developed and Managed by

Curt Whitacre

CCM Digital Content Team

Kenneth D. Allen
Clarence M. Brown
Kevin Burke
Rebecca Butts
Rayburn Dobson
Mikki Graff
Melissa Neeley-Nicolini
Simón Sotelo
Curt Whitacre

About the Series

CCMONSTAGE Online is a series of free digital concerts and performing arts presentations showcasing the unparalleled artistry and expertise of CCM’s students, faculty and staff. Enjoy a sneak peek at a few of our upcoming episodes:

The series has recently been featured by Broadway World, Cincinnati Business Courier, Cincinnati CityBeat, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Magazine, Cincinnati Public Radio, Local 12 WKRC-TV, Movers and Makers, Musical America and The Violin Channel.

CCM Announces Joe Miller as New Director of Choral Studies

UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the addition of choral conductor Joe Miller, DMA, to the college’s roster of distinguished faculty members. A leading authority in the field of choral conducting, Miller is also a two-time graduate of CCM (MM, ‘92; DMA, ‘97). His appointment as professor and director of CCM’s lauded Choral Studies program begins on Aug. 15, 2020, pending approval of the University’s Board of Trustees.

Since 2006, Miller has served as conductor of two of the most renowned choral ensembles in the US: the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir. He has also served as director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. In addition to his responsibilities at Westminster, Miller has been artistic director of choral activities for the renowned Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, since 2007. He has also served as conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra Symphonic Choir since 2016.

“CCM has a distinguished history of choral performance and conductor training, and our alumni occupy leadership positions throughout the world,” said Romanstein. “Joe Miller has worked with the world’s leading ensembles, conductors and artists and I am proud to welcome him back to CCM as a colleague. Joe has a firm grasp of the immense opportunities available to 21st century artists and he will serve as a worthy successor to our illustrious colleague Professor Earl Rivers, who retires this spring after a nearly 50-year tenure at CCM.”

“As an alumnus, I owe much to this great institution,” said Miller. “My education at CCM has provided deep roots that have enabled me to grow a diverse and wide-reaching career, and I am honored to help lead the next chapter of this fine institution. I am excited to partner with my new CCM colleagues to find new ways to connect the dots between our ever-changing technology-minded world and our need for shared human experiences.”

Miller’s appointment concludes a national search that began when Earl Rivers, CCM’s long-time director of choral studies, announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2019-20 academic year. “I am grateful to our search committee chair Mark Gibson and committee members L. Brett Scott, Gwendolyn Coleman, Robyn Lana, Marie-France Lefebvreand Daniel Weeks for their work finding CCM’s next great ensembles and conducting professor,” said Romanstein.

About Joe Miller

Miller’s recent seasons leading the Westminster Choir have included concert tours in Beijing, China and in Spain, as well as participation in the World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona and groundbreaking performances of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize winning Anthracite Fields at the historic Roebling WireWorks as part of Westminster’s Transforming Space project.

After viewing a staged performance of Joby Talbot’s demanding Path of Miracles at the 2019 Spoleto Festival USA, D.C. Theatre Scene wrote, “Joe Miller is a fearless artist. His bold leadership and trust in these young singers enabled his choristers to forego the ‘stand and deliver,’ score-bound habits of their genre and ‘walk with him’ on this special journey. Not only did the singers need to memorize their parts, no mean feat, but follow his baton’s bid from any part of the auditorium and sing in any body position. Miller constantly challenged them in the process and inspired them to work confidently, well outside their comfort zone.”

The New York Times described the Westminster Choir’s 2014 Festival performance of John Adams’ El Niño as “superb” and wrote, “Meticulously prepared … the chorus was remarkable for its precision, unanimity and power.” The Wall Street Journal praised the same performance, crediting “the fine Westminster Choir and the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, under the direction of Joe Miller.” The Post and Courier wrote about their performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, “This was an evening of near-flawless execution and many moments of ravishing beauty and power. It will go down as a highlight (maybe even THE highlight) of this year’s festival, and, I think, as the work with which Joe Miller established his credentials to lead an extended choral/orchestral masterwork, not just recreating Bach’s music but also putting his own interpretive stamp on the whole.”

Miller has made four recordings with the Westminster Choir. American Record Guide wrote about the choir’s newest CD, Frank Martin: Mass for Double Choir, “This is gorgeous singing … with perfect blend, intonation, diction, ensemble and musicality.” The Heart’s Reflection: Music of Daniel Elder was hailed by Minnesota Public Radio’s Classical Notes as “simply astounding.”  Miller’s debut recording with the ensemble, Flower of Beauty, received four stars from Choir & Organ magazine and earned critical praise from American Record Guide, which described the Westminster Choir as “the gold standard for academic choirs in America.”

As conductor of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, Miller has collaborated with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, earning him critical praise. The New York Timeswrote about Symphonic Choir’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Cleveland Orchestra, “Joe Miller’s Westminster Symphonic Choir was subtle when asked and powerful when turned loose.” Recent seasons have included performances with the Philharmoniker Berliner and Sir Simon Rattle; The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and Gustavo Dudamel.

Prior to his time at Westminster Choir College, Miller served on the faculty of Western Michigan University, California State University and Whitman College. He is the 2016 recipient of the Maynard Klein Award for Distinguished Service to Choral Music, which is presented by ACDA-Michigan in recognition of artistic excellence and a lifetime of leadership in the field of choral music.

Miller received his DMA in Choral Conducting with a cognate in Voice from CCM in 1997. He received his MM in Choral Conducting from CCM in 1992. In 1987, he graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee with a BS in Music Education and Voice.

About CCM Choral Studies

Recognized by US News and World Report as one of this country’s leading conducting programs, CCM’s Department of Choral Studies is widely known for its excellence in training conductors for successful, lifelong careers in the choral arts.

CCM’s Master of Music and Doctor of Music Arts programs provide professional-level experiences in rehearsals and performances, developing musicianship and technique, and acquiring knowledge of styles, performance practices and repertoire.

MM and DMA graduates of CCM’s Choral Studies programs are conducting and administrating highly successful professional, collegiate, symphonic, secondary, children’s and church choir programs throughout the world.

For more information about CCM, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.

CCM Celebrates the Music of the Bard at Knox Presbyterian Church on Saturday, April 23

CCM’s Departments of Choral Studies and Dramatic Performance honor the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare‘s passing (April 23, 1616) with a special concert honoring the Music of the Bard on Saturday, April 23, 2016.

Under the music direction of Earl Rivers and stage direction of D’Arcy Smith, the Music of the Bard is a 75-minute, one-act presentation of Shakespeare’s texts through choral music, scenes, monologues and sonnets.

This concert features the 30-voice Chamber Choir, CCM’s premiere choral ensemble, along with nine student actors. Featured students include conductors Daniel Blosser and Matthew Swanson, and actors Owen Alderson, Sydney Ashe, Mafer Del Real, James Egbert, Annie Grove, Laura McCarthy, Meg Olson, Josh Reiter and Graham Rogers.

The program showcases texts from 18 Shakespeare plays and sonnets, highlighted with the premieres of three newly commissioned choral works by composers Judith Bingham, Dominick DiOrio and Jake Runestad. The music encompasses a range of styles from jazz arrangements by legendary jazz pianist George Shearing to modern a cappella classics, enhanced with violin, flute, clarinet, vibraphone, piano, and string bass as accompanying and obbligato instruments.

With this performance, CCM’s Department of Choral Studies completes The Shakespeare Quadricentennial, a two-year commemoration of the playwright’s birth and death through choral music. The celebration commenced on Shakespeare’s 450th birthday on April 23, 2014.

The Shakespeare Quadricentennial has produced four all-Shakespeare programs since Sept. 21, 2014, which have featured CCM’s Chamber Choir and Chorale, the UC Men’s and Women’s Choruses, the Cincinnati Children’s Choir and local guest choirs.

The Shakespeare Quadricentennial has fostered the commissioning of new works on Shakespeare texts by Dan Forrest (Cincinnati Children’s Choir), Daniel Elder (UC Men’s and Women’s Choruses), as well as those performed on April 23, 2016 by Judith Bingham, Dominick DiOrio and Jake Runestad.

Performance Time
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23

Location
Knox Presbyterian Church
Michigan and Observatory Avenues,
Cincinnati, OH 45208

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 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 now through our e-Box Office!

Visit ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice for CCM Box Office hours and location.

Parking and Directions
Knox Church is located on the corner of Observatory and Michigan, at 3400 Michigan Avenue, in the heart of Hyde Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. Please refer to the interactive map found online at www.knox.org/directions for details on Knox’s location and for directions to Knox Church.

Parking at Knox can be a bit challenging. The best advice is to arrive a little early for the event you are attending.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave
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Story by Curt Whitacre

CCM Presents New Semi-Staged Production of Honegger’s ‘Joan of Arc at the Stake’ on Feb. 13

CCM’s Department of Choral Studies presents four exciting concerts this semester, beginning with a new semi-staged production of Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake) at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13. This concert will be sung in English with surtitles.

Honegger’s monumental oratorio premiered in Basel, Switzerland, in May of 1938. Over the course of eleven scenes, Joan of Arc at the Stake recounts the timeless tale of 15th century French heroine Joan of Arc. Inspired by both popular and classical music trends of the 1930s, Honegger sprinkled his oratorio with flares of jazz, military fanfares, atonality and Hollywood styles.

CCM’s semi-staged concert production of this imposing work is a massive undertaking, requiring the combined forces of the CCM Philharmonia Orchestra, Chamber Choir and Chorale, along with the UC Men’s and Women’s Choruses and Cincinnati Children’s Choir. The production also features soloists from CCM’s voice and dramatic performance programs, along with technical support from the Lighting Design and Technology department, all of which allows Joan’s brief life to unfold in a truly dynamic fashion on stage.

CCM Director of Choral Studies Earl Rivers conducts this performance. “The drama takes place during Joan’s last minutes on the stake, with flashbacks to her younger days and her trial. Honegger entitled his work a dramatic oratorio, adding speaking roles and actors,” he says. “Joan’s life unfolds in cinematic scenes of heavenly visions, conquests, her trial and her eventual fate at the stake.”

Artist Diploma candidate Marcus Shields provides the stage direction for this production, explaining, “In a typical concert presentation of Joan of Arc at the Stake, the soloists would be using music with music stands. For our production, all of the solo parts are going to be memorized, allowing us to realize Joan’s story in three dimensional space. This allows us to shift the focus to real characters forging real relationships, detached from a music stand.”

This production’s feature soloists include soprano Tara Morrow as St. Catherine, mezzo-soprano Alyssa Narum as St. Marguerite and soprano Ann Toomey as the Virgin, along with tenor Robert Stahley and bass-baritone Junbo Zhou.

Joan of Arc at the Stake‘s two primary roles are actually spoken roles, so Rivers and Shields have also enlisted two actors from CCM’s Department of Dramatic Performance: Laura McCarthy as Joan and Landon Hawkins as Brother Dominique.

The last documented performance of Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake in Cincinnati was at the May Festival in 1952, making CCM’s new production a very rare treat.

CCM’s Department of Choral Studies also presents three other exciting concerts this spring. On Wednesday, March 30, the UC Men’s and Women’s Choruses and Cabaret Singers perform Daniel Elder’s The Brightest Heaven and a variety of other celebrated masterpieces.

On Sunday, April 17, the Jazz and Choral Departments share the stage in a concert featuring Wynton Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass. Prepare to be dazzled by this fusion of jazz and gospel.

Finally, the Department of Choral Studies concludes this year’s series with a celebration of the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. This concert features talent from CCM’s Drama Department, along with premieres of newly commissioned choral works on Shakespeare texts by American composers Ola Gjeilo, Dominick DiOrio, and Jake Runestad.

Event Information
All events listed below take place on the campus of the University of Cincinnati unless otherwise indicated. Some events do require purchased tickets; please see individual event information for single ticket prices and ordering information.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online now through our e-Box Office! 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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2016 SPRING CHORAL SERIES

8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13
HONEGGER’S JOAN OF ARC AT THE STAKE AND VERDI’S OVERTURE FROM GIOVANNA D’ARCO
CCM Philharmonia, Chamber Choir and Chorale; UC Men’s and Women’s Choruses; and Cincinnati Children’s Choir Earl Rivers, conductor
Marcus Shields, stage director
CCM showcases the American university premiere of a staged concert production of Arthur Honegger’s 1938 Joan of Arc at the Stake (Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher), featuring Joan of Arc in the final moments of her life, with flashbacks to her trial and younger days. Actors, soloists, choristers and children play and sing multifaceted roles in Honegger’s borderline opera and oratorio of classical, popular and jazz styles. This program also features the Overture to Verdi’s take on the Joan of Arc story: 1845’s Giovanna d’Arco.
Location: Corbett Auditorium
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE.

Performance Sponsor: Willard and Jean Mulford Charitable Fund of the Cambridge Foundation

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8 p.m. Wednesday, March 30
UC MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CHORUSES
Christopher Albanese and Alex Sutton, conductors
Comprised of students from all 14 UC colleges, the UC Men’s and Women’s Choruses and Cabaret Singers present a variety of classical, popular, folk and jazz works. The program will include a newly commissioned work from Daniel Elder titled The Brightest Heaven (with texts from Shakespeare’s Henry V) and highlights from the UC Choruses Spring Break Tour to Washington, D.C., featuring masterpieces by Bernstein, Dickau, Barber, Miller, Belen, Gibbs, Lang, Mendelssohn, Pergolesi, DeCormier, Nelson, Burchard, Sperry and Thompson.
Location: Patricia Corbett Theater
Admission: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE

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3 p.m. Sunday, April 17
WYNTON MARSALIS’ ABYSSINIAN MASS: A GOSPEL CELEBRATION
CCM Jazz Orchestra and Chorale and Central State University Gospel Choir
Scott Belck, Brett Scott and Jeremy Winston, directors
Featuring guest artist Damien Sneed, conductor
Commissioned to celebrate the 2008 bicentennial of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, Marsalis’ Mass is a landmark collaboration of jazz, gospel, instrumentals and vocals with “hand-clappin’” and “tambourine-slappin’,” reflecting the form of the African American church service.
Location: Zion Baptist Church, 630 Glenwood Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE.

Joseph and Frances Jones Poetker Visiting Artists.

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7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23
MUSIC OF THE BARD IV – 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF SHAKESPEARE
CCM Chamber Choir and CCM Drama Department
CCM’s Choral Department culminates its two-year Shakespeare Quadricentennial, honoring the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s passing (April 23, 1616). The Chamber Choir will perform music on Shakespeare’s texts with scenes presented by actors from CCM’s Drama Department. Featured are premieres of newly commissioned choral works on Shakespeare texts by American composers Ola Gjeilo, Dominick DiOrio and Jake Runestad.
Location: Knox Presbyterian Church, Michigan and Observatory Avenues, Cincinnati, OH 45208
Admission: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE.

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

Community Partner: ArtsWave

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

Choral Studies Sponsors: Jan Rogers; Willard and Jean Mulford Charitable Fund of the Cambridge Charitable Foundation

CCM Presents Dave Brubeck’s ‘The Gates of Justice’ in Concert at the Knox Presbyterian Church on April 19

CCM’s Choral Concert Series comes to a close this month with a special performance of Dave Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 19.

The CCM Chorale, with music director and conductor Brett Scott. Photography by Lisa Britton.

Under the direction of CCM Associate Professor of Ensembles and Conducting Brett Scott, the CCM Chorale and Brass Choir will welcome the Phil DeGreg Trio and special guests from the Martin Luther King Chorale for this performance. This powerful and moving work will be presented at Hyde Park’s Knox Presbyterian Church.

Originally premiered in 1969 for the dedication of Cincinnati’s Rockdale Temple, Dave Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice was a co-commission by CCM and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, with a premiere conducted by the legendary Cincinnati Pops conductor and former CCM faculty member Erich Kunzel.

Brubeck’s second large-scale sacred composition, the piece was a plea for brotherhood between blacks and Jews during a period of strife in the 1960s, immediately following the 1968 death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“It was a tremendous hit,” Kunzel recalled of the premiere in a Cincinnati Enquirer feature in February of 2004. “There was a standing ovation. I remember it very vividly; it was very exciting. Everyone loved it. It’s a very meaningful piece, and we were all so happy with what the result was.”

In that same story, Brubeck observed, “It was an emotional time. The idea was to bring these two cultures together, to show similarities rather than their differences.”

The Gates of Justice is a cantata based on biblical and Hebrew liturgical texts—together with quotations from Martin Luther King’s speeches, as well as from Negro spirituals and from the Jewish sage Hillel, and with lyrics by Brubeck’s wife, Iola, with whom he collaborated on this and other works.

Brubeck pointed to the explicit connection between the historical experience of the Jewish people and that of American blacks, and he expressed his conviction that both peoples possess traditional spiritual values with important meaning for contemporary society.

Performance Time
3 p.m. Sunday, April 19

Location
Knox Presbyterian Church
3400 Michigan Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45208

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to The Gates of Justice are $12 general, $6 non-UC students, UC students FREE. 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/brubeck-gates-of-justice. Tickets will also be available beginning at 2 p.m. on the day of the performance at Knox Presbyterian Church; cash and check only at the door.

Parking and Directions
Please note that this performance does not take place on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Knox Church is located on the corner of Observatory and Michigan, at 3400 Michigan Avenue, in the heart of Hyde Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Parking at Knox can be a bit challenging. The best advice is to arrive a little early for the event you are attending.

Please visit www.knox.org/directions for more details on parking and directions.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

Sponsored by: The CCM Harmony Fund: Challenging Hate and Prejudice through Performing Arts

CCM Performs Claudio Monteverdi’s Large-Scale Masterwork ‘Vespers of 1610’ on Nov. 16

Guest artists and student soloists for CCM’s performance of Monteverdi’s ‘Vespers of 1610.’ Photography by Jay Yocis.

Next Sunday, CCM will present Claudio Monteverdi’s masterwork Vespers of 1610, featuring regional and national Early Music guest artists, the CCM Chamber Choir, Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra and student soloists with CCM’s Director of Choral Studies Earl Rivers conducting. The performance will be staged at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Cincinnati.

“Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 is the Beethoven 5th of Early Music,” Rivers explains. “Monteverdi retained many of the Renaissance traditions in the work but fused the older style with the advent of the new, florid Early Baroque style of music. Vespers of 1610 is a significant international repertory work that students will be performing throughout their careers.”

Anchoring the advent of music in the Baroque era as a large-scale masterwork, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 displays a range of lavish colors for vocal and instrumental soloists; six, seven, eight and 10-voice choral textures; and virtuosic embellishments and improvisations. The first major choral/orchestral repertory work of the early Baroque period, Vespers of 1610 features solo, chamber and ensemble music displaying the historic past of Renaissance polyphony and Gregorian chant, as well as music of the future in the form of Baroque chamber duets, concerted choruses and large-scale instrumental movements.

This lavish presentation will involve many participants such as Early Music guest and local artists including:

• Alexander Bonus and Stephen Escher, cornetto
• Christopher Canapa, Alex Krawczyk and Linda Pearse, sackbut

A Continuo Group comprised of:

• Adriana Contino, cello
• Dieter Hennings, theorbo
• Annalisa Pappano, lirone and viola da gamba
• Elizabeth Motter, Baroque harp
• Rodney Stucky, archlute and Baroque guitar
• Michael Unger, continuo organ and harpsichord

And featuring CCM student soloists:

• Grace Kahl and Jacqueline Stevens, soprano
• Paulina Villarreal, mezzo-soprano
• Allan Palacios Chan and Marcus Shields, tenor
• T. J. Capobianco, tenor (Duo Seraphim)
• Jacob Kincaide, bass
• Brandon Bell, bass-baritone (Laudate Pueri and Magnificat)

About Alexander Bonus, cornetto
Alexander Bonus maintains a varied career performing historic brass and keyboard instruments, in addition to his conducting, researching, and teaching activities. He has performed with ensembles including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Folger Consort; Tragicomedia; Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra; the Washington Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble; the Newberry Consort; and Chicago Opera Theater. Dr. Bonus also appeared onstage in the Boston Early Music Festival production of Lully’s Psyché, and is heard on BEMF’s recording of this work, released on the CPO label. He holds a PhD in Musicology from Case Western Reserve University as well as MM and BM degrees from the Eastman School of Music. His scholarship appears in the latest edition of the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments and Oxford Handbooks online among other sources. Dr. Bonus is the Assistant Professor of Music at Bard College, where he directs the Bard Baroque Ensemble and teaches courses in music history, theory, and historical performance practices.

About Annalisa Pappano, viola da gamba and lirone
Artistic director of Catacoustic Consort, Annalisa Pappano performs throughout the United States and Europe. She is recognized for bringing together the best international talent to present groundbreaking programs and landmark performances. Pappano studied at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute (Wendy Gillespie) and at Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Catharina Meints).

She has performed throughout Belgium, England, Ireland, Colombia, Canada, and the U.S., has appeared on nationally syndicated radio and has played at the Berkeley and Vancouver Early Music Festivals and the Ojai Music Festival. Pappano is a member of Atalante (England) and has performed with numerous other ensembles including the Houston Grand Opera, the Cleveland Opera, the Portland Opera, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Les Voix Baroques, Opera Atelier, the Toronto Consort, the Concord Ensemble, Cappella Artemisia (Bologna), the Dublin Drag Orchestra, Wildcat Viols, and Consortium Carissimi.

Pappano has taught at Viola da Gamba Society of America national conclaves, the Viola da Gamba Society Pacific Northwest and Northeast chapters, the San Diego Early Music Workshop, Viols West, the Madison Early Music Workshop and has been a guest lecturer at numerous universities.

She led the Catacoustic Consort to win the grand prize in the Naxos / Early Music America Live Recording Competition and recorded a program of Italian laments on the Naxos label. Pappano completed a performance practice orchestra workshop at Miami University in Ohio. She is currently teaching viola da gamba at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

About Linda Pearse, sackbut
Canadian-born Linda Pearse is recognized as a specialist in the exquisite musical repertoire of early seventeenth-century Italy. Dr. Pearse is Assistant Professor of Brass at Mount Allison University (New Brunswick) and Lecturer for Baroque trombone at Indiana University Bloomington. Following studies at McGill University, a career in Europe included regular performances with the Stuttgart Philharmoniker, Stuttgart Opera House, the Basel Symphony, La Cetra, piano possible and the Stuttgart Musical Theater. Pearse is the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Early Music Summer Baroque Workshop and directs the award-winning ensemble ¡Sacabuche!

Recent performances include a twelve-concert tour to Beijing with the interdisciplinary program “Matteo Ricci: His Map and Music” (Dec 2010), a tour to Hong Kong and Macau China (June 2013), and tours to Victoria, Nanaimo, and Salt Spring Island, Vancouver, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, New York, San Francisco, Bloomington (IN), Madison (WI), Kansas City and Houston. Her most recent project “Venetia 1500” is inspired by the Barbari Aerial Woodcut of Venice from 1500 and creates a conversation between new music, early music, texts and images, that finds resonances with Maritime cultures in decline. Her critical edition of Seventeenth-Century Italian Motets with Trombone is published with A-R Editions (April 2014).

Performance Time
5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16

Location
Christ Church Cathedral
Fourth & Sycamore Streets
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 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/monteverdi-vespers. Visit ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice for CCM Box Office hours and location.

Tickets will also be available beginning at 4 p.m. on the day of the performance at Christ Church Cathedral; cash and checks only at the door.

Parking and Directions
For more information on Cathedral hours and parking, please visit www.christchurchcincinnati.org.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

CCM’s production of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 is made possible by funding from the Cambridge Charitable Foundation and CCM’s Tangeman Sacred Music Center.

CCM’s Fall Choral Series Includes Collaborations with Local High School Choirs, Early Music Guest Artists, CCM’s Department of Dance and More

Creative collaborations and varied programming are the defining traits of CCM’s Choral Series of concerts this fall!

CCM’s acclaimed choirs present a strikingly diverse series of productions, ranging from a concert of Shakespearean choral settings on Sunday, Sept. 21, to a concert of songs of peace and freedom on Wednesday, Nov. 5.

Highlights include a collaborative concert with CCM’s Café MoMus Ensemble and Ballet Ensemble on Oct. 18 and 19, featuring Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore.

CCM’s Choral Series also includes a newly composed chamber orchestra version of Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem performed at Calvary Episcopal Church on Nov. 9 and a large-scale concert production of Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 performed at Christ Church Cathedral on Nov. 16.

CCM closes out this fall’s Choral Series with the fan-favorite Feast of Carols on Dec. 6 and 7. A holiday tradition at the University of Cincinnati, this year’s Feast of Carols features CCM’s choirs and Concert Orchestra performing alongside guest choirs from Conner Middle School, Lakota East High School and Mason High School.

Event Information
All events listed below take place on the campus of the University of Cincinnati unless otherwise indicated. Please see individual event information for single ticket prices and ordering information. New flex ticket packages and single tickets are currently on sale.

CCM Professor Brett Scott Named Director of Cincinnati’s Musica Sacra Chorus

We are happy to report that CCM Assistant Professor of Ensembles and Conducting L. Brett Scott has been appointed as Music Director of Cincinnati’s Musica Sacra Chorus.

Scott was nominated by Dr. Helmut J. Roehrig, who founded Musica Sacra in 1965. Dr. Roehrig will now assume the title and duties of Music Director Emeritus, and will continue to be involved in some decision-making aspects of the Chorus.

Scott has been a faculty member at CCM since 2007. He conducts the CCM Chorale and the Opera D’Arte undergraduate operas, and is also director of Cincinnati Camerata.

He is currently Vice President of the National Collegiate Choral Association, and has conducted, taught and lectured in Canada, Portugal and Cuba as well as throughout the United States. At the recent 2013 Portugal International Choral Festival, he conducted the ESML Chamber Choir to Gold and a first place finish in their category.

CCM Alumnus Brandon Dean Receives Gustavus Adolphus College’s Award for Teaching Excellence

CCM alumnus Brandon Dean (DMA, 2011).

CCM alumnus Brandon Dean (DMA, 2011) has received Gustavus Adolphus College’s 2014 Swenson-Bunn Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. The award is nominated and selected by students and has been presented annually since 1990. Congratulations!

Dean joined the Gustavus faculty in 2011, after completing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting at CCM. At CCM, he also served as the conductor of the UC Women’s Chorus from 2008-2011.

An Assistant Professor of Music ad Gustavus, he conducts the Choir of Christ Chapel, Lucia Singers and St. Ansgar’s Chorus, and teaches courses in music theory and music history.