CCM Presents Inaugural Playwrights Conference, May 9 – 14, 2016

CCM proudly presents its inaugural Playwrights Conference from May 9 – 14, 2016. Organized by CCM Assistant Professor of Drama Brant Russell, this summer program is open to aspiring and experienced playwrights alike.

This year’s conference will welcome up to 15 playwrights, who will spend the week writing, participating in master classes with industry professionals and attending readings of their works.

“Ten minute play festivals are a huge way for playwrights to get their work seen,” Russell explains, “so we have designed this program as a professional preparatory conference, which will provide writers with an intensive setting in which to hone their craft.”

At the conclusion of the conference, participants will have a workshopped 10-minute play in hand.

The week-long program offers a Development Track for participants who already have a play that they want to work on during the conference, along with a Fundamentals Track for participants who want to learn the nuts and bolts of playwriting.

Conference participants will have an opportunity to work with a host of renowned theatre professionals, including composer/lyricist/playwright Todd Almond, Huntington Theatre Company director of new work Lisa Timmel, CCM Professor of Stage Direction Emma Griffin, Know Theatre of Cincinnati producing artistic director Andrew Hungerford, Actors Theatre resident dramaturg Hannah Rae Montgomery and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park artistic director and c0-CEO Blake Robinson.

Timmel will serve as the conference’s lead instructor and resident dramaturg, while Almond will serve as playwright-in-residence. Almond has been commissioned to write a new play for this year’s conference, which will allow participants to witness his new work develop over the course of the program. “Our playwrights will benefit from being in the room during the early stages of this new play’s development,” Russell suggests.

Participants will also get to hear their work read aloud by CCM’s resident actors. Russell explains, “An ensemble of CCM actors led by Richard Hess will bring our students’ plays to life every night, and at the end of the week we’ll have a 10-Minute Play Festival performed for the public in the Cohen Family Studio Theater.”

CCM’s 2016 Playwrights Conference is now accepting applications.

To learn more about how you can bring your ideas from page to stage, please visit ccm.uc.edu/summer/playwrights.

Recently Retired CCM Professor Roberta Gary Honored with Special Conference

Join us for a celebration of recently retired faculty member Roberta Gary’s career on Oct. 25 and 26, 2013.

CCM helps pay tribute to beloved faculty member Roberta Gary on the occasion of her retirement with a conference entitled “For the Love of Teaching,” running Oct. 25-26 at North Presbyterian Church, Lakeside Presbyterian Church and CCM’s Corbett Center for the Performing Arts.

A full schedule for “For the Love of Teaching” is listed below. The conference will include performances by students, faculty and alumni of CCM, along with guest lectures and master classes. Conference guests include Gregory Crowell, Martha Folts, William Porter, Michael Bauer and Barbara Conable. All events are free and open to the public, save for the 7 p.m. banquet on Friday, Oct. 25.

Please see individual listings below for additional information on the conference’s public events, including pricing information for Friday’s banquet.

About Roberta Gary
A Professor of Organ and Chair of the Department of Keyboard Studies at CCM, Gary retired from UC this August. She had been a member of CCM’s faculty since 1967 and served as Keyboard Studies Division Head from 1989 until her retirement. During that time, she also taught organ, a graduate seminar in organ literature and organ pedagogy.

An alumna of CCM, Gary completed a Bachelor of Music in Piano and a Master of Music in Organ at what was then the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM would merge with the University of Cincinnati in 1962). Gary completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts and Performer’s Certificate in Organ from the Eastman School of Music.

Gary studied piano with Olga Conus and organ with Wayne Fisher, David Craighead, Arthur Poister, Bernard Lagacé, William Porter, Harald Vogel and Edward Parmentier.

CCM Hosts Ethnomusicology Conference April 12 and 13

For the first time in nearly two decades, CCM will host the Midwest Chapter Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology (MIDSEM). The conference comes to CCM Village on Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13, with events held in the Baur Room of the Corbett Center for the Performing Arts and in room 3250 of Mary Emery Hall.

More than 100 scholars and students will be traveling from throughout the Midwestern United States to participate in the conference. In addition, students and faculty from a variety of programs at UC (including Musicology, Music Education, Anthropology, Sociology and International Programs and Services), as well as local community members, will be participating in the conference as presenters, volunteers and attendees.

CCM Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble Kick-Off Tour with Celebratory Concert on March 14

CCM’s Wind Orchestra, in concert Thursday, March 14. Photography by Dottie Stover.

CCM’s Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble present an evening of exciting works beginning at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, in UC’s Corbett Auditorium.

This celebratory concert kicks off a multi-state tour for the Wind Orchestra that will culminate with an opening night performance at the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Conference in North Carolina.

In a program aptly subtitled “International Excursions,” CCM’s wind ensembles are purposefully reaching beyond the U.S. and England to feature works from other diverse world cultures. Led by Director of Wind Studies Glenn D. Price, the Wind Orchestra will explore styles ranging from Mexican folk melodies to a tone poem inspired by a missions trip to Cambodia. The Wind Ensemble, led by Associate Director of Wind Studies Terence Milligan, will present works by Berlioz and Williams.

CCM Props Artisan Earns Industry Interest With A “Fake Food Feast”

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The April 29th issue of the Cincinnati Enquirer spotlighted the work of CCM MFA candidate  Karestin Harrison, who was invited to present her “Fake Food Feast and Cook Book” showcase at this year’s United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) National Conference in Long Beach in late March.

CCM Hosts Historical Keyboard Festival March 21-25

Keyboard enthusiasts and music lovers have the opportunity to experience a celebration of harpsichord innovations through the years as CCM hosts the 2012 Joint Meeting and Festival of the Midwestern and Southeastern Historical Keyboard Societies.

Antiqua/Nova: Celebrating the Harpsichord Across the Centuries will take place March 21-25 at various locations within CCM Village and the city of Cincinnati.

CCM Hosts Conference of Two Music Societies

For the first time in the nearly fifty-year history of CCM’s musicology program, the department is hosting a national academic conference of the Society for American Music and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music-U.S. Branch. The conference takes place March 9 – 13, Wednesday through Sunday, at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. Scholars and students will be traveling from 41 of the 50 states, as well as such countries as Brazil, Canada, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Sweden, St. Thomas, Turkey and the West Indies.