Acclaimed Mezzo-Soprano Quinn Patrick Ankrum Joins CCM Voice Faculty

CCM Interim Dean bruce d. mcclung has announced the addition of acclaimed mezzo-soprano Quinn Patrick Ankrum, DMA, to the college’s roster of distinguished voice faculty members. Ankrum’s appointment as Assistant Professor of Voice becomes effective on August 15, 2017.

Celebrated for her strong lyric voice, sizzling coloratura facility and engagingly sincere personality, Ankrum has performed a wide variety of repertoire spanning the centuries from Claudio Monteverdi to John Harbison. She has sung with opera companies and orchestras throughout the United States, as well as with the National Orchestra of Mexico in Mexico City.

In the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons she demonstrated her versatility as she collaborated on the operatic, recital and concert stages with musicians in Missouri, Texas, New York, Florida and Kansas, along with international engagements in Toulouse, Paris, Mondavio (Italy) and Oban (Scotland). She will return to the U.K. this May where she will appear in a recital featuring the music of American composers at East of England Organ Day at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, as well as in a concert featuring the music of Rameau with the East Anglian Academy.

Ankrum is an advocate of contemporary composers. She recently premiered Romanian composer Vlad Burlea’s chamber piece “Oglinda” (Texas and Kansas 2016) and created the role of the Mother in the world premiere of J. Todd Frazier’s opera Breath of Life (Lubbock, Texas, 2015).  In addition, she co-premiered John Harbison’s chamber work Crossroads with colleagues at Texas Tech University (2013). She is the co-creator of Living Song Project with pianist and University of Oklahoma faculty member Elizabeth Avery, DMA. This unique database project promotes the art song and vocal chamber music of living American composers.

In addition to being an active performer and teacher, Ankrum takes an interest in musicians’ health and wellness. She is an Andover Educator trainee, and will be licensed to teach the course What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body when she finishes her training.

Ankrum received degrees from Trinity University in San Antonio (BM, MAT), the University of Colorado at Boulder (MM) and the University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music (DMA), where she studied with Robert McIver. She was a Young Artist in the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artists Program and the Baltimore Opera Studio, and participated in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Intern Program.

She has been a finalist and winner in numerous regional and national competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions (Rocky Mountain Region) and the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards competition (2nd place winner, 2006). She has served on the faculties of the State University of New York at Fredonia, Nazareth College (Rochester, New York) and Texas Tech University (Lubbock).

Please join us in welcoming Ankrum to the CCM family this fall!

Learn more about CCM’s illustrious faculty by visiting ccm.uc.edu/about/villagenews/faculty.

In Memoriam: Emeritus Faculty Member Oscar Kosarin

CCM Professor Emeritus Oscar Kosarin.

We are saddened to report the passing of Professor Emeritus Oscar Kosarin, who served as Associate Professor of Musical Theatre at CCM from 1971 through 1985. Kosarin passed away on Saturday, Oct. 1, at the age of 98. He is survived by his wife, Dianne, daughter, Carli, and sons Kim and Oscar.

Initially taught piano by his mother, Kosarin also studied harmony and counterpoint with Boris Levenson, studied composition with Anis Fuleihan and Isadore Freed, and attended Leon Barzin’s conducting classes.

Kosarin began playing piano professionally at the age of 19, first performing with dance bands in night clubs before making the move to Broadway, where he also gained experience as a conductor, arranger and vocal coach. On Broadway, he conducted musicals such as Happy Time with Robert Goulet, Oh, Captain with Tony Randall, Fade Out, Fade In with Carol Burnett and Mr. Wonderful with Sammy Davis, Jr.

Kosarin was named to CCM’s faculty in the fall of 1971 as part of the expansion of the school’s still-nascent musical theatre degree program. Kosarin inaugurated his time at CCM by conducting productions of Bye, Bye Birdie, Brigadoon and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum during the 1971-72 season. He cited Sweeney Todd, West Side Story and Sugar as three of his favorite musicals from his 14-year tenure at CCM.

Kosarin retired from CCM in the spring of 1985. During a farewell banquet held in his honor, CCM Drama Professor Diane Kvapil observed:

“He’s much loved by the students. He teaches them what’s special about them and how to use it. His colleagues will miss him because we worked well together.”

At the time of his retirement, Kosarin referred to his decision to teach at CCM as the smartest move he ever made, commenting:

“I had a great advantage in that [the students] were a group of people who really wanted to study. We had a wonderful relationship.”

In addition to his appointment at CCM, Kosarin also taught and directed musical theatre workshops at New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts and coached opera and musical comedy privately. He composed the ballet music for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Pal Joey, Hazel Flagg and Canterbury Tales. He also composed music for films, including Virginia—Pursuit of Happiness, which won first prize at the Virgin Islands International Film Festival in 1975. In 1983, Prentice Hall published his book The Singing Actor: How to Be a Success in Musical Theatre and Night Clubs.

CCM’s upcoming production of A Chorus Line will be dedicated to the loving memory of Professor Kosarin. Our thoughts are with his family and friends during this time.

CCM Presents Free Performances by World-Class Musicians with Fall 2016 Faculty Artist Series

The esteemed faculty artists at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music take center stage during 12 diverse performances this fall! Running from August 29 through November 1, these programs highlight music from multiple genres, from classical styles to contemporary commercial music and beyond.

Each concert in CCM’s Faculty Artist Series series is free and open to the general public, offering audiences the chance to hear recitals by world-class artists in CCM’s stunning performance halls.

Please refer to the listings below for a complete schedule and additional performance information.

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CCM’S FALL 2016 FACULTY ARTIST SERIES

8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29
TIMMER AND FRIENDS
Timothy Northcut, tuba
Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater
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8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7
Alan Siebert, trumpet
Sandra Rivers, piano
A night of trumpet and piano, with selections by Joseph Turrin, George Gershwin, Robert Schumann, J.G.B. Neruda, Brendan Collins and others.
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
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4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11
Marie-France Lefebvre, piano
Featuring Mark Gibson, piano; Donna Loewy, piano; and Nathaniel Chaitkin, cello
This program will include Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata, Op. 19, and Corigliano’s Gazebo Dances, along with works by Mozart and Schubert.
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
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The previously announced Sept. 19 performance by Daniel Weeks and Donna Loewy has been rescheduled for 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. The performance will remain in the Robert J. Werner Recital Hall.

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8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19
Allen Otte, Percussion
Featuring music written for Allen Otte by Rzewski, Schuette and Applebaum as well as original compositions by Otte himself!
Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater
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8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20
Mary Stucky, mezzo-soprano
Rodney Stucky, guitar and lute
Performing songs from the rich repertory of French, German, Spanish and English music for voice, guitar and lute.
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
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8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20
Russell Burge, vibraphone
Steve Allee, piano
Original compositions and great American standards.
Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater
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8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21
Mara Helmuth, composition
Pianists Shiau-uen Ding and Kristofer Rucinsky perform Helmuth’s All Alarms Sounding, a new work for two pianos and 8-channel electronics. This recital also features from O for two cellos and electronics, along with works from the Sonic Refuges projects, which was inspired by Helmuth’s trip to Australia.
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
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4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25
Michael Chertock, piano
Featuring the music of Ravel, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Messiaen.
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
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The previously announced Sept. 26 performance by Thomas Baresel, Amy Johnson, Kenneth Griffiths and Mark Gibson has been rescheduled for 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017. The performance will remain in the Robert J. Werner Recital Hall.
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8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27
Commercial Music Production Faculty Concert
Experience the musical innovations of CCM’s Commercial Music Production (CMP) faculty members with a concert program featuring musical genres from across the globe! For this concert, our faculty artists perform original music with their own groups and also collectively as the CMP Faculty Group! CMP Program Director Kim Pensyl performs with faculty members Aaron Jacobs, John Taylor and Rusty Burge, along with faculty emeritus Rick VanMatre. CMP faculty artists Jim Connerely, Dan Karlsberg and Ric Hordinski also perform during this special event, which is the first concert presented by the CMP department!
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
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7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11
CCM Faculty Jazztet
CCM’s world-famous jazz faculty artists show off their skills with a set of cool charts and blazing solos!
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
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8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1
Percussion Group Cincinnati
Featuring music by Cage, Stockhausen and a premiere from CCM alumnus Mark Saya.
Location: Patricia Corbett Theater
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Event Information
All events listed here take place in CCM Village on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Admission to Faculty Artist Series performances is free and reservations are not required.

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.

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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

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A preeminent institution for the performing and media arts, CCM is the largest single source of performing arts presentations in the state of Ohio.

All event dates and programs are subject to change. For a complete calendar of events, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.

In Memoriam: Emeritus Faculty Member Richard Morris

We are saddened to share news of the passing of CCM Professor Emeritus Richard Morris, a piano faculty member from 1976 to 2004 and former chair of the Piano Department. He is survived by his wife, Joyce, and two adult children Kevin and Kerry.

Professor Morris accepts a plaque signifying him as an “honorary alumnus of CCM” thanks to his work as faculty coordinator of the CCM Alumni Association.

Morris earned his BM and MM from Indiana University and was a soloist with the university’s Philharmonic for three consecutive years. He studied with Walter Robert, Bruno Eisner and Sidney Foster.

Before coming to CCM in 1976, Morris taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia for 16 years, where he also served as head of the piano faculty. He was also a past president of the Music Teachers National Association. His former students hold faculty positions throughout the United States and Europe.

A featured clinician, adjudicator and master teacher, Morris performed extensively both as a chamber musician and with orchestras, acquiring a repertoire of 30 different concerti spanning from Bach to Norman Dello Joio.  As a genre recitalist, he performed the 24 Chopin Études and the 24 Debussy Préludes numerous times and was often asked to give workshops on either set.

Professor Morris was a beloved member of the CCM family for nearly three decades. In 1979, he was honored by the CCM Alumni Association for his instrumental work in regrouping that organization. To celebrate his life and legacy, the CCM Piano Department has planned a memorial concert and reception on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m. in the Robert J. Werner Recital Hall.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Professor Morris’ family and friends during this time.

Building a Ballet: E-Media students give inside look at CCM’s ‘Swan Lake’

CCM Electronic Media and UC journalism students take us behind-the-scenes with a look at the rehearsals for next week’s production of Swan Lake. The video series chronicles all of the work and dedication students, faculty and staff put into the lavish new production of Tchaikovsky’s timeless ballet.

Students within the News Writing and Reporting class, taught by Assistant Professor of E-Media Hagit Limor and Journalism Professor Bob Jonason, created the videos, which star faculty and students within CCM’s Dance Department.

In the video above, Dance Department chair and Swan Lake co-director Jiang Qi discusses the work that goes into presenting such an iconic ballet. He explains:

“Swan Lake is one of the top classical ballets in the repertoire. It’s almost textbook. You learn Swan Lake and then you get much stronger. This is an art form that requires a lot of physical and mental endurance to get through.”

The videos and photos, created by students Brevin Couch, Mark D’Andrea, Tyler Dunn, Daniel Honerkamp, Ailish Masterston and Andrew Wilkins, can be viewed on the Building a Ballet website. Visit the website to view interviews with dance students Madison Holschuh (Odette), Sam Jones (Prince Siegfried), and Kiahna Saneshige (Odile). The package was recently featured in Cincinnati Magazine.

Swan Lake is only the second story ballet ever presented as part of CCM’s Mainstage Series. The production runs April 22 – 24 in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

Co-directed by Jiang and Professor Deirdre Carberry, the production features students from CCM’s BFA Ballet program, which Dance Magazine has hailed as one of the country’s “top programs to consider.”

The lavishly staged spectacle features accompaniment by CCM’s lauded Concert Orchestra under the direction of Professor Aik Khai Pung.

This production marks the first time in CCM’s nearly 150-year history that a dance production has featured brand new costumes designed and built in-house. You can learn more about the work that went into costuming Swan Lake here.

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Friday, April 22
• 8 p.m. Saturday, April 23
• 2 p.m. Sunday, April 24

Location
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to Swan Lake are $27-31 for adults, $17-20 for non-UC students and $15-18 for UC students with a 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/mainstage/swan-lake.

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

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Production Sponsors: Rosemary & Mark Schlachter, Teri Jory & Seth Geiger and Graeter’s

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Story by Curt Whitacre

From Sketch to Stage: The Making of CCM’s ‘Swan Lake’ Costumes

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There is a shortage of tutu makers in the world, said CCM Professor and Head of the Costume Design and Technology Program Dean Mogle, who faced the daunting task of designing costumes for Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet.

CCM is working to fix that shortage by training the next generation of costume designers and technicians, whose work will debut on stage in the conservatory’s first ballet production to have costumes designed and built in-house.

A timeless tale of love, magic and mystery, Swan Lake will grace the Corbett Auditorium stage from April 22-24, marking the second time in CCM’s nearly 150-year history that a full-length story ballet has been included in the Mainstage Series.

Staff and students within the Costume Design and Technology program have worked on the ‘Swan Lake’ costumes for the past 18 months.

Presented by CCM’s Department of Dance, the ballet uses three different casts and the principal roles are all double cast ­— which is challenging for the costume shop students and staff responsible for ensuring the pieces fit each dancer correctly.

“You have to understand what dancers go through—what they need,” Mogle said. “Balance becomes really important.”

Costume designers and technicians must consider the weight of the fabrics and headpieces so the dancer can retain their natural balance. There is also limited “real estate” on the costume for artistic expression or characterization, Mogle said. If a female dancer needs to be lifted, safety dictates the fabric around her waist can’t be too slick and can’t get caught on anything.

“The ballet world is a totally different beast.”

Newly designed costumes for the Hungarian Czardas in Act III of ‘Swan Lake,’ made by costume students and staff. To the far right is Prince Siegfried’s jacket, made by Jessica Barksdale.

Mogle, with a team of students and faculty within the Costume Design and Technology program, has worked on the Swan Lake costumes for the past 18 months. They’ve borrowed and modified some costumes from a previous CCM performance of Brigadoon and the Broadway production of Cyrano, The Musical. Costumes for the principal and specialty roles in the ballet are newly designed and made.

Iconic white tutus, bodices, vibrant dresses and rich fabrics have taken over their workshop. The costumes are designed in the traditional style typically associated with the classic ballet. CCM plans to reuse and rent out some of them after the performance.

Jessica Barksdale is building Mogle’s design for Prince Siegfried’s costume, which will be worn in Acts III and IV.

Mogle, who previously designed costumes for the Cincinnati Ballet’s The Nutcracker, watched five or six different productions of Swan Lake to prepare for his costume designs. The pieces are still evolving on a daily basis, he said.

“Since we are making the production to last about 30 or 40 years, we don’t ever want to get too wild and crazy with the concept because it is pretty traditional,” Mogle said. “The things that really change in a traditional ballet like this are going to be the specialty characters.”

Those include the newly designed and made pieces that will be worn at the ball in Act III, where the Queen invites potential wives from Poland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Naples and Poland to match with her son, Prince Siegfried.

A sketch and sleeve of Von Rothbart’s Act III costume, made by Erin Winslow.

At the ball, Prince Siegfried will wear a newly designed black and gold jacket made by Jessica Barksdale, first-year costume technology graduate student. Rothbart, the evil sorcerer who cursed the prince’s love Odette, will wear an intricately detailed costume made by senior costume technology student, Erin Winslow, as part of her capstone project.

Barskdale and Winslow are also making the iconic white and black swan costumes for leading female characters Odette and Odile. Associate Professor of Costume Technology Regina Truhart is managing all costume production for the ballet.

The in-progress white and black swan costumes for characters Odette and Odile are being made by Jessica Barksdale and Erin Winslow, respectively.

After 27 years at CCM, Mogle is familiar with the 30,000 costume pieces the conservatory has in stock. Luckily, the costume department was able to pull pieces from past performances of Brigadoon and Cyrano to modify them for courtier and peasant costumes in Swan Lake.

The costume department dyed some of the costumes in bright jewel tones and added details such as sashes, sleeves, aprons and hats. Net petticoats were used to make the costumes lighter and easier to dance in.

Costumes from the CCM production of ‘Brigadoon’ are being modified for the female peasants in Act I of ‘Swan Lake.’

“Every time we do [Swan Lake], we’ll add more to it and rely less on our costume stock,” Mogle said, adding that when the ballet is performed again in 6 years they will likely build new peasant costumes.

“That’s how some companies do it anyway. They’ll use tutus from many kinds of shows. Pulling together a show like this from all of these different places is a great exercise.”

Acquiring materials is one hurdle but then, of course, the costumes must actually fit.

It helps that musical theatre bodies and dancer bodies are similar in stature, Mogle said. It would cost around $5,000 to reproduce one of the Cyrano costumes today.

Costume technicians included three clasp sizes on the ‘Swan Lake’ bodices so they can be adjusted for different dancers.

With three different casts, and double-cast principals, it was important to make the costumes interchangeable for different dancers. The technicians included three clasp sizes for the bodices to make them more adjustable and, in some cases, built extra costumes.

The process and pieces are evolving daily, with more adjustments expected after fittings and the dress rehearsals. A beautiful design can look perfect on a mannequin but flawed when put on a body that needs to breathe, dance and kick. That is why it’s important for the costuming students to learn each step in the creative process, said Mogle.

 “The whole focus of our program is teaching design and technology so designers know how to make stuff and makers know how to design stuff. So they all have the same sensibility as to how things should look and how they should be handled. If the knowledge base in those two roles isn’t strong then things fall apart.”

After the designs are sketched, the appropriate fabrics need to be found, Mogle said of the costuming process. Then there’s making the patterns and cutting them out of the cloth and stitching them together. There’s also fabric painting and dying and mask and jewelry making.

“Each one of those is a profession in itself,” Mogle said. “The more skills you have as a technician and the more kinds of plays and operas and ballets that you can design as a designer, your job market opens up. It’s a good part of training and real life experience.”

Co-directed by Dance Department Chair Jiang Qi and Associate Professor of Dance Deirdre Carberry, the Mainstage Series production features students from CCM’s BFA Ballet program. The lavishly staged spectacle features accompaniment by CCM’s lauded Concert Orchestra under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music Aik Khai Pung.

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Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake runs April. 22 – 24 in Corbett Auditorium. Tickets are $27-31 for adults, $17-20 for non-UC students and $15-18 UC students with a 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/mainstage/swan-lake.

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

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Community Partner: ArtsWave

Production Sponsors: Rosemary & Mark Schlachter, Teri Jory & Seth Geiger and Graeter’s
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Story by Rebecca Butts

CCM Dance Presents Lavish New Production of Enduring Classic Ballet ‘Swan Lake’ April 22-24, 2016

Madison Holschuh as Odette and Samuel Jones as Prince Siegfried in CCM’s production of ‘Swan Lake.’ Photo by René Micheo.

CCM’s Department of Dance presents Tchaikovsky’s timeless ballet, Swan Lake, April 22-24 in Corbett Auditorium. Co-directed by Dance Department Chair Jiang Qi and Associate Professor of Dance Deirdre Carberry, the Mainstage Series production features students from CCM’s BFA Ballet program, which Dance Magazine has hailed as one of the country’s “top programs to consider.” The lavishly staged spectacle features accompaniment by CCM’s lauded Concert Orchestra under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music Aik Khai Pung.

A tale of unending love and haunting mystery, Swan Lake is one of the most well-known fables of our time. The classic Russian ballet is performed in four acts and tells the story of Odette, a maiden turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart.

Disinterested in potential love matches arranged by his mother, Prince Siegfried is in search of a wife when he stumbles upon Odette during a night hunt. The two fall madly in love but their romance is hindered by Odette’s curse – which forces her and her fellow maidens to become swans by day and human by night.

Swan Lake marks only the second time in CCM’s nearly 150-year history that a full-length story ballet has been included in the Mainstage Series. As a result, this production features brand new costumes designed and built in-house, which is actually a CCM first.

Costume Design and Technology Program Head Dean Mogle spent 18 months on the creation of Swan Lake’s intricate costumes. For the past 40 years, Mogle has designed for numerous drama, musical theatre, opera and dance productions, including the Cincinnati Ballet’s The Nutcracker.

“The ballet world is a totally different beast,” Mogle said of the challenging costume designs. “In dance, it’s all about the body and movement.”

In addition to the famous white swan costumes traditionally associated with the ballet, the story will come to life with vibrant colors and rich fabrics adorning the talented performers of CCM Dance. In particular, keep an eye out for the intricately designed costumes worn by Prince Siegfried’s potential wives on display during the opulent ball in Act III.

For this production, the iconic role of Odette will be performed by dance majors Yu-Ting Huang (on Friday and Sunday) and Madison Holschuh (on Saturday).

Guest artist Patric Palkens, appearing by permission of the Cincinnati Ballet, will perform as Prince Siegfried in the Friday and Sunday performances of Swan Lake. Palkens joined the Cincinnati Ballet in 2011 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2015. He returns to Cincinnati after spending a year in Europe with Salzburg State Theater Austria Dance.

The ballet will also feature Assistant Professor of Dance André Megerdichian, who will dance the role of evil sorcerer Von Rothbart. Megerdichian has performed professionally over two decades with such companies and choreographers as the Jose Limón Dance company, Janis Brenner and Dancers, The Mary Anthony Dance Theatre, Soundance Repertory Company, Reidel Dance Theatre, Daniel Charon and Sean Curran.

Join us for this timeless tale of love and magic in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium April 22-24.

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Friday, April 22
• 8 p.m. Saturday, April 23
• 2 p.m. Sunday, April 24

Location
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to Swan Lake are $27-31 for adults, $17-20 for non-UC students and $15-18 for UC students with a 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/mainstage/swan-lake.

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

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Production Sponsors: Rosemary & Mark Schlachter, Teri Jory & Seth Geiger and Graeter’s

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Story by CCM and UC Lindner College of Business graduate student Ryan Strand (BFA Musical Theatre, 2006)

CCM Welcomes Scott Lipscomb as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of Graduate Studies

Scott Lipscomb, incoming Associate Dean for Aacademic Affairs and Director of Graduate Studies at CCM.

CCM Dean Peter Landgren has announced the appointment of Scott D. Lipscomb to the position of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of Graduate Studies. Lipscomb’s tenure at CCM will begin on May 31, 2016.

“I look forward to welcoming Dr. Lipscomb to Cincinnati this spring,” said Landgren. “He will be a strong advocate for student learning, an innovator when working with our curricula, a collaborative partner for our faculty members and a key member of our administrative team. Dr. Lipscomb’s interdisciplinary background lends itself perfectly to CCM’s approach to academics. His expertise will also allow CCM to maximize its research potential in collaboration with UC’s other colleges.”

Lipscomb comes to CCM from the University of Minnesota, where he most recently served as Associate Director of the School of Music, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Professor of Music. In these roles, he collaborated on the School of Music’s strategic planning process and served as primary author and facilitator for that institution’s 10-year NASM self-study, while also serving as a member of the school’s senior leadership team.

During his tenure at the University of Minnesota, Lipscomb also served as Interim Director of the School of Music from 2014-15. He headed the school’s Division of Music Education and Music Therapy from 2006-10 and 2011-13.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Minnesota, Lipscomb held faculty and administrative positions at Northwestern University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Southern Methodist University and Webster University in Vienna, Austria.

Lipscomb’s primary areas of research include the integration of technology in the music classroom, the facilitation of music learning through technology and the incorporation of music across the K-12 curriculum, along with interactive instructional media development, sound for multimedia, website design and multimedia cognition.

A frequent presenter at regional, national and international conferences, Lipscomb has also had his research published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. He is editor of the Journal of Technology in Music Learning.

Lipscomb is immediate past-President for the Association for Technology in Music Instruction, while serving on the boards of the Society for Music Perception & Cognition and the Technology Institute for Music Educators. He also chairs the Technology Institute for Music Educators’ research committee.

Lipscomb holds a PhD and an MA in Systematic Musicology from UCLA. He received his BM in Jazz Performance with an emphasis on electric and acoustic bass from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Lipscomb will spend the month of June working side-by-side with CCM’s retiring Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Graduate Studies Terrell Finney.

“June will be a time to welcome Dr. Lipscomb to campus, as well as a time to thank Terrell Finney for his years of dedicated service to CCM,” Landgren added.

Lipscomb’s academic home at CCM will be the Division of Electronic Media and he will continue his research activities while fulfilling the duties of Associate Dean.

Please join us in welcoming Scott Lipscomb to the CCM family!

A Discussion With ‘American Idiot’ Set Designer Thomas Umfrid

The curtain rises on CCM’s production of Green Day’s punk rock-opera American Idiot  at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, but the behind-the-scenes work has been going on for months. Much of the design process for a musical must be completed before actors even step into the rehearsal hall, but the work doesn’t end there. It continues all the way to opening night.

Thomas Umfrid, American Idiot set designer and Professor of Stage Design at CCM, is no stranger to the process. His career has taken him around the world, designing for opera, drama, musical theatre, dance and more. We were able to tear him away from his hectic schedule leading up to opening night to give us a little insight about his design.

Talk about the overall design for American Idiot and how you came up with it.

An image from ground zero in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack in New York City.

Director Aubrey Berg came up with the design concept, a lot of which is based on iconographic 9/11 imagery, which I then developed into the design.

This project has an overriding environmental conceit and isn’t supposed to be any particular time or place.  It’s a space that evokes a dark and pessimistic mood and serves the loosely episodic stage action.

The music and lyrics aren’t pretty or glamorous, they ’re down and dirty. So is the set.

How does the set help tell the story?

Although the story deals with events passing in time and inter-related characters, it doesn’t necessitate “in focus” scenic environments, time of day or symbolic references to actual places.

For example, the characters go to New York, but the city isn’t directly rendered in any particularly recognizable way. It could be any big western city where marginalized and drugged out suburban youth have fled to try and find themselves, and in so doing, get terribly lost in the process.

How close is the actual product on stage to the initial ideas?

There is always a natural, and expected, “page to stage” evolution of a set design from the scale model and mechanical drawings to the real thing sitting on stage.

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My student, staff and faculty colleagues have done an incredible job of developing and translating Aubrey’s and my ideas to the stage. When the cast moves into the theater and begins to explore the, at times, 28 foot high stage after weeks of rehearsal in a rather neutral and barrier free rehearsal hall, I’ll have a much better idea of how successful we’ve been in translating our ideas to the stage. This is always a crucial and exciting phase of any show.

What was most important to you to convey through the set?

I hope the audience will be subconsciously affected by the environment and, rather than notice anything in particular about the set, have a visceral reaction as they experience the show as a whole entity.
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American Idiot runs March 3 – 13 at CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater. This production contains mature subject matter, including references to drug use, sexual content and profanity. 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/mainstage/american-idiot.

CCM’s Mainstage Series production of Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ plays March 3 – 13, 2016.

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

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Community Partner: ArtsWave

American Idiot is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019 | Phone: 212-541-4684 | Fax: 212-397-4684 | www.MTIShows.com

In Memoriam: Emeritus Faculty Member and LaSalle Quartet Violist Peter Kamnitzer

It is with great sadness that we share news of the passing of emeritus faculty member Peter Kamnitzer, who served as violist for the legendary LaSalle Quartet from 1949 until the ensemble’s retirement in 1988. Kamnitzer passed away in Israel on Feb. 23, 2016, at the age of 93. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Neora “Sophy” Kamnitzer.

CCM professor emeritus Peter Kamnitzer. Photo by Sandy Underwood.

Born in Berlin on November 27, 1922, Kamnitzer began studying the violin at the age of six. As a teenager, he performed in the orchestra of the Jewish Cultural Society in the Free City of Danzig.

Kamnitzer moved to the US in 1941 and began studying the viola at the Manhattan School of Music. He joined the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra in 1944 and became principal viola and a member of the Symphony String Quartet in 1945.

In 1947, Kamnitzer entered the Juilliard School to study the viola with Milton Katims. It was here that he joined the newly formed LaSalle String Quartet.

The LaSalle Quartet held a residency at Colorado College in Colorado Springs from 1949-53, making the ensemble one of the first quartets-in-residence in the United States.

In 1953, the LaSalle Quartet came to what was then known as the College of Music in Cincinnati (the College of Music would merge with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1955 before again merging with UC to become the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 1962). The Quartet served as CCM’s string quartet-in-residence for the next 35 years, while also touring the world.

After making its European debut in 1954, the LaSalle Quartet won international recognition for its masterful interpretations of the major works in the chamber music repertory. The Quartet’s programs offered a remarkable spectrum of music from all periods, including premieres of major works by 20^th century composers.

The Quartet became particularly well regarded as the leading interpreters of “The Second Viennese School,” performing complete cycles of the quartets of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern throughout the United States and Europe. The LaSalle Quartet’s Deutsche Grammophon recording of these complete cycles created a sensation in the music world, winning the Grand Prix du Disque in 1972. TIME Magazine called the album “a landmark in recorded music.” In 1978, the LaSalle again won the Grand Prix du Disque, this time for its recording of the Five Late Quartets by Beethoven. The following year, the Quartet won the Edison Prize for the first recording of Alexander Zemlinsky’s Second String Quartet.

As a member of the LaSalle Quartet, Kamnitzer helped to cement CCM’s reputation on the international stage. He retired in 1988 and spent the following years coaching chamber music in Austria and Israel, while also serving as judge for prestigious competitions like the Borciani Quartet Competition in Italy and others throughout the world.

The March 1 performance of CCM’s current string quartet-in-residence, the Ariel Quartet, will be presented in honor of Peter Kamnitzer. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this time.