CCM Alumnus Craig Phillips Receives GRAMMY Nomination

CCM alumnus Craig Phillips.

We are delighted to report that acclaimed bass-baritone and CCM alumnus Craig Phillips (MM Voice, 1998) has been nominated for his second GRAMMY Award as a member of the male vocal quartet New York Polyphony.

The group has been nominated for its 2014 Christmas album, Sing Thee Nowell. This is the group’s second consecutive nomination in the “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance” category.

“Most of the music we sing was written before 1600, so it isn’t exactly ‘mainstream,’ even by classical music standards,” Phillips explains. “So receiving a GRAMMY nomination is very validating, on both a professional and personal level. We are very committed to what we do, and work hard to create performances that are passionate and compelling to modern ears. The GRAMMY nomination (now our second!) proves that we’ve managed to move the needle, so to speak.”

Selected by the New York Times for its “2014 Holiday Gift Guide,” Sing Thee Nowell has enjoyed robust sales, reaching the Top 10 on Billboard Magazine‘s Traditional Classical Album chart. The album, which is the group’s fifth release and third on BIS Records, follows last year’s critically acclaimed and GRAMMY-nominated Times Go By Turns.

The 57^th annual GRAMMY’s will be held on Sunday, Feb. 8^th. You can learn more about this year’s ceremony by visiting http://www.grammy.com.

About Craig Phillips
Praised for his “handsome, elegant bass” by The New York Times, bass-baritone Craig Phillips is an established operatic and concert soloist. His operatic credits include performances with Glimmerglass Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Arizona Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. For his portrayal of Nardo in New York City Opera’s La finta giardiniera, the New York Sun singled-out Phillips as one of the “true lights of the production,” highlighting both his “clear lyric bass-baritone” and “great talent for physical comedy.”

On the concert stage, his credits include performances with the Washington Bach Consort, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Cathedral.

In addition to solo work, Phillips is an active performer in the early music scene, performing regularly with New York City-based ensembles such as Vox Vocal Ensemble, TENET and Clarion Music Society.

Below, take a behind-the-scenes look at the making of New York Polyphony’s GRAMMY-nominated Sing Thee Nowell:

CCM Welcomes Filmmaker James Chressanthis For Master Class and Film Screening on Feb. 17

CCM welcomes special guest James Chressanthis on Monday, Feb. 17, 2014.

CCM’s Division of Electronic Media welcomes cinematographer James Chressanthis, ASC, for a master class and film screening beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, in CCM’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall.

An award-winning filmmaker, Chressanthis will host a free public lecture with a question and answer session from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. This will be followed by a free screening of his feature film directing debut, the Emmy-nominated No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos.

CCM’s Jazz Ensembles Collaborate with Matt Wilson’s Arts and Crafts Ensemble on Feb. 9

Guest artist Matt Wilson and his Arts and Crafts Ensemble join CCM’s Jazz Ensembles in concert on Sunday, Feb. 9.

Audiences can look forward to a fun, quirky and upbeat performance when CCM’s Jazz Ensembles join forces with renowned guest artist Matt Wilson and his Arts and Crafts Ensemble at 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 9, in Corbett Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now.

CCM Director of Jazz Studies Scott Belck and Instructor of Jazz Studies Dominic Marino conduct.

Voted the number one “Rising Star Drummer” in Downbeat magazine’s Critic’s Poll for five consecutive years, Wilson is an ambassador for the jazz community known for blending his creativity and sense of humor with a versatile musicality, engaging audiences and musicians alike.

CCM Alumna Audrey Luna Wins Grammy for Best Opera Recording

Audrey Luna (center) as Ariel in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of ‘The Tempest.’

Congratulations to CCM alumna Audrey Luna (MM ’03, AD ’05), soprano, on her Grammy win last night! Luna received a Grammy for Best Opera Recording for singing the role of Ariel on the Metropolitan Opera recording of Thomas Adès’ The Tempest.

Born in Salem, Oregon, the soprano studied with Barbara Honn during her time at CCM. You can read more about her Grammy win courtesy of Janelle Gelfand and the Cincinnati Enquirer here.

You can read Luna’s recent Opera News “Sound Bite” spotlight here.

CCM Jazz Welcomes Special Guest Steven Bernstein For Evening of James Bond Film Music on March 10

CCM’s Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab Band welcome guest artist and guest composer Steven Bernstein for a concert that is guaranteed to be “Shaken, Not Stirred” at 007 p.m. on Sunday, March 10, in UC’s Corbett Auditorium.

“Special agents” from CCM’s award-winning Lighting Design program will help present this evening of James Bond film music with a dynamic and colorful twist. Scott Belck and Dominic Marino conduct.

“Shaken, Not Stirred” features Bernstein’s adaptations of composer John Barry’s iconic and legendary James Bond film scores. Barry, who died in January 2011 at the age of 77, scored 11 James Bond films between 1963 and ’87. He composed a number of other highly acclaimed film scores, including those for Dances with Wolves and Out of Africa, both Grammy Award winners.

CCM Presents Acclaimed Flutist Molly Alicia Barth and Guitarist Dieter Hennings In Concert This Week

CCM’s Guest Artist Series proudly presents Grammy Award-winning flutist (and CCM alumna) Molly Alicia Barth and acclaimed guitarist Dieter Hennings in concert at 8 p.m. this Thursday, Jan. 24, in the Cohen Family Studio Theater. Tickets to this performance are free. Reservations are not required.

Barth and Hennings’ Jan. 24 performance is scheduled to include a performance of CCM Associate Professor of Composition Michael Fiday‘s Five Haiku for alto flute and guitar, along with Philippe Hurel’s Loops, Juan Trigos’ From Partita, André Jolivet’s Ascèses, Herbet Vazquez’s El jardín del pasaje púrpura, David Lang’s Vent, Jean Micahel Damase’s Quatre Facettes and Toru Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea.

Grammy Award-winning flutist Molly Alicia Barth.

About Molly Alicia Barth
Described as “ferociously talented” by The Oregonian, Grammy-Award winning flutist Molly Alicia Barth is an active solo, chamber and orchestral musician, specializing in the music of today. As a founding member of the new music sextet eighth blackbird, Barth toured extensively throughout the world, recorded four CDs with Cedille Records, won a 2008 Grammy (“Best Chamber Music Performance”) and was granted the 2000 Naumburg Chamber Music Award, first prize at the 1998 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the 1998/2000/2002 CMA/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, first prize at the 1997 Coleman Chamber Music Competition and first prize at the 1996 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

CCM’s ‘Chess’ Receives Four League of Cincinnati Theater Nominations

“Chess” runs Oct. 25 – 28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. Photography by Mark Lyons.
Tickets on sale now! Visit ccm.uc.edu for more information. Photography by Mark Lyons.

CCM’s production of Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Tim Rice’s Chess has earned four nominations from the League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT)! The LCT also distinguished the rock musical as a recommended production: Outstanding Production (musical), Ensemble, Lead Actor (Julian Decker) and Lead Actress (Aubrey Ireland). Congratulations to the entire creative team!

Loosely based on the lives of chess grandmasters Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov, Chess involves a romantic triangle between two top players (an American and a Russian) and the woman who manages one and falls in love with the other.

Cincinnati Enquirer Reviews Opera Fusion Workshop Performance of ‘Champion’

The Cincinnati Enquirer‘s Steven Rosen was in attendance at Saturday’s public workshop of Champion, the new American opera composed by Terence Blanchard with a libretto by Michael Cristofer.

In his review of the performance, Rosen states, “Judging from the enthusiastic audience response, the opera may become a champion in more ways than one. One person asked, to general overall approval, if he would have to go all the way to Saint Louis to see the full opera, wishing Cincinnati Opera would itself stage it. (Several of the CCM students will be in the Saint Louis production.)”

You can read Rosen’s review in its entirety here.

CCM’s ‘Chess’ Features ‘Great Singing, Great Dancing, Jaw-Dropping Costuming, Superb Orchestral Support, Sharp Techno Scenic Design’ Raves Enquirer

“Chess” runs Oct. 25 – 28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. Photography by Mark Lyons.
Tickets on sale now! Visit ccm.uc.edu for more information. Photography by Mark Lyons.

In her review of Chess for the Cincinnati Enquirer, Jackie Demaline writes, “It’s easy to be swept up in the spectacle conjured by director Aubrey Berg – great singing, great dancing, jaw-dropping costuming, superb orchestral support (led by Stephen Goers), sharp techno scenic design (by Mark Halpin and Alan Hanson).”

Chess runs through this Sunday, Oct. 28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. Tickets are still available by calling 513-556-4183, visiting CCM’s E-Box Office here!

Read more of Demaline’s review after the jump.

CityBeat’s Stage Door Blog Reviews ‘Chess’

“Chess” runs Oct. 25 – 28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. Photography by Mark Lyons.
Tickets on sale now! Visit ccm.uc.edu for more information. Photography by Mark Lyons.

Theatre critic Rick Pender reviews Chess in today’s CityBeat Stage Door blog: “The story is set in Bangkok and Budapest during a mid-1970s world chess championship — and it’s driven by gamesmanship between nations, between lovers and, of course, between chess players. I saw the opening on Thursday, and it’s a BIG show with a gigantic cast. Several leading roles are double cast (with more juniors than seniors, in fact, which bodes well for CCM productions for this season and next). In particular, Matthew Paul Hill, playing the Russian grand master Anatoly, lifted the roof of Corbett Auditorium with his powerful baritone voice singing the stirring ‘Anthem,’ the Act 1 finale.”

Read more here. 

Chess tickets are still available by calling 513-556-4183, visiting CCM’s E-Box Office here!

Directed by Aubrey Berg with musical direction by Stephen Goers, choreography by Diane Lala, scenic design by Mark Halpin and costumes by Rebecca Senske, Chess runs Oct. 25-28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium.