CCM Alum and Renowned Tenor Stuart Skelton to Lead Master Class

From Sydney to Cincy: Stuart Skelton (MM Voice, ’95) brings skills and experience from his 25-year career to the CCM master classroom on Monday, Oct. 14 and Tuesday, Oct. 15.

There was a warmth to Stuart Skelton’s voice as he laughed about the sheer luck that landed him across the globe in Cincinnati, Ohio, from Sydney, Australia. “I definitely didn’t think this would be my path,” he says. Now a Grammy-nominated tenor and the 2014 International Opera Awards Male Singer of the Year, Skelton is critically acclaimed for his outstanding musicianship, tonal beauty and intensely dramatic portrayals. And he couldn’t imagine it any other way.

Skelton began performing at the age of 7, when he started singing at St. Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney, Australia. Yet it was only after completing his undergraduate work in economics and law at the University of Sydney that he feels his passion for singing was given the chance of a lifetime. He was awarded a scholarship to travel overseas to pursue various vocal auditions, and Cincinnati made the list. “In a sense I was doing something totally unheard of,” he recalls. “Most vocal performers head to London from Australia as opposed to the U.S.”

After seeing countless programs across the states, the level of dedication among the CCM faculty, as well as the state-of-the-art facilities, tipped the scales. “That was it — my opportunity to give singing professionally a shot, which I had never given any thought to actually doing for a living.” And lucky for us (and our ears), it has worked out. Skelton has appeared in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses, singing with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, English National Opera and Paris Opera.

Finding Home in The Queen City

Skelton recalls being intensely focused on what needed to be done during his graduate studies at CCM. He says it’s that type of focus and self-awareness that allows one to intentionally hone in on their craft. He was able to share this sentiment with students during CCM’s Sesquicentennial Celebrations, and will do so again next week during a multi-part master class — opportunities he calls “an absolute joy.”

“Master classes are a two-way bridge of trust between the teacher and student,” he says. “When you put yourself out there as a performer in front of the audience, the students gain a certain level of trust in you once you start working with them.”

Skelton says one of his happiest moments professionally has been returning to CCM to work with students and witness the next generation of performers. His advice? Apply the parts of every life experience you can use to your advantage and don’t bother with rest. “You’ll spend much more time and enthusiasm embracing the things that are helpful and instructive.”

And with a full performance schedule until 2023 spanning all over the world, Skelton’s 25-year career shows no signs of slowing down. No matter where he goes, he says it’s important to create small pockets of home; it makes you feel less alone in a city you don’t otherwise know well. He’s quick to point out that CCM will always be a small corner of home … And we’re sure glad he’s not a stranger.

Skelton will be giving master classes on Monday, Oct. 14, and Tuesday, Oct. 15 at CCM’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall. These are free and open to the public and will last approximately 2 hours.

Master Class Details

4 p.m., Monday, Oct. 14
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 15
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Directions and Parking

CCM is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions for detailed driving directions to CCM Village.

Parking is available in UC’s 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.

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Story by Jamie Muenzer, Associate Director of Alumni Relations

CCM Welcomes World-Renowned Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for Master Class on Sept. 27

CCM students and the general public are invited to attend a free master class with acclaimed violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter on Friday, Sept. 27.

Four-time Grammy Award-winner Anne-Sophie Mutter presents a master class at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 in CCM’s Mary Emery Hall Room 3250. The “undisputed queen of violin-playing” (The Times, London), Mutter will work with CCM string students during the two-hour session, which is free and open to the general public.

Mutter’s visit to CCM coincides with her weekend performances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which features her on Beethoven’s Violin Concerto to celebrate the composer’s 250^th birthday. The CSO concerts are presented on Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29 at Music Hall. For more information about the events with the CSO, please visit cincinnatisymphony.org.

Please contact Associate Professor of Violin, Won-Bin Yim for more information on the master class at CCM.

About Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter is a musical phenomenon: for more than 40 years the virtuoso has now been a fixture in all the world’s major concert halls, making her mark on the classical music scene as a soloist, mentor and visionary.

The four-time Grammy Award winner is equally committed to the performance of traditional composers as to the future of music: so far she has given world premieres of 27 works – Unsuk Chin, Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutoslawski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm and John Williams have all composed for Anne-Sophie Mutter. Furthermore, she dedicates herself to numerous benefit projects and to supporting tomorrow’s musical elite: in the autumn of 1997 she founded the “Association of Friends of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation e.V.”, to which the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation was added in 2008. These two charitable institutions provide support for the scholarship recipients, support which is tailored to the fellows’ individual needs. Since 2011, Anne-Sophie Mutter has regularly shared the spotlight on stage with her ensemble of fellows, “Mutter’s Virtuosi”. 

Anne-Sophie Mutter’s 2019 concert calendar features performances in Asia, Europe, North and South America, once again reflecting the violinist’s musical versatility and her unparalleled prominence in the world of classical music: in March she has performed the world premiere of Sebastian Currier’s Ghost Trio at Carnegie Hall. In San Francisco, she will give the world premiere of Jörg Widmann’s String Quartet – both works were commissioned by her and are dedicated to the violinist. In September she will perform for the first time in her career as part of an open-air concert. Entitled Across the Stars, this event features some of the most outstanding works by John Williams, who has won several Oscars for his compositions, and takes place on Munich’s Königsplatz. Most of the works on this open-air programme are special arrangements made for Mutter. August sees the release of her CD recording of this new Williams repertoire, which has not been heard in this form anywhere else so far. Another thematic focus in 2019 are the violin concerti by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which she performs throughout Europe and in the USA. In South America and in Europe, she appears with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and plays the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Daniel Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma – an extraordinary cast. Together with “Mutter’s Virtuosi”, the ensemble of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, she performs for the first time in South America.

On October 16 2019 Anne-Sophie Mutter will be honoured with the Praemium Imperiale in the category music; in June she received the Polar Music Prize. Poland awarded the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Cultural Achievements to Anne-Sophie Mutter in March 2018, making her the first German artist to receive such an honour. In February 2018 she was named an Honorary Member of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Romania awarded the Order of Cultural Merit in the rank of a Grand Officer to Anne-Sophie Mutter in November 2017; during the same month France honoured her by presenting her with the insignia of a Commander of the French Order of the Arts and Literature. In December 2016, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports awarded her the “Medalla de oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes” (Gold Medal for Merits in the Fine Arts). In January 2015 Anne-Sophie Mutter was named an Honorary Fellow of Keble College at the University of Oxford. In October 2013 she became a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, after winning the medal of the Lutoslawski Society (Warsaw) in January. In 2012 the Atlantic Council bestowed the Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award upon her. In 2011 she received the Brahms Prize as well as the Erich Fromm Prize and the Gustav Adolf Prize for her social activism. In 2010 the Technical-Scientific University of Norway in Trondheim bestowed an honorary doctorate upon her; in 2009 she won the European St. Ulrich Award as well as the Cristobal Gabarron Award. In 2008 Anne-Sophie Mutter was the recipient of the International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize as well as the Leipzig Mendelssohn Prize. The violinist has been awarded the German Grand Order of Merit, the French Medal of the Legion of Honour, the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria, and numerous other honors.

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Directions and Parking

CCM is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions for detailed driving directions to CCM Village.Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the end of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit the UC Parking Services website for information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors.

Acclaimed Mezzo-Soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano Holds Master Class at CCM this Sunday

CCM hosts acclaimed mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano for a master class featuring CCM students at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, in CCM’s Mary Emery Hall, room 3250. The master class is free and open to the public. Cano visits CCM after she performs as a featured artist in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s “One: City: Beethoven 9” concert on Nov. 9 and 10.

Jennifer Johnson Cano. Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco.

A naturally gifted singer noted for her commanding stage presence and profound artistry, Cano has garnered critical acclaim in a variety of roles. During the 2018-19 season, she returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Emilia in Otello and Meg Page in Falstaff and makes her role debut as Offred in Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale with Boston Lyric Opera. Cano’s orchestral engagements include Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati symphonies. A dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, she joins tenor Matthew Polenzani and pianist Julius Drake at Carnegie Hall for an evening of Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms and Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared. She will return to Chamber Music of Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall for a performance of Ravel’s Sheherazade and Falla’s Psyche. Cano will also be part of two world-premiere performances this season: Paul Moravec’s A New Country and Gregg Kallor’s Sketches from Frankenstein Suite.

Cano has given over 100 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, with recent roles including Bersi, Emilia, Hansel, Meg Page, Mercedes, Nicklausse, Wellgunde and Waltraute. Other operatic appearances have included Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Boston Lyric and Arizona operas, the Sharp Eared Fox in Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen with the Cleveland Orchestra, Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen with Boston Lyric Opera, Orphée in Orphée et Eurydice with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Des Moines Metro Opera, Diana in La Calisto with Cincinnati Opera and Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with the Tucson Symphony. She has recently worked with an impressive array of conductors, such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Franz Welser-Möst, Gustavo Dudamel, Manfred Honeck, Marin Alsop, Robert Spano, Louis Langrée, Osmo Vänskä and Sir Andrew Davis.

Cano is a native of St. Louis and made her professional operatic debut with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has earned degrees from Webster University and Rice University and was honored as a distinguished alumna and commencement speaker at Webster University last May. Cano joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition, and she made her Met debut during the 2009-10 season. Among her honors are a First Prize winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, Sara Tucker Study Grant, Richard Tucker Career Grant and George London Award.

Learn more about Cano on her professional website at jenniferjohnsoncano.net
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Master Class Time
2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11

Location
Mary Emery Hall Room 3250, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Admission
Free and open to the general public

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

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

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

CCM’s Spring Piano Series Includes Acclaimed Guests, Renowned Faculty Artists and Gifted Student Musicians

World-class pianists perform at CCM throughout the semester as part of the Spring 2018 Piano Series. Featuring acclaimed guest and faculty artists as well as gifted student musicians, CCM’s Department of Keyboard Studies presents its piano series in Robert J. Werner Recital Hall at CCM.

The series begins on Thursday, January 11 with a free recital by guest artist Logan Skelton. An esteemed pianist, teacher and composer, Skelton has concertized widely in the United States, Europe and Asia. His CCM recital features Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, transcribed by Skelton himself. Currently a professor of piano at the University of Michigan, Skelton will hold a public master class featuring CCM piano students after the recital.

CCM Piano Professor Ran Dank holds a free recital on Monday, January 22, featuring Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, which Dank recently performed at Chicago’s Mandel Hall. The Chicago Classical Review praised Dank’s performance and wrote that he “carried off this tortuously challenging work with dazzling bravura.”

On Sunday, February 4, CCM Faculty Artist Lydia Brown presents a free recital featuring works for piano by J.S. Bach, Schoenberg, Schubert and Haydn. In addition to serving as a music professor and opera/voice coach at CCM, Brown serves as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. She has performed extensively as a soloist and collaborative pianist throughout the world.

Oberlin Conservatory of Music Piano Professors Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow visit CCM on Wednesday, February 21 for a free guest artist recital featuring Copland’s El Salón México, Debussy’s Petite Suite and Ravel’s La Valse. The duo will also hold a public master class featuring CCM piano students after the recital.

CCM’s Spring 2018 Piano Series concludes on Sunday, March 25 with the annual Pianopalooza concert. Featuring performances from some of CCM’s most gifted student pianists, the concert emphasizes romanticism and virtuosity. Tickets for Pianopalooza are on sale now through the CCM Box Office for $15 general, $10 non-UC students and free for UC students with a valid ID.
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SPRING 2018 PIANO SERIES

7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11
• Guest Artist Series •
Logan Skelton, piano
CCM welcomes acclaimed pianist, teacher and composer Logan Skelton! Join us after the performance for a master class featuring CCM piano students.
BARTÓK: Concerto for Orchestra, trans. Skelton
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Admission: FREE

Sponsored by Louis and Susan Meisel
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8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22
• Faculty Artist Series •
Ran Dank, piano
CHOPIN: Polonaise in E flat minor, Op. 26, No. 2
CHOPIN: Mazurka in B minor, Op. 30, No. 2
CHOPIN: Mazurka in D-flat major, Op. 30, No. 3
CHOPIN: Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Op. 30, No. 4
CHOPIN: Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major
RZEWSKI: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Admission: Free
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4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4
Lydia Brown, piano
J.S. BACH: English Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807
SCHOENBERG: Six little piano pieces, Op. 16
HAYDN: Piano Sonata in A major, Hob. XVI:26
HAYDN: Piano Sonata in D major, Hob. XVI:51
SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata in G major, D. 894
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Admission: FREE
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7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21
• Guest Artist Series •
Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow, piano
CCM welcomes renowned piano duo Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow! Join us after the performance for a master class featuring CCM piano students.
COPLAND: El Salón México
DEBUSSY: Petite Suite
RAVEL: La Valse
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Admission: FREE

Sponsored by Louis and Susan Meisel
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7 p.m. Sunday, March 25
• Piano Series •
PIANOPALOOZA: FAST AND FABULOUS FINGERS
Pianopalooza will feature performances by some of CCM’s most gifted student pianists. The spring concert will emphasize romanticism and virtuosity … come and be dazzled!
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
Tickets: $15 general, $10 non-UC students, UC students FREE
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Event Information
All events listed take place on the campus of the University of Cincinnati unless otherwise indicated. The Pianopalooza concert requires paid admission. All other piano events are free and open to the general public.

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 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

All-Steinway School Sponsor: The Corbett Endowment at CCM

CCM is proud to be an All-Steinway School

Acting Department Chair Visits Estonia To Teach Viewpoints Training Master Classes

Richard Hess at the Tartu Uus Teater.

CCM Professor of Acting and Department Chair Richard Hess recently traveled to Northern Europe to teach Viewpoints Training master classes to professional actors working in two Estonian theaters — Theatrum and Tartu Uus Teater.

Hess has shared Viewpoints Training master classes across the U.S. and internationally for the past 20 years. Initially developed for dancers in the 1970s by choreographer Mary Overlie, Viewpoints Training was then adapted for actors by director Anne Bogart and the SITI Company. It focuses on improvisational movement techniques that brake down two dominant issues performers deal with — time and space — into nine categories or “viewpoints”: tempo, duration, kinesthetic response, repetition, shape, spatial relationship, architecture, floor pattern and gesture.

Hess engaged the Estonian actors in a series of improvisational movement exercises where unified group action was the desired goal. “What you create with another actor is always more interesting than what you can create alone,” Hess said. “Needing and being needed are core principles of good acting.”

In the final exercise of the master class, Hess instructed the actors to pair up and — without speaking or planning — support a portion of their partner’s body weight to create a new shape that they couldn’t create alone. Hess first told them to support 50 percent of their partner’s weight, then directed everyone to support the entire weight of one person. “This requires actors to give generously and to be supportive in undeniable ways,” he said.

In the final Viewpoints exercise, Hess told the actors “all hands must support the entire weight of Karl Edgar.”

“The Estonian actors were so powerful and focused,” Hess added. “There is an obvious muscular quality to their work and it was gratifying to see them embrace the master class with enthusiasm and bravery. Estonian theatre is extremely impressive.”

The actors traveled from theaters across Estonia to participate in Hess’ Viewpoints Training master class, he said. They gathered in Uus Teater in Tartu, Estonia and Theatrum, which is headed by playwright and director Andri Luup in Tallinn, Estonia. Luup, who is known for writing and directing the film “Kinnunen,” arranged for Hess to offer the master classes.

“The work was simply on the nose,” said participant Karl Edgar Tammi, a professional actor from the Teater Must Kast in Tartu. “I was introduced to a set of great exercises, improvisation, stage presence and awareness, creativity, working with partners, space and, of course, music. It was colorful, refreshing and inspiring. I will practice and try and mix it into the current theatre scape of Estonia!”

As chair of CCM’s Acting Department for the past 22 years, Hess has taught actors who work throughout the world on stage, television and film. He is no stranger to traveling internationally in the name of theatre. In 2011, Hess brought eight CCM Acting students and alumni to Kenya as part of the Dadaab Theatre Project. He returned to Kenya in 2014 as a Fulbright Scholar and spent a semester teaching and conducting research at Kenyatta University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Film Technology. In 2015, Hess brought six students and one faculty member from Kenyatta University to CCM so they could participate in the 48-Hour Film Festival.

Look for a Village News post later this week about Hess’ upcoming production of Middletown, running in Cohen Family Studio Theatre Oct. 20-22 as part of CCM’s Studio Acting Series. Admission is free but reservations are required. Tickets become available at noon on Monday, Oct. 17.

The Art of the Piano Summer Festival kicks off May 28 – June 11

The sixth annual Art of the Piano summer festival and concert series will be the “best year yet,” according to Artistic Director and CCM Artist-in-Residence Awadagin Pratt.

Twenty-four student pianists will join 10 internationally acclaimed musicians for a series of master classes and recitals during the Art of the Piano summer festival at CCM.

The students have a unique opportunity to learn from distinguished artists including Vladimir Feltsman, Yoshikau Nagai, Paul Schenly and Boris Slutsky. In addition, six Art of the Piano artist teachers will each perform in a series of concerts throughout the festival.

Each concert is FREE and open to the public; reservations are not required. Student recitals will take place at 7 p.m. in the Cohen Family Studio Theater on May 31, June 1, 3, and 6. The student recitals will feature themed programs of the works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and others.

Experience the artistry yourself during the following upcoming concerts from today’s most sought-after pianists:

7 p.m. Sunday, May 29
JOHN PERRY, piano

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 18, Op. 31, No. 3
CHOPIN: Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 58

Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater

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7 p.m. Saturday, June 4
ENRICO ELISI, piano

BACH: Partita in E Minor, BWV 830
DEBUSSY: Préludes, Book I
DEBUSSY: Children’s Corner
ERIK SATIE: Embryons desséchés
RICCARDO PICK-MANGIAGALLI: Deux lunaires

Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater

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2 p.m. Sunday, June 5
VLADIMIR FELTSMAN, piano

SCHUMANN: Kinderszenen, Op. 15
SCHUMANN: Faschingsschwank en Wien, Op. 26

Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater

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7 p.m. Wednesday, June 8
JAMES GILES, piano

LIEBERMANN: Nocturne No. 6, Op. 62
FEDERICO MOMPOU: Canciones y danzas
RACHMANINOFF: Songs
LISZT: Sonata in B Minor, S. 178

Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater

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7 p.m. Thursday, June 9
MICHAEL LEWIN, piano

SCHUBERT: Fantasy in C Major, D. 760 “Wanderer”
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS: A lenda do caboclo DEBUSSY: Beau Soir
DEBUSSY: Préludes, Book 2
CHOPIN: Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47
CHOPIN: Mazurka in A-flat Major, Op. 59, No. 2
CHOPIN: Berceuse in D-flat Major, Op. 57
CHOPIN: Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23

Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater

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7 p.m. Saturday, June 11
YONG HI MOON, piano

BEETHOVEN: Diabelli Variations, Op. 120

Location: Cohen Family Studio Theater

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PARKING AND DIRECTIONS
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

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

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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CCM is proud to be an All-Steinway School

CCM Welcomes Acclaimed Violinist Augustin Hadelich for Master Class on March 12

Award winning violinist Augustin Hadelich.

CCM hosts world-renowned violinist Augustin Hadelich for a master class at 11 a.m. next Saturday, March 12, in Watson Hall. The Grammy Award-winning musician will work with CCM string students during the two hour session, which is open to the general public.

The visit coincides with Hadelich’s weekend engagement with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which will see him perform the famed Violin Concerto by Expressionist composer Alban Berg with the CSO on March 11, 12 and 13.

Hadelich will also join CSO Music Director Louis Langrée for a “Stories in Concert” event at Music Hall at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 13. For more information about the events with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, please visit http://cincinnatisymphony.org.

About Augustin Hadelich
Within months after being awarded the inaugural Warner Music Prize, Augustin Hadelich has just won a 2016 Grammy in the category “Best Classical Instrumental Solo” for his recording of the Dutilleux Violin Concerto, L’arbre des songes, firmly establishing him as one of the great violinists of his generation. His remarkable consistency throughout the repertoire, from Bach and Beethoven to Ligeti and Adès, is seldom encountered in a single artist.

Highlights of Hadelich’s 2015-16 season include debuts with the Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall and the Finnish Radio Orchestra, as well as return performances with the London Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the symphonies of Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Louisville, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Oregon, Seattle, Utah and Vancouver. He has also previously collaborated with such renowned conductors as Roberto Abbado, Marc Albrecht, Marin Alsop, Herbert Blomstedt, Lionel Bringuier, Justin Brown, James Conlon, Christoph von Dohnányi and Jaap van Zweden, among numerous others.

Also an enthusiastic recitalist, Hadelich’s numerous appearances include Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), The Frick Collection (New York), Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Kioi Hall (Tokyo), the Louvre and the chamber music societies of Detroit, La Jolla, Philadelphia, Seattle and Vancouver. His chamber music partners have included Inon Barnatan, Jeremy Denk, James Ehnes, Alban Gerhardt, Richard Goode, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Robert Kulek, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Charles Owen, Vadim Repin, Mitsuko Uchida, Joyce Yang, along with the members of the Guarneri and Juilliard quartets.

Hadelich’s first major orchestral recording, featuring the violin concertos of Jean Sibelius and Thomas Adès (Concentric Paths), with Hannu Lintu conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, was released to great acclaim in March 2014 on the AVIE label. The disc was nominated for a Gramophone Award and was listed by NPR on their Top 10 Classical CDs of 2014. He has recorded three previous albums for AVIE: Flying Solo, a CD of masterworks for solo violin; Echoes of Paris, featuring French and Russian repertoire influenced by Parisian culture in the early 20th century; and Histoire du Tango, a program of violin-guitar works in collaboration with Pablo Villegas. A recent recording of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and Bartók’s Concerto No. 2 with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under Miguel Harth-Bedoya was released on AVIE in the spring of 2015.  For the Seattle Symphony with Ludovic Morlot, Mr. Hadelich has recorded Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto, “L’arbre des songes,” on Seattle Symphony MEDIA.

The 2006 Gold Medalist of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Hadelich is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009), a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011), and Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award (2012). Most recently, he has been named winner of the first Warner Music Prize (2015).

The son of German parents, Hadelich was born and raised in Italy. A resident of New York City since 2004 and now an American citizen, he holds an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff.  He plays on the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

For more information, please visit http://augustin-hadelich.com.

CCM Welcomes Video Game Composer Chance Thomas for Public Lecture and Master Class on Feb. 18

CCM’s Division of Composition, Musicology and Theory hosts award winning video game composer, educator and entrepreneur Chance Thomas for a one-time-only event next week.

Thomas will present a public lecture on “Composing Music for Games: The Art, Tech and Commerce of Video Game Scoring” from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., which will be followed by a master class from 4:30 – 6 p.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 18, in room 3240 of the Corbett Center for the Performing Arts. These events are free and open to the general public.

This special guest lecture will offer students an extraordinary opportunity to learn vital music design principles, revolutionary adaptive scoring techniques and powerful entrepreneurial strategies from one of the game industry’s most innovative and successful composers.

How does music change seamlessly to follow the action in popular online multiplayer video games like Defense of the Ancients 2? What is the single most powerful piece of technology available to video game composers today? What should every composer take into every single business pitch? Come and discover answers to all of these questions and many more as Thomas delves into the complex and fascinating world of music scoring for games!

CCM alumni are already making names for themselves in this dynamic field. After working on the major motion picture Star Trek: Into Darkness, alumnus Michael John Mollo (MM Composition, 2005) found himself working on his very first interactive score for a video game: Strider HD. Read more about his experiences in the video game industry here.

About Chance Thomas
Chance Thomas is an American composer, educator and entrepreneur. He helps students and professionals navigate the intersection of music scoring, technology and business.

His music has underscored blockbuster commercial success and critical acclaim, including an Oscar, an Emmy and billions of dollars in video game and film sales worldwide. Just last year, more than four million people bought Thomas’ original music score for Defense of the Ancients 2 (otherwise known as DOTA 2) as part of the T14 compendium.

Thomas’ top video game credits include DOTA 2, Lord of the Rings Online, James Cameron’s Avatar, Heroes of Might and Magic, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Peter Jackson’s King Kong and many more.

His music can be heard on hit television shows like Pawn Stars, The Bachelorette and America’s Most Wanted. His movie scores include an Academy Award-winner, Columbia Pictures’ delightful animated short film, The ChubbChubbs!

Thomas is a director of the Game Audio Network Guild and serves on several advisory boards. His business interests range across studios, publishing and audio services, successfully supporting an active composing career spanning more than 20 years.

For complete credits, awards and music samples, please visit www.chancethomas.com.

CCM Welcomes Guest Artists Benjamin Wynn and Anthony Ciannamea for Public Lecture and Master Class on Thursday, Jan. 22

Deru, featuring EFFIXX: 1979

CCM’s Division of Electronic Media, in collaboration with the Contemporary Arts Center, welcomes guest artists Benjamin Wynn and Anthony Ciannamea for a public presentation and master class at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22 in room 425 of UC’s Tangeman University Center. This event is free and open to the general public.

Wynn (who produces electronic music under the name “Deru”) and Ciannamea (who runs a studio focused on telling stories with physical objects in real spaces called “EFFIXX”) will discuss their work 1979, which will be featured at the Contemporary Arts Center on Saturday, Jan. 24.

In addition to presenting, Wynn and Ciannamea will interact with students from UC and Northern Kentucky University, lending guidance, instruction and support.

“These guys make great music, film, media, and art,” explains Assistant Professor of Electronic Media Lorin Edwin Parker. “This is a fantastic opportunity, and the Contemporary Arts Center and [CAC performance curator and CCM alumnus] Drew Klein (BFA Electronic Media, 2007) are so great to bring them out to Cincy!”

A concept album, performance, and sculptural object, 1979 features nine songs by Wynn accompanied by nine short films by video artist Ciannamea that are housed in a customized handheld video projector called the Obverse Box. The subject matter found within is nostalgic and emotive, focusing on common origins and shared human experiences.

Deru, featuring EFFIXX: 1979 will have its Cincinnati premiere a 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Contemporary Arts Center. Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the general public. For more information on this premiere, visit http://contemporaryartscenter.org.

About Benjamin Wynn
Benjamin Wynn is an Emmy Award winning American composer, sound designer and music producer.

Wynn grew up in Chicago, where his earliest influences came across the airwaves of the legendary University of Chicago radio station, WHPK. Listening to hip-hop and specifically its use of static in music, prompted Wynn’s first forays into manipulating sound. Wynn continued his sonic explorations at the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied synthesis, signal processing, acoustics, music theory and composition, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music Technology. While at CalArts, Wynn also delved into world music, studying Balinese gamelan, African drumming and hand percussion. His multi-layered musical sensibility combines hip-hop, electronic, world music and classical composition.

Wynn is co-owner of a music and sound design company in Los Angeles called, The Track Team. Wynn started The Track Team with co-founder Jeremy Zuckerman in 2004.

Together they have done music for the Nickelodeon TV series, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, created the score for the feature film Just Peck, and music and sound design for DC Comics shorts. Wynn is currently working on the sound design for the sequel to Avatar the Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra. In 2012, Ben and Jeremy won an Emmy Award for music editing for Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.

Wynn was the force behind the sound design for all three seasons of Nickelodeon’s hit television show, Avatar the Last Airbender. In 2009, Wynn was nominated for a Motion Picture Sound Editor’s Golden Reel award for his sound design work on Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Wynn is also an electronic music producer under the name “Deru”. His music is best described as an amalgamation of hip-hop, electronic and IDM. He is signed to the label Mush Records and has released three albums on Mush Records, Merck Records and Neo Ouija and many remixes and tracks for compilations for labels like Hometapes, Ghostly International, Hymen Records, 1320 Records, Unseen and Mille Plateaux.

Deru recently scored the music and curated the soundtrack for the feature-length film, Outliers, Vol. I: Iceland. The score is based on his field recordings from a trip to Iceland in October 2011. The film premiered in Chicago in July 2012 and in Sopot, Poland and Amsterdam, Netherlands in September 2012.

In 2007, Wynn (as Deru) collaborated with British composer Joby Talbot on the score to Wayne McGregor’s ballet, Genus, based on Charles Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species, commissioned by the Paris Opera Ballet. The ballet premiered at the Palais Garnier in October 2007 and was commissioned for a second round of performances in November 2009. The ambitious eight-part score combines electronics with a 10-part choir and string instruments. The score is available on Ant-Zen and Dear Oh Dear Records and was featured in the 2009 documentary, La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet.

About Anthony Ciannamea
Anthony Ciannamea is a Chicago-born filmmaker and designer inspired by the intersection of technology, mythology and mysticism in storytelling. After nearly a decade as an interface designer and creative coder in Chicago, Anthony co-founded ScenicStudio.tv and has spent past few years directing a series of music videos and a feature-length documentary (Outliers, Vol. I: Iceland). The now San Francisco-based creative director is currently focused on bringing his analog, lo-fi cinema aesthetic to live performance visuals as well as helping artists and independent labels introduce dimensional narrative into releases.

Obsessed with blending digital processes and modern tools with an anthropological curiosity to re-contextualize the past, he recently spent the past year producing live visuals as a monthly resident at Low End Theory SF, on tour with Shigeto, as well as events for Deru and Prefuse 73.

Anthony runs EFFIXX – a small studio focused on making beautiful things and telling stories with physical objects in real spaces.

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

The Academy of Ancient Music. Photography by Patrick Harrison.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Repertoire
All works by JS BACH:

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

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

Location
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village,
University of Cincinnati

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

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

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

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

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

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

ArtsWave: Community Partner

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