CCM’s 2014-15 Mainstage Series Comes to a Close with Mozart’s Famed Opera ‘Cosi Fan Tutte,’ April 9-12

CCM concludes its 2014–15 Mainstage Series with a true powerhouse: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte. The celebrated opera buffa returns to the Patricia Corbett Theater stage at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 9, and plays through Sunday, April 12.

Director of Orchestral Studies Mark Gibson conducts and J. Ralph Corbett Distinguished Chair in Opera Robin Guarino directs. Assistant Conductor Yael Front conducts the matinee performance on Sunday, April 12. This production will be sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Guarino is certainly no stranger to Così, as she has successfully directed the opera multiple times for the world-renowned Metropolitan Opera (the Met) in New York City. Notably, her September 2013 engagement with Così also marked the return of beloved conductor James Levine to the Met’s podium for the first time since May 2011. A Cincinnati native, Levine is a former pupil of LaSalle Quartet violinist and CCM Professor Emeritus Walter Levin.

In his review for the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini hailed the Met’s production of Così as the most “vibrant, masterly and natural performance” of the work he had ever heard. Tommasini especially lauded Guarino’s direction, calling it “effortlessly in sync” with Levine’s conducting.

Mozart’s opera, with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, follows the well-worn tread of light Classical Era opera. Officers Ferrando and Guglielmo are certain that their fiancées Dorabella and Fiordiligi (respectively) will always be true to them… a belief not shared by Don Alfonso, who, in his certainty that women can never be faithful and trustworthy, makes a wager with the two that he can prove within one day that their fiancées are fickle. To this end, he concocts a scheme with the soldiers: they will pretend to be called off to war, return disguised as “Albanians” and they will each attempt to woo the other’s fiancée.

Confusion, cross-dressing and romantic banter abound as the scheme unfolds, testing Dorabella and Fiordiligi’s resolve as well as Ferrando and Guglielmo’s skills in deception.

With enjoyable music and a lighthearted plot transported to mid-20th century America, Così fan tutte is the perfect way to welcome spring and say a fond farewell to CCM’s Mainstage Season!

The Company

• Ann Toomey as Fiordiligi*
• Jessica Faselt as Fiordiligi^
• Adria Caffaro as Dorabella*
• Eleni Antonia Franck as Dorabella^
• Joseph Lattanzi as Guglielmo*
• Simon Barrad as Guglielmo^
• Alec Carlson as Ferrando*
• Chris Bozeka as Ferrando^
• Grace Kahl as Despina*
• Jasmine Habersham as Despina^
• Derrell Acon as Don Alfonso*
• Tyler Alessi as Don Alfonso^

* – Performs Thursday, April 9 and Saturday, April 11
^ – Performs Friday, April 10 and Sunday, April 12

The Creative Team

• Mark Gibson, conductor
• Robin Guarino, stage director
• Lydia Brown, musical preparation
• Ryan Howell, scenic designer
• Caroline Spitzer, costume designer
• Wes Calkin, lighting designer
• Una Lin, wig & make-up designer
• Kevin Semancik, sound designer
• Sarah Stewart, stage manager
• Maria Fuller, Levi Hammer and Kihwa Kim, rehearsal pianists

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Thursday, April 9
• 8 p.m. Friday, April 10
• 8 p.m. Saturday, April 11
• 2 p.m. Sunday, April 12

Location
Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to CCM’s Mainstage production of Così fan tutte are $31-35 adults, $20-24 non-UC students and $18-22 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/cosi-fan-tutte-mainstage.

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 & Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Community Partner: ArtsWave

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’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Receives Glowing Reviews

CCM’s Mainstage Production of HANSEL AND GRETEL. Photography by Mark Lyons.

The critics have weighed in with unanimous praise for CCM’s recent production of Hansel and Gretel!

In her review of the fairy tale opera for the Cincinnati Enquirer, Janelle Gelfand calls the production “magical” and “breathtaking.” She singles out the performance of the CCM Philharmonia, writing that “you could get lost in the glowing orchestral score, so beautifully led by Mark Gibson.”

Mary Ellyn Hutton‘s review for Music in Cincinnati was similarly enthusiastic. “Highlights of the performance were many,” she writes, “One was the prayer scene… where Hansel and Gretel knelt and sang, with snow falling in the background. Another came during the dream pantomime… where the 14 angels, all children, cavorted on an angelic playground, with a swing, a seesaw and bicycles hanging over the stage, as the children looked on.”

Rafael de Acha calls the production a “sweet treat” in his review for Seen and Heard International. “Robin Guarino sets the story during the Depression in America,” he observes, “but surprisingly, this setting undermines neither the lush Romanticism of the music nor the innocent fairytale story, and the results are nothing but happy.”

Hansel and Gretel concluded its run on Sunday, Nov.  23. CCM’s Opera Season resumes in February with a Studio Series production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea running Feb. 20-22 and a CCM Opera d’arte Series production of Handel’s Alcina running Feb. 27 – March 1.

The season concludes April 9 – 12 with a Mainstage Series production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, conducted by Mark Gibson with stage direction by Robin Guarino.

Last fall, Guarino directed the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Così fan tutte, which also served as James Levine’s highly anticipated return to the Met. In his review of the opera for the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini noted that “Guarino worked with this cast of gifted actors to inflect their characters with telling comic bits and hapless human touches.”

The Ariel Quartet’s Acclaimed CCM Concert Series Continues Tomorrow

From left to right: Amit Even-Tov, Jan Grüning, Alexandra Kazovsky and Gershon Gerchikov are the Ariel Quartet. Photography by Saverio Truglia.

The Ariel Quartet‘s CCM Concert Series continues at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, with a program featuring the works of Menachem Wiesenberg, Robert Schumann and Maurice Ravel.

Grand Prize winners at the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and 2014 recipients of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, the Ariel Quartet thrilled audiences with its first complete cycle of Beethoven’s String Quartets at CCM last season.

During the CINCYinNYC showcase week this May, the New York Times proclaimed that the Quartet has “a gift for filling the pristine structures of Classicism with fire.”

Janelle Gelfand called the Quartet’s season-opening performance with Menahem Pressler last month “inspiring” in her review for the Cincinnati Enquirer. You can read her full review of that performance here.

Repertoire

• WIESENBERG: Between the Sacred and the Profane
• SCHUMANN: String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 41, No. 2
• RAVEL: String Quartet in F Major, M. 35

The Ariel Quartet Opens CCM’s 2014-15 Concert Series With Distinguished Guest Artist Menahem Presser

The legendary Menahem Pressler joins the Ariel Quartet for Brahms’ Piano Quintet on Sept. 9.

CCM’s internationally acclaimed string quartet-in-residence the Ariel Quartet will be joined by legendary pianist Menahem Pressler for a program of Haydn, Berg and Brahms on Tuesday, Sept. 9.

Grand Prize winners at the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and 2014 recipients of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, the Ariel Quartet thrilled audiences with its first complete cycle of Beethoven’s String Quartets at CCM last season.

During the CINCYinNYC showcase week this May, the New York Times proclaimed that the Quartet has “a gift for filling the pristine structures of Classicism with fire.”

The Ariel Quartet opens CCM’s 2014-15 Concert Series with a performance featuring legendary pianist Menahem Pressler. Founding member and pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio, Pressler will join the Quartet for a performance of Brahms’ majestic Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34. See full concert program details below.

CCM Faculty, Alumni and Programs Make Headlines This Summer

CCM continues to make headlines! See what the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Variety and more are saying about our faculty members, our alumni and our academic programs:

CCM Musical Theatre alumna Gabrielle Stravelli (BFA, 2001) received a glowing write-up in this Monday’s issue of the New York Times, with critic Stephen Holden calling her recent performance at the Metropolitan Room “intoxicating” and proclaiming that she, “recalled Ella Fitzgerald in her prime.” Stravelli next performs at the Metropolitan Room on July 29 and 31. Read the review here.

The New York Times also featured the World’s Fair Play Festival at the Queens Theater as its “Critics’ Pick” this week. A presentation of 10 original 10-minute long plays inspired by the 1939 and 19647 World’s Fairs, the festival has several notable CCM ties, with CCM Assistant Professor of Drama Brant Russell serving as a producer and director of the festival and Sarah Vargo (BFA, 2014) working as Assistant Director. Todd Almond (BM, 1999) was commissioned to write one of the festival’s new plays. The World’s Fair Play Festival runs through Sunday, July 27, 2014. Read the review here.

CCM Drama alumna Diane Rogers (MFA, 1992) also received accolades this week for the new musical COUPLED. Rogers wrote the music, lyrics and book to COUPLED, which Broadway World deems a “must-see.” The show plays through Aug. 10 at the Jimmy Ferraro Studio Theatre in New Port Richey, Florida. Read the review here.

Earlier this month, Variety published an interview with Musical Theatre alumnus Mickey Fisher (BFA, 1995), whose show Extant is one of the summer’s most highly anticipated television events. Fisher wrote the script and will serve as an executive producer for Extant, a futuristic thriller produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin TV for CBS with Halle Berry starring. Read the feature here.

The Times-Picayue recently profiled CCM faculty members Diane Lala and Robert Pavlovich in a feature on Tulane’s Summer Lyric Theatre production of A Chorus Line. Lala directed and choreographed this critically acclaimed production, which starred Pavlovich as formidable stage director Zach. Fellow CCM faculty member Roger Grodsky provided musical direction. Read the feature here.

CCM alumnus/composer Evan Mack (MM, 2005; DMA, 2008) and CCM alumnus/librettist Joshua McGuire (MM, 2005) are getting attention for their new opera, Roscoe, which received an Opera Saratoga workshop performance earlier in the summer. Last month, the Times Union profiled the opera, which is an adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Kennedy. Read the feature here.

Earlier this summer, CCM Prep’s New Horizons Orchestra was featured in the Wall Street Journal. The Journal reported on the growing popularity of ensembles for older players. Read the feature here.

See who else is making headlines by visiting ccm.uc.edu/about/villagenews/in-the-news.

Become a CCM Insider: Subscribe to THE VILLAGE NEWS

Click here to subscribe to THE VILLAGE NEWS.

What’s the best way to keep up with CCM’s remarkable faculty, students, alumni, friends and benefactors? Subscribe to THE VILLAGE NEWS, CCM’s new electronic newsletter.

• Learn about the CCM student and alumni-led Whiz Kids Music Program, which is making a difference in disadvantaged schools throughout Cincinnati.
• Watch all 75 current Musical Theatre majors perform CCM alumnus Stephen Flaherty’s (BM, 1982) “On the Wings of a Dream” in tribute to UC alumnus and supporter Otto M. Budig Jr.
• Find out where CCM’s latest Fulbright grant-recipient will be studying next year.
• Read what the New York Times had to say about CCM’s string quartet-in-residence, the Ariel Quartet.
• Get to know CCM’s newest faculty members.

Subscribe to THE VILLAGE NEWS and we will deliver these transformational stories to your inbox throughout the year. If you missed our SUMMER 2014 issue, sign up today and we’ll send you a copy!

Have a story of your own? Share it with us today.

And don’t worry: we will continue to provide you with breaking news through the CCM Blog, too!

Find out more about THE VILLAGE NEWS by visiting ccm.uc.edu/villagenews.

CCM Welcomes Cellist, Composer and Educator Mike Block for Master Classes and More Next Week

CCM welcomes Mike Block for two days of learning and creative music-making on April 8 and 9, 2014. Photography by Maria Camillo.

CCM welcomes pioneering multi-style cellist, composer and music educator Mike Block for two days of learning and creative music-making on April 8 and 9.

Hailed by Yo-Yo Ma as the “ideal musician of the 21^st century,” Block studied at the Juilliard School where he joined Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and soon after Mark O’Connor’s Appalachia Waltz Trio, which he played in for over three years.

Block will give a workshop geared toward teaching creativity to string students from 7 – 9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8. High school and collegiate students are also welcome to attend this session.

Beginning at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 9, Block will host master classes and workshops, which will run through 6 p.m. A concert and reception will follow from 7:30 – 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

All events at CCM are free and open to the public and take place in room 300 of the Dieterle Vocal Arts Center in CCM Village, unless otherwise noted.

Area teachers and students are encouraged to sign up for any and all events by emailing Professor BettyAnne Gottlieb at bettyanne.gottlieb@uc.edu. 

CCM Review Round-Up: ‘Les Misérables’ and ‘El Niño’

The critics can’t stop talking about CCM’s productions of Les Misérables and El Niño! Catch up with the latest “buzz” in today’s review round-up!

CCM proudly presents a new production of the iconic musical “Les Misérables,” playing Feb. 27 – March 9, 2014. Photography by Mark Lyons.

• Rick Pender calls CCM’s new production of Les Misérables “magnificent” in his CityBeat review, concluding, “Peeled back to its raw essence, CCM’s staging of Les Misérables is powerful and memorable, one of the best musical theater productions on a Cincinnati stage this season.” Read the full review here.

• Paige Malott reviews the production for iSPYCiNCY and observes, “Capturing the larger-than-life Les Misérables with perfection, CCM put on a better-than-Broadway performance that is guaranteed 2-4-6-0-fun.” Read the full review here.

• In his Talkin’ Broadway review, Scott Cain explains, “Musicals presented at… CCM always feature splendidly talented student performers who rarely disappoint. Their current production, Les Misérables, is no exception and does showcase many stunning voices and meticulously detailed acting.” Read the full review here.

• In his review for The Sappy Critic, Kirk Sheppard suggests, “I’ve seen a lot of shows in Cincinnati over the last couple of years… [and] CCM’s Les Misérables just might be the greatest production I’ve ever seen.” Read the full review here.

• Rafael de Acha reviews the production for Seen and Heard International and writes, “Keeping the entire undertaking tightly reined in and mercifully devoid of any Broadway clichés, [Aubrey] Berg delivers a fresh and finely-wrought production.” Read the full review here.

• Emily Begely reviews Les Misérables for UC’s News Record and concludes, “An exemplary cast, a familiar plot and simple props created an unforgettable work of art.” Read the full review here.

Earl Rivers leads the CCM Philharmonia in a rehearsal for John Adams’ EL NINO. Photography by Lisa Ventre/University of Cincinnati.

• Janelle Gelfand reviews CCM’s “powerful” performance of John Adams’ El Niño for the Cincinnati Enquirer, and observes, “[Earl] Rivers balanced the work’s intimate emotions against powerful ones, propelled tempos well and drew excellent playing from the orchestra.” Read her full review here.

• Mary Ellyn Hutton reviews El Niño for ConcertoNet and writes, “John Adams’ oratorio El Niño had its regional premiere in Cincinnati March 2, and it couldn’t have been in better hands. ” Read the full review here.

Performances of Les Misérables resume this evening (Tuesday, March 4) and run through Sunday, March 9. Learn more by visiting ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/lesmiserables.

CCM Presents Contemporary American Masterpiece ‘El Niño’ in Concert This Sunday, March 2

This Sunday, March 2, CCM’s American Voices Concert Series proudly presents John Adams’ El Niño in concert.

According to the Wall Street Journal this stunning oratorio, “capture[s] the intimacy, mystery and apocalyptic nature of the Nativity story in a thoroughly contemporary idiom, fusing [Adams’] well-known minimalist style with a rich blend of text in English, Spanish, and Latin for an effect ultimately as timeless as the story itself.”

According to the New York Times, “John Adams’ celebration of the Nativity bears so many gifts that the senses stagger under the load.”

The CCM Philharmonia Orchestra, Chamber Choir, Chorale and Cincinnati Children’s Choir proudly present a stirring rendition of Adams’ El Niño at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. CCM welcomes guest artists Michael Maniaci, Eric Jurenas and Steven Rickards for this performance. Tickets are on sale now.