CCM Announces Partnership with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and World Piano Competition

2012 World Piano Competition Gold Medal Winner Alexander Yakovlev.

Cincinnati’s World Piano Competition, an annual classical piano competition featuring top performers from across the globe since 1956, is undergoing an expansion with two exciting new collaborations and instituting a variety of changes aimed at enhancing the quality of the event and making Cincinnati a truly world-class destination for classical piano performance.

Primary among the changes at the re-imagined competition, already a highly respected event, are partnerships with two of the city’s cultural cornerstones – the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Beginning with the July 2013 competition, finalists in the Artist Division will have the distinct honor of performing with the world-renowned CSO, made up of some of the world’s finest musicians and an ensemble that regularly collaborates with classical music’s premier performing artists. The performances featuring the finalists  will be led by CSO Associate Conductor Robert Treviño. The event will also move to CCM, one of the nation’s top performing and media arts conservatories, where the acclaimed faculty will oversee upgrades to the competition’s jury system.

Learn more about this exciting new partnership in today’s issue of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

University of Cincinnati Passes $1 Billion Fundraising Goal Four Months Early

UC announced that it surpassed the $1 billion goal of its Proudly Cincinnati campaign, the most ambitious fundraising effort in the university’s history. In all, more than 91,000 individual and corporate donors – including alumni, staff, community partners, corporations, foundations and friends of the university – helped UC reach the $1 billion mark four months ahead of the campaign’s June 2013 deadline.

This achievement places UC among one percent of all U.S. colleges and universities to have ever raised $1 billion.

“Raising $1 billion is a truly remarkable achievement, and we should take a moment to reflect and celebrate and, above all, to thank those who have supported us so generously,” said UC President Santa J. Ono, PhD. “The key to this fundraising success, though, is not simply that we raised the money but the impact it will have on everything from experiential learning to opportunities to study abroad.”

Cincinnati Enquirer’s Winter Arts Guide Highlights Upcoming Performances at CCM

The Cincinnati Enquirer published its Winter Arts Guide over the weekend, and the compendium was absolutely filled with upcoming CCM happenings!

Janelle Gelfand highlighted CCM’s movie music-themed concert (featuring Hollywood film composer and distinguished UC alumnus Randy Edelman) on Jan. 27, our celebration of Giuseppe Verdi’s 200th birthday (with two performances of his stunning Requiem setting) on Feb. 1 and 2, the CCM Philharmonia’s participation in the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Music Society‘s annual Chinese New Year Concert on Feb. 16, CCM Opera d’arte’s free presentation of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro Feb. 22 – 24 and our monumental Mahler Marathon on March 2!

• You can view the entire guide to upcoming musical events here.