CCM’s Britten Centenary Celebration Culminates with Birthday Concert on Nov. 22

Britten rehearsing ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ Op. 64, in Jubilee Hall in 1960. Image courtesy of http://www.britten100.org

CCM commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer, conductor and pianist Benjamin Britten with a celebratory concert on Friday, Nov. 22.

Under the baton of Mark Gibson, Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Studies, the CCM Philharmonia will present Britten’s orchestral showpiece The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, narrated by special guest Santa J. Ono, President of the University of Cincinnati.

One of Britten’s best-known pieces, The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34 (1946), is a musical composition that was originally commissioned for an educational  documentary film called Instruments of the Orchestra, directed by Muir Mathieson and featuring the London Symphony. It is one of the three popularly used scores in children’s music education, along with Saint Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.

Audience members may recognize this showpiece from the 2012 Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom. Music drawn from Britten’s opera for children, Noye’s Fludde, and his Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, played an integral role in the movie’s conception and can be heard throughout the film. Watch Anderson discuss Britten’s influence here.

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is not only one of Britten’s most played pieces but — in its original, 1940s film version — was a highly significant attempt to use the media of the day to introduce children to classical music. View a newly animated version of the showpiece below:

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The evening will also feature Britten’s Violin Concerto, Op. 15 (1939), a highly original piece that foreshadows the composer’s work on the famed opera Peter Grimes (1945).

In addition, the program includes Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, the work that brought him to national prominence upon its production by Hans Richter at St. James’ Hall, London, in June of 1899. Like Britten, Elgar holds a place at the helm of his respective generation of British composers.

CCM Video: Watch E-Media Student’s Video From Jan. 28 Cincinnati Pops Concert

As previously reported, last Saturday’s Cincinnati Pops Lollipops Family Concert featured a special video segment directed and produced by CCM senior Kyle Howland.

Today, we are happy to provide you with a look at the final video, which is set to Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite and features Pops conductor John Morris Russell!

E-Media Student’s Video to Accompany Cincinnati Pops Concert

Dean Landgren, CCM senior Kyle Howland and Cincinnati Pops conductor John Morris Russell in E-Media's virtual studio.

The artistry of E-Media senior Kyle Howland will be on display at the 10:30 a.m. Cincinnati Pops Lollipops Family Concert on  Saturday, Jan. 28. Howland’s video will accompany the “Infernal Dance” and “Finale” from Stravinsky’s The Firebird.

‘Turandot’ Kicks Off CCM Orchestras’ Exciting Winter Series of Concerts

Photography by Jing Huan.

CCM’s Orchestral Studies Program begins the New Year in an exciting collaboration with Central Opera, Beijing, the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Music Society, CCM Chamber Choir, Chorale and Cincinnati Children’s Choir in a momentous concert performance of Puccini’s beloved Turandot. The celebration continues with some of the greatest composers of the orchestral repertoire being featured, including a “Stravinsky Festival” with the CCM Chamber Choir and Chorale and a Gustav Mahler commemoration concert. A complete list of CCM Orchestras events for Winter 2011 follows.

For more information on CCM’s orchestral performances or to purchase tickets call the CCM Box Office at 513-556-4183 or visit our website at ccm.uc.edu. Learn more about CCM’s Winter Orchestral Events after the jump!