CCM Student Named Central Region Winner of the Met Opera’s National Council Auditions

CCM student Sofia Selowsky.

We are happy to report that mezzo-soprano Sofia Selowsky is the Central Region Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

A Master of Music candidate studying with CCM Professor of Voice William McGraw, Selowsky will compete in the Semi-Final Auditions on March 23, 2014.

You can learn more about the Met’s 2013-2014 National Council Audition Results here.

Earlier this year, Selowsky won the Italo Tajo Memorial Award during CCM’s 2013 Opera Scholarship Competition.

CCM Students, Faculty and Alums Featured in ‘Music For All Seasons’ Concert Series

Cincinnati’s historic Peterloon Estate.

CCM students, faculty and alumni will be among the artists featured in the debut concert series produced by Music for All Seasons at Historic Peterloon.

A celebration of music for the human voice organized by Kimberly Daniel de Acha and Rafael de Acha, all of the concerts in this series will be presented at 3 p.m. on Sundays at Cincinnati’s historic Peterloon Estate.

The concert series will premiere on Oct. 13, with an afternoon of music for voices in solos and duets by Rossini, Bellini, Schubert and Beethoven. Titled “All’Italiana,” the concert features CCM alumni soprano Molly Hanes (MM, 2013) and pianist Valerie Pool (AD, 2013), along with current students mezzo-soprano Sofia Selowsky and guitarist William Willits.

Learn more about this series courtesy of Janelle Gelfand and the Cincinnati Enquirer.

CCM Slideshows: The Magic Flute

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CCM’s acclaimed 2012-13 Mainstage Series comes to a close this week with a colorful new production of Mozart’s beloved comedic singspiel The Magic Flute. This production runs April 4–7 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium.

The Cincinnati Enquirer‘s Janelle Gelfand recently visited CCM to take a behind-the-scenes look at The Magic Flute‘s costumes, wigs and make-up designs. Watch her exclusive video preview here.

CCM’s 2012-13 Mainstage Series Concludes With ‘The Magic Flute’

Jacqueline Echols as Pamina and Yi Li as Tamino in CCM’s ‘The Magic Flute.’ Photography by Mark Lyons.

CCM proudly presents Mozart’s beloved comedic singspiel The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte, 1791) from April 4–7 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. The fourth most frequently performed opera worldwide, this production will be sung in German with English dialogue (with supertitles displayed). Mark Gibson conducts with stage direction by Steven Goldstein.

Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, this beloved opera offers something for everyone: a hero and heroine questing for true love, evil villains, a comical sidekick and a whole range of beastly creatures. According to Goldstein, The Magic Flute is a sort of vaudeville variety show of the 18th century. However, this iteration isn’t all about the slapstick comedy. “My charge to the performers,” Goldstein explains, “is for the comedy to come from somewhere genuine. There is a real play back and forth between light-heartedness and deep morality in Flute and our goal is to find the truth inside of it.”

CCM Students Named Finalists in 2013 Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition

Congratulations to current CCM student Lauren Roesner (BFA Musical Theatre, 2013) and alumna Heather Phillips (BM Voice, MM Voice, 2002-08) on being named finalists in the 2013 Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition! Held annually by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the Lotte Lenya Competition is an international theater singing contest that recognizes talented young singer-actors, ages 19-32, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire, and emphasizes the acting of songs and arias within a dramatic context.

The Kurt Weill Foundation awards special prizes at the finals in addition to the top prizes and we are delighted to report that current CCM students Conor McDonald (MM Voice, 2014), Katie Wesler (BFA Musical Theatre, 2014) and Sofia Selowsky (MM Voice, 2014) were awarded Emerging Talent Awards. Current Artist Diploma candidate Charles Z. Owen (MM, 2012) received the 2013 Grace Keagy Award for Outstanding Vocal Promise.

Congratulations to our two finalists and our four award-winners!

CCM Announces 2013 Opera Scholarship Competition Winners

Five voice students were named winners of CCM’s 2013 Opera Scholarship Competition, which was held Saturday, March 16, in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. The annual competition welcomes current and incoming CCM voice students to compete for scholarships and cash prizes, and a panel of judges composed of opera industry professionals selects each year’s class of prizewinners.

The 2013 CCM Opera Scholarship Competition winners are:

‘Cincinnati Enquirer’ Previews CCM’s March 2 Mahler Marathon

The CCM Philharmonia.

Janelle Gelfand provides an in-depth preview of CCM’s Mahler Marathon for the Cincinnati Enquirer. If you missed the feature in the Enquirer‘s Feb. 24 issue, you can find it online here.

CCM’s Concert Orchestra presents Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G Major, along with selections from his Des knaben Wunderhorn, at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 2.

After a program break for dinner, the CCM Philharmonia will be joined by choirs from throughout the region at 8 p.m. for Mahler’s massive Symphony No. 3 in D Minor.

CCM Presents the Ever-Romantic Opérette ‘Doctor Miracle’ Feb. 15 – 17

Photography by Nikolas Robalino.

CCM proudly presents Le docteur Miracle (Doctor Miracle, 1875) as the next installment in the Opera Department’s award-winning Studio Series. Composed by Georges Bizet with libretto by Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévy, this delightful opérette runs Feb. 15–17 in UC’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Admission to Le docteur Miracle is free, but reservations are required. The opera will be sung in French with English supertitles.

Based on Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play Saint Patrick’s Day, Le docteur Miracle is one of Bizet’s earliest operas, featuring some of his liveliest music. Conducted by Stefano Sarzani with stage direction by Omer Ben-Seadia, Le docteur Miracle is a charming operatic comedy – a love story about two young people who overcome all obstacles in order to live happily ever after. “The opera,” Ben-Seadia explains, “is a derivative of Italian commedia dell’arte, which employs the timeless humor of mistaken identity, costume and masks, along with slapstick physical humor.” The farce revolves around the making of an omelet, thought to be poisonous.