CCM Presents ‘Prism XVI: From Fanfares to Festivities’ on Feb. 27

CCM hosts a musical celebration during the annual Prism Concert!

CCM presents its 16th annual Prism Concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. This perennially popular concert features performances by CCM’s jazz, vocal, brass choir, percussion and wind ensembles.

The Bearcat Bands Drumline, a horn and harp duo, a piano soloist and the CCM Preparatory Department’s Cincinnati Youth Wind Ensemble will also be featured during this concert’s 60 minutes of nonstop music. Glenn D. Price and Terence Milligan conduct.

Keep the chill away by surrounding yourself with warm sounds from various locations in Corbett Auditorium! This year’s theme, “From Fanfares to Festivities,” promises to be exciting from start to finish with iconic music honoring events and celebrations.

CCM Undergraduate Opera Series Presents New Take on Mozart’s ‘The Marriage of Figaro’

CCM Professor of Voice Kenneth Shaw.

CCM’s Opera d’arte Series proudly presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s timeless opera buffa Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) from Feb. 22-24 in UC’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Under the guidance of conductor Brett Scott and stage director Kenneth Shaw, talented undergraduate opera students will present this favorite of the classical opera repertoire with a unique 1960s-inspired aesthetic. Tickets to this production are free and become available at noon on Monday, Feb. 18. Reservations are required.

Mozart wrote this comic opera in Vienna in 1786, basing the work on a play by the French writer Pierre Beaumarchais. “Figaro was the first collaboration between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte,“ Shaw explains, “and for their source material they chose Beaumarchais’ controversial La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro), the second part of a trilogy that began with Le Barbier de Séville (later the basis for the Rossini opera of the same name). Figaro the play was censored in Beaumarchais’ native France over concerns about its ‘subversive’ plot, which depicts the efforts of a Spanish nobleman, Count Almaviva, to seduce Suzanne, a beautiful young servant of his wife, only to be thwarted and humiliated by his wife, the Countess Rosina, working in concert with the Count’s servant, Figaro, who is also Suzanne’s fiancée.”

CCM Spring 2013 Calendar of Major Events – February Updates

Please note the following updates to CCM’s schedule of major events for the spring:

• The Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem will feature soloists Helen Lyons, soprano; Leah de Gruyl, mezzo-soprano; Daniel Weeks, tenor and Andrew Funk, bass.

• The Feb. 19 Faculty Artist Series featuring Steven Goldstein, tenor, has been cancelled.

You can always find the most up-to-date information on CCM’s calendar of events at ccm.uc.edu.

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.

‘Music in Cincinnati’ Reviews CCM’s Cage Centennial Celebration Conclusion

First year MM in Piano Performance student Kristofer Rucinski.

Mary Ellyn Hutton reviews the Nov. 29 conclusion to CCM’s month-long Cage Centennial Celebration for Music in Cincinnati.

Hutton writes: “the signal event of the evening was (Lou) Harrison’s (Piano) Concerto,” performed by first year Master of Music student Kristofer Rucinski.

You can read her full review here.

CCM’s Cage Centennial Celebration Concludes with Philharmonia Concert on Nov. 29

Guest conductor Neal Gittleman leads the CCM Philharmonia on Thursday, Nov. 29. Photography by Andy Snow.

CCM’s month-long Cage Centennial Celebration comes to a close at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 29 with the Philharmonia Orchestra’s annual “American Voices” concert, featuring special guests Percussion Group Cincinnati. CCM welcomes guest conductor Neal Gittleman for this concert.

“American Voices XV – Celebrating John Cage at 100” features Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England, John Cage’s 4’33″, Lou Harrison’s Piano Concerto (with Kris Rucinski, soloist) and John Cage’s Renga, with Music for Three (with Percussion Group Cincinnati).