CCM presents Handel’s ‘Partenope’ on Feb. 20-23

The CCMONSTAGE Opera Series presents this witty romantic comedy from Feb. 20 through 23, 2020. Tickets available online.

CCM opera and voice students sing their way through mistaken identities and declarations of love and war in Partenope, with music by George Frideric Handel and libretto by Silvio Stampiglia. The opera, approaching its 300-year anniversary, tells the story of four rival suitors vying for the hand of Queen Partenope of Naples. Performances run from Thursday, Feb. 20 through Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020, at CCM’s Cohen Family Studio Theater.

Greg Eldridge directs this production and CCM master’s student Caleb Glickman conducts. The story centers on Queen Partenope and her surplus of potential husbands: the handsome Prince Arsace, the shy Prince Armindo, the volatile Prince Emilio and Eurimene, who is actually Arsace’s ex-fiancée Rosmira in disguise. Who will win the Queen’s heart? In his director’s note, Eldridge says audience members will be able to see glimpses of themselves in each of the characters in the opera.

“It is Handel’s ability to write music that at once humanizes his protagonists while underscoring their majestic or mythological natures that makes his work such a delight for directors, performers and audiences alike,” says Eldridge. “It is this relationship between characters, their emotions and each other that we seek to explore in this production.”

Partenope is Handel’s first comic opera; completed just two weeks before its premiere in 1730, it was such a departure from Handel’s successful opera seria works that the Royal Academy of Music rejected the opera. However, the public disagreed, and it had a successful seven-performance run during the premiere production, with revivals following in the next decade. After a lull in performances of over two centuries, it was premiered in the United States in 1988.

The 2019-20 CCMONSTAGE Opera Series presents Partenope on Feb. 20-23, 2020, in CCM’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Tickets are on sale now through the CCM Box Office; student discounts are available.

Creative Team

• Greg Elridge, director
• Caleb Glickman*, conductor
• Marie-France Lefebvre and Kathleen Kelly, preparing coaches
• Nia Burns*, production stage manager
• Mark Halpin, scenic designer
• Kelly C. Howland*, lighting designer
• Hakura Iihoshi*, sound designer

* CCM Student

Cast List

• Claire Lopatka as Partenope
• Nicholas Kelliher as Arsace
• Grace Kiver as Armindo
• Tyler Johnson as Emilio
• Christina Hazen as Rosmira/Eurimene
• Justin Burgess as Ormonte

Performance Times

• 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20
• 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21
• 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23

Location

Cohen Family Studio Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets

Single tickets prices start at $23.50; Student discounts and group rates are also available.

Learn about additional ticket options for current CCM students.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online now through our e-box office.

Directions and Parking

CCM is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions for detailed driving directions to CCM Village.

Parking is available in UC’s 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.

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CCMONSTAGE Production Sponsor: Macy’s and Dr. & Mrs. Carl G. Fischer

Opera Production Sponsor: Genevieve Smith

Story by CCM Graduate Student Alexandra Doyle

CCM Wind Symphony presents ‘Pops in Space’ concert on Feb. 21

Journey to the galaxy with an evening of celestial works, including John Williams’ ‘Star Wars Suite.’ Tickets available online.

The CCM Wind Symphony performs the music of the cosmos in its “Pops in Space” concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb 21, 2020 in Corbett Auditorium. The concert features a mix of classic and contemporary space-inspired works by composers including Eric Whitacre, J.S. Bach, Gustov Holst and John Williams.

The Cincinnati Youth Wind Ensemble, led by Ann Porter, opens the performance with Joseph Wilcox Jenkins’ American Overture and Derek Jenkins’ We Seven, the title of which comes from a book by the same name written by the United States’ first astronauts.

The CCM Wind Symphony then takes the stage to present Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, led by conductor-in-residence Fangfang Li. The journey through outer space continues with Eric Whitacre’s Deep Field, featuring images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Audience members can enjoy both the sights and sounds of the galaxy during the concert by downloading the free Deep Field App from the App Store or Google Play Store. CCM Wind Symphony music director Kevin Michael Holzman will cue the audience to activate the app.

After a brief intermission, the performance resumes with Holst’s “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” from The Planets. Known for its swelling brass and slow waltzing strings, the piece is led by Fangfang Li.

The performance’s epic finale features the Star Wars Suite by John Williams. The music behind the beloved media franchise invokes feelings of nostalgia with pieces including the “Star Wars Main Title,” “Imperial March,” “Princess Leia’s Theme” and more.

This concert is presented as part of the 2019-20 CCMONSTAGE Winds Series. Visit ccmonstage.universitytickets.com for a complete listing of upcoming ticketed performances. Save up to 10 percent off of single ticket prices by purchasing six or more tickets with a Concert Flex Package.

Repertoire

STAR WARS: POPS IN SPACE
CCM Wind Symphony
Kevin Michael Holzman, music director and conductor
Cincinnati Youth Wind Ensemble (CYWE)
Ann Porter, music director and conductor
Featuring conductor-in-residence Fangfang Li

J. JENKINS: American Overture
D. JENKINS: We Seven
BACH: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
WHITACRE: Deep Field, featuring images from NASA
HOLST: Selections from The Planets
WILLIAMS: Star Wars Suite

Performance Time

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, 2020

Location

Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets

Single ticket prices start at $19.50 each; student and group discounts available. Pricing is inclusive of all fees. All performances are reserved seating.

Tickets can be purchased online though our e-box office, over the phone at 513-556-4183 or in person at the CCM Box Office in the Atrium of UC’s Corbett Center for the Performing Arts.

Learn about additional ticket options for current CCM students.

Directions and Parking

CCM is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions for detailed driving directions to CCM Village.

Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the end of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit the UC Parking Services website for information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors.

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Story by CCM Graduate Student Kelly Barefield

A preeminent institution for the performing and media arts, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is the largest single source of performing arts presentations in the state of Ohio. All event dates and programs are subject to change. For a complete calendar of events, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.

First Look: CCMONSTAGE ‘Clybourne Park’

CCMONSTAGE Play Series presents Bruce Norris’ provocative comedy inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” through Feb. 16, 2020. Tickets are on sale now.

Bruce Norris’ award-winning play, Clybourne Park continues at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music tonight, Feb. 14, through Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020, as part of the CCMONSTAGE Play Series. Acting Professor Richard Hess, director of the production, recently discussed how he and students have prepared for the play with Cincinnati arts reporter Rick Pender on WVXU’s “Around Cincinnati” program.

“When choosing titles at CCM I try to pick exciting pieces that have something to say about the world today, and Clybourne Park might be yelling more loudly in 2020 than even when it was first written,” Hess says in the interview. Listen to the full interview on WVXU.

Get a sneak peek at the production in the slideshow below. Photos by Mark Lyons.

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Now in its 10th anniversary year, Clybourne Park examines how Americans talk — or don’t talk — about race, class and real estate. It was written by Norris as a modernized response to Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, focusing on the home Hansberry’s protagonists were set to move into at the end of her seminal drama. Clybourne Park begins in 1959, as a grieving white family prepares to sell their home to an African-American family, causing anxiety in their middle-class Chicago neighborhood.

The second act takes place 50 years later, as a white family purchases the same home in the now predominantly African-American neighborhood, and makes plans to raze and rebuild the dwelling. Tensions rise in each act as the characters debate over the past, present and future of the home. This production contains strong language.

The 2019-20 CCMONSTAGE Play Series presents Clybourne Park through Feb. 16, 2020, at Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now through the CCM Box Office; student discounts are available.

Creative Team

• Richard Hess, director
• Will Graham*, production stage manager
• Mark Halpin, scenic designer
• Nina Agelvis*, lighting designer
• Joanne West*, costume designer
• Jerome Horng*, wig and make-up designer
• Ryan Hurt*, sound designer
• Sammi Grant, dialect and vocal coach

* CCM Student

Cast List

• Matt Fox as Russ Stoller
• Abby Palen as Bev Stoller
• Paige Jordan as Francine
• Charles Gidney as Albert
• Dustin Parsons as Jim
• Duncan Weinland as Karl
• Julianna Weis-Palacios as Betsy
• Lucas Prizant as Steve Driscoll
• Madison Pullman as Lindsey Driscoll
• Carlee Coulehan as Kathy
• Neuma Joy as Lena
• Trey Peterson as Kevin
• AJ Civello as Tom
• Gabe Nasato as Dan
• Austin James Cleri as Kenneth

Performance Times

• 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12 (preview)
• 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13
• 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14
• 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16

Location

Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets

Single tickets prices start at $32.50; preview performance ticket prices start at $15.50. Student discounts and group rates are also available.

Learn about additional ticket options for current CCM students.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online now through our e-box office.

Directions and Parking

CCM is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions for detailed driving directions to CCM Village.

Parking is available in UC’s 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.

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CCMONSTAGE Production Sponsor: Macy’s

A preeminent institution for the performing and media arts, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is the largest single source of performing arts presentations in the state of Ohio. All event dates and programs are subject to change. For a complete calendar of events, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.

Review: CSO Presents ‘Spellbinding’ Concert with CCM Student Singers

CCM student singers joined the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in concert at Music Hall this past weekend. Next weekend, the CSO’s Louis Langrée comes to campus to conduct the CCM Philharmonia in a program of French works!

CCM boasts a top-notch opera and vocal performance program, and these students shone in the spotlight at Music Hall this past weekend. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra featured 10 CCM student soloists and the CCM Chamber Choir, led by Earl Rivers, in its performances of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges, or “The Child and the Sorceries,” on Feb. 7-8, 2020.

In her review of the concert for the Cincinnati Business Courier, Janelle Gelfand described the entire staged production as “a spellbinding feat that blended a cast of terrific young singers with whimsical animations.”

“It was a stroke of genius to employ opera singers from the Opera Department of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, who added youthfulness as well as vibrant voices to the wondrous score,” wrote Gelfand.

The performance featured Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in the title role. CCM students who performed as soloists are Yewon Yoon, coloratura; Raven McMillon, coloratura; Anyeé Farrar, coloratura; Elana Bell, mezzo-soprano; Joyner Horn, mezzo-soprano; Georgia Jacobson, mezzo-soprano; Brenda Iglesias Zarco, mezzo soprano; Victor Cardamone, tenor; Ryan Wolfe, bass, and Antonio Cruz, baritone.

This weekend, the onstage partnership between CCM and the CSO continues. On Saturday, Feb. 15, the CSO’s Music Director Louis Langrée will join the CCM Philharmonia in Corbett Auditorium for a concert of symphonic favorites, including Debussy’s Prélude à L’après-midi d’un faune and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Kara Huber, a CCM doctoral candidate and Grammy-nominated pianist, will perform as the soloist on Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Tickets are available through the CCM Box Office.

CCM and the CSO have long worked together on various projects; many of the musicians of the CSO are on faculty at CCM, and CCM alumni often find employment with the symphony as musicians or administrators. One significant development in this symbiotic relationship is the CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship, a program generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that provides an unparalleled two-year learning experience for graduate-level violin, viola, violoncello and double bass players coming from populations that are historically underrepresented in classical music. These students perform alongside the CSO for five weeks of the performance season and receive several stipends from the CCM and the CSO.

More information on the CCM Philharmonia’s Saturday, Feb. 15, concert with Louis Langrée is available online and in the event information below.

Repertoire

CCM Philharmonia
Mark Gibson, music director
Louis Langrée, conductor
DEBUSSY: Prélude à L’après-midi d’un faune
RAVEL: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major, featuring Grammy-nominated CCM doctoral student Kara Huber
BERLIOZ: Symphonie Fantastique

Performance Time

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15

Location

Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati 

Purchasing Tickets

Single tickets prices start at $29.50; Student discounts and group rates are also available.

Learn about additional ticket options for current CCM students.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online now through our e-box office.

Directions and Parking

CCM is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions for detailed driving directions to CCM Village.

Parking is available in UC’s 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.

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 Story by CCM Graduate Student Alexandra Doyle

Orchestral Sponsor: Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Hirschhorn

CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship Sponsor: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

A preeminent institution for the performing and media arts, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is the largest single source of performing arts presentations in the state of Ohio. All event dates and programs are subject to change. For a complete calendar of events, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.

CCM Opera d’arte Presents Monteverdi’s ‘L’Orfeo’

CCM Opera d’arte presents Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, opening on Thursday, Feb. 6 with additional performances on Saturday, Feb. 8 and Sunday, Feb. 9. Tickets available online.

CCM showcases its undergraduate opera singers with an Opera d’arte production of L’Orfeo, opening at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6 in the Cohen Family Studio Theater. L’Orfeo centers the Greek myth of the tragically-doomed musician, Orpheus, with music by Claudio Monteverdi and a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. Amy Johnson directs and co-produces the opera alongside Kenneth Shaw, with Brett Scott serving as music director and conductor.

L’Orfeo, premiered in 1607, bridges the musical divide between the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. It is the oldest opera that is still regularly performed to this day. CCM’s production embraces the aesthetic of 1969’s iconic music festival, Woodstock. With the ideas of the Age of Aquarius, flower children, free love, social justice and peace in mind, the opera celebrates the 50th anniversary of the colorful and hopeful music festival.

The story opens on Orpheus and Eurydice’s wedding day, but their joy is cut short when Eurydice is fatally bitten by a venomous snake. Orpheus follows after her to Hades, where he vows to win her back or die trying. The queen of the underworld is moved by Orpheus’ song of woe and appeals to her husband to give Orpheus and Eurydice another chance at love and life. If he is to return her to the land of the living, Orpheus must combat his own doubts, or else he will lose his beloved forever.

L’Orfeo opens on Thursday, Feb. 6 with additional performances on Saturday, Feb. 8 and Sunday, Feb. 9 in CCM’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve.

Cast List

• Logan Wagner and Andrew Cunningham as Orfeo
• Claudia Neff as La Musica
• Melody Spencer as Eurydice
• Alea Vernon as Nifa/Ensemble
• Breanna Flores as Proserpina/Ensemble
• Storm Hargrave and Sarah Scofield as Messaggiera (Sylvia)
• Clara Reeves as Speranza
• Briana Drew as Spirit 3/Ensemble
• Katie Riederer as Spirit 2/Ensemble
• Victoria Popritin as Spirit 1/Ensemble
• Sam Dhobhany as Plutone/Ensemble
• Josh Klein as Caronte/Ensemble
• Matthew Goodheart as Apollo/Pastore II/Ensemble
• Reed Demangone as Eco/Pastore I/Ensemble
• Grant Peck as Pastore III/Ensemble
• Henry Lunn as Pastore IV/Ensemble

Performance Times

• 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6
• 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9

Location

Cohen Family Studio Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Tickets

Prices start at $10. Please visit the CCM Box Office website or call 513-556-4183 to reserve.

Learn about additional ticket options for current CCM students.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online now through our e-box office.

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 information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the 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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Opera d’arte Sponsor: the Rafael and Kimberly Daniel de Acha Foundation

Story by CCM graduate student Alexandra Doyle

Provocative Comedy ‘Clybourne Park’ Continues CCM’s 2019-20 Play Series

CCMONSTAGE Play Series presents Bruce Norris’ racially-charged play inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” on Feb. 12-16, 2020. Tickets are on sale now.

CCM continues its new CCMONSTAGE Play Series with Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, running Feb. 13-16, 2020, with a preview performance on Wednesday, Feb. 12. Dubbed “vital,” “sharp-witted” and “ferociously smart” by the New York Times, Clybourne Park imagines events in a typical American neighborhood and reveals that underneath a family home, racial fault lines run deep and wide.

Winner of a Pulitzer Prize, Olivier Award and Tony Award, Clybourne Park examines how Americans talk — or don’t talk — about race, class and real estate. It was written by Norris as a modernized response to Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, focusing on the home Hansberry’s protagonists were set to move into at the end of her seminal drama. Clybourne Park begins in 1959, as a grieving white family prepares to sell their home to an African-American family, causing anxiety in their middle-class Chicago neighborhood.

The second act takes place 50 years later, as a white family purchases the same home in the now predominantly African-American neighborhood, and makes plans to raze and rebuild the dwelling. Tensions rise in each act as the characters debate over the past, present and future of the home. This production contains strong language.

“Racial fault lines in America run deep and we have a duty to examine them closely if we hope to change,” says CCM Acting Professor Richard Hess, director of Clybourne Park. “The students in the CCM Acting Department are not afraid to step into dangerous territory as artists. The path forged by Lorraine Hansberry must be explored if we hope to honor the struggle for equality that demands our attention.”

“Clybourne Park is whip smart and it sizzles and cracks with biting insight,” Hess adds. “You will gasp, you will laugh and you will understand better that the more things change in America, the more they stay the same.”

The 2019-20 CCMONSTAGE Play Series presents Clybourne Park on Feb. 12 (preview)-16, 2020, at Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now through the CCM Box Office; student discounts are available.

Creative Team

• Richard Hess, director
• Will Graham*, production stage manager
• Mark Halpin, scenic designer
• Nina Agelvis*, lighting designer
• Joanne West*, costume designer
• Jerome Horng*, wig and make-up designer
• Ryan Hurt*, sound designer
• Sammi Grant, dialect and vocal coach

* CCM Student

Cast List

• Matt Fox as Russ Stoller
• Abby Palen as Bev Stoller
• Paige Jordan as Francie
• Charles Gidney as Albert
• Dustin Parsons as Jim
• Duncan Weinland as Karl
• Julianna Weis-Palacios as Betsy
• Lucas Prizant as Steve Driscoll
• Madison Pullman as Lindsey Driscoll
• Carlee Coulehan as Kathy
• Neuma Joy as Lena
• Trey Peterson as Kevin
• AJ Civello as Tom
• Gabe Nasato as Dan
• Austin James Cleri as Kenneth

Performance Times

• 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12 (preview)
• 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13
• 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14
• 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16

Location

Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets

Single tickets prices start at $32.50; preview performance ticket prices start at $15.50. Student discounts and group rates are also available.

Learn about additional ticket options for current CCM students.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online now through our e-box office.

Directions and Parking

CCM is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions for detailed driving directions to CCM Village.

Parking is available in UC’s 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.

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CCMONSTAGE Production Sponsor: Macy’s

A preeminent institution for the performing and media arts, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is the largest single source of performing arts presentations in the state of Ohio. All event dates and programs are subject to change. For a complete calendar of events, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.

‘From the Top’ Names New Co-hosts with CCM Connection

Two CCM-affiliated musicians will join the team of NPR’s popular classical music program From the Top as co-hosts and creatives. Congrats to violinists Tessa Lark and Charles Yang, who both took lessons with CCM Professor of Violin Kurt Sassmannshaus!

Lark from Richmond, Kentucky, participated in Sassmannshaus’ Starling Preparatory String Project at CCM. Since then, Lark has attended the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School. She has been awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Lark was the winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition and the silver medalist at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.

Yang also studied violin with Sassmannshaus. Yang was the recipient of the 2018 Leonard Bernstein Award and is a member of the crossover string band Time for Three. Yang also attended Juilliard, and has performed as a soloist with orchestras and in concert in the U.S., Europe, Brazil, Russia, China and Taiwan.

Lark and Yang were previously featured in From the Top’s show 286, which was recorded in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium in April 2014. The episode featured a performance by the Starling Chamber Orchestra and young musicians from the Starling Preparatory String project along with “The Starling/From the Top Alumni Trio,” comprised of Lark, Yang and Jonathan Miron.

The hiring of Lark and Yang is part of larger changes at From the Top. Pianist Peter Dugan has been named the new permanent host of the program, starting with the 2020-21 season. Violinist Vijay Gupta and clarinetist Alex Laing join Lark and Yang as co-hosts, and pianist Orli Shaham will solo guest host.

All will interview and collaborate with the From the Top young musicians and will serve as mentors to the From the Top musicians. They will also be actively involved in leadership training, community engagement and career development programs. As strategic and collaborative partners, their insight and experience will help to inform future development of From the Top.

For the past 20 years, From the Top has featured performances and stories of young classically-trained musicians, and continues to provide a national platform that showcases and supports the next generation of emerging classical artists, from live concert tapings to leadership training and community engagement programs.

About From the Top

From the Top is an independent non-profit organization that supports, develops, and shares the artistic voices and stories of young classically-trained musicians. Through its primary platform, a weekly one-hour NPR radio broadcast, and nationally-recognized arts leadership programs, From the Top amplifies the hope, passio, and discipline of today’s extraordinary young musicians.

From the Top provides young musicians with live performance opportunities in premier concert venues across the country, national exposure to nearly half a million listeners on its weekly NPR show, leadership and community engagement preparation and more than $3 million in scholarships since 2005.

From the Top’s programs are made possible in part by an award from the National Endowment of the Arts, a grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, generous contributions from individuals and institutions and partnerships with radio stations nationwide.

About the Starling Preparatory String Project

Founded in 1987 by CCM Professor Kurt Sassmannshaus, the Starling Preparatory String Project is a specialized honors program training young string students. The program is generously funded through a grant by the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation. The superbly talented musicians perform as the Starling Chamber Orchestra and are selected by audition.

Students receive one hourly lesson per week, and take music theory, chamber music and orchestra each Saturday. Instructors include CCM faculty and graduate students specially trained and chosen by Professor Sassmannshaus. Most of the students are from the greater Cincinnati area, and many others commute on Saturdays from other states. SCO has a concert series at Robert J. Werner Recital Hall at CCM and tours regularly. For more information on the Starling Preparatory String Project, visit www.starling.org.

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Story by CCM Graduate Student Alexandra Doyle