Alumni Showcase Spotlight: Violinist Yang Liu

CCM highlights alumni guest artists who will return to campus for the Sesquicentennial Alumni Showcase in a series of alumni spotlight stories.

Violinist Yang Liu (AD Violin, 2014) visits CCM on April 21 to perform in the college’s Sesquicentennial Alumni Showcase! An internationally acclaimed musician, Liu will play Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor at the concert.

Yang Liu.

Liu combines outstanding technical command and sublime musicality in performances that have earned him numerous accolades in Asia, the United States and Europe. He is a former prize winner of the Twelfth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and a first prize winner of China’s National Violin Competition.

Dubbed “the best of the billion” by Beijing Tonight, Liu’s repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary works. He plays a Guarneri violin made in 1741 on a generous loan from Stradivari Society and Bein and Fushi Rare Violins.

Liu made his North American debut with the Atlanta Symphony orchestra, earning three nights of standing ovations for his performance of Paganini’s First Violin Concerto. This success was followed by performances with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Spano, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Hagen Symphony Orchestra in Germany and Odense Symphony Orchestra in Denmark.

During a highly successful tour throughout China under Maestro Christoph Eberle, Liu was a soloist in a concerto by Carl Nielsen, which was praised by Chinese media as “an absolutely sensational performance, which touched the deepest spot of our hearts… Such a musician has been rarely heard for the past ten years…”

His recent engagements include concerto performances with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota in Colombia performing Barber’s Violin Concerto under Maestro Amadio. He also completed a five-city tour in China performing the Butterfly Concerto with Qingdao Symphony Orchestra, as part of the China-U.S. cultural exchange initiated by former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and Minister of Culture of China Luo Shugang.

Orchestras repeatedly engage Liu for his appealing musicality and persona. He has performed multiple times with Ospa State Orchestra in Brazil, Qingdao Symphony Orchestra in China, East Oregon Symphony Orchestra and Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra in the US.

A highly sought after guest artist and teacher, he performed and taught for many years in Aspen Music Festival, Oficina Music Festival and Sesc Music Festival in Brazil, and the Great Wall Music Festival in China. Liu’s earlier concert highlights include his solo appearances at the Algave International Music Festival in Portugal, the prestigious Sala Sao Paulo in Brazil, the Aspen Music Festival and the Ravinia Festival.

As one of the most successful international performing artists of Chinese origin, Liu was honored to be chosen to be filmed for a documentary called String of heart–Yang Liu, which features Liu’s artistic life. This production was aired throughout China in February 2011.

His debut recording, Song of Nostalgia, was released to critical acclaim. The CD represents his broad interest in music, including some of the most difficult repertoire written for violin and traditional Chinese music. This recording, along with many of his live performances, is frequently heard on National Public Radio.

Born in Tsingtao, China, Liu made his concert debut at age 10 performing Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen with the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. He also performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in a nationally televised live concert with the Central Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing, which drew attention of the renowned violin pedagogue, Yao-Ji Lin. He began to study with Lin at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and soon afterward, began to concertize as a soloist internationally.

In pursuit of further musical development, Liu moved to the U.S. and continued his studies with Kurt Sassmannshaus and Dorothy DeLay at CCM. During his student years, he was a frequent soloist at the Aspen Music Festival and with the Cincinnati-based Starling Chamber Orchestra, with which he toured China twice. He also was a featured performer in Starling’s Emmy Award-winning educational video. Classical Quest concert tours have led him to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, Denmark, France, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, Greece, China, Egypt and America.

Learn more about the Sesquicentennial Alumni Showcase concert and view a complete list of guest artists at ccm.uc.edu/about/villagenews/save-the-date/sesquicentennial-alumni-showcase.
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SESQUICENTENNIAL ALUMNI SHOWCASE CONCERT

REPERTOIRE
STRAUSS: Overture to Die Fledermaus (1874); featuring the CCM Philharmonia led by Christopher Allen
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 82 “Emperor” (1811); featuring Anton Nel, piano
SAINT-SAENS: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 61; featuring Yang Liu, violin
WAGNER: “Mild und leise,” from Tristan und Isolde (1859); featuring Tamara Wilson, soprano
-Intermission-
Work for saxophone and jazz combo; featuring Janelle Reichman, saxophone
ROSSINI: “Cruda sorte,” from L’Italiana in Algeri (1813); featuring Helene Schneiderman, mezzo-soprano
SCHUMANN: Konzertstück for Four Horns, Op. 83 (1849); featuring Allene Hackleman, Julie Beckel Yager, Nathaniel Willson, Jennifer Paul, soloists
Musical Theatre numbers; featuring Betsy Wolfe, vocalist, with Roger Grodsky, conductor
STRAUSS: Champagne Song from Die Fledermaus

PERFORMANCE TIME
8 p.m. Saturday, April 21

Please note: UC’s Nippert Stadium will also host an FC Cincinnati game at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, 2018. The full FC Cincinnati Soccer game schedule can be found at www.fccincinnati.com/2018-schedule.

LOCATION
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

PURCHASING TICKETS
Tickets for CCM’s Sesquicentennial Alumni Showcase Concert are $20 general, $15 non-UC students, and FREE for UC students with a valid ID.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online through our e-Box Office! Visit ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice for CCM Box Office hours and location.

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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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

CCM Presents a Concert 150 Years in the Making with Sesquicentennial Alumni Showcase

Audiences have the rare opportunity to see an eclectic group of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) alumni perform with current students for one night only on Saturday, April 21, in the newly renovated Corbett Auditorium. A concert 150 years in the making, the Sesquicentennial Alumni Showcase marks the culmination of CCM’s yearlong anniversary celebration!

The CCM Philharmonia student orchestra will be joined by nearly a dozen remarkable alumni for a program set to include Strauss’ Overture to Die Fledermaus, Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3, Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns and much more. CCM faculty members Mark Gibson and Roger Grodsky conduct.

Alumni guest artists include a Solti Conducting Award-winner, a Naumburg gold medalist, a Tchaikovsky Competition Prize-winner, stars from the Metropolitan Opera and Broadway, military band members and more, all of whom studied at CCM before taking distinguished positions on the world’s stage. A full list of alumni guest artists can be found below.

In addition to this once-in-a-lifetime concert event, CCM and the UC Alumni Association will host an Alumni Weekend where graduates can reconnect with classmates and faculty. CCM’s 150^th Anniversary Alumni Weekend begins with a Welcome Happy Hour at the Ladder 19 Bar and Restaurant in the Short Vine district on Friday, April 20, and continues with a wide range of activities on Saturday, April 21, including tours of CCM’s newly renovated facilities and a Keynote Luncheon scheduled to feature Tim Cynova, Larry Hamby and Jack Rouse, moderated by CCM Professor of E-Media Hagit Limor. Full Alumni Weekend details are available online at alumni.uc.edu/ccm/alumniweekend.

Tickets for CCM’s Sesquicentennial Alumni Showcase Concert are on sale now through the CCM Box Office. Complete event information is below.
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ALUMNI SHOWCASE GUEST ARTISTS
Listed in Order of Appearance

Christopher Allen (MM Orchestral Conducting, 2011), recipient of last year’s $30,000 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award — the largest grant awarded to young American conductors in the United States. He has been featured in Opera News magazine as “one of the fastest rising podium stars in North America.”

Anton Nel (MM Piano, 1984), first prize winner in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall. The classical pianist is an acclaimed Beethoven interpreter and has enjoyed a multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia and South Africa.

Yang Liu (AD Violin, 2014), former prize winner of the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and first prize winner of China’s National Violin Competition. He has appeared internationally at major festivals and venues such as the Kennedy Center, Oficina Music Festival in Brazil, Algarve Music Festival in Portugal and throughout China.

Tamara Wilson (BM Voice, 2004), acclaimed soprano who has received multiple honors, including the 2016 Richard Tucker Award. Wilson was a finalist in the 2004 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and she made her much-anticipated Metropolitan Opera debut in December 2014 in the title role of Aida; the New York Times praised the “laserlike authority of her high notes.”

Janelle Reichman (BM Jazz Saxophone, 2005), a clarinetist and saxophonist whose rich tone and creative melodies landed her a spot in the International Association for Jazz Education Sisters-in-Jazz Quintet. She has performed with musical greats such as Doc Severinsen, Les Paul, Ann Hampton Callaway, Sherrie Maricle and DIVA, Dave Liebman, Donny McCaslin and many others.

Helene Schneiderman (MM Voice, 1979; AD Opera, 1981), an award-winning mezzo-soprano who made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2017 as Annina in Der Rosenkavalier. She has been a company member in Germany’s Stuttgart State Theatre since 1984 and made her Royal Opera House debut in 1995 as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro. In 2018, she will play the role of Madame Larina in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Eugene Onegin.

Allene Hackleman (BM Horn Performance, 2002), principal horn of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Hackleman is a member of the Canadian National Brass Project, a large ensemble made up of some of the finest brass players in the country.

Julie Beckel Yager (Horn Performance, att. 2004), horn player with the Indianapolis Symphony and Ronen Chamber Ensemble. She was previously a member of the Honolulu Symphony and has also performed for three summers with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, touring throughout Europe, Asia and South America.

Nathaniel Willson (MM Horn Performance, 2005), joined the U.S. Navy Band as a French Hornist in 2014, after serving more than four years with the U.S. Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to joining the Navy, he was a member of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and the Sarasota Orchestra.

Jennifer Paul (MM Horn Performance, 2003), a member of “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band since 2004 and assistant section leader since 2016. Prior to joining the U.S. Marine Band, she served as a teaching assistant for CCM’s horn studio from 2001-03 and was a freelance musician in Philadelphia.

Betsy Wolfe (BFA Musical Theatre, 2004), a Broadway star who has appeared in Waitress, 110 in the Shade, Everyday Rapture, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Bullets Over Broadway and Falsettos. She has also soloed with the Cincinnati Pops, New York Pops, New York City Ballet and more. Wolfe was the recipient of CCM’s Musical Theatre Young Alumni Award in 2017.
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SESQUICENTENNIAL ALUMNI SHOWCASE CONCERT

REPERTOIRE
STRAUSS: Overture to Die Fledermaus (1874); featuring the CCM Philharmonia led by Christopher Allen
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 82 “Emperor” (Movement 1) (1811); featuring Anton Nel, piano
WALLER: Ain’t Misbehavin’; featuring Janelle Reichman, saxophone
WARREN: There Will Never Be Another You; featuring Janelle Reichman, saxophone
WAGNER: “Mild und leise,” from Tristan und Isolde (1859); featuring Tamara Wilson, soprano
-Intermission-
ROSSINI: “Cruda sorte,” from L’Italiana in Algeri (1813); featuring Helene Schneiderman, mezzo-soprano
SCHUMANN: Konzertstück for Four Horns, Op. 86 (1849); featuring Allene Hackleman, Julie Beckel Yager, Nathaniel Willson, Jennifer Paul, soloists
BROWN: “A Summer in Ohio,” from The Last Five Years; featuring Betsy Wolfe, vocalist, with Roger Grodsky, conductor
BAREILLES: “She Used to Be Mine,” from Waitress; featuring Betsy Wolfe, vocalist, with Roger Grodsky, conductor
SCHWARTZ: “Meadowlark,” from The Baker’s Wife; featuring Betsy Wolfe, vocalist, with Roger Grodsky, conductor
SAINT-SAENS: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 61 (Movement 3); featuring Yang Liu, violin
STRAUSS: Champagne Song from Die Fledermaus; featuring Tamara Wilson, soprano, and Helene Schneiderman, mezzo-soprano

PERFORMANCE TIME
8 p.m. Saturday, April 21

Please note: UC’s Nippert Stadium will also host an FC Cincinnati game at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, 2018. The full FC Cincinnati Soccer game schedule can be found at www.fccincinnati.com/2018-schedule.

LOCATION
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

PURCHASING TICKETS
Tickets for CCM’s Sesquicentennial Alumni Showcase Concert are $20 general, $15 non-UC students, and FREE for UC students with a valid ID.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online through our e-Box Office! Visit ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice for CCM Box Office hours and location.

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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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Annunziata Tomaro Returns to the CCM Podium

Annunziata Tomaro and the Concert Orchestra at CCM’s 2012 Moveable Feast. Photography by Dottie Stover.

CCM welcomes Assistant Professor of Conducting Annunziata Tomaro back to the podium for a celebratory concert beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, in Corbett Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now.

After a year and a half hiatus, Tomaro makes her homecoming debut conducting CCM’s acclaimed Concert Orchestra in an unforgettable evening of music, with works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Édouard Lalo, featuring the winner of the CCM Cello Concerto Competition, Yang Liu. “It’s wonderful being with the students again,” Tomaro says. “They are playing their hearts out in this music!”

The opening piece of the program will be Modest Mussorgsky’s introduction to his opera Khovanshchina. Audience members will also be delighted to hear Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique,” his final completed symphony (Opp. 75–80 were published after Tchaikovsky’s death).

And lastly, audience members will be treated to Édouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D Minor, featuring  Cello Concerto Competition winner Yang Liu, a student of CCM Professor of Violoncello Yehuda Hanani. Lalo wrote his Cello Concerto in D minor in 1876, in collaboration with Parisian cellist Adolphe Fischer. The work was premiered the following year at the Cirque d’Hiver with Fischer as soloist.

CCM and Constella Festival Present Bach’s ‘St. John Passion’ This Sunday

The Cincinnati Enquirer has named CCM’s Sunday, Nov. 3, staging of J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion as its “top pick for the weekend!”

According to the preview, “it should be one of the most moving events of the entire fall season.” Tickets are still available for this unique staged performance at Cincinnati’s Christ Church Cathedral.

Learn more about CCM’s production of this cherished Baroque masterwork here.

CCM Presents a Grand Recreation of a Beloved Bach Masterpiece on Nov. 3

Graduate student Conor McDonald performs the role of Jesus in CCM’s production of J.S. Bach’s ‘St. John Passion,’ presented at Christ Church Cathedral on Nov. 3. Photography by Dottie Stover.

CCM’s Chamber Choir and Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra join forces to perform a unique staged production of Johann Sebastian Bach’s visceral rendering of the St. John Passion as the next installment in CCM’s 2013-14 Prestige Concert Series. The monumental work will be presented at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, at Christ Church Cathedral under the direction of Earl Rivers, staged by Omer Ben-Seadia, and in conjunction with the Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts.

Bach composed his St. John Passion for the congregations of Leipzig, Germany for Good Friday services in April 1724. The story is narrated by the character of the Evangelist and emphasizes the conflict of Pontius Pilate. “Bach’s interpretation provides us with a dramatic and physiological account,” explains stage director and Artist Diploma directing student Omer Ben-Seadia. “The staging will portray the drama through symbolic elements and light. The text and historical reflection are just as pungent today as ever – and the staging confronts these truths head on.” Ben-Seadia will also direct CCM’s Mainstage Series production of Don Pasquale in April 2014.

“Performances of Bach’s Passions, particularly in light of the attention that Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ received, present an opportunity for Christians and Jews to confront issues of religious intolerance, and the role of the arts and how the arts might, advertently or inadvertently, promote intolerance,” explains conductor and Director of Choral Studies Earl Rivers. “By exploring these issues, we will know the music better and we will know each other better.”

The concert will be performed at the magnificent setting of Christ Church Cathedral, which enjoys a long tradition of great choral music and is hosting the collaboration between CCM’s Chamber Choir and Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra and the Constella Festival for a second year. In 2010, the CCM Chamber Choir and Philharmonia Orchestra presented the 400th Anniversary of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 at the downtown location, and the Cathedral presents a wide variety of performances throughout the year.

CCM alumnus and Joseph and Frances Jones Poetker Visiting Artist Jeffrey Thompson, tenor, will sing the role of the Evangelist. CCM graduate voice majors Conor McDonald and Jeffrey Byrnes, baritones, perform the roles of Jesus and Pilate, respectively. The roles of aria soloists will be sung by CCM graduate voice majors Danielle Adams, soprano; Laurin McAlister, mezzo-soprano; Alec Carlson, tenor; Jonathan Cooper, baritone; and Stefan Egerstrom, bass. Guest Artist Adriana Contino, cellist, plays continuo cello and Michael Unger, Assistant Professor of Harpsichord and Organ, is featured as harpsichordist. Student obbligato soloists include Haoli Lin and Yang Liu, violin; Xue Su and Carol Joe, flute; and Katelyn Kyser and Martha Peck, oboe.

Cincinnati Enquirer’s Jackie Demaline Reviews CCM’s ‘Street Scene’

‘Street Scene’ photography by Mark Lyons.

Jackie Demaline reviews CCM’s first-ever production of Street Scene for the Cincinnati Enquirer, proclaiming: “It’s a glorious synthesis by composer Kurt Weill and the artistic team and their company of singers and musicians deliver a production that will stand as a high point of the Cincinnati stage season.” Running tonight through Nov. 18 in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater, Street Scene is part of CCM’s year-long Kurt Weill Festival.

You can read the full review here.

CCM Slideshows: Street Scene

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CCM proudly presents Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes and Elmer Rice’s Tony-Award winning opera Street Scene tonight through Nov. 18 in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Mark Gibson conducts with stage direction by Steven Goldstein.

Jackie Demaline previewed the American opera in last Sunday’s Cincinnati Enquirer. You can read the full story here.

Anne Arenstein also previewed Street Scene, along with the rest of CCM’s groundbreaking Kurt Weill Festival, in this week’s issue of CityBeat. You can read the feature here.

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Scenic Design of ‘Street Scene’

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CCM’s history-making production of Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes and Elmer Rice’s Tony-Award winning opera Street Scene opens tomorrow evening (Nov. 15) and runs through Sunday, Nov. 18 in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater.

With its mammoth cast, this highly theatrical opera has something for everyone: rising melodic lines, lively American jazz phrases and even a few Broadway style dance numbers. It is a story of love, passion, greed and death – all set in front of a tenement building in 1946 Manhattan.

Today, we provide a behind-the-scenes look at how this tenement building came to life, courtesy of Scenic Designer Brian Ruggaber and the rest of Street Scene‘s production staff.

Street Scene is the latest installment in CCM’s 2012-13 Kurt Weill Festival, which is funded in part by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. Mark Gibson conducts with stage direction by Steven Goldstein. Street Scene will be sung in English without supertitles.

CCM Presents Kurt Weill’s ‘Street Scene’ Nov. 15-18

Second-year Artist’s Diploma student Meghan Tarkington as Rose Maurrant in CCM’s first-ever production of ‘Street Scene.’

CCM makes history this month as it proudly presents Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes and Elmer Rice’s Tony-Award winning opera Street Scene Nov. 15-18 in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater. The American opera in two acts presents a simple, yet dramatic story of a mid-century Manhattan neighborhood, and CCM’s performance combines the forces of hundreds of students across several departments. Due to Street Scene‘s incredible scale, CCM has never before presented this great American opera. This historic production is funded in part by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. Mark Gibson conducts with stage direction by Steven Goldstein. Street Scene will be sung in English without supertitles.

Beethoven Festival Continues Tomorrow Night

CCM’s Concert Orchestra.

This fall’s Beethoven Festival continues at 8 p.m. tomorrow evening (Sept. 21) with the CCM Concert Orchestra presenting the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus and Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. Mark Gibson conducts.

The performance also features Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major with soloist Yang Liu, a graduate student from Wuhan, China and the winner of this year’s CCM Violin Concerto Competition.