CCM Alumnus Carmine Miranda Releases New Album to Rave Reviews

CCM alumnus and current doctoral candidate Carmine Miranda (BM Violoncello, 2010; MM Violoncello, 2012) is making waves with his latest recording project, which unearths Carlo Alfredo Piatti’s 12 Caprices for solo cello. This Navona Records release is already receiving rave reviews from music critics around the world.

“Piatti (1822-1901) was a renowned virtuoso and teacher whose name had faded into obscurity – except to cellists, who know his 12 Caprices from their studies,” explains Mary Ellyn Hutton in her review for Music in Cincinnati. “Miranda… seeks to return them to the active repertoire, to take their place beside Niccolo Paganini’s Caprices for Solo Violin and Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello and not treated ‘as mere etudes’,” she continues.

Fanfare Magazine describes the album as, “incredible performances of works that should interest every cellist and that should be in the library of anyone who appreciates the cello and hearing it played by a consummate master like Carmine Miranda.”

According to CCN, “at a mere 25 years of age, this recording places Carmine Miranda as the youngest cellist to professionally record and release this repertoire worldwide.”

Miranda’s Piatti: 12 Caprices for Solo Cello is available now through Amazon, iTunes, Classics Online, Spotify and the Naxos Music Library. Learn more about the album by visiting http://navonarecords.com.

About Carmine Miranda
Born in Valencia in 1988 to Italian immigrants and moving to the United States at an early age, Carmine Miranda is a Venezuelan/American cellist, international soloist and recording artist. Miranda began his musical studies at the age of seven at the Carabobo State Music Conservatory in Venezuela, where he studied his first years of Theory and Solfege, finally graduating from the Private Institute of Musical Education or I.P.E.M. He studied cello with cellists Luisa Fuentes, Valmore Nieves and William Molina, at the Latin-American Academy of Violoncello, and the Simon Bolivar Conservatory of Music (the institution that spawned the famous “El Sistema”). At the same time he was a member of the National Youth Orchestra and the Orchestra of Beethoven under the direction of maestro Giuseppe Sinoppoli.

At CCM, he studied with Lee Fiser and Yehuda Hanani, obtaining a Bachelors of Arts in music, Masters Degree and Doctorate’s degree candidacy. He has participated in several music competitions as a soloist and chamber player winning several recognitions and awards at a national and international level.

An avid soloist, Miranda has performed with several chamber ensembles, orchestras and has performed in prominent concert halls and music festivals including Carnegie Hall, the Aula Magna Hall (one of the largest and most important halls in Latin America), Bowdoin Music Festival, Close Encounters with Music Series in Great Barrington, NY, among others. Miranda has collaborated with recognized international artists such as Yehuda Hanani, Awadagin Pratt, Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Spanish composer Luis Serrano Alarcón and Grammy Nominated composer Michael Hoppé.

At the age of 22, Miranda recorded the Six Cello Suites by Johann Sebastian Bach under the label Centaur Records, joining the ranks of the youngest in the world to record the entire work. In 2013 Carmine completed the United States premiere of Nikita Koshkin’s “L’istesso Tempo” composition for cello and guitar. He was also selected to represent the University of Cincinnati as a soloist for a multi-state American tour with the CCM Wind Orchestra culminating with an opening night performance at the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Conference in North Carolina’s Aycock Auditorium. Currently Miranda is a recording artist for Parma Navona Records and plays on a 2005 Jules Azzi cello made in New York City.

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 Announces Spring 2014 Calendar of Major Events

Download CCM’s Spring 2014 Calendar Booklet today.

UPDATED March 7, 2014: CCM is delighted to announce its spring 2014 schedule of major events. The largest single source of performing arts events in the state of Ohio, CCM presents nearly 150 major public performances from Jan. 12 through May 18, ranging from faculty and guest artist concerts to fully supported opera, musical theatre, drama and dance productions.

Highlights of CCM’s spring concert series include the return of Cincinnati’s premiere fundraiser “A Moveable Feast” on Jan. 17, the Ariel Quartet’s Beethoven Cycle running Jan. 23 – March 29, a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle by guest artists Gerald Finley and Julius Drake on Feb. 5, the fifth annual Bearcat Piano Festival running Feb. 6 – 11, the 17th annual PRISM concert on Feb. 23, a performance of John Adams’ El Niño on March 2 and a celebration of the music of jazz legend Thelonius Monk on March 9.

CCM’s Mainstage Series also continues in early 2014 with a production of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses, directed by guest artist D. Lynn Meyers, running Feb. 5 – 9; the CCM debut of the iconic musical Les Misérables, running Feb. 27 – March 9;  Donizett’s comedic opera Don Pasquale, running April 3–6; and the quintessential romantic ballet Giselle, running April 17–19.

Learn more about these and dozens of other performing and media-arts events by referring to the list below. You can also view a digital copy of CCM’s Spring 2014 Calendar Booklet here.

‘Music in Cincinnati’ Hails CCM Students Debut Album As ‘Phenomenal’

Mary Ellyn Hutton reviews CCM student Carmine Miranda‘s debut solo album (Bach: 6 Cello Suites) for Music in Cincinnati, calling the recording “phenomenal.”

She writes, “Miranda’s approach is virtuosic and musically persuasive. Tempos tend to be brisk (if not pushed now and then), but he brings to bear interpretive insights — his term is “folkloric” — which make the set as a whole a delight.” You read Hutton’s full review here.

Read our recent profile of Miranda here. Bach: 6 Cello Suites is available digitally on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere.

CCM Student’s Solo Debut To Be Released By Centaur Records

Centaur Records releases CCM student Carmine Miranda’s solo debut recording.

Already an accomplished cellist, CCM doctoral candidate Carmine Miranda (BA, 2010; MM, 2012) is now making his professional solo recording debut!

Two years ago, Miranda recorded Bach’s six solo suites for cello at age 22. Now, his recording is being released under Centaur Records, and is already available digitally on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere.