Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincychamberorchestra concluded its newest We Are One concert series with a splendid program of contemporary orchestral and choral music inspired by immigrants, refugees and those who are displaced. Opening with Saunder Choi’s setting of the Emma Lazarus poem The New Colossus, the orchestra and chorus took the assembled audience at @christchurchcathedralcincy on a musical journey exploring how we can better ourselves as a society and become more engaged in how we serve these citizens of the world.
Highlights from this program included Peregrinos, Gabriela Lena Frank’s (@gabrielalenafrank) orchestral evocation of ‘hope and challenge’ encountered among Latinos through sharing of stories. Musically it possessed a sound world reminiscent of Bernstein’s On the Waterfront and West Side Story through the use of xylophone and other percussion and frantic passages from the winds in the third movement.
Caroline Shaw’s (@carolineadelaideshaw) To the Hands, inspired by Dietrich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, must rank as one of the most powerful new choral works written in the last 20 years, with a stirring and powerful message to match its musical intensity.

Coro Volante was soul-stirring, with a luminous and rapturous sound across all of their selections. The orchestra was likewise spectacular, under the direction of Daniel Parsley (@danielparsley90), with a crisp, sumptuous sound, with a sharp bite demonstrated vividly in Frank’s music.
Looking forward to what the future holds for this festival and the CCO organization.