Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincymuseum opened its much-loved Music in the Museum organ recital series for the first time in nearly a decade with a vibrant, scintillating and thrilling program by Canadian recitalist Isabelle Demers, professor of organ at McGill University (@mcgillu) in Montréal, Quebec. Her selections displayed a wide range of styles, drawing…

@uc_ccm opened its fall semester of choral performances with a truly spectacular and spellbinding reading of one of the hallmarks of all sacred music, Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. First performed on Good Friday in 1727, it sets the 26th and 27th chapters of the Gospel of Luke much…

Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble, under the direction of Howard Helvey with pianist Brad Caldwell, presented its annual Mary Slade Rust Martin and Louis Henry Martin Memorial Program, a varied mix of choral and organ selections with an emphasis on contemporary composers, including some of Helvey’s own compositions as well as Alice…

@uc_ccm Philharmonia continued its newest concert season with a program titled Virtuosity Redux, focusing on some of the most popular orchestral showpieces to emerge from the 19th and 20th centuries. Opening with Samuel Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandal (written as he was completing his studies at the Curtis…

@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…

@collegium_cincy continued its 2023-24 season with its annual complete performance of George Frederic Handel’s choral masterpiece Messiah, long considered a musical essential of the Christmas season. As is tradition with Collegium, the chorus was no bigger than 16 singers, which possessed a vocal presence which was effervescent, florid, commanding, and…

@uc_ccm just presented an absolutely fabulous production of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia as part of its MainStage Opera series. Setting a libretto by Ronald Duncan based on a play by André Obey, with its title role written for the much-lamented contralto Kathleen Ferrier, the opera explored issues most…

@cincysymphony opened its 2024 slate of concerts with wonderful, exciting performances of a pair of masterpieces by Johannes Brahms, his Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 2, under the direction of guest conductor Donald Runnicles, making a welcome return appearance.Grammy-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov (@daniiltrifonov), who joined the orchestra for…

@vaecinci rang in the Christmas season at @christchurchcathedralcincy under guest conductor Trevor Kroeger (@trevorkroeger) with a program which explored both the fun and sentimental side of the holiday, joined by special guest artists Matthew Umphreys (@matthewumphreys) and Sarah Folsom of Queen City Cabaret (@qcccincy).The fun side was represented principally through…

The Cincinnati Pops Orchesra opened its 2024 slate of concerts with a fun and exciting concert staging of the 1975 John Kander and Fred Ebb musical Chicago. Among the most well-known and longest running Broadway shows of all time, it is full of memorable songs that have been mainstays of…