Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

What can be said about a musical theatre production as spectacular as @uc_ccm’s opening night performance of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, or The Demon Barber of Fleet Street? The level of talent on stage made it abundantly clear that this school is one of the finest in the world as…

@cincysymphony continued its 2025-26 season with a spectacular program headlined by one of the most popular of late-Romantic Russian symphonies, Sergei Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2.Under the direction of frequent guest conductor Ramón Tebar, artistic director of Opera Naples and principal conductor of Florida Grand Opera in Miami, the orchestra opened…

In what is surely becoming an annual tradition, @christchurchcathedralcincy presented a program of Lenten choral music tied to the celebration of Palm Sunday under the direction of cathedral director of music Stephan Casurella, with some of the finest local singers who I have the privilege of calling dear friends.Soprano Olivia…

Whaat a spectacular debut performance by Ensemble O2, Cincinnati’s newest professional choral/chamber ensemble in the architectural and acoustical beauty of the Wyoming Fine Arts Center’s Masonic Theatre.Under the direction of Turkish-born conductor Ömer Aziz Kahyan, this debut concert served as a proof of concept of the group’s potential to build…

Rarely have I attended a jazz concert that is part of the @xaviermusicseries that didn’t leave me as deeply moved as the performance given this evening by two legends of the genre: vocalist Cécile McLorin Savant and pianist Sullivan Fortner, in the intimate acoustics of Xavier University’s Gallagher Student Center…

@cincysymphony continued its 2025-26 season with a trio of early Romantic works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.Under the direction of James Conlon, Music Director Laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival, the orchestra opened with an exciting performance of Haydn’s “Drumroll” Symphony No. 103, a…

What a fabulous end to @vaecinci’s 2025-26 season, pairing two masterworks by Dietrich Buxtehude and Caroline Shaw under the collective title To The Hands: Cutting Edge Art. As art was central to the program, video projections by artists Sharon Huizenga and lighting design by Lucas Inman were an integral part…

@xaviermusicseries concluded its 2025-26 guitar series with a fantastic recital in Xavier’s Bellarmine Chapel by Korean guitarist Bokyung Byun, 2023 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and guitar faculty at the University of North Texas in Denton, under the title Beloved: Music Written for Those We Love.Performing repertoire drawn…

@cincysymphony continued its 2025-26 season with a pairing of two of the best works by Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, under the direction of music director laureate Louis Langrée.Guest pianist Clayton Stephenson (@claytonstephensonpiano), winner of the 2024 Nina SImone Piano Competition, joined them for a vibrant performance of Brahms’ Op.…

What a delight to have @concordiachoir perform at @christchurchcathedralcincy as part of their 2026 tour of the northeast and Midwest. I have a firm belief that Lutheran college choirs rank as some of the finest in the world, both for their purity of sound and the sheer level of artistry…