Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@uc_ccm’s Philharmonia and Wind Symphony combined for a fabulous program celebrating the music of American composer Jennifer Higdon (@jenniferhigdon1) as she continues a weekend-long residency. The Philharmonia led the first half with thrilling performances of three of her most well-known orchestral works: a movement from her 2002 orchestral triptych City…

What a momentous evening it was for @cincysymphony as they officially welcomed @cristian.macelaru as their 14th Music Director with a program of 20th century masterpieces.The orchestra opened with a scintillating and engaging performance of Abstractions, a modern orchestral suite by the British composer Anna Clyne (a composer whose music Mǎcelaru…

@uc_ccm’s Philharmonia continued their fall 2025 semester with a fine performance of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, written between 1875 and 1876. Seeing as the program was titled Chorales and Counterpoint, the symphony was preceded by a recording by organist Klaus Sonnleitner of Bruckner’s Perger Praeludium (1884)…

@uc_ccm’s Concert Orchestra and combined choirs opened their new concert season with a resplendent program titled Beyond the Note featuring two of the most famous unfinished works by Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.Under the direction of principal conductor Aik Khai Pung, the orchestra opened with a strong, delightfully insightful…

@uc_ccm’s Philharmonia opened its 2025-26 concert season with a program under the title “Bienvenuto in Italia!”, featuring music by three of the most prominent 19th-century Italian opera composers coupled with two orchestral masterpieces of the 20th century.Following a scintillating reading of the overture to Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma, the orchestra followed…

@cincinnatiopera continued its 2025 summer season with a gorgeous production of Giacomo Puccini’s immortal opera Tosca. First staged in Rome in 1900, it tells the ultimately tragic tale of the love between painter and rebel Mario Cavaradossi and actress Floria Tosca as the two are caught in the quagmire of…

@cincinnatiopera opened its 2025 summer season with a spectacular production of one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most popular operas, Rigoletto.First performed in 1851 and based on Victor Hugo’s 1832 play Le roi s’amuse, it’s story centers on the tragic loves and lives of the Duke of Mantua, his jester Rigoletto and…

@mayfestivalcincy concluded its 2025 season with one of the most unique concert experiences I have encountered in recent years, coupled with an appearance by one of the most renowned sopranos of our time, Renée Fleming. Under the direction of guest conductor Robert Moody, music director of the Memphis Symphony, the…

@cincysymphony concluded its 2024-25 season with a wonderfully mixed menagerie of music highlighted by Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto and a swinging masterpiece by Duke Ellington.Under the direction of Damon Gupton, Cincinnati Pops Principal Guest Conductor, the orchestra opened with a lyrical and dramatic reading of The Noon Witch, one of…

Any performance of a Gustav Mahler symphony in Cincinnati is an experience one should partake in at least once in their lifetime, if not more. Tonight’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 by @cincysymphony exceeded expectations in every conceivable metric, from the level of musicianship displayed to the drama and…