By Thom Mariner
Here are some really interesting events for the next seven days, but please check out our comprehensive listings for even more…plus ongoing exhibits and plays. moversmakers.org
DANCE
Contemporary Arts Center
Ligia Lewis: “Minor Matter” | Thursday-Friday, March 9-10. 44 E. Sixth St., downtown.
Award-winning dancer/choreographer Lewis explores issues involving minoritarian politics in this dramatic and powerful new work. This is part two of her ongoing trilogy “BLUE, RED, WHITE,” using the color red to materialize thoughts between love and rage.
FILM
ReelAbilities Film Festival
Thursday-Sunday, March 9-12. Star-studded parties, workshops, special events, speakers, lounges…and more than 40 thought-provoking films showcasing stories, lives and art of people who experience disabilities.
This fabulous event seems to grow and grow… Everything is under one roof this year, which should add to the excitement. Plus, proceeds go to more than 20 area nonprofits. Read our feature article here.
Cincinnati World Cinema
“Oscar Shorts and More,” Academy Award nominated live action and animated short films | Saturday-Sunday, March 11-12. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., downtown.
Haven’t you always wanted to see these on the big screen? Every year they intrigue me, and now here’s our chance…all in one place!
LITERARY ARTS
Women Writing for a Change
“Meaningful Mondays: Poets in the Courtyard” | Monday, March 13, 7 p.m. Arnold’s, downtown.
If you are female and interested in writing, check out this series of gatherings and readings. Our March contributor Annette Wick is very much involved.
MUSIC
Cincinnati Symphony & Pops
“Rhapsody in Blue,” Louis Langrée, conductor. Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano (CSO) | Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, March 9, 11 and 12. Taft Theatre. Also, Friday, March 10, 7:30 p.m. Miami University.
Ravel, “Mother Goose” Suite
Gershwin, “American in Paris”
Gershwin, “Rhapsody in Blue”
Ravel, “Daphnis and Chloé,” Suite No. 2
All one really needs to know is, CSO plays Ravel, Gershwin, and a double dose of each. What a wonderful pairing of composers. And this repertoire is headed to Asia on their tour. If you’re near Oxford on Friday, you can hear this concert in Hall Auditorium.
College-Conservatory of Music
Ariel Quartet, ensemble in residence | Friday, March 10, 8 p.m. University of Cincinnati.
Menachem Wiesenberg, “Between the Sacred and the Profane”
Mohammed Fairouz, “Prophesies” (World Premiere)
Beethoven, String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132
This final performance of their 2016-17 season contains a late quartet of Beethoven, a 1998 work by Israeli musician/composer/arranger Wiesenberg, plus a world premiere by the much-in-demand, young American composer Mohammed Fairouz. So glad to see the Ariel exploring new music!
Matinee Musicale
Paul Huang, violin | Tuesday, March 14, 11 a.m. Anderson Center, 7850 Five Mile Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45230.
Recipient of the prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, Huang is a significant talent on the rise. Another prize catch for Matinee Musicale. On the program, accompanied by Eric Zuber, is music of Mozart, Respighi and Saint-Saens.
Salon21
“Musical Madeleine.” Simon Barrad, baritone; Kseniia Polstiankina, piano. | Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. Weston Art Gallery, Aronoff Center.
Both products of CCM, Barrad and Polstiankina just became engaged within the past week, so this should be an even more festive occasion than usual! Having sung with baritone Barrad numerous times, I know that his is a voice of lean, liquid beauty. And his bride-to-be Polstiankina is an award-winning pianist currently studying with Awadagin Pratt in CCM’s doctoral program. A chance to hear these emerging artists really up-close.
Admission is free, but you must register.
THEATER
Cincinnati Landmark Productions
“Leading Ladies,” by Ken Ludwig | Thursday, March 9-April 2. Covedale Center for the Performing Arts.
A wacky, light-hearted “Shakespearean” comedy complete with cross-dressing “nieces” and all sorts of comic shenanigans in pursuit of a pot of money. Kind of a cross between Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” and “Some Like it Hot.” 😉
Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative
“The Jewish Bomb,” by Herb DuVal | Tuesday, March 14, 7:30 p.m. Fifth Third Theater, Aronoff Center.
Written by OTR’s own actor/director/playwright Herb DuVal (Play with Your Lunch), this is a story of two Hungarian physicists in 1939 detailing information about an atomic bomb.
College-Conservatory of Music
“25th Anniversary Not Yet Famous Showcase,” CCM musical theater class of 2017 | Wednesday, March 8, 6-8 p.m. University of Cincinnati.
“Transmigration” | Wednesday-Friday, March 8-10, 7 p.m. University of Cincinnati.
Each year, CCMpower (formerly the Friends of CCM) hosts a preview of the staged review musical theater seniors have prepared for an upcoming showcase before Broadway casting folks in Manhattan. This is also a fundraiser for CCMpower, and includes dinner by the bite. Tickets range from $50-$100*. The latter gains you admission to the pre-concert reception. See schedule below…
- 6 p.m. Host Reception* (Baur Room)
- 7 p.m. Performance (Patricia Corbett Theater)
- 8 p.m. Dinner-by-the-bite (Mary Emery Hall Atrium)
“Transmigration” is a festival of new works created by the acting students in CCM Acting. Six teams of actors craft and perform five original 30-minute shows, performed simultaneously in locations throughout CCM Village. Admission is free, but reservations are required.
Know Theatre
“Heavier Than…” by Steve Yockey | Friday, March 10-April 1.
The Know website calls “Heavier Than…” a “darkly comic mash-up of Greek myth,” in which Aster the Minotaur is turning 30 in a world that, at the least, seems not very welcoming at all. Only its second professional production, the play was first produced by the Theatre @ Boston Court.
Playhouse in the Park
“Jane Eyre” | Saturday, March 11-April 8. Marx Theatre.
Playhouse artistic associate KJ Sanchez directs this acclaimed adaptation by Polly Teale of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel. “One of the finest and most searching stage adaptations of a great novel I have ever seen.” — The London Telegraph
VISUAL ART
Brazee Street Studio/C-Link Gallery
Leslie Shiels, “Serigraphs” and Kevin T. Kelly, “Terra Pulchra: Landscape Drawings.” | Thursday, March 9, 6-8 p.m. 4426 Brazee St., Cincinnati, OH 45209. 513-321-0206.
Vivid imagery from two very talented area artists. You have seen Leslie Shiels’ fun, imaginative work if you’ve eaten at Jean-Robert’s Table. Kelly is a “Neo-Pop” artist whose landscapes are clean and clear, but radiant in color. Runs through April 7.
The Carnegie
“The Nothing That is: A Drawing Show in 5 Parts” | Friday, March 10, 5:30-9 p.m. 1028 Scott Blvd., Covington, KY 41011.
Curated by artist/educator Bill Thelen, this show features renowned artists and explores drawing from very traditional to conceptual practices, to community-based activity. Runs through April 15.
Manifest Gallery
Friday, March 10, 6-9 p.m. 2727 Woodburn Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45206.
Manifest solicits entries from around the world and brings amazing new artists to Cincinnati every few weeks. Three exhibits open this Friday:
- “Space” is a collection of competitively selected works from 13 artists that examine the concept of spatial relationships.
- Kentucky Regional Showcase is precisely that – works by seven winning artists from the Bluegrass State.
- “Place” is a complementary exhibit to “Space” and features 10 artists from the U.S. and Canada exploring “the concept of specific location, whether from a conceptual or metaphorical standpoint or a more literal depiction such as landscape.”
Exhibits run through April 7.
Take advantage of the East Walnut Hills neighborhood during Walk on Woodburn, a gallery and pub crawl that runs coincidentally with each Manifest opening.
Ledge Gallery across the street also has an opening Friday. Same timeframe.