By Thomas Consolo
Does this city never stop?! That’s a rhetorical question, given our weekly suggestions for enjoying yourself at some of our cultural offerings. Just when one might think it was time to take a break for, oh, I don’t know, relaxing with some iced tea on the patio, there are major art exhibitions and the opera season revving up. Just put that tea in a travel tumbler and head out.
CULTURAL EXHIBITS
Krohn Conservatory | 1501 Eden Park Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-421-5707
Through Sunday, June 16: Butterflies of Ecuador
If you haven’t sat in the butterfly room of the Krohn Conservatory and just watched the winged wonders flit by for an hour, you’ve missed one of the great zen opportunities in town. Fortunately, you haven’t missed it – yet. The annual butterfly show, focusing this year on Ecuador, runs through Sunday. Don’t let it fly away without experiencing it.
FESTIVALS
Italianfest | Riverboat Row, Newport, KY 41071
Thursday, June 13 through Sunday, June 16
Go, go, go you mixed up Siciliano. OK, we don’t know that there’ll be any mambo Italiano this weekend, but there will be plenty of delicious Italian food and entertainment on the Newport riverfront. Newport, if you don’t know, has claim to a good chunk of Greater Cincinnati’s Italian heritage, and this is the week they show it off. From bruschetta to gelato, they’ll have you covered, including an Italian wine tasting tent.
City Flea | 1230 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202
Saturday, June 15, 10 a.m.
Yep, it’s already time for the next City Flea, the monthly showcase for more than 400 of the region’s talented craftspeople, artisans and vendors. If the weather holds out, it’ll be one of the best dates of the year. Say Hi to M&M digital editor Stephanie Fan, who will have her own booth of wood crafts under the brand Atlas & Lily. Come on down to Over-the-Rhine’s summer patio for some food, drink, entertainment and, of course, creative products.
FILM
Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County | 800 Vine St., Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-369-6900
Monday, June 15, 5 p.m.: “Philadelphia”
In 1993, AIDS was both a social stigma and a death sentence. Tom Hanks won an Oscar that year for his portrayal of Andrew Beckett, a lawyer who sued the firm that fired him because he is HIV positive. The main public library screens that film, “Philadelphia,” as part of Movie Mondays during Pride Month.
LITERARY
Mercantile Library | 414 Walnut St., Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-621-0717
Monday, June 17, 6:30 p.m.: “Maria Longworth Storer – Cincinnati Legend”
She was a daughter in one of America’s richest families, and she had a will to match. Maria Longworth Storer was the prime fundraiser and planner for the first Cincinnati May Festival, and she – a prize-winning ceramicist herself – founded Rookwood Pottery. Find out more about one of Cincinnati’s great ladies as authors Constance Moore and Nancy Broermann discuss their new biography, “Maria Longworth Storer: From Music and Art to Popes and Presidents.” There will be copies of the book available for sale and signing, and Rookwood Pottery pieces also will be available for purchase.
MUSIC
We remind you of the many outdoor performances on tap around the region as compiled in M&M’s summer music guide. Meanwhile, indoors….
Art of the Piano | Werner Recital Hall, CCM. 290 CCM Blvd., Cincinnati, OH 45221; 513-556-6638
Friday, June 14, 7 p.m.: Vladimir Feltsman
Saturday, June 15, 8 p.m.: Christopher O’Riley
Awadagin Pratt’s “intimate” festival to raise the level of artistry for young pianists reaches its final weekend. On tap are two very different keyboard greats.
Vladimir Feltsman was a child prodigy who made his debut with the Moscow Philharmonic at age 11. His request to emigrate from the Soviet Union led to nearly a decade of being banned from performing and having his recordings suppressed in his homeland. Since being allowed to come to the United States in 1987, he has become master of a wide repertoire, from Bach to underground Russian composers. On Friday, he offers a program of Beethoven and Chopin.
Had Feltsman grown up in the United States and more recently, he might have met Christopher O’Riley, who has hosted NPR’s “From the Top,” a showcase of young classical talent. O’Riley believes in the Duke Ellington adage, “There are only two kinds of music, good music and bad.” He’s consequently been a champion of piano arrangements of pop music, particularly of Radiohead. He’ll perform some of that, along with a transcription of Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique” on Saturday.
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra | First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton St., Cincinnati, OH 45219; 513-381-3300
Saturday, June 15, 2 p.m.: MAC Music Innovator Recital
About now you’re thinking, I thought the CSO season was over. Well, yes, it is, which gives some of the orchestra’s members a little free time for performances like this one. Pianist Michelle Cann is the CSO’s MAC Music Innovator, an artist in residence chosen by the Multicultural Awareness Council, i.e., MAC. The program highlights African American classical performers who embody artistry, innovation and community commitment. Cann is featured Saturday with CSO players in a program of women composers, past and present. (Do you know Florence Price’s music? Well, you should, and here’s your chance.)
Memorial Hall | 1225 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-977-8838
Monday, June 17, 7 p.m.: “Hard Boppin’ with the Five Little Bears”
If you’re in a less classical mood, how about some 1950s and ’60s bop? The Jazz at the Memo series continues with the Five Little Bears – a quintet of some of the city’s best jazzers – in program of music by the likes of Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter and Art Blakey. Washington Platform again provides light bites.
OPERA
Cincinnati Opera | Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-241-2742 (ARIA)
Thursday, June 13, 7:30 p.m.: “The Marriage of Figaro”
Se vuol ballare, signor contino? Yes, he does, but little does he know who’s calling the tune. Da Ponte’s libretto tones down the politics of the Beaumarchais play it’s based on, but it and Mozart’s music leave the personal drama just as powerful in this masterpiece. It’s the season opener for Cincinnati Opera, starring Andrew Wilkowske as Figaro, Janai Brugger as his beloved Susanna, Joseph Lattanzi as Count Almaviva, who wants his shot at Susanna before she’s married, and Susanna Phillips as Almaviva’s suffering countess. Marc Piollet conducts the Cincinnati Symphony. Repeats 7:30 p.m., Saturday.
Read more about the mix on tap at this year’s Cincinnati Opera’s summer festival by our Ray Cooklis.
VISUAL ART
Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County | 800 Vine St., Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-369-6900
Wednesday, June 12, 7:30 p.m.: “The Murals of Downtown Cincinnati”
You’ve seen them as you drive by. Now you can learn about the people and ideas behind the varied murals that decorate several buildings around downtown Cincinnati. If you think this kind of discussion would be better with a pint, you’re in luck: Representatives of the library and ArtWorks, which sponsored many of the murals, bring the event to 3 Points Urban Brewery, 331 E. 13th St., Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513-918-4804).
These last two items have already opened, but they’re definitely worthy of your attention (and attendance).
Cincinnati Art Museum | 953 Eden Park Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-721-2787 (ARTS)
Through Sept. 2: “No Spectators – The Art of Burning Man”
You probably know this exhibition opened in April, but what you might not have known is that that was only Phase I. Phase II has now arrived. (Phase I remains on display; Phase II just adds to the roster with dozens more pieces.) If you already saw the first version, come back and spin the “Evotrope” again, check out the “Tin Pan Dragon” (and the video of it spewing fire) again … and see new artworks ranging from room-sized installations to intimate photographs that were just added to the mix.
Taft Museum of Art | 316 Pike St., Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-241-0343
Through Sept. 14: “L’Affichomania – The Passion for French Posters”
Among the most popular items on display at the recent “Paris 1900” exhibition at that other museum in town were the advertising posters, or “affiches.” Relaxed regulations in the 1881 Freedom of the Press Law and new developments in commercial printing combined to unleash a creative explosion in the field just as art nouveau developed. The Taft presents nearly 60 works in the genre by five innovative artists: Jules Chéret, Eugène Grasset, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Alphonse Mucha and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The Taft is the first stop in a nationwide tour for the show.