If you have cabin fever, Culture FIX has the cure. As we recover from a huge (by Cincinnati standards, not, say, Buffalo) snowstorm, take a look at a pretty-full week of arts and culture events – theater productions and art exhibitions opening, top-notch jazz events and, for some reason, a lot of music by Antonín Dvořák and other Eastern European composers. Dig out, then dig in:
Wednesday, Jan. 28
The Annex Gallery, “Dossier Havana – Photographs by Pedro Abascal” | Noon-4 p.m. The Annex Gallery, 1310 Pendleton St., Pendleton. DETAILS: Photographer Pedro Abascal has won international acclaim, not just for his work documenting life and culture in his native Cuba, but for innovative photo essays such as one focusing on the educational development of blind and visually impaired children. This Annex Gallery exhibition features a “dossier” of his work that aims to reveal the essence of life in Havana. Through Feb. 14.
The Barn, “Celebrating Dave Laug” | 9 a.m.-2 p.m. The Barn, 6980 Cambridge Ave., Mariemont. 513-272-3700. DETAILS: Presented by the Woman’s Art Club of Cincinnati with support from ArtsWave, this exhibit celebrates the work of long-time Cincinnati artist and teacher Dave Laug, who says he enjoys “the use of energetic brush strokes and vibrant colors to express my muse.” Opening reception: 2-4 p.m. Saturday. Runs through Feb. 3.
Thursday, Jan. 29
Footlighters, “A Streetcar Named Desire” | 7:30 p.m. Stained Glass Theatre, 802 York St., Newport. 859-291-7464. DETAILS: “STELLA!” That one shouted word evokes the sound and image of Stanley Kowalski, the role played by a then-unknown Marlon Brando in the 1947 Broadway premiere (and 1951 movie) of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The tension that swirls around Stanley, his wife Stella and her fragile sister Blanche DuBois in this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama still resonates today. The Footlighters production, directed by Jerry Wiesenhahn, stars Alicia Friedman as Blanche, Amanda Emmons Shumate as Stella and Jonathan Cody White as Stanley. Through Feb. 15.
Friday, Jan. 30
Caffè Vivace, Ray Brown Centennial Tribute | 7 & 9 p.m. 975 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills. 513-601-9897. DETAILS: Bassist Ray Brown (1926-2002) was one of the all-time greats in the world of jazz, anchoring countless performances with his impeccable sense of swing. Brown played with just about everybody – Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Andre Previn, Elvis Costello, Steely Dan … you get the picture. For this Jazz Vivace Series event, bassist George DeLancy collaborates with pianist Larry Fuller (who played in Brown’s trio) and drummer George Fludas in a centennial tribute to Brown.
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, “Slavic Legends” | 7:30 p.m. Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-381-3300. DETAILS: Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv makes her CSO debut in a program that opens with her countryman Evgeni Orkin’s “Five Interrupted Lullabies,” which commemorates the deaths of five children in a 2024 rocket attack on Odesa. Esther Yoo is the soloist in Sergei Prokofiev’s ethereal Violin Concerto No. 1. The program also includes Antonín Dvořák’s “Golden Spinning Wheel” and Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau.” Repeats 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, “A Soldier’s Play” | 7:30 p.m. Budig Theater, 1195 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-381-2273. DETAILS: This 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Charles Fuller, set on a segregated army base in 1944, explores the tension, intrigue and prejudices that emerge in the investigation of a sergeant’s murder. Through Feb. 15.
Cincinnati Early Music Festival, harpsichordist Christopher Holman | 7 p.m. St. Gertrude Church, 6543 Miami Ave., Madeira. DETAILS: This year’s Cincinnati Early Music Festival, a month-long celebration of “early” (roughly medieval through Baroque) music performed by various area ensembles, opens with a program by harpsichordist Christopher Holman that ranges from Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck to Girolamo Frescobaldi to African-British abolitionist-composer Ignatius Sancho, with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita No. 4 as the centerpiece. This particular event is part of St. Gertrude’s Sacred Music Series. The festival, with varied programs at venues throughout the area, continues through March 1.
Saturday, Jan. 31
Jewish & Israeli Film Festival, “Ethan Bloom” | 7:30 p.m. Mayerson JCC, 8485 Ridge Road, Amberley Village. 513-761-7500. DETAILS: This year’s monthlong festival opens with “Ethan Bloom,” a 2025 coming-of-age dramatic comedy about a 13-year-old Jewish boy who finds himself drawn to the Catholic church. The festival, which features a dozen movies centered on Jewish and Israeli stories, continues at various venues through Feb. 26.
(Photo by Tina Gutierrez)
Cincinnati String Project, “Cornerstones” | 5 p.m. All Saints Episcopal Church, 6301 Parkman Place, Pleasant Ridge. DETAILS: The Cincinnati String Project, dedicated to providing music lessons for students as well as performing chamber music, presents a program with two unarguably great string quartets: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421 – one of six quartets he dedicated to his mentor Franz Joseph Haydn – and Béla Bartók’s Quartet No. 4, a masterful 1928 work that helped expand the genre. Also 5 p.m. Sunday, Temple Sholom, 10828 Kenwood Road, Blue Ash.
CCM Philharmonia, “North By Northwest” | 7:30 p.m. Corbett Auditorium, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. 513-556-4183. DETAILS: Philharmonia Music Director Mark Gibson leads the orchestra in a musical tour of Eastern Europe from Bucharest to Budapest to Prague, with George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, a piano concerto by Béla Bartók and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6. Sometimes you forget these are students.
Sunday, Feb. 1
CCM Wind Symphony, “Pictures at an Exhibition” | 4 p.m. Corbett Auditorium, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. 513-556-4183. DETAILS: Back to Corbett Auditorium for what looks like a fascinating program, conducted by Kevin Michael Holzman with the Lakota West Symphonic Winds joining the CCM Wind Symphony. Modest Mussorgsky’s famous “Pictures at an Exhibition” set for wind symphony is the main attraction, of course. But there’s more: an intriguing arrangement of a movement from Charles Ives‘ “Concord” Piano Sonata; a piece written for wind instruments by Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo, best known for his guitar concertos; and a work by Michigan composer Roshanne Etezady also inspired by artwork – in this case, murals inside the New York State Capitol.
Linton Chamber Music, “American Stories” | 4 p.m. First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton St, Avondale. 513-381-6868. DETAILS: Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic (and formerly a member of our CSO), joins the Pacifica Quartet in a program that pretty much reprises their Grammy-nominated 2022 recording “American Stories” on the Cedille label: Richard Danielpour’s “Four Angels,” a tribute to the four girls killed in the 1963 bombing of a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama; the Clarinet Quintet by James Lee III, inspired by indigenous Americans; and Valerie Coleman’s “Shotgun Houses,” a 2019 tribute to Muhammadi Ali and Louisville; plus a bonus, the “American” Quartet by (yes, that guy yet again) Antonín Dvořák. Repeats 7:30 p.m. on Groundhog Day, Congregation Beth Adam, Loveland.
Monday, Feb. 2
Jazz at the Memo, Eric Lechliter’s Hard Bop Heroes | 7 p.m. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-977-8838. DETAILS: Trumpeter Eric Lechliter, artistic director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, is joined by Josh Kline (tenor sax), Chris Caporale (piano), Aaron Jacobs (bass) and Jim Leslie (drums) in a look back at the classic 1950s-’60s “hard bop” jazz of Horace Silver, Art Blakey and others who sought to bring jazz back to its blues-gospel roots.
Tuesday, Feb. 3
CCM Jazz Orchestra, “The Music of Pat Metheny” | 7:30 p.m. Corbett Auditorium, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. 513-556-4183. DETAILS: Winding up the week with more jazz: Guitarist-composer Pat Metheny is famed for his sophisticated blend of world music, pop, country, jazz and more in his adventurous, sometimes experimental compositions, which the CCM ensemble directed by Scott Belck celebrates in this program.
Discover more from Movers & Makers
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.