Cincinnati’s contemporary chamber music collective, concertnova, announces its 20th concert season: five new mainstage programs and three additional events, ranging from a sculpture-filled forest to a Krampus-led holiday cabaret to a minimalism festival curated by composer/pianist Timo Andres.
Concertnova is Cincinnati’s contemporary chamber music collective, founded by clarinetist Ixi Chen and cellist Ted Nelson, both members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. For twenty years, the organization has “experimented with putting classical music where audiences don’t expect to find it, pairing it with sculpture, bluegrass, cabaret and more in pursuit of a simple idea: surprise opens people up, and what they let in from there is what transforms them.”
Current executive director is pianist Brianna Matzke, who said of the upcoming season, “We’re celebrating 20 years, but our instinct for adventure hasn’t changed. Surprise opens people up, and what they let in from there is what transforms them.”
Two events precede the season opener:
Sept. 11, Somerhaus, Over-the-Rhine / “Wine + Beethoven: Beethoven as Bacchus”
This fundraiser pairs five wines with live selections from five Beethoven string quartets, guided by music historian Ron Merlino and wine expert David Schildknecht.
Sept. 26, Christ Church Cathedral, downtown / Talk Low Festival
Concertnova makes a guest appearance alongside composer and pianist Rachel Grimes, founding member of Rachel’s, as part of the Talk Low Festival, alongside Faith Coloccia and Tashi Dorji.
(Photo by Jessie Kriech Higdon)
Season 20 is built around five mainstage programs:
Oct. 3, Felicity, Ohio / “Between Forms”
This #playwithus outdoor event is staged across the sculpture-filled forested property of artists Steven Finke and Ana England, with musicians performing throughout the land in dialogue with Finke’s life-size sculptures. Featured performers include flutist Molly Barth of Eighth Blackbird, and percussionist Allen Otte. Guests may come and go freely from noon through early evening.
Oct. 25, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati / “Cincinnati Sandbox”
Grammy-nominated Sandbox Percussion, violinist Kristin Lee, and Cincinnati’s Heavy Metal Marching Band turn discarded and found objects into music, including the Cincinnati premiere of Vivian Fung’s “Goddess//Insect.”
Dec. 7-8, Commonwealth Comedy Club, Dayton, Ky. / “Join the Naughty List”
Part concert, part cabaret, part theatrical ritual: Krampus and the Ho Ho Ho’s lead audiences out of forced holiday cheer and into an evening of dark folklore, hazy cabaret nightlife and joyful misbehavior.
Feb. 21, venue TBA / “Mini Mini Fest”
Pianist and composer Timo Andres curates and performs a two-part festival tracing minimalism from its early, process-driven roots through the post-minimalist music of the 1990s and 2000s. A related subscriber and donor event on Friday, February 19 brings Andres and concertnova musicians to the Lloyd Taft House, an award-winning modernist residence designed by architect Charles Gwathmey, for an intimate house concert curated in response to the building itself.
June 17, venue TBA / “What If We’re Beautiful”
Presented during Pride Month, musicians from Hub New Music and concertnova join forces for a program on chosen family and queer joy, built around Daniel Thomas Davis’s “What If We’re Beautiful,” alongside music by Eve Beglarian, Jennifer Higdon, Benjamin Britten, and Julius Eastman.
The season also includes “Bowtie Bluegrass: An Appalachian Concert Gala” (Sunday, Nov. 29, Newport Car Barn), featuring Kentucky native and Grammy-nominated violinist Tessa Lark alongside Cincinnati cellist Sonya Moomaw, placing classical and bluegrass traditions side by side during an evening of Appalachian food, music and a collaborative jam session. Proceeds support concertnova’s artist-led programming.
Additional season events include instrument-making workshops at Indigo Hippo in Over-the-Rhine (Sept. 20), Wave Pool in Camp Washington with the Heavy Metal Marching Band (Sept. 29), and a subscriber and donor event featuring an exclusive Sandbox Percussion and Kristin Lee performance inside Cincinnati Public Radio’s recording studio in Evanston (Oct. 24).
Subscriptions
Season 20 subscriptions are priced at $125 and include the best seats with RSVP, tickets to all mainstage concerts (including repeats), a bring-a-friend benefit for all concerts, access to subscriber/donor-only events, and discounts on #playwithus events and pop-up concerts.
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