Did you BLINK? Have your feet recovered? Ready for more? No, not another multimile trek through the heart of Cincinnati and Covington. Just the usual bountiful array of weekly cultural and seasonal happenings. (Apologies for the Saturday pileup. I did not do the scheduling.)
Wednesday, Oct. 14
Ensemble Theatre, “Mrs. Mannerly” | 7:30 p.m. 1127 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-421-3555. DETAILS: Jeffrey Hatcher’s comedy about a 9-year-old boy’s journey of discovery through an etiquette class in 1967 Steubenville, Ohio, is back at ETC. Dale Hodges (Mrs. Mannerly, the etiquette teacher) and Raymond McAnally (the boy, Jeffrey, and more) are reunited in their roles after 14 years. It started Tuesday, but there wasn’t room to mention it last week! Runs through Nov. 1.
Thursday, Oct. 15
Miami University Art Museum, “Unfolding Stories 2026” | 4:30 p.m. Hiestand Galleries & Art Lobby Gallery, Miami University, 401 Maple St., Oxford. 513-529-2900. DETAILS: You knew there had to be a FotoFocus event here, right? This week, head up U.S. 27 a spell to the bucolic Miami University campus to experience “Unfolding Stories 2026,” a project that traces the history of the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum. Founded just in 1978, the museum now boasts a collection of more than 17,000 artworks and artifacts from visual artists, art historians, dancers and architects’ perspectives. More than 60 artists and scholars offer research, experimental animation or video, and mixed media installations based on that collection – including BLINK-like projection mapping on the university’s Art Building. Opening reception 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. is followed by curator’s talk and, at 7:30, outdoor projection mapping. Exhibition runs through Nov. 17.
Remember that all the shows we mentioned last week are still up and running, too, so you haven’t missed out. Check the FotoFocus Biennial’s master calendar.
Friday, Oct. 16
Gallery Jenseits, “Under This Shared Sky” | 5-8 p.m. 1101 Saint Gregory St., Suite 200, Mount Adams. 513-655-4777. DETAILS: This new (as of this summer) gallery on Mount Adams welcomes its second exhibition. “Under This Shared Sky” showcases the work of seven local women artists known together as the Chalice Collective: Mary Barr Rhodes, Tracy Casagrande Clancy, Judith Effa Ford, Janice Frierson Edwards, Carol MacConnell, Tracy McClorey and Lori Siebert. Each artist brings her own material language – paint, glass, ceramics, fiber and mixed media – and personal history to create contrasting textures, colors and forms that illuminate one another. Runs through Nov. 7.
CCM Philharmonia Orchestra, Mahler: Symphony No. 4 | 7:30 p.m. Corbett Auditorium, 290 CCM Blvd., University of Cincinnati. 513-556-4183. DETAILS: Why are American orchestras so great? Because music schools like CCM keep turning out such good players. Hear how good they are as the Philharmonia Orchestra starts a multiyear focus on Mahler’s middle symphonies with No. 4. There are no trombones, but there’s a soprano singing “The Heavenly Life” – yes, it is heavenly – in the finale. CCM student Yujin Zeng handles that duty. Alumna Annunziata Tomaro is guest conductor. Program also includes works by Dukas (no, not “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”) and Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Caroline Shaw.
Saturday, Oct. 17
Gorman Heritage Farm, Fall Farm Fun Days | 10 a.m.-2 p.m. 10052 Reading Road, Evendale. 513-563-6663. DETAILS: It’s the second Saturday on the farm. Enjoy hayrides, a crop maze, short trails. The farm tractors will be out for big and little kids, too. Pumpkins and pick-your-own sunflowers for sale while they last.
International Friendship Day | 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Theodore M. Berry International Friendship Park, 1135 Riverside Drive. 513-221-2610. DETAILS: Did you know Cincinnati has nine sister cities? The city has built cultural bridges from Japan to Jordan and China to Zimbabwe. Celebrate them and international amity generally at the fourth annual International Friendship Day at the park’s pavilion. The day includes performers from countries around the world, cultural booths from Cincinnati’s and Dayton, Ohio’s, sister cities and, of course, some international-themed food. There’s also art from children in war-torn Ukraine. (Kharkiv is one of our sister cities.)
But wait, there’s more on tap at the city’s parks. Fall Fest returns to Clifton’s Burnet Woods, starting at noon at the Trailside Nature Center (3251 Brookline Ave.). Enjoy free pumpkin carving and decorating for kids, music and entertainment, educational exhibits and a food truck.
City Flea | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. DETAILS: Not to frighten you, but it’s about time to think seriously about holiday presents. Fortunately, there is a handy solution, and you know the drill by now: Come down to the heart of Over-the-Rhine to browse the wares of the region’s creative craft types. You may go home with a few things for yourself, too.
(bottom) Carlos Ahrens, Kade Bennett and Seoyong Lee sing in “Così Fan Tutte.”
Queen City Opera, “Così Fan Tutte” | 3 p.m. Arts Center at Dunham, 1945 Dunham Way, Westwood. 513-503-8323. DETAILS: Think your beloved is incorruptibly faithful? Wanna bet? Ferrando and Guglielmo do just that about their dear Dorabella and Fiordiligi in this Mozart–da Ponte comedy gem. The boys are disappointed, but in the end they’re reassured by the schemers that set them up: “So do they all.” Repeats 3 p.m. Sunday.
Greater Cincinnati Guitar Society, Virgile Barthe | 7:30 p.m. First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton St., Avondale. 513-381-6868. DETAILS: There’s more music on Linton Street than just its namesake chamber music series. This week it’s the opener of the Greater Cincinnati Guitar Society’s concert series, featuring Virgile Barthe, first prize winner of the Guitar Foundation of America’s International Concert Artist’s Competition.
Sunday, Oct. 18
Christ Church, organ recital | 3 p.m. Christ Church Cathedral, 318 E. Fourth St., downtown. 513-621-1817. DETAILS: Christ Church Cathedral is rightly proud of the new nave organ it dedicated just a few years back. If you haven’t heard it in action, here’s a fine opportunity. Abraham Wallace, the cathedral’s associate director of music, mans the manuals in a program of music by Elgar, Franck, Florence Price, Edward Shippen Barnes, Amy Beach and Gerard Bunk.
Monday, Oct. 19
Cindependent, “Within Our Gates” | 7:30 p.m. Woodward Theater, 1404 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-345-7981. DETAILS: On the silver screen this week as part of Cindependent’s FotoFocus-affiliated silent film series, Reverse Shot, is Oscar Micheaux’s “Within Our Gates.” Made in 1920, this landmark of Black cinema offered a sharp counterpoint to “Birth of a Nation,” the 1915 white supremacist fever dream that exalted the South’s Lost Cause credo and the Ku Klux Klan. Long thought lost, a single print was discovered in Spain in 1979. The Library of Congress restored it in 1993. (You can watch the result here, but go see it on a big screen instead.)
Tuesday, Oct. 20
Live at Lunch, Southbank Quartet | 12:10 p.m. Christ Church Cathedral, 318 E. Fourth St., downtown. 513-621-1817. DETAILS: Don’t forget about this gem of a series that offers nourishment for your spirit along with your stomach. Bring your lunch (or buy it at the church) and hear the region’s musicians offer a free, hourlong concert in the peaceful setting of the cathedral. This week, it’s the Southbank Quartet, whose members teach at the Immanuel School of Music in Lakeside Park.
Caffè Vivace, CCM Faculty Jazztet | 7 p.m. Caffè Vivace, 975 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills. 513-601-9897. DETAILS: You know the old saying: Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. If you still believe that smug aphorism, you clearly have not heard the faculty members of the College-Conservatory of Music perform. Take, for example, what happens when the CCM Faculty Jazztet cuts loose. Hear it yourself. It’s a Tuesday night. You have something else going on?
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