Examples of Charley Harper’s art are on countless gift shop shelves: mugs, gift cards, calendars, puzzles, planners, coasters, wind chimes, earrings, tiles – his images are everywhere. But what about Edie Harper, Charley’s wife? A new exhibit at the Taft Museum of Art gives Edie her due.
Over the years, Tamia Stinson has been described in many ways: serial entrepreneur, Slumber Party Dance-off Champion, visionary, “Purple Rain” aficionado, spreadsheet nerd. There is a bit of truth in each one of those, though I prefer to think of her as a matchmaker. She prefers “connector” to describe her work.
All year long, Greater Cincinnati is blissfully awash in fine music. Recitals, chamber music, opera, symphonies. These are blessings that are so abundant that it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. But there is nothing quite like the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra’s Summermusik Festival.
In 2024, Cincinnati Opera announced the creation of the three-opera Black Opera Project. The first of those three operas, “Lalovavi,” premieres at Music Hall on July 9, with music by Kevin Day and a libretto by poet Tifara Brown, with stage direction by Kimille Howard and conducted by Kevin Miller.
“Humanity in Harmony” is more than just a catchy tagline. It’s a philosophical turn of phrase that signals a shift in the way the May Festival hopes to connect with the community. Festival leaders are seeking to recreate some of the community fervor that brought the May Festival into existence in 1873.
Leong and Oyediran are not the first to recognize the significance of the beloved label. There have been numerous efforts to boost the legacy of King Records. But why did it take a pair of outsiders, children of immigrants, guys not raised in Cincinnati, to put its history on a national stage?
The Aronoff Center for the Arts turns 30 this season. In those three decades, the Aronoff has gone from a sometimes-controversial development that some believed was part of a plan to abandon Music Hall to what is arguably the hub of the city center’s arts and entertainment.
“So when I came to America, I came searching for that freedom I had heard so much about. And the people I discovered in America were exactly like that. They understood that we all need each other, that a community is reliant on each other. Overall, every person I met in America was that kind of person. I can’t imagine being in a better place than Cincinnati.”
“There’s nothing we could add to the original source material – Tchaikovsky – or the classic Ellington-Strayhorn work, so we had to approach this thinking, ‘How can we add to the legacy?’ There’s a little bit of everything in it; Brazilian, hip-hop, R&B, swing, New Orleans jazz – it’s all in there,” Lechliter said.
“You know, I’ve been very lucky in my life. My father emigrated from Lithuania in 1904. He had witnessed pogroms … Had my father’s parents not made the incredibly bold decision to come to America … he almost certainly would have died in a concentration camp. Instead, I get to live the American dream.”
