Over the past three years, it seems that there have been more than the usual number of notable leadership changes among Greater Cincinnati choral groups. Some shifts were driven by retirements. Others came about as directors departed for new positions. And some were propelled by the uncertainty that has upended nearly every aspect of life during the past two years.
“I can’t do a 10-minute picture. Making someone’s portrait is a collaboration. If they want to do it in 10 minutes, that’s not a collaboration. That’s a snapshot.”
Chamber Music Cincinnati will perform each concert this coming season not only in Memorial Hall, but in one of the area’s largest Black churches. Plus, they asked every ensemble that is performing on the series to play at least one work by a Black or a Brown composer.
Most stories about John Morris Russell spend lots of time discussing his showmanship, his brash, cheerleader-ish onstage persona as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra – the guy one of his former colleagues described as “a wind-up toy” that never runs down. But this is a story about a more contemplative JMR, as he has become known over his 20 years in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra organization.
D. Lynn Meyers has been the driving force behind Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati since the 1990s. The significance of her contributions to the region’s arts community is the focus of this David Lyman profile.
Music, whether consumed, performed or taught, is a highly personal activity. It’s about making a connection. But when a public health crisis made face-to-face sharing dangerous. digital video provided an easy-to-use – and often free – alternative.
What could be more grand than to spend a warm summer evening in the Taft Museum’s oh-so-tasteful rear garden sharing a sumptuous dinner, good music and perhaps even some dancing? What was the worst that could happen? A thunderstorm? A cold snap? How about a pandemic? No one had planned for that.
It’s tempting to call Brett Stover a whiz kid. I realize that may seem a curious choice of words to describe a man of 56. But if you’ve ever met Stover, you know what I mean. There is nothing about him that remotely jibes with his age. Nothing, that is, other than the smarts that he brings to the table.
Cincinnati Ballet opens its production of the 19th Century warhorse at Music Hall February 13. And it will be gorgeous, I’m sure. But why not one of the many other fine works that fill the ballet repertory?
Year in and year out, “Nutcracker” has been the reliable cash cow that bankrolled the rest of the Cincinnati Ballet season. And year in and year out, Frisch’s has been there, too, supporting the existing production even as it set aside money for the next production. This is how that relationship came about…
