Did you know that September is Classical Music Month in America? In 1994, the Congress passed House Joint Resolution 239, which would “exalt the many talented composers, conductors, and musicians who bring classical music to our ears,” President Clinton said upon his signing of the bill into law.
So how can a senior living in Cincinnati celebrate Classical Music Month? There are plenty of opportunities to do so.
The Queen City is home to several renowned organizations — in particular, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops, Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Ballet — that keep classical music alive and well.
One of our recent Deupree House resident group outings was, in fact, to the Greenacres Arts Center’s annual Celebration Concert, where we heard incredible feature performances by members of the Pops, the Opera, the Ballet and the May Festival Chorus.
"Many of these students and their instructors give local performances, bringing beauty and cultural enrichment not only to seniors, but to the community at large."
Speaking of the annual May Festival (one of the oldest vocal performance festivals in North America), there is a plethora of choirs and chorales in the Tristate. Many of them draw heavily on classical pieces for their performance repertoires.
And the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (CCM) attracts talent the world over to come here to study. Many of these students and their instructors give local performances, bringing beauty and cultural enrichment not only to seniors, but to the community at large.
Today, let’s highlight just a few of the many classical music performances seniors living in Cincinnati can take in as we celebrate Classical Music Month.
Check out CCM’s Polish Festival
Poland has contributed heavily to the classical music canon. Chopin, Lipinski and Dobrzyński are giants in the world of composition, and they’re just three of many of their countrymen who have made a lasting impact on classical music.
This month, CCM’s Director of Orchestral Studies, Mark Gibson, has organized a series of performances of music by Polish classical composers. Polish Festival promises to bring Cincinnatians and CCM students, faculty and alumni together with award-winning guest artists and scholars, in a complete celebration of Polish music.
See the Opera... without going to the Opera
Music Hall, the home of the Opera, Symphony and Pops, is currently undergoing an historic renovation, so performances are being held at alternate venues. Although the Opera’s 2016 season is already complete, there are still one-off performances in the works.
One of those will occur in the Cincinnati Club’s Oak Room on Sept. 22, when the Opera partners with CCM under the organizations’ joint Opera Fusion: New Works program to present excerpts from Some Light Emerges, a new American opera by Laura Kaminsky.
Admission is free, but reservations are required. To make yours, call 513-241-2742. Click here to visit the Opera’s website and get more information.
Swing into adventure with the Pops
The Pops has a limited number of performances this fall and winter — also due to the Music Hall renovation — which will take place at the Taft Theatre.
This month, the Pops welcomes actor Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica, Blade Runner), who will narrate the orchestra’s “Hollywood Action & Adventure” shows. The performances will feature music from your favorite sci-fi and adventures films and television shows, including Star Trek, the Indiana Jones series and Mission: Impossible.
Click here to purchase your tickets!
A string of lovely performances
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) will also perform its 2016-17 season at the Taft Theatre while its Music Hall home is being renovated. This month, the Symphony gives several performances:
- On Sept. 21, it welcomes renowned guest pianist Lang Lang, who will perform Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto, after which the CSO will play Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony.
- Sept. 23-24, the CSO welcomes three-time Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, who will perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, one of the most celebrated violin concertos of all time. The Symphony will then perform Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, known for its “Clara” theme.
- Finally, Sept. 30-Oct. 1, the CSO will perform the second part of its three-year visual-musical project, the Pelléas et Mélisande trilogy, which explores how three composers — Schoenberg, Fauré and Debussy —interpreted Maeterlinck’s evocative play.
In “Part II: Water,” shifting multimedia displays and live performance art will propel the audience, “toward the arrival of the story’s potent key characters.”
There are plenty of ways to celebrate Classical Music Month in Cincinnati
Go experience one of the shows we highlighted here, seek out your own, or pop over to Shake It Records, Everybody’s Records or your favorite neighborhood music shop to pick up a classical album or two. Spend the evening in with a pair of headphones and some of the most complex, beautiful music ever written!
