David Klingshirn, founder of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, dies at 84

David Klingshirn, board member Trish Bryan, right, and Nina Perlove, former Hall of Fame Executive Director, presenting Philip Glass his medallion during a Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concert in 2014. Photo provided.

David Allan Klingshirn was one of Cincinnati’s biggest boosters, who loved the city and its arts. He was the founder of the Cincinnati-based American Classical Music Hall of Fame, which has recognized 165 individuals and institutions across the nation. Anxious to shine a light on classical music, which he believed received less recognition than sports, Mr. Klingshirn was fond of saying, “Cincinnati has major-league sports and major-league classical music.”

Mr. Klingshirn died at his home in Cincinnati on June 20. He was 84.

“David was a visionary who loved classical music and its ability to touch our souls and enrich our lives,” Gary Ingle, president of the Hall of Fame’s board of directors and CEO of the Music Teachers National Association. “He was a passionate advocate for classical music and guided the Hall of Fame tirelessly for these 27 years. The death of our founder is a deeply felt loss for all of us. Our hearts are heavy but filled with gratitude for David and the great legacy he leaves. His legacy will live on through the work we will continue to do together to advance the mission and goals of this very special organization.”

The Cincinnati businessman was the owner of Tischbein Pharmacies for 30 years. In 2004, he was ordained a Deacon for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and served at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral and St. Margaret’s Hall.

André Watts remembered as ‘a pianist’s pianist’

André Watts

The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music announced yesterday the death of renowned pianist André Watts on July 12. The artist was 77. Mr. Watts, a frequent guest artist in Cincinnati, was distinguished professor of piano and the Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music at the university. He joined the faculty there in 2004.

Mr. Watts was a brilliant statesman of the art form and a piano superstar, celebrated across the globe as a musical genius. At age 16 in 1962, Mr. Watts won a competition to play in Leonard Bernstein’s televised “Young People’s Concerts” series with the New York Philharmonic. A year later, he stepped in to play for Glenn Gould with the New York Philharmonic, launching a performance career that would span more than 60 years.

“André was first and foremost a gentleman who had a profound understanding of the human experience,” said Eugene Pridonoff, emeritus professor of piano at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. “His humility was genuine and he never let his fame define him.  This was reflected in his music making that was always in service to the music and never about him.  He will be greatly missed!”

Mr. Watts was beloved by Cincinnati audiences.  He appeared in 17 subscription weekends with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, beginning in March of 1970, when he performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor. He also appeared with the Cincinnati Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 1977, performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.

New work honoring late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to premiere in Dallas

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich/photo by Bill Keefrey

About two decades ago, I remember the world premiere of “Millennium Fantasy” for piano and orchestra by American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in music. The soloist was pianist Jeffrey Biegel, who performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Jesús López-Cobos. It was commissioned by a consortium of 27 orchestras — still a novel idea at the time. Zwilich became one of my favorite composers.

Now the talents of Jeffrey Biegel and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich have come together in the creation of “Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” honoring the late Supreme Court Justice. It will be premiered tonight by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya in Meyerson Symphony Center.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, photo provided

Zwilich’s new composition pays homage to and remembers Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the first anniversary of her death in September 2020. The new work will feature texts by poet/librettist Lauren K. Watel and will be performed by mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves – one of Justice Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers, who sang at her memorial – and pianist Jeffrey Biegel.

Kentucky Symphony to hold trumpet-palooza this weekend

The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra opens its summer series this weekend

The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, led by James R. Cassidy, will open its three-concert summer series with a nostalgic 1970s Trumpet-palooza on July 10 & 11 in Devou and Tower Parks in Northern Kentucky.

“This marks the 27th Summer that the KSO has provided free family-friendly culture and entertainment for Tri-state residents. Forty percent of those attending drive from Hamilton County,” says J.R.

Talented trumpeters for this program — Matthew Anklan, Joshua Kauffman, Rob Parton, John Zappa and Hank Mautner — will recreate the sounds of of the ’70s as performed by trumpeters Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, Don Ellis, Bill Chase and Chuck Mangione. They’ll appear with the KSO’s own jazz orchestra.

CCM welcomes new performing faculty members

Kristin Lee; photo by Sophie Zhai

The College-Conservatory of Music at UC has been busy adding faculty members recently. Dean Stanley Romanstein announced these prominent new profs this week:

Kristin Lee has been appointed Assistant Professor of Violin beginning Aug. 15, 2021. She is a recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a top prizewinner of the 2012 Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions.

James Conlon adds advisory title

James Conlon

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announced on Oct. 17 the appointment of James Conlon, conductor laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival, as its Artistic Advisor. Conlon will begin his role in September 2021, following the conclusion of BSO Music Director Marin Alsop’s historic 14-year tenure.

Conlon has affirmed that he is not a candidate in the BSO’s upcoming Music Director search. The orchestra plans a “multi-year, international search” of visiting conductors beginning in its 2021-22 season.

Conlon will be leading three concert weeks per year in each of the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 seasons, and will fill duties off the podium, such as fill orchestral vacancies. Ironically, his first appearance will mark his debut with the Baltimore Symphony.

CSO, Pops nominated for two Grammy Awards

Both the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Pops are in the list of 2020 Grammy nominations released today by the Recording Academy. And there are several other Cincinnati-tied nominations this year, too.

Music director Louis Langrée, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra are nominated for Best Orchestral Performance for “Transatlantic.” This album includes the world premiere recording of the critical edition of George Gershwin’s An American in Paris. The CSO also gave the world premiere performance of this new edition at La Seine Musicale in Paris in 2017.

The award goes to both the conductor and to the orchestra.

And John Morris Russell and the Cincinnati Pops, as well as producer Elaine Martone, are nominated for “American Originals 1918” in the category of Best Classical Compendium. Performers on the album include collaborators Rhiannon Giddens, Steep Canyon Rangers and Pokey LaFarge.

Other local ties include violinist Tessa Lark, who studied at CCM, for her recording of Torke’s “Sky” Violin Concerto with David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony, in the category of Best Classical Instrumental Solo.

Cincinnati-born jazz pianist extraordinaire Fred Hersch has received yet another nod for Best Instrumental Composition for “Begin Again” on the album, Fred Hersch & The WDR Big Band” conducted by Vince Mendoza.

And from Northern Kentucky University, the recording of a composition by NKU School of the Arts faculty member Kurt Sander, The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, is nominated for Best Choral Performance. The double-CD set features the PaTRAM Institute Singers led by Peter Jermihov, conductor. The 90-minute piece is one of the first English-language settings of the Eastern Orthodox liturgy.

And two choral conductors associated with the Vocal Arts Ensemble are up for Best Choral Performance: Craig Hella Johnson and Donald Nally.

Other names spotted:

Blanton Alspaugh, producer of the Vocal Arts Ensemble’s “Canticle” – released on the CSO’s Fanfare Cincinnati label – as well as Sander‘s The Divine Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom, is nominated for “Producer of the Year, Classical.”

In the same list, under nominated producer James Ginsburg, I spotted brothers Anthony McGill, clarinetist, and Demarre McGill, flutist and CCM professor… 

Randy Brecker to visit Caffe Vivace

It’s a chance to see a world-class trumpeter in a venue not much bigger than your living room, says Brent Gallaher, co-owner of Caffe Vivace in Walnut Hills.

Caffe Vivace, the hip new coffee house by day, jazz venue by night, is hosting Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker in its listening room next weekend. He’ll play four sets over two nights — Feb. 15 and 16 — with two different groups of outstanding local musicians.

Salonen to lead SF Symphony; Bryce Dessner to have role

Esa-Pekka Salonen has been named as the next music director of the San Francisco Symphony, succeeding Michael Tilson Thomas. And in what seems to be a trend, the orchestra will take on the new approach of having an artistic leadership team with a group of eight collaborative members, who will “reimagine” the role of the orchestra.

Aaron and Bryce Dessner performed Bryce Dessner’s “St. Carolyn by the Sea” with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Photo courtesy of CSO

One of those is Cincinnati native Bryce Dessner, of the band The National. Of course, most of us know that he is also an excellent classical composer and curator, whose music has been premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony.

The Finnish conductor Salonen will serve as Music Director Designate for the next year and half, and will become the 12th Music Director in the illustrious 107-year history of the San Francisco Symphony.

His tenure as Music Director will begin in September 2020 following the conclusion of Thomas’ remarkable 25-year tenure.

In a statement, the orchestra says that “Esa-Pekka values a collaborative approach to artistic leadership and music making. Together, the SFS and Esa-Pekka Salonen will reimagine the role of a symphony orchestra in our community and in today’s world.”

The new partners come from a variety of cultural disciplines. They are pianist, film producer, and composer of award-winning film scores Nicholas Britell; soprano and curator Julia Bullock, who has made social consciousness and activism fundamental to her work; flutist, educator, and advocate for new and experimental music Claire Chase; composer, new music curator, and member of The National Bryce Dessner; violinist, musical director, and artistic trailblazer Pekka Kuusisto; composer and genre-breaking collaborator Nico Muhly; artificial intelligence entrepreneur and roboticist Carol Reiley; and jazz bassist, vocalist, and undefinable artist Esperanza Spalding.

Salonen will lead the orchestra in concerts on January, 18, 19, and 20, 2019.

Azar Lawrence to headline Clarion Jazz at Memorial Hall

Azar Lawrence. Photo provided.

Summer concert series are starting to be announced. The freshly-renovated Memorial Hall is a great place to hear jazz:

Award winning saxophonist Azar Lawrence will kick off Clarion Jazz’s second annual Open Door Series on Saturday, May 26, at Memorial Hall, OTR.