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Classical Music
Janelle Gelfand on the classical music scene


Janelle's pen has taken her to Japan, China, Carnegie Hall, Europe (twice), East and West Coasts, and Florida. In fact, Janelle was the first Enquirer reporter to report from Europe via e-mail -- in 1995.

Janelle began writing for the Cincinnati Enquirer as a stringer in 1991 while writing a Ph.D. dissertation in musicology at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She joined the Enquirer staff in 1993.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she graduated from Stanford University, Janelle has lived in Cincinnati for more than 30 years. In her free time, this pianist plays chamber music with her circle of musical friends in Cincinnati.

She covers the Cincinnati Symphony, May Festival and Cincinnati Opera, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, chamber music ensembles, and as many recitals and events at CCM and NKU as possible.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Affordable arts for kids


Have you discovered a great affordable arts prep program for aspiring teen and 'tween artists, singers, dancers and actors? Tip us off:


Sunday, November 20, 2005

Jake and Flicka dish about opera


Earlier this week at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Jake Heggie, left (Dead Man Walking and The End of the Affair) and opera star Frederica "Flicka" von Stade braved tornado weather (hard to believe that now!) to discuss the future of opera in America. The two have, of course, collaborated since Jake was in the PR department for San Francisco Opera, and Flicka learned that, besides writing good PR, he was also a darn good songwriter, too.

Even though the session, moderated by Dean Doug Lowry, was mainly a mutual admiration society, the visitors did address some important issues in the opera world today -- such as whether opera and musical theater are in fact merging into one art form. Opera, it seems, is at a crossroads.

"It is still ultimately a European art form. I've been trying to find a way to bring musical theater elements into the opera world," said Jake. "Everyone is waiting for the next big idea, which may even include the pop and rock worlds."

He pointed out that, in most cities, opera attendance is down, so you have singing actors in the opera world who love musical theater, and musical theater stars who are breaking into opera, such as Audra McDonald.

Flicka: Composers like Heggie, Richard Danielpour (Margaret Garner) and John Adams (Doctor Atomic, Nixon in China and Death of Klinghoffer) write exceptionally well for the voice.

"From the singer’s perspective, what's especially exciting in the last two decades is that there are people who know how to write for the voice," she said.

And the topics they choose are "huge issues," she added. "It's heart to heart."

Opera fans should expect more of the above. In San Francisco, for instance, Doctor Atomic sold out more than any operas the company did this season.

Jake: "These are not merely 'CNN operas.' Our own American stories are of interest to people. You have to be aware of what’s in popular culture and what things are on our minds. Doctor Atomic is about much more than the atom bomb – it's the human story."

Then Flicka spoke candidly about her own background as a singer and musician, and about the collaborative art between muse and composer:

"We singers are always not the most confident lot. We are dealing with an instrument as big as a dime, hidden in the throat.

"I didn't know where middle C was when I started my career. Some of our greatest singers can’t read music. That renders singers vulnerable in the musician's world. To develop a relationship of trust is vital. ... It was clear to me that (Heggie) loves the human voice, and not everyone does."

Jake: "What the singers have to say is extremely important," he said. "We’re just writing ideas. If there's no one to champion it, it's just paper on a shelf."

Dead Man Walking, he said, "was an intimate story with huge forces at work. It wasn't about the death penalty. It was about the human struggle, life, death and redemption."

When he and Terrence McNally (who was, in fact scheduled but who canceled his appearance) collaborated on Dead Man Walking, McNally told him, "I'm not a poet – I'm writing a play. The music ultimately has to lead."

That said, Jake pointed out that "you can't make a good opera out of a bad libretto," mentioning the great collaboration of Mozart and da Ponte. "Luckily I was working with someone who loves opera and loves singers."

Is there a different hierarchy of singers, directors and composers today, than say, 100 years, or even 50 years ago?

Flicka: "Yes. Singers (then) were first and foremost, and the public came to see certain singers. For me, it was Callas, Tabaldi, Sutherland – I was maids to them all! It was a singer's world. The voice commanded the greatest respect and admiration. That has changed.

"Then it became a director's world – such as Ponelle's Marriage of Figaro. A great deal has been asked of singers theatrically that was never considered before. ... With all the competition today of movies and DVDs, the opera world wants believable characters. People see more than they hear.

"Now it's a composer's world. Even with the great voices of today, what draws people to the theater are the new works.

"It doesn't mean that singing is any less good. I grew up at the end of the Judy Garland era into the Streisand era. There is no one like that now. There's a saturation of entertainment now, and so much input, it's hard to tell where it's going."

On balancing career and family: "Personally, the greatest thing in my life is my children. It was disasters of kids being sick on opening night. ... Your time is divided. Marilyn Horne, my dear friend, told her daughter, 'You are the most important person in my life, but singing IS my life.' It's more powerful often than you'd like it to be."

As a mom, she said that exploring the role of the convict's mother in Dead Man Walking was "very upsetting, personally, and revealing, and a very large experience. She was a woman who's experienced such sorrow and disappointment."

When pressed by Dean Lowry on what vocal students should aim for, she said,"Solid vocal technique and the classical training is the essence, whether it's pop or classical."

But vocal technique, she added, is "an inexact science."

As for Anne Midgette's story in last Sunday’s New York Times on the inability to train big voices today – Flicka revealed that she had wrapped some dishes in the article.

"That's my take on it," she declared. She believes there are many fine "big" singers today, who waited for the right moment and protected their voices, singers like Jill Grove and Christine Brewer.

"It's the times. The world is louder. The orchestra is playing very loudly, and when you are surrounded, the impulse is to give everything you’ve got."


Sunday, November 13, 2005

Symphony attendance, Music Hall and the Banks

How great it was to see nearly 400 kids for "College Nite" at the symphony Friday night. Clearly, the Cincinnati Symphony has struggled this season to fill the 3,400-seat Music Hall, week after week, night after night.

In particular, symphony attendance the past few weeks has looked especially dismal. The orchestra is considering, in fact, "downsizing" Music Hall to be smaller for symphony concerts, by closing off parts of the hall or pushing the stage out to the center of the hall – a "thrust" stage.

Sometime this season, the orchestra will likely hire theater and/or acoustical consultants to come up with a plan.

Music director Paavo Jarvi is concerned because of the perception that tickets are always available.

"There is no demand," he says.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, another theater where the orchestra played in the '30s, which has exceptional acoustics and is a mid-sized hall, is crumbling in disrepair. That, of course, is the Emery. It's a jewel of a theater, with so much potential, yet support of its renovation has waxed and waned over the past two decades.

Jarvi is afraid that if the orchestra were to leave Music Hall even for a few concerts somewhere else, the Grande Dame of Elm Street would fall into a decline.

Then there's the Banks. In today’s A&E section, our arts staff proposed ways to make the Banks an arts destination – including a mid-sized theater that could present movies, or even chamber music or choirs, says Margaret McGurk. I would add to that, a theater suitable for an alternative symphony series or a permanent home for the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.

What do YOU think?

Should Music Hall be redesigned to accommodate fewer seats for symphony concerts?

Should the Emery be revived? And if the orchestra played there -- even for a few concerts -- would that jeopardize Music Hall?

Should a new theater suitable for symphonic music be built as part of the Banks?

OR: Should Music Hall be left alone, and the symphony make more effort to beef up its attendance? Already, the board is considering things like mounting video screens on either side of the stage, or even mounting screens OUTSIDE of Music Hall – or on Fountain Square.

What about crime in the neighborhood? Should it be a priority of the new mayor and City Council to make the area around Music Hall safer?

Let me know your ideas!


Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Music at the Cathedral

On Sunday, one of the most beautiful fall days of the year, I headed down to Covington's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption to hear a new violin-piano duo, performing on the Cathedral's music series. Ukrainian-born Anna Polusmiak, a prize-winning pianist and NKU grad, joined Moscow-born violinist Tatiana Berman for a recital of music by Debussy, Beethoven and Arvo Part.

Besides the fact that they looked like they could be sisters, this was a duo that clicked musically, too.

Berman, who is the significant other of Paavo Jarvi, may be partly responsible for the large number of Cincinnati Symphony players in the audience! She studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music in London, and proved to be a communicative artist of the highest caliber, who projected a pure, sweet tone on her violin.

Polusmiak was a perceptive partner, who matched the violinist in mood and tackled difficult piano passages effortlessly -- and with the artistic maturity of one who is much older than 22. (Incidentally, Anna makes her CSO subscription debut April 27-29 in Music Hall.)

Despite the difficult acoustics for such a recital, I was particularly captivated by their Debussy Sonata, which had wonderful color and spirit. Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata was a joy, as it unfolded with genuine warmth, vigor and spontaneity.

A large crowd of more than 460 packed the church, and applauded their approval. More from this duo, please!


Friday, November 04, 2005

Loose Ends: Answering mail and final impressions


It's been a week since we've returned from China, and everything we did in one whirlwind week there is just beginning to sink in. Thanks for all of your letters and e-mails. I want to answer a few of them here.

First, to answer Dennis and Pat Coyne of Erlanger in today's Letters to the Editor:

Pops ticket prices in China are set by the presenter, which in this case was Zhang Wu, president of a big advertising firm that designed the 2008 Olympics logo. When the orchestra tours, generally the presenter sets the locations and times of the concerts, as well as ticket prices and concert promotions.

It's true that some tickets cost upwards of a month's salary, but I think that some people were there as "guests" of their companies and others obtained free tickets other ways. (This I learned by talking to a few people who spoke English at the concerts.) Nevertheless, a conductor friend in Shanghai, Pu Qi Jiang, tried three weeks in advance to buy tickets for the Shanghai concert, and said that most of the lower-priced seats (costing about a week's salary for the average person) were already sold out.

Angel Joseph of Cincinnati wants to know if the Pops will repeat or record the show it gave in China.

"I read every word," he writes. "Hope you've recovered from all the travel. Thanks for sacrificing your body for your readers."

You're welcome. The Pops program was designed specially for China, sort of a compilation of their greatest hits. They won't repeat it here, but they play a full season in Music Hall. Their next concert is their popular holiday show, Dec. 9-11. Click here for info.

As for recordings, they just came out with a new 4-CD box set, the "Ultimate Movie Music Collection," that includes much of the music they played in China (but not Disney). I'ts on Telarc, for about $33. View the tracks and order it here.

Rocky and Jialing (a native of China) Burkhardt write that they love the Cincinnati Pops and wonder who was footing the bill for the tour. As in all international tours, the presenters (in this case a Chinese presenter and a Singapore presenter) pay a fee to the orchestra for performing. What is not covered through fees is paid by sponsors or donors. In this case, Edyth and Carl Lindner are picking up the tab!

Jean Schuster wants to know whether the concert taped in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by CCTV, China's largest TV station, will be available for viewing in Cincinnati. I am trying to find the answer to this one. Stay tuned!

Other impressions:

1. Soft Americans: In China we had the hardest beds we've ever slept on. Many of the musicians put their down bedspreads underneath them, and one curled up in a chair.

2. Red envelopes: In order to get stories in the newspaper, arts groups give the press "red envelopes" filled with money -- ie, bribes. In fact, the red envelope policy seems to be how much of China operates...

3. Press tickets: The press get free tickets to concerts, but they are only allowed to stay 15 minutes! Guess they make up most of their reviews...

I'm still trying, with no success, to upload photos to my blog. In the meantime, did you see our Enquirer photo galleries?

Pops touring China

Concert photos

Pops in Singapore



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