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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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Thursday, June 29, 2006

An afternoon at WVXU



It's a little out of order (Blogger.com wouldn't let me post this photo yesterday -- the wonders of technology) but here's Cincinnati Opera's Evans Mirageas interviewing Sandra Bernhard, head of CCM's opera department and director for "A Masked Ball." In case you can't see the not-too-subtle sign, this is for WVXU's "Around Cincinnati" spot, to air 7 p.m. July 9.

Here's the link to VXU's Web site, which has, incidentally, a tribute to Oscar Treadwell that you can listen to!


Ending the evening at Great American Ball Park








Carmella Jones, who is singing Ulrica in "A Masked Ball" was gearing up at Home Plate to sing the National Anthem. Did you know that by day she's a trauma nurse?? Talk about an operatic career....

She was sharing the stadium with (beside the Reds) a group of brave men from Wright Patterson Air Force Base (and their kids). With Carmella, it's hugs all 'round.

Then, in our seats (sort of near third base), Evans and moi watch the Reds lose (actually, they were winning at that point).

Evans is swapping baseball stories with members of the casts of Tales of Hoffmann and A Masked Ball. That's Sarah Coburn on the right. Wait 'til you hear her sing Olympia! In the middle is Kim Josephson, singing Anckarstrom (A Masked Ball) and his son. And on the far left, Richard Margison, who sings King Gustavo III in Masked Ball.

And look who we ran into! Robin Gehl, program director for WGUC and avid baseball fan, doing her weekly (or maybe, daily) volunteer stint for the Reds. Who knew?

Thanks to the opera's Jennifer Bellin for providing some of these photos.


A Day at the Opera







Traipsing along behind Evans Mirageas, Cincinnati Opera's artistic director, for today's story was an eye-opener. We began in Evans' trendy downtown loft apartment, where the happy homemaker made us (the opera's Jennifer Bellin and me) a batch of scrumptious whole wheat muffins. He showed off the art on his walls (the company's longtime scenic designer Jay Depenbrock's sketches from a 1980s production of "Onegin," local artist Susan Lambert's Eiffel Tower and a nice abstract by Tom Levine, Jimmy's brother). Then we were off for the day!

What followed were: meetings, meetings and more meetings. Outside of Music Hall, a conversation was going on entirely in French, as the French cast assembled for a "meet and greet" upstairs. Above, you see Evans talking with a couple of lighting interns, Patty Beggs (general director and CEO) chatting with guild member Lois Brenner -- and what appears to be chorus director Henri Venanzi's back -- at the wonderful brunch spread, provided by the guild.

Then, Evans sits with a couple of tenors: Vinson Cole, who is singing the title role in "Hoffmann" and Mark Panuccio, for a cast orientation meeting (it's just like camp!).

Finally, there's a production meeting for "Hoffmann," with director Mark Streshinsky, right (doesn't he look like Jake Heggie??!!) and about 15 others in the production crew. This, all before noon.


Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Peter and Paavo

Hey, I found a great photo of the two P's taken backstage at Music Hall by Sandey Utley, who has a Paavo fan site. It's at http://paavoproject.blogspot.com.


Thursday, June 22, 2006

Show Me the Way


OK, so I got a little lost trying to find Peter Frampton’s basement studio for an Enquirer story. First, there’s no number on his house, which one finds down a winding, secluded lane in Indian Hill. (Later, he tells me that someone sent him a letter addressed to “Peter Frampton, Cincinnati, Ohio” and he got it!)

So I’m stumbling around the stone path going to the back of his house, where one supposedly finds the recording studio, and I’m starting to call Cara Owsley, our photographer (who took this photo), on my cell phone, when out pops a head and Peter Frampton says in a pleasant British accent, “Come on! You’re almost there!”

Slighter than one would suspect from his publicity photos, Peter pads around in tennies, black T-shirt and brown-striped pants. Yes, the curly blond locks are gone (that earned him the nickname “Golden Boy”). He’s the perfect host, running to get bottles of water (“Water for the girls!”) and cups of Earl Gray tea (“milk? Lemon?”), pulling up chairs between his speakers, the better to hear a track from his new album, almost ready for primetime.

“When we’re recording, everyone takes turns with the drinks and chips,” he says.

Besides his upcoming gig with the Cincinnati Pops, we talked about:

The Who’s Who of rock guitarists appearing on his new CD, “Fingerprints” – Guitarist and co-producer Gordon Kennedy, in “Float,” a piece Frampton played at his father’s funeral in September. Kennedy also appears with him at the Pops and wrote much of Frampton’s last album, “Now,” with him.

Also: Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman (“Cornerstones”); original Shadows members Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett (“My Cup of Tea”); Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and Matt Cameron (a cover of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” and “Blowin’ Smoke”); Warren Haynes (“Blooze”); Paul Franklin (“Double Nickels”) British sax legend Courtney Pine (“Boot It Up”); guitarist John Jorgenson (“Souvenirs De Nos Peres”).

Black Hole Sun, a Cup of Tea and the Blues – One of the highlights is a cover of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” that was planned in Ohio. When Frampton played a Toledo political fund raiser with Pearl Jam and Neil Young, he approached three of the players to ask them to play his album’s instrumental version of “Black Hole Sun.”

He also made a track with one of his heroes, Hank Marvin, lead guitarist of the English band the Shadows, the first band he ever heard on television as a child of 8.

“I had to go to England to do that. So that’s a very important track – “My Cup of Tea” it’s called,” he says.

Recently, Frampton wrote a blues number that he recorded in one take in New York with guitarist Warren Haynes, “an amazing guitar player that’s playing in his own band, but is also playing with the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers – when he has a moment (laughs). I’ve always loved the blues, and played my version of the blues.”

What he was going for – “If you really admire another artist and you click, there’s no reason to say that there’s not hopefully going to be some sparks happen. And that’s what you’re going for.”

Making his first instrumental CD – “I’m so pleased I did do it. Because it definitely was a challenge, a big stretch to reach out to all the different things that have influenced me and take them and do that. You know, to work with those people, not knowing what would happen. I guess I hate (the words) ‘reinventing yourself.’ But it definitely opened up a lot of avenues musically for me.”

Limited edition “Peter Frampton” – “Martin (Guitars) has given me a Limited Edition Peter Frampton model. It’s actually the Frampton’s Camel version. There’s a little camel at the top. Because when I left Humble Pie, and I did a couple of records, Frampton’s Camel was the first one I bought with what was leftover from Humble Pie’s earnings in cash. I went to Manny’s in New York and just bought a D45 Martin, because that was my favorite acoustic, and did the album with it with a lot of good songs that have lasted. The next year when we were touring, it got stolen.

“So that’s why Dick Boak from the Martin company, when I told him that story…they put my name on this. I guess it’s going to be about 60 to 100 limited edition. So that’s like, honor.”

On playing Fillmore West (San Francisco) in the ‘60s – “I remember coming in for the first show. There was no back entrance. You had to come in through the crowd in the original Fillmore. Which is walking over people lying down! (Laughs.) And we were supporting the Grateful Dead. We were given a quick Grateful Dead-support band course. It’s, maybe you should bring your own cokes and water, because they spike everything. That’s when acid was flowing free in the late 60s. We escaped.”

How he composes – “With Gordon (Kennedy), I’ll bring some little demo bits I’ve got, and plug it through the speakers here. And we listen to all that, and he plays me his ideas. We start talking and we work out what we fancy to work with. Then we set about working on a title, and then start to put it all together.

“There’s no rules. I could wake up, and Gordon could walk in and I’ll say – ‘Rosebud!’ I don’t know, it’s just got me today. So that’s the title. That puts you in a space where you’ll both be thinking about that. He’s the wordsmith. We’ll talk and we’ll write. To me, melody is much easier. Bernie Taupin and Elton John work around the other way. Bernie will give him some verses and says, try these out. I think it’s easier to write a natural melody.”

“Float” – “It’s a slow ballad featuring Gordon Kennedy. It’s one of the first things we did for the project, here (in his studio). It was actually something that I played at my dad’s funeral. On entrance music, I played that track, ‘Float,’ which I thought was very apt. And there’s another piece on the record also, ‘Oh When,’ and his name is Owen, so that’s a little code. That’s an instrumental piece that I played at the funeral. The record is dedicated to my father and also to Bob Mayo who was my keyboard player and musical partner for so many years.

“And this record definitely would not have gotten made without my dad, not only for creating me (laughs) but for being there, and for Bob, and the encouragement from both, two of the most important people in my life. And that’s also been something that’s kept me going through hard times as well, thinking of how they’d be saying, ‘Come on.’”

Guitar heroes – “The biggest is Django Reinhardt. He’s a Belgian who lived in France, died in 1954 and he was a gypsy guitar player who played with his band called the Hot Club de France, with the very famous violinist, Stephane Grapelli.

“And Hank Marvin. When my father bought me the album, ‘Shadows,’ he bought Mum and himself ‘The Best of Hot Club de France,’ featuring Django Reinhardt. So, I would put on the Shadows, and my dad would be hovering with the Django Reinhardt.
“Even though I hated it when I first heard it, because it wasn’t rock n roll -- it was old people’s fuddy duddy – the more I learned from Hank, the more I realized that Django was probably pretty incredible too. It’s funny because both Hank and I are into Django Reinhardt now.”

How he started guitar - “When I went up into the attic with my dad to get our suitcases down to go on summer holiday, there was this little case about this big up there, and that was my grandmother’s ukulele. It was a banjolele, like a ukulele. It had ukulele strings, but it was banjo-shaped. A miniature banjo. I said, Dad, what is this? He said, ‘banjolele. Want me to play it for you?’ So he tuned it up, played chords on it, and that was it.

“That was the first time I heard that. ‘Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley’ I think he played. He used to do “Freight Train, Freight Train” (he sings, goin’ so fast.. .) and all those skiffley type of things. (Skiffle = British folk)

“So I said, do we have to put this back? He said, no, and he showed me the chords and that’s how I started. It was probably just before my 8th birthday. And by the time Christmas came around in 1958, I asked for a guitar. That’s when, he’d given me all the instruction on the banjolele, so I just had to wake him up in the middle of the night Christmas morning and say, how do you tune the other two strings? He said, ‘Oh Christ, do you know what time it is?’ So he got up. And I was off.”

Influenced by – “All the greats, I had mine from the jazz side, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass – I could go and on. Clapton, Eddie Van Halen. Jeff Beck, an awful lot. Very inventive player. Peter Green, Mick Taylor. If I’ve left anybody out – but I grew up in such a fantastic era where music was changing so drastically. It was changing from Big Band when I was born, over to small ensemble playing.”

Preconcert ritual – I usually try to eat a late breakfast and then go out and do whatever, phone calls, e-mails. And before the sound check, usually 4 p.m., I have a late lunch. The food thing is important, because otherwise you get starving. You eat before you go on. So I eat at 4, so I can make it through the show and then I’ll have a snack or a salad afterwards. It’s not conducive to eating well on the road. So a lot of salads.

“After the sound check, I go back and I take a little nap. Or just spazz out in front of the TV and then I do some vocal exercises and get myself ready. I usually arrive about half an hour before; sometimes we stay there all day if it’s too far from the hotel. It’s pretty much a ritual. We all have a ritual… we don’t do any sort of heavy praying, but it’s just a connect before we go on. Have a laugh, tell a joke or two, because we really like each other. It’s a great band.”

Talent genes – “(Mia, 10) sings and she does want to learn the guitar. She had some piano lessons. Every now and again she picks up the guitar and then she puts it down. But she’s very much into acting and drama. She’s studying band and she’s done dance since she was 4. So she’s really into it.
“My son Julian (Julian and Jade are from his previous marriage) who just graduated from high school in Florida, he’s going to SUNY-Purchase to study drama there. He’s plays guitar, drums, sings, writes, and I’ve just done his first demo, in fact. Pretty good, but then I’m biased.
“Another daughter, (Jade), just graduated Kent State, and she’s now a fashion assistant to the fashion director for Elle. She’s bought a house (laughs). It’s amazing, first job.

“Tina’s daughter, Tiffany, she’s going to college locally as a chemical analyst. So the girls turned right around and after scaring us to death, they went and did good.”

Payoff time – “I don’t think anything can prepare you for the craziness from the mid-70-s to the early 80s. That was something that I still don’t believe happened. It’s like it somebody else it happened to. It’s a completely different time period. But yes it was me, and I’m so thrilled that it happened. It was pretty much of a whirlwind. So this time now is sort of like payoff for me.”


Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Meeting President and Mrs. Bush


It must have been the thrill of a lifetime -- and a bit daunting, too -- for Cincinnatian Benjamin Kleykamp, a member of the elite Vienna Boys Choir that sang for President Bush in Vienna on Wednesday.

Dad Steve Kleykamp e-mailed that he and a group of parents saw the boys arrive via bus back at their Augarten Palace on the outskirts of Vienna (a Baroque palace where the boys got to school).

"The boys seemed happy and relieved with the whole experience," he said.
"The President shook every boy's hand. He asked Benjamin how the Reds
were doing. Benjamin presented the First Lady a (Vienna Boys) Choir teddy bear. He
loved the meeting."

I sure hope Benjamin is following the Reds...


Friday, June 16, 2006

Intermission controversy


So, last night at the opera, which opened with Aprile Millo in the title role of Tosca, opera fans were clearly divided about whether an opera singer should "look" the part or not. You could close your eyes and hear exquisite singing, but, said Dr. George Weisbluth of E. Walnut Hills, "why should I bother to come, then?"

But The Rev. Jim Metzger writes this morning:

"Tosca was fantastic, from start to finish, and especially delightful, from our first row seats as we watched maestro mouth every word and conduct masterfully.

What a tenor, and what a woman!!!!

The scenery was excellent, and the whole cast was absolutely superb. The only disappointment of the evening was the reaction from the audience, except for the ovation at the end, for the cast and orchestra. It is still a wildly conservative audience seemingly afraid to let go.

Ah, Cincinnati. Hey, and it extends to the Reds, too."

It brings up the whole issue of singers like Deborah Voigt who undergo drastic measures like gastric bypass so they can continue to get jobs onstage. Yet, in yesterday's New York Times, the review of gorgeous sexpot Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu in Tosca at Covent Garden was lukewarm. Problem: not the bod, it was her not-so-big voice and her "kittenish" rendition.

So, do looks matter?


Aprile Millo backstage at the opera

For the opera fanatics among you:

Aprile Millo was chatting in Evans Miragea’s office last week at Cincinnati Opera, as she prepared to sing Tosca, in her Cincinnati debut. She was dressed dramatically in black, hair pulled back and rather heavy make-up (apologizing that she had just had a photo session). She was charming and funny.

How she relaxes: I go back (home to Los Angeles). I can actually sleep, and I end my trip at Shutters on the Beach (in Santa Monica) with a very large margarita. That Shutters on the Beach for me is amazing. They have the nicest, smoothest margaritas!
I was born in Greenwich Village, and my parents were singing at an opera club downtown. Until they finished that craziness, we went abroad, and he became the protégé of De Sabata. And he brought him to La Scala. And then he got sick, and De Stefano returned after a fight with Callas, and said, what is this American doing here? So he didn’t really get to do too much. But it was a thrill. We went all over Italy, Germany, Berlin.

A mutt with opera-singing parents: They were Giovanni Millo and Margherita Ghirosi. Mother was an orphan. I lost this blessed little person exactly a year ago. It was a big force in my life. We recently found out she is Italian, Russian and Polish. So all this time I didn’t realize why I always felt so comfortable visiting in Russia, and why I liked to sing in Poland. And Papa is Italian/Irish. So I’ve determined I’m a mutt.

April vs. Aprile: My middle name is Elizabeth. I thought, April in the U.S. is very easy. I was April Millo in high school. But when I won my first competition, a man named George Milland for the Bureau of Music in Los Angeles said Aprile Millo, and I thought, well there it is. Because I don’t want to change my name to Elisabeta. I’ll stay with Aprile because it’s so pretty. I didn’t like April.

Started singing: I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t. I was an obnoxious little kid. When we were in Rome, I took to the head of the Rome Opera, Riccardo Vitale, who was married to this woman named Natasha, who would show us how to do the ballet… I loved for him to come over. I resolved that I would sing “Casta diva” for him at age 5, in what sounded like a 40-year-old midget. As I started singing, this very adult sound came out in terrible pig Latin, but he looked at my mother pea-green with laughter. But then he stopped and said, “I’m sorry. I think she’s afflicted. She’s sick with it already, she loves it so much.”

Mama’s face: When I was younger, I always used to see my mother’s face, as you do casually in life when you do something. Whenever a piece of music from opera would come on, she got a look as if she saw the face of God. And I kept thinking, why is she looking like that? And papa too. But mother looked like she was taken somewhere else. So I followed mother’s face into opera.

On being in Hollywood when she sang “Hello Dolly” in high school: The interesting thing, Amy Philbin, the daughter of Regis Philbin, went to the same school. So he came to the show and then we did this huge, 5-minute segment, and they had me singing. And he said, “When is the last time you saw a 17-year-old who wanted to be an opera star?”

So when I was opening the Metropolitan Opera, he had me back on, and we had this little reunion. But I had calls from Allan Carr (Grease, La Cage aux folles) and from the Mary Tyler Moore people. I like to be funny, so I did a few things before I got into opera, to help my sister. “Two-by-Two” was this show we did together in LA, and we had a lot of offers for musical comedy, but I was always very snooty and said, no.

Sis and bro: Grace Millo sings, writes her own music and is a Shakespearean actress. And my brother is a punk rock legend. You go to LA, anywhere near the Whiskey or the Roxy, and mention Rick Wilder of the Berlin Brats or the Mau Maus, and they all go, “and you are -- ?” Because he’s like this underground legend. Now that punk is big again, they want to do a movie and a book.

On dream team recordings, such as Aida with James Levine, Placido Domingo, Sam Ramey, Dolora Zajick, and James Morris: Not too shabby. And the Don Carlo we did has even the celestial voice of Kathleen Battle. Can you imagine? It’s like being at MGM over there. Because I became a member of their program and fought them every inch of the way.

Very few schools for opera singers know that it’s a very rare and strange animal that has to do this. It’s like a living Stradivarius. You have sing over a symphony orchestra. You have to be heard (at the Met) in a 4,000-seat hall. Well here (Cincy) it’s not too shabby either, a 3200-seat house. With no amplification. Pray God that continues. (Knocks wood.)

Singing Mahler and channeling mother: I go to another world when I sing, which I hope I’ll be confident enough to do that night. I will talk to mother wherever I am. I don’t care if it sounds silly, it gives me a sense of peace. I asked her, mother, would you send me a program (for the Kimmel Center in Philly), some kind of thing to add to it. She sent me the Mahler.

When I sang it, I asked the public, anybody lose anybody in the audience? Have anybody cross over? I’m going to talk to my mother and father. I suggest you use this bridge, which music is, and have a chance to say hello again. Don’t kid yourself, you’re going to feel them.

You got a little bit of squirming. In America we’re not in touch that quick. At the end of the piece, you hear people sobbing in the audience. Everybody’s looking at me like, that’s not a bad idea. Music is the bridge to the unknown. If you’ve got a genius, go with it.

Philanthropies: All the AIDS causes, now colon cancer (her cell phone rings, she starts singing along with the phone) that took mom, cancer in general, Doctors without Borders. It’s incredibly important that the word get out, that colo-rectal cancer is preventable. Leukemia. I work a lot with the Estee Lauder family on breast cancer, which is also huge.

On preparing Tosca: Something that I came up with this last run, having a conversation with (soprano) Magda Olivero, because I’ve coached it with her and I’ve coached it with Renata Tebaldi. These are my great buddies. Any better than that, you can’t be. Callas, God bless her, but it’s a different kind of school.

Magda and I were discussing about the presence of God in this music. Each person comes to God in their own way. The pyramid of this opera is Scarpia, Cavaradossi, Tosca. I don’t mean to sound evangelical, but there’s so much about a connection with the other world in music that’s so important.

Scarpia doesn’t believe in God at all, but in a weird way, when you negate it, you are actually exalting it. He is swine through and through, and he doesn’t believe in God.

You have Cavaradossi, who is a painter, doing all these fantastic things, a revolutionary. He can believe in God only if he sees, feels or touches it. Typical man of that period. He’s a big strapping, wonderful aristocrat. He can bring him to you through his painting.

Tosca is the one I love the most, because she believes without seeing, feeling or touching. She just knows there’s a magic, there’s a greatness that exists, that she feels when she sings. But she feels it also, and she’s unafraid to feel.

The difference between Italy and U.S.: In Naples – if you stop on a bus, and someone bursts out crying, that bus goes nowhere, and everybody’s running -- maybe she needs something to eat! It’s bigger than life, and I think sometimes it embarrasses so many people in America, such as the people who write about opera in a distant way.
It’s going to threaten you, provoke you, challenge you. We live in an age of instant coffee, instant music, we’ve got tiny machines that we can carry our entire music library. But opera forces you back to the primitive, which is, you feel something.

Bigger than life divas: We’re always told to be quiet, look pretty and smile pretty with white teeth. I’m already a bit of an opera cliché, because today they all want the smaller bodies and the realistic people. So I walk out already with a little bit of an eight-ball. You look at the United States, there are more people like me than there are the ballerina. Mind you, I make a pledge to my art to be a better representative, eventually.

The next time you see me, it will be a whole lot less. But in a way, I like showing you, you gotta be big to get over this orchestra! This sickness, of cutting yourself to lose weight – we are getting a little bit nuts about this.

The old school: (Zinka) Milanov just stood there and sang, and you were absolutely out of your mind. Caballe too – the same thing. You could not believe she was dying of consumption, but the voice was fantastic. I’m totally old school.

I’m the absolute anti-Christ for the modern stage director, because I want the music to say something, and I want the voice to be correct. The voice is cabaret if you can’t hear it in the theater. And now all these lovely, glamorous attractive women who want to be miked – they will destroy the last bastion of live theater.

On singing “Vissi d’arte”: In the last five performances, I’ve been unable to divorce myself from trying to get a word to mother. I use the music as the bridge, but I have had such trouble getting through the music without sobbing and crying.

Favorite Verdi roles: Verdi is still God to me. My favorite is Trovatore. Forza de Destino is literally like living emotion on the stage, because it’s all there. Un Ballo. Fantastic opera. Aida, my oldest friend. I love her. She’s just in another world. I like all these crazy girls that are able to enjoy life but they have one foot in the next world.

Breaking out into Handel: The man who did the 1972 recording with Caballe, Randy Mickelson, best friends with (Joan) Sutherland, Richard Bonynge, Marilyn Horne, he’s part of that whole bel canto resurgence. He brought Rossini and Donizetti to them, and they brought it out.

He’s brought all these operas of Handel, so we’re going to do this recording of florid, fabulous Handel arias, in the way that Handel wanted it done, which meant a bigger voice, bigger orchestra, not smaller the way it’s presented today. It’s going to be very controversial and I love it.

On Puccini and verismo: I’ve been getting into La Fanciulla, Adriana Lecourvrer. I think the ability to feel without compromise is very good in this literature. Then when I want to get back into vocal medicine, I get back into Verdi.

Dream roles: Norma. Still the pinnacle. Manon Lescaut, because the music makes me cry from the very beginning, and maybe Traviata, so they hear a Traviata with the proper size voice. But more along the (Claudia) Muzio – (Rosa) Ponselle-kind of style.

On soming to Cincinnati – It’s sort of like the Godfather. When Evans invites you, you come. And really, I’ve always had enormous respect for the environment here but there’s not a lot of time. But when Evans is involved, it is class. Most general managers don’t look at it that way. The bottom line is about money. You’re an entity. It’s like Scarpia, in a way. You’re used and thrown away. With him, it’s about love for the profession. I’ve just met him, several months ago, and I would kill for him.

More later!!


Tuesday, June 13, 2006

CCM and electronic media

I also heard from a couple of folks who were upset that I left CCM's acclaimed electronic media division out of the story. (Actually, there was some information about it that was trimmed out due to space.) I agree that this special phenomenon at CCM deserves a story of its own. Stay tuned!

This from John Perin:

"While I acknowledge the many successes of the music and related activities there, I was very disappointed that your article gave no mention of the Radio-TV Department of the college or any names or successes of its graduates. Unfortunately, your article is just a continuation of the lack of support that department has had for decades. I feel this is due to the CCM Administration's not giving due credit for that division which is now called "Electronic Media". Additionally, little or no mention is made in mail-outs to alumni from the college as well.

When I was in the Radio-TV Department in the mid-1960's, there was talk by some students of trying to move out of CCM and into Arts & Sciences for this very same reason. That didn't happen and, unfortunately, some four decades later, articles such as yours continue to ignore that portion of the college.

It is for this very reason that I, as an alumni, have always refused to contribute any money toward CCM or UC. That will continue so long as the college and university ignore the Electronic Media Division. Your article shows this is still being done."

(Ouch!)

R. J. Seifert writes from N. Kentucky:

"I read with great interest your story about the College Conservatory of Music and the challenges ahead for Dean Lowry. It reminds me that things do not stay the same at any institution and that folks like Dean Lowry have a very hard, time-consuming job to do.

I was surprised and disappointed that there was no mention of the Electronic Media division of CCM. It was called the Broadcasting Division when I graduated 30 years ago this week. Many of our alum have gone on to successful careers in Radio, Television, cable, satellite and the Internet.

I am quite sure the high quality of education we received from CCM in the early 70s has served all of us well in these industries in the new century.

Thanks again for your balanced and informative article. I just wanted to give a shout out for the CCM Electronic Media Dept."


Reaction to CCM story

Catching up on my e-mail, here are some comments from readers about the June 4 story, "CCM at a Crossroads." By the way, be sure to look at the "related stories" that ran with it.

Trudie Seybold, longtime supporter of local singers, writes:

"CCM is a place close to our hearts, having been a graduate of the old CCM in '51. We have names of other singers who are singing, conducting, composing professionally all over the world. They may not be as famous as the ones you listed, but they are doing very well.

Randolph Locke just recently sang in Memphis, Indianapolis and California and now is at Lake George singing Canio. Helene Schneiderman has been singing with the Stuttgart Opera for approximately 20 years, and has appeared as Rosina in San Francisco. I flew out to hear her, and Mark Duffin was in rehearsal of Don Carlos. Dale Travis is a regular at Chicago Lyric, the Met and now is singing at SF. Cathy Cook is with with SF too.

Jeff Martin is at Dortmund. Tom Hammons has been singing at the Met for the last 15 or so years. He will be singing here this summer in Tosca, as the Sacristan and a small role in Hoffmann. Lisa Griffith has been singing in Düsseldorf for at least 20 years. Scott Lawton, conductor has been the conductor of the Berlin Symphony and now conducts in Wupperthal. This summer Wayne Tigges will be singing Angelotti in Tosca here. He is a regular at the Chicago Lyric. Titi Andodekun is also singing in Germany, in Wuppertahl, the lead role in "Kiss Me Kate." She was supposed to sing the Aida, for the filming of the opera staged by Zeffirelli . We can be very proud of our CCM Alums.

We are happy that Dean Lowry decided to stay and we know he has an enormous task ahead of him."

(Wow! CCM needs to update the list!)

This from former CCM Dean Robert Werner, now retired in Columbia, S.C.:

"Part of my daily routine is to check out the Enquirer so I have been reading your reviews and columns, including the blog, regularly. It sounds as if the CSO is having a great revival with the new maestro and at the same time, as with other orchestras, facing the realities of 21st century concert going. It has been interesting to me because I have again become involved with the College Music Society, as President of the CMS Fund, and we have been exploring the challenges to concert music in the future and what it means for the training of professional musicians.

Thus, I read with great interest your recent article on "CCM at a crossroads". Your quote from Joe Polisi is exactly what all those in music in higher education are going to have to come to grips with. It would seem that our success also becomes one our greatest challenges these days."

Dr. Hasan Tezduyar, who retired from GE last year and says he comes from "old world Europe," writes:

"In my judgement, for a musical talent, after lengthy years of exceedingly challenging study, we should as a society provide them what they rightfully deserve. A comfortable living, and a sense of pride as they unselfishly share their talents with us is a win win for all.

My suggestion simply is this, with the support of new mayor of Cincinnati, Mallory, we need to bring some doable proposals to organize downtown, or various parks throughout the city, to bring classical music to the common people. We need to organize, and appropriate money -- minuscule, compared to the city budget for football stadiums or other city improvement projects. These will accomplish two things:

1.CCM and other classical musicians will meet face to face with grass roots people, benefiting each other in so many ways.

2. We have to remember that, not only the elite, but all children have the potential to become part of CCM one day, given a chance. We really can use a lot of improvement, compared to other countries' ambitious public education programs.

Where I come from, the old world Europe, classical music is part of everyday life, and does not only "belong" to so called "elite," but also to your everyday people, a friendly baker, or to a hardhat worker, bringing joy to millions, young, old, rich, and poor."

Dr. Tezduyar says his wife studies classical harp, and he has taken up the piano in retirement. He's willing to help organize these public concerts.


Saturday, June 10, 2006

Musicians Union urges players to boycott Delta

In frustration over an ongoing problem with Delta Airlines not allowing musicians to carry their priceless Strads onboard, the president of the American Federation of Musicians is exhorting members of the union to boycott the airline.

In the June issue of "International Musicians," president Thomas F. Lee said that union officials had met with the TSA, which agreed to write a letter that musicians could present to security people when checking in, to allow them to place their instruments in the overhead. But, he writes in an editorial, although many airlines have cooperated with musicians who have the need to stow expensive, fragile instruments, complaints about Delta preventing musicians from carrying musical instruments on board continue.

This is nothing new. I first wrote about the situation for the Enquirer in June, 1997, when Delta stopped the entire Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at the gate. After a "heated exchange" with symphony management, a few Strads and Guadagninis were allowed in the overhead. Many other local musicians have been stopped at the gate here, including CCM profs, prominent string quartets arriving to perform in Cincinnati and the entire Walnut Hills High School Orchestra.

After 9-11 stepped-up security even more, the problem escalated for musicians. I wrote about it again in this story:

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/12/20/tem_deltaviolins20.html

I continue to hear from musicians, including jazz players (yes, clarinets and saxophones can be valuable, too) and others.

Let me know if you've been stopped trying to carry on your violin, viola, banjo, or other small instrument. (We're not talking about cellos here.)


Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Catching up: Concert announcement

Hello friends! I'm just back from a little break between May Festival and Opera season, and my mailbox overfloweth. Here's a note that chamber music fans will want to know now. More later!

The Norse Festival at Northern Kentucky University is presenting a concert at 7 p.m. Thursday (tomorrow) in Greaves Concert Hall. The Azmari Quartet, whose jobs were recently saved at NKU as artists-in-residence, will welcome cellist Marc Johnson from the Vermeer Quartet in Wolfe's Italian Serenade, the Brahms B-flat Sextet and Schubert's A Minor Quartet. Tickets are available at the door.

Pass the word!



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