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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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Friday, December 29, 2006

See the Metropolitan Opera live via satellite -- in Beavercreek


The Metropolitan Opera is launching a new initiative with movie theaters across the nation. Starting tomorrow, six of the Met's live broadcasts will be aired via satellite in select movie theaters. Currently, the closest movie theater with technology to broadcast the performances is the Regal Hollywood, in Beavercreek, near Dayton.

The first big screen broadcast is Julie Taymor's dazzling production of "The Magic Flute" on Saturday, December 30, at 1:30 p.m. For reservations, order online at Fandango.com or call 1-800-FANDANGO.

Next Saturday, the sensational Russian soprano Anna Netrebko stars in "I Puritani." Please note: theater venues may vary each week.

Pictured: Nathan Gunn as Papageno with dancer Rachel Schuette in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte." Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera


Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Port-O-Lets for Christmas: Genius of Water




I'm going to borrow a line from Channel 9's John Matarese -- "Doesn't that stink." My "Doesn't that stink" award this year goes to Fountain Square organizers for failing to remove a half dozen port-o-lets for the holiday season. (Surely they didn't leave them there on purpose??)

We all know the square's completion is behind schedule. But I wondered as I wandered between the port-o-lets, a creche, the Chabad House menorah, the ice rink and the Christmas tree -- what is the true meaning of "Downtown Dazzle"? (That, you recall, is the campaign, complete with rapelling Santas, to bring folks downtown for the season.)

I was there on Friday with some Chinese visitors, and we were hard-pressed to find a good photo op. Those darn port-o-lets kept getting in the way. I looked up and caught the new video screen atop Macy's. It showed a TV music channel screen, and out of the speakers below blared a funk-rock Christmas song.

This is holiday programming? Why not combine with WGUC and broadcast some of the great holiday concerts that fill up the entire month of December? Borrow the Cincinnati Pops' holiday video with Mel Torme. Go shoot a "Messiah" concert live.

It only proved to me again that the city powers have no idea how to tap into all of the arts that make Cincinnati a wonderful place to live.

I looked at the ice rink, closed Friday due to rain. Nevertheless, downtown was TEEMING with families and hoards of small children, making the holiday rounds, from the trains to Santa in Carew Tower. Still, things have changed. There were no window displays, no little Christmas villages in department stores or banks and no school choirs singing carols in hotel lobbies.

And no one was using the port-o-lets.

Enquiring minds want to know: Where would you put those port-o-lets?


Saturday, December 23, 2006

Top 25 Christmas songs

ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) has announced the Top 25 most-performed Holiday songs for the first five years of the 21st Century. No. 1 is my favorite, "The Christmas Song" by Mel Tormé. My most annoying song, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," didn't make the hit parade.

Take a look and tell us your favorite and most annoying Christmas song.

The list:

1. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) - Mel Tormé, Robert Wells
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin
4. Winter Wonderland - Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith
5. White Christmas - Irving Berlin
6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne
7. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - Johnny Marks
8. Jingle Bell Rock - Joseph Carleton Beal, James Ross Boothe
9. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Walter Kent, Kim Gannon, Buck Ram
10. Little Drummer Boy - Katherine K. Davis, Henry V. Onorati, Harry Simeone
11. Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish
12. It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Edward Pola, George Wyle
13. Silver Bells - Jay Livingston, Ray Evans
14. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Johnny Marks
15. Feliz Navidad - José Feliciano
16. Blue Christmas - Billy Hayes, Jay W. Johnson
17. Frosty The Snowman - Steve Nelson, Walter E. Rollins
18. A Holly Jolly Christmas - Johnny Marks
19. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Tommie Connor (PRS)
20. Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) - Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman
21. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Meredith Willson
22. (There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays - Bob Allen, Al Stillman
23. Carol Of The Bells - Peter J. Wilhousky, Mykola Leontovich
24. Santa Baby - Joan Ellen Javits, Philip Springer, Tony Springer
25. Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney (PRS)


Friday, December 22, 2006

Really last-minute gift ideas



Are we frantic yet? The Cincinnati Pops is offering deep discounts for 3-concert packages to see the United States Navy Sea Chanters, the Celtic Tenors and Bebe Neuwirth concerts, packaged with the Pops' new Christmas CD or a Music Hall ornament. It's $46.50 to $126 for the package.

Or, gift certificates to the symphony or Pops are always appreciated. Pick two tix to the Pops for any concert ($100) and it's wrapped up with an ornament.

Call 513-381-3300 today (it's closed tomorrow)


Friday, December 15, 2006

2006: Best and Worst

It's that time of year again, and we're busy making lists. What was the best or worst concert, opera or other classical or jazz event that you attended in 2006? Let me know!


Opera quiz



OK, this one is easy. What is the name of the Italian tenor who stepped in for Roberto Alagna when the fans in the peanut gallery at La Scala booed him off the stage? Hint: He has a local connection.

Read Sunday's Enquirer to find out "the rest of the story."


New feature at the Enquirer


Hey, did you know that you can comment on some of my reviews? (Uh oh... ) You can also comment on other articles, too, such as the film story by Paul Clark today, and my astronaut story last week. By popular request, here are links to the two holiday shows -- the Pops and the Vocal Arts Ensemble -- that I reviewed last weekend.


Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The Big Five


Recently, a reader asked me for my "ranking" of the Cincinnati Symphony among other symphony orchestras. Given that the orchestra is playing extremely well, its recordings are acclaimed and its tours are so well-received, I would definitely place it in the top ten these days. (That's in a field of about 22 big-budget American orchestras.)

But a few days ago, the New York Sun (a tabloid) came out with a new "Big Five," and has bumped several old-timers off the list in favor of -- you guessed it -- Paavo Jarvi and the CSO.

For what it's worth, neither I nor any of my other colleagues in the Music Critics Association of North America know who critic Fred Kirshnit is. He does, however, make an entertaining case for his list -- which is undoubtedly flying through the e-mails of arts professionals even as we speak.

Out: The Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic
In: The Pittsburgh Symphony, The Cincinnati Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic
"On the bubble": The Chicago Symphony
"Hanging on": The Boston Symphony

Of course, ranking is a subjective exercise, and many things go into play. Being a native Northern Californian, I would wonder why he put LA in, and left San Francisco out, for instance. I also wonder why he ranked the Cincinnati so highly, when it hasn't appeared in New York since Jan. 2005 (remember the blizzard that dumped 14 inches of snow on the Big Apple?).

Take a look and let me know what you think. (And DO look at the readers comments at the bottom -- they are a riot.)

Should the CSO be in the Top Five? The Top Ten?


Thursday, December 07, 2006

The Grammys


Several musicians with local connections were in the news for Grammy nominations today.

Guitarist Peter Frampton, the producer and engineer of a Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra recording, a Cincinnati-born jazz musician and a former principal guest conductor of the CSO are among the nominees for Grammy Awards, it was announced today.

Frampton, our favorite British-born rocker who made his Cincinnati Pops debut this past summer, was nominated for best pop instrumental album for "Fingerprints." He also received a nod for best rock instrumental performance for his version of the 1994 Soundgarden song "Black Hole Sun" on that album.

The disc, you will recall, is his first all-instrumental album, recorded with a few of his favorite buddies -- some of it in his basement studio in Indian Hill.

In the best engineered album, classical category, Telarc's Michael Bishop has been nominated for "Elgar: Enigma Variations; Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Four Sea Interludes" performed by Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

And in the producer of the year, classical category, Elaine Martone was nominated for five albums, including the Cincinnati Symphony’s Britten and Elgar disc on Telarc. (Elaine is the wife of Telarc producer Bob Woods.)

Cincinnatian Fred Hersch, a jazz pianist, was nominated for best instrumental composition for "Valentine," which he performs on the album, "In Amsterdam: Live At The Bimhuis" (Palmetto Records).

And remember Ivan Fischer, former principal guest conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony? Fischer, now principal guest of the National Symphony in Washington DC was nominated for best orchestral performance for "Mahler: Symphony No. 6" (Channel Classics) with his Budapest Festival Orchestra.

The 49th annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held Feb. 11th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

So how long will it be before Paavo and the CSO get a Grammy for a performance, and not just engineering or sound? Enquiring minds want to know.


Wednesday, December 06, 2006

On heroes and amazing connections



Usually I write about musical heroes. But last week, I heard an amazing story about two astronauts, two tiny sacred scrolls and the two physics professors who owned them -- one of them local. It was a story about courage and hope and stunning connections, and I just had to write about it. At the end, I'll tell you about my personal connection.

When we think of heroes, we might think about "the Greatest Generation," our parents who lived through World War II. But there are heroes among us today.

Last night, I attended (with a SRO crowd) the moving "Torah Homecoming" at the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education on the Hebrew Union College campus. We saw a beautiful video with NASA footage of Ilan Ramon and the crew of the Columbia space shuttle, all lost on Feb. 1, 2003, upon reentry. Ramon's widow, Rona Ramon, spoke movingly about him, her family and how she asked their close friend, Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean, to take the second Torah belonging to Henry Fenichel into space in their memory.

She said that Ilan quoted the words to the Beatles song, "Imagine," while in space: "You may say I'm a dreamer..."

Perhaps the most breathtaking moments came when astronaut MacLean spoke, as he showed amazing personal footage (never before seen) from his own Atlantis mission to the International Space Station in September. The idea was to show the journey that the little Torah took -- and illuminate us all on what astronauts really do.

Among his tasks -- 400 KM up in space -- was to help deploy a solar panel. We saw him literally hanging by his fingers out there on a truss in space, the Earth looming beyond, as he struggled to release the bolts that were stuck ("I wasn't going inside until I got them," he said). The idea, he said, was to make the Space Station safer for those who were up there for six months at a time.

Here's an understatement: "The first time you come out (of the space station) you really feel that you are high."

He spoke about his deep friendship with Ilan, and how they had trained together for more than four years, and how difficult it still was to see the video of him. "To me, it feels like it happened yesterday. We lived, breathed and ate space, and then we went home to our families. ... The bonding you develop is not just a space experience -- it's a human experience.

"Training as an astronaut is very tough -- both Ilan and I shared that. There's a tremendous sacrifice when you train for a mission like this."

He described what it was like, every 90 minutes, to see the sunrise and sunset when you orbit the earth, of seeing the planets "falling behind the Earth" in a row, each a small disc. Seeing such things evoked "virgin feelings of wonder and awe. You see such beauty, and you wonder as an astronaut, why do bad things happen down there?"

He spoke about how Ilan showed him a picture drawn by a child in the '40s in the Theresienstadt concentration camp by Petr Genz, showing Earth as seen from the moon. He said when he took the little Torah back into space for his friend, "I tried to transplant myself to the mind of the child who had the first Torah, who was really hanging onto hope."

The Canadian astronaut said there was another powerful message -- that "there are no borders in space." He said that looking down felt like "you're living a parallel adventure" between space and Earth.

When he presented the little Torah back to its owner, Holocaust survivor Henry Fenichel, he said it traveled 4.8 million miles, 187 orbits -- each orbit has 16 sunsets and 16 sunrises -- and about 12 days.

Prof. Fenichel also spoke eloquently, saying the two Torahs represent "the ability to rise from the anguish of the Holocaust and reach for the stars."

The little Torah will likely travel around the country now, in a traveling exhibit through the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, that will continue to "tell the story."

All participants are on their way to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the Discovery liftoff as NASA guests tomorrow.

And my personal connection? My dad worked for NASA in the early days of the space shuttle -- indeed, going back to the earlier days of the space program when it was NACA. On my wall at home, is a tiny American flag taken up in Columbia STS-4 in thanks for his work on the shuttle, and for helping to launch "a new era in space."


Tuesday, December 05, 2006

A cool video on YouTube

Kurt Sassmannshaus, CCM prof and founder of the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing, has several video posts on YouTube, including this one of his son, Christoph (a cellist) and Charles Yang performing Handel-Halvorsen in the Forbidden City Concert Hall last summer.

Click around that site and you'll find other performances by incredibly talented Starlings and other kids, as well as the Polygon Trio, a faculty group that includes Sassmannshaus, cellist William Grubb and pianist Frank Weinstock from CCM.


Monday, December 04, 2006

Music Hall back in the news


Three letters to the editor in two days means people are concerned about the future of Music Hall. Yesterday, Lynne Curtiss of Mount Lookout noticed the big crowd that turned out for Garrison Keillor (see my summary, below) and cautioned that "if the grand old building is remodeled, the powers that be remember times like this, when Music Hall teems with happy people. ... Let's hope that people with vision are in charge and that we don't compromise our legacy."

Patricia Helms of Colerain Township writes that ideas of "downsizing" Music Hall and adding a garage are "screwy." "I would ask, 'What are they thinking?'" says she.

And in today's paper, G. Rodger Crowe says, forget Music Hall, the symphony needs revamping.

"I believe that there is no longer a viable market for live symphony concerts on any day, any time or in any location," he says.

I'm afraid I'm not as pessimistic as Mr. Crowe, or my neighbor, Dr. Paul Gillingham, who says of renovating Music Hall, "isn't that a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?"

What do you think??



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