The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra plans to generate a bit more heat this summer than it has during the past 106 years when it presents Bach and Beyond: A Series of Great Music for Small Orchestra, three chamber orchestra concerts, more intimate in music and ensemble than a typical CSO concert. Chamber orchestra music is a first for the CSO, and so is collaboration with UC’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where concerts will be performed at Corbett Auditorium.
Steve Monder, CSO president, says, “We’ve been talking a long time about how to express ourselves in a very intimate, casual, engaging way. We did some brainstorming and came up with this.” Bach and Beyond features music by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky and more. The names are familiar, but the pieces — like Barber’s Knoxville and Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante — aren’t typical CSO works.
For Monder, the intimacy really sets this series apart. “Everyone is very close to everyone. The orchestra and the conductor will be in close proximity, engaged with the audience.”
The CSO carefully selected its conductors. Andreas Delfs, music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, will lead the first concert; violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo will handle the other two.
Monder says, “Jaime also conducts chamber music frequently. Delfs is music director of one of the most respected chamber orchestras in the world. They have a wealth of experience in this kind of music and ensemble.”
The CSO is also exporting other work to the suburbs: Bach Yard Community Concerts. Players from the CSO will head to even smaller settings in Montgomery (June 8), Mason (June 15) and Highland Heights (June 18) for budget-priced performances.
“This series offers audiences new choices in great music and the opportunity to hear the extraordinary musicians of the CSO in a more intimate environment and repertoire,” Monder says.
Enough said.
WHO: Bach and Beyond, featuring musicians of the Cincinnati Symphony. · WHEN: 7:30 p.m. June 5, 12 and 19. · WHERE: CCM’s Corbett Auditorium at the University of Cincinnati. · TICKETS: $30 ($75 for the three-concert series). · INFO: 513-381-3300.
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 5, 2001.
