Since its launch, MusicNOW has become a premiere event in and for Cincinnati, exploding the perception that the city wouldn’t understand or support the esoteric and eclectic festival programming.
MusicNOW 2015 features several new wrinkles, including MusicNOW – 10 Years, a compilation album of select performances recorded over the event’s history, and the addition of a new venue, the recently revived Woodward Theater.
MusicNOW maintains its presence in historic Memorial Hall, which will host Perfume Genius, The Lone Bellow and Mina Tindle, while entering Music Hall for its second consecutive year and debuting at the Woodward. Music Hall hosts The National in its sophomore MusicNOW appearance for a 25-minute set with the CSO, conducted by Louis Langrée, as well as performances by Pulitzer Prize-winning violinist Caroline Shaw, Dessner, Nico Muhly, Sufjan Stevens, So Percussion and pianist Timo Andres. The Woodward hosts Cloud Nothings, Arcade Fire’s Will Butler and concert:nova with cellist Jeffrey Zeigler.
As usual, MusicNOW features a visual aspect to accompany the sonic component. Karl Jensen, creator of the mesmerizing light boxes that have traditionally graced Memorial Hall, has crafted a larger scale set for Music Hall. And the Contemporary Arts Center will show the concert film A Lot of Sorrow by Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, featuring The National playing their three-and-a-half minute song “Sorrow” for six hours.
MUSICNOW 2015 runs Wednesday-Sunday at various venues around Over-the-Rhine. Visit musicnowfestival.org for more info.
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2015.