WGUC: Stream CSO's 'spellbinding' concert with CCM student singers

Hear the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, recently broadcast by Cincinnati Public Radio station 90.9 WGUC and available to stream online. The concert features 10 student soloists from UC’s College-Conservatory of Music and the CCM Chamber Choir, led by Professor Earl Rivers.

In his introduction to the concert stream, CSO Music Director Louis Langrée speaks on the tradition of collaboration between the professional orchestra and CCM. “The tie between CCM and the CSO has been so strong and so essential,” Langrée said. “There are so many wonderful singers who have been CCM students so now we want to show their talent and share this experience with them.”

Listen to the concert stream online. The performance was staged at Cincinnati’s Music Hall on Feb. 7 and 8, 2020. In her review of the concert for the Cincinnati Business Courier, Janelle Gelfand described the production as “a spellbinding feat that blended a cast of terrific young singers with whimsical animations.”

Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sang the title role in L’Enfant et les sortilèges. CCM student soloists included Yewon Yoon, coloratura; Raven McMillon, coloratura; Anyeé Farrar, coloratura; Elana Bell, mezzo-soprano; Joyner Horn, mezzo-soprano; Georgia Jacobson, mezzo-soprano; Brenda Iglesias Zarco, mezzo soprano; Victor Cardamone, tenor; Ryan Wolfe, bass; and Antonio Cruz, baritone.

After the L’enfant et les sortilèges performance, Maestro Langrée worked with student conductors and instrumentalists in a week-long residency at CCM. The esteemed conductor then led the CCM Philharmonia in a nearly sold-out concert of French works at the college’s Corbett Auditorium on February 15.

CCM and the CSO have long worked together on various projects; many of the musicians of the CSO are on faculty at CCM, and CCM alumni often find employment with the symphony as musicians or administrators. One significant development in this symbiotic relationship is the CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship, a program generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that provides an unparalleled two-year learning experience for graduate-level violin, viola, violoncello and double bass players coming from populations that are historically underrepresented in classical music. These students perform alongside the CSO for five weeks of the performance season and receive several stipends from the CCM and the CSO.