CCM Philharmonia sets sail with "The Sound of Water" on Feb. 24

Featuring works by Bedřich Smetana, Benjamin Britten & Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; tickets on sale now

Story by CCM Graduate Student Chet Rhodes

Join the UC College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) Philharmonia as it presents "The Sound of Water" concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 24 in Corbett Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now through the CCM Box Office.

Water has inspired countless composers, with an influence that can be seen across continents and centuries. "The Sound of Water" concert programs three block-buster orchestral works that feature aquatic aesthetics — whether it is a noble river in Bohemia, the bracing sea off the coast of England or the exotic oceans of Asia.

Starting in the heart of the Bohemian countryside, Bedřich Smetana’s Vltava from "Ma Vlast" (The Moldau from "My Homeland") opens the concert. Composed in 1882, this nationalistic tone poem depicts the Vltava River, the Czech Republic’s largest and most prominent waterway. From its burbling headwaters, through the ripples of the peaceful countryside, to the vicious white-water at St. John’s Rapids, Smetana perfectly captures every inch of the river's 270 miles. Though somewhat of a controversial figure during his life, Smetana is now endemically considered the father of Czech music, and his "Ma Vlast" opens the annual Prague Spring International Music Festival.

Traveling northwest to the United Kingdom, Benjamin Britten’s "Four Sea Interludes" sails us across the North Sea to a costal fishing village. This orchestral suite is drawn from Britten’s famed 1945 opera Peter Grimes and has become a popular concert piece. Recounting the tragic story of an outcast fisherman and his clashes with his community, the unpredictable ocean is central to Britten’s music. Each of the four movements depict a different temperament, and are titled "Dawn," "Sunday Morning," "Moonlight" and "Storm." Britten’s stunning range and mastery of orchestration is on full display throughout the entire suite.

"The Sound of Water" cruise finally runs aground on the coasts of the Arabian Sea and the numerous gulfs and inland seas that surround the Middle East. A musical adaptation of the historical anthology One Thousand and One Nights, the famed Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote Scheherazade in 1888. Containing a compilation of Arabic folk tales from the Islamic Golden Age, One Thousand and One Nights sets these stories within a larger narrative that follows Scheherazade as she strives to save herself from the villainous Sultan Schahriar. Each of the four movements depict a different cliffhanger tale, as told by Scheherazade, and include "The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship," "The Tale of Prince Kalendar," "The Young Prince and the Princess" and "The Festival at Bagdad; The Sea; The Ship Goes to Peices on a Rock." The fast-flowing action and entrancing orchestration of Scheherazade is sure to enthrall audiences just as it did the Sultan.

“Audiences should look forward to a sumptuous journey of sound,” says Mark Gibson, CCM Director of Orchestral Studies. "I am so excited about this program, which will feature many solos by some of CCM's finest young musicians in the Scheherazade, and a gifted young conductor, Pablo Pegalajar, from Granada, Spain, who will lead the performance of the Britten."

The CCM Philharmonia presents "The Sound of Water" concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023 in Corbett Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now through the CCM Box Office

Repertoire

CCM Philharmonia 
Mark Gibson, music director and conductor 
Pablo Pegalajar, graduate student conductor

SMETANA: Vltava, from “Ma Vlast” (The Moldau, from "My Homeland") (1882) 
BRITTEN: Four Sea Interludes, from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a (1945)  
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade, Op. 35 (1888)

Performance Time

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

Location

Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets

Tickets are $25; student and group discounts available. Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online now through our e-Box Office!

Learn about additional ticket options for current CCM students.

Directions and Parking

CCM is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. For detailed driving directions, visit ccm.uc.edu/directions.

Parking is available in UC's CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. 

CCM OnStage patrons can add pre-paid parking to their checkout carts when purchasing tickets. Pre-paid parking is date/performance specific. CCM Garage parking rates for a performance or special event is usually available for $10-15. Learn more about parking at UC's CCM Garage.

For additional information on parking at UC, please visit uc.edu/about/parking.

Louise Dieterle Nippert Trust
Scholarship and Resident Artist Sponsor
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship Sponsor
The Corbett Endowment at CCM
Dance Department Sponsor
All-Steinway School Sponsor
Louise H. & David S. Ingalls Foundation, Inc.
Community Partners
The Joseph and Frances Jones Poetker Fund of the Cambridge Charitable Foundation, Ritter & Randolph, LLC, Corporate Counsel
Visiting Artists & Thinking About Music Sponsor
Dr. & Mrs. Carl G. Fischer 
Greg Mathein 
Gary & Barb Cummins 
Jim & Linda Miller 
George & Carroll Roden
Musical Theatre Department Sponsors
Genevieve Smith
Opera Production Sponsor
Rafael and Kimberly de Acha
Opera D’Arte Sponsor
An Anonymous Donor
Estate of Mr. William A. Friedlander
Mrs. William A. Friedlander
Dr. Randolph L. Wadsworth
Judith Schonbach Landgren and Peter Landgren
Mr. & Mrs. Harry H. Santen
Elizabeth C.B. Sittenfeld
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Stegman
Mrs. Theodore W. Striker
Mrs. Harry M. Hoffheimer
Ariel Quartet Sponsors
Jan Rogers
Willard and Jean Mulford Charitable Fund of the Cambridge Charitable Foundation
Choral Studies Sponsors
Anonymous
  Classical Guitar Sponsor

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph W. Hirschhorn
Orchestral Sponsor
Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation
Starling Pre-Collegiate Sponsor
Starling Strings Sponsor
Dr. Timothy E. and Janet L. Johnson
Thom Miles and Roberta Gary
Organ Department Sponsors
Keyboard Club of Cincinnati
Louis and Susan Meisel
Piano Department Sponsors
Kevin and Nancy Rhein
   Wind Studies Sponsor
Buddy Rogers Music
LINKS Sponsor
Sponsors listed as of Sept. 7, 2023

Headshot of Chet Rhodes

Chet Rhodes

CCM Graduate Assistant, Marketing + Communications

Currently a Bassoon Performance master’s student at CCM, Chet received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Utah. He has held positions with the Salt Lake Symphony and the Utah Philharmonia.

Related Stories

1

See a concert or show at CCM: Fall schedule of major events now available

August 15, 2023

Experience world-class performances by the next generation of performing and media artists at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM)! The college’s fall 2023 schedule of ticketed events is now available; tickets are on sale beginning 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15 through the CCM Box Office website.

2

CCM shares fall 2022 schedule of performances and public events

August 12, 2022

Audiences are invited to return to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s (CCM) concert halls and theaters to experience world-class performances and presentations by the next generation of performing and media artists! The college’s fall 2022 schedule of free and ticketed events is now available. Tickets go on sale beginning on Monday, Aug. 22, through the CCM Box Office website.

3

CCM shares spring 2023 schedule of major performances and events

November 22, 2022

Audiences are invited to return to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s (CCM) concert halls and theaters to experience world-class performances and presentations by the next generation of performing and media artists! The college’s spring 2023 schedule of free and ticketed events is now available. Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning on Monday, Nov. 28, through the CCM Box Office.