My New Love

Koigu hand painted merino wool -- mine's color 844.

It's an exquisite lightweight yarn that I've been lusting after ever since I read their book, Knits from a Painter's Palette. I bought ten skeins and am starting on a shawl in mitred squares.

It's a good carry-along project, and should be useful to fill in idle moments during the upcoming marathon of May Festival rehearsals and performances.

It will take forever to knit, since it's a fine yarn, even though I'm using needle three sizes larger than the ones specified (I'm using size 6, which are only 4mm in diameter). The fabric I'm creating so far is wonderfully soft and light, perfect for a shawl.

Yum.

Justin and Alex are camping out with me, although they've gone to Yellow Springs today and will return tomorrow or Tuesday and then head for Florida for a week, leaving Wednesday. They're going to visit her old freshman roommate, who didn't come back for graduation. Rachel finished school in December, and has been working in Florida. While there, they'll also visit Justin's maternal grandmother.

Last night the three of us went to the final Cincinnati Symphony concert of the season after a great Thai dinner in Hyde Park. They played a world premiere by a local composer, which was followed by the Mozart 20th piano concerto with the German pianist, Lars Vogt, at the Steinway. Both were excellent.

After intermission the chairman of the players committee introduced three retiring players, all violists, one in the orchestra since 1963. He told charming stories about their history -- Juilliard, Eastman, Ithaca College, the Hungarian revolution, woodworking, bow-making. It was fun. Then the president of the board came out and extolled the virtures of Steve Monder, the CEO of the orchestra for the past 35 years, who will retire June 30. A great man who will be missed. He's kept the orchestra solvent, a rare thing for American orchestras.

The concert concluded with a riveting performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which elicited shouts and cheers from the full house.

Alex and Justin found the perfect first apartment in an old mansard-roofed Victorian row house near Eden Park and will move in on June 1. The place is a charming one-bedroom on the third floor and is just a mile or two from downtown.

Alex has submitted her resume to one local arts organization which has advertised for an administrative assistant in their marketing department. That sounded like a good way to get her foot in the door doing arts marketing. and she's waiting to hear if they're interested.

Meanwhile, when she called the artistic director of and local theater company to tell them she was available again as a venue manager for an upcoming series of plays, he responded with an invitation to talk about finding a role for her after that is over. They have an opening for an assistant development director, working with the marketing department. I have a feeling that the job is hers if she wants it. She has worked for them for three seasons on co-op and they love her.

So once again, Alex seems to have found her niche. All her hard work will likely pay off by starting her career off in her desired direction.

Tonight is the last regular chamber choir rehearsal (5-9) and Tuesday is the last regular weekly rehearsal. On Saturday we begin the long haul to the festival, with rehearsals with the maestro and the orchestra every day and every night until the festival ends on the 24th, with the only interruptions being for the five actual performances. If you're in town, maybe I'll see you in the audience.

May Festival Concerts

MAY FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT CONCERT:VERDI: La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny)Sung in Italian with English supertitlesMay 16 8:00 PM

Music Hall

Pre-Concert Recital

7 PM Music Hall

Ellie Dehn, soprano

Set across the magnificent backdrop of mid-18th century Spain, Verdi’s sweeping masterpiece finds the beautiful Leonora agreeing to elope with Don Alvaro. Her father, the Marquis, having heard noises from Leonora’s room, runs to protect her, sword drawn. Alvaro throws his pistol to the floor as a sign of surrender, but the pistol accidentally goes off, fatally wounding the Marquis. The Force of Destiny is set into motion.

Leonora, separated from Alvaro while fleeing from the scene of her father’s death, goes to a monastery to spend the rest of her life in repentance. Her brother, Don Carlo, vows revenge on the lovers. And when the three eventually cross paths, it is for one final, fatal time.
Experience all of the drama, and find out how the story ends, during the May Festival premiere concert presentation of La Forza del Destino.

May Festival opening night is sponsored by: Harry and Linda Fath
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MAY FESTIVAL PRESENTS:

ERIC ZEISL: Requiem Ebraico

Sung in Hebrew and English

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No.9

Sung in German with English supertitles

May 17 8:00 PM

Music Hall
Pre-Concert Dinner 5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall
Pre-Concert Recital7 PM

Music Hall John Aler, tenor

Beethoven’s masterful celebration of universal brotherhood, the Symphony No. 9, is being given a record 20th May Festival performance since its debut on the first Festival in 1873. The Symphony, whose remarkable “Ode to Joy” will close this evening’s performance, is paired with a poignant work by a composer who is new to the Festival.

Eric Zeisl, who fled from Austria during the time of the Holocaust, is possibly best known for his work in Hollywood, including scores for 20 films such as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Lassie Come Home and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man. In a departure from his movie career, he composed the hauntingly beautiful Requiem Ebraico in memory of his father, who died in the concentration camp at Treblinka, and in honor of the countless other victims of the Holocaust.

The text, quoted from the 92nd Psalm, is the basis for the Jewish Sabbath celebration but also reflects Zeisl’s view that “...there is very much in the 92nd Psalm that suits the occasion.... With a heart full of tears they [the Jews] nevertheless hold on to God and do not cease to thank Him and do not cease to hope....”

This May Festival performance is sponsored by: Chavez Properties

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MAY FESTIVAL SPECIAL CONCERT:

RACHMANINOFF: Excerpts from Vespers

SCARLATTI: Exultate Deo

DES PREZ: El Grillo

PALESTRINA: Sicut Cervus

FAURÉ: Cantique de Jean Racine

WILLIAM DUCKWORTH: Hebrew Children

SCHUBERT: Des Tages Weihe

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Turtle Dove

THOMPSON: The Last Words of Davidarr.

DAWSON: Ezekiel Saw the Wheel

May 18 8:00 PM

Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption

The Festival’s annual sojourn to the exquisite Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption is this year taken in celebration of James Bagwell’s tenth anniversary as director of the May Festival Youth Chorus. The works he has selected represent highlights from his time with the group, which he has shaped into an acclaimed ensemble that, just last season, was featured on NPR’s From the Top, a program that showcases the best of the best of today’s young performers.

The May Festival Chorus will perform one of the most sublime works in all of choral literature, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. This socalled All-Night Vigil Service evokes the Death and Resurrection of Christ through its symbolic descent into darkness and return to light. The Vespers remained among Rachmaninoff’s favorite compositions, so much so that he requested that the work’s “Nunc dimittis” be sung at his funeral.

The May Festival Youth Chorus is proudly sponsored by Scripps Howard Foundation.
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MAY FESTIVAL PRESENTS:

FAURÉ: Requiem

Sung in Latin with English supertitles

VIVALDI: Gloria

Sung in Latin with English supertitles

BACH: Cantata No.191(Gloria in excelsis Deo)

Sung in Latin with English supertitles

May 23 8:00 PM

Music Hall
Pre-Concert Dinner5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall

Pre-Concert Recital

7 PM Music Hall

Donnie Ray Albert, baritone

Fauré’s Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria are two of the best loved works of the choral literature — for good reason. Each is strikingly beautiful in its own way. Fauré’s sublime Requiem, intimate in scale and consoling in content, gracefully and gently expresses human grief, as Fauré himself said, “[My Requiem] is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.” Vivaldi’s Gloria, with its awe-inspiring waves of musical notes, its energy and rhythmic drive, and its achingly beautiful “Et in Terra Pax,” compellingly communicate the work’s message of spiritual joy.

Bach’s Cantata Gloria in excelsis Deo, which will receive its May Festival premiere at this concert, is listed among the composer’s cantatas for the Christmas season. The Cantata’s music, borrowed from movements of Bach’s celebrated B Minor Mass, vividly communicates the familiar message: “Glory be to God on high, and on Earth peace to men of good will.”
A memorable evening of exquisite and spiritual music awaits!

This May Festival performance is sponsord by: Neyer Holdings Corporation

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MAY FESTIVAL 2008 FINALE:

BERLIOZ: Roméo et Juliette

Sung in French with English supertitles

with projected artwork from around the world, curated by the Cincinnati Art Museum

May 24 8:00 PM

Music Hall
Pre-Concert Dinner

5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall
Pre-Concert Recital

7 PM Music Hall

Catherine Keen, mezzo-soprano

Great music and great art combine for this multimedia presentation of one of the most romantic, and tragic, stories in the English language -- Romeo and Juliette

With extraordinary beauty, Berlioz’s self-titled “dramatic symphony” tells us in music and words of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets, the elation and melancholy of the young lovers’ allconsuming passion, the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, and the eventual reconciliation of the families.

Berlioz’s breathtaking music will unite with the visual, as artists’ depictions of themes represented in the music are projected above the stage, thanks in part to the Cincinnati Art Museum.

The May Festival finale is sponsored by: Macy's Foundation