The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Designate Louis Langrée announce an exciting new initiative dubbed “One City, One Symphony.” Modeled on successful reading programs around the country, the CSO and community partners will engage people from all walks of life throughout the Tri-state region to experience together Arnold Schoenberg’s haunting short piece, A Survivor from Warsaw, and Beethoven’s timeless Ninth Symphony, an immensely popular work celebrating universal brotherhood. The seven-week initiative culminates in three CSO performances of A Survivor from Warsaw and the Ninth Symphony with its “Ode to Joy” finale featuring the May Festival Chorus on November 15, 17 and 18 at Music Hall. These performances will be led by Mr. Langrée, who officially begins his tenure as CSO Music Director in 2013, and will take the listener on a journey from tragedy to triumph. “This exciting new initiative and our concert program can bring people together from all walks of life to share and experience something truly extraordinary,” said Mr. Langrée. “I already feel a strong connection with our audiences, the supportive community and of course the incredible musicians of the CSO, and I am looking forward to deepening this relationship in the coming months and years.”
Sponsored by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, “One City, One Symphony” will feature free neighborhood “listening parties” designed to explore and discuss the pieces at locations throughout the Tri-state and moderated by CSO musicians, five full radio broadcasts of different recordings of the Ninth Symphony leading up to the CSO performances hosted by 90.9 WGUC, support materials through a partnership with The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, an exciting community video project produced by CET, and the live CSO concert on November 17 beamed to select locations across the region. The CSO will also host the post-concert “One City Celebration” open to the community in the Music Hall lobby following the November 17 performance complete with a “Sound Off Booth” to share reactions to the music. A full schedule of “One City, One Symphony” events, along with other information about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, is available at the Orchestra’s interactive cincinnatisymphony.org/onecity webpage.
The Orchestra will offer the live concert recording as a free digital download distributed globally through the CSO webpage at a future date, and plans a local television broadcast.
“One City, One Symphony” supports the CSO’s mission to create deep community engagement within the region, and is made possible by support from the The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, as well as the following community partners: Artswave; The Center for Holocaust Humanity Education; CET; Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County; Classical 90.9 WGUC; May Festival.
Listening parties will be hosted at Anderson High School, Awakenings Hyde Park, the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center, Coffee Emporium, College Hill Coffee Co. & Casual Gourmet, the Mayerson Jewish Community Center on The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Campus, St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Terrace Park, the Taft Museum of Art, Xavier University, and the West Chester Public Library. Please visit cincinnatisymphony.org/onecity for the complete schedule.
The CSO also invites music lovers to host their own listening parties, either during a WGUC broadcast, or by checking out a “Beethoven bag” listening kit (which will include CD recordings of the work as well as listening guides) from the Public Library. Listening guides and discussion questions will also be available for download on the CSO website.
There is also an opportunity to share thoughts and reactions, post photos from listening parties and ask Mr. Langrée questions about the work on a forum on the CSO’s website. Please visit cincinnatisymphony.org/share to engage in dialogue about the music.
The November 15, 17 and 18 concerts are sponsored by Fort Washington Investment Advisors, and the Masterworks Series sponsor is US Bank.
