January 13, 2023
Applications for the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition for African American Pianists are now open. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2023, and applications can be accessed online. Taking place in the summer of 2023, this bi-annual competition is specifically for talented young African American pianists.
March 27, 2020
James Cannon, a pianist, and Bert Nelson, an organist, are not the typical music students you would find walking the halls at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music. Both are retired airline pilots with distinguished careers in the military who returned to school to study keyboard performance at CCM. Janelle Gelfand featured Cannon and Nelson in the Cincinnati Business Courier.
July 28, 2020
UC College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) DMA Piano student Kara Huber and Piano Professor Michelle Conda speak to Cincinnati Business Courier reporter Janelle Gelfand about the challenges of teaching music virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
September 30, 2020
Out of over 200 applicants, 12 conductors made it to La Maestra competition, including three CCM alumni: Tong, Maria Fuller (MM Orchestral Conducting, ’19; AD Opera Coaching, ’17; MM Piano Performance, ‘15) and Jiajing Lai (MM Orchestral Conducting, ‘15). Lai also advanced to the semi-final round.
May 10, 2021
CCM doctoral students Michael Delfin, Thomas Heidenreich and Curtis Pavey were each recognized by the Diapason magazine, an organ-focused periodical, in its “20 Under 30” list of up-and-coming organists, harpsichordists and keyboard artisans. To be featured in the list, these musicians were first nominated and then selected from the pool of nominations based on previous prizes, career advancement, publications, and more.
May 3, 2024
TREMOR is a performance art project created in response to Brianna Matzke's essential tremor diagnosis. It features a world premiere piano concert and panel discussion at 6 p.m. on May 5, 2024 at the American Sign Museum. The project also includes an art opening, with musical responses from local new-music ensemble concert:nova on April 28 at The Well.
February 9, 2022
On Feb. 17, the CCM Philharmonia will showcase its stars-of-tomorrow in a riveting concert that’s sure to offer something for everyone. The performance, titled “Carnival!” will begin with Shawn Okpebholo’s Kutimbua Kivumbi (Stomp the Dust!). Okpebholo received his master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from CCM, and his music has been described as "devastatingly beautiful" and "fresh and new and fearless" by the Washington Post.
May 28, 2021
Two of CCM’s doctoral piano students recently started Music X Habitat X Art, an organization that combines classical music with immersive visual art, both in physical installations and in the digital space. Yaoyue Huang and Scott Sherman, alongside Chinese visual artist Amelie Jiang, just enjoyed their organization’s first solo exhibition.
April 1, 2021
In 2015, pianist Brianna Matzke (MM Piano Performance, '11; DMA Piano Performance, '14) decided to look beyond traditional classical music outlets and create a project where new musical works could take shape. True to its name, the Cincinnati-based Response Project encourages composers and other artists to make compositions that react to other art, including music.
July 26, 2021
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music doctoral pianist Ningjialu “Lulu” Liu was a winner of the recent PianoTexas Young Artist Concerto Competition, hosted by Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.