CCM Philharmonia to Welcome UC President Santa J. Ono as Narrator for 11/22 Concert

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer, conductor and pianist Benjamin Britten with a celebratory concert on Friday, Nov. 22.

Under the baton of Mark Gibson, Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Studies, the CCM Philharmonia will present Britten's orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, narrated by special guest Santa J. Ono, President of the University of Cincinnati.

One of Britten's best-known pieces, The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34 (1946), is a musical composition that was originally commissioned for an educational documentary film called Instruments of the Orchestra, directed by Muir Mathieson and featuring the London Symphony. It is one of the three popularly used scores in children's music education, along with Saint Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals and Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

Audience members may recognize this showpiece from the 2012 Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom. Music drawn from Britten's opera for children, Noye's Fludde, and his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, played an integral role in the movie's conception and can be heard throughout the film. Watch Anderson discuss Britten's influence by visiting http://www.britten100.org/whos-celebrating/britten-fans/wes-anderson---film-director.

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is not only one of Britten's most played pieces but - in its original, 1940s film version - was a highly significant attempt to use the media of the day to introduce children to classical music. View a newly animated version of the showpiece by visiting http://animatingbritten.wordpress.com/author/animatingbritten.

The evening will also feature Britten's Violin Concerto, Op. 15 (1939), a highly original piece that foreshadows the composer's work on the famed opera Peter Grimes (1945).

In addition, the program includes Sir Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, the work that brought him to national prominence upon its production by Hans Richter at St. James' Hall, London, in June of 1899. Like Britten, Elgar holds a place at the helm of his respective generation of British composers.

About President Santa J. Ono, PhD, University of Cincinnati: Santa J. Ono, PhD, is the 28th President at the University of Cincinnati. After serving on an interim basis for two months, he was appointed to the presidency on Oct. 23, 2012.

President Ono first arrived at UC in 2010, serving two years as the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. As Provost, he led the development of an Academic Master Plan (AMP) aligned to the university's strategic plan, UC2019. The AMP, unveiled in May 2012, outlined an initial investment of about $10 million toward long-term strategic goals set for completion in UC's bicentennial year, 2019.

Dr. Ono is the first Asian American to serve as UC's chief executive and one of only a few Asian Americans to serve as president of a major research institution in the United States.

Dr. Ono also serves as Professor of Pediatrics within UC's College of Medicine and Professor of Biology in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Ono's principal research interests focus on transcriptional regulation in the human immune system, mechanisms of mast cell dependent inflammation on the ocular surface and the immune component of age-related macular degeneration. Learn more about President Ono by visiting uc.edu/president/biography.html.

Learn more about CCM's Britten Centenary Celebration by clicking here.

Performance Time: 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22 in the Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village, University of Cincinnati. Tickets to "Benjamin Britten at 100" are $12 general, $6 non-UC students, UC students FREE. This concert can be included in a flex-ticket package. Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/flextickets.html.

Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates. For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots. For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.

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