We create intimate, transformative experiences that connect the musically curious.
OUR VISION
To be an incubator of musical curiosity.
Our ensemble’s smaller size allows you to get closer to the music and the musicians. This helps to melt the invisible divide between audience and musicians, connecting you to the art in a new way!
WE DO THIS BY:
UNEXPECTED VENUES
NONTRADITIONAL MASH-UPS
COLLABORATIONS
PRELUDE TALKS & ARTIST RECEPTIONS
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
WHAT MAKE US UNIQUE?
INTIMACY
The ensemble’s smaller size allows you to get closer to the music and the musicians, helping to erase the invisible divide between audience and musicians, connecting you to the art in a new way!
COLLABORATIONS
Bringing together artists to collaborate across genres and art forms leads to inspiration and innovation. Our size makes us the perfect partner, one who can be flexible and nimble.
DISTINCT REPERTOIRE
Chamber orchestras have a unique range of repertoire, spanning from the classical music giants of yesterday to world premiere commissions. The CCO presents a musical experience you won’t have anywhere else!
UNEXPECTED VENUES
Whether enjoying the beautiful acoustic in your neighborhood church or relaxing with a beverage in a hip nightspot, bringing music out of the concert hall creates an electric atmosphere, one where you can almost reach out and touch the music-making.
FUN FACTS
The CCO stays curious, going beyond program notes, striving to share something more about the music, composer or historical context.
MORE THAN A CONCERT
CCO is where audiences and artists come to share an experience. Whether it’s our free Prelude Talks with the music director or post-concert artist receptions, we always look for ways to create transformative experiences for our audiences.
“A vibrant, fresh musical experience
in an intimate and informal setting.”
The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra creates intimate, transformative experiences that connect the musically curious. The CCO is an independent ensemble of 32 professional musicians that will mark its 50th anniversary in 2024 and is widely recognized as one of the leading performing arts organizations in the region.
The CCO provides a vibrant musical experience in an intimate and informal setting, for both the seasoned and novice concert patron. The CCO’s size allows for flexibility and creativity in programming, the ideal ensemble for presenting orchestral works from the Baroque and Classical eras, as well as commissioned works by contemporary composers.
The CCO’s multi-disciplinary performances range from operatic and choral productions to collaborations with arts organizations in dance, musical theater, puppetry, literature, and visual art. Collaborators have included VAE: Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble, Madcap Puppets, School for Creative & Performing Arts, MamLuft&Co. Dance, CCM Modern Dance, Cincinnati Art Museum, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Exhale Dance Tribe, and Music Resource Center. These collaborations have become a hallmark of the CCO, providing greater variety and depth to programming.
In December 2012, the orchestra developed a multi-disciplinary production with Madcap Puppets, performing Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors in an annual holiday event. This unique collaboration brings together vocalists, instrumental music, dance, chorus and 10-foot tall puppets.
In August, 2015, the CCO launched the critically acclaimed summer music festival Summermusik. At that time they launched a two year music director search to select their fifth music director, who would follow in the footsteps of conductors Paul Nadler, Gerhard Samuel, Keith Lockhart, and Mischa Santora.
Eckart Preu was named CCO music director in October, 2016. Summermusik concerts take place during the month of August and are presented in unique venues around Greater Cincinnati. The festival hosts three distinct series – Mainstage, A Little Afternoon Musik, and Chamber Crawls – each one a layer in the unique voice of the CCO, performing music from Bach to rock.
Under the exciting and creative leadership of Maestro Preu the festival has experienced unprecedented growth. Summermusik 2023 will be the 9th season of the annual festival that the Cincinnati Enquirer praised as “the most imaginative, most entertaining three weeks on the classical music calendar.”
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
Legal Name: Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra
Tax ID#: 31-0865998
Status: The CCO is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
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