BY RICK PENDER

The past year has included milestones for several Classical music ensembles. The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra (once known as the Northern Kentucky Symphony) marked its first decade, while the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra celebrated 25 years with ERICH KUNZEL at its helm. The Pops is one of America's most recorded ensembles, with 70 releases on the Telarc label -- it almost always has something up there on the Classical charts. This year also saw the release of PAAVO J&##196;RVI's second recording with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: Jan Sibelius' Symphony No. 2, paired with the fifth symphony of Järvi's fellow Estonian, Eduard Tubin. Järvi's presence is felt everywhere in the local Classical scene (and it's not just because his face looms from those billboards proclaiming "Bravo, Paavo!") -- he's drawing bigger audiences to concerts at Music Hall and getting rave notices when he guest conducts elsewhere. (In March he takes the CSO to New York's Carnegie Hall.) Another handsome young conductor, MISCHA SANTORA, is doing a fine job with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, too, finding ways to present the smaller orchestra in approachable, intimate settings that appeal to young audiences. UC's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) trains and employs musicians of the highest caliber: XIAN ZHANG, a CCM assistant professor of conducting, this fall was a co-winner of the prestigious Maazel/Vilar Conductors' Competition, a sort of World Series of orchestra conducting. CCM's presence also means a constant stream of new ensembles for local music fans: Two relatively new groups worth hearing are the ARC ENSEMBLE, which focuses on chamber music composed after 1900, and CINCINNATI BAROQUE, led by THOMAS JUNEAU, a professional ensemble of 20 singers supported by up to 20 instrumentalists to perform music from the 18th century by composers such as Bach and Handel. ...

The biggest splash in the world of high-end music this past season was surely the Cincinnati Opera's production of DEAD MAN WALKING, only the new opera's third staging, garnering international attention during the July performances at Music Hall. Composer Jake Heggie spent lots of time in town, as did Sister Helen Prejean, whose story the opera tells (as did the Academy Award-nominated film of the same name). Perhaps even more satisfying than this contemporary work was a spectacular staging of Richard Strauss' ELEKTRA, a seldom-presented 1909 piece -- this was, in fact, its Cincinnati premiere -- with a cast of renowned singers including Deborah Polaski (who happens to be a CCM grad), Inga Nielsen and Anja Silja. It made lots of knowledgeable opera fans around America and the world sit up and take notice.

E-mail Rick Pender

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