The Score | Sweet Home, Cincinnati

All eyes were on Cincinnati this October, when historic Music Hall, home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, reopened after a sixteen-month restoration. To celebrate, there was a free open house and building tour on October 7, and the CSO and the hall’s other resident companies scheduled a packed five weeks of performances. The October 6-7 opening weekend featured CSO Music Director Louis Langrée leading a commissioned world premiere, Stories from Home, by Jonathan Bailey Holland, plus works by John Adams, Scriabin, and Beethoven. Also returning to the hall was the Cincinnati Pops and Conductor John Morris Russell, which performed music by John Williams for their first concert in the refurbished hall on October 13. Other reopening performances in Music Hall this fall include the final installment of the CSO’s Pelléas Trilogy, with the Cincinnati Opera; the Cincinnati Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet with the CSO; and the world premiere of Julia Adolphe’s new choral work, featuring the CSO and the May Festival Chorus. During the renovation, when the CSO performed at the Taft Theatre, the orchestra provided an inside view of Music Hall’s progress via a microsite with photos and updates http://cincinnatisymphony.org/stories/music-hall/, where visitors could learn about everything from the status of the hall’s chandelier to the new stage apron, Corbett Tower restoration, and the acoustical renovation by Akustiks.