The world-class violinist Elmar Oliveira, the sensational young pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a local rising star and a Hungarian virtuoso of the oboe are some of the artists who will grace the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra's third season with its fourth music director, Mischa Santora.

        Mr. Santora, who will conduct five of the six concerts, will bring back former music director Keith Lockhart for one program in January (See Page E1). Also back by popular demand: a repeat performance with the Vocal Arts Ensemble, Earl Rivers, director.

2002-03 SEASON

Sept. 29-30 — Mischa Santora, conductor; Lajos Lencses, oboe. Wagner, Siegfried Idyll; Francaix, Oboe Concerto; Kodaly, Epigrams (orchestrated by Mr. Lencses); Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, Italian.     Oct. 20-21 — Mischa Santora, conductor; Anna Polusmiak, piano. Henri Dutilleux, Le mystere de l'instant; Saint-Saens, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22; Beethoven, Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36.     Nov. 17-18 — Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring Suite (original version); Elliott Carter, Elegy for Strings; Beethoven, Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21. (Concerto to be announced.)     Jan. 26-27 — Keith Lockhart, guest conductor. Program to be announced.     March 23-24 — Mischa Santora, conductor; Ignat Solzhenitsyn, piano. Josef Kost, world premiere; Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major, K. 537, Coronation; Dvorak, Wind Serenade; Kodaly, Galanta Dances.     April 13-14 — Mischa Santora, conductor; Vocal Arts Ensemble, Earl Rivers, director. J.S. Bach, St. John Passion.

        Mr. Santora, who is completing tenures with two youth orchestras in New York, discussed over breakfast in Hyde Park what it's been like to take on the Chamber Orchestr.

        This year has been a particular challenge, he says, because the CCO has been without an executive director since James Edgy retired in September.

        On the plus side, Mr. Santora, who is less than thrilled with the acoustics in Memorial Hall, has brought the orchestra to a new venue, Greaves Hall at Northern Kentucky University, for concerts that have a growing audience.

        Change is always difficult, he notes.

        “It can be hard, but I think you can facilitate it if you manage to get people thinking outside of the box,” he says.

        Mr. Santora, who praises his board for pitching in to help out this year, is optimistic about the future.

        “We have so many good things going for the Chamber Orchestra, and I would love to build on those. I look forward to working with the orchestra — they are wonderful musicians. I'm encouraged by the dedicated and loyal audience, and soloists like coming here,” he says. “I think we can build on our strengths.”
       

Personal favorites

        His personal highlights of next season include a performance of Bach's St. John Passion with the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati.

        “That's been my dream,” he says.

        St. John Passion is a natural fit for the orchestra and the VAE, says Mr. Rivers, who hopes the groups will continue to collaborate on an annual basis.

        “It requires virtuoso singing in the Baroque style with demanding musical lines. It is scored for a chamber-size orchestra as well as "antique' solo instruments such as viola d'amores, oboe d'amores, lute and gamba,” Mr. Rivers says. “The visceral nature of the work juxtaposed with the reflective qualities of the chorales and certain arias serve to create a musical drama that is riveting for the modern audience.”

        Mr. Santora is also anticipating a new piece he is commissioning from his former counterpoint and harmony teacher in Switzerland, Josef Kost.

        “I'm really happy and even proud to be able to continue these commissioned works,” he says. “When I came here, everybody warned me that you've got to be careful with new music; people are so conservative, you mustn't push the envelope.

        “But what was so wonderful at the last concert (March 10-11) was the overwhelming response to Huw Watkins' Nocturne. People seemed to like it, and say, let's do more of this.”
       

New and different

        Music lovers will hear Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony and Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 and No. 2. But there's also music that is slightly off the beaten path, or that shows off the musicians in different configurations.

        Mr. Santora will open the season Sept. 29-30 with Wagner's beautiful Siegfried Idyll, an intimate work composed for Wagner's wife, Cosima, and premiered on her birthday, Christmas morning, 1870.

        On the same program, he is introducing oboist Lajos Lencses, “one of the most recorded oboists in Europe after Heinz Holliger,” he says.

        Another intriguing piece is Dutilleux's Le mystere, for percussion and cimbalom, a Hungarian dulcimer struck with hammers, in October. The soloist in Saint-Saens' Concerto No. 2 for that concert, 18-year-old Anna Polusmiak, an NKU student, has been turning heads around the world.

        Distinguished violinist Mr. Oliveira, who performed the Barber Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra this year, will visit the Chamber Orchestra in November with a concerto to be announced.

        And pianist Mr. Solzhenitsyn, who has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, will make a return visit with Mozart in March.
       

Concerts to be announced

        Although the CCO's “home” is Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine, Mr. Santora plans to continue alternate performances at Greaves Hall, as well as in Corbett Auditorium at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

        Meanwhile, the orchestra is conducting a search for an executive director.

        “Hopefully, that will be the last piece of the puzzle,” Mr. Santora says. “I see a lot of positive developments. It's like when (Federal Reserve chairman Alan) Greenspan looks at some economic figures and says, OK, it's going to be fine folks.”

        Concerts are at 3 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Monday. Venues will be announced. For information call 723-1182 or e-mail cco@one.net.

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