Tag Archives: Memorial Hall

Nashville, TN – Legendary singer/songwriter Janis Ian performs in Cincinnati on May 19 at Memorial Hall on her “Celebrating Our Years Together Tour.”  She will be supporting her new album The Light at the End of the Line which was released in January. The Light at the End of the Line is Ian’s first album of new material in 15 years, and is also her last solo studio recording – a “swan song,” she notes. The “Celebrating Our Years Together Tour” is also Ian’s final North American tour in 2022. Ian’s single “I’m Still Standing” is the perfect statement for this enthralling album and tour; listen HERE. Ticket info is HERE.

The Light at the End of the Line bookends a kaleidoscopic catalog that began with her 1967 self-titled debut at age 15. The songs are intimate portraits of getting older but wiser (“I’m Still Standing”), of knowing when to stand up and not take any more shit (“Resist”), of celebrating life’s fleeting beauty (“Swannanoa”), of exalting in your true identity (“Perfect Little Girl”), of paying homage to a lifelong hero and her demons (“Nina,” as in Simone). The Light at the End of the Line feels like a victory lap for an artist who has nothing to lose and nothing left to prove. You hear that in the risks Ian took in both her lyrics and the inspired production choices.

“I love this album,” Ian says. “There is an element of, ‘This is the absolute best I can do over the span of 58 years as a writer. This is what I’ve learned.’ And I realized that this album has an arc, and I’ve never really done anything like that before.”

Janis Ian began her iconic career at age 14 when she wrote her socially and politically impactful song “Society’s Child” about an interracial romance between teenagers.  Her honest songwriting has translated into timeless, culturally significant tracks including “At Seventeen,” “Jesse” and “Stars,” the latter which was covered by Nina Simone, Cher, Mel Tormé and a host of other artists who felt the song spoke to their own lives. She has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and won two: one in 1976 for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female (“At Seventeen”) and one in 2013 for Best Spoken Word Recording (Society’s Child: My Autobiography).

Over her extraordinary career, Ian has forged deep connections with her fans, and she cherishes those associations. She notes, “As I wrote The Light at the End of the Line, I realized that it’s really a love song. I didn’t understand that so many years of meeting my audience after shows, of corresponding with them, had created this very real relationship that few artists are privileged to have.”

Terence Blanchard

“Jazz is a fighter,” said Wayne Shorter. “The word ‘jazz’ means to me, ‘I dare you. Let’s jump into the unknown!’” The music and legacy of jazz giant Shorter will be front-and-center as multi-GRAMMY winner, Oscar nominee, opera and film composer Terence Blanchard makes his concert debut at historic Memorial Hall OTR on Thursday, November 18, 2021, at 8:00pm, featuring double GRAMMY winners The Turtle Island Quartet. Tickets are $15 – $60 and may be purchased online at MemorialHallOTR.com, or by calling the Memorial Hall Box Office at 513.977.8838 (Tu – Fr, 1pm – 6pm). The Memorial Hall concert will be preceded by a special afternoon masterclass for Cincinnati Public School Jazz Academy at Kennedy Heights Arts Center.

The Terence Blanchard concert is supported in part by the ArtsWave Community Campaign.

ABOUT TERENCE BLANCHARD
Oscar nominee, five-time GRAMMY-winner and 2018 USA Fellow trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies – past and present.

Blanchard received an Oscar nomination for his original score for Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. He won a GRAMMY for Best Instrumental Composition for writing the film’s piece “Blut Und Boden (Blood and Soil).” Some of Blanchard’s other film and television credits include Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever, Summer of Sam, 25th Hour, Inside Man, and Miracle at St. Anna; Kasi Lemmons’ films, Eve’s Bayou, Talk to Me, and Harriet; George Lucas’ Red Tails; Tim Story’s Barbershop; the powerful documentary On the Record which was directed and produced by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering and premiered on HBO Max in May 2020; and the critically acclaimed drama series Perry Mason starring Matthew Rhys with episodes directed by Tim Van Patten which premiered on HBO in June 2020. Blanchard also scored One Night in Miami, which marks Regina King’s feature directorial debut, and wrote the music for the feature film Bruised, the directorial debut for Halle Berry, who also stars.

More recently, Blanchard became the first black composer to premiere an opera at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera with Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on the memoir of celebrated writer and The New York Times columnist Charles Blow. Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, also premiered to critical acclaim, featuring Denyce Graves and a libretto from Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cristofer.

Regarding his consistent attachment to artistic works of conscience, Blanchard confesses, “You get to a certain age when you ask, ‘Who’s going to stand up and speak out for us?’ Then you look around and realize that the James Baldwins, Muhammad Alis and Dr. Kings are no longer here…and begin to understand that it falls on you. I’m not trying to say I’m here to try to correct the whole thing, I’m just trying to speak the truth.”

ABOUT THE MEMORIAL HALL SHOW
Wayne Shorter’s evolution as an artist is vast & unending. Performing with and composing for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis Second Great Quintet naturally led to the formation of his own legendary groups—first Weather Report, then his musically unparalleled quartet. With Shorter’s career now focused solely on composing, his musical greatness has set the table for his protégé to carry his music forward to the next generation. In ABSENCE, 2018 USA Fellow, two-time Oscar® nominee, and five-time GRAMMY®-winning trumpeter & composer Terence Blanchard celebrates both the brilliance of Shorter’s legacy and the inspiration he has given Blanchard, influencing his ever-expanding amalgam of music and storytelling.

For this monumental task, Blanchard will unite his internationally acclaimed band The E-Collective, featuring young musical pioneers Charles Altura on guitar, Fabian Almazan on piano and synthesizers, Oscar Seaton on drums, and David “DJ” Ginyard on bass, with the double-GRAMMY®-winning Turtle Island Quartet.

MASTERCLASS WITH CINCINNATI PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS
Prior to the Memorial Hall performance, Blanchard will present a jazz masterclass to students in grades 7 – 9 for the Cincinnati Public Schools Jazz Academy at the Kennedy Heights Arts Center. The CPS Jazz Academy was started in 2019 and provides free after school jazz instruction to underserved CPS students with a passion for music. Current enrollment in the Jazz Academy has reached 100 students in 4th – 10th grade. The Jazz Academy founder and director is Dr. Isidore Rudnick, Cincinnati Public Schools’ Fine & Performing Arts Curriculum Manager.

Masterclass participants will all receive complimentary tickets to the Memorial Hall OTR performance. The class is at capacity and will not be open to the public.

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