Cincinnati Song Initiative Announces 2023 Winter Song Festival
CINCINNATI, OH – Cincinnati Song Initiative shares details of its fourth Winter Song Festival, set for January 14 and 15, 2023. The Winter Song Festival, a one-of-a-kind experience in the tri-state area, is an annual weekend of unique events designed to challenge and revolutionize the song concert as we know it.
“In addition to the feeling of freshness our audiences and artists bring to every CSI Mainstage event, the Winter Song Festival pushes the boundaries even more for what a classical song experience can mean in today’s society,” says Founding Artistic Director Samuel Martin. “This year’s Festival provides a profound dichotomy of brand new songs alongside music rooted deeply in the complicated history of this country, with much insight and inspiration to be gained by anyone in attendance at either event thanks to such a wide array of songs and artistic personalities.”
DuWaup
On Saturday, January 14, CSI presents the fourth Cincinnati songSLAM. Conceived by the organization Sparks & Wiry Cries, the songSLAM is an energetic community event for composer/performer teams to premiere new art songs and compete for cash prizes. The voting audience — in the poetry slam tradition — casts their votes for their favorite songs to award a total of $2,000 in prize money.
Hosted by DuWaup, Founder and Executive Producer of the Cincinnati Poetry Slam, this year’s Cincinnati songSLAM features five distinct teams. In addition to the live performance, each song will be available online so friends and family throughout the world have the chance to vote for their favorite teams. For local audiences, the live SLAM occurs at Northside’s Liberty Exhibition Hall. Entrance is free, but registration is required, and audiences can enjoy cabaret-style table seating and a cash bar while cheering and voting their favorite teams on to victory.
Casey Robards
On January 15, Cincinnati Song Initiative presents the internationally-performed program Narrative of a Slave Woman: Songs of Suffering, Hope, and Freedom. This concert provides arguably the most comprehensive journey in contextualizing the words of Spirituals with the very real-world stories they tell from the darkest chapter of this nation. Distinguished artists LaToya Lain and Casey Robards will take audiences on this profound journey that places the Spiritual - and everything it stands for - in the spotlight.
LaToya Lain
Says Lain about the program: “I was inspired to take these narratives and my own research about the institution of slavery and combine them with concert-arranged Negro Spirituals to tell the story of one former slave woman through song. It is their courage, their strength, and their resiliency that has set an example for us all. It is on their shoulders that I stand and why I’ve chosen to honor them.”
Tickets are available now for both events.
For complete details, visit https://www.cincinnatisonginitiative.org/festival.
The Cincinnati songSLAM takes place on January 14 at 7pm at Northside’s Liberty Exhibition Hall (3938 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati).
Narrative of a Slave Woman takes place on January 15 at ARCO in Price Hill (3301 Price Avenue, Cincinnati).
About Cincinnati Song Initiative
Since its founding in 2016, Cincinnati Song Initiative has connected thousands of people through the unique and intimate power of classical song, and is a recipient of Ovation TV’s Stand for the Arts award based on how well an organization empowers the community, builds strategic partnerships, drives engagement through volunteerism, and delivers creative programming.
Smaller in scale than opera, choral music, or other theatrical genres, the performance of song most commonly features one singer and one pianist in a visceral musical experience. Cincinnati Song Initiative creates these experiences with a pioneering spirit to engage communities in thoughtful and innovative ways. Deriving its texts from a variety of sources such as poetry, prose, speeches, or plays, song portrays the immediate and deep personal experiences we encounter throughout everyday life.
Each concert features singers and pianists of national renown, providing an unparalleled level of artistry within an intimate and accessible atmosphere. Audiences enjoy close interaction with the artists, hearing them discuss the relevance of the music in relation to today’s cultural and societal context, and enjoy engaging with them - and each other - during post-performance receptions. Concerts take place at different venues throughout the Queen City in order to connect with its many vibrant communities and explore all it has to offer.
Cincinnati Song Initiative remains devoted to the innovation of twenty-first century song by commissioning and premiering new works. CSI aims to connect with today's audiences and lead the way in original digital content among arts organizations, continually adding to its rich suite of resources with educational webinars, live interviews with artists and composers, and innovative performance projects imagined for the virtual realm.
For more information regarding upcoming concerts, artists, and CSI’s thematic projects, please visit www.cincinnatisonginitiative.org.