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Home Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Announces 2024 Brady Block Parties

Five Free Outdoor Brady Block Parties Anchored by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Concerts to Take Place in the West End, The Banks, Price Hill, Avondale and Woodlawn/Lincoln Heights

Pre-concert Activities to Include Music and Art Activations, Games and Activities for All Ages, and Food Beverages from Area Food Vendors

CINCINNATI, OH (April 16, 2024) - The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has announced its 2024 Brady Block Parties line up. The Brady Block Parties, anchored by CSO concerts and named in honor of Andrew J. Brady, longtime Cincinnati orchestra and band director at Western Hills High School, will take place outdoors at five locations across Greater Cincinnati, June 6 through August 1. Each Brady Block Party is free and open to the public and will include art activations by Robert O'Neal Multicultural Arts Center (ROMAC), games and activities for all ages in collaboration with Cincinnati Circus, and food from area food vendors and culminate with an outdoor concert by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

The Brady Block Parties will take place at The Banks at the ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park, adjacent to The Andrew J. Brady Music Center (June 6); West End at Ezzard Charles Park (June 23); Price Hill at the Dunham Recreation Center (July 14), Avondale at the North Avondale Recreation Center fields (July 19), and Woodlawn/Lincoln Heights at the Woodlawn Community Center (August 1). Community Partners include the Cincinnati Men's Chorus, Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses, Price Hill Will, Cincinnati Recreation Commission, Village of Woodlawn, Village of Lincoln Heights and North Avondale Community Council.

"We are excited for the third summer of Brady Block Parties," said Harold Brown, The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. "This summer we continue to build on the fruitful relationship that we've developed with our community partners over the last two season and form new relationships with the new neighborhoods of Avondale and Woodlawn/Lincoln Heights. No matter who you are or where you come from, we welcome you to come out and celebrate our community with us in food, fun, games and live performances by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra along with a few special guests."

"Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses partners with residents and stakeholders to build a stronger West End through collaboration. Partnering with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra allows us to bring enriching experiences, opportunities to engage and lasting memories. Residents look forward to Brady Block Party, offering a chance to celebrate together, experience the arts and have family fun. Together, we foster hope for a vibrant West End!" - Terana Boyd, Director of Community Engagement & Program for Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses.

"The Brady Block Party will be a grand family get-together for all Zone 15 communities." -LaVerne Mitchell, Village of Lincoln Heights.

"The Brady Block Party collaboration is important to the Village of Woodlawn in many ways. One, it will bring people from different backgrounds together and create a sense of unity. Two, it allows for our residents to experience a different genre of music, not usually performed at our concert series. Hearing live music in a community setting, watching the musicians play the instruments allows for an appreciation to develop for the sound and richness, of the music even if you don't prefer it. Lastly, having the full production of the Brady Block Party sends a message to our community that we value them, their important and hopefully that will create a sense of unity and pride and dismantle community divides." -Paula Sherman, Village of Woodlawn.

A full listing of activities, vendors, and complete event details can be found at https://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/BlockParties

The Brady Block Parties series is made possible by an anonymous donor in honor of Andrew J. Brady and the Fifth Third Foundation, Title Sponsor of the CSO's IDEA Series. The CSO's IDEA Series comprises the Brady Block Parties series, the MAC Music Innovator and Classical Roots. Together, these programs bring the entire city together to celebrate diverse artistry, to meet the demand for historically underrepresented talent in the orchestra industry and engage with people from communities historically excluded from orchestral music with programming that authentically represents them.

                                                                                     Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra 2024 Block Parties
Each Brady Block Party is free and open to the public and will include art activations by Robert O'Neal Multicultural Arts Center (ROMAC), games and activities for all ages in collaboration with Cincinnati Circus, and food from area food vendors and culminate with an outdoor concert by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Thursday, June 6, 2024, 6 p.m. (concert at 7:30 p.m.)
Location: The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park, located adjacent to The Andrew J. Brady Music Center
PRIDE BRADY BLOCK PARTY
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Wiley conductor
Community Partner: Cincinnati Men's Chorus

Sunday, June 23, 2024, 6 p.m. (concert at 7:30 p.m.)
Location: Ezzard Charles Park (formerly Laurel Park)
WEST END BRADY BLOCK PARTY
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
John Morris Russell conductor
Community Partner: Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses

Sunday, July 14, 2024, 6 p.m. (concert at 7:30 p.m.)
Location: Dunham Recreation Center
PRICE HILLL BRADY BLOCK PARTY
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Carlos Ágreda conductor
Community Partner: Price Hill Will and Cincinnati Recreation Commission

Friday, July 19, 6 p.m. (concert at 7:30 p.m.)
Location: North Avondale Recreation Center Fields
AVONDALE BRADY BLOCK PARTY
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Kellen Gray conductor
Community Partner: North Avondale Community Council and Cincinnati Recreation Commission

Thursday, August 1, 6 p.m. (concert at 7:30 p.m.)
Location: Woodlawn Community Center
WOODLAWN/LINCOLN HEIGHTS BRADY BLOCK PARTY
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Michelle Merrill, conductor
Community Partner: Village of Woodlawn and Village of Lincoln Heights

All programs, artists, dates and locations are subject to change.

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is considered one of America's finest and most versatile ensembles. Louis Langrée concludes his tenure with the Orchestra at the end of the 2024-24 season; subsequently, he has been appointed Music Director Laureate through the 2027-28 season. The CSO's distinguished roster of past music directors includes Leopold Stokowski, Eugène Ysaÿe, Fritz Reiner, Max Rudolf, Jesús López Cobos and Paavo Järvi. Matthias Pintscher is the Orchestra's Creative Partner, and previous artistic partners have included Lang Lang, Philip Glass, Branford Marsalis and Jennifer Higdon. The Orchestra also performs as the Cincinnati Pops, founded by Erich Kunzel in 1977 and currently led by John Morris Russell with Damon Gupton serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The CSO further elevates the city's vibrant arts scene by serving as the official orchestra for the Cincinnati May Festival, Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Ballet.

The CSO has long championed the composers and music of its time and has given historic American premieres of works by Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartók, William Grant Still and other prominent composers. it has also commissioned many works that ultimately became mainstays of the classical repertoire, including Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. The Orchestra continues to actively commission new work, amplifying new voices from a diverse array of backgrounds, most recently with the Fanfare Project, a series of solo instrument works written for CSO musicians to mark a moment in time during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Deeply committed to inclusion, relevance, and enhancing and expanding opportunities for the children of Greater Cincinnati, the Orchestra works to bring music education, in its many different forms, to as broad a public as possible. These efforts include two youth orchestras, the Nouveau program, Sound Discoveries, Musicians in Schools, the CSO Brass Institute, and one of the longest-running Young People's Concerts series in the U.S., which was launched more than 100 years ago.

In 2020, the CSO was one of the first American orchestras to create a Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer position; in 2022, the CSO became the first American orchestra to endow the position to ensure the absorption of best DE&I practices into every facet of the organization in perpetuity. Started in 2007, the Nouveau Program was formed to support increased participation in classical music by African American and Latine student musicians and to provide equitable opportunities for music study and performance. Since its creation, the program has nurtured more than 80 students. The CSO is also an incubator for and partner to Equity Arc, a consortium of American orchestras, professional musicians and educators established to address the lack of racial equity in the classical music field by aligning resources and collaborating to strengthen the trajectory of classical instrumentalists of color at all stages of their pre-careers.

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