The 2027 Hauck Concert Series

Throughout our history, humans have sought to connect with nature on a deep, emotional level–and music is one way we do so. This touchpoint with the natural world can help us to reconnect to ourselves and others and to better comprehend the interconnectedness of our life on Earth. Just as a garden’s rich tapestry of sights, sounds, smells, and textures can inspire and engage our senses, music captures our auditory sense through its melodies and rhythms, creating a powerful emotional impact. Together, the visual beauty of nature and the evocative power of music create a multi-sensory experience that is stimulating and deeply enjoyable.

We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with artistic director Krista Cornish Scott, local music professionals, and the vast student talent coming through the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) to offer our four-part series of musical performances based around Hauck Botanic Garden and the CGC’s mission to build community through gardening, education, and environmental stewardship. This partnership brings carefully curated, place-based performances to the CGC audience while showcasing the wealth of musical talent in Cincinnati and offering CCM students and young professionals unique, nature-focused opportunities to program and perform.

Concert 1: Jacob's Electric Garden

Sunday, January 24, 2027 at 3pm (backup date in case of inclement weather: February 3, 3pm)

We’re used to seeing plants all around us. But have you ever wondered what those plants sound like? Percussionist Jacob Ottmer returns to the Hauck Concert Series to present Jacob’s Electric Garden, an exploration of music that incorporates the sounds of amplified plant matter. Following the performance, each listener will have the option to pot up a cutting of one of the plant species used in the concert to take home with them as a reminder that there is more to plants than meets the eye. The event will conclude with some open experimentation time during which audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions and try out some of the percussion set-ups.

Concert 2: The Shape of Sound

Sunday, April 19, 2027 at 3pm

R. Murray Schafer was a Canadian composer, educator, and environmentalist who favored graphic notation, representing his compositions using symbols and forms that look very little like traditional music notation. He also founded the field of acoustic ecology or soundscape studies, which examines how sound mediates the relationship between humans and their environments—in fact, World Listening Day is his birthday. This ecologically themed choral concert will explore Schafer’s music and the experience of representing sound in visual form. The event will include an introductory lecture by CCM professor and leading Schafer scholar L. Brett Scott, and audience members will have the opportunity to create their own visual soundscape.

Concert 3: Beloved Birds

Sunday, September 19, 2027 at 3pm

Humans across the centuries have admired birds—through art, poetry, and, of course, music! From the delicate melodies inspired by birdsong to the rich imagery of German, English, and French poetry, Beloved Birds will explore the many ways birds have captured the human imagination. Through beautiful art song, soprano Kaylyn Taylor Baldwin invites listeners into a world where birds become symbols of freedom, longing, love, and the wonders of the natural world. As we celebrate the enduring connections between art and its feathered muses, we will also hear from local experts about the importance of urban greenspaces in bird migrations and how we can be good hosts to the birds that pass through our gardens each year.

Concert 4: Solitude

Sunday, November 7, 2027 at 3pm

At our final concert in the 2027 Hauck Series, OLEA Ensemble will present ‘Sounds from Nature,’ which explores the human desire to be alone with nature through music for clarinet, violin, and piano. Being alone in nature allows us to simultaneously feel the peace of being isolated from other people with the comfort of being connected to plants and animals. The program will feature two newly commissioned works: I Go Among Trees and Sit Still by Owen Hopper, which uses an electronic track along with soothing and introspective melodies to take the listeners on an aural journey through natural landscapes across America, and Artisanal Shanties by Brad Balliett, which uses bird calls and Irish melodies to create images of coastal environments. The program will be interwoven with nature-based mindfulness activities that audience members can use to deepen their experience in natural environments.

Our standard refund & cancellation policy applies to these events.