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    • Calling All Music Hall Fans! Here are Some of the Many Discoveries You Can Make During an Outdoor Tour
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      First Local Black Soloists with the CSO
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    • Fountain Lewis: The Venerable Barber Who Helped Build Cincinnati Music Hall
    • The Presence of Latine and Hispanic Performers on the Cincinnati Music Hall Stage
    • Susan B. Anthony & Suffragists Spirits in Music Hall: Three National Political Conventions
  • HOME
  • TOURS
    • Tour Inside Music Hall: Dates & Times | Buy Tickets
    • COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines, including mask and proof of vaccination requirements
    • Outdoor Tours: Dates & Times | Buy Tickets
    • All About Cincinnati Music Hall Tours and Speakers
    • Frequently Asked Questions
      About Tours
    • Our Volunteers
    • Become a Volunteer or Tour Guide
  • EVENTS
    • Upcoming Wurlitzer Concerts
    • Silent Movies Made Musical
      with the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ
    • REVISED COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines
  • EDUCATE
    • School Programs
    • Speakers Bureau
  • HISTORY
    • Cincinnati Music Hall Timeline
    • Expositions in Cincinnati and at Music Hall
      • There’s No Place Like Home,
        Especially If It’s Inside Music Hall
    • Under One Roof:
      The African American Experience in Music Hall
    • Choral Tradition in Cincinnati
    • College of Music
    • The Architectural Style of Cincinnati Music Hall
      • Three Buildings in One
      • Music Hall’s Façade
      • The Rose Window
    • Special Features of Music Hall
      • Allegory of the Arts
      • Art-Carved Organ Panels
      • The Chandelier
      • Corbett Tower
      • Music Hall Ballroom
      • Is Music Hall Haunted?
        • Bones Discovered Under Music Hall
    • Music Hall’s Organs
      • Hook & Hastings Organ
      • Art-Carved Organ Panels
      • Albee Mighty Wurlitzer Organ
        • Rebuild/Installation
        • Dedication of the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ
    • People of Music Hall
      • Reuben Springer
      • Samuel Hannaford
      • Maria Longworth
      • Theodore Thomas
      • The Corbetts
      • The Nipperts
    • Renovations, Remodels and Redecorations
    • Harper’s Weekly
  • ABOUT
    • SUPPORT
      • Our Donors
    • Gifts Available Through Friends of Music Hall
    • Windows on Music Hall
    • SPMH Re-Positions for the Future as Friends of Music Hall
    • Accomplishments
    • Board of Directors
    • Projects
    • Partnerships
  • STORIES & BLOGS
    • Children’s Voices: The Legacy of Charles Aiken in Public Schools, Music Hall, and the City that Sings
    • Home Sweet Home and the Home Beautiful Expositions
    • Nadine Roberts Waters: La Cantatrice de Cincinnati
    • Calling All Music Hall Fans! Here are Some of the Many Discoveries You Can Make During an Outdoor Tour
    • Following in my Grandfather’s Footsteps in Service to Music Hall
    • Music Hall’s Part in Ted Berry’s Fight for Social Justice
    • Estella Rowe & Wade Mann:
      First Local Black Soloists with the CSO
    • Presidents, Future and Former, Visited Music Hall
    • It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing: Music Hall’s Greystone Ballroom 1928-1935
    • Mamie Smith: Queen of the Blues in Cincinnati Music Hall
    • Fountain Lewis: The Venerable Barber Who Helped Build Cincinnati Music Hall
    • The Presence of Latine and Hispanic Performers on the Cincinnati Music Hall Stage
    • Susan B. Anthony & Suffragists Spirits in Music Hall: Three National Political Conventions
New Music Hall Health & Safety Guidelines are in place for all guests. Click here for details, and to book your tour of Music Hall.

Under One Roof-The African American Experience in Music Hall

Home » Friends of Music Hall Blog » Under One Roof-The African American Experience in Music Hall
Nadine Roberts Waters, La Cantatrice de Cincinnati
20 Mar 2022

Nadine Roberts Waters: La Cantatrice de Cincinnati

By Thea Tjepkema  There are singers whose names are legends and whose artistry will never be forgotten. There are others … Read More

African American soprano, Black soprano, broke color barriers, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Music Hall, Cincinnati's Black newspaper, classical music color barriers, dramatic soprano, Ela Taylor Roberts, Ella Nadine Roberts, European debut, internationally-acclaimed concert soprano, l’Union Professionnelle des Maitres du Chant Français-l’Upmcf, La Cantatrice de Cincinnati, Lillian Aldrich Thayer's Settlement School of Music, Martin Van Roberts, Music Hall Golden Jubilee, Nadine Roberts Waters, National Federation of Music Clubs, New England Conservatory, Noble Sissle, Paris, Pasdeloup Orchestra, Professional Union of Masters of French Singing, race prejudice, racial prejudice, Salle d'lena, Springer Auditorium, The Union, WLW radio singer
Music Hall's Impact on Civil Rights Pioneer Ted Berry
12 Jun 2021

Music Hall’s Part in Ted Berry’s Fight for Social Justice

When Cincinnati’s one-time mayor Theodore M. Berry reached a part of his boyhood story, tears came into his eyes. It … Read More

Black leader, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Music Hall, civil rights, civil rights leader, first Black Mayor, historian Dan Hurley, Judge Nathaniel Jones, Mayor Berry, Mayor Ted Berry, Music Hall, Ted Berry, Theodore M. Berry, Woodward High School
Estelle Cavanaugh Rowe and Wade Mann - the First Local Black Soloists with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
22 Feb 2021

Estella Rowe & Wade Mann:
First Local Black Soloists with the CSO

by Thea Tjepkema   Although Music Hall hosted numerous African American artists in her early days, it was not until … Read More

African Americans in Music Hall, Black performers, Black professional performers, Black singers, Cincinnati, Cincinnati history, Cincinnati May Festival, Cincinnati Music Drama Guild, Cincinnati Music Hall, Cincinnati Pops, Cincinnati soprano, Cincinnati sopranos, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Zoo Operas, Cincinnati's June Festival, classically-trained Black artists, College-Conservatory of Music, CSO, CSO Pop Concert, CSO Pops Concert, diversity on stage, Estella Cavanaugh Rowe, Estella Rowe, First Baptist Church, first Black performers with Cincinnati Pops, June Festival, Music Hall, Music Hall History, Thor Johnson, U.C. Oratorio society, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Wade Mann, Zoo Summer Opera
Red Greystone Ballroom-Dancing sign on east facade Cincinnati Music Hall
24 Jan 2021

It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing: Music Hall’s Greystone Ballroom 1928-1935

by Thea Tjepkema For more than 140 years Music Hall has been considered the epicenter of Cincinnati’s orchestral and choral … Read More

African American advertising, African American marketing, Alexander Jackson, America's classical music, Battle of the Bands, big band, Black audience, Black bands, Black big band, Black culture, Black musicians, Cab Calloway, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Music Hall, Cotton Club Band, Danceland, Dawn Dances, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Graystone, Graystone Ballroom, Greystone, Greystone Ballroom, Ida James, Ivie Anderson, Jazz, Jazzopathic, King of Jazz, Music Hall, New Orleans Syncopators, segregated ballrooms, segregation, symphonic syncopators, targeted marketing, territorial bands, white audience
Mamie Smith, record label for Crazy Blue, Cincinnati Music Hall
8 Aug 2020

Mamie Smith: Queen of the Blues in Cincinnati Music Hall

Tornadoes had swept the south, and a blizzard gripped the western states on April 16, 1921, when Mamie Smith, born … Read More

Addington Major, Bubber Miley, Buster Bailey, Cincinnati Music Hall, Coleman Hawkins, Crazy Blues, Ernest “Stickie” Elliott, Jazz Hounds, jazz legend, jazz revue, Johnny Dunn, LeRoy Parker, Mami Smith, Porter Grainger, Queen of the Blues, race records, the blues, Ward “Dope” Andrews, Willie “the Lion” Smith
Fountain Lewis: Cincinnati’s Most Venerable African American Barber and Music Hall
21 May 2020

Fountain Lewis: The Venerable Barber Who Helped Build Cincinnati Music Hall

By Thea Tjepkema   On January 4, 1898 the funeral of Fountain Lewis, Cincinnati’s most esteemed African American barber for … Read More

1800s Cincinnati culture, African American, barber, Black barber, Black businessman, Black culture, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Music Hall, Expositions, Music Hall, philanthropy, Reuben Springer
1883 Opera Festival Lohengren Illustration by H.F. Farny for Harpers Weekly
30 Nov 2019

Divas in Cincinnati Music Hall:
Patti, Patti, Patti, and Jones

by Thea Tjepkema   The phenomenal singing careers of four women in the nineteenth century were announced and recognized in … Read More

Adelina Patti, African American Opera singers, Amalia Patti, Carlotta Patti, Cincinnati Music Hall, divas, history, Music Hall, Patti, Sissieretta Jones, The Black Patti

Recent Posts

  • Adolph Krebs and the Art of Lithography: Cincinnati Music Hall’s Industrial Exposition Posters Adolph Krebs and the Art of Lithography: Cincinnati Music Hall’s Industrial Exposition Posters December 12, 2022
  • Charles Aiken, first titled superintendent of music instruction in Cincinnati public schools Children’s Voices: The Legacy of Charles Aiken in Public Schools, Music Hall, and the City that Sings June 21, 2022
  • Nadine Roberts Waters, La Cantatrice de Cincinnati Nadine Roberts Waters: La Cantatrice de Cincinnati March 20, 2022
  • 1928 Home Beautiful Exposition, set up in the north wing, showing that year's model home. Home Sweet Home and the Home Beautiful Expositions March 19, 2022

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