Book Description

For Matthew Zory, a Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra musician and an award-winning photographer, documenting the historic renovation of Cincinnati Music Hall was a revelation.¿I¿ve played in Music Hall for more than 20 years, but photographing the renovation enabled me to explore parts of the building I¿d never seen before,¿ says Zory, assistant principal bass (Trish and Rick Bryan Chair). ¿Watching work crews uncover the `bones¿ of Music Hall gave me a new appreciation for the incredible craftsmanship that went into the building.¿Zory spent hundreds of hours photographing the hall during its 16-month renovation and is publishing a book featuring some of his favorite shots. Through the Lens: The Remaking of Cincinnati¿s Music Hall, a 272-page limited edition coffee-table book was released in 2018 to high praise.¿I never intended to publish a book,¿ he says. ¿As a matter of fact, I never intended to photograph the entire renovation project. I thought I¿d go in a couple of times, take a few pictures and that would be it. But everything they were doing was so interesting and the light was so fantastic, I kept going back. I posted a lot of photos on Facebook, and people kept asking, `When is the book coming out?¿ It made me realize that other people were as captivated by the project as I was.¿For Zory, whose work has appeared in numerous local galleries, including the Taft Museum, Carnegie Center for the Arts and Wash Park Art, creating a book meant winnowing a portfolio of more than 10,000 photos down to a few hundred for publication. ¿There was so much I wanted to share with people about this project and the people who worked on it,¿ he says. ¿The scale of the project and the workmanship that went into renovating it really was extraordinary. I¿ve tried to capture all of that¿