May Festival's 150th Anniversary Season

Browse the May Festival's 150th Anniversary Season and mark your calendars for more incredible performances at Music Hall!

Schedule:

Sat Apr 1, 2023

7:30pm: Vaulted Voices

The May Festival brings the immersive experience of soaring vocal music in a sacred space to a new venue! Director of Choruses Robert Porco conducts Handel's celebratory Dettingen Te Deum, the first work ever performed at the May Festival. Matthew Swanson leads the Youth Chorus in a varied program.

This performance is free, but a suggested donation of $25 is welcomed and encouraged.

Program:
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: Dettingen Te Deum

Artists:
Daniel Moody, countertenor
Carlos Ahrens, tenor
Elliot Madore, bass
May Festival Chamber Choir Robert Porco, director
May Festival Youth Chorus Matthew Swanson, director
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Location: Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church

Fri May 19, 2023

7:30pm: Bach's Magnificat

Principal Conductor Juanjo Meno opens the 150th Festival with world premieres by American composer James Lee III and former May Festival Creative Partner James MacMillan. Given its American premiere at the 1875 May Festival, Bach's celebratory Magnificat was described then as we would now— as "the highest form of human expression."

Program:
JAMES MACMILLAN: Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia (May Festival Commission, World Premiere)
JAMES LEE III:  Breaths of Universal Longings (May Festival Commission, World Premiere)
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Magnificat

Artists:
Juanjo Mena, conductor
Berit Norbakken, soprano
Nola Richardson, soprano
Marianne Beate Kielland mezzo-soprano
Toby Spence, tenor
Christian Immler, bass
Cincinnati Boychoir
May Festival Chorus Robert Porco, director
May Festival Youth Chorus Matthew Swanson, director
Cincinnati Boychoir Jason Holmes, artistic director
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Louis Langrée, music director

Location: Music Hall

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Sat, May 20, 2023

7:30pm: Marin Alsop: American Voices

Celebrated maestra Marin Alsop makes her May Festival debut with a showcase of composers who crafted the American musical identity. Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is a lyrical dream of the Tennessee summer, while Aaron Copland's "The Promise of Living" rings with the hope of prosperity. The "uncanny radiance" (The New Yorker) of Robert Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Moses— a work the Festival premiered in 1937—returns to Music Hall.

Program:

SAMUEL BARBER: Symphony No. 1 in One Movement
SAMUEL BARBER: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
ROBERT NATHANIEL DETT: The Ordering of Moses
AARON COPLAND: “The Promise of Living” from The Tender Land Suite

Artists:

Marin Alsop, conductor
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, soprano
Laquita Mitchell, soprano
Briana Hunter, mezzo-soprano
Rodrick Dixon, tenor
Nicholas Newton, bass
May Festival Chorus Robert Porco, director
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Louis Langrée, music director

Location: Music Hall

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Thur May 25, 2023

7:30pm: Mozart's Requiem

Conductor James Conlon, the beloved former Music Director of the May Festival whose 37-year tenure as artistic leader remains the longest in Festival history, returns to lead a new work by American composer Julia Adolphe and Mozart’s famous music for a Requiem Mass. First performed by the May Festival in 1882, the Requiem radiates fearless brilliance—sacred music for The Last Judgement that touches on the sublime.

Program:

JULIA ADOLPHE: Crown of Hummingbirds [May Festival Commission, World Premiere]
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Requiem in D Minor

Artists:

James Conlon, conductor
Erica Petrocelli, soprano
Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano
Joshua Blue, tenor
Michael Sumuel, bass
May Festival Chorus Robert Porco, director
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Louis Langrée, music director

Location: Music Hall

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Sat May 27, 2023

7:30pm: Mahler's Symphony Of A Thousand

Mahler called his Eighth Symphony, “the biggest thing that I have ever done…in which the most beautiful instrument in the world is given its true place.” Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena concludes the 150th May Festival with a work of gigantic proportions—music of triumph and transcendence that celebrates the power of the human voice, featuring the sounds of the Chorus and the CSO in the breathtaking space of Music Hall.

Program:
GUSTAV MAHLER: Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand

Artists:
Juanjo Mena, conductor
Sarah Wegener, soprano
Camilla Tilling, soprano
Lauren Snouffer, soprano
Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano
Briana Hunter, mezzo-soprano
Barry Banks, tenor
José Antonio López, baritone
Christian Immler, bass
May Festival Chorus Robert Porco, director
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Lisa Wong, director
May Festival Youth Chorus Matthew Swanson, director
Cincinnati Boychoir Jason Holmes, artistic director
Cincinnati Youth Choir, Robyn Lana managing artistic director
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Louis Langrée, music director

Location: Music Hall

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Date: April 1 - May 27, 2023

Location:

Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church, 1345 Grace Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45208.
Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Cincinnati OH 45202.

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