May Festival Program Book 2023

AU D I T I O N for the May Festival Chorus & Youth Chorus

FESTIVAL 150

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All recitals at 3 PM

Sara Daneshpour

Julian Schwarz

Jasmine Choi

PIANO

CELLO

FLUTE

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Marika Bournaki

ChangYong Shin

PIANO

PIANO

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Sunday, November 19, 2023

“Schwarz’s deep tone shoots straight to the heart of a listener.”

—Shepherd Express

“One of best flutists in the history of music” —Sinfini Magazine

“She created transfixing poetry.”

—The Washington Post

CINCINNATI DEBUT

CINCINNATI DEBUT

AMINA EDRIS

US DEBUT

CINCINNATI DEBUT

Yun Zeng

Pene Pati & Amina Edris

FRENCH HORN

TENOR and SOPRANO

Donna Loewy

Robert Mollicone

PIANO

PIANO

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Won First Prize in the Brass Category at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition

“Pati surprises…one of the most beautiful tenor voices of the moment...”

—Christophe Rizoud, Forum Opera “Edris…A magnetic presence.”

—Opera News

Tickets:

MemorialHallOTR.org or 513-977-8838 MatineeMusicaleCincinnati.org

CINCINNATI MAY FESTIVAL

FESTIVAL 150 CONTENTS 4 6 13 15 18 24 26

Greetings from the Board Chair and Executive Director Feature Story: May Festival’s 150th Anniversary Spotlight: Celebrating Juanjo Mena Spotlight on 25 for 25: A New Time for Choral Music Feature Story: By Looking Backward, May Festival Springs Forward Spotlight: May Festival Youth Chorus: Sundays are for Singing Spotlight: The Beginning 28

60

Beginnings of the Cincinnati May Festival and Music Hall 31 Cincinnati’s Modern Musical Landscape Congratulations from ArtsWave

ARTISTS: 36 37 38

40 41 44 58

Juanjo Mena, Principal Conductor May Festival Chorus Chorus Leadership: Robert Porco, Director of Choruses; Matthew Swanson, Associate Director of Choruses May Festival Youth Chorus, Matthew Swanson, Director Guest Choruses Guest Soloists and Conductors Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

CONCERTS: 62

BACH’S MAGNIFICAT: May 19

69

MARIN ALSOP: AMERICAN VOICES: May 20

78

MOZART’S REQUIEM: May 25

86

MAHLER’S SYMPHONY OF A THOUSAND: May 27

Music Hall Geraldine V. Chavez Center for the Choral Arts 1241 Elm Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Administrative Offices: 513.621.1919 contact@mayfestival.com Box Office Music Hall 1241 Elm Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 513.381.3300 contact@mayfestival.com Group Sales 513.864.0196 contact@mayfestival.com TTY/TDD Use TTY/TDD Relay Service 7-1-1 mayfestival.com CONNECT WITH US

MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM BOOK STAFF: Managing Editor Tyler Secor Senior Editor/Layout Teri McKibben Graphic Design David Mill & Regina Kuhns

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DEPARTMENTS: 96 98 103 104

Cincinnati Musical Festival Association Thank You to Our Donors We Applaud Our Subscribers Administration COVER DESIGN: David Mill All contents © 2023. The contents cannot be reproduced in any manner, whole or in part, without written permission from the May Festival.

2 | mayfestival.com

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 3

GREETINGS FROM THE BOARD CHAIR AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dear Friends, On behalf of the May Festival, May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, we are honored and excited to present the May Festival’s 150th season, which is poised to be our biggest season yet!

In Ken Smith’s article, “May Festival 150th Anniversary” (pp. 6–11), he talks with the composers and conductors who make this year’s Festival one of a kind.

Named by BBC Music Magazine as “One of the Best Classical Music Festivals in the United States and Canada” for the third year in a row, the May Festival has been at the forefront of innovating choral music to the highest artistic and performance standards. Since the first May Festival in 1873, the Festival has grown to become the longest-running choral festival in the Western Hemisphere, cultivating diverse audiences, choirs and singers with the utmost passion for choral music. In fact, within the last two years, the May Festival Chorus has welcomed 57 new members, making this year’s Chorus the largest in recent memory, and the youngest and most diverse in the history of the May Festival.

This season, the May Festival is honoring its vast and extensive legacy of groundbreaking commissions and premieres. To honor this history, the May Festival embarked on an innovative choral commissioning project, “25 for 25: A New Time for Choral Music,” in collaboration with the Luna Composition Lab, founded by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid. Luna Composition Lab provides mentorship, educational resources and professional development for female, non-binary and gender nonconforming composers ages 13–18.

Through this collaborative effort, the young 4 | mayfestival.com

Christy Horan and Steven Sunderman

composers have written 25 new choral works for 25 choral ensembles throughout Greater Cincinnati.

Writer Anne Arenstein had an opportunity to speak with the composers, choral directors and mentors about how these commissions came to life, for her article on pp. 15–17.

What would a 150th anniversary be without a look back at our origins? Craig Doolin’s article, “Beginnings of the Cincinnati May Festival and Music Hall” (pp. 26–31), describes the early years of the May Festival and the events leading up to the construction of the now iconic Cincinnati Music Hall. Cincinnati’s highly developed arts scene was catalyzed by the founding of the May Festival.

“Cincinnati’s Modern Musical Landscape” (pp. 32– 35) by Tyler M. Secor, examines the many cultural organizations that emerged in the two decades after the founding of the May Festival.

Our history is unmatched, and it is through this history that we see our future. Hannah Edgar’s piece, “By Looking Backward, May Festival Springs Forward” (pp. 18–23), illuminates those events in our past that continue to inform what we do today.

We are very grateful to the members of the May Festival Chorus and the May Festival Youth

GREETINGS

Chorus, who have showcased exemplary and exceptional talent, maintaining our 150-year long reputation as the standard for choral relevance, evolution, innovation and excellence. Without their dedication, passion and incredible musicianship, none of what we do would be possible. We are just as thankful to our artistic leadership, who skillfully prepare and lead our choruses for every performance. This season marks the conclusion of Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena’s tenure with the May Festival, and on p. 13 David Lyman talks with those who have worked closely with Mena about his final Festival. Director of Choruses Robert Porco leads the May Festival Chorus in his record-setting 34th season; during his tenure he has expertly prepared the Chorus for almost every major choral and orchestra work in the standard repertoire for May Festival, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Ballet concerts.

Director of the May Festival Youth Chorus Matthew Swanson brings together and elevates some of the most talented young singers in the Greater Cincinnati area. Have you ever wondered

what it is like to be part of the May Festival Youth Chorus? On p. 24, DiDi Turley talks with some of the Youth Chorus members about the amazing experiences they have had as part of the ensemble.

From the Choruses, Orchestra, artistic leadership, crew, staff and soloists, we express our deep gratitude for every single audience member, donor and sponsor. Without all of you, none of this would be possible! We sincerely thank you for your attendance, sponsorship and support of the May Festival. It is an absolute honor to present the 150th season of the May Festival, and we hope for your continued support and enjoyment as we continue to cement Cincinnati’s legacy as “The City that Sings,” and as we embark on the next 150 years—and beyond!

Christy Horan, Chair, Board of Directors Steven Sunderman, Executive Director

Congratulations on the 150th Anniversary of the May Festival!

Learn more about the entwined history of the May Festival and Music Hall by taking a tour led by the Friends of Music Hall guides.

Tour tickets available weekly: FriendsofMusicHall.org or 513.621.ARTS. MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 5

Credit: Mark Lyons

MAY FESTIVAL FEATURE

MAY FESTIVAL’S 150th ANNIVERSARY

by Ken Smith

You have to admit, they had a great excuse. When J.S. Bach’s Magnificat received its U.S. premiere at the May Festival in 1875, the organizers couldn’t exactly invite the composer on stage to Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena leads the treble voices of the May Festival Chorus in Gustav Holst’s Hymns from Rig Veda, May 2021. Credit: Mark Lyons take a bow.

Unlike Bach, though, Juanjo Mena. “I have found Cincinnati to be who died 125 years too soon to greet Cincinnati amazing in its openness and creativity,” says Mena, audiences, Gustav Mahler actually had his music who has helmed the Festival since 2018. “There performed at Music Hall in 1905—while he was still have always been premieres here—and not only alive. The year before, Richard Strauss conducted of new works. Even during the horrible pandemic the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) in several continued, p. 11 of his own works; the year after, Camille Saint-Saëns performed his Piano Concerto No. 5 with the same orchestra on the same stage. We could go on, and on.

In Cincinnati, the past remains the present, the present becomes the past, and both are poised to shape our future.

Although each of the conductors appearing this season—from “newcomer” Marin Alsop (making her May Festival debut on May 20) to 37-year Festival veteran James Conlon (returning on May 25) to—differs in their wording, they’ve said essentially the same thing: In Cincinnati, the past remains the present, the present becomes the past, and both are poised to shape our future.

That motto could easily apply to classical music in general, but it rings especially true as the May Festival celebrates its 150th anniversary and also marks the final season for its Principal Conductor

8 | mayfestival.com

James Conlon leads the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for his final concert as May Festival Music Director, May 2016. Credit: Philip Groshong

MAY FESTIVAL FEATURE

SIDEBAR

Kindred musical spirits

by KEN SMITH

Apart from their given name, composers James MacMillan and James Lee III have a couple of other things in common.

First is a shared background in both orchestral and choral music; second is a connection to conductor Juanjo Mena dating back to 2012.

Before his May Festival days, Mena led the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Lee’s Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula, “a wonderfully rich series of contrasts that was warmly received by the CSO musicians,” the conductor recalls. Lee, too, was amazed at the vibrancy Mena achieved through the orchestral ranks. “Even the tuba player was excited about how I explored the low notes,” he exclaims.

But when Mena reached out to Lee with a commission for the May Festival’s 150th anniversary season, the Baltimore-based composer was, frankly, surprised.

“I’ve written a lot of choral music, mostly for the Baltimore Choral Arts Society,” he says, “but nearly all of my commissions have been for orchestral music.”

A decade ago, Mena had taken Lee’s Sukkot to the Chicago

Symphony Orchestra and was astonished by how much he’d refined the piece after hearing it in performance. With Lee’s May Festival commission, Breaths of Universal Longings, he decided to jumpstart the process with a preview at the American Choral Directors Association’s annual conference last February (pictured above). “We both agreed it would be helpful to have as much preparation as possible,” Mena says. “I thought his new work would be similar to the earlier piece, but he surprised me. With voices, his musical ideas are very different, the orchestration is very different.

It is a completely different language, but still very special.”

MacMillan first met Mena when he conducted the 2012 world premiere of the composer’s Credo at the BBC Proms. Before the ink was even dry on Mena’s May Festival contract, the conductor was plotting to bring MacMillan, who became a Festival Creative Partner in 2019, to Cincinnati. “I remember this wonderful concert with many local choruses,” the composer says. “Church choirs, children’s choirs, volunteer community groups, all performing at a very high level. It was a sign of how deeply Cincinnati’s choral tradition was rooted.”

So, too, did composer and conductor recognize each other as kindred musical spirits.

Much as MacMillan grew up in a British coal-mining family, with a brass-band tradition on one hand and a Catholic church choir on the other, Mena came of age in northern Spain with a strong civic choral tradition of mostly farmers and factory workers.

“There are at least two different MacMillans,” Mena says, “the calm religious man, and a social figure of working people. I knew immediately he must return for the Festival’s 150th anniversary.”

Where Lee recalls only minimal guidance regarding his commission (“They mentioned something about the collective universality of human joy,” he says), MacMillan explored texts concerning the power of music, settling on John Dryden’s Alexander’s Feast, a poem also set by Handel.

Although MacMillan’s Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia ends with the patron saint of music, the first two sections are distinctly secular. Timotheus, the musician accompanying Alexander on his military campaigns, gives way to Bacchus, the god of drunkenness.

“After Alexander’s attacks, the looting soldiers lose all control,” the composer explains. “Some things never change, like the slaughter of Ukrainians today. It shows that music’s power often has a dark center.” But the piece finds resolution in St. Cecilia, he says, culminating in a glorious celebration of music itself.

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 9

MAY FESTIVAL FEATURE

SIDEBAR

James Conlon reflects on tradition, legacy and the music of Julia Adolphe

by KEN SMITH

“It was always important for me to respect the legacy,” says James Conlon, James Conlon leads the May Festival Chamber Choir in the premiere of Julia Adolphe’s Sea Dream reflecting on his record 37 Elegies at Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, May 2016. Credit: AJ Waltz seasons as May Festival Music Director. “There’s So, it remains fully in character and always demands to be always a polemic between for Conlon, the May Festival’s heard again.” The next season, looking forward and looking Music Director Laureate since in fact, Adolphe returned to back, but for me the May stepping down in 2016, to Cincinnati with Equinox, a May Festival’s tradition of defending bring to the Festival’s 150th Festival Chorus commission the choral repertory outweighed anniversary his own personal led by Director of Choruses almost everything else.” definitions. Together with the Robert Porco and performed On the other hand, “tradition” Mozart Requiem (“a piece I on a CSO subscription concert. and “repertory” can be could conduct every month,” he Her Paper Leaves on Fields of expansive concepts, and Conlon says), Conlon continues a rather Clay, commissioned by the CSO has never been shy about more recent Cincinnati tradition in 2020, received its (Covidpushing at the edges. Bolstered with another world premiere by delayed) premiere under Music by the Festival’s history of the composer Julia Adolphe.

Director Louis Langrée in 2022. presenting new and less familiar The two first met when “Only Julia knows where her works, he championed not only Adolphe, then a graduate muse can be found, so I gave living composers like Adolphus student at the University her carte blanche,” Conlon says Hailstork and Stephen Paulus of Southern California, of Crown of Hummingbirds, but also undiscovered pieces became Conlon’s assistant for which has its world premiere by more famous figures like “Recovered Voices,” a research at Music Hall on May 25. “She Berlioz, Dvořák and Liszt. initiative involving music and knows the Orchestra—you can composers suppressed by give the Cincinnati Symphony the Nazis. By coincidence, he anything and they’ll be able to discovered that she was the play it—but she also knows the niece of the composer (and Chorus, and that they need a Conlon’s Juilliard classmate) nourishing vocality. She takes Bruce Adolphe and was also a these challenges seriously. composer herself.

“My definition of tradition is “Her gifts were immediately whatever stands the test of apparent,” says Conlon, who time and place,” he continues. commissioned Adolphe’s Sea “Mozart’s Requiem remains part Dream Elegies for the May of our common past, which we Festival in his final year as need to balance with creation Music Director. “Her music is of the present. It’s important always coherent, always striking to gauge how any composer develops, and I see every sign that Julia will continue to grow Composer Julia Adolphe speaking to the throughout her lifetime.” audience before the premiere of Paper Leaves on Fields of Clay with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, April 2022. Credit: JP Leong 10 | mayfestival.com

MAY FESTIVAL FEATURE

time, we managed to discover Gustav Holst’s Hymns from the Rig Veda, which is not the Holst people thought they knew. From my first day here, we wanted the people of Cincinnati to sing with us, to discover new things, to realize that it’s their Festival.” (Read “Celebrating Juanjo Mena” on pp. 13-14 for more on his final Festival.)

Bach still won’t be taking a bow after the Magnificat on Mena’s opening program on May 19, though two other composers will. The evening also features world premieres of works commissioned from figures already familiar to CSO audiences: James MacMillan, who served as a May Festival Creative Partner in 2019, and James Lee III, whose Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula Mena first conducted with the CSO in 2012 (see sidebar, p. 9).

Another case study of a world premiere becoming recurring May Festival repertory turns up on Alsop’s program, with The Ordering of Moses by the Canadian-born, Oberlin Conservatory-trained composer Robert Nathanial Dett. Originally performed at Music Hall in 1937 for a national radio broadcast on NBC, it was interrupted on air midway due to “technical difficulties” long suspected, but never proved, to be resulting from complaints concerning a piece written by a Black composer.

Alsop, for her part, is looking forward to making her May Festival debut on such a large scale. “I probably suffer from ‘bigger is better’ syndrome, so adding a choir and text is perfect for me,” says Alsop, who will lead the work alongside Samuel Barber’s First Symphony and Knoxville: Summer of 1915, as well as “The Promise of Living” from Aaron Copland’s opera The Tender Land. “I’ve always loved conducting this orchestra, and there’s a nostalgia to this program that feels very poignant, especially in today’s American climate.”

For this year’s final May Festival program, though, Mena clearly has the last word. And for

Marin Alsop, who will lead the May Festival’s American Voices concert May 20. Credit: Grant Leighton

him, there was never any doubt what that would be.

“When you want to make a big, powerful statement, there’s only one piece,” he claims. Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 is not only grand, he adds, but its balance of the Veni, Creator Spiritus with the final scene from Goethe’s Faust represents precisely the balance of sacred and profane that has run through the May Festival throughout its history.

But Mahler’s famous “Symphony of a Thousand” also resonates with him on a highly personal level. When Mena’s predecessor at the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Theo Alcántara, was programming his final concert, he came to Mena to prepare the choruses. The performance on May 27, Mena admits, will be his first time to lead the piece in concert.

“For a long time, I have known the choral part very well,” he says with a smile. “Actually, with this piece there is a second choir, and a third. You also have yet another choir—I mean the soloists, who need to sing organically, because if they try to sing as individuals, the piece doesn’t work at all.”

Mena’s finale as Principal Conductor will bring together the May Festival Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cincinnati Boychoir and Cincinnati Youth Choir.

“Together, we can reach the full enormity of this work,” he adds, raising his arms above his shoulders.

“Together, we can all go up to here.”

From left: James Lee III. James MacMillan, serving as Creative Partner, conducting his own Seven Last Words from the Cross, May Festival 2019. Credit: Lee Snow MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 11

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MAY FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT

Juanjo Mena makes his May Festival debut as Principal Conductor, May 2018.

Credit: AJ Waltz

CELEBRATING JUANJO MENA

by David Lyman It’s time to say goodbye.

After six years as Principal Conductor of Cincinnati’s May Festival, Juanjo Mena will step away at the end of this year’s Festival.

There’s no conflict behind the decision, no sense of dissatisfaction. Remember, when James Conlon left the May Festival as Music Director in 2016, a new artistic structure was put in place. Instead of engaging music directors for open-ended tenures— Conlon held the position for 37 years—the Festival would be led by a principal conductor with a threeyear contract.

“The idea was that by bringing in a new principal conductor every few years, we could more effectively encourage innovation,” says Steven Sunderman, the May Festival’s Executive Director.

And if things went well during the initial term, that conductor might be re-engaged for an additional three years.

When he was approached about the position, Mena was initially hesitant. His position as Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, combined with an extensive guest conducting schedule, was demanding.

“I didn’t think it was a good moment for me,” Mena recalled at the time of his appointment. “But there was a new hall. (The renovated Music Hall.)

And Robert Porco—he is a wonderful man to work with—I had to consider it. You know, all my life I have worked with symphonic choruses. They are my great love.”

Besides, he relished the idea of stepping into a choral festival with such a long and distinguished history.

“They told me that my first parameter was that I should take risks,” Mena said when he was introduced as the Principal Conductor. “I had to respect the past. But I was to make something new in Cincinnati.”

And, reflecting on the past years, Sunderman is confident that is precisely what Mena’s legacy will be to May Festival audiences.

“Juanjo has been fantastic,” says Sunderman. “He embraced the regional choral scene. He is the one who championed the creation of the May Festival Community Chorus in 2018 and created community showcase concerts that brought choirs from all over

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MAY FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT

the city to sing at Music Hall in one concert.”

That led very directly to the “25 for 25” performances in March of this year, in which 25 local choirs were paired with young composers involved with the Luna Composition Lab, created by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid. (Read more about this initiative on pp. 15–17) “His stamp on the repertoire has really Juanjo Mena conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, May 2022. Credit: JP Leong been remarkable,” says Sunderman. “Last whole range of composers,” he says, rattling off a list year’s program of South American epics, for of recent May Festival commissions, including those instance. And the performances of Mark Simpson’s

by Julia Adolphe, James MacMillan and James Lee The Immortal. And James MacMillan’s Seven Last III. “It’s all so exciting.”

Words from the Cross. Those were all new to the He has found his time working with Mena May Festival repertoire.” especially rewarding.

The result of this reinvigorated repertoire has “Juanjo is such a warm, gracious personality,” been an expansion of the May Festival audience, says Porco. “And he has brought wonderful music not just in numbers but in demographic reach. ideas to the Festival.” Equally important is that, That has extended to the Chorus, as well. In the unlike many conductors, Mena has also brought a past two years, the group has welcomed 57 new collaborative spirit to the role. members—more than three-quarters of them “He is very respectful to me,” says Porco. “After under the age of 40. rehearsals, he often approaches me and says ‘What “We are seeing a whole new generation of do you think, Bob’ or ‘How are the tempos, how is singers,” says Sunderman. the balance?’ And then he actually listens to what I Robert Porco, who has led the May Festival have to say. That is really quite unusual.”

Choruses since 1989, finds the changes Mena wouldn’t have it any other way. particularly “Conductors are not dictators,” he says. invigorating.

“Everywhere you go, you hear people talk about “In my lifetime, I their musical teams. When you’re a team, you work have seen so much together. It’s necessary. And here in Cincinnati, I change,” says Porco. have been fortunate to have a wonderful team. I “Orchestras used think I have challenged them with ideas. But this to be all-male, with team—this May Festival team—has turned those the exception— ideas into reality. maybe—of a harpist “We gave audiences Bach and Brahms, but we or a piccolo player. also gave them Mark Simpson and John Adams Today, we have and Villa-Lobos. It is not enough to open the door female conductors to people. When the door is open, it is important to and music by a invite them and then not to close the door. You ask me what I will remember about Cincinnati—these Principal Conductor Juanjo are the things I will remember.”

Mena and Director of Choruses Robert Porco embrace after a concert in May 2022. Credit: JP Leong

14 | mayfestival.com

by Anne Arenstein The May Festival devised a brilliant initiative to celebrate its 150-year history of commissioning new choral music, and its ties with the area’s choruses: “25 For 25: A New Time for Choral Music.” The culminating event was presented at Christ Church Cathedral on March 19 and was groundbreaking on many fronts.

For more than four hours, audiences heard an intriguing selection of choral music written by 25 composers in their teens and early 20s, performed by ensembles representing the region’s extraordinary diversity of choral singing. The attendance was equally impressive: nearly 2,000 were on hand throughout the afternoon.

“We wanted to honor the May Festival’s 150th anniversary and its legacy of commissioning new works since 1873,” explained Matthew Swanson, Associate Director of Choruses and May Festival Youth Chorus Director. “The idea was to commission 25 new works and give them away to area ensembles so they could celebrate with us.”

Enlisting 25 composers was a daunting task, but Swanson found a unique resource in Luna Composition Lab, a fellowship program founded in 2016 by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid to provide mentoring, education and resources for young female, nonbinary and gender nonconforming composers ages 13–18.

Mazzoli and Reid are prolific, award-winning composers whose works are programmed throughout the world. But their shared experience of being the only female in a room of white male composition students led to establishing Luna Lab, the only program of its kind in the U.S. Its success in launching the careers of young women composers and fostering a strong alumni network matched the May Festival’s goals.

“The May Festival’s initiative is the largest scale project we’ve had,” Mazzoli said. “It’s the first time almost all of our alumni have been commissioned and, for most, it’s their first professional commission.”

In January, the May Festival announced a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for project support. Each composer received a stipend, travel funds and support for a professional recording of their work’s performance.

From top: Luna Composition Lab founders Missy Mazzoli (Credit: Caroline Tompkins) and Ellen Reid (Credit: James Matthew Daniel)

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SPOTLIGHT: 25 FOR 25

Composers met with their respective chorus directors online beginning in August 2022. Although many of the composers are singers and have written for the voice, this was their first experience writing for a vocal ensemble.

The 25 choruses included children’s and youth choruses, men’s and women’s ensembles, and chamber groups as small as eight singers.

The results demonstrated remarkable facility across a range of styles, from Gregorian chant to blends of spoken word (including Korean text) with vocal textures. It would be wrong to call these works juvenilia; they are the works of assured accomplished composers.

For many composers, the first hurdle was the text.

Sage Shurman, a high school senior from Pasadena, wrote “Spring is My Complicity” for the Northern

Above, from top: May Festival Youth Chorus led by Matthew Swanson, April 2022 (Credit: JP Leong); Northern Kentucky Community Chorus (Credit: AJ Waltz); and Classical Roots Community Choir, March 2019 (Credit: Mark Lyons).

16 | mayfestival.com

Kentucky Community Chorus directed by Stephanie Nash.

She opted to write her own text, “a meditation on climate change from the perspective of Mother Earth,” she wrote in her program note.

“At first, the text was very wordy and sentences were unsingable,” she said. “As I was scrapping words, I came to a new idea, ‘Spring is My Complicity,’ and from that I built the piece.”

“I wanted it to move forward in terms of experiencing the words in a new way,” she continued. The text begins with rich choral phrases that suddenly go awry tonally, culminating in a mezzo-soprano solo that is completely consonant.

Joanna McDonald’s “Untamed” sets verses from Vachel Lindsay’s poem “The Broncho That Would Not Be Broken of Dancing.”

The three 25 for 25 After several conversations composers interviewed for this article, from top: Sage with Young Professional Shurman, Joanna McDonald Choral Collaborative director and Anya Lagman.

Danielle (Dan) Cozart Steele, McDonald developed a structure that placed an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter as the central character.

“Dan wanted to create an interaction between interpreter and choir,” McDonald explained.

“The poem has different characters, so why couldn’t I do that with the ensemble? Working in a more collaborative manner led to a creative solution.”Anya Lagman, a native of the Philippines, worked with poet Catherine Hollis on the text for “I Am Mother,” written for MUSE, Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir, directed by Jillian Harrison-Jones.

Lagman honors Filipina migrant workers living away from their families, but becomes universal, beginning as a quiet lament and building to a multilingual cacophony of mothers calling out.

“I wanted to drive home an idea of motherhood that wasn’t culturally specific,” she said. “It’s a profound topic that’s unspoken.”

Frequent online conversations aided composers and choral directors to shape the appropriate vocal At left, from top: Luna Composition Lab composers with Missy Mazzoli and Alyssa Kayser-Hirsh, March 19. MUSE, Cincinnat’s Women’s Chorus, performing on March 19. Stephanie Nash conducts the Northern Kentucky Community Chorus on March 19. (L to R) Composer Joanna McDonald, Young Professional Choral Collective Artistic Director Danielle Cozart Steele, Deaf Interpretive Artist Arriana Bedgood and ASL Interpreter Tamra Thacker. Credit: Julie Curry

SPOTLIGHT: 25 FOR 25

25 for 25 Composers Violet Barnum Olivia Bennett KiMani Bridges Gabriella Cariddo Madeline Clara Cheng Tiffany Cuaresma Michelle David Alicia Erlandson Jack Gjaja Abby Harris Elisa Kain Johnson Anya Lagman Devon Lee

Yuri Lee Maya Miro Johnson Joanna McDonald Jordan Millar Rachel Mugemancuro Ebun Oguntola Cecilia Olszewski Caleb Palka Zola Saadi-Klein Sage Shurman Azalea Twining Chloe Villamayor

settings for their respective groups. Composers were eager to take on challenges, and conductors had no difficulty working with young composers, many still in their teens. They were even more impressed by how rapidly the work progressed: many compositions were in hand by January.

Choral directors acknowledge that working with new music is a difficult process for even the most professional ensembles.

“They were nervous,” said Xavier University Choir’s director Matthew Swanson. “Maya Miro Johnson’s ‘Strange Father’ has graphic notation and other notation systems she developed. It took us a couple of rehearsals to get used to those elements.”

“Admittedly, singers got frustrated because they wanted to get it right,” added Jillian HarrisonJones. “I kept reminding them to trust the process, and we got there.”

A NEW

“I told them that we were going to bring a new piece to life written by a composer writing choral music for the first time,” said Stephanie Nash. “We have to be so good that an audience hearing it for the first time will get it.”

The audiences got it, and Missy Mazzoli and Luna Composition Lab Executive Director Alyssa KayserHirsch were visibly elated by the reception.

“It really does feel like a community showcase with the community here in support of this,” Kayser-Hirsh said.

“This is an amazing crowd! Everyone is so open to hearing new music for the first time,” Mazzoli added.

Each composer will receive a professional recording of their chorus’s performance, but an even more important take-home is the confidence and assurance gained throughout the process.

“I’m so proud of my colleagues and I’m proud of myself,” said Joanna McDonald. “We’re walking into this venue, we’re all women composers, we’re writing good, mature new music and it’s great that people are recognizing that. It’s so cool!”

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the Luna Composition Lab, visit lunacompositionlab.org. For more about 25 for 25: A New Time for Choral Music project, please visit mayfestival.com/25.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR! Selected performances from the March 19 “25 for 25” concert will be broadcast on WGUC 90.9 FM, Sunday, Oct. 1 at 8 pm.

Thank you to 25 for 25 Project participating ensembles and artists!

TIME

for CHORAL MUSIC

• Cincinnati Boychoir • Cincinnati Camerata • Cincinnati Choral Academy • Cincinnati Men’s Chorus • Cincinnati Youth Choir • CinKoa: Cincinnati Korean Choir • Classical Roots Community Chorus • Hear Us, Hear Them • Heri et Hodie • Jeremy Winston Chorale •

• Little Miami Chorale • May Festival Youth Chorus • MUSE: Cincinnati Women’s Choir • No Promises Vocal Band • Northern Kentucky Community Chorus • Northern Kentucky University Chamber Choir • School for the Creative and Performing Arts Chorale • St Ursula Academy Vocal Ensemble •

• Thomas More University Choir • Tron • University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Chorale • Ursuline Academy Choir • Voices of Indiana • World House Choir • Xavier University Choir • Young Professionals Choral Collective •

Learn more at mayfestival.com/25 MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 17

BY LOOKING BACKWARD, MAY FESTIVAL SPRINGS FORWARD

Credit: JP Leong

by Hannah Edgar The Festival’s 150th anniversary honors its history and informs its future.

The story of the May Festival is, in some ways, the story of Cincinnati itself. At the time the Festival was founded, Cincinnati was a booming city of nearly 250,000, its perch at the crossroads of America making it a crucible for industry and significant wealth. The city already hosted scores of amateur choirs—disproportionately many for a city of its size—and its first music school, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

That story is still unfolding. The May Festival has reached its 150th year, and many of the elements that made its 1873 maiden voyage a success are still with us: the presence of world class musical institutions (the Cincinnati Conservatory is now, of course, CCM), civic support, and a bevy of choirs in the metro area. Cincinnati remains the only American city selected to host the World Choir Games, in 2012, at which point “City That Sings” was auditioned as a city motto. Taken from the final stanza of a crowdsourced poem, a monument in Cincinnati’s Freedom Park likewise implores passersby to “Sing the Queen City.”

The seed for the May Festival is broadly agreed to have come from Maria Longworth Nichols (later Storer), who later founded Rookwood Pottery. At the time, Nichols was a 23-year-old heiress of the Longworths, who built their wealth from real estate and America’s first successful winemaking business.

A trip to London introduced Nichols to grand 18 | mayfestival.com

English choral festivals, and she wanted Cincinnati to have its own.

In 1872, Nichols managed to get an audience with German-American conductor Theodore Thomas, one of America’s greatest musical celebrities, while his celebrated orchestra was touring in Cincinnati. Impressed by Nichols’ sophisticated musical taste and organizational savvy, Thomas agreed to take part.

Maria Longworth Nichols

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“Sing the Queen City” sculpture by Tommy Sheehan in Freedom Park. Credit: Eric Johnson MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 19

FEATURE: MAY FESTIVAL SPRINGS FORWARD

Theodore Thomas

Remarkably, more than 700 singers participated in the first May Festival. Thomas’s ensemble was enlisted as the Festival orchestra; the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1895, would not take over until 1906, after Thomas’s death.

Thomas himself served as the May Festival’s first music director, and Carl Barus—a leading figure in Cincinnati’s German musical circles and the maternal great-great-uncle of author Kurt Vonnegut—as its first choral director. Start to finish, the first Festival cost $42,000, according to Charles Frederick Goss’s history of Cincinnati.

The first May Festival featured eight sold-out concerts spread over five sequential days, from May 6 to 10, 1873. Until 1967, the Festival happened biennially, with few exceptions. These days, the May Festival happens every year and features four programs spread out over two weeks. But its roots in those early years still nourish the Festival’s present direction, 150 years on.

A mirror on the Queen City Before the May Festival’s founding, group singing in Cincinnati largely reflected one of two dominant styles: English or German. The first to take root in the city, English choral societies tended to be more formal, growing out of church choirs and prioritizing artistic excellence. In contrast, the German choral tradition was mostly centered on community-building and recreation, gathering singers to revel in biergartens or put on light operas.

Cincinnati’s significant Anglophone and Germanophone populations made the city a unique 20 | mayfestival.com

hotbed for both traditions. However, they rarely interacted with one another, save a few early attempts to bridge both communities.

The May Festival would represent the most successful attempt yet to blend the city’s English and German choral strains. After assembling an executive committee, the organizers of the first May Festival circulated a call for singers, printed in German and English, which reached 144 music societies, 1,200 newspapers, and more than 120 music stores. Most of the musicians and repertoire were German, but the May Festival’s leadership team were all English-speaking—a dynamic that was not without friction in the Festival’s early years.

Some key moments in the May Festival’s history likewise reflected the city’s changing demographics.

R. Nathaniel Dett became the first Black composer featured1 in the May Festival when it premiered his The Ordering of Moses oratorio in 1937. The piece was rapturously received; a Musical Courier review described its ovation as “pandemonium” and singled it out as “one of the most delectable items… [of the Festival’s] 1937 musical feast.” The work has remained in the Chorus’ repertoire since: In 2014, former May Festival Music Director James Conlon led critically acclaimed performances in Carnegie Hall, and this year Marin Alsop conducts the oratorio in her Festival debut. At the following Festival, in 1939, the May Festival also premiered an oratorio by a local rabbi, James G. Heller 1 This was the first large-scale (full chorus and full orchestra) composition by a Black composer. In May 1900, the tenor aria “Onaway! Awake, Beloved” from Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast

by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor became the first piece by a Black composer to be performed at the May Festival.

FEATURE: MAY FESTIVAL SPRINGS FORWARD

(Watchman, What of the Night) , the most visible onstage representation yet of Cincinnati’s historic Jewish community.

Last year, the May Festival reached a new milestone when it prepared the first Spanishlanguage works in its history: Antonio Estévez’s Cantata Criolla and John Adams’ El Niño. That, too, was very conscious: The Latine population in Cincinnati is among the city’s fastest-growing demographics. Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena, himself a Spanish speaker, spoke, in the 2022 Festival program book, about the importance of including these works. “We were thinking about diversity and the different cultures that we have also in Cincinnati,” Mena said. “Why not move the programming a little in this area?”

Although this May Festival is Mena’s last, Executive Director Steven Sunderman says that the civic-minded ethos he nurtured is here to stay.

“I have to give a shout-out to Juanjo, because a big focus for him has been involving the community in the May Festival and centering other traditions,” he says.

A zest for premieres The first May Festival was so ambitious that it ran $350 in the red, paid for by its executive committee.

By 1878, however—the third May Festival, and first in its new digs at Music Hall—it netted an amazing $30,000 profit. Festival organizers funneled part of that sum toward founding the very first composition competition in the United States. Winners received a $1,000 cash prize and had their works performed at the May Festival.

The unnamed competition lasted only two Festivals, but the winning works established the May Festival’s investment in nurturing new repertoire early on. The May Festival has given 35 world premieres to date, among them a revised version of Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, Kaddish (2002) and an incomplete Liszt oratorio (St. Stanislaus, 2003). This season alone, the May Festival welcomes three new commissions, all by names familiar to Cincinnati concertgoers in recent seasons: James MacMillan’s Timotheus, Bacchus

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Composer John Adams conducts his El Niño with the May Festival Chorus, May Festival Youth Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, May 2022. Soloists include Lauren Snouffer, soprano; Josefina Maldonado, mezzo-soprano; Ethan Vincent, baritone; Daniel Bubeck, countertenor; Brian Cummings, countertenor and Nathan Medley, countertenor. Credit: JP Leong

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 21

FEATURE: MAY FESTIVAL SPRINGS FORWARD

and Cecilia (May 19), James Lee III’s Breaths of Universal Longings (May 19), and Julia Adolphe’s Crown of Hummingbirds (May 25).

The May Festival’s early-established musical excellence also made it an ideal testing ground for works performed in Europe but never attempted

by American ensembles. The May Festival gave the American premiere of Bach’s Magnificat in 1875, during its second year. The sesquicentennial season commemorates this achievement by including it in the same opening program with the MacMillan and Lee commissions.

But the May Festival’s most ambitious commissioning project this year wasn’t for the May Festival Chorus at all. Rather than “patting ourselves on the back and having a big party for our own constituency,” per Sunderman, the Festival collaborated with students and alumni of Luna Composition Lab—a mentorship program for young composers who are female, nonbinary or gender nonconforming—to gift 25 new works to 25 choirs in greater Cincinnati. Dubbed “25 for 25,” the

program brought ensembles together to debut their works at a March 19 showcase at Christ Church Cathedral, with a few other premieres presented independently this spring and next. (Read more about this project on pp. 15–17.)

“A lot of the choirs had never commissioned anything before, so working with a composer was new for them. I think they grew from that, and I think the composers grew as well, working with somebody on the other end of the telephone or the Zoom screen,” Sunderman says. “We all know a rising tide lifts all boats. When one group gets better, the rest of the choral community gets better.”

A true community chorus “25 for 25” nods not only to the May Festival’s rich commissioning history but the Chorus’ status as a true community ensemble. The May Festival Chorus is famously all-volunteer; when conducting the ensemble in 1973 for its centennial year, Leonard Bernstein mused that “one of the most valuable features of Cincinnati’s Festival as

James Conlon leads the May 2014 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the May Festival Chorus, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Youth Choir and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Soloists include Erin Wall, soprano; Tracy Cox, soprano; Amanda Woodbury, soprano; Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano; Ronnita Nicole Miller, mezzo-soprano; Brandon Jovanovich, tenor; Kristinn Sigmundsson, bassbaritone and Donnie Ray Albert, baritone. Credit: Philip Groshong

22 | mayfestival.com

CSO Music Director Louis Langrée leads the September 2022 performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Soloists are Joélle Harvey, soprano and Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano. Credit: Mark Lyons

I see it is that it preserves the involvement of the community chorus…. I’m filled with admiration at what they accomplish.”

Indeed, all 36 choral societies in Cincinnati were invited to participate in the first May Festival in 1873, as were choirs from a few other towns in Ohio.

The Festival set exacting expectations for the chorus from the beginning, tracking rehearsal attendance through punch cards. Three unexcused absences would be grounds for dismissal from the chorus.

The exhaustive preparation wasn’t lost on anyone who heard that first Festival. Press coverage breathlessly declared Cincinnati “the first musical city of the West.” The Chicago Tribune echoed the plaudits of other publications and posited why Cincinnati was able to pull off a cultural achievement unimaginable in other cities: “It is only an old and stationary population of leisure and wealth which can produce such a chorus….

Cincinnati had the material at home, and its singers submitted to a drill and discipline which were rigidly severe.”

After all, not too many choruses would tackle Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 8, sometimes dubbed “the Symphony of a Thousand,” as frequently as the May Festival Chorus has. The

grand finale performance on May 27 with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, May Festival Youth Chorus, Cincinnati Boychoir and Cincinnati Youth Choir marks the May Festival’s 10th performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Director of Choruses Robert Porco has prepared Mahler 8 six times for the May Festival alone—as many times as the New York Philharmonic, the nation’s oldest orchestra, has performed the epic work over its entire history.

“It’s become a little bit of a tradition,” Sunderman says.

So has Mahler’s music more broadly, including his other two symphonies that involve chorus. His Symphony No. 3 is among those works that received its American premiere at the May Festival, in 1914.

And when, at long last, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performers and audiences returned to full capacity at Music Hall earlier this season, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 was selected to mark the occasion.

In this way, the 150th anniversary honors the May Festival’s more recent history, too, while keeping its gaze clearly fixed on the future. And who knows what that future might hold?

“We’re not just looking back. We’re using the last 150 years as a jumping-off point into the next 150 years,” Sunderman says.

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 23

May Festival Youth Chorus: Sundays are for Singing

by DiDi Turley

The May Festival Youth Chorus, conducted by Matthew Swanson, performing at the Community Choral Showcase on March 19. Credit: Julie Curry

F

or many high school students, Sundays are spent catching up on homework, spending time with friends, and prepping for the week of school ahead of them. However, for a select group of Cincinnati teens, Sundays are for singing.

The May Festival Youth Chorus (MFYC) is a 100% cost-free choir that connects, inspires and educates young musicians from the greater Cincinnati area through extensive music education and performance opportunities. These talented teenagers perform music ranging from the medieval era to world premieres from living composers. On top of that, they get the performance opportunities of a lifetime singing with the renowned Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops and in stand-alone concerts around Cincinnati. Between the performances, exposure to internationally renowned conductors and soloists, and the opportunity to take private voice lessons and study music theory, the MFYC is any choir kid’s dream come true.

The MFYC accepts students enrolled in 8th grade through 12th grade. For some, the choir is a stepping stone that helps them prepare to study music at the collegiate level.

For others, the skills they learn and the community they’ve built are all things that they plan to pull from as they pursue studies outside of music.

Keep reading to meet some of this season’s MFYC members and learn about their experiences: Calia Burdette, soprano, is in her fifth year as a member of the MFYC, making her the titleholder of “longestserving member” in the history of the chorus. She started singing with the choir in eighth grade and has been At right: The May Festival Youth Chorus, conducted by Matthew Swanson, performing at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church for the May Festival Vaulted Voices concert in April 2023. Credit: JP Leong

24 | mayfestival.com

SPOTLIGHT: MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS

involved in countless musical endeavors since. Calia is now in her senior year of high school, and she plans to study music in college—double majoring in classical voice performance and arts administration.

According to her, the MFYC has been a crucial part of her preparation for college auditions: The May Festival Youth Chorus has been super helpful in preparing. I plan to study music in college, so the musicianship classes with Dr. Floyd have been so helpful, especially for sight reading…. We’ve also had the opportunity to do three world premiere works, and there are many opportunities to sing solo repertoire. —Calia Gwyneth (“Gwyn”) Gaunt, alto, is also in her senior year of high school and has been singing with the MFYC since the winter of 2021. According to Gwyn, she came across the recruitment table in Music Hall’s lobby after a Holiday Pops concert, and the rest is history. The skills Gwyn has gained from MFYC have set her apart in the college audition process, and she is thrilled to be attending Ohio University for musical theatre in the fall.

I don’t think I could have done it without [MFYC], because one of the things that [colleges] were specifically looking for was musicianship, playing instruments, and sight-reading music.

A lot of people going [into college] for musical theatre don’t have access to that training. So, I feel very lucky that I’ve had that opportunity.

—Gwyn For Charles (“Charlie”) Rahner, tenor, MFYC has shown him a sense of community that he hopes to continue beyond his time in high school and into his collegiate studies, regardless of what career he decides to pursue. This is Charlie’s first season with MFYC. Even though I don’t think I’m going to go into music, being a part of the May Festival Youth Chorus has made me realize that I definitely want to stay in some sort of choir beyond high school. —Charlie

Younger members of the choir are amazed at the chance to take the stage in breathtaking venues. For some, these performances are their first time hearing a professional orchestra, which makes the experience of rehearsing and singing even more magical.

Natalie Hoover, alto, is an eighth-grade student in her second year as an MFYC member. She began singing in church as a child, but had never performed in such remarkable venues prior to her first MFYC concert at The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption.

Going to the Basilica to sing was so huge. It’s such an amazing space. Being there to sing…I honestly don’t know how to describe it. It was such an amazing experience to sing there.

—Natalie The MFYC has provided high school freshman Sophia Clever with countless musical firsts.

Though she isn’t new to singing in choirs, her previous experiences didn’t focus on music theory, sight-singing and musicianship in the same way that MFYC does. According to Sophia, this (along with the beauty of creating music in Music Hall) is her favorite part of singing with MFYC: One of my favorite things is learning about melodic intervals and harmonic intervals and really diving into music theory…. I’d also never been to Music Hall before—getting to be on stage and seeing the strings [of the CSO] and how they’re playing in this beautiful, beautiful auditorium was amazing. —Sophia Auditions for the May Festival Youth Chorus are held in January, May and August for singers enrolled in 8th through 12th grade. Acceptance into the choir is based solely on ability, and there is no fee for membership. Rehearsals are held from 1 pm to 3:30 pm in Music Hall from September through May and are under the direction of Matthew Swanson. Singers can register for auditions at mayfestival.com/join.

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 25

May Festival: The Beginning

Credit: Eric Johnson 2 | MAY FESTIVAL 2022

MAY FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT

BEGINNINGS OF THE CINCINNATI MAY FESTIVAL AND MUSIC HALL

by Craig Doolin, co-author of A City That Sings: Choral Music in Cincinnati Thomas, during their meeting in 1872, agreed to Cincinnati’s famous May Festival, first held in be conductor of the festival if $50,000 could be 1873, is a unique mixture of choral traditions. raised for a guarantee fund and a committee could While the artistic forces were almost entirely be formed to take care of the business aspects of German, the administrative team that planned the the event. event was mostly of English descent. Cincinnati’s The Cincinnati Musical Festival Association’s successful 1870 Saengerfest, with its 1,800 singers, Executive Committee included, among others, was certainly a hometown model for the May George Ward Nichols as President, with dry goods Festival, but the tone of the event came from the merchant John Shillito as treasurer, Cincinnati spectacularly large, but well-mannered, display of music publisher John Church as Chairman of the the massed-choir traditions of English festivals in Printing Committee, and attorney Bellamy Storer, Leeds and elsewhere. The festive social component Jr., as Secretary. Over the following eight months, of the German festivals, complete with food and these men made all the business decisions leading drink, hasn’t been a regular part of the May Festival. to the May Festival of 1873.

At the time of this writing, the Festival is 150 They decided to hire Theodore Thomas years old and has been a continuous event as musical director and Carl Barus since its inception in 1873. Until 1967, as director of the chorus. Thomas’s the May Festival was held every two touring orchestra would play, years with only a few exceptions, as they would continue to do but since then it has been given at every Festival until 1904. every year.

Arthur Mees, a Cincinnati music Over the years, many people teacher, was named rehearsal have led the May Festival, accompanist and, later, Festival including Theodore Thomas, organist. Choristers were Eugène Ysaÿe, Eugene assembled from throughout Goossens, Josef Krips, Max the West (today’s Midwest) by Rudolf, James Conlon and, distributing a circular to 121 presently, Juanjo Mena. music dealers, 60 post offices, Cincinnati history holds Theodore Thomas and 144 singing societies. The that Maria (pronounced Courtesy of the Friends of Music Hall circular was also distributed with a long “i”) Longworth to 1,120 newspapers throughout Ohio, Indiana, Nichols, the 23-year-old granddaughter of the Kentucky, and “the leading papers of the West.” wealthy Nicholas Longworth, invited the famous Rehearsals were set to begin in January of 1872. conductor, Theodore Thomas, to her home on Sometime in November, the Executive Grandin Road to ask him to create and conduct Committee engaged soloists. The soloists for the what is today the oldest continuous choral music 1873 May Festival were Mrs. H.M. Smith of Boston, festival in the Western Hemisphere. Also present soprano; Emma Dexter of Cincinnati, soprano; at this historic meeting were Maria’s husband, Annie Louise Cary, contralto; Nelson Varley, tenor; Colonel George Ward Nichols, who had been an J.P. Rudolphsen, bass; and Myron W. Whitney, aide-de-camp to Civil War Generals Fremont and bass. Although Thomas had no advance notice of Sherman; Heinrich Rattermann, a leading figure the soloists’ hiring, he was nonetheless satisfied. He in the Saengerfests of the past decade; and Henry did express concern about Annie Louise Cary, the Krehbiel, music critic of the Cincinnati Gazette. contralto soloist hired to sing excerpts from Gluck’s Maria’s eagerness to have a festival in Cincinnati Orfeo ed Euridice: came from an 1871 trip to England, where she witnessed one of the large English festivals.

I must be sure that a good contralto is engaged who can sing the two arias and the recitatives 28 | mayfestival.com

SPOTLIGHT: BEGINNINGS

Saengerfest Hall, c. 1870, from Harper’s Weekly. Courtesy of the Friends of Music Hall

connecting the choruses. She must have a good voice and not be spoiled by singing Trovatore and Lucrezia, and one who will not try to cover up her bad singing by shaking her body and smiling at young America.

However, Thomas relented and later praised her as “perhaps the finest alto voice in the country.”

In the meantime, the Festival chorus was taking shape, and rehearsals were strict. Choristers who were absent from rehearsals had their names published in the local newspapers. By the time the first performance took place, the chorus had 706 members.

The performances of the 1873 May Festival, held in Saengerfest Halle (built for the 1870 Saengerfest and located on the site where the current Music Hall was built in 1878), established it as the principal musical event of Cincinnati’s concert season, an honor that it retains to the present day. The repertoire was overwhelmingly German. Of the 60 works on the seven concerts, only five were by composers not born in a German-speaking country. The matinee concerts consisted largely of arias, art songs and light orchestral works, including isolated movements of symphonies, Strauss waltzes, and overtures.

Thomas’s evening concerts were more formal and consisted of major vocal and choral works, including Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum, scenes from Gluck’s

Orfeo ed Euridice, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

In the five days from May 6 to 10, 1873, Cincinnati’s reputation as a city of Saengerfests grew to include world-class performances of canonic works for orchestra and chorus.

After the death of Theodore Thomas in 1905, the 1906 May Festival featured British composer Sir Edward Elgar conducting the American premiere of his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius at the final concert. He conducted the second, fifth and sixth concerts of the Festival, and spent the preceding two weeks rehearsing his music with the performers.

Leonard Bernstein was Honorary Music Director for the 1973 centennial celebration of the May Festival, at which he conducted Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

The May Festival has presented many world and U.S. premieres in its 150-year history. Among the Festival’s U.S. premieres are Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum (the very first work performed at the very first Festival), Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, Britten’s “Choral Dances” from his opera Gloriana, and Menotti’s The Death of the Bishop of Brindisi.

Continued commissions and artistic innovations ensure that the May Festival remains as relevant today as it was in 1873. The tradition lives and expands.

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MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 29

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SPOTLIGHT: BEGINNINGS

MUSIC HALL Cincinnati Music Hall is a direct result of the 1875 May Festival. Cincinnati’s usual springtime thunderstorms pelted the leaky tin roof of Saengerfest Hall with rain and hail. The cavernous hall acted as a resonating chamber, and Thomas had to stop the concerts on more than one occasion to let the storms pass. It was also hot and crowded.

Windows were broken to reduce the temperature, but the 6,000 attendees, a third of them outside the hall, could not be moved.

Kentucky-born grocer Reuben Springer was so annoyed by the situation that he made the initial $125,000 donation to create a matching Reuben Springer fund to enable the Courtesy of the Friends of Music Hall construction of Music Hall, completed in 1878.

The Third May Festival, originally scheduled for 1877 but postponed until the new hall could be finished, cemented the Festival as a recurring event deserving of notice on a national level.

Music Hall was designed by Hannaford and Procter and is 150-feet tall at its central gable. Of its 372 feet of frontage, 178 feet would be devoted to the main hall, while nearly 90 feet would be occupied by each of the two exposition buildings, constructed in 1879. Music Hall would be 293 feet deep from Elm Street to the Miami and Erie Canal that flowed behind the hall.

Cincinnati’s Music Hall was officially dedicated at the first concert of the 1878 May Festival on May 14.

Left: The cover of the 1878 Daily Graphic, featuring the interior of the newly opened Music Hall for the Grand Opening Concert of “The Cincinnati Musical Festival.” Below: Music Hall, 1878. Courtesy of the Friends of Music Hall

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 31

MAY FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT

CINCINNATI’S MODERN MUSICAL LANDSCAPE

by Tyler M. Secor “[A] crowning jewel in the diadem of the Queen City—The May Festival.”

—Charles T. Greve, 1892.

The formation of the May Festival in 1873 catalyzed what is today’s culture of arts and music in Cincinnati and put the City of Cincinnati on the map as a hub for music and art. After the first May Festival, the Chicago Tribune wrote, “the result of that festival to-day is, that Cincinnati is the first musical city of the West.” Other arts and music organizations quickly followed.

As noted in Craig Doolin’s article, “Beginnings of the Cincinnati May Festival and Music Hall” (p. 28), the 1875 Festival led to the construction of the Festival’s home, Cincinnati’s iconic Music Hall, in 1878. Reuben R. Springer, a successful business man and the person who made the initial donation to build Music Hall, wrote, “The Musical Hall building to be located in the center of the lot, and so planned and constructed as to be capable of being used for Exposition purposes in connection with suitable buildings that may be constructed on the North and South to the limits of the lot.” By the 1878 May Festival, only the center section of Music Hall had been built; the north and south “wings” were built between 1878 and 1879 and opened in the fall of 1879. These wings were built to hold popular industrial expositions. The North Wing, known as

Machinery, or Power, Hall, and the South Wing, known as the Art, or Horticultural, Hall housed the Seventh Cincinnati Industrial Exposition in September 1879. Among the 250,000 guests that visited this exposition was President Rutherford B. Hayes and General W. T. Sherman.

These wings, or halls, have been used for a variety of purposes throughout the years. The North Hall was renovated in the 1920s to include a 6,000seat arena for sporting events such as basketball, wrestling, boxing, swimming, tennis, ice skating, gymnastics, bowling and roller derby. Currently, the North Hall holds the offices for the Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Arts Association, a scene/ carpentry shop, and the Harry T. Wilks Studio. An arched roof, three-quarters of which was glass, adorned the top of the South Hall until 1927. With a glass roof, the South Hall was used to house exhibits of plants and landscaping. In 1927, the South Hall was renovated to include a ballroom for popular bands and dancing. Today, the South Hall houses Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival offices, while the ballroom remains.

The founding of the College of Music quickly followed the first May Festival. Established on October 14, 1878, this college was led by then May Festival Music Director Theodore Thomas and rented many of Music Hall’s rooms for their rehearsals, recitals and concerts, including Dexter Hall, which is known today as Corbett Tower). The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music had existed since 1867, when founder Clara Baur rented a room in Miss Nourse’s School for Young Ladies. The Conservatory is believed to be the first residential conservatory in the U.S. and helped to form the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). In 1955, the College of Music and the Conservatory of Music would merge to create The College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).

CCM would go on to merge with the University of Cincinnati (forming the UC-CCM) in 1962 to create the school of music that is still active today.

1879 Floor plan for Music Hall, Courtesy of the Friends of Music Hall

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MAY FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT

Horticulture Hall, south wing, Courtesy of the Friends of Music Hall

Cincinnati was home to the first Black-owned conservatory in the U.S. Founded by Dr. Artie Matthews and his wife, Anna Howard, in 1921, the Cosmopolitan School of Music provided advanced educational and musical opportunities for African Americans. The June Festival, an annual African American choral festival produced by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, was the outgrowth of increased opportunities for African Americans. From 1938 to the mid-1950s, the Festival was held mostly outdoors and drew 100–300 singers from Cincinnati to perform for crowds of thousands.

The College of Music held the city’s first opera festivals starting in 1881. These festivals were performed mostly by major touring companies.

But in 1910, as part of the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, a new opera was commissioned from faculty member Pietro Floridia; titled Paoletta, the opera premiered with unquestionable success on August 29, 1910. Twenty years later, on June 27, 1920, the Cincinnati Opera Association would be formed, making Cincinnati Opera the second oldest opera company in the U.S. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden was the home of the Cincinnati Opera until 1972. Like the May Festival, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden was also formed in 1873 and opened to the public in 1875.

In the realm of fine art, the Cincinnati Museum Association (known today as the Cincinnati Art Museum) was formed in 1881. The South Hall of Music Hall was the Art Museum’s temporary location until its building in Eden Park, which remains its home today, was finished in 1886. The

Art Museum currently houses an “encyclopedic art collection of more than 67,000 works spanning 6,000 years.”

For contemporary Cincinnatians, the link between the May Festival and the Cincinnati

``

The Cincinnati Orchestra Association Company incorporation document from 1894.

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A proud sponsor of the musical arts

MAY FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT

Symphony Orchestra is foundational, but complex.

Starting in 1880, the relationship between Theodore Thomas, the May Festival and the College of Music grew bitter until the city of Chicago announced that Thomas had been hired to develop its symphony orchestra in 1891. The announcement dashed any expectations that Thomas would start a symphony orchestra in Cincinnati. Many attempts to create an orchestra in the 1880s and early 1890s had failed; then the Ladies Musical Club, which was founded in 1891 and had sponsored several concerts, turned its attention to establishing a permanent orchestra in Cincinnati. “They determined at the outset to maintain control of the Orchestra Association, limiting men to supportive roles” (Robert C. Vitz).

Led by Helen “Nellie” Herron Taft (who became First Lady of the U.S. when her husband William Howard Taft was elected president in 1908), the Ladies Musical Club started raising money and support for a new orchestra. Part of their planning was attempting to quell old feuds by selecting leadership that would bring Cincinnati’s fractured musical community together. Their plan was to select a music director who also directed the May Festival; however, this plan was ultimately blocked by the May Festival president. The Cincinnati Orchestra Association Company was founded in May 1894, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) held its first concert on January 17, 1895, conducted by Frank Van der Stucken. The CSO was the first orchestra in the U.S. to be founded by a group of women.

The Ladies Musical Club’s plan to see the CSO and the May Festival directed by the same person came to fruition in 1906, when the May Festival program listed Frank Van der Stucken as Music Director and the CSO as the orchestra. The CSO would remain the house orchestra of the May Festival but, in 1970, the practice of the CSO’s music director being the music director of the May Festival ended.

Today the Cincinnati Musical Festival Association and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra remain separate 501(c)(3) organizations, but they share administrative support through a shared services agreement that allows for combining resources and expertise to benefit all organizations.

It is a powerful testament to the people of Cincinnati who, in the

Bass-baritone Norman Treigle towers over the 1969 cast of Faust at the Cincinnati Zoo.

last three decades of the 19th century, organized, formed and funded major professional music ensembles that have stood the test of time and have placed Cincinnati forever on the map as one of the finest musical cities in the Midwest.

1894 May Festival, Theodore Thomas on stage in Cincinnati Music Hall. Photo by John Closs from Memoirs of Theodore Thomas by Rose Fay Thomas, 1911, p. 177.

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JUANJO MENA Principal Conductor

Photo: Michal Novak

Juanjo Mena began his conducting career in his native Spain as Artistic Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in 1999.

His uncommon talent was soon recognized internationally with appointments as Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic and Chief Guest Conductor of the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

In 2011, he was named Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, which he led for seven seasons, taking the orchestra on tours of Europe and Asia and conducting annual televised concerts at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. He currently holds the position of Principal Conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival, the longest running choral festival in North America, served by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

A sought-after guest conductor, Juanjo Mena has led Europe’s top ensembles and also appears regularly with all the major orchestras in his native Spain. Following his North American debut with the Baltimore Symphony in 2004, he has conducted most of the continent’s leading orchestras. In Asia, he is a regular guest conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.

Juanjo Mena opened the 2022–23 season with a Carnegie Hall gala concert, leading the Teatro Real Orchestra (the Royal Opera of Madrid) in its historic Carnegie Hall debut. The concert follows Mena’s recent triumphant performances at Madrid’s Teatro Real, with Arthur Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake paired with Debussy’s La damoiselle élue staged in June 2022. Other guest performances this season include his debut with the Dallas Symphony and the Czech Philharmonic and returns to the Minnesota Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Lucerne Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Danish National Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic and the Spanish National

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Orchestra. May 2023 marks Juanjo Mena’s final performances as Principal Conductor of the May Festival, concluding his pivotal six-year tenure at the organization, during which he has expanded commissioning of new works and put the community at the heart of the Festival. The Cincinnati May Festival’s 150th Anniversary program will culminate with Mena leading Mahler’s Eighth Symphony.

Juanjo Mena’s operatic work includes Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman; Richard Strauss’ Salome, Elektra and Ariadne auf Naxos; Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle; and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, as well as productions of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in Genoa, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in Lausanne, and Beethoven’s Fidelio and Britten’s Billy Budd in Bilbao.

His latest release, of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 with the BBC Philharmonic on Chandos, has been described by The Classical Review as “intensely musical,” “impressive” and with a “spectacular sound.” Mena’s rich discography with the BBC Philharmonic on Chandos also includes an acclaimed Gabriel Pierné release selected as a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Weber symphonies, Ginastera’s orchestral works to mark the composer’s centenary, and new reference recordings of lesser-performed Spanish repertoire including Arriaga’s orchestral pieces, works by Albéniz, Montsalvatge and Turina, as well as three discs of works by Manuel de Falla featuring his opera La vida breve. In 2012, Juanjo Mena recorded Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie with the Bergen Philharmonic for the Hyperion label, a disc said to “utterly redefine the terms under which past/ current/future Turangalîlas need to be judged” (Gramophone).

Juanjo Mena studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache following his musical education at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, where he was mentored by Carmelo Bernaola and Enrique García Asensio. In 2016, he was awarded the Spanish National Music Award. He lives with his family in his native Basque Country.

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS & CHORUS LEADERSHIP MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS ROBERT PORCO, Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson, Associate Director of Choruses Heather MacPhail, Accompanist Christin Sears, Conducting Fellow Kathryn Zajac Albertson, Chorus Manager Bryce Newcomer, Chorus Librarian The May Festival Chorus has earned national and international acclaim for its musicality and command of repertoire. Consisting of 130 avocational singers who collectively devote more than 45,000 hours in rehearsals and performances annually, the Chorus is the core artistic element of the Cincinnati May Festival and the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and

Cincinnati Pops. The premier choral ensemble in Cincinnati, the May Festival Chorus has garnered national and international attention through numerous PBS broadcasts and award-winning recordings, many in collaboration with the CSO and Pops. Most recently, a live recording of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses featuring Music Director Laureate James Conlon conducting the Chorus and CSO at Carnegie Hall was released to critical acclaim in 2016 on Bridge Records, and, in 2017, the Chorus re-released its popular a cappella holiday recording Christmas with the May Festival Chorus on the Fanfare Cincinnati label. The Chorus is also featured on several Pops recordings, which have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

Credit: Mark Lyons

THE MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS The May Festival Chorus is endowed by the Betsy & Alex C. Young Chair Sopranos Natalie Badinghaus, 2 Tracy Bailey, 22 Karen Bastress, 24 Laurel Boisclair Ellsworth, 18 Dawn Bruestle, 18 Caitlyn Byers, 1 Renee Cifuentes, 6 Ally Clifton, 2 Kathy Dietrich, 9 Jennifer Dobson, 6 Rachel Dummermuth, 4 Sarah Evans, 8 Jennifer Fillare, 1 Anita Marie Greer, 34 Melissa Haas, 5 Gaynelle Hardwick, 7 Dana Harms, 15 Mary Wynn Haupt, 21 Lauren Steiger Hess, 27 Carolyn Hill, 12 Alexandra Kesman, 8 Lisa Koressel, 23 Judith C. LaChance, 45 Hilary Landwehr, 34 Julia Lawrence, 3 Julia Marchese, 2 Audrey Markovich, 2 Alison Peeno, 4 Lauren Peter, 19 Kristi C. Reed, 12 Beth Roberts, 17 Justine Alexandra Samuel, 5 Noelle Scheper, 1 Julia H. Schieve, 28 Christin Sears, 1

Yvon F. Shore, 11 Mary Ann Sprague, 1 Alex Vale, 1 Patricia Wilkens, 2 Taraneh R. Wilkinson, 2 Altos Kathy Falcón, 19 Sarah Fall, 2 Lindsey Fitch, 9 Emily Garcia, 1 Amanda Gast, 2 Sally Vickery Harper, 51 Sarah Keeling Horseman, 13 Beth Huntley, 3 Spence B. Ingerson, 33 Karolyn L. Johnsen, 51 Jenifer Klostermeier, 4 Julie Laskey, 19 Megan Lawson, 8 Katherine Loomis, 3 Elaine P. Lustig, 13 Kathy Mank, 18 Melissa A. Martin, 17 Teri McKibben, 15 Jennifer Moak, 9 Amy M. Perry, 11 Kate Robertson, 1 Christy Roediger, 1 Amanda Schwarz Rosenzweig, 2 Karen Scott-Vosseberg, 6 Sarah Stoutamire, 6 Kristie Stricker, 1 Christine Wands, 31

Megan Weaver, 10 Robin Rae Wiley, 1 Tenors Lawrence Adams, 2 Lydia Rose Ball, 1 Avery Bargasse, 5 David Bower, 2 Douglas Easterling, 8 Robert Henderson, 4 Fansheng Kong, 2 Elijah Lanham, 1 Kevin Leahy, 5 Matthew Leonard, 1 Robert Lomax, 5 Andrew Miller, 2 H. Scott Nesbitt, 13 Scott C. Osgood, 21 Jason Ramler, 21 Larry Reiring, 14 Edward Rosenberry, 1 Austin M. Schafer, 1 Adam Shoaff, 10 David W. Skiff, 18 Jeffrey Stivers, 13 Matthew Swanson, 11 Stephen West, 2 Zaslow, Barry, 39 Basses Mark Barnes, 6 Jim Baxter, 32 Richard Becker, 1 Nathan Bettenhausen, 2 Andrew L. Bowers, 7

Scott Brody, 8 Darren Bryant, 2 Christopher Canarie, 29 Matthew Cheek, 1 Lawrence Coleman, 21 Steven L. Dauterman, 41 David Dugan, 1 Grant Ebert, 1 Steve France, 18 Mark Hockenberry, 2 Kim P. Icsman, 26 Christopher Kanney, 1 Takuya Konishi, 2 Jim Laskey, 12 D. Stuart Lohrum, 1 John McKibben, 5 Daniel Parsley, 6 Justin Peter, 19 James V. Racster, 41 Mitch Radakovich, 2 Brian Reilly, 2 Joshua Wallace, 16 Chancellor Waye, 1 Mark Weaver, 17 Paul Wessendarp, 3 Tommy Wessendarp, 2 Numbers behind chorus members’ names signify their years of service. Those celebrating anniversaries of five-year increments are honored with lapel pins they proudly wear with their May Festival uniforms.

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ROBERT PORCO, Director of Choruses Recognized as one of the leading choral musicians in the United States, Robert Porco has been an active preparer and conductor of choral and orchestral works and a highly regarded educator in the practice and art of conducting and choral leadership for more than 40 years.

The 2022–23 season is Porco’s 34th as Director of Choruses of Cincinnati’s May Festival, starting in the position in 1989. In 2011, Porco received Chorus America’s Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art. In 2021 and 2022, the May Festival, with the May Festival Chorus (MFC) at its core, was named “One of the Best Classical Music Festivals in the U.S. and Canada” by BBC Magazine.

Notable performances during Porco’s tenure with the May Festival have included the 2010 premiere he led of Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, a piece commissioned by the MFC in honor of Porco’s 20th season as director. Acclaimed Carnegie Hall performances he prepared include Mendelssohn’s Elijah in 1991 with Jesús López Cobos, the MFC and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO); Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in 1995 with Robert Shaw, the MFC, The Cleveland Orchestra, and other choruses; and Britten’s War Requiem in 2001 with James Conlon, the MFC and the CSO. The 2014 performance of R. Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses and John Adams’ Harmonium, with the MFC, Conlon and the CSO, “shook the rafters….

Carnegie has seldom felt so alive,” according to The New Yorker.

The MFC’s 2008 performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls, under the baton of composer John Adams, led Adams to write, “The pure American quality of their enunciation and their perfectly balanced sonorities lifted the matter-of-fact plainness of the words to a transcendental level, and for once the piece did not seem as compromised and uneven as I had previously thought.”

Porco’s conducting career has spanned geographic venues across western Europe and the U.S., including performances in the Edinburgh Festival; Taipei, Taiwan; Lucerne, Switzerland; Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel; and Reykjavík, Iceland; and in the May Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Berkshire Music Festival, Blossom Festival and Grant Park Festival. He has guest conducted at the May Festival since 1991, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 1996, and with The Cleveland Orchestra since 2000.

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From 1998 to 2017, Porco was Director of Choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra, preparing the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus (COC) for appearances in Severance Hall and the Blossom Festival and with the Orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival in 1999, at Carnegie Hall in 2002 and at the Lucerne Festival and London Proms in 2005.

Porco’s work during the 2013–14 season included preparing the COC for its debut with the Orchestra in Frankfurt, Paris and Luxembourg. From 1988 to 1998, Porco was Artistic Director and Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir.

Porco has gained national recognition for his preparation of choruses for prominent conductors such as John Adams, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Paavo Järvi, Erich Kunzel, Raymond Leppard, James Levine, Jahja Ling, Louis Langrée, Jesús López Cobos, Zubin Mehta, Juanjo Mena, John Nelson, André Previn, Kurt Sanderling, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Shaw, Franz Welser-Möst, John Williams and David Zinman.

Porco taught doctoral-level choral conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music from 1979 to 1998, in addition to serving as Department Chair, and returned as a guest instructor in 2011 and 2012. A highlight of his tenure at IU included leading a wholly student choral and orchestral ensemble of 250 in a highly acclaimed performance of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS as part of the Tanglewood Music Festival’s celebration of the composer’s 70th birthday. As teacher and mentor, Porco has guided and influenced the development of hundreds of musicians, most of whom are now active as professional conductors and singers, and as teachers in public and private schools and in schools of music. Porco remains a sought-after guest instructor and coach for conservatory students, young professional conductors, and singers. His guest teaching venues have included Harvard University, the University of Miami Frost School of Music, the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music and Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ).

MATTHEW SWANSON Associate Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson is the Associate Director of Choruses, the Director of the Youth Chorus, and the Director of Special Projects at the Cincinnati May Festival. He annually prepares the May Festival Chorus and Youth Chorus for performances with the Cincinnati Symphony and

Credit: Krista DeVaul

Credit: Roger Mastroianni

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS & CHORUS LEADERSHIP

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS & CHORUS LEADERSHIP

Pops Orchestras and for their featured appearances at the May Festival. Additionally, he develops and produces special projects for the May Festival in collaboration with local, regional and national organizations.

Highlights of his tenure at the May Festival include the creation of an annual Youth Chorus commissioning project; the presentation of community choral concerts during the May Festival; a robust program of professional voice instruction, free to Chorus and Youth Chorus members; the Festival’s community choral podcast “Sing the Queen City”; and free in-school choral clinics for area middle and high schools. His portfolio of special projects at the May Festival has included staged productions of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS (2018) and Candide (2022), the formation of the May Festival Community Chorus, and 25 for 25, the May Festival’s 2023 collaborative commissioning project.

Beyond the May Festival, his affiliations have included the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center (New York), Schola Antiqua (Chicago), and the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. In the 2022–23 season, he conducts the Xavier Choir and teaches choral methods and conducting at Xavier University, and he leads Vox Antiqua, an ensemble of the Early Music Lab at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (UC-CCM).

Matthew Swanson is a native of southeast Iowa. He earned an undergraduate degree in trumpet performance and American Studies at the University of Notre Dame, master’s degrees in choral conducting and choral studies from UCCCM and King’s College, Cambridge, respectively, and a doctorate of musical arts in conducting from UC-CCM. He was awarded the May Festival Choral Conducting Fellowship in 2015.

HEATHER MacPHAIL, Accompanist Heather MacPhail has been the accompanist for the May Festival Chorus since 1990. She is a frequent keyboardist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, performing on all keyboard instruments, and has been organ soloist for the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony in several performances. MacPhail has been Staff Accompanist at Miami University since 1997. There, she supervises and coaches students in accompanying, teaches organ, and performs with faculty and guest artists. MacPhail has performed as

piano soloist with the Oxford String Quartet, Miami University Orchestra and Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra. She performs regularly on local concert series, such as Christ Church Glendale Music at Noon, Holy Trinity Episcopal Noon Series and Westwood First Concert Series.

Heather MacPhail is Organist/Director of Music Ministries at Westwood First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. She maintains a private teaching studio for piano and organ, with students active in competitions and recitals. She holds a Master of Music degree in Accompanying and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music.

CHRISTIN SEARS May Festival Conducting Fellow Christin Sears is a first-year doctoral student in Choral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music. She graduated summa cum laude from Texas State University, receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education and Choral Conducting, completing her study in 2010.

While at Texas State, Sears received numerous scholarships in recognition of her academic and musical achievements. In her final year, the faculty awarded her the Presser Foundation Scholarship, honoring her academic standing, leadership and extracurricular involvement.

Sears taught for 12 years as a school choral director in the Houston area and was selected the First Year Teacher of the Year at her first appointment. In 2013, Christin Sears became the founding choir director at Obra D. Tompkins High School in Katy, Texas. The Tompkins Chorale received the highest honor of being selected to perform at the 2019 Texas Music Educators Association Convention and, in the same year, was named the Overall Winner of the Celebration of Excellence Choral Festival.

Sears is an active clinician, soloist, and singer in professional ensembles. She served as the soprano section leader and sang seven seasons with CANTARE Houston. Christin Sears is happy to be newly wed to her husband, Timothy Sears, and is grateful for his unending love and support.

The May Festival is grateful to Ginger Warner for her generous support of the Conducting Fellowship.

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MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS

MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS MATTHEW SWANSON, Director David Kirkendall, Accompanist and Assistant Director Dr. Eva Floyd, Musicianship Instructor Kathryn Zajac Albertson, Chorus Manager Bryce Newcomer, Chorus Librarian The May Festival Youth Chorus connects, inspires and educates young people through the study and performance of choral music.

Since its founding in 1987, the Youth Chorus has appeared annually at the May Festival to perform choral-orchestral works with the May Festival Chorus, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and internationally renowned conductors and soloists.

In addition, the Youth Chorus presents its own concert series and collaborates with cultural institutions and organizations throughout greater Cincinnati.

Highlights of the Youth Chorus experience include a broad range of repertoire; annual commissions and world premieres; free professional voice instruction; access to free and discounted tickets to the May Festival, CSO and Pops concerts; frequent concert appearances with the CSO and Pops at Music Hall and Riverbend Music Center; and a community of enthusiastic and skilled peer musicians from across the Tri-State. Notably, the Youth Chorus is tuition-free; acceptance is based solely on ability.

DAVID KIRKENDALL, Accompanist and Assistant Director David Kirkendall has served as assistant director and accompanist for the May Festival Youth Chorus since 2006. He was choral director at Princeton High School in Cincinnati from 1980 to 2013, and THE MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS Brayden Adams Ava Altenau Sam Bringle Calia Burdette Anna Burkhart Angelina Bush Cameron Carnahan Timothy Carnahan Ella Clark Sophia Clever William Demeter Gabrielle Dodd Gwyneth Gaunt Caroline Gneuhs Mary Hollon

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Natalie Hoover Madeleine Kasman Katie Kear Emily Lynch Adriana Mayfield Cecelia McDaniel Sophia Nery Charles Rahner Caroline Reister Nikki Tayidi Abby Turner Ansley Varisco Celia Wallace Olivia Wetzel Sam Wright

Credit: JP Leong

for three years he served as choral director at Mount Saint Joseph University.

After earning his undergraduate degree, Kirkendall continued at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, receiving a master’s degree in Choral Conducting. He received a fellowship to attend the Choral Conducting Institute at the Aspen Music Festival, and has also completed studies for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Illinois. His keyboard reductions and continuo realizations appear in the Roger Dean edition of the Vivaldi Gloria, and he has had an SSA arrangement published with Alfred Music Publishing.

EVA FLOYD, Musicianship Instructor Eva Floyd is an associate professor of choral music education at the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music (CCM), where she teaches Choral Methods, Literature for School Choir, History and Philosophy of Music Education, and Kodály Musicianship classes for music education graduate students. Floyd is also the founder and conductor of the CCM Community Women’s Choir.

The Organization of American Kodály Educators published a DVD documentary of Soul-fege: A Journey from Soulful Genres to the Classics, which chronicles Eva Floyd’s collaboration with the Voices of Unity Gospel Youth Choir to prepare for an honor choir festival in Budapest using Kodályinspired teaching techniques.

The May Festival Youth Chorus is financially assisted by the ongoing support of ArtsWave and the Ohio Arts Council.

The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation

GUEST CHORUSES

CINCINNATI BOYCHOIR JASON ALEXANDER HOLMES, Artistic Director Lisa Peters, Associate Director Patrick Apfelbeck, Program Coordinator Carmen Greiner, Executive Director Stacey Devlin, Finance Manager Cincinnati Boychoir is a choir for male-identifying youth of all musical abilities from across the greater Cincinnati region. Founded in 1965, the Boychoir is a teaching and performing organization that offers musical enrichment, performance and touring opportunities.

Cincinnati Boychoir vocal ensembles are directed by professional music educators who teach a curriculum not only of musical skills but also of cultural appreciation, empathy, self-discipline, leadership, mentorship, and a spirit of volunteerism.

In its core ensembles, boys from grades 3 through 12 attend weekly rehearsals for a full academic year.

Each week, all boys come together for a combined rehearsal in which older boys are empowered as big brothers to younger boys, teaching them the nuts and bolts of music and singing, as well as how to tie their bowties, and more.

Cincinnati Boychoir presents approximately 20 annual performances in the greater Cincinnati region, and members have performed concerts and completed residencies both at home and abroad.

The Boychoir strives to be accessible to boys of all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, offering them the opportunity to experience the lifechanging impact of immersive arts participation.

Choirs under Jason’s direction are consistently praised for their energetic, unified tone and engaging performances. He is known for innovative programming that celebrates the cultural context while encouraging singers and audiences alike to stretch their awareness by living in many different musical worlds. Pedagogically, Jason is committed to implementing culturally responsive practices in music education. He has given workshops and conference sessions on this topic at professional development seminars, schools and conferences.

At the core of Jason’s teaching and performing is the belief that we are all expressive and musical beings who deserve to witness and participate regularly in moments of truth and beauty.

CINCINNATI BOYCHOIR JASON ALEXANDER HOLMES, Artistic Director Jason Alexander Holmes is a music educator and performer from Ridgeway, Virginia, and currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Boychoir, the director of Cincinnati’s MLK Chorale, and the Associate Musician for Children and Youth at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati.

Before coming to Cincinnati, he was Director of Educational Programming at the Boston Children’s Chorus. Prior to his time in Boston, Jason taught music at the elementary and secondary levels. He also led the University of Rochester Gospel Choir and the Eastman Young Children’s Chorus. Jason holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Ithaca College, where his mentors and teachers included Drs. Susan Wharton Conkling, William Weinert and Susan Avery.

For Lee’s Breaths of Universal Longings Bryce Biedenharn Garrett Cetti Seth Coppens Santiago Dreher Alexander Gentil James Harper Joel Leptak-Moreau Jackson Metz Joshua Moore Aaron Pankey Andrew Prevost Owen Riker Lawrence Riley JeKorey Spencer Enairs Turnbow

For Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 Stefano Adams-Orejuela Christian Bedinghaus Cody Ching Elessar DeHoff Clark Hamlet Otto Heckman Zachary Li Theo Miritello Jayden Nguyen Jasper Sebastian Colin Wilder

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GUEST CHORUSES

CINCINNATI YOUTH CHOIR ROBYN LANA, Managing Artistic Director Sandra Thornton, Associate Artistic Director The Cincinnati Youth Choir, recognized as a leading youth choral From left: CYC Bel Canto and Con Brio choirs. Credit: Steve Ziegelmeyer program in the U.S., was founded in 1993 by Managing Artistic Director Hall and the Kennedy Center. She has served as Robyn Lana. This educationally based choral clinician or guest conducted state and regional ensemble program develops singers who learn choral events in more than 25 states. Lana has artistry through education. All of the conductors are served on the choral faculty at Xavier University, music educators who incorporate the philosophies has been a guest professor in the University of of Carl Orff, Zoltán Kodály, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s choral and Jerome Brunner. CYC became Ensemble-indepartment, and is currently a visiting professor on Residence at the University of Cincinnati Collegethe choral faculty at Miami University in Oxford.

Conservatory of Music (CCM) in August 2001.

Lana is the editor of a choral series with Santa With the residency, the choir regularly collaborates Barbara Music Publishing. Her book, Voices in with the CCM Music Education Division, the Harmony (2017), celebrates philosophies in choral CCM Opera Department, and the CCM Division of education. She also is published in Chorister Guild’s Ensembles and Conducting, and continues to build The Chorister, Chamber Music America’s CMA upon the rich history of the former CCM Children’s Matters, and ACDA’s Choral Journal.

Choir, founded in 1983 by Dr. Karen Wolff. CYC Nationally, Lana has served ACDA as Children’s maintains its own concert series, performing from Choir and Community Youth Repertoire and September through June and often hosting guest Standards Chair and Chair of ACDA Advocacy and artists and choirs. Ensembles in the program Collaboration. She currently serves on the Chorus regularly collaborate with children’s choirs from America Board of Directors. around the United States.

Regionally, CYC has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati CINCINNATI YOUTH CHOIR Pops, Vocal Arts Ensemble, May Festival Chorus, Bel Canto and Con Brio Choirs Cincinnati Opera, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Julia Allgeyer Claire Long Cincinnati Choral Society, and CCM ensembles. In Zayne Armstrong Raegan Louis Jasmine Austin Victoria Louis addition, CYC has recorded with the Pops for two Caraline Barnett Emily Lynch nationally released compact discs, Tchaikovsky’s Annabelle Brumback Mina Mader 1812 Overture and Nutcracker, the latter reaching Ben Brumback Christopher Martin Anna Burger Kara McLaughlin number two on Billboard’s Classical Chart.

ROBYN LANA, Managing Artistic Director Interpreting choral music for diverse audiences in a way that is relevant to young people while maintaining the highest standards of music education and performance sums up the work of CYC Founder and Managing Artistic Director Robyn Reeves Lana. When not leading the Cincinnati Children’s Choir over the last quarter of a century, Lana has served as conductor and clinician across the United States and at internationally acclaimed venues. Closer to home, she has been a featured guest conductor at Carnegie

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Sage Bushstone Madelyn Cahill Timothy Carnahan Kenna Cornish Scott Sophie Corwin Thanh-Tam Dao Khushi Dayal Lucy Dixon Bethany Foister Maryann Foister Ella Giesler Kennedi Grayer Molly Harris Caitlin Hartley Ashley Havlin Vivian Hermes Ruth Ann Hornsby Georgia Horton Claire Jeffreys Amara Johnson Amrutha Juluri Charles Lawson

Aziah Miles Reilly Murphy Margaret Rankin Carolyn Sagel Anika Saladi Noelle Sanderson Shaili Shah Sana Shyam Chloe Siekman Carson Smedley Mabel Smith Jena Southcombe Anne Steinmetz Genevieve Stevenson Lily Stewart Garrett Thornton Kieran Thornton Lucy Toomey Natalie Ward Ava Withers Edie Wolfer Priyanka Yenugu

GUEST CHORUSES

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CHORUS LISA WONG, Director Daniel J. Singer, Assistant Director Daniel Overly, Collaborative Pianist Jill Harbaugh, Manager of Choruses The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus is one of the few professionally trained, all-volunteer choruses sponsored by a major American orchestra. In addition to performing with The Cleveland Orchestra in concerts at Severance Music Center each season, the Chorus has appeared with the Orchestra on tour in Boston, Brussels, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, London, Lucerne, Luxembourg, Miami, Paris and New York, as well as on television and in numerous recordings. The Chorus has also toured on its own to the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico; the Chautauqua Institution in New York; and to venues in England, Wales, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany.

Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus members hail from nearly 50 Northeast Ohio communities. Together, the group’s 175 members volunteer more than 50,000 hours annually, through rehearsals and performances.

Today’s Cleveland Orchestra Chorus was first formed in 1952 at the request of Music Director George Szell. The Chorus is celebrating its 70th anniversary during the 2022–23 season.

LISA WONG, Director

Photo: Roger Mastroianni

Lisa Wong was appointed director of choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra in May 2018 after serving as acting director throughout the 2017–18 season. She joined the choral staff of The Cleveland Orchestra as assistant director of choruses at the start of the 2010–11 season, helping to prepare the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus for performances each year. In 2012, she took on added responsibilities as director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus.

In addition to her duties at Severance, she is the Olive Williams Kettering Professor of Music at the College of Wooster. An advocate for the music of marginalized composers, Dr. Wong serves as the Repertoire and Resource Chair for World Music and Cultures for the Ohio Choral Directors Association. Her previous academic posts include positions in New York, Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Active as a clinician, guest conductor and adjudicator, she serves regularly as a music panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. Recent international accolades have included work at

Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya as a part of Tunaweza Kimuziki, and as a conductor for “Conducting 21C: Musical Leadership for a New Century” in Stockholm, Sweden.

Credit: Roger Mastroianni

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CHORUS Sopranos Amy Foster Babinski Claudia Barriga Amanda Cobes Susan Cucuzza Sasha Desberg Emily Engle Molly Falasco Samantha Garner Ayesha Gonzales Sarah Gould Julia Halamek Rebecca S. Hall Sarah Henley Lisa Hrusovsky Shannon R. Jakubczak Katie Kitchen * EvaCecilia Koh Molly Lukens Kate Macy S. Mikhaila Noble-Pace Jennifer Heinert O’Leary Katie Paskey Victoria Peacock Grace Prentice Jylian Purtee Lisa M. Ramsey Cara Rovella Martell Savage Ellie Smith Megan Tettau Sharilee Walker Tracey Webber Adeleine Whitten Altos Emily Austin Laurel Babcock Debbie Bates Riley Beistel Carolyn Dessin Brooke Emmel Grace Ho Karen S. Hunt Sarah Hutchins Kristi Krueger Zoe Kuhn Elise Leitzel Danielle S. McDonald Karla McMullen Holly Miller Peggy A. Norman Dawn Ostrowski Andrea Pintabona Alanna M. Shadrake Ina Stanek-Michaelis Melanie Tabak

Rachel Thibo Kristen Tobey Martha Cochran Truby Laure Wasserbauer Caroline Willoughby Leah Wilson Lynne Leutenberg Yulish Tenors Rong Chen Richard Hall John-Joseph Haney * Peter Kvidera Adam Landry Tod Lawrence David McCallum James C. Pintner Matthew Rizer Ted Rodenborn Andrew Stamp William Venable Allen White Basses Craig Astler Jack Blazey Ronnie Boscarello Peter B. Clausen Kyle Crowley Tom Cucuzza Christopher Dewald Jeffrey Duber Brian Fancher Andrew Fowler Jeffrey D. Gershman Mark Hermann Seth Hobi * Kurtis B. Hoffman Robert L. Jenkins III James Johnston Kevin Kutz Jason Levy Jacob J. Liptow Tyler Mason Robert Mitchell Tremaine Oatman Daniel Overly Francisco Prado Brandon Randall Robert G. Seaman Daniel J. Singer Charlie Smrekar Charles Tobias Matt Turell * Shari Bierman Singer Fellow MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 43

GUEST SOLOISTS AND CONDUCTORS

Photo: Daniel Lilleeng

MAY 19 BACH’S MAGNIFICAT

BERIT NORBAKKEN, soprano Berit Norbakken’s repertoire spans the history of Western music, from the Renaissance and baroque periods up to the most recent contemporary music.

Berit Norbakken belongs to a special group of sopranos who are characterized by courage and exceptional abilities. Very few sopranos have equilibristic and challenging works such as György Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, Kaija Saariaho’s Quatre instants and György Kurtág’s Kafka-Fragments in their repertoire. Berit does.

She appears regularly with the group Barokksolistene in different concerts and recordings, most notably their award-winning recording and concert series The Image of Melancholy. As a recitalist, she has also given concerts in cities such as Tokyo and Sydney.

Berit Norbakken made her opera debut in Ophelias—Death by Water Singing by Henrik Hellstenius. Her opera roles have included Abel in Il primo omicidio (Scarlatti), Adonis in Il giardino d’amore (Scarlatti), Ermione in Oreste (Handel), Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), Belinda in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Sigrun in the world premiere of

MAY FESTIVAL CONCERTS ON WGUC Tune in to WGUC 90.9 FM on Sunday evenings in October to hear all five May Festival concerts once again. All broadcasts begin at 8 p.m. You can also listen at mayfestival.com/replay. Here’s the schedule: October 1:

25 for 25: A New Time for Choral Music

October 8:

Bach’s Magnificat

October 15: Marin Alsop: American Voices October 22: Mozart’s Requiem October 29: Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand NOTE: Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand will also be broadcast live on WGUC on May 27.

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Malleus Maleficarum (Rasmussen) and an ensemble part in Melancholia (Haas).

She works closely with Juanjo Mena, and their recording of the vocal music of Juan Crisostomo Arriaga with the BBC Philharmonic has been very well received. Norbakken performs regularly with conductors including Daniel Reuss, Ottavio Dantone, Andreas Spering, Benjamin Bayl, Herbert Böck, Simon Gaudenz, Bernard Labadie, Andrew Parrott, Vasily Petrenko, George Petrou and Jos van Immerseel. beritnorbakken.no NOLA RICHARDSON, soprano Australian/American soprano Nola Richardson has won first prize in all three major American competitions focused on the music of J.S. Bach (Bethlehem Bach, 2016; Audrey Rooney Bach, 2018; Grand Rapids Symphony Linn Maxwell Keller Award, 2019), catapulting her to the forefront of baroque ensembles and orchestras around the country.

In concert, Richardson’s repertoire ranges from medieval to contemporary works—including several world premieres—and she has been particularly noted for her interpretations of Bach, Handel and Mozart. She has also appeared in concert at Lincoln Center with the American Classical Orchestra and in a Sondheim review with the Boston Pops.

Her operatic roles include a the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte with Clarion Music Society and her debut at the Kennedy Center with Opera Lafayette as Fraarte in Handel’s Radamisto. Most recently, she has interpreted the role of Apolo in a rare performance of the Baroque Zarzuela Apolo e Dafne by Sebastián Durón, and next season will feature a performance of Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum staged by Francesca Zambello with Seraphic Fire.

In the 2022–23 season, Richardson performs Handel’s Messiah with the Helena Symphony Orchestra, Musica Sacra and Northside UMC. She also is featured as a soloist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Boise Baroque Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and she appears in recital with Avi Stein at Arizona Early Music Festival. She also joins the cast of Boston Early Music Festival’s productions of Alcinia and Circé.

Richardson is the first and only soprano to receive the prestigious DMA degree in Early Music Voice from Yale, where she attended the Institute of Sacred Music.

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

TOBY SPENCE, tenor

Photo: Liv Øvland

MARIANNE BEATE KIELLAND, mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland is established as one of the foremost singers of Europe and is the only Norwegian singer to have received a U.S. Grammy nomination in the category Best Vocal Classical Album. The versatile mezzo-soprano started her international career as an ensemble member of the Staatsoper Hannover, and since then she has been working frequently with leading orchestras, ensembles and opera houses, enjoying a vast repertoire spanning from early 17thcentury works through to Classical, Romantic and contemporary eras. She has performed with many of the major orchestras and ensembles of the world and is in especially great demand for baroque opera roles.

In the 2022–23 season, she performs the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at New National Theatre in Tokyo with Rinaldo Alessandrini. Among her concert highlights are Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Bach Collegium Japan and Masato Suzuki in Saitama and Tokyo, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Ottavio Dantone, Mozart’s C Minor Mass in Salzburg with Jordi Savall, and concerts with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest led by Aapo Häkkinen and with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and NDR Orchester Hannover led by Andrew Manze.

Kielland has made more than 60 CD recordings of oratorios, operas, cantatas and songs by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Caldara, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Schumann, Mahler, Mussorgsky, Martin, Chausson, Korngold, von Suppé, Schönberg, Webern, Berg and Sigurd Islandsmoen.

She regularly performs song recitals with pianist Nils Anders Mortensen and has also collaborated with pianists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Pascal Roge, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Lise de la Salle and Jos van Immerseel. mariannebeatekielland.com

Photo: Mitch Jenkins

Her upcoming season will include performances with the American Bach Soloists, the Kansas City and Grand Rapids Symphonies, Musica Angelica, Seraphic Fire, and debuts with Ars Lyrica Houston and the Tucson Baroque Music Festival. nolarichardson.com

An honors graduate and choral scholar from New College, Oxford, Toby Spence studied at the Opera School of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was named the Royal Philharmonic Society 2011 Singer of the Year.

In concert, Spence has sung with some of the most renowned orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Festival highlights include the Easter Festival in Salzburg and the Edinburgh International Festival.

A prolific recitalist, Spence has given numerous solo recitals for BBC Radio 3 and at London’s Wigmore Hall and has appeared at LSO St. Luke’s, Opera de Lille, at Northern Ireland Opera’s Festival of Voice, Janáček’s Brno International Music Festival and the Aldeburgh Festival. He has made numerous recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, BMG, Philips, Collins, Linn Records, Hyperion and EMI. Operatic highlights include Aschenbach in Death in Venice for Opéra national du Rhin; Captain Vere in Deborah Warner’s Billy Budd for Teatro Real, Opera di Roma and Royal Opera House, with which he has a long-standing relationship; Anatol in Vanessa for Frankfurt Opera; Don Ottavio for the Liceu Barcelona; Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus and Antonio in The Tempest for The Metropolitan Opera; among many others.

Operatic appearances for 2022–23 include role debuts as Alonso in The Tempest for Teatro alla Scala and Erik in Der fliegende Holländer for Teatro la Fenice. On the concert platform, Spence sings Das Lied von der Erde with Orchestre de Lille under Alexandre Bloch, St. Matthew Passion for the Gulbenkian Foundation, Britten’s War Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Bells with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Glagolitic Mass with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Further ahead, Spence returns to the Wiener Staatsoper. askonasholt.com/artists/toby-spence

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 45

CHRISTIAN IMMLER, bass-baritone German bass-baritone Christian Immler is a multifaceted artist whose career ranges widely across the worlds of lieder, oratorio and opera. He studied with Rudolf Piernay in London and won the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris.

His operatic experience ranges from Seneca in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Jupiter in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux, the Commendatore and Masetto in Don Giovanni, Speaker in Die Zauberflöte, Don Fernando and Rocco in Beethoven’s Leonore, the Hermit in Weber’s Der Freischütz and the Musiklehrer in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, to Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland. In concert, he has performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Minnesota Orchestra, Kindertotenlieder with Hungarian National Philharmonic, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony with Orchestre National de France, Detlev Glanert’s Prager Sinphonie with the Czech Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Montreal Symphony, as well as the Requiems of Dvořák, Brahms, Mozart, Fauré and Verdi. He also loves coming back to key works by Bach and Handel. Immler has worked with such conductors as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Herbert Blomstedt, René Jacobs, Semyon Bychkov, Marc Minkowski, Masaaki Suzuki, Raphaël Pichon, Ivor Bolton, Christophe Rousset, Daniel Harding, Kent Nagano, Leonardo Alarcón, Laurence Equilbey, Philippe Herreweghe and William Christie.

A keen recitalist, Immler has been invited by Wigmore Hall in London, the Frick Collection in New York, the Paris Philharmonie and the Salzburg Mozarteum, with pianists including Helmut Deutsch, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Danny Driver.

His more than 60 recordings have been awarded prizes such as a 2016 Grammy nomination, a Diamant d’Opéra, several Diapasons d’Or, the Echo Klassik, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Gramophone Award, and France Musique’s Enregistrement de l’année. Immler loves teaching and is much in demand for worldwide masterclasses. christianimmler.com

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MAY 20 MARIN ALSOP: AMERICAN VOICES

Photo: Adriane White

Photo: Marco Borggreve

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

MARIN ALSOP, conductor One of the foremost conductors of our time, Marin Alsop represents a powerful and inspiring voice. Convinced that music has the power to change lives, she is internationally recognized for her innovative approach to programming and audience development, deep commitment to education, and championing of music’s importance in the world. She is the first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria and Britain.

Now in her fourth season as Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Alsop leads the orchestra at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, and on recordings, broadcasts and international tours, highlighted by its recent Salzburg Festival appearance and BBC Proms debut. As Chief Conductor of Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, she curates and conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s summer residencies, formalizing her long relationship with Ravinia, where she made her debut with the orchestra in 2002. Appointed in 2020 as the first Music Director of the National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F), a program of the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, she has launched a new academy for young conductors and conducts multiple concerts each June with the NOI+F Philharmonic.

At the close of the 2020–21 season, Alsop assumed the title of Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, after seven years as Music Director, Alsop became Conductor of Honour of Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Deeply committed to new music, she was Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music for 25 years, over the course of which she led 174 premieres.

Alsop has longstanding relationships with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras and regularly guest conducts major international ensembles. In collaboration with YouTube and Google Arts & Culture, she spearheaded the “Global Ode to Joy” (GOTJ), a crowd-sourced video project to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary.

Recognized with BBC Music “Album of the Year” and Emmy nominations in addition to Grammy, Classical BRIT and Gramophone awards,

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

Photo: Royal Opera House

MASABANE CECILIA RANGWANASHA, soprano Rising star Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha was the winner of the Song Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition 2021 and is an alumna of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

During the 2022–23 season, Rangwanasha sings Mathilde in Guilliame Tell and the title role in Iphigénie en Tauride at Theater Bern. She also returns to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Liù in Turandot conducted by Antonio Pappano.

On the concert platform, Rangwanasha performs Mendelssohn’s Lobegesang at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Theater Bern, makes her U.S. debut with the Washington Symphony Orchestra for Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and gives solo recitals at Wigmore Hall and in Bordeaux.

Future seasons will see a series of exciting house and role debuts, including Staatsoper Hamburg, Semperoper Dresden and returns to the Royal Opera House and on the concert platform with the London Symphony.

Rangwanasha completed her PGDip at the University of Cape Town, where she studied with Virginia Davids, and then went on to study Vocal Performance at Tshwane University of Technology. She was the winner of the Audience Prize and two special prizes in the 2019 Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition.

Rangwanasha is a current BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. masabanececiliarangwanasha.com

Photo: Matthew Placek

Alsop’s discography comprises more than 200 titles. Recent releases include a live account of Bernstein’s Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and a Hindemith collection that marks her first recording as Chief Conductor of the Vienna RSO. The first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Alsop has also been honored with the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award and made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms.

She served as 2021–22 Harman/Eisner Artist-inResidence of the Aspen Institute Arts Program and 2020 Artist-in-Residence at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts, is Director of Graduate Conducting at the Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute, and holds Honorary Doctorates from Yale University and the Juilliard School. To promote and nurture the careers of her fellow female conductors, in 2002 she founded the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship. The Conductor, a documentary about her life, debuted at New York’s 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and has subsequently been broadcast on PBS television, screened at festivals and theaters nationwide, and recognized with the Naples International Film Festival’s 2021 Focus on the Arts Award. marinalsop.com

LAQUITA MITCHELL, soprano Soprano Laquita Mitchell consistently earns acclaim on eminent international opera and concert stages worldwide. She performed as soprano soloist in the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Carnegie Hall with Oratorio Society of New York; the recording was nominated for a 2021 Grammy. She reprised her role in Sanctuary Road with Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble in April 2023.

This season, Mitchell reprises Julie in Omar for Carolina Performing Arts, a role she created in the opera’s world premiere at the Spoleto Festival last season, and she returns to the role of Josephine Baker in Josephine with Music of Remembrance.

In concert, Mitchell performs Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Madison Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Sarasota Orchestra, Verdi’s Requiem with Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra.

Next season, Mitchell will return to the role of Countess in Le nozze di Figaro.

Mitchell is an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, where she performed a variety of roles including several stand-out performances in contemporary operas. Mitchell was previously a member of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program.

She then joined Wolf Trap Opera in performances as Alice Ford in Antonio Salieri’s Falstaff and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and presented a recital with pianist Steven Blier.

A native of New York City, Mitchell was a 2004 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions grand prize winner and was awarded a Sara Tucker Award. She was also the first prize winner of the Wiener Kammeroper’s Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition, making her the first American to win this competition in over 20 years. Additionally, Mitchell was the first prize winner of the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 47

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

BRIANA HUNTER, mezzo-soprano Briana Hunter’s 2021– 22 season opened with two major New York City debuts: first at The Metropolitan Opera as Ruby/Woman Sinner in a Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, followed by her Carnegie Hall debut with The Orchestra Now in a performance of Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, under the auspices of the Bard Musical Festival. She reprised her critically acclaimed portrayal of Mother in Jeanine Tesori’s Blue in February at Seattle Opera and with Pittsburgh Opera in April. On the concert stage she debuted at the Madison Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, as well as with the Charlotte Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Hunter created the roles of Mother in Jeanine Tesori’s Blue at the Glimmerglass Festival and of Dee Dee Reyes in Hilliard and Boresi’s The Last American Hammer with UrbanArias.

Recent engagements include the title role in Carmen with Opera Orlando, Tanya in Is This America? with Santa Fe Opera, and Constance Fletcher in The Mother of Us All with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. The Kennedy Center released the first-ever commercial recording of Blue in 2022, featuring Hunter as Mother.

An accomplished stage actress, Hunter has worked with Tony- and Academy Award-winning playwright Mark Medoff in a production of his play Gunfighter—A Gulf War Chronicle, in addition to developing and starring in an original double bill titled Infinite Variety/For Every Passion Something under the direction of the Royal Shakespeare Company and presented in a two-week run at the Fringe Festival in Scotland.

Hunter is a Lotte Lenya Competition finalist and winner of the Lys Symonette Award from The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. She participated in the “I Sing Beijing” program, where she performed at The National Center for the Performing Arts.

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Hunter holds a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Davidson College. Originally from Malvern, Pennsylvania, she currently resides in New York City. brianaelysehunter.com RODRICK DIXON, tenor Rodrick Dixon possesses a tenor voice of extraordinary range and versatility that has earned him the respect and attention of leading conductors, orchestras and opera companies.

Notable operatic engagements include Los Angeles Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Todi Music Festival, Portland Opera, Opera Columbus, Cincinnati Opera and Opera Southwest in roles including the title role of Zemlinky’s Der Zwerg, Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser, Tonio in La fille du régiment, Lenski in Eugene Onegin, the title role of Les contes d’Hoffmann, Prince in Vanqui, Sportin’ Life in Porgy & Bess, the Duke in Rigoletto, and the title role in Rossini’s Otello.

On the concert stage, Rodrick Dixon is a regular guest of the Cincinnati May Festival, including previous performances of R. Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses in Cincinnati and in New York’s Carnegie Hall.

He was tenor soloist for The Philadelphia Orchestra composer-in-residence Hannibal Lokumbe in world premieres of Healing Tones and One Land, One River, One People; he also performed in Lokumbe’s historic Crucifixion Resurrection, presented by the orchestra in honor of the nine church members who lost their lives during Bible study in Charleston, SC. Dixon’s extensive television credits include several PBS specials and guest appearances on network and cable television shows. Musical theater credits include the original cast of Ragtime on Broadway. He appears in the annual Too Hot to Handel Christmas concerts at the Detroit Opera House and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre.

Recordings for Sony/BMG include PBS Great Performances Cook, Dixon & Young Vol. 1 (2005), Follow that Star Christmas CD (2003), Liam Lawton’s Sacred Land (2006), and Rodrick Dixon Live in Concert (2008), and a Christmas album with the Cincinnati Pops. tenorroddixon.com

Photo: Dan Demetriad

for Young Singers, as well as the winner of the Audience Choice award. Mitchell holds a Master of Music degree and the Professional Studies Certificate at the Manhattan School of Music and completed undergraduate studies at Westminster Choir College. laquitamitchell.com

Photo: Jiyang Chen

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

NICHOLAS NEWTON, bass During the 2022–23 season, Nicholas Newton, an up-andcoming bass-baritone, debuts with Dallas Opera as Monterone in Rigoletto, debuts with Detroit Opera in Handel’s Xerxes, returns to Houston Grand Opera for Salome, and performs with Lyric Opera of Chicago to cover the role of Peter in Hänsel und Gretel.

An avid concert performer and recitalist, he is an alumnus of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute and has toured with renowned pianist Kevin Murphy and performed at the Tucson Desert Song Festival. He also has worked with the Cincinnati Song Initiative, performing in their virtual recital series, A World of Song, and he appeared in Houston Grand Opera’s “Giving Voice: Lawrence Brownlee & Friends” concert. Other notable concert performances range from Mozart to Duruflé, Gershwin to Paulus, and the world premiere of Michael Capp’s Christmas Revels with Las Colinas Symphony.

Newton completed his training at the Houston Grand Opera Studio in the 2020–21 season and also trained as a Studio Artist and Filene Artist with Wolf Trap Opera, as a Young Artist with Aspen Music Festival, in the Young Artists Vocal Academy of Houston Grand Opera, and in San Diego Opera’s Opera Exposed program. A 2021 Sullivan Awardwinner, he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from San Diego State University, studying with Laurinda Nikkel, and his Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Rice University, under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen King. nicholasnewton.com

Photo: Chester Higgins

MAY 25 MOZART’S REQUIEM

JAMES CONLON, conductor James Conlon, one of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire.

Since his 1974 debut with the New York Philharmonic, he has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and videography, numerous writings, television appearances and guest speaking engagements, Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized figures.

Conlon is Music Director of LA Opera, where since 2006 he has led more performances than any other conductor in the company’s history—to date, more than 400 performances of over 60 different operas. This season he conducts Verdi’s Il trovatore, Wagner’s Tannhäuser; Verdi’s Aida, and a ballet adaptation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. He is also Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He has been Principal Conductor of the Paris Opera; General Music Director of the City of Cologne, Germany, where he was Music Director of both the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Cologne Opera; Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; and Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Nazionale Della RAI in Torino, Italy. He has served as Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony, and is now Music Director Laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival, where he was Music Director for 37 years. As a guest conductor at The Metropolitan Opera, he has led more than 270 performances since his 1976 debut.

In an effort to call attention to lesser-known works of composers silenced by the Nazi regime, Conlon has devoted himself to extensive programming of this music throughout Europe and North America. For his efforts, he was awarded the Roger E. Joseph Prize at Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion (2013), a Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League (2007) and the Zemlinsky Prize (1999). His work on behalf of suppressed composers led to the creation of The OREL Foundation and the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School.

Conlon is an enthusiastic advocate of public scholarship and cultural institutions as forums for the exchange of ideas and inquiry into the role music plays in our shared humanity and civic life. At LA Opera, his immensely popular pre-performance talks draw upon musicology, literary studies, history and social sciences to contemplate the enduring power and relevance of opera, and of classical music in general. His appearances throughout the country as a speaker on a variety of cultural and educational topics are widely praised.

Conlon’s extensive discography can be found on the Bridge, Capriccio, Decca, EMI, Erato and Sony Classical labels; and his recordings of LA Opera productions, including Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles released on PentaTone and Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny on EuroArts, have received four Grammy awards. Conlon was named Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic, and Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. In 2002, he received France’s MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 49

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, and covered the title role in Arabella and Stella in Les contes d’Hoffmann.

In the 2019–20 season, Petrocelli sang Musetta in La bohème and First Lady in Die Zauberflöte at LA Opera, both conducted by James Conlon. She also made her principal debut at Opera Theatre of St. Louis singing Micaëla in Carmen. In the 2018–19 season, she made her LA Opera debut as Mrs. Naidoo in Philip Glass’ Satyagraha, conducted

by Grant Gershon, and appeared as Annina in La traviata, also conducted by James Conlon. Other season highlights included her role debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. imgartists.com/roster/erica-petrocelli

ERICA PETROCELLI, soprano American soprano Erica Petrocelli has recently completed tenures as a Studio member with Opernhaus Zürich and with the Domingo-Colburn-Stein young artist program at LA Opera. In the 2022–23 season, Petrocelli returns to Opernhaus Zürich as a guest, first for Musetta in La bohème, and later as the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte.

She also collaborates with James Conlon at the Baltimore Symphony to sing Bernstein’s “Jeremiah” Symphony No. 1 and for concert performances with the Ravinia Festival as Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

In the 2021–22 season, Petrocelli performed Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Opera Theater of St. Louis and also joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem. At LA Opera, she sang Clorinda in La Cenerentola and The Shepherd in Tannhäuser and, as a Studio member in Zürich, performed Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Delia in

Photo: Rosetta Greek

highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur from thenPresident of the French Republic Jacques Chirac. jamesconlon.com

KATE LINDSEY, mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey is one of the most promising voices of her generation and appears regularly in the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, in Aix-en-Provence, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Bavarian State Opera.

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GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

pieces by Scarletti, Handel and Monteverdi, also with Arcangelo.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Lindsey holds a Bachelor of Music degree with distinction from Indiana University and is a graduate of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Her many awards include a 2011 grant from the Festival Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot, the 2007 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, the 2007 George London Award in memory of Lloyd Rigler, the 2007 Lincoln Center Martin E. Segal Award and a 2006 Sullivan Foundation Grant. katelindsey.com JOSHUA BLUE, tenor

Photo: Arielle Doneson

Kate Lindsey once again shows her great diversity in the 2022–23 season with a wide selection of role debuts and new productions. The mezzo-soprano kicks off the season as Prince Idamante in The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Idomeneo.

She then returns to the Vienna State Opera for the revival of her acclaimed Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and to further give her role debut as Penelope in the house premiere of Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria under the baton of Pablo-Heras Casado. At Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona Kate Lindsey takes on the lead role of Dido in Dido and Aeneas.

A sought-after concert and lied interpreter, Kate Lindsey gives her debut at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg performing Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. She further returns to Wigmore Hall in autumn to present a program with pieces of Robert Schumann and Gabriel Fauré with pianist Gary Matthewman and sings her A Thousand Miles program with pianist Baptiste Trotignon at the Festvial des los Angeles in Barcelona.

Kate Lindsey now records exclusively for Outhere Music France. Her albums include Thousands of Miles, with works by Kurt Weill, Korngold and Zemlinsky; Arianna (January 2020) with Arcangelo featuring Scarlatti, Handel and Haydn; and Tiranno, focused on the character of Nero and including

During the 2022–23 season, BritishAmerican tenor Joshua Blue makes his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Hollywood Bowl with Eva Ollikainen on the podium. Blue also returns to Opera Philadelphia to make his role debut as Rodolfo in La bohème before reprising the role at the Glimmerglass Festival in the summer. He also

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MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 51

OUR SINCERE APPRECIATION TO THE FOLLOWING FOUNDATIONS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT Andrew And drew ew Jergens Jergen ge s Foundation Fo F nd datio on Cincinnati ncinnat In International Inte nati natio a ona Wine Festival Festiv F Festi The Carol Ca o A Ann and d Ralph alph p V. Haile, e, Jr. Foundation Founda Fou dation The Th he e H. H B., B., E. W., W , F.. R. R Luther Luther e Charitable Foundation F d tio Matinee i e Musicale M Mu us cale Louise ou se e Dieterle Diete Die etterle Nip Nippert Nippert ppert M Mu Musical a Arts rttss F Fun Fund u of th the he Greenacres G e ess Foundation Fo F undat n The he Saenger Sae aen en nger Family Familyy Foundation Foundati Fou o at o on Ladislas adislas dislas slass an and V Vilma Villma S Segoe g Fami Family F milyy Foundat Foundation undat nda atio Louise Lou uise se e Taft T f S Ta Semple e emple Fo Foundation ound nd dation ion The Th he Wohlgemuth W Wohlge oh gemuth ohlge m tth Herschede Herscched Foundation Fo Foun oun ation o n

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

Photo: Kristin Hoebermann

MICHAEL SUMUEL, bass American bass-baritone Michael Sumuel returns to The Metropolitan Opera in the 2022–23 season, singing Belcore in L’elisir d’amore.

Other debuts include the Father in Blue with English National Opera, Elviro in Xerxes with Detroit Opera, and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Pittsburgh Opera. In concert, Sumuel performs Bach Cantatas BWV 61 and 140 with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, opens Washington Concert Opera’s season, performs in a gala with soprano Tammy Wilson, and returns to Mercury Houston for Handel’s Messiah. With Pacific Chorale, Sumuel takes part in a European tour, performing in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Florence Price’s Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.

Last season, Sumuel made his debut as Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with LA Opera,

a semi-staged production conducted by James Conlon with choreography by the Hamburg Ballet; Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Seattle Opera; Escamillo in Carmen for his Santa Fe Opera debut and with Chicago Opera Theater; a concert of arias to open the Dallas Opera season; the King in Massenet’s Cinderella with The Metropolitan Opera; and Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera San Antonio. In concert, Sumuel returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic to sing Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Bach’s Easter Oratorio with Music of the Baroque and Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

Sumuel’s competition accolades include a Richard Tucker Career Grant, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finalist, and a winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. A Texas native, he is an alumnus of Houston Grand Opera Studio, Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and the Filene Young Artist program at Wolf Trap Opera. He currently resides in San Francisco with his wife and baby son. imgartists.com/roster/michael-sumuel MAY 27 MAHLER’S SYMPHONY OF A THOUSAND

Photo: Simon David Tschan

returns to The Metropolitan Opera to sing the Royal Herald in David McVicar’s production of Don Carlo under the baton of Carlo Rizzi and to cover Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites led by Bertrand de Billy. In concert, he performs in two engagements of Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra and Oratorio Society of New York. Blue also performs in the world premiere of Another City, a commission by Houston Grand Opera featuring composer Jeremy Howard Beck and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann.

In 2022, Blue was awarded the prestigious Mabel Dorn Reeder Foundation Prize by Opera Theatre of St. Louis. He was the inaugural recipient of the Lotos Foundation’s James McCracken and Sandra Warfield Opera Prize in 2020, was a semi-finalist of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2018, received the Ellen Lopin Blair award for first place in the 2017 Oratorio Society of New York solo competition, and was noted as an Emerging Artist in the 2017 Opera Index Competition in New York City. Blue appears on the recording of Moravec’s Sanctuary Road, which was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award, and he provided vocals for the 2018 Oscar-nominated short film My Nephew Emmett.

Blue earned his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and graduated from The Juilliard School with a master’s degree, studying voice with Dr. Robert C. White, Jr. He is a former apprentice singer with Santa Fe Opera and is an alumnus of the Cafritz Young Artist program with Washington National Opera. joshuabluetenor.com

SARAH WEGENER, soprano Sarah Wegener has enthralled listeners in performances such as Strauss’ orchestral songs under Mariss Jansons and Vladimir Jurowski in Munich, London and Hamburg; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Kirill Petrenko in Bregenz, Eliahu Inbal in Hamburg and Kent Nagano in Montreal; as well as in her “War and Peace” program shaped around works by Handel and Purcell, which she also presented at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival. Concerts, recitals and operatic roles have taken her to prominent stages and festivals of the world.

The 2022–23 season began for Wegener with Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Another highlight is Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall.

Further engagements include Mahler’s Das klagende Lied in Porto; Bernstein’s Kaddish with the MDR-Sinfonieorchester at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Elbphilharmonie and Philharmonie Berlin; works by Berg and Holliger with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra; as well as songs by Alma Mahler with the Brandenburgische Staatsorchester.

In June 2023, she will sing Widmann’s Arche at the Elbphilharmonie.

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 53

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GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

Photo: Maria Östling

In addition to her highly praised lieder recordings, Into the Deepest Sea and Zueignung (OPUS Klassik nominee), Wegener’s discography includes recordings of works by Boesmans, Korngold, Mozart, Rossini, Kurtág, Elliott Carter and Heinz Holliger. At the OPUS Klassik 2019, she was nominated as Singer of the Year for Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth III. A recording of songs arranged by B.A. Zimmermann with the WDR Symphony Orchestra (WERGO) was awarded the Choc de Classica (March 2023), Diapason d’Or and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

Following her double bass studies, the BritishGerman soprano studied singing with Prof. JaegerBöhm in Stuttgart and took part in masterclasses with Dame Gwyneth Jones and Renée Morloc. sarah-wegener.de CAMILLA TILLING, soprano Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling has been performing on the world’s leading opera, concert and recital stages for over two decades while building an impressive discography that includes Die Schöpfung with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, a portrait album of Gluck and Mozart Arias, and numerous recitals on the BIS label dedicated to the Lieder of Schubert and Strauss, among others.

In the 2022–23 season, Tilling gives the premiere of Daniel Nelson’s Chaplin Songs with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and performs IrgenJensens’ Japanischer Frühling alongside Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Karajan-Akademie of Berliner Philharmoniker. She joins the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and the Oregon Symphony Orchestra for Osvaldo Golijov’s Three Songs. A consummate recitalist, Camilla Tilling presents her new program “Jenny Lind: Love and Lieder” at Spivey Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival, Gothenburg Opera and Schloss Elmau.

A prolific concert performer, highlights of recent seasons include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 under Gustavo Dudamel with both Concertgebouworkest and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with Esa-Pekka Salonen and London Philharmonia, Dutilleux’s Correspondances with Orchestre national de France/Omer Meir Welber and Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder with London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth.

Tilling was a soloist in Bernard Haitink’s historic final concert with Radio Filharmonish Orkest at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and she has toured extensively in Peter Sellars’ stagings of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion with Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle. harrisonparrott.com/artists/camilla-tilling LAUREN SNOUFFER, soprano Recognized for her unique artistic curiosity in world-class performances spanning the music of Claudio Monteverdi and Johann Adolph Hasse through to Missy Mazzoli and Sir George Benjamin, American Lauren Snouffer is celebrated as one of the most versatile and respected sopranos on the international stage.

Lauren Snouffer is increasingly in demand on the world’s most prestigious concert stages and, in the 2022–23 season, collaborations include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with The Cleveland Orchestra.

Also with Cleveland, she sings John Adams’ El Niño with the composer on the podium, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Handel’s Jeptha with Music of the Baroque, Handel’s Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony, Bach’s Mass in G Major with the Handel & Haydn Society, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic, and Hans Abrahamsen’s Let Me Tell You with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester.

Operatic performances of the season include Die Zauberflöte with Opernhaus Zürich, Le nozze di Figaro with Houston Grand Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia at Austin Opera, and debuts at Santa Fe Opera in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with a world premiere orchestration by Nico Muhly and at Detroit Opera in Xerxes.

A Grammy-nominated artist, Lauren Snouffer has recorded Hasse’s Siroe and Handel’s Ottone with George Petrou (Decca), Gottschalk’s Requiem for the Living with Vladimir Lande (Novona Records), Grantham’s La cancíon desesperada conducted by Craig Hella Johnson (Harmonia Mundi), and Feldman’s The Rothko Chapel with Steven Schick (ECM).

An alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Lauren Snouffer graduated from Rice University and The Juilliard School. etudearts.com/artists/ lauren-snouffer

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 55

WELCOME TO THE

23/24 SEASON

—

Together we’ll celebrate Louis Langrée’s final season as CSO Music Director, featuring bold international collaborations and tributes to special moments from his tenure, plus the music of America as the Pops bring us hits from Broadway, Hollywood and the Great American Songbook.

SEASON TICKETS on sale now!

cincinnatisymphony.org | cincinnatipops.org

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

KATE LINDSEY, mezzo-soprano A biography for Ms. Lindsey is on p. 50.

Photo: Christian Steiner

BARRY BANKS, tenor Barry Banks’ 2021–22 season saw a triumphant return to The Metropolitan Opera, where he sang the role of Hades in Matthew Aucoin’s acclaimed new opera Eurydice, earning him the highest of praise from audiences and critics alike. Making further steps into a new territory of repertoire, the current season sees him returning to Los Angeles Opera in Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abel’s new opera Omar and his role debut as Mime in Das Rheingold for Dallas Opera.

Banks’ notable operatic roles in the bel canto repertoire have included Arnold (Guillaume Tell) at Welsh National Opera, the title role in Mitridate, re di Ponto and Don Narciso (Il turco in Italia) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Ernesto (Don Pasquale) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Idreno (Semiramide) at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore) at The Metropolitan Opera.

During a long association with English National Opera, Banks has appeared in a string of new productions and roles. Other recent international highlights include house debuts at Teatro Real as the Astrologer in The Golden Cockerel, as Pirelli in Sweeney Todd at Opernhaus Zürich, as Truffaldino (The Love for Three Oranges) at Opera Philadelphia, and The Golden Cockerel at Dallas Opera.

In concert, Barry Banks has performed Berlioz’s Grande messe des morts under Sir Colin Davis and London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live), which was released to considerable acclaim.

He sang in Britten’s War Requiem at the Teatro alla Scala, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Münchner Philharmoniker, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Gurrelieder with Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de Espana. He features on several recordings of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, including with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and, to be released this year, with the Minnesota Orchestra. harrisonparrott.com/artists/barry-banks

Photo: Michal Novak

BRIANA HUNTER, mezzo-soprano A biography for Ms. Hunter is on p. 48.

JOSÉ ANTONIO LÓPEZ, baritone The baritone José Antonio López is a versatile singer who moves smoothly between styles and eras—from baroque to contemporary music.

His professional activity includes concerts, opera and recitals, and he pays great attention to the style and expression of each period, using his voice to best bring out the music. On the concert stage, he recently debuted with the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in four concerts, as well as engagements with orchestras such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Dresdner Festspieleorchester, Antwerp Symphony, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, La Cetra Barockorchester, Budapest Festival and Nacional de España and his forthcoming debut with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, in venues such as the Berliner Philharmonie, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna (Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passion), Barbican in London, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles or Mozarteum in Salzburg.

In recent years, he has also greatly increased his number of opera performances, in which the operas of Handel and contemporary composers (leading roles in the premieres of Mauricio Sotelo’s El Público and Luis de Pablo’s El abrecartas at the Teatro Real in Madrid, as well as Benet Casablancas’ L’enigma di Lea at the Liceu in Barcelona) have an important presence, but in which there are also incursions into Mozart (roles such as Figaro at the Teatro Mayor in Bogotá), Verdi (the roles of Macbeth, Germont, Iago, Ford and Amonasro), Puccini, Wagner (Der fliegende Holländer in Valencia) and Strauss (Ariadne auf Naxos in Barcelona and Salome in Mérida), among others.

He has recorded Gurrelieder for the Deutsche Gramophon label with Josep Pons and has made recordings for Harmonia Mundi, Naxos and Chandos. joseantoniolopez.net CHRISTIAN IMMLER, bass-baritone A biography for Mr. Immler is on p. 46.

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 57

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Music Director Louis Langrée With a legacy dating back 128 years, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is considered one of America’s finest and most versatile ensembles.

Led by Louis Langrée since 2013, 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 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 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. In 2020, the CSO was one of the first American orchestras to create a Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer position to ensure the absorption of best DE&I practices into every facet of the organization. The CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship, a nationally recognized program in partnership with the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, provides a graduate degree-level education with performance and professional development opportunities for extraordinary young string players from populations historically underrepresented in American orchestras. 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.

CONGRATULATIONS MAY FESTIVAL on turning 150!

—

Wishing you many more musical years.

Your Friends at CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 58 | mayfestival.com

LOUIS LANGRÉE, Music Director

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL, Cincinnati Pops Conductor Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

Matthias Pintscher, CSO Creative Partner Damon Gupton, Pops Principal Guest Conductor Samuel Lee, Assistant Conductor Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

Daniel Wiley, Assistant Conductor Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

FIRST VIOLINS Stefani Matsuo

CELLOS Ilya Finkelshteyn

CLARINETS Christopher Pell

TIMPANI Patrick Schleker

Concertmaster Anna Sinton Taft Chair

Principal Irene & John J. Emery Chair

Daniel Culnan*

Principal Emma Margaret & Irving D. Goldman Chair

Principal Matthew & Peg Woodside Chair

Felicity James Associate Concertmaster Tom & Dee Stegman Chair

Philip Marten First Assistant Concertmaster James M. Ewell Chair++

Eric Bates

Ona Hixson Dater Chair

Norman Johns** Karl & Roberta Schlachter Family Chair

Daniel Kaler§

Second Assistant Concertmaster Serge Shababian Chair

Marvin Kolodzik & Linda S. Gallaher Chair for Cello Isabel Kwon†

Kathryn Woolley

Hiro Matsuo

Nicholas Tsimaras– Peter G. Courlas Chair++

Anna Reider Dianne & J. David Rosenberg Chair

Mauricio Aguiar§ Anne G. & Robert W. Dorsey Chair

Minyoung Baik James Braid Marc Bohlke Chair given

by Katrin & Manfred Bohlke

Michelle Edgar Dugan Donald & Margaret Robinson Chair

Rebecca Kruger Fryxell Clifford J. Goosmann & Andrea M. Wilson Chair

Gerald Itzkoff Jean Ten Have Chair

Sylvia Mitchell Jo Ann & Paul Ward Chair Charles Morey†

Luo-Jia Wu SECOND VIOLINS Gabriel Pegis Principal Al Levinson Chair

Yang Liu* Harold B. & Betty Justice Chair

Scott Mozlin** Henry Meyer Chair

Kun Dong Cheryl Benedict Evin Blomberg§ Rachel Charbel Ida Ringling North Chair

Chika Kinderman Hyesun Park Paul Patterson Charles Gausmann Chair++

Stacey Woolley Brenda & Ralph Taylor Chair++

VIOLAS Christian Colberg Principal Louise D. & Louis Nippert Chair

Christopher Fischer

Laura Kimble McLellan Chair++

Theodore Nelson‡ Peter G. Courlas– Nicholas Tsimaras Chair++

Alan Rafferty Ruth F. Rosevear Chair

BASSES Owen Lee Principal Mary Alice Heekin Burke Chair++

James Lambert* Thomas Vanden Eynden Chair

Stephen Jones** Trish & Rick Bryan Chair

Boris Astafiev§ Luis Arturo Celis Avila Gerald Torres Rick Vizachero

Ixi Chen Vicky & Rick Reynolds Chair in Honor of William A. Friedlander

BASS CLARINET Ronald Aufmann

Principal Emalee Schavel Chair++

Martin Garcia* Hugh Michie

FRENCH HORNS Elizabeth Freimuth Principal Mary M. & Charles F. Yeiser Chair

[OPEN]* Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer Chair

Molly Norcross**

Lisa Conway

Principal Charles Frederic Goss Chair

Henrik Heide* Haley Bangs Jane & David Ellis Chair

Susanne & Philip O. Geier, Jr. Chair

Duane Dugger Mary & Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Chair

Charles Bell TRUMPETS Robert Sullivan Principal Rawson Chair

Douglas Lindsay* PICCOLO Rebecca Pancner Patricia Gross Linnemann Chair

Jackie & Roy Sweeney Family Chair

Steven Pride Otto M. Budig Family Foundation Chair++

OBOES Dwight Parry

Christopher Kiradjieff

Principal Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Chair

TROMBONES Cristian Ganicenco

Lon Bussell* Stephen P. McKean Chair

Emily Beare

Julian Wilkison** Rebecca Barnes§ Emilio Carlo† Stephen Fryxell

Principal Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair++

Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

PERCUSSION David Fishlock Principal Susan S. & William A. Friedlander Chair

Michael Culligan* Joseph Bricker * Marc Wolfley+ KEYBOARDS Michael Chertock James P. Thornton Chair

Julie Spangler+ James P. Thornton Chair

CONTRABASSOON Jennifer Monroe

Principal Cynthia & Frank Stewart Chair

FLUTES Randolph Bowman

Joseph Bricker*

Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

BASSOONS Christopher Sales

HARP Gillian Benet Sella

ENGLISH HORN Christopher Philpotts

Caterina Longhi Gabriel Napoli Denisse Rodriguez-Rivera Dan Wang Joanne Wojtowicz

Associate Principal and E-flat Clarinet Robert E. & Fay Boeh Chair++

Acting Associate Principal Sweeney Family Chair in memory of Donald C. Sweeney

Acting Associate Principal Grace M. Allen Chair

Melinda & Irwin Simon Chair

Joseph Morris*

Principal Dorothy & John Hermanies Chair

CSO/CCM DIVERSITY FELLOWS~ Tyler McKisson, viola Luis Parra, cello Samantha Powell, cello LIBRARIANS Christina Eaton Principal Librarian Lois Klein Jolson Chair

Elizabeth Dunning Acting Associate Principal Librarian

Cara Benner Interim Assistant Librarian

STAGE MANAGERS Brian P. Schott Phillip T. Sheridan Daniel Schultz Andrew Sheridan § Begins the alphabetical listing of players who participate in a system of rotated seating within the string section. * Associate Principal ** Assistant Principal † One-year appointment ‡ Leave of absence + Cincinnati Pops rhythm section ++ CSO endowment only ~ Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Joseph Rodriguez** Second/Assistant Principal Trombone

BASS TROMBONE [OPEN] TUBA Christopher Olka Principal Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 59

STRONGER ARTS FOR A STRONGER REGION

The growth of Cincinnati and its arts is inseparable. Creating a thriving region starts with each of us giving what we can to the arts. Help set the stage for the future of the region we all love.

Give today at artswave.org.

CONGRATULATIONS FROM ARTSWAVE Bravo—150 years! The May Festival was the first choral festival in the Western Hemisphere and the first arts organization established in Cincinnati. Its history predates Cincinnati Music Hall, which was built in 1876 to accommodate the third choral festival. Since then, of course, the Hall has become home to the Cincinnati Symphony (first established to play for the May Festival), the Cincinnati Pops, Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Ballet.

The May Festival inspired Cincinnati’s nom du coeur, “the City that Sings.”

Helping to prove, scientifically, the social and emotional benefits of unison singing, May Festival leaders created the Cincinnati Choral Academy to give more kids more access to this experience. Moreover, the May Festival’s influence has transcended choral music, giving rise to the development of groups like the Cincinnati Youth Choir, Cincinnati Boychoir, MUSE and the Young Alecia Kintner President & CEO, ArtsWave Professionals Choral Collective. Over the years, the May Festival has engaged over 200 different choral groups. Few cities have as many thriving choral organizations as does Cincinnati today.

Now, under the dynamic musical direction of Juanjo Mena, the May Festival brings thousands of us together as a community. Actually, it’s a community of communities: a community of singers, of musicians and of audience members.

Together, these three communities demonstrate the superpower of the arts, connecting us together through a shared experience—one that is elevated by uplifted voices.

The May Festival stands out for tackling robust pieces of music, like Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (the “Symphony of a Thousand”)—not just once, but multiple times, including this celebratory season. Generations of Cincinnati choruses and listeners have been fortunate to experience something so unique, so gigantic, that it feels brand new.

As a commissioner of new works, the May Festival has always stretched musical boundaries.

This year’s “25 for 25” commissioning project gave new opportunity to female, non-binary or gender nonconforming composers. In the process, it brought forward 25 profound new pieces.

The beauty of commissioning these 25 works, and others before them, is that everyone who learns the music starts from the very same place: facing the challenge of mastering unfamiliar music together. As audience members, we in the community also experience something brand new, together.

Special thanks and congratulations to Robert Porco as he concludes 34 seasons as the May Festival’s Director of Choruses. From conducting singers across the globe or cooking via Zoom for fellow musicians during the pandemic, Bob’s dedication and artistry is appreciated by many. Try his stout-braised short ribs!

As we wrap up the 2023 ArtsWave Campaign, a tradition that took root in 1927, I’m reminded that Cincinnati’s arts were “Created to Grow.” There’s no better illustration of this than the May Festival. It’s grown lives, friendships, careers, the compendium of choral music and most importantly, it’s grown our collective sense of community and the profile of Cincinnati, Ohio, as a city that sings—triumphantly.

Happy 150th Season, May Festival!

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 61

BACH’S MAGNIFICAT

FRI MAY 19, 7:30 pm | Music Hall JUANJO MENA, conductor BERIT NORBAKKEN, soprano NOLA RICHARDSON, soprano MARIANNE BEATE KIELLAND, mezzo-soprano TOBY SPENCE, tenor CHRISTIAN IMMLER, bass MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS Robert Porco, director The May Festival Chorus is endowed by the Betsy & Alex C. Young Chair

MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS, Matthew Swanson, director CINCINNATI BOYCHOIR, Jason Holmes, Artistic Director CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Louis Langrée, Music Director James LEE III (b. 1975)

Breaths of Universal Longings

WORLD PREMIERE, COMMISSIONED BY THE CINCINNATI MAY FESTIVAL ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 150TH ANNIVERSARY From Dust We Were Made Now and Then Reflections Seeking Joy

James MacMILLAN (b. 1959)

Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia WORLD PREMIERE, MAY FESTIVAL CO-COMMISSION

INTERMISSION Johann Sebastian BACH (1685–1750)

Magnificat, BWV 243 Magnificat anima mea Et exultavit spiritus meus Quia respexit humilitatem Omnes generationes Quia fecit mihi magna Et misericordia

Fecit potentiam Deposuit potentes Esurientes implevit bonis Suscepit Israel Sicut locutus est Gloria Patri

Tonight’s concert will last Tonight’s concert is sponsored by Patty Misrach. approximately 110 minutes.

The May Festival 150th Anniversary Sponsor is Christy and Terry Horan.

The 2023 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

James MacMillan’s Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia was commissioned by an anonymous donor in celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Cincinnati May Festival and in honor of the many years of extraordinary service Steven Sunderman has given as its Executive Director and by the Hallé Orchestra and the Hallé to mark Sir Mark Elder’s celebrated time as Music Director of the orchestra.

The 2023 May Festival is sponsored by Chavez Properties.

The appearance of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is generously supported by the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation.

The appearance Christian Immler is made possible in part by generous endowment gifts from the friends and family of the Joan P. and Oliver L. Baily Fund The appearances of Berit Norbakken and Robin Johannsen are made possible in part by a generous gift from Dr. and Mrs. Morton Harshman.

The appearances of Marianne Beate Kielland and Toby Spence are made possible by a generous endowment gift from Mr. and Mrs. S. Charles Straus.

The appearance of Matthew Swanson in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by David and Elaine Billmire.

Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the May Festival.

This concert will be broadcast on 90.9 WGUC on October 8, 2023 at 8 p.m.

MAY 19 PROGRAM NOTES JAMES LEE III

Breaths of Universal Longings Born: 1975 in St. Joseph, Michigan Work Composed: 2022 Premiere: This performance is the work’s world premiere.

Instrumentation: SATB chorus, SATB youth chorus, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons (incl. contrabassoon), 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, chimes, congas, crash cymbals, egg shaker, glockenspiel, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambour de Basque, temple blocks, tenor drum, tom-tom, triangle, wind chimes, wood block, harp, strings Duration: approx. 28 minutes

James Lee III, born in 1975, graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 2005. Lee’s orchestral works have been commissioned and premiered by the National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, James Lee III and the orchestras of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and others. His works have been conducted by Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, Juanjo Mena, and others. In October of 2021, Amer’ican was premiered by the Detroit Symphony, and Niiji Memories, his flute concerto, was premiered by Julietta Curenton and the Columbia Orchestra. In November of 2021, the Calyx Piano Trio premiered Tones of Clay at Tanglewood, and the St. Louis Symphony performed Emotive Transformations.

Other world premieres that season included Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, which was premiered by the Baltimore Symphony in January 2022. A Double Standard for Karen Slack and the Pacifica String Quartet was premiered in June of 2022 at Carnegie Hall and Shriver Hall. Premieres scheduled for the 2023–24 season include a piano concerto, an English horn concerto, and an orchestral work.

James Lee III wrote of Breaths of Universal Longings:

Breaths of Universal Longings is a work in four movements that is inspired primarily by the concepts of joy and belonging. It is a work that celebrates the power of the voice and singing.

It is also about shared humanity and the universality of singing.

The first movement, “From Dust We Were Made,” employs biblical texts from Genesis 2:7, and Job 38:7 in which I paraphrased the words written. The initial idea is that mankind was created from the dust of the ground, the breath of life was breathed into humanity’s nostrils, and then man (and woman) become living beings that would rise, and joyfully sing as the morning stars also sang together and all of creation shouted for joy!

Movement two, “Now and Then,” was written

by Charles Bertram and is a reflection on a long life lived and a comparison of the actions in one’s youth with the last years of one’s life. The following strophe from the poem illustrates the sentiments of the poet: “To life’s sun-setting years, My feet have come—Alas!

And through its hopes and fears, again I shall not pass.” There are contrasting episodes of music that alternate with the unifying melodic passages on the texts “All life is built from song” and “All life is built from love.”

As the work continues, the third movement, “Reflection,” utilizes texts written by members of the May Festival Youth Chorus. This movement includes texts that search for joy, singing, longing and belonging. The music from this movement was partially inspired by the aftermath of being in mandatory lockdowns and quarantines during the Covid-19 crisis of 2020 and 2021. A beautiful part of the texts used in this movement comes from the words “Into this day we must rise as a sun, out from this darkness to shine.”

The last movement, “Seeking Joy,” uses texts from William Henry Davies’ poem with the same name. The music here continues in a steady ascent from a thin texture of tranquility that seeks to musically convey the opening words, “Joy, how I sought thee!” As the texts continue to expand on the acts of an individual searching for joy in various places and not being fulfilled, the music comes to a decisive change in course with the words “Joy, I have found thee!” Then, the music continues to bring forth passages of joy, glee, awe, and exuberance in an increasingly dense texture until the last explosive measure.

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TEXT Breaths of Universal Longings 1. From Dust We Were Made Genesis 2:7, Job 38:7, (paraphrased by James Lee III) Dust, from dust we were made.

Inanimate, lifeless…dust that lay on the ground until day six.

Then those hands appeared.

Those hands took the dust, formed man, and then GOD breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life.

A living soul was born.

Ah, those hands. They took a rib from man.

A woman was formed and united with man.

United bones, united flesh, unashamed.

Breathe. Arise. Sing.

The morning stars also sang together, and all the children of God shouted for joy!

2. Now and Then Charles Bertram Johnson All life is built from song In youth’s young morn I sang; And from a top-near hill The echo broke and rang.

The years with pinions swift To youth’s high noon made flight, All life is built from song I sang amid the fight.

To life’s sun-setting years, My feet have come—Alas!

And through its hopes and fears Again I shall not pass.

The lusty song my youth With high-heart ardor sang Is but a tinkling sound— A cymbal’s empty clang.

And now I sing, my Dear, With wisdom’s wiser heart, All life is built from love, And song is but a part.

3. Reflection Texts by members of the May Festival Youth Chorus Where is the song?

Where is our joy? searching—longing—seeking—chasing— Calling.

Into what day will we break as dawn?

Out of this dark will we climb?

The longing of our age is an age of belonging.

Into this day we must rise as a sun, out from this darkness to shine.

Here is our song— Hear this, our joy! seeing—meaning—breathing—being— Singing.

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4. Seeking Joy William Henry Davies Joy, how I sought thee!

Silver I spent and gold, On the pleasures of this world, In splendid garments clad; The wine I drank was sweet, Rich morsels I did eat— Oh, but my life was sad!

Joy, how I sought thee!

Joy, I have found thee!

Far from the halls of Mirth, Back to the soft green earth, Where people are not many; I find thee, Joy, in hours With clouds, and birds, and flowers— Thou dost not charge one penny.

Joy, I have found thee!

JAMES MacMILLAN

Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia Born: July 16, 1959, Kilwinning, United Kingdom Work Composed: 2022 Premiere: This performance is the work’s world premiere.

Instrumentation: SATB chorus, children’s chorus, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets (incl. bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, bongos, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, tamtam, tubular bells, harp, piano, strings Duration: approx. 20 minutes

Sir James MacMillan* is the pre-eminent Scottish composer of his generation. He first attracted attention with the acclaimed BBC Proms premiere of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (1990).

His percussion concerto Veni, Veni Emmanuel (1992) has received over 500 performances worldwide by orchestras including London Symphony Orchestra, Royal James MacMillan, ©Marc Marnie Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics and Cleveland Orchestra. Other major works include the cantata Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993), Quickening (1998) for soloists, children’s choir, mixed choir and *MacMillan biography reprinted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes

PROGRAM NOTES

orchestra, the operas Inès de Castro (2001) and The Sacrifice (2005-06), St. John Passion (2007), St. Luke Passion (2013) and Symphony No.5: Le grand Inconnu (2018).

He was featured composer at Edinburgh Festival (1993, 2019), Southbank Centre (1997), BBC’s Barbican Composer Weekend (2005) and Grafenegg Festival (2012). His interpreters include soloists Evelyn Glennie, Colin Currie, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Vadim Repin; conductors Leonard Slatkin, Sir Andrew Davis, Marin Alsop and Sir Donald Runnicles; choreographer Christopher Wheeldon; and stage director Katie Mitchell. His recordings can be found on BMG/RCA Red Seal, BIS, Chandos, Naxos, Hyperion, Coro, Linn and Challenge Classics.

Recent highlights include MacMillan’s Stabat Mater for The Sixteen streamed from the Sistine Chapel and premieres of the 40-voice motet Vidi aquam, Christmas Oratorio streamed in 2021

by NTR Dutch Radio from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and the anthem “Who Shall Separate Us?” commissioned for the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

MacMillan founded the annual Cumnock Tryst festival in 2014 in his childhood town in Scotland.

James MacMillan wrote of Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia: Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia was composed in 2022 and is a setting of three sections of John Dryden’s great poem from 1697 (in celebration of St. Cecilia’s Day) Alexander’s Feast: Or The Power of Music. Although the poem was written as an ode to St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, most of the text is focused on two pre-Christian classical stories.

The first section presents Timotheus, the musician who served Alexander the Great and accompanied him in his military campaigns. The legend is that his music had a huge effect on the King, moving the great warrior from one passion to another.

Dryden’s poem refers to Timotheus’ “flying fingers,” his music ascending to the heavens, where it inspires joy. There are rich images of the god Jove, moved by love in “A dragon’s fiery form” and riding “on radiant spires” to Olympia. He then “stamp’d an image of himself, a sov’reign of the world,” and we are to assume that stamp is Alexander himself. Jove’s influence on the warrior king “seems to shake the spheres.”

The poet’s purpose is to present allegories for the power of music on the human soul and body, and later there are references to Bacchus, the god of celebration and drink. But what is being described here is Alexander’s attack on the Persian capital city of Persepolis. Dryden stresses the greed of the looting soldiers, who lost all control in their thievery, slaughter and destruction. Timotheus references the increased destruction that will follow the drunken debauchery, as he sings, “Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure; Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure Sweet the pleasure after pain.”

Some things never change, and we have seen modern versions of this in the slaughter of Ukrainians recently.

The third and final section of the work presents St. Cecilia, the martyr and Patron Saint of music. And there is a distinct change in musical mood at this point. After the drama and violence of the opening two sections there is the balm and serenity of a very different character: “Enlarg’d the former narrow bounds And added length to solemn sounds With nature’s mother-wit and arts unknown before.

Or both divide the crown; He rais’d a mortal to the skies; She drew an angel down.”

The “narrow bounds” which Cecilia enlarges with her music is a reference to the ability of mere mortals to make such a “divine” thing as music. And where Timotheus praises the mortal, Alexander, raising his name to the allegorical heights reserved for celebrated individuals, St. Cecilia’s music is so powerful that it tempts heavenly creatures (angels) to descend to earth.

Although this poem is of another time and dimension, I was struck by its breadth and ambition to explore the transformative nature of music from a number of different angles.

And its final suggestion that music might be a sacred thing, of heavenly concerns, is an idea which will never fade, being as vital now as it was in the eras of Timotheus, Alexander, Cecilia, Dryden and Handel, who also set this poem to music in 1736.

My work is scored for various choruses and large orchestra, in one movement lasting about 20 minutes, and is dedicated to my granddaughter, Isabella Grace MacMillan.

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PROGRAM NOTES

TEXT John Dryden (1631–1700) Excerpted from Alexander’s Feast; or the Power of Music Timotheus placed on high Amid the tuneful quire With flying fingers touch’d the lyre: The trembling notes ascend the sky And heavenly joys inspire.

The song began from Jove Who left his blissful seats above Such is the power of mighty love!

A dragon’s fiery form belied the god; Sublime on radiant spires he rode When he to fair Olympia prest, And while he sought her snowy breast, Then round her slender waist he curl’d, And stamp’d an image of himself, a sovereign of the world.

The listening crowd admire the lofty sound; A present deity! they shout around: A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound: With ravish’d ears The monarch hears, Assumes the god; Affects to nod, And seems to shake the spheres.

The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung, Of Bacchus ever fair and ever young: The jolly god in triumph comes; Sound the trumpets, beat the drums!

Flush’d with a purple grace He shows his honest face: Now give the hautboys breath; he comes, he comes!

Bacchus, ever fair and young, Drinking joys did first ordain; Bacchus’ blessings are a treasure, Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure: Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure, Sweet is pleasure after pain.

(Sancta Cecilia, ora pro nobis.)

(Saint Cecilia, pray for us.)

Thus, long ago, Ere heaving bellows learn’d to blow, While organs yet were mute, Timotheus, to his breathing flute And sounding lyre, Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.

At last divine Cecilia came.

Inventress of the vocal frame; The sweet enthusiast from her sacred store Enlarged the former narrow bounds, And added length to solemn sounds, With Nature’s mother-wit, and arts unknown before.

Let old Timotheus yield the prize, Or both divide the crown; He raised a mortal to the skies, She drew an angel down!

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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Magnificat, BWV 243 Born: March 21, 1685, Eisenach, Germany Died: July 28, 1750, Leipzig Work Composed: 1723, revised ca. 1730 Premiere: Christmas Day 1723, Leipzig, under the composer’s direction Instrumentation: SATB chorus, SSATB soloists, 2 flutes, 2 oboes (incl. 2 oboes d’amore), bassoon, 3 trumpets, timpani, organ, strings May Festival notable performances: First: May 1875, Theodore Thomas conducting, Theodore Thomas Orchestra (soloists: Helen Smith, soprano; Abbie Whinnery, soprano; Annie Louise Cary, contralto; William Winch, tenor; Myron Whitney, bass), Otto Singer, chorusmaster. Most Recent: May 2009, James Conlon conducting (soloists: Ellie Dehn, soprano; Jill Grove, mezzo-soprano; Rodrick Dixon, tenor; James Creswell, bass), Robert Porco, director of choruses. Most Recent CSO: November 2017, Louis Langrée conducting (soloists: Chloé Briot, mezzo-soprano; Leah Wool, mezzo-soprano; Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Cooley, tenor; Matthew Brook, bass), Robert Porco, director of choruses.

Duration: approx. 30 minutes

On June 1, 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach assumed the duties of Kantor for the churches of Leipzig. Although the city was something of a cultural backwater in the early 18th century, it was a powerful center of Lutheranism in Germany, and the position of musicmaster to its churches was a prestigious one.

Bach, fully aware of Johann Sebastian Bach, portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1746) the importance of his job, enthusiastically launched into his duties during his early years in Leipzig—most of his nearly 300 cantatas date from the first decade of his tenure.

With only six months on the job, the 38-year-old composer made a special effort to impress his superiors with the music for his first Christmas season as Kantor, and he composed three new cantatas for the morning services of December 25, 26 and 27, as well as another for the New Year’s worship of the following week. In addition to these pieces (and playing the organ, and organizing the performers, and conducting the rehearsals, and copying the parts), he wrote his glorious Magnificat for the special afternoon Vespers service that was a beloved Leipzig Christmas-day tradition.

PROGRAM NOTES

The text of the Magnificat is the Canticle of the Virgin Mary as given in the Gospel of St. Luke (1:46-55) and was a regular part of the Roman Catholic Vespers and Anglican Evensong services.

Although usually sung in plainchant, these verses had prompted polyphonic compositions for special occasions since at least the 14th century. It was to enrich such important religious days that the Canticle was retained in the Lutheran Vespers services for Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. The Christmas Vespers in Leipzig began at 1:45 pm, and included the formal order of worship, a cantata preceding the sermon, and the Magnificat as the brilliant finale to the day’s activities. Due to the imposing length of the Lutheran service in Bach’s time (often four hours in duration!), it was necessary that the closing items of the Vespers be succinct so that the Benediction would come before dusk. The compact nature of Bach’s 12 Magnificat movements demonstrates that he took this requirement to heart. The real reason for the local popularity of the Magnificat (besides its function of ending nearly eight hours of worship on Christmas day) was that it accompanied a tableau-vivant representation of the Nativity, with many of the Biblical characters portrayed by the

church members in costume. For the original 1723 version of his Magnificat, Bach interspersed five German Christmas hymns among the Latin verses to accompany the stage action of this mystery play.

(The durability of this spectacle in the affection of the Leipzigers is attested to by the fact that the City Council had tried unsuccessfully to abolish it since at least 1703.) In 1733, Bach revised the work by transposing it to its present key of D major and eliminating the Yuletide insertions, thereby making it practical for performance at Easter and Pentecost as well as at Christmas.

The esteemed English musicologist Sir Donald Tovey wrote, “Bach’s Magnificat is one of his most comprehensively representative works. From it, almost any point in Bach’s treatment of words, of musical forms, and of instrumentation can be brilliantly represented.” Each of the 12 movements engenders a clear and vivid mood: from the jubilant opening and closing choruses (which, by sharing the same joyous music, serve as supporting pillars for the entire structure) to the pathos of the duet “Et misericordia”; from the surging power of “Omnes generationes” to the bucolic sweetness of “Esurientes implevit bonis”; from the anguish of Please turn page quietly

THANK YOU! to Concert Sponsor

Patty Misrach for her extraordinary support of “Bach’s Magnificat”

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 67

PROGRAM NOTES

“Deposuit potentes” to the confident optimism of the Doxology (“Gloria Patri”), Bach’s Magnificat is not just a beautiful work of art but also a document of the composer’s faith in the deity’s multifarious and omnipotent qualities. It is music that is joyous,

festive and uplifting while being at the same time introspective and touching. Like his later B Minor Mass and St. Matthew Passion, Bach’s Magnificat scales the summit of the musical expression of man’s faith.

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

TEXT 1. Chorus Magnificat anima mea Dominum:

My soul doth magnify the Lord,

2. Aria (mezzo-soprano) Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior.

3. Aria (soprano) Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: For, behold, from henceforth shall call me blessed.

4. Chorus Omnes generationes.

All generations.

5. Aria (bass) Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est: Et sanctum nomen eius.

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; And holy is his name.

6. Duet (mezzo-soprano, tenor) Et misericordia a progenie in progenies Timentibus eum.

And his mercy is on them That fear him from generation to generation.

7. Chorus Fecit potentiam in bracchio suo: Dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.

He hath showed strength with his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

8. Aria (tenor) Deposuit potentes de sede Et exaltavit humiles.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, And exalted them of low degree.

9. Aria (mezzo-soprano) Esurientes implevit bonis: Et divites dimisit inanes.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; And the rich he hath sent empty away.

10. Chorus (soprano and mezzo-soprano) Suscepit Israel puerum suum, Recordatus misericordiae suae.

He hath holpen his servant Israel, In remembrance of his mercy;

11. Chorus Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini eius in saecula.

As he spake to our fathers, To Abraham, and to his seed forever.

12. Chorus Gloria Patri, gloria Filio, gloria et Spiritui sancto.

Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper Et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, World without end. Amen.

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MARIN ALSOP: AMERICAN VOICES SAT MAY 20, 7:30 pm | Music Hall

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 The May Festival Chorus is endowed by the Betsy & Alex C. Young Chair

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Louis Langrée, Music Director Samuel BARBER (1910–1981)

Samuel BARBER

Symphony No. 1 in One Movement, Op. 9 Allegro ma non troppo—Allegro molto—Andante tranquillo—Con moto

Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24 INTERMISSION

R. Nathaniel DETT

The Ordering of Moses*

(1882–1943)

Aaron COPLAND

“The Promise of Living” from The Tender Land

(1900–1990)

*The Ordering of Moses by Nathaniel Dett, ©1937 (Renewed) J. Fischer & Bro. Exclusive Worldwide Print Rights Administered by Alfred Music. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission of Alfred Music.

Tonight’s concert will last approximately 140 minutes.

Tonight’s concert is sponsored by Joan P. Baily in memory of Oliver L. Baily.

The May Festival 150th Anniversary Sponsor is Christy and Terry Horan.

The 2023 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

The 2023 May Festival is sponsored by Chavez Properties.

The appearance of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is generously supported by the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation.

The appearance of Marin Alsop in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by Kathy and Craig Rambo.

The appearance of Rodrick Dixon in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by Katherine and Tim Stautberg.

The appearances of Laquita Mitchell and Briana Hunter are made possible in part by Hixson Architecture Engineering Services.

The appearances of Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha and Nicolas Newton are made possible by a generous endowment gift from Dr. Thomas Lesher.

Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the May Festival.

This concert will be broadcast on 90.9 WGUC on October 15, 2023.

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MAY 20 PROGRAM NOTES SAMUEL BARBER

Symphony No. 1 in One Movement, Op. 9 Born: March 9, 1910, West Chester, Pennsylvania Died: January 23, 1981, New York City Work Composed: completed February 24, 1936, Roquebrune, France Premiere: December 13, 1936, Bernardo Molinari conducting the Augusteo Orchestra at the Adriano Theater, Rome Instrumentation: 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, harp, strings May Festival notable performances: This is the first performance of this work at the May Festival. First CSO: October 1963, Milton Katims conducting. Most Recent CSO: December 2012, Jacques Lacombe conducting.

Duration: approx. 21 minutes

To some extent, Samuel Barber’s Symphony No. 1 represents both a pivot toward increasingly ambitious projects and a summation of the composer’s cosmopolitan musical life up to that point.

Before this symphony, Barber had completed only two works for full orchestra, both hailing Samuel Barber from Barber’s transition from student to emerging composer: the Overture to the School for Scandal (1931) and Music for a Scene from Shelley (1933). The latter helped garner Barber a 1935 Rome Prize residency that yielded Symphony No. 1 and its eventual premiere. These successes provided a launchpad to compose some of his most popular and enduring works over the next decade, including his famous Adagio for Strings (1936) and beloved Violin Concerto (1939).

Although ideas for the symphony had percolated since at least late 1933, Barber only began serious work during the summer of 1935 while he was in Maine. He finished a draft in Rome soon after and completed the full score on February 24,

1936 in Roquebrune, France. Through a friend’s introduction, Barber played the score for conductor Bernardo Molinari, who presented the world premiere on December 13, 1936 with Rome’s Augusteo Orchestra. Italy’s cultural conditions were auspicious for such a premiere; under Mussolini’s regime, orchestras symbolized utopian, militaristic discipline, and audiences admired the symphony’s balance of full-throated monumentality and passages of crystalline clarity. The symphony’s history thus encapsulates Barber’s cosmopolitanism, native to the United States but drawn to Europe for long stretches year after year.

Notably, Barber compressed the traditional four movements of symphonies by earlier composers like Brahms into one movement. Howard Pollack has shown that Barber was inspired by Jean Sibelius’ one-movement Symphony No. 7, a work with a similarly tortured atmosphere. Barber’s work begins with powerful brass chords and woodwinds’ and strings’ pronouncement of the symphony’s primary seven-note melody. A lurching, halting section follows before English horn and violas introduce a lyrical contrasting theme. These ideas are passed around the orchestra in different guises, showcasing players’ abilities for a strong push to the playful second large section. A solitary timpani roll ushers in the second section’s return of the symphony’s opening seven-note melody, but played much quicker, at first by only violins. The idea travels around the orchestra, at times gliding on ice, at others in rhythmic vertigo like Morse code, reminiscent of the machine-obsessed futurist composers of then-recent decades. Following a held silence, the lyrical third large section arrives, recalling the English horn and violas’ earlier melody, but this time played by oboe at a slower pace. The fourth and final section of the symphony begins with shivering string chords that dissipate, making space for the low strings’ revival of the opening seven-note motif as a somber passacaglia.

Barber’s passacaglia, like its 17th-century Spanish model, was built passacaglia from the ground up: a repeating melody in the low strings sets a foundation for soaring variations on the symphony’s now-familiar ideas, a final push to the end.

—Dr. Jacques Dupuis

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PROGRAM NOTES

SAMUEL BARBER

Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24 Work Composed: completed April 4, 1947 (revised 1949) Premiere: April 9, 1948 by soprano Eleanor Steber with Serge Koussevitsky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra Instrumentation: soprano soloist, flute (incl. piccolo), oboe (incl. English horn), clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, trumpet, triangle, harp, strings May Festival notable performances: This is the first performance of this work at the May Festival. First CSO: October 1950, Thor Johnson conducting, Eleanor Steber, soprano (Samuel Barber attended the Saturday concert).

Most Recent CSO: September 2020, digital only concert, Louis Langrée conducting, Angel Blue, soprano.

Duration: approx. 14 minutes

Samuel Barber’s faithful setting of James Agee’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 holds a particular distinction in America’s musical history. According to musicologist Barbara Heyman, the piece was the first orchestra-accompanied song commissioned by an American singer. Curiously, that credit was not part of its origin. Barber had started planning a vocal-orchestral piece in conference with conductor Serge Koussevitsky prior to Knoxville’s official commissioning by soprano Eleanor Steber, who premiered the piece with Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on April 9, 1948. The piece’s well-earned status as an American music staple owes much to Steber as its first champion and her early performances, including with Thor Johnson’s Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in October 1950. To many critics, it is Barber’s most sincere expression of American musical spirit.

Upon his first encounter with Agee’s text, Barber was struck both artistically and personally, filled as it is with images that awaken the five senses to nostalgic reminiscence. Agee published the text as a nostalgic meditation on a safe time shortly before his father’s sudden and untimely death. Barber read sights and sounds from his own childhood in Agee’s references to an artist uncle and musician aunt (Barber’s close aunt Louise and uncle Sydney Homer were musicians) and, in Barber’s words, “parents sitting on the porch, talking quietly as they rocked.” Generations of audiences have since identified with Barber’s piece in a similarly personal way. In 1947, as the composer worked on the piece, the specter of his aunt’s and father’s poor health loomed. Both passed away within the year, and Barber dedicated the piece to his father. The circumstances imbue the listening experience with poignant emotional gravity.

Excerpting the last third of Agee’s text, Barber introduces us to his Knoxville as a scene already

in progress, a choice invoking nostalgic memory’s ephemerality. A plaintive pastoral orchestral introduction sets the piece in motion and leads to the vocal soloist’s speech-like opening lines (“It has become that time of evening…”), supported by what critic Allen Kozinn described as the orchestra’s “rocking chair rhythms.” The combination of music and ruminating imagery evinces the staid restraint of a lullaby staving off modern life’s disturbances.

The textual and musical mood returns twice through the piece as a kind of refrain. But the oasis does not last. A jarring change of pace activated by rudely interrupting woodwind chirps brings in the contrasting next section, which frets over the previously suppressed signs—and now sounds—of modernity: a streetcar’s “iron whine and rising speed.” The lilting refrain section then returns with familial images of evening and nature (“Parents on porches…”). A mysterious-sounding string melody leads to an adoring litany of the family’s members, prelude to a more sustained yet fraught prayer for religious benevolence for the family. The piece closes with a final airing of the lullaby refrain (“After a little I am taken in and put to bed.”), sealing the envelope on this letter from the past.

—Dr. Jacques Dupuis TEXT “We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville, Tennessee in the time that I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child.”

It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches, rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street and the standing up into their sphere of possession of the trees, of birds’ hung havens, hangars.

People go by; things go by.

A horse, drawing a buggy, breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt: a loud auto, a quiet auto; people in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling switching their weight of aestival body, talking casually, the taste hovering over them of vanilla, strawberry, pasteboard, and starched milk, the image upon them of lovers and horsemen, squared with clowns in hueless amber.

A streetcar raising its iron moan; stopping; belling and starting, stertorous; rousing and raising again its iron increasing moan and swimming its gold windows and straw seats on past and past and past, the bleak spark crackling and cursing above it like a small malignant spirit set to dog its tracks; the iron whine rises on rising speed; still risen, faints; halts; the faint stinging bell; rises again, still fainter; fainting, lifting, lifts, faints foregone: forgotten.

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Now is the night one blue dew.

Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose.

Low on the length of lawns a frailing of fire who breathes.

Parents on porches; rock and rock.

From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces.

The dry and exalted noise of the locusts from all the air at once enchants my eardrums.

On the rough wet grass of the backyard my father and mother have spread quilts.

We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there.

They are not talking much, and the talk is quiet, of nothing in particular, of nothing at all in particular, of nothing at all.

The stars are wide and alive, They seem each like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near.

All my people are larger bodies than mine, with voices gentle and meaningless like the voices of sleeping birds.

One is an artist, he is living at home.

One is a musician, she is living at home.

One is my mother who is good to me.

One is my father who is good to me.

By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night.

May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away.

After a little I am taken in and put to bed.

Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am.

ROBERT NATHANIEL DETT

The Ordering of Moses Born: October 11, 1882, Niagara Falls, Canada Died: October 2, 1943, Battle Creek, Michigan Work Composed: 1932 Premiere: Premiered on May 7, 1937 at the Cincinnati May Festival, conducted by Eugene Goossens with soprano Agatha Lewis, contralto Elizabeth Wysor, tenor Frederick Jagel and baritone Alexander Kisselburgh as soloists.

Instrumentation: SATB soloists, SATB chorus, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, castanets, chains, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambour de Basque, tom-tom, triangle, harp, organ, strings

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May Festival notable performances: First: May 1937, Eugene Goossens conducting (soloists: Frederick Jagel, tenor; Agatha Lewis, soprano; Alexander Kisselburgh, baritone; Elizabeth Wysor, contralto), Alfred Hartzel, chorusmaster. Most Recent: May 2014 at Carnegie Hall conducted by James Conlon (soloists: Latonia Moore, soprano; Ronnita Nicole Miller, mezzo-soprano; Rodrick Dixon, tenor; Donnie Ray Albert, baritone), Robert Porco, director of choruses. Recording: 2016 live recording from the 2014 Carnegie Hall performance.

Duration: approx. 50 minutes

The build–up to R. Nathaniel Dett’s 1937 debut and oratorio debut was palpable. Articles begin appearing in The Cincinnati Enquirer in January and The Cincinnati Post in March with detailed descriptions of the work Robert Nathaniel Dett and information on Dett.

The reception was glowing. On May 8, 1937, May Dearness of The Cincinnati Post reported: The fourth concert of the May Festival continued to hold interest of a large audience Friday night and brought down the house when the composer, Dr. Robert Nathaniel Dett, appeared on the stage after the world premiere of his oratorio, The Ordering of Moses.

Before we continue, it should be noted that the May Festival was segregated until 1956.* While ubiquitous, racial segregation was also inconsistent.

For example, Marian Anderson performed in Philadelphia’s Academy of Music but could not dine at its café. And, like other concert halls and organizations in the North, our Music Hall did not have Black performers on the stage, thus no interracial choir. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t program a new work by a Black composer. So they did: The Ordering of Moses (ca. 1926, 1937).

While this composition–and Dett himself–may have been new to white audiences, he was already a fixture in predominately-Black communities.

Born in Canada and educated at Oberlin and Eastman, R. Nathaniel Dett was part of a vanguard of composers (e.g., Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Harry T. Burleigh, Florence Price, Clarence Cameron White) who developed a school of composition built on sacred Black folk repertoire, aka Negro spirituals. “We have this wonderful store of folk music—the melodies of an enslaved people,” Dett wrote in 1918, and he believed they needed to be “presented in choral form, in lyric and operatic works, in concertos and suites and salon music.”

PROGRAM NOTES

While drawing on a narrow conception of “high art,” Dett was nonetheless confident that there was no disunity between African American folk and classical idioms. If anything, it would show “that we too, have national feelings and characteristics.”

The Ordering of Moses is such an example, carrying layers of meaning from classical and African American music traditions. First is the story of Moses, a major figure in African American sacred, artistic and linguistic practice; you hear it in the linguistic double-speak from the formerly enslaved and the ubiquity of the spiritual “Go Down Moses.” Second, Dett wove together a Biblical story of immense importance in African American culture with another sacred genre–the oratorio. While eschewing the costumes and pageantry of opera, the storytelling core remains. As Dett shared in The Cincinnati Enquirer on May 7: The similarity of folk text to the words of the Scripture is striking, and the fusion of the two seems natural; moreover, the light which is thrown subsequently on the true meaning of the spiritual is very revealing.

Not to say he didn’t run into creative problems; the “Go Down Moses” fugue, one of the apexes of the work, was not easy coming:

I had tried almost everything without satisfaction, when suddenly I realized that the melody I had written for the trio, “God Looking on Israel,” was a perfect counterpoint.

This discovery filled me with great enthusiasm and the fugato was soon finished….

In 2016, the May Festival and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra released a recording of their live Carnegie Hall performance, under the baton of James Conlon, of The Ordering of Moses. It is one of few recordings of the work, preceded only by the Talladega Choir and Mobile Symphony Orchestra under William Dawson in 1968. Just as the composition has layers of meaning, so does the return of this piece of the Music Hall stage. People have their favorites; perhaps R. Nathaniel Dett and The Ordering of Moses will remain one of the Queen City’s.

—Dr. A. Kori Hill * In 2005, Cincinnati-born opera singer Arthur Herndon stated in an unpublished interview, “many people have forgotten about the June Festival and the fact that it was a supplement at the time for the May Festival. So [the June Festival] was organized for those of us who were classically trained.” The June Festival Association was organized “for the purpose of furthering Please turn page quietly

THANK YOU! to Concert Sponsor

Joan P. Baily in memory of Oliver L. Baily

for extraordinary support of “Marin Alsop: American Voices”

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 73

PROGRAM NOTES

opportunity for musical expression among Negro citizens of Cincinnati,” wrote the Cincinnati Enquirer on February 22, 1940. The first of these festivals was held at the Eden Park Bandstand in June 1938 with a chorus of 243 singers. In 1939, the June Festival was made an annual event by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, until the mid-1950s when the Cincinnati Recreation Commission discontinued its funding.

TEXT Text based on scripture and folklore The Word All Israel’s children sorely sighed, Chorus By reason of their bondage— The Word And unto God they sorely cried, Chorus By reason of their bondage— The Word All Israel’s children sighed— And unto God they cried— ‘Neath Egypt’s king they hard were tried— Chorus By reason of their bondage.

The Voice of Israel O Lord, behold my affliction.

My heart is turned within me;

A dark’ning cloud is Thy anger, Thy hand is hard against me.

My eyes and heart fail with grieving; I walk alone in deep shadows.

Oppressed and captive is Judah; And Zion sigheth in her mourning.

Chorus O Lord!

Trio, Chorus God looked on Israel, And heard her children groaning; He looked on her children groaning, And had respect unto her.

Mercy, Lord!

Chorus And from a burning bush, flaming, God spake unto Moses saying— Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt’s land; Tell Pharaoh Let my people go!

Thou shalt lead thy people To the promised land.

Go down, take thy rod in thy hand Thou shalt lead thy people To the promised land.

Moses Lord!

Who am I to go unto Pharaoh, And why should I lead the children of Israel!

How shall they know Thou sendest me?

What name shall I say unto them?

25 for 25: A New Time for Choral Music is supported in part by

Learn more about this project at mayfestival.com/25.

To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit arts.gov.

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PROGRAM NOTES

What signs or wonders show?

I am not eloquent; Have no gift of speech; Am slow of tongue.

Chorus And God spake unto Moses, Spake unto Moses saying— The Voice of God Who hath made a man dumb, Or who hath made his mouth speak?

Is it not I, Jehovah?

God of your fathers?

Now therefore, go, And I will be thy mouth.

I will instruct thee What thou shalt say!

Go down, Moses— Chorus Jehovah! Jehovah! God of your fathers?

Now therefore go, and I will be thy mouth; I will instruct thee what thou shalt say.

Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt’s land.

Tell Pharaoh Let my people go!

Thou shalt lead thy people To the promised land, I’ve looked on Israel, And I have respect unto her.

MEDITATION OF MOSES The Word And when they reached the other shore— O glory, hallelujah— They sang a song of triumph o’er.

O glory, hallelujah!

Moses I will praise Jehovah, For he hath triumphed gloriously; The horse and his rider He has o’er thrown in the midst of the sea!

Chorus Hallelujah, hallelujah, Let us praise Jehovah.

The Word Then did the women of Israel Gather with timbrels and dances; And Miriam, gifted with prophecy, Answered exhorting them, saying—

Moses Sing ye to Jehovah, For He hath triumphed gloriously.

Chorus Thy right hand, O Lord, Is become glorious in power: Pharaoh’s hosts thou hast cast In the depths of the sea!

Moses Sing ye Praise to Jehovah, Sing ye.

Chorus He is King of kings; He is Lord of lords.

Sing together, praise Jehovah, Great God of our fathers.

God, the great I Am That I Am; Hallelujah, He is a Man of War. Mighty is Jehovah, Mighty in battle; No god doth wonders like Him. Praise the Lord.

Sing to Jehovah, Whose right hand is our salvation.

Moses O praise ye, Praise Jehovah, Praise His holy name!

Miriam O praise ye, Praise ye Jehovah, Praise His holy name!

Chorus He is King of kings, He is Lord of lords.

Sing together, praise Jehovah, Great God of our fathers.

God, the Great I Am That I Am, Hallelujah, He is a Man of War. Mighty is Jehovah, Mighty in battle— No god doth wonders like Him, Praise the Lord, Sing to Jehovah, Whose right hand is our salvation.

O praise the Lord!

Miriam Come, let us praise Jehovah, For His triumph is glorious; The clouds and fire are his chariots, The winds and waves obey Him. Now all the armies of Pharaoh Are sunk as stones in deep waters.

The deeps stood up as the mountains, When Thou didst blow Thy breath upon them.

Moses I will sing unto Jehovah, For He hath triumphed gloriously.

The Women Hallelujah, hallelujah!

Miriam And He hath become my salvation!

Miriam The horse and his rider He hath thrown into the sea!

Moses Jehovah is my strength and my song!

Please turn page quietly MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 75

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PROGRAM NOTES

Moses This is my God, and I will praise Him! Miriam My father’s God, and I will exalt Him. Moses Thou, Lord, in Thy loving kindness Hast led the people, whom Thou hast redeemed!

Miriam and Moses Jehovah shall reign forever and ever!

AARON COPLAND

“The Promise of Living” from The Tender Land Born: November 14, 1900, Brooklyn, New York Died: December 2, 1990, Sleepy Hollow, New York Work Composed: The opera was composed 1952–1954 (revised 1955); the arrangement of “The Promise of Living” was completed in 1954.

Premiere: The premiere of the opera took place April 1, 1954, Thomas Schippers directing the New York City Opera at the City Center Theater. The final revision of the opera premiered May 20, 1955, Aaron Copland conducting the Oberlin College Opera Workshop.

Instrumentation: SATB chorus, 2 flutes, oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, harp, celeste, piano, strings May Festival notable performances: This is the first performance of this work at the May Festival. First Pops: September 2011, John Morris Russell conducting.

Most Recent: July 2012 World Choir Games Opening Ceremony, John Morris Russell conducting.

Duration: approx. 6 minutes

Aaron Copland completed the opera The Tender Land in 1952–54 with a libretto by Horace Everett (pseudonym of Erik Johns), adapted from James Agee’s 1941 documentary account of Depressionera tenant farmers, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II commissioned the piece Aaron Copland for the 30th anniversary of the League of Composers. The nature of the commission kept Copland’s ambitions for the work humble, with intention for television broadcast at a scale also accessible to university repertory theaters.

It premiered at the New York City Opera on April 1, 1954 under the direction of Jerome Robbins.

The opera revolves around the provincial Moss family and the arrival of two itinerant workers, Martin and Top, falsely rumored around town to be deviants. The plot’s action derives from the coming of age of the Moss’s daughter, Laurie. On the eve of her high school graduation, Laurie falls in love with Martin, whom she sees as her way into the wider world. The two decide to elope, but, fearing danger, Martin abandons Laurie. Heartbroken, she determines to leave home on her own.

Copland later arranged select numbers as standalone pieces, including “The Promise of Living,” a clarion anthem of thanksgiving. The number comes at the end of the opera’s first act, once Grandpa Moss has hired Martin and Top to help with the coming harvest. The chorus extolls the joy and invigoration of communal labor, the lifeblood of the rural way of life portrayed in The Tender Land.

—Dr. Jacques Dupuis TEXT The promise of living with hope and thanksgiving Is born of our loving our friends and our labor.

The promise of growing with faith and with knowing Is born of our sharing our love with our neighbor.

The promise of living, the promise of growing Is born of our singing in joy and thanksgiving.

For many a year we’ve known these fields And known all the work that makes them yield.

Are you ready to lend a hand?

We’re ready to work, we’re ready to lend a hand.

By working together we’ll bring in the harvest, the blessings of harvest.

We plant each row with seeds of grain, And Providence sends us the sun and the rain.

By lending a hand, by lending an arm Bring in from the land, bring out from the farm, bring out the blessings of harvest.

Give thanks there was sunshine, give thanks there was rain, Give thanks we have hands to deliver the grain.

O let us be joyful, O let us be grateful, Come join us in thanking the Lord for his blessing.

The promise of ending in right understanding Is peace in our own hearts and peace with our neighbor.

O let us sing our song, and let our song be heard.

Let’s sing our song with our hearts, and find a promise in that song.

The promise of living, the promise of growing The promise of ending is labor and sharing and loving.

The Promise of Living from The Tender Land by Aaron Copland, ©1954, 1956 The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc. Copyright Renewed. Boosey & Hawkes, Sole Licensee.

Copyright Secured. Reprinted by Permission.

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 77

MOZART’S REQUIEM

THURS MAY 25, 7:30 pm | Music Hall JAMES CONLON, conductor ERICA PETROCELLI, soprano KATE LINDSEY, mezzo-soprano JOSHUA BLUE, tenor MICHAEL SUMUEL, bass MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS Robert Porco, director The May Festival Chorus is endowed by the Betsy & Alex C. Young Chair

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Louis Langrée, Music Director Julia ADOLPHE

Crown of Hummingbirds

(b. 1989)

WORLD PREMIERE, MAY FESTIVAL CO-COMMISSION (MUSIC AND POEM)

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART

Requiem in D Minor, K. 626

(1756–1791)

Requiem aeternam. Kyrie Dies irae Tuba mirum Rex tremendae Recordare Confutatis— Lacrimosa Domine Jesu Hostias Sanctus. Osanna Benedictus. Osanna Agnus Dei. Lux aeterna Cum sanctis

James Conlon dedicates this performance to the memory of renowned tenor John Aler.

Over three decades, Mr. Aler sang on more than 50 May Festival programs.

Tonight’s concert will last Tonight’s concert is sponsored by the approximately 90 minutes.

Christine E. and Thomas L. Neyer, Sr. Family.

There is no intermission.

The May Festival 150th Anniversary Sponsor is Christy and Terry Horan.

The 2023 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

The 2023 May Festival is sponsored by Chavez Properties.

Julia Adolphe’s Crown of Hummingbirds was commissioned by Barbara Ann Feldmann in celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Cincinnati May Festival and in honor of the altos of the May Festival Chorus.

The appearance of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is generously supported by the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation.

The appearance of James Conlon in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by Sherry and Mark Holcomb.

The appearance of Joshua Blue in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by Chris and Beth Canarie.

The appearances of Erica Petrocelli and Kate Lindsey are made possible by a generous endowment gift from Mary and Joe Stern.

The appearance of Michael Sumuel is made possible in part by Robert A. Atterton.

Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the May Festival.

This concert will be broadcast on 90.9 WGUC on October 22, 2023.

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MAY 25 PROGRAM NOTES JULIA ADOLPHE

Crown of Hummingbirds Born: May 16, 1988, New York City Work Composed: 2022 Premiere: These performances are the work’s world premiere.

Instrumentation: SATB chorus, 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (incl. bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (incl. contrabassoon), 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, Chinese cymbals, glockenspiel, log drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tom-tom, vibraphone, whip, wood block, harp, piano, strings Duration: approx. 15 minutes

Librettist Safiya Sinclair and composer Julia Adolphe have each written about their Crown of Hummingbirds. Sinclair says: In this libretto, I wanted to explore a natural repetition of language as a mirror to its recurring imagery, which is grounded in the natural world. First, I imagined the voices, multitudinous and searching, reaching into the unknown, asking the larger philosophical questions about loneliness and the nature of existence and finding the answer to be Love.

Love is what fights the dark of solitude. Love is what roots us in the light. From there, I imagined the love of family as its own kind of song. What would such a song sound like?

I wanted to begin in darkness and doubt and end in a place of hope and wonder, uplifted and ecstatic, as I imagined all those who have come before us and those yet to come, singing our names. With each line, I threaded a tone of incantation or bright litany, weaving the imagery from a lone girl to a tender woman, finally to the crescendo of togetherness.

There, in the place where we gather like hummingbirds, now—or in some memory after—no one is ever lost. No one is ever alone.

This is the truest home, this sense of belonging, bathed in the voices of tomorrow’s sun.

Adolphe says: Crown of Hummingbirds reveals the power of love, community, family and connection in the face of death, isolation and destruction.

The music opens in a dark, chaotic realm, with voices emerging from a murky haze, striving toward color and light. The orchestra threatens to engulf the choir while the singers are fervently “reaching for meaning,” banding together in unified harmonies. As the choir perseveres, the music subsides, revealing a lone, meandering harp. The women’s voices sing of a new life, where wonder, beauty and

creativity take root and flourish. “Starlight,” evoked with vibraphone, piano, harp, soft winds and pizzicato strings, is associated with the vibrancy of the imagination, the capacity for love and the pathway toward connection.

The voices intertwine and swell, conveying the movement and growth of the “golden river of family.” As the poem moves toward the line “No one is ever lost,” the music shifts towards a sense of sparse isolation, then suddenly returns to the darkness of the opening material, consumed by the depth of loss. Faced with the resolve and unity of the choir, the orchestra ultimately transforms from a foreboding mass to a realm of brightness and light, swirling and soaring like a bird in flight while the singers deliver the poem’s final stanza. The orchestra fades once more to reveal the choir standing on its own, suggesting the intimate and vulnerable nature of love, hope and belonging.

Julia Adolphe’s music has been described as “alive with invention” (The New Yorker), “colorful, mercurial, deftly orchestrated” (The New York Times) displaying “a remarkable gift for sustaining a compelling musical narrative” (Musical America). Adolphe’s works are performed across the U.S. and abroad by the Julia Adolphe New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Verona Quartet, and soprano Hila Plitmann, among others.

In February of this year, the Sitkovetsky Trio gave the world premiere of Adolphe’s , piano trio, which was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Adolphe’s comic opera for all ages, A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears, based on the novel by Jules Feiffer with libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann, received initial workshops directed

by Elkhanah Pulitzer at National Sawdust and Boston Court Pasadena in 2019. Also in 2019, the New York Philharmonic and Decca Gold released their recording of Adolphe’s Unearth, Release, a viola concerto commissioned for Cynthia Phelps.

In November 2017, the May Festival Chamber Please turn page quietly MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 79

PROGRAM NOTES

Choir, under the baton of Robert Porco, gave the world premiere of Adolphe’s Equinox, which was commissioned by the May Festival Chorus.

Adolphe’s awards include a 2017 ASCAP Young Composer Award, a 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, a 2016 OPERA America Discovery Grant, and a 2015 Charles Ives Scholarship from the Academy of Arts and Letters. A native New Yorker living in Nashville, Adolphe holds a Master of Music degree in Music Composition from the USC Thornton School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University.

Safiya Sinclair was born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She is the author of the forthcoming memoir How to Say Babylon, from Simon & Schuster in October 2023. She is also the author of the poetry collection Cannibal, winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award, the Safiya Sinclair OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Poetry, the Phillis Wheatley Book Award and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry.

Cannibal was selected as one of the American Library Association’s Notable Books of the Year and was a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award, as well as being longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize.

Sinclair’s other honors include a Pushcart Prize, a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Elizabeth George Foundation, Yaddo, MacDowell, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The Nation, Poetry, Kenyon Review, the Oxford American, and elsewhere.

She received her MFA in poetry at the University of Virginia, and her doctorate in Literature and

Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. She is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Arizona State University.

TEXT Poem by Safiya Sinclair (May Festival commission) From darkness we came, in search of colour, in search of another, reaching for meaning from the mud.

O love, a lost girl outdreaming our loneliness, starlight we trace to the golden river of family.

O life, a tender woman, the bright wind speaking: No one is ever lost. No one is ever lost.

Together, we will gather. Where love still blossoms breath from wonder, each voice a sky opening, a crown of hummingbirds.

Mother. Sister. Brother. Father.

They sing our names.

They sing our names.

They sing us home!

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 Born: January 27, 1756, Salzburg Died: December 5, 1791, Vienna Work Composed: 1791 Instrumentation: SATB soloists, SATB chorus, 2 clarinets (basset horns), 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, organ, strings May Festival notable performances: First: May 1882, Theodore Thomas conducting, Theodore Thomas Orchestra (soloists: Amalia Friedrich-Materna, soprano; Annie Louise Cary, contralto; William Candidus, tenor; Myron Whitney, bass), Arthur Mees, chorus conductor.

Most Recent: May 2013, James Conlon conducting (soloists: Janai Brugger, soprano; Daniela Mack, mezzosoprano; Richard Croft, tenor; Jordan Bisch, bass), Robert Porco, director of choruses. Most Recent CSO: January 2019, David Robertson conducting (soloists: Nicole Cabell, soprano; Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano; Nicholas Phan, tenor; Eric Greene, baritone), Robert Porco, director of choruses.

Duration: approx. 55 minutes

In early July 1791, while he was busy composing The Magic Flute, Mozart received a letter testifying to the glories of his music and alerting him that he would be having a visitor with a proposal on the following day. The letter was unsigned. The visitor, “an unknown, grey stranger,” according to Mozart, appeared on schedule and said that he

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PROGRAM NOTES

represented the writer of the letter, who wanted to commission a new piece—a Requiem Mass— but added the curious provision that Mozart not try to discover the patron’s identity. Despite the somewhat foreboding mystery surrounding this venture, Mozart was in serious financial Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart straits just then and the money offered was generous, so he accepted the commission and promised to begin as soon as possible. The Magic Flute, however, was pressing, and he also received at the same time another commission, one too important to ignore, for an opera to celebrate the September coronation in Prague of Emperor Leopold as King of Bohemia—La Clemenza di Tito, based on one of Metastasio’s old librettos—that demanded immediate attention. As if those duties were not enough to fill his thoughts, Mozart’s wife, Constanze, was due to deliver another baby at the end of the month. She had been in the local spa town of Baden since the beginning of June, trying to preserve what little health she had left after nine years of almost constant pregnancy since her marriage to Wolfgang in 1782, and Mozart went to bring her back to the city and to her doctors in mid-July. Just as he was entering the carriage for the trip, the “unknown, grey stranger” approached him; the stranger inquired about the progress of the Requiem, was told that it was going well, and left, apparently satisfied. On July 25, Constanze gave birth to Franz Xaver Wolfgang, who became a composer and music teacher.

Mozart worked on the Requiem as time allowed.

From mid-August until mid-September, he, Constanze and his pupil Franz Süssmayr, who composed the recitatives for Tito, were in Prague for the opera’s premiere. When they returned to Vienna, Emanuel Schikaneder (librettist for The Magic Flute) pressed Mozart to put the final touches on The Magic Flute, which was first staged on September 30. Mozart’s health had deteriorated alarmingly by October—he complained of swelling limbs, feverishness, pains in his joints and severe headaches. On November 17, with the Requiem far from finished, he took to his bed and was treated by Dr. Thomas Closset, one of Vienna’s best physicians, with the prescribed remedy for what was diagnosed

as “miliary fever” (perhaps rheumatic fever or uraemia, though the evidence is inconclusive)—cold compresses and unremitting bleeding. Mozart became obsessed with the Requiem, referring to it as his “swan-song,” convinced that he was writing the music for his own funeral: I cannot remove from my mind the image of the stranger. I see him continually. He begs me, exhorts me, and then commands me to work. I continue, because composition fatigues me less than rest. Moreover, I have nothing more to fear. I know from what I feel that the hour is striking; I am on the point of death; I have finished before I could enjoy my talent....

I thus must finish my funeral song, which I must not leave incomplete.

Mozart managed to finish only the “Requiem” and “Kyrie” sections of the work, but he sketched the voice parts and the bass and gave indications for scoring for the “Dies irae” through the “Hostias.”

On December 4, he scrawled a few measures of the “Lacrymosa,” and then asked three friends who had come to be with him to sing what he had just written. He tried to carry the alto part but broke into tears as soon as they had begun and collapsed.

A priest was called to administer extreme unction; at midnight Mozart bid his family farewell and turned toward the wall; at five minutes to one on the morning of December 5, 1791, he died, six weeks shy of his 36th birthday. He never knew for whom he had written the Requiem.

Constanze, worried that she might lose the commission fee, asked Joseph Eybler, a student of Haydn and a friend of her late husband, to complete the score. He filled in the instrumentation that Mozart had indicated for the middle movements of the piece, but he became stuck where the music broke off in the “Lacrymosa.” Franz Süssmayr, to whom Mozart had given detailed instructions about finishing the work, took up the task, revising Eybler’s orchestration and supplying music for the last three movements. Süssmayr recopied the score so that the manuscript would show one rather than three hands, and it was collected by the stranger, who paid the remaining commission fee.

The person who commissioned Mozart’s Requiem was Count Franz von Walsegg, a nobleman of musical aspirations who had the odious habit of anonymously ordering music from established composers and then passing it off as his own. This Requiem was to commemorate Walsegg’s Please turn page quietly MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 81

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wife, Anna, who died on February 14, 1791. The “grey stranger” was Walsegg’s valet, Anton Leitgeb, the son of the mayor of Vienna. Even after Mozart’s death, Walsegg went ahead with a performance of the Requiem, which was given at the Neukloster in the suburb of Wiener-Neustadt on December 14, 1793; the title page bore the legend, Requiem composto del Conte Walsegg. A few years later, when Constanze was trying to have her late husband’s works published, she implored Walsegg to disclose the Requiem’s true author. He did, and the score was first issued in 1802 by Breitkopf und Härtel.

Buried away in Otto Erich Deutsch’s Mozart: A Documentary Biography, is a fascinating but littleknown tidbit of information that may (or may not) have been a factor in Walsegg’s commission. One of Mozart’s brothers in Freemasonry was Michael Puchberg, who earned many fond footnotes in the composer’s biography for his generous financial support to the composer (Mozart euphemistically called these emoluments “loans”) during Wolfgang’s last years. Puchberg lived and managed a textile firm at Hoher Markt 522. That address, it seems, just happened to be located in the Viennese house of Franz von Walsegg, and it is certainly not impossible that Puchberg

encouraged Walsegg, in his curious way, to help Mozart in his time of distress.

It is difficult, and perhaps not even advisable, to dissociate Mozart’s Requiem from the circumstances of its composition—the work bears the ineradicable stamp of otherworldliness. In its sublimities and its sulfur, it appealed mightily to the Romantic sensibility of the 19th century, and it continues to have a hold on listeners matched by few other musical compositions. (Perhaps it is significant that the Requiem is performed annually in Vienna for the Feast of All Saints, the day after Halloween.) Manifold beauties of varied and moving expression abound throughout the Requiem: the ethereal strains of the “Recordare”; the vehemence of the “Confutatis”; the bitter plangency of the “Lacrymosa”; the old-fashioned, Bachian profundity of the fugal “Kyrie”; the feigned joy, so quickly terminated, of the “Hosanna.” The words of Lili Kraus, the Hungarian pianist closely associated throughout her career with the music of Mozart, apply with special cogency to the wondrous Requiem: “There is no feeling—human or cosmic, no depth, no height the human spirit can reach— that is not contained in his music.”

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

THANK YOU! to Concert Sponsors

Christine E. and Thomas L. Neyer, Sr. for their extraordinary support of “Mozart’s Requiem”

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TEXT I. INTROITUS (Chorus and Soprano) Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.

Exaudi orationem meam.

Ad te omnis caro veniet.

Rest eternal grant them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them.

There shall be singing unto Thee in Zion, and prayer shall go up to Thee in Jerusalem.

Hear my prayer.

Unto Thee all flesh shall come.

II. KYRIE (Chorus) Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

III. SEQUENZ 1. Dies irae (Chorus) Dies irae, dies illa solvet saeclum in favilla, teste David cum Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus, quando Judex est venturus cuncta stricte discussurus!

This day, this day of wrath shall consume the world in ashes, so spake David and the Sibyl.

Oh, what great trembling there will be when the Judge will appear to examine everything in strict justice!

2. Tuba mirum (Soloists) Tuba mirum spargens sonum per sepulchra regionum, coget omnes ante thronum.

Mors stupebit et natura, cum resurget creatura judicanti responsura.

Liber scriptus proferetur, in quo totum continetur, unde mundus judicetur.

Judex ergo cum sedebit, quidquid latet apparebit, nil inultum remanebit.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?

Quem patronum rogaturus, cum vix justus sit sicurus?

The trumpet, sending its wondrous sound across the graves of all lands, shall drive everyone before the throne.

Death and nature shall be stunned when all creation rises again to stand before the Judge.

A written book will be brought forth, in which everything is contained, from which the world will be judged.

So when the Judge is seated, whatever is hidden shall be made known, nothing shall remain unpunished.

What shall such a wretch as I say then?

To which protector shall I appeal, when even the just man is barely safe?

3. Rex tremendae (Chorus) Rex tremendae majestatis, qui salvandos salvas gratis, salva me, fons pietatis!

King of awesome majesty, who freely saves those worthy of salvation, save me, fount of pity!

4. Recordare (Soloists) Recordare, Jesu pie, quod sum causa tuae viae, ne me perdas illa die.

Quaerens me, sedisti lassus, redemisti crucem passus; tantus labor non sit cassus.

Juste judex ultionis, donum fac remissionis ante diem rationis.

Ingemisco tamquam reus, culpa rubet vultus meus, supplicanti parce, Deus.

Qui Mariam absolvisti et latronem exaudisti, mihi quoque spem dedisti.

Preces meae non sunt dignae, sed tu bonus fac benigne, ne perenni cremer igne.

Inter oves locum praesta et ab hoedis me sequestra, statuens in parte dextra.

Recall, dear Jesus, that I am the reason for Thy time on earth, do not cast me away on that day.

Seeking me, Thou didst sink down wearily, Thou hast saved me by enduring the cross; such travail must not be in vain.

Righteous judge of vengeance, award the gift of forgiveness before the day of reckoning.

I groan like the sinner that I am, guilt reddens my face, Oh God, spare the supplicant.

Thou, who pardoned Mary and heeded the thief, hast given me hope as well.

My prayers are unworthy, but Thou, good one, in pity let me not burn in the eternal fire.

Give me a place among the sheep and separate me from the goats, let me stand at Thy right hand.

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5. Confutatis (Chorus) Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis, voca me cum benedictis.

Oro supplex et acclinis, cor contritum quasi cinis, gere curam mei finis.

When the damned are cast away and consigned to the searing flames, call me to be with the blessed.

Bowed down in supplication I beg Thee, my heart as though ground to ashes: help me in my last hour.

6. Lacrymosa (Chorus) Lacrymosa dies illa qua resurget ex favilla judicandus homo reus; huic ergo parce Deus.

Pie Jesu, Domine, dona eis requiem.

Amen.

Oh, this day full of tears when from the ashes arises guilty man, to be judged: Oh Lord, have mercy upon him.

Gentle Lord Jesus, grant them rest.

Amen.

IV. OFFERTORIUM 1. Domine Jesu Christe (Chorus and Soloists) Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae, Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu.

Libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum; sed signifer sanctus Michael representet eas in lucem sanctam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of the faithful departed from the pains of hell and the bottomless pit.

Deliver them from the jaws of the lion, lest hell engulf them, lest they be plunged into darkness; but let the holy standard-bearer Michael lead them into the holy light, as Thou didst promise Abraham and his seed.

2. Hostias (Chorus) Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus, tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus: quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.

Lord, in praise we offer to Thee sacrifices and prayers, receive them for the souls of those whom we remember this day: as Thou didst promise Abraham and his seed.

V. SANCTUS 1. Sanctus (Chorus) Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Saboath!

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Hosanna in excelsis!

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!

Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.

Glory to God in the highest!

2. Benedictus (Soloists) Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini!

Hosanna in excelsis!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Glory to God in the highest!

VI. AGNUS DEI (Chorus) Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam.

Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest.

Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant them eternal rest.

VII. COMMUNIO (Soprano and Chorus) Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternam, quia pius es.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

May eternal light shine upon them, O Lord, with Thy saints forever, for Thou art good.

Lord, grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

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SATURDAY 6:30PM CET SUNDAY 8:30PM CET ARTS Join Barbara Kellar as she showcases artists and cultural leaders from the Greater Cincinnati community.

Em mmy Award Win nner www.CETconnect.org

Regional - In Re nterrview ew/D /Discu cussio i n Program m MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 85

MAHLER’S SYMPHONY OF A THOUSAND SAT MAY 27, 7:30 pm | Music Hall

JUANJO MENA, conductor SARAH WEGENER, soprano (Magna Paccatrix) CAMILLA TILLING, soprano (Una Poenitentium) LAUREN SNOUFFER, soprano (Mater Gloriosa) KATE LINDSEY, mezzo-soprano (Mulier Samaritana) BRIANA HUNTER, mezzo-soprano (Maria Aegyptiaca) BARRY BANKS, tenor (Doctor Marianus) JOSÉ ANTONIO LÓPEZ, baritone (Pater Ecstaticus) CHRISTIAN IMMLER, bass (Pater Profundus) MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS Robert Porco, director The May Festival Chorus is endowed by the Betsy & Alex C. Young Chair

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 Gustav MAHLER (1860–1911)

Encore: George Frideric HANDEL

Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major, Symphony of a Thousand I. Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus II. Final Scene from Goethe’s Faust

“Hallelujah” from Messiah

(1685–1759)

Tonight’s concert will last Tonight’s concert is sponsored by Ethan and approximately 95 minutes.

Doreen Stanley in memory of Ethan Bates Stanley II. There is no intermission.

The May Festival 150th Anniversary Sponsor is Christy and Terry Horan.

The 2023 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

The 2023 May Festival is sponsored by Chavez Properties.

The appearance of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is generously supported by the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation.

The appearances of Sarah Wegener and Christian Immler are made possible in part by generous endowment gifts from the friends and family of the Joan P. and Oliver L. Baily Fund.

The appearances of Barry Banks and Jose Antonio Lopez are made possible in part by a generous endowment gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy R. Brooks.

The appearances of Camilla Tilling and Lauren Snouffer are made possible in part by Melinda and Irwin Simon.

The appearance of Briana Hunter is made possible in part by Hixson Architecture Engineering Services.

The appearance of Kate Lindsey is made possible in part by a generous endowment gift from Mary and Joe Stern.

The encore performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah is given in memory of Betty Wohlgemuth, with funds generously provided by The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation.

The appearance of Matthew Swanson in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by David and Elaine Billmire.

Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the May Festival.

This concert will be broadcast on 90.9 WGUC live this evening, and on October 29, 2023 at 8 p.m.

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MAY 27 PROGRAM NOTES GUSTAV MAHLER

Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major, Symphony of a Thousand Born: July 7, 1860, Kalist, Bohemia Died: May 18, 1911, Vienna Work Composed: 1906 Premiere: September 12, 1910 in Munich, conducted by the composer Instrumentation: SATB soloists, SATB double chorus, youth/children’s choruses, 5 flutes (incl. piccolo), piccolo, 4 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, 8 trumpets, 7 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, deep bells, glockenspiel, tam-tam, triangle, 4 harps, celeste, harmonium, organ, piano, mandolin, strings May Festival notable performances: First: May 1931, Eugene Goossens conducting (soloists: Jeanette Vreeland, soprano; Editha Fleischer, soprano; Helene Kessing, soprano; Muriel Brunskill, contralto; Eleanor Reynolds, contralto; Dan Gridley, tenor; Fraser Gange, bass; Herbert Gould, bass); May Festival Chorus, Alfred Hartzel, chorusmaster; Conservatory of Music Chorus, John A. Hoffmann, director; St. Lawrence School, J. Alfred Schehl, conductor. Most Recent: May 2014, James Conlon conducting (soloists: Erin Wall, soprano; Tracy Cox, soprano; Amanda Woodbury, soprano; Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano; Ronnita Nicole Miller, mezzo-soprano; Brandon Jovanovich, tenor; Kristinn Sigmundsson, bassbaritone; Donnie Ray Albert, baritone); May Festival Chorus, Robert Porco, director; Nashville Symphony Chorus, Kelly Corcoran, director; Cincinnati Youth Choir, Robyn Lana, director.

Duration: approx. 80 minutes

In 1899, Mahler purchased a house and a plot of land at Maiernigg on Lake Wörth in southern Austria as a summer retreat from his strenuous duties as director of the Vienna Opera and as a quiet place to compose. After the 1905–1906 Vienna season, he conducted the premiere of his Sixth Symphony in Gustav Mahler Essen on May 27, and then went directly to Maiernigg “with the firm resolution of idling the holiday away and recruiting my strength,” he promised his wife, Alma. Although he had little time for creative work during the winter due to his operatic duties (he orchestrated his short scores from the summer during whatever minutes he could steal from his schedule during those months), he had no plans

to undertake a new composition in 1906. Quite unexpectedly (Mahler once said, “I don’t choose what to compose. It chooses me.”), his imagination was seized by the words of the Latin hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus, long attributed to Hrabanus Magnentius Maurus (780–856), Archbishop of Mainz, but now conceded to be by an unknown hand. The ancient hymn, Mahler said, “took hold of me and shook me and drove me on for the next eight weeks until my greatest work was done.”

Mahler started composing music for the Veni, Creator Spiritus feverishly, but for the words he was depending on his memory and on what proved to be a corrupt edition of the verses. He found the music running unaccountably ahead of the text, and lamented the fact to a philologist friend, who told him that several lines were missing from his version. On July 18th, Mahler hurriedly cabled his Viennese friend, the archeologist Dr. Friederich Löhr, and asked him to locate a reliable edition of the hymn and send it to him with all possible speed. Alma recorded with amazement that “the complete text fit the music exactly. Intuitively he had composed the music for the full strophes!”

(Mahler did, however, omit a few words in stanzas five and six.)

Caught in a whirlwind of inspiration, Mahler was possessed of enough audacity to attempt, as a complementary movement to his Veni, Creator Spiritus, a setting of the closing scene from that most sacred icon in all German literature, Goethe’s Faust. Faust had already been the subject of a number of earlier compositions; indeed, Goethe hoped that parts of it would be set to music.

Berlioz played fast and loose with the story in his La damnation de Faust (in which he transports the hero to the plains of Hungary for the sole purpose of incorporating his popular Rákóczy March into the score); Liszt was inspired to write a Faust Symphony; Schumann composed Scenes from Goethe’s Faust; Wagner penned a Faust Overture; Gounod made melodrama of Goethe’s soaring verse in his 1859 opera; and Boito conjured up more power than profundity in his 1868 Mefistofele. Mahler’s version would surpass all of these, not only in the enormous forces required for its performance but also in the sweeping, transcendent nature of its vision.

Mahler took as his subject the last scene from Faust, Part II, those paragraphs in which Goethe Please turn page quietly MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 87

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chose not the death and damnation accorded to the title character in earlier realizations of the story but rather salvation and assumption into the highest universal bliss. The scene is set in rocky gorges inhabited by religious hermits named, in ascending order of divine knowledge, Pater Ecstaticus, Pater Profundis and Doctor Marianus. The spirits of children who died in infancy hover about. Angels bear the soul of Faust to this lofty place. Doctor Marianus hails the appearance of the Virgin (Mater Gloriosa), with whom penitent women intercede for mercy for another penitent, Gretchen. Gretchen is forgiven and charged to lead Faust “to higher spheres.” The Chorus Mysticus sings of the heaven where earth’s imperfections are swept away and the Virgin’s pure love—the “Eternal Feminine”—leads humanity onward.

Just before leaving to conduct The Marriage of Figaro in Salzburg on August 18, 1906, in honor of the 150th anniversary of Mozart’s birth by “Supreme Command” of the Emperor Franz Josef himself, Mahler wrote to the conductor Willem Mengelberg: I have just finished my Eighth! It is the most important thing I have done so far. And so individual in content and form that I cannot describe it in words. Imagine that the whole

universe begins to vibrate and resound. These are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.

Later, Mahler wrote to Alma specifically about his music for Faust: It is all an allegory to convey something which, whatever form it is given, can never be adequately expressed.... That which draws us by its mystic force, what every created thing, perhaps even the stones, feels with absolute certainty as the center of its being, what Goethe here—again employing an image—calls the “Eternal Feminine”—that is to say the resting-place, the goal, in opposition to the striving and struggling towards the goal (the “Eternal Masculine”)—you are quite right in calling it the force of love. There are infinite representations and names for it.... Christians call this eternal blessedness [Mahler converted from his paternal Judaism to Christianity before taking the Vienna post in 1897], and I cannot do better than employ this beautiful and sufficient mythology—the most complete conception to which at this epoch of humanity it is possible to attain.

The realization of such an extraordinary vision required one of the most elaborate aggregations of performers ever required for a musical work (an

THANK YOU! to Concert Sponsor

Ethan and Doreen Stanley in memory of Ethan Bates Stanley II for their extraordinary support of “Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand”

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enormous orchestra, eight soloists and three choirs), and, given Mahler’s own deteriorating health, the press of his new duties at The Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic after resigning from the Vienna Opera in 1907, and the composition of Das Lied von der Erde and the Ninth Symphony, it was some time before he could arrange for the premiere. The impresario Emil Gutmann finally accepted the challenge and scheduled the Eighth Symphony’s first performance for Munich in September 1910. Since Mahler was engaged in New York throughout the winter months, his protégé Bruno Walter was entrusted with the preparations for the concert, including the selection and coaching of soloists and choristers and the direction of preliminary rehearsals.

Gutmann advertised the production as the “Symphony of a Thousand” (Mahler was worried that it would deteriorate into “a Barnum and Bailey show”) and enlisted 858 singers and 171 instrumentalists. Preparations went ahead for the performances on Monday and Tuesday, September 12 and 13, in Munich’s new Musikfesthalle with meticulous attention to detail: Mahler consulted Alfred Roller, his designer at the Vienna Opera, on the most striking visual and acoustical deployment for his vast musical forces; many levels of lighting were tried before the most effective one was chosen; the program booklet went through constant revision; the passing streetcars were instructed not to sound their bells during the concerts. Reports unanimously tell of the awe that Mahler, as both conductor and composer, inspired first in his performers and then in his audiences.

Many of the leading intellectual figures of the day attended, including Klemperer, Stokowski (who created a sensation in Philadelphia when he gave the American premiere of the Eighth Symphony six years later), Webern, Casella, Stefan Zweig, Siegfried Wagner, Max Reinhardt, and many others.

Thomas Mann was so moved by the performance that he sent Mahler a copy of his latest novel, Königliche Hoheit (“Royal Highness”), inscribed to “the man who, as I believe, expresses the art and time in its most profound and most sacred form.” The event was Mahler’s only unmitigated acclamation as a composer during his entire life. It was also the last time he conducted in Europe and the last time he led one of his own works anywhere.

Nine months later, he was dead of a streptococcus infection that stilled his already weakened heart.

The two large parts in which Mahler disposed the huge panorama of his Eighth Symphony contrast in language, form and musical style. Part I, Veni, Creator Spiritus, originally a hymn used in the Roman Catholic liturgy at Pentecost, the celebration of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the followers of Jesus Christ after His resurrection, asks the Divinity to “kindle our senses with light, pour Thy love into our hearts.” Mahler’s logical and grandiloquent reply in Part II to this invocation is the scene from Faust, which he relates musically to the Veni, Creator Spiritus movement through the recurrence of certain motives, the most triumphant of which is the transformed main theme of the first movement pealed forth by the supplementary brass instruments in the Symphony’s closing pages. Egon Gartenberg, in his study of the composer, wrote: Despite the vastness of the work, it is a structural marvel, surprisingly compact and integrated. Aspects of three pronounced musical periods are evident: the structure of the Viennese Classics [Part I is in sonata-allegro form]; the color and glow of the Romantic age; and at the high point of symphonic drama Mahler reaches back to Bruckner and even further back to the splendor and spirit of the Baroque. It is the interplay among these diverse influences that makes Mahler’s Eighth Symphony a milestone in its time and a highlight of his creative life.... All are integrated in one musical masterpiece and heightened in intensity by Mahler’s grandiose vision.

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

2023 YOUTH CHORUS AWARD WINNERS John Hauck Foundation Scholarship The May Festival Youth Chorus is pleased to award the John Hauck Foundation Scholarship to CALIA BURDETTE. The scholarship annually supports graduating Youth Chorus members who will pursue university studies in music or a related arts field.

James Bagwell Award The Youth Chorus is pleased to honor NATALIE HOOVER with the James Bagwell Award.

Named for Dr. James Bagwell, conductor of the Youth Chorus 1997–2018, the award recognizes exemplary commitment to the Youth Chorus, intellectual curiosity and musical potential.

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TEXT PART I Veni, Creator Spiritus, Mentes tuorum visita, Imple superna gratia, Quae tu creasti pectora.

Come, Creator Spirit, visit our souls, fill them with grace, Thou that didst create them.

Qui diceris Paraclitus, Altissimi donum Dei, Fons vivus, ignis, caritas Et spiritalis unctio.

Thou, that art called Comforter, highest gift of God, living fount, fire, love and unction of the spirit.

Infirma nostri corporis Virtute firmans perpeti, Accende lumen sensibus, Infunde amorem cordibus.

Endow our weak flesh with perpetual strength, kindle our senses with light, pour Thy love into our hearts.

Hostem repellas longius Pacemque dones protinus, Ductore sic te praevio Vitemus omne pessimum.

Drive the enemy far from us, grant us lasting peace, so, beneath Thy guidance, we may avoid all ill.

Tu septiformis munere Digitus paternae dexterae.

(Tu rite promissum Patris, Sermone ditans guttura.)*

Thou, sevenfold in gifts, finger of the Father’s right hand, true promise of God, that dost endow our tongues with speech.

Per te sciamus da Patrem, Noscamus (atque)* Filium, (Te utriusque)* Spiritum Credamus omni tempore.

Give us to know Father and Son through Thee, and Thee, emanating of both, grant we may always believe.

Da gaudiorum praemia, Da gratiarum munera, Dissolve litis vincula, Adstringe pacis foedera.

Give us joy, grant us Thy grace, smooth our quarrels, preserve us in bonds of peace.

Gloria Patri Domino, Deo sit gloria et Filio, Natoque, qui a mortuis Surrexit, ac Paraclito In saeculorum saecula.

Glory be to the Father, and to His Son, who rose from the dead, and to our Advocate and Comforter for ever and ever.

*Words omitted by Mahler PART II Final Scene from Goethe’s Faust, Part II (Mountain gorges, forest, cliffs, desert. Holy anchorites …resting between high cliffs.)

Choir and Echo Waldung, sie schwankt heran, Felsen, sie lasten dran, Wurzeln, sie klammern an, Stamm dicht an Stamm hinan.

Woge nach Woge spritzt, Höhle, die tiefste, schützt.

Löwen, sie schleichen stumm, Freundlich um uns herum, Ehren geweihten Ort, Heiligen Liebesort.

Forest sways, rocks press heavily, roots grip, tree-trunk packs close to tree-trunk.

Wave upon wave breaks, foaming, deepest cavern provides shelter.

Lions, friendly disposed, pad silently round us— place sacred to honors, refuge sacred to love.

Check out our NEW DIGITAL PROGRAM! For even more enriching content including full-length biographies, digital content and more, text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*, visit mayfestival.com/digital-program, or point your phone’s camera at the QR code. *By texting to this number, you may receive messages that pertain to the organization and its performances; msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP to help, STOP to cancel.

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Pater Ecstaticus (soaring high and low) Ewiger Wonnebrand, Glühendes Liebesband, Siedender Schmerz der Brust, Schäumende Gotteslust.

Pfeile, durchdringet mich, Lanzen, bezwinget mich, Keulen, zerschmettert mich, Blitze, durchwettert mich, Dass ja das Nichtige Alles verflüchtige, Glänze der Dauerstern, Ewiger Liebe Kern!

Eternal passion of delight, love’s glowing bond, seething agony of the breast, sparkling happiness divine.

Arrows, pierce me through, spears, subdue me, clubs, batter me, lightning, flash through me, that all things futile should vanish without fail, that the everlasting star, nucleus of eternal love, may shine forth!

Pater Profundus (from the nether regions) Wie Felsenabgrund mir zu Füssen Auf tiefem Abgrund lastend ruht, Wie tausend Bäche strahlend fliessen Zum grausen Sturz des Schaums der Flut, Wie strack, mit eig’nem kräft’gen Triebe, Der Stamm sich in die Lüfte trägt, So ist es die allmächt’ge Liebe, Die alles bildet, alles hegt.

Ist um mich her ein wildes Brausen, Als wogte Wald und Felsengrund!

Und doch stürzt, liebevoll im Sausen, Die Wasserfülle sich zum Schlund, Berufen gleich das Tal zu wässern; Der Blitz, der flammend niederschlug, Die Atmosphäre zu verbessern, Die Gift und Dunst im Busen trug: Sind Liebesboten, sie verkünden, Was ewig schaffend uns umwallt.

Mein Inn’res mög’ es auch entzünden, Wo sich der Geist, verworren, kalt, Verquält in stumpfer Sinne Schranken, Scharf angeschloss’nem Kettenschmerz.

O Gott! beschwichtige die Gedanken, Erleuchte mein bedürftig Herz!

As the rocky precipice at my feet rests heavily in the deep abyss, as a thousand streams, sparkling, flow to the dread cataract of the foaming flood, as, straight upward, of its own powerful drive, the tree-trunk rears itself in the air, so it is almighty love that shapes all and cherishes all.

When around me wild tumult roars, as if forest and rocky bottom were in upheaval, and yet the mass of waters, loving in its bluster hurls itself into the gorge, summoned presently to water the valley, when the lightning flamed downwards to purify the atmosphere, which carried in its bosom poison and fumes, these are harbingers of love, they proclaim that which ever seethes, creating, round us.

Oh, might it kindle also my inmost being, where my spirit, confused and cold, agonizes, imprisoned by a dulled brain fast locked in fetters of pain.

Oh, God, soothe my thoughts, enlighten my needful heart!

The two following choruses are sung simultaneously.

Angels (bearing Faust’s immortal soul, as they soar in the upper air) Gerettet ist das edle Glied Saved is the noble member Der Geisterwelt vom Bösen: of the spirit world from evil: Wer immer strebend sich bemüht, that man, who endeavors, ever striving, Den können wir erlösen, him we have power to redeem, Und hat an ihm die Liebe gar and if, over and above love from on Von oben teilgenommen, high has taken its part, Begegnet ihm die sel’ge Schar the blessed host will encounter him Mit herzlichem Willkommen. with heartfelt greeting.

Blessed Boys (circling in the highest peaks) Hände verschlinget euch Freudig zum Ringverein, Regt euch und singet Heil’ge Gefühle drein.

Göttlich belehret, Dürft ihr vertrauen: Den ihr verehret, Werdet ihr schauen.

Hands clasp joyfully in the circle of union, bestir yourselves, and may your songs add holy sentiments thereto.

Divinely instructed you may rest assured: He, whom you worship, you will behold.

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PROGRAM NOTES

Younger Angels Jene Rosen, aus den Händen Liebend-heil’ger Büsserinnen, Halfen uns den Sieg gewinnen Und das hohe Werk vollenden, Diesen Seelenschatz erbeuten.

Böse wichen, als wir streuten, Teufel flohen, als wir trafen.

Statt gewohnter Höllenstrafen Fühlten Liebesqual die Geister; Selbst der alte Satans-Meister War von spitzer Pein durchdrungen.

Jauchzet auf! es ist gelungen.

The More Perfect Angels (choir with contralto solo) Uns bleibt ein Erdenrest Und, zu tragen peinlich Und wär’ er von Asbest, (voices overlapping) Er ist nicht reinlich.

Wenn starke Geisteskraft Die Elemente An sich herangerafft, (enter soloist) Kein Engel trennte Geeinte Zwienatur Der innigen beiden, Die ewige Liebe nur Vermag’s zu scheiden.

Those roses from the hands of loving-holy women penitents, help us achieve victory and fulfill the divine purpose, capture this soul-treasure.

Evil retreated as we strewed, devils fled as we pelted them.

Instead of the accustomed punishments of hell, the spirits experienced pangs of love; even the old master-Satan himself was pierced by sharp pain.

Rejoice! It is fulfilled.

To us remains a residue of earth painful for us to bear, as though it were of asbestos made, yet it is not clean.

When the great might of the spirit has grappled fast each element to itself, no angel could divide the two joined natures of the deeply passionate pair, the everlasting love alone would be capable of dividing them.

Younger Angels Ich spür soeben, Nebelnd um Felsenhöh’, Ein Geisterleben, Regend sich in der Näh’.

Seliger Knaben Seh’ ich bewegte Schar, Los von der Erde Druck, Im Kreis gesellt, Die sich erlaben Am neuen Lenz und Schmuck Der obern Welt.

I perceive at this moment, misty round the rocky heights a rousing of spirits nearby.

I see a stirring host of blessed children, free from the burden of earth in a circle joined, who delight themselves in the new springtime and embellishment of the world above.

Doctor Marianus (in the highest, most pure cell of all) Hier ist die Aussicht frei, Der Geist erhoben.

Here the prospect is free, the spirit elevated.

Younger Angels Sei er zum Anbeginn, Steigendem Vollgewinn, Diesen gesellt!

Let him, at first, be joined with these till, ever-increasing, finally attain the highest gain.

Doctor Marianus Dort ziehen Frauen vorbei, Schwebend nach oben; Die Herrliche mittenin, Im Sternenkranze, Die Himmelskönigin…

Women are passing there, soaring towards the heights; in the center, the all-glorious one, in a coronet of stars, the Queen of heaven…

Blessed Boys Freudig empfangen wir Diesen im Puppenstand; Also erlangen wir Englisches Unterpfand.

Löset die Flokken los, Die ihn umgeben.

Schon ist er schön und gross Von heiligem Leben.

Joyfully we welcome him in his chrysalis condition; thus do we receive an angelic pledge.

Shake off the flakes that envelop him.

He is already tall and beautiful through the holy life.

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Doctor Marianus …Ich seh’s am Glanze Höchste Herrscherin der Welt!

Lasse mich im blauen Ausgespannten Himmelszelt Dein Geheimnis schauen!

Bill’ge, was des Mannes Brust Ernst und zart bewegt Und mit heil’ger Liebeslust Dir entgegen trägt.

Unbezwinglich unser Mut, Wenn du hehr gebietest; Plötzlich mildert sich die Glut, Wenn du uns befriedest.

…I perceive by the splendor, most exalted mistress of the world!

In the blue outspread vault of heaven make me to behold thy mystery!

Accept that which moves the breast of man tenderly and gravely and which, with love’s holy joy, he offers up to thee.

Indomitable our courage, when thou, sublime, commandest; passions at once subside, when thou dost pacify us.

Doctor Marianus and Choir (variously, overlapping) Jungfrau, rein im schönsten Sinne, Mutter, Ehren würdig, Uns erwählte Königin, Göttern ebenbürtig.

Virgin, pure in the fairest thought, mother worthy to be honored, to us elected queen, equal to gods.

(Mater Gloriosa soars into view) Choir Dir, der Unberührbaren, Ist es nicht benommen, Dass die leicht Verführbaren Traulich zu dir kommen.

In die Schwachheit hingerafft, Sind sie schwer zu retten.

Wer zerreisst aus eig’ner Kraft Der Gelüste Ketten?

Wie entgleitet schnell der Fuss Schiefem, glattem Boden.

To thee, virgin-unassailable, it is not denied that the easily-led-astray may confidently approach thee.

Carried away in frailty, they are difficult to save.

Who, of his own strength, can break free from the chains of appetite?

How quickly does the foot slip upon a smooth sloping floor.

Penitent Women Du schwebst zu Höhen Der ewigen Reiche, Vernimm das Flehen, Du Gnadenreiche, Du Ohnegleiche!

Thou dost soar to the heights of the eternal kingdom, accept our prayer, thou, rich in mercy, thou, unparalleled!

Magna Peccatrix (St. Luke, vii, 36) Bei der Liebe, die den Füssen Deines gottverklärten Sohnes Tränen liess zum Balsam fliessen, Trotz des Pharisäer-Hohnes, Beim Gefässe, das so reichlich Tropfte Wohlgeruch hernieder, Bei den Lokken, die so weichlich Trockneten die heil’gen Glieder—

By the love that on the feet of thy divinely transfigured Son let fall tears as balsam, despite the scorn of the Pharisees, by the vessel that so richly dropped sweet fragrance, by the tresses that so softly dried the holy limbs—

Mulier Samaritana (St. John, iv) Bei dem Bronn, zu dem schon weiland Abram liess die Herde führen, Bei dem Eimer, der dem Heiland Kühl die Lippe durft’ berühren, Bei den reinen reichen Quelle, Die nun dorther sich ergiesset, Überflüssig, ewig helle, Rings durch alle Welten fliesst—

By the well to which of old already Abraham drove his flock, by the water-pot which was suffered to touch, refreshing, the Savior’s lips, by the pure rich spring which, spilling over, eternally clear, pours from thence, flows round about all through the world—

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PROGRAM NOTES

Maria Aegyptiaca (Acta Sanctorum) Bei dem hochgeweihten Orte Wo den Herrn man niederliess, Bei dem Arm, der von der Pforte, Warnend mich zurükke stiess, Bei der vierzigjähr’gen Busse, Der ich treu in Wüsten blieb, Bei dem sel’gen Scheidegrusse, Den in Sand ich niederschrieb—

By the sublime and holy place where they laid Our Lord, by the arms that, from the gate, warning, thrust me back, by the 40-year-long repentance, I faithfully adhered to in the desert, by the sacred farewell, I wrote in the sand—

All Three Die du grossen Sünderinnen Deine Nähe nicht verweigerst, Und ein büssendes Gewinnen In die Ewigkeiten steigerst, Gönn’ auch dieser guten Seele, Die sich einmal nur vergessen, Die nicht ahnte, dass sie fehle, Dein Verzeihen angemessen!

Thou who dost not deny thy presence to penitent women who have greatly sinned, and raise to eternity the victory gained by repentance, grant also to this good soul, who fell but once, not suspecting that she erred, thy just pardon!

Gretchen (A Penitent) (clinging to the Virgin) Neige, neige, Du Ohnegleiche, Du Strahlenreiche, Dein Antlitz gnädig meinem Glück.

Der früh Geliebte, Nicht mehr Getrübte, Er kommt zurück.

Incline, incline thy countenance graciously, thou unparalleled, thou, richly radiant, upon my happiness.

The love of long ago, now free from stain, is returning.

Blessed Boys (circling near) Er überwächst uns schon An mächt’gen Gliedern, Wird treuer Pflege Lohn Reichlich erwidern.

Wir wurden früh entfernt Von lebechören; Doch dieser hat gelernt, Er wird uns lehren.

He outstrips us already on mighty limbs, he will richly requite the reward of faithful care.

We were early snatched from the choir of life; but this man has learnt, he will teach us.

Gretchen (A Penitent) (cutting in) Vom edlen Geisterchor umgeben, Wird sich der Neue kaum gewahr, Er ahnet kaum das frische Leben, So gleicht er schon der heil’gen Schar.

Sieh, wie er jedem Erdenbande Der alten Hülle sich entrafft.

Und aus ätherischem Gewande Hervortritt erste Jugendkraft!

Vergönne mir, ihn zu belehren Noch blendet ihn der neue Tag.

Encircled by the noble choir of spirits the newly-arrived is scarcely conscious of himself, hardly conscious of the new life, so much does he resemble the sacred host already.

See how he divests himself of every earthly bond of his erstwhile husk.

And, from ethereal raiment, steps forth from the first flush of youth!

Let me be his tutor, the new day dazzles him still.

Mater Gloriosa Komm! Hebe dich zu höhern Sphären, Wenn er dich ahnet, folgt er nach.

Come! Raise yourself to the supreme spheres, When he apprehends you, he will follow after.

Mystical Choir Komm! Komm!

Come! Come!

Doctor Marianus Blicket auf,…

Look up,…

Mystical Choir Komm!

Come!

Doctor Marianus …alle reuig Zarten!

…all creatures frail and contrite!

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PROGRAM NOTES

Mystical Choir Komm!

Come!

Doctor Marianus and Mystical Choir Blicket auf, auf zum Retterblick, Alle reuig Zarten, Euch zu sel’gem Glück Dankend umzuarten.

Werde jeder bess’re Sinn Dir zum Dienst erbötig; Jungfrau, Mutter, Königin, Göttin, bleibe gnädig!

Look up, up to the Redeemer’s gaze, all creatures frail and contrite, that you may gratefully be translated to blissful fortune.

May every better impulse be ready at your service; virgin, mother, queen, goddess, be ever gracious!

Mystical Choir Alles Vergängliche Ist nur ein Gleichnis; Das Unzulängliche Hier wird’s Ereignis, Das Unbeschreibliche, Hier ist’s getan; Das Ewig-Weibliche Zieht uns hinan.

All things transitory are but parable; here insufficiency becomes fulfillment, here the indescribable is accomplished; the ever-womanly draws us heavenward.

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL

“Hallelujah” from Messiah TEXT Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. (Revelation 19:6) The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.

(Revelation 11:15) King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

(Revelation 19:16)

THE CITY THAT SINGS

A vibrant community of choirs from across the Tri-State area of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana that collaborate with each other for the collective benefit of all singers in the Cincinnati region.

Choirs from YOUR schools, universities, community organizations and houses of worship are invited to join this initiative, and, together, we’ll ensure that Cincinnati remains “The City That Sings.”

Whether you’re looking for a choir to join, a performance to attend, or a grand convention of singers, THE CITY THAT SINGS has the information you need!

Learn more online at bit.ly/citythatsings.

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 95

CINCINNATI MUSICAL FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers Christy Horan, Chair Mike Curran, Vice-Chair Anthony Lazzeri, Treasurer Mary Stucky, Secretary Eric Combs, Immediate Past Chair Directors Helene Bentley David Boyles William Henry Caldwell Chris Canarie Melanie M. Chavez Teresa F. Ernst, PharmD Barbara Feldmann

Mary Monahan Gimpel J. Mark Holcomb Dr. David A. Huelsman Isaiah Hyman, Jr. Thomas Kirkpatrick Robert K. Lomax Rene McPhedran Patricia Misrach Manisha Patel, MD Kathleen Rambo Ruthann Sammarco Eileen Stanisic Kelly Willbrandt Jeannine Winkelmann Shelby O. Wood

Directors Emeriti Susan S. Laffoon Geraldine B. Warner Honorary Director Steven Monder Advisory Committee (Past Chairs) Rhoda A. Brooks Melanie M. Chavez Eric K. Combs Nancy Heffner Donovan Kelley J. Downing Gregory L. Ebel

Jerold A. Fink J. Mark Holcomb Susan S. Laffoon Sherie Lynch Marek Charles S. Mechem Thomas L. Neyer, Jr. Charles Powers Carole Tyler Rigaud J. Shane Starkey Robert E. Stautberg Timothy E. Stautberg Gust Totlis Ronald H. Yocum

Cincinnati Musical Festival Association Mission, Vision and Values MISSION We exist to engage, energize and connect our community with the highest quality performances of great choral music.

VISION We are the most exciting force in the choral world. We are a leader and catalyst in the production, presentation and promotion of choral activities in our region and around the globe.

VALUES We believe in fostering choral music of the highest artistic standards; preserving the history, enhancing the present and embracing the future of choral music; cultivating diverse audiences, choirs and singers who are passionate about choral music; operating in a financially sound manner.

WELCOME GROUPS! Bach’s Magnificat The Athenaeum of Ohio Dale and Tracy Bailey Family and Friends Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Mozart’s Requiem Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Twin Tower Senior Living Residents Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand Maple Knoll Village Residents

Call the Group Sales Department for your group needs at 513.864.0196.

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THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS ANNUAL FUND

THANK YOU to the following donors for sharing their love of choral music, and the power of the May Festival, with our community, and for making our region a better, more vibrant, exciting and inspiring place to live.

This list represents donations of $50 or more received between January 1, 2022, and April 15, 2023. Gifts received after this date will be recognized in future May Festival listings. To request a change to your listing, please reach out to Cat Dixon, Director of Advancement & Engagement at cdixon@mayfestival.com or 513.744.3321.

CHORUS LEVEL Gifts of $10,000 and above

ArtsWave Joan P. Baily Trish and Rick Bryan The Thomas W. Busse Charitable Trust Chavez Properties The Corbett May Festival Fund Barbara Ann Feldmann Babs and Tom Ferrell Fort Washington Investment Advisors The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Morton Harshman Christy and Terry Horan Scott and Carol Kosarko Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation The H.B., E.W. and F. R. Luther Charitable Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Lois and Mel Nizny, MD Ohio Arts Council Louise Taft Semple Foundation Ethan and Doreen Stanley Ginger and David Warner The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation ENSEMBLE LEVEL Gifts of $7,500–$9,999 Patrons

Robert A. Atterton The Andrew Jergens Foundation Laskey Charitable Fund Irwin and Melinda Simon Gifts of $5,000–$7,499

John G. Avril Chris and Beth Canarie Drs. Manisha Patel and Michael Curran Sherry and Mark Holcomb Sherry and Mark Holcomb Mrs. Karen P. McKim The Estate of Mary Ann Meanwell Christine E. and Thomas L. Neyer, Sr. Family Mr. Michael E. Phillips Kathy and Craig Rambo Mrs. Barbara W. Robb The Ladislas & Vilma Segoe Family Foundation 98 | mayfestival.com

CHORALE LEVEL Gifts of $4,000–$4,999 Patrons

David and Elaine Billmire Cincinnati International Wine Festival Ann Ellison Mrs. Karolyn L. Johnsen Susan Laffoon Sherie Lynch Marek Gifts of $2,500–$3,999

Eric and Jane Combs Diana T. Dwight Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ernst Drew Gores and George Warrington Linda Busken and Andrew MacAoidh Jergens Patty Misrach David and Vicky Motch Motch Family Foundation Poul D. and JoAnne Pedersen Mr. and Mrs. Slobodan Stanisic Katherine and Tim Stautberg Margaret and Michael Valentine Jeannine and John C. Winkelmann, MD Shelby O. Wood SOLOIST LEVEL Gifts of $2,000–$2,499 Patrons

Jess Baily Karen and David Huelsman Tom and Sue Kirkpatrick Matinee Musicale Club Dr. and Mrs. G. James Sammarco Sally and Jerry Skidmore Nydia C. Tranter Gifts of $1,000–$1,999

Anonymous Jeff and Keiko Alexander Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Bierer Prof. William Henry Caldwell Helen H. Chatfield Melanie Chavez Caroline H. Davidson Ashley and Barbara Ford Friends of Music Hall Isaiah Hyman Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Klinedinst III Kathleen B. and Michael C. Krug* Ronald C. Lamping Susan J. Lauf Mr. & Dr. Anthony Lazzeri Whitney and Phillip Long Mrs. Rene McPhedran Linda Mueller Ellen Rieveschl Dianne and J. David Rosenberg* The Saenger Family Foundation Kathryn and Vishnoo Shahani Bill and Lee Steenken Steven R. Sunderman and Mark C. Adams St. Rose Church Jane A. Walker Joe White DUO LEVEL Gifts of $750–$999 Patrons

Milt and Berdie Blersch Charles and Barbara Glueck Rev. Anne Warrington Wilson Gifts of $500–$749

Gerard Baillely Pete and Melanie Boylan Mr. David R. Boyles and Mr. David Castillo William L. Budde, PhD Michael L. Cioffi and Rachael Rowe Cat and Stan Dixon

Nancy and Steve Donovan Kelley and David Downing Ms. Kathleen M. Grote Margaret E. Hagar Dr. Jack and Barbara Hahn Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors Mike and MaryBeth Hockenberry Elizabeth Lilly* Thomas J. and Adele G. Lippert* The Naberhaus Family Mr. and Mrs. John T. Osterman Judge Mark and Sue Ann Painter Irene and Daniel P. Randolph Family The Schieve Family James P. Schubert Mr. Geoffrey Strauss Dr. Matthew Swanson Mr. and Mrs. George Thomas Roseanne Wetzel Barry Zaslow TRIO LEVEL Gifts of $400–$499 Patrons

Anonymous Helene Sullivan Bentley Mr. and Mrs. Carl R. Fiora Shelley and Steven Goldstein Spence Ingerson Gifts of $300–$399

Nate and Greta Bachhuber Neil K. Bortz David Brashear Dale and Kathy Elifrits Gorilla Glue Mr. Henry Huber Mr. and Mrs. John Klahm Dr. and Mrs. Calvin C. Linneman The Family of Marie F. Martin Dr. Janet P. McDaniel Alice Perlman Carol J. Schroeder John M. Shepherd Kenneth and Alice Skirtz Mr. Jeffrey Slattery Robin and Larry Wiley Karen Wiltsie QUARTET LEVEL Gifts of $200–$299 Patrons

Anonymous Christine O. Adams Marsha and Alan Brody Rhoda and John Brooks Carol C. Cole Mark Dauner Steven and Donna Dauterman Stephen and Cynthia DeHoff Edy and David Dreith Barbara Erskine Barbara Esposito-Ilacqua Bernard and Rachel Foster Rebecca Freer Mr. and Mrs. John Gantt Lawrence John Halloran Mr. and Mrs. Robert Heidenreich Robert and Anne Judd Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Kilfoil Mr. Robert Lomax and Mrs. Justine Clark-Lomax David Mill and Kate York Mr. and Mrs. James Nicholson Mr. Terry Parsons Stephen Phillips Mrs. Carole T. Rigaud Ms. Barbara Seiver Marian P. Stapleton Mrs. Cynthia M. Starr Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Stucky David and Christine Thornbury

THANK YOU

Dean and Mary Watkins Mark and Jennifer Weaver Ronna and James Willis Robert and Judy Wilson Gordon Yasinow Gifts of $100–$199

Anonymous (7) Drs. Frank and Mary Albers Kathryn and Kevin Albertson Dr. and Mrs. Bernard Bacevich Dr. Allen W. Bernard Ms. Laurie Boisclair Dr. Ralph P. Brown Donald and Kathleen Field Burns Ms. Deborah J. Campbell The Cincinnati Woman’s Club Dr. George I. Colombel Mr. and Mrs. Vito Damiano Mr. and Mrs. William O. DeWitt, Jr. Roger and Mary Jo Duvall Ren and Christina Egbert Turney Berry and Kendra Foster Karl and Connie Graham Anita Greer & William Gatian Charles and Melissa Haas Mrs. Gaynelle Hardwick Alice and John Hehman Emily Hodges Ross Hoff Dr. and Mrs. Nelson Horseman Carl and Bonnie Hosea Ms. Maite Iraolagoitia Robert Jenkins Paul and Mary Jenks Marlene Rowat Johnson Mary Judge Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Kanney Jerry N. Kirby, MD Mel and John Kuempel Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence H. Kyte, Jr. Ms. Jane Lewin Ms. Linda Lin Nancy and Jonathan Lippincott Elaine and Lowell Lustig David L. Martin Matthew Matson Mr. Randolph McAusland Catherine McGraw Mrs. Frances Lee Meyer Lynn Miller Mr. and Mrs. Fred Moore Lorena Mora-Mowry Tim and Jean Muetzel James Muhlenkamp Robert and Cynthia Muhlhauser Dr. and Mrs. Charles M. Myer III Mr. and Mrs. H. Scott Nesbitt Terry and Jill Parsons PNC Bank Foundation Drs. Michael Privitera and Marcia Kaplan Joseph Raterman Steven and Emily Riedell Terry and Burr Robinson Ellen Sanders-Noonan Alison Yaeger Schray Mrs. Elizabeth B. Schulenberg Dr. and Mrs. Rees W. Sheppard Elizabeth A. Snyder Ms. Carol A. Sparks Sam and Dottie Stover Dr. Steve and Rev. Kristie Stricker May Ann and Bill Taylor HORAN Capital Advisors Janet G. Todd Dr. Ilsa van der Bent Mr. and Mrs. Frederick D. Warren Jim and George Ann Wesner Stephen and Amy Whitlatch Dennis Wilhelm and Michael Kinerk Charles A. Wilkinson M. P. Wiggins John M. Yacher

SHAREHOLDER LEVEL Gifts of $75–$99 Patrons

Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Beimesch Sarah Hawkins Ms. Megan Lawson Ms. Sally A. Lund Gifts of $50–$74

Anonymous (1) Mr. and Mrs. Frank Albi Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Beimesch Fred Berger Mr. Michael Bourke Dr. C.J. and Carolyn Condorodis Phillip Crabtree and Christy Backley Keith and Penni Dale Ronda Deel Mr. James Gaunt Mr. Nicholas Gonzales and Ms. Anne Eisele Ms. Julia Hawgood and Mr. Harry Kangis Lauren and Richard Hess Ms. Margaret A. Hilvert Emily and Barry Hindin Joseph and Eleanor Hingtgen Daniel J. Hoffheimer Dr. and Mrs. Scott Jolson Helen Kanters Ms. John Kemen Mr. Robert A. Kercheval, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. John Maier David Mason Jim and Hope Metzger Ms. Brenda Mitchell James Norton Alan and Tamar Oestreich Ms. Bavi È. Rivera Mr. Steven Rosen and Mrs. Mindy Wallis-Rosen Christina M. Russo Mr. Eli Shupe and Toby Ruben Elizabeth C. B. and Paul G. Sittenfeld Mr. and Mrs. William Smith Shirley and Phil Stikeleather Mr. and Mrs. John J. Sullivan Ms. Beth Troendly Debbie and Dick Westheimer Mr. Steven Wilkinson Linda and Jim Young * Denotes contributions received via the Greater Cincinnati Foundation

MUSIC MAKERS OF TOMORROW

The May Festival is grateful to the following donors whose contributions to the Music Makers of Tomorrow Fund ensure that students will be able to attend the May Festival at no charge—every concert, every year.

Anonymous (3) Elisabeth Anger Nate and Greta Bachhuber Mrs. Maxine Berkman David and Elaine Billmire Milt and Berdie Blersch Dr. Ralph P. Brown Chris and Beth Canarie Carol C. Cole Ms. Lisa Collins Mark Dauner Ann Ellison Mr. Frank Espohl

Shelley and Steven Goldstein Karl and Connie Graham Ms. Kathleen M. Grote Charles and Melissa Haas Dr. Jack and Barbara Hahn Ms. Jane F. Hansley Carl and Barbara Harcourt Mr. and Mrs. Robert Heidenreich Ms. Margaret A. Hilvert Emily and Barry Hindin MaryBeth Hockenberry Emily Hodges Christy and Terry Horan HORAN Capital Advisors Dr. and Mrs. Nelson Horseman Mr. Henry Huber Isaiah Hyman Ms. Maite Iraolagoitia Robert Jenkins Paul and Mary Jenks Mr. and Mrs. Andrew M. Jergens Mrs. Karolyn L. Johnsen Dr. and Mrs. Scott Jolson Mary Judge Ms. Linda Kamperman Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Kanney Mr. and Mrs. John Klahm Scott and Carol Kosarko Kathleen B. and Michael C. Krug Janet & Gary Langhorst Ms. Linda Lin Nancy and Jonathan Lippincott Elaine and Lowell Lustig Dr. and Mrs. John Maier Kathy and Brad Mank Sherie Lynch Marek David L. Martin The Family of Marie F. Martin The Estate of Mary Ann Meanwell Leslie Metheney Mrs. Frances Lee Meyer David Mill and Kate York Lynn Miller Patty Misrach Linda Mueller James Muhlenkamp Lois and Mel Nizny, MD James Norton Alan and Tamar Oestreich Mr. and Mrs. John T. Osterman Mr. Terry Parsons Dr. Manisha Patel and Dr. Michael Curran Poul D. and JoAnne Pedersen Mrs. Amy Perry Anne M. Pohl Drs. Michael Privitera and Marcia Kaplan Kathy and Craig Rambo Steven and Emily Riedell Ellen Rieveschl Carole and Edwin Rigaud Mrs. Barbara W. Robb Ellen & Eugene Saenger, Jr. The Schieve Family Mr. James P. Schubert Mrs. Elizabeth B. Schulenberg Ms. Barbara Seiver John M. Shepherd Kenneth and Alice Skirtz Smith-Dobbins Family Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Stradling Steven R. Sunderman and Mark C. Adams Dr. Matthew Swanson Janet G. Todd Nydia C. Tranter Ernest and Helen Waits Jane A. Walker Robin and Larry Wiley Charles A. Wilkinson John M. Yacher Barry Zaslow MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 99

Year after year, ever since its founding, the May Festival presents the greatest choral music ever written. You may play a part in this unique tradition and help to ensure our mission—for the next 150 years—by including the May Festival in your estate plans. Supporters and friends who have made a gift to the May Festival through their estate plans are eligible to join The Festival Society. If you are already a member, we thank you; if not, we hope you’ll consider taking this step. You will assure that the May Festival continues to maintain its reputation for excellence as the “Best Classical Music Festival in the U.S. and Canada” (BBC Music Magazine, May 2021 and 2022).

Mr. & Mrs. Oliver Baily Ms. Henrietta Barlag Mr. & Mrs. Alexander Brockmeier Barbara Ann Feldmann H. Jane Gavin Mary & Jack Gimpel Margaret E. Hagar Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius W. Hauck Christy & Terry Horan William J. & Miriam B. Hyde Winifred Beam Kessler Scott & Carol Kosarko Susan S. Laffoon

Jim & Julie Laskey Thomas & Adele Lippert Anne M. Pohl Susan G. Stanton Nancy Steman Bill and Lee Steenken Brett A. Stover Steven Sunderman Christine Wands Allen P. Weirick Jeannine & John C. Winkelmann, MD Anonymous (21)

For more information about including the May Festival in your estate plans, please contact Steven Sunderman at 513.744.3248. If you have already remembered the May Festival with a planned gift, please let us know so we can recognize you as you wish.

SOMEONE is sitting in the shade today because SOMEONE planted a tree a long time ago.

—Warren Buffett

THANK YOU

TRIBUTE GIFTS

The May Festival is honored to recognize the following individuals whose choral music work and legacy have inspired others to contribute to our community of singers between January 1, 2022 and April 15, 2023.

In memory of Thomas B. Avril Elizabeth C. B. and Paul G. Sittenfeld In memory of Oliver L. Baily Jess Baily Joan P. Baily In memory of Chrissy Boylan Lytle and John Boylan Pete and Melanie Boylan In memory of Charles Bretz Mr. Gary Mitchner In memory of Mary G. Budde William L. Budde, Ph. D.

In memory of Angie Eynon Dr. and Mrs. Calvin C. Linnemann

In honor of Robert Porco Robert Jenkins

In memory of Barbara Harshman Susan and Brad Blair Dr. Jack and Barbara Hahn Emily and Barry Hindin HORAN Capital Advisors Leslie Metheney James Norton Steven R. Sunderman and Mark C. Adams Ernest and Helen Waits

In memory of Barbara W. Robb and Daniel J. Robb Daniel L. Robb

In honor of Lauren Hess Ellen Sanders-Noonan In honor of Mark Hockenberry Mike and Marybeth Hockenberry In honor of Glenn Jeffers Mary Ann and Bill Taylor In honor of Madeline Judge Mary Judge In memory of Richard I. Lauf Susan J. Lauf In memory of Mary Ann Meanwell Rhoda and John Brooks Mr. and Mrs. John J. Sullivan Elizabeth C. B. and Paul G. Sittenfeld

In memory of Kathleen A. Schubert James P. Schubert In honor of Ethan Bates Stanley II Ethan and Doreen Stanley In honor of Steven Sunderman Mr. and Mrs. John T. Osterman In thanksgiving for Dr. Matthew Swanson Kathleen B. and Michael C. Krug In honor of Dr. Matthew Swanson Dawn and Doug Bruestle In honor of Joe White Caroline H. Davidson In memory of Timothy Vogeler Helen Kanters In honor of Dr. James Arthur Williams Prof. William Henry Caldwell

Want to see YOUR name here? Become a part of the May Festival’s next 150 years with a gift today! Make your contribution now by visiting mayfestival.com/give or scan the QR code.

To learn about all the ways you can support Cincinnati’s Chorus, visit mayfestival.com/options or contact Cat Dixon, Director of Advancement & Engagement, at 513.744.3321 or cdixon@ mayfestival.com.

2023 ARTSWAVE PARTNERS

The May Festival acknowledges the following Partner Companies, Foundations and their employees who generously participate in the Annual ArtsWave Community Campaign at the $100,000+ level.

Your support helps make our community vibrant and connects people all across our region through the arts. Thank you! (includes in-kind support) $2 million+ P&G $1 million to $1,999,999 Fifth Third Bank and the Fifth Third Foundation $500,000 to $999,999 GE $300,000 to 499,999 altafiber Western & Southern Financial Group $100,000–$299,999 Cincinnati Business Courier Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center The Cincinnati Insurance Companies Cincinnati Reds The E.W. Scripps Company and Scripps Howard Foundation The Enquirer | Cincinnati.com Great American Insurance Group The H.B., E.W. and F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee The Kroger Co. Messer Construction Co. Ohio National Financial Services PNC U.S. Bank Duke Energy

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 101

Donate to the CSO by buying yourself a new piano.* STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE For over 120 years, Willis Music and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Have been serving the greater Cincinnati area with music, culture, and music education.

STEINWAY.CINCINNATI.COM

Willis Music Kenwood Galleria

8118 Montgomery Road Cincinnati, Oh 45236 (859) 396-4485 pianos@willismusic.com *Willis Music will give a donation to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for every piano that a Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra patron purchases.

WE APPLAUD OUR LOYAL SUBSCRIBERS! Welcome and thank you to every audience member for supporting great music and the unique Cincinnati tradition that is the May Festival. Thank you especially to our subscribers. Whether it’s your first or your 50th-plus season, your ongoing support makes these performances possible and enables us to engage and uplift the people of Greater Cincinnati.

List as of April 20, 2023 for subscribers of 10 years or more

If your name is inadvertently missing or listed incorrectly, please call us at 513.381.3300 or email contact@mayfestival.com.

50+ YEARS Mr. Michael A. Battersby David A and M. Elaine Billmire Mr. and Mrs. Donald L. Burns Ms. Ann A. Ellison Mr. and Mrs. James W. Harper Mr. Isaiah Hyman, Jr. Mrs. Susan Laffoon Mr. Ronald C. Lamping Mrs. Adele E. Lippert Ms. Sally A. Lund Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Mystkowski Ms. Anne M. Pohl Richard S. Wayman 25–49 YEARS Mrs. Christine O. Adams Dr. and Mrs. Khosrow Alamin Christine M. Andrew Mr. John G. Avril Ms. Henrietta Barlag Mr. Avi Bear and Mrs. Karen Schulman-Bear Dr. Alfred J. Berger, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Bierer Dr. Christiane Boehr Dr. and Mrs. John E. Bossert Mr. Frederick Brockmeier Mr. and Mrs. John R. Brooks Mr. and Mrs. Frederick E. Bryan III Dr. William L. Budde Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Burdin Mr. and Mrs. Christopher J. Canarie The Castellini Foundation Cincinnati Financial Corporation Mel Cohen Dr. George I. Colombel Mrs. Lynne B. Curtiss Mr. and Mrs. Steven Dauterman Mr. and Mrs.Thomas J. Davis Ronda Deel Ms. Kathleen Doane Mr. and Mrs. Stephen P. Donovan, Jr. Harold K. Eberenz Mr. John Ellmore Ms. Susan M. Falk Ms. Barbara A. Feldmann Mr. Thomas Price Ferrell Mr. Carl R. Fiora Mr. and Mrs. James T. Fitzgerald Mr. and Mrs. Ashley L. Ford Ms. Jane Garvey and Mr. John Lanier Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Givens Mr. and Mrs. Steven J. Goldstein Mr. and Mrs. Karl R. Graham Ms. Anita Marie Greer and Mr. William G. Gatian Dr. and Mrs. Jack A. Hahn Dennis Hanseman Jane F. Hansley Dr. and Mrs. Robert Highsmith Mr. and Mrs. William C. Hill Mr. Michael H. Hirsch Ms. Emily M. Hodges Daniel J. Hoffheimer Ms. Maite Iraolagoitia Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Ivanov Mr. and Mrs. Andrew M. Jergens Mr. and Mrs. Randy Johnson Dr. and Mrs. Robert S. Jolson Mr. David and Dr. Charlotte Kirkendall Mr. William Klykylo and Ms. Dorothyann Feldis

Lonn and Lisa Koressel Scott and Carol M Kosarko Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Krug Ms. Carol L. Kruse Mr. Walter E. Langsam Mrs. Susan J. Lauf Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan R. Lippincott Brad C and Kathy Mank Ms. Nancy McNeal Ms. Lynn E. Meloy Lon Mendelsohn Ms. Lynn Miller Mr. and Mrs. Donald D. Mills Mrs. Patricia C. Misrach Mr. Gary Mitchner Mr. and Mrs. Harry G. Moeller Mr. and Mrs. David W. Motch Ms. Nancy Neff Dr. and Mrs. Alan E. Oestreich Dr. Cora K. Ogle Mrs. Elizabeth Osterburg Mary Beth A. Owens Mr. and Mrs. Poul D. Pedersen Ms. Priscilla J. Prouty Mr. and Mrs. Jason N. Ramler Mr. Joseph W. Raterman Ms. Patricia Richards Christina M. Russo Mr. and Mrs. Eugene L. Saenger, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. G. James Sammarco Mr. and Mrs. Lee Schimberg Carol J. Schroeder Dr.and Mrs. Fritz L. Schuermeyer Mr. Joseph Schwering and Ms. Diana Fleming Eli E. Shupe Mr. and Mrs. Irwin B. Simon Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Skidmore Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Skirtz Mr. Jeffrey Slattery Ms. Jean D. Snyder Ms. Carol A. Sparks Mr. and Mrs. William G. Steenken Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stewart Mr. Brett A. Stover Reverend and Mrs. Samuel M. Stover Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Stradling Mr. James L. Thompson Mrs. Helga Tillinghast Mr. Harold Tucker and Ms. Debbie Bogenschutz Dr. Ilse van der Bent Ms. Mary U. Vicario Mr. and Mrs. David W. Warner Mr. and Mrs. Frederick D. Warren Mr. and Mrs. Chad Warwick Mr. Joe E. White Susan & Dean Windgassen Mrs. Shelby O. Wood Jeff T. Wysel 10–24 YEARS Jimmy E. Antia and Ms. Pheruza P. Tarapore Dr. Paule S. Asch Mr. and Mrs. James R. Baxter Rev. and Mrs. Milton T. Berner Perry Bohanon Mrs. Jayne Bonzella Mr. Neil K Bortz Mr. and Mrs. Don H. Brown Mr. and Mrs. Douglas J. Bruestle Prof. William H. Caldwell Ms. Deborah J. Campbell

Mr. Victor Canfield and Mr. Richard Sacksteder Ms. Melanie M. Chavez Mr. Christopher R. Church Mr. Michael L. Cioffi and Ms. Rachael Rowe Ms. S. DeAnne Cleghorn Mr. and Mrs. Barry Cobb Mr. and Mrs. Eric K. Combs Ms. Melissa Cox Mr. and Mrs. Keith L. Dale Mr. and Mrs. Bill L. Dean Mr. James Decker and Ms. Karolyn Schalk Mr. and Mrs. Stephen DeHoff Dr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Dennison Mr. and Mrs. Michael D. Eagen Mr. and Mrs. John G. Earls Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Elifrits Mr. Daniel Epstein Ms. Mary J. Feldkamp Mr. Roger Fenn Mr. Paul Franz and Ms. Shari Loo Mr. and Mrs. Jon T. Gimpel Ms. H. Drewry Gores Mr. and Mrs. Carl Harcourt Marcia Hartsock Mr. and Mrs. James P. Healy Mr. and Mrs. John Hehman Mr. and Mrs. Phillip G. Hester Dr. and Mrs. David A. Huelsman David Hulefeld Dr. William Hurford and Dr. Lesley Gilbertson Mr. and Mrs. Dale Johnson Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kirkpatrick Mr. and Mrs. Jack Klette Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Klinedinst III Mrs. Sooncha Lee Mary Levee Mr. and Mrs. John Lund Mr. David L. Martin Mrs. Judith Martin David J. Mason Mr. Randolph McAusland Mr. and Mrs. John H. Mueller Mr. Paul Neumann Dr. Melvyn and Mrs. Lois Nizny Dr. Manisha Patel and Dr. Michael Curran Mr. and Mrs. Justin Peter Mr. Michael E. Phillips Ms. Gale Z. Roberts Mr. and Mrs. Peter Rutan Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Schoen Mr. and Mrs. Ronald B. Schofield Dr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Slavin Mr. and Mrs. David Smith Mr. Owen Smith and Mr. Rick Cook Ms. Karen Sroufe Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Stautberg Mrs. Diana Stoppiello Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Stucky Ms. Patia Tabar Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Togneri Mr. and Mrs. Gary Tyler Mr. Stephen J. Washburn Mr. and Mrs. Mark Weaver Ms. Karen Webb Mr. Charles A. Wilkinson Tom Williams Dr. James and Ronna Willis Dr. and Mrs. John C. Winkelmann LaVerne Young

MAY FESTIVAL 150 | 103

MAY FESTIVAL ADMINISTRATION The May Festival, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Vocal Arts Ensemble operate under an administrative shared services agreement. By the consolidation of resources and expertise, this cooperative management effort benefits all organizations.

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT & CEO Jonathan Martin President & CEO Andrea Maisonpierre Hessel Executive Assistant to President & CEO MAY FESTIVAL Steven R. Sunderman Executive Director Cat Dixon Director of Advancement & Engagement Matthew Swanson Associate Director of Choruses Kathryn Zajac Albertson Chorus Manager Edy Dreith Administrative Assistant Bryce Newcomer Chorus Librarian ARTISTIC PLANNING & PRODUCTION Robert McGrath Chief Operating Officer Shannon Faith Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer Artistic Planning Nate Bachhuber Vice President of Artistic Planning

Digital Content & Innovation KC Commander Director of Digital Content & Innovation

Matthew Grady Accounting Manager, MEMI

Stephanie Lazorchak Graphic Designer

Sydney Mucha Accounting Clerk, MEMI

Amber Ostaszewski Director of Audience Engagement

Lee Snow Digital Content Technology Manager

Data Services Sharon D. Grayton Data Services Manager

Corinne Wiseman Digital Content Manager

Tara Williams Data Services Manager

Kaitlyn Driesen Digital Production Manager

Kathleen Curry Data Entry Clerk

COMMUNICATIONS Felecia Tchen Kanney Vice President of Communications Tyler Secor Director of Publications & Content Development Charlie Balcom Social Media Manager Wajeeh Khan Communications Intern COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT | DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION Harold Brown The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Tiffany Cooper Director of Community Engagement and Diversity

Anthony Paggett Director of Artistic Planning

Amanda Franklin Community Engagement Manager

Laura Ruple Assistant to the Music Director and Artistic Planning

Pamela Jayne Volunteer and Community Engagement Coordinator

Nick Minion Artist Liaison

Nicole Ortiz Community Engagement Intern

Sam Strater Senior Advisor for Cincinnati Pops Planning Shuta Maeno Artistic Planning Intern Production Brenda Tullos Director of Orchestra Personnel Naomi Sarchet Orchestra Personnel & Operations Manager Laura Bordner Adams Acting Vice President of Orchestra & Production; Director of Operations Alex Magg Production Manager, CSO & May Festival Carlos Javier Production Manager, Pops

104 | mayfestival.com

FINANCE & DATA SERVICES Richard Freshwater Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Finance Kristina Pfeiffer Director of Finance, CSO Elizabeth Engwall Accounting Manager, CSO Laura Van Pelt Accounting Clerk, CSO Judy Simpson Director of Finance, MEMI Marijane Klug Accounting Manager, MEMI Deborah Benjamin Accounting Clerk, MEMI

HUMAN RESOURCES Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar Vice President of Human Resources Jenny Ryan Human Resources Manager Megan Inderbitzin-Tsai Payroll Manager

Abigail Karr Audience Engagement Manager Tina Marshall Director of Ticketing & Audience Services Nic Bizub Group Sales Manager Elaine Hudson Assistant Box Office Manager Hannah Kaiser Assistant Box Office Manager Djenaba Adams Marketing Intern

PATRON SERVICES REPRESENTATIVES Rebecca Ammerman, Lead Ellisen Blair, Lead Drew Dolan, Lead MARKETING Wendy Marshall, Lead Michael Frisco Erik Nordstrom, Lead Vice President of Marketing Benjamin Connelly Craig Doolin Michelle Lewandowski Mary Duplantier Director of Marketing Ebony Jackson Leon Barton Grace Kim Website Manager Gracie Lustenberg Hayley Maloney Jon Dellinger Copywriter/Marketing Manager Marian Mayen Natalia Lerzundi Payroll Specialist

Alexis Shambley Marketing & Audience Insight Coordinator Carmen Granger Subscriptions Marketing Manager

Administrative Offices: Music Hall, 1241 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 | 513.621.1919 | Box Office: 513.381.3300 contact@mayfestival.org

ARTISTS & REPERTOIRE HISTORY You can browse a comprehensive list of May Festival repertoire and featured artists who have graced the Music Hall stage at mayfestival.com/about/history.

THE FREEDOM TO LOOK FORWARD

513.287.6100 | 800.341.1810 www.bahl-gaynor.com

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