2024 May Festival Program book

MAY FESTIVAL 2024

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FESTIVAL 2024

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oda T y s ! r a t S s ’ w o r S e e To m o r son ea S h t 1 1 1 r u O

Featuring Not One But TWO Outstanding Vocal Solo Performances …

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CONTENTS

Greetings from the Board Chair and Executive Director Festival Feature: New Model, Same May Festival Spotlight: Julia Wolfe Wants to Tell You a Story Spotlight on Robert Porco: Reflecting on 35 Years as Director of Choruses Spotlight on the May Festival Youth Chorus: A Community of Peers Singing and Learning Together

ARTISTS 20 23 24 27 28 36

Julia Wolfe, Festival Director (plus Wolfe’s Festival insights) May Festival Chorus Chorus Leadership: Robert Porco, Director of Choruses; Matthew Swanson, Associate Director of Choruses May Festival Youth Chorus, Matthew Swanson, Director Guest Soloists and Conductors Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

CONCERTS 39 49 60 67

THE CREATION: May 17 ANTHEMS: May 18 VOICES OF THE EARTH: May 23 HER STORY: May 25

DEPARTMENTS 73 75 79 80

Cincinnati Musical Festival Association Thank You to Our Donors We Applaud Our Subscribers Administration

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 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

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All contents © 2024. The contents cannot be reproduced in any manner, whole or in part, without written permission from the May Festival.

ON THE COVER: “The Hands that Built Our City,”* located on the Duke Energy Convention Center, is a colorful mural that highlights the hands of the workers featured in the famous Union Terminal mosaic murals by Winold Reiss and was painted to mimic the look of real tile. The addition of new hands, those of two convention center employees and one ArtWorks Youth Apprentice, nod to Cincinnati’s vibrant future.

*ArtWorks mural “The Hands that Built Our City,” 2013, in partnership with the City of Cincinnati & Duke Energy Convention Center, designed by Jenny Ustick, 525 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202. Photography by J. Miles Wolf.

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GREETINGS FROM THE BOARD CHAIR AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dear Friends, On behalf of the May Festival, May Festival Choruses and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, welcome to the 2024 May Festival!

For the fourth year in a row, BBC Music Magazine has named the May Festival as “One of Christy Horan the Best Classical Music Festivals in the United States and Canada.” This worldwide recognition is one measurement of our success in focusing on our mission to engage, energize and connect our community with the highest quality performances and our vision to be the most exciting force in the choral world.

The guidepost for any nonprofit service organization is their mission and vision. As the May Festival continues to grow, adapt and evolve in making these ideals a reality, there will be moments of change and renewal. We are honoring the past 150 years and looking ahead to the next 150!

This Festival is one of transformation, as we depart from the traditional model of a single artistic leader and embark on a new journey— one that will bring new ideas, fresh faces and new concert experiences to the Festival each May. Hannah Edgar’s article, “New Model, Same May Festival” dives deeper into our new Festival Director model, which opens the door to some very exciting future Festivals.

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This May Festival is also bittersweet, as it will be the final Festival for our longtime Executive Director Steven R. Sunderman and Director of Choruses Robert Porco.

Steven joined the CSO and May Festival staff in January 1986 and became Executive Director of the May Festival in 1996. His 28-year tenure as Executive Director—the longest tenure in the May Festival’s history—has been simply remarkable.

Steven has grown the May Festival’s endowment from approximately $2 million to $26 million and more than tripled the annual budget from approximately $1 million to $3.55 million. The total cumulative earned and contributed revenue raised during his tenure totals $62.55 million. In addition, the Festival has enjoyed a financially sound history of 33 consecutive years of balanced budgets and financial metrics that are unsurpassed in the industry.

Steven has also overseen the 125th and 150th anniversary seasons and the expansion of our music education offering, and he was instrumental in bringing the World Choir Games, the Chorus America national convention and the American Choral Directors Association national conference to Cincinnati. Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg of Steven’s achievements. The May Festival will always be deeply grateful for his dynamic and enthusiastic leadership.

After an unprecedented 35-year tenure as Director of Choruses, Robert Porco will transition to become an honorary May Festival Board member at the end of the 2024 May Festival. Bob has prepared 532 distinct choral works for 170 May Festival concerts, 26 of which he conducted. Again, this is just a small fraction of the impact Bob has

GREETINGS

made on the May Festival. David Lyman’s article, “Robert Porco: Reflecting on 35 Years as Director of Choruses,” provides insights from Bob on his final May Festival as Director of Choruses.

Please join me, the board and the entire May Festival community in thanking both Steven and Bob for their years of dedication and leadership.

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! Enjoy the Festival!

Christy Horan, Chair, Board of Directors 

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Dear Friends, Thank you for joining us for the 2024 May Festival!

We have worked hard behind the scenes to bring this new artistic model to life for the 2024 Festival. I cannot tell you how excited I am to welcome Julia Wolfe as Steven Sunderman our inaugural Festival Director and for you to hear these amazing concerts.

Julia is a multi-dimensional and collaborative artist who seeks to bring people into community around music, which makes her the perfect artist to serve as our first Festival Director!

At the heart of Julia’s music and her curation of the Festival is the element of storytelling. From the coal mines of Pennsylvania to the struggle for equal rights to redefining the word “pretty,” Julia’s music takes you on a narrative journey. “Julia Wolfe Wants to Tell You a Story” by Hannah Edgar describes Julia’s ethos, history and vision.

For my 28-year tenure as Executive Director of the May Festival, my counterpart has been Director of Choruses Robert Porco, who will become an honorary May Festival Board member at the end of this Festival.

Bob is the longest-tenured Director of Choruses in the history of the May Festival and has worked with more than 1,300 individual singers of the May Festival Chorus. In addition to the performances at the May Festival, notable events during Porco’s tenure include highly acclaimed appearances by the Chorus at Carnegie Hall: a 1991 performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Jesús López-Cobos and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO); a 1995 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Robert Shaw, The Cleveland Orchestra, the May Festival Chorus and other choruses; a 2001 performance of Britten’s War Requiem with thenMay Festival Music Director James Conlon and the CSO; and a 2014 performance of Dett’s The Ordering of Moses with Conlon and the CSO, as part of the Spring for Music Festival. In addition, the May Festival Chorus’ 2008 performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls, under the baton of the composer John Adams, led Adams to write in his memoir, “The pure American quality of their enunciation and their perfectly balanced sonorities lifted the matterof-fact plainness of the words to a transcendental level.” Bob Porco was also responsible for the popular a cappella recording, Christmas with the May Festival Chorus, for which he prepared and conducted the Chorus.

The impact of Bob’s tenure will be forever part of the May Festival’s and May Festival Chorus’ legacy. We are deeply grateful for his leadership and friendship.

This will also be my final Festival as Executive Director of the May Festival. I am deeply honored to have been part of the incredible legacy of the May Festival and I will be forever grateful for the community that surrounds the May Festival, who have made my tenure one of joyful growth. Thank you for 28 wonderful years.

Enjoy the 2024 May Festival.

Steven R. Sunderman, Executive Director

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MAY FESTIVAL FEATURE

NEW MODEL, SAME MAY FESTIVAL A revolving curatorial model opens the door to fresh discoveries, says May Festival Executive Director Steven Sunderman

BY HANNAH EDGAR

As the adage goes, “out with the old, in with the new”—an apt phrase as the May Festival modernizes its Festival model.

In a departure from 150-year precedent, this year’s May Festival is the first to welcome a Festival Director. The curatorial position replaces the Festival’s “music director” role, last held by conductor Juanjo Mena, and will change each year. The revolving door invites a broad array of artists to shape Festival programming in years to come. Julia Wolfe, a Above: The May Festival Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, soloists and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand, May Festival 2023 (Credit: Mark Lyons).

At right: May Festival Executive Director Steven Sunderman

Pulitzer- and MacArthur-laureled composer, will be the first to do so this year.

Outgoing May Festival Executive Director Steven Sunderman says Wolfe was a perfect pick to inaugurate the new model. Not only is she one of the leading composers of choral-orchestral music—the May Festival’s bread and butter—but she has a ready-made roster of collaborators thanks to her ties to Bang on a Can, the New Yorkbased music collective she co-founded in 1987.

Hiring a Festival Director who could “leverage a large network” was important, says Sunderman.

Depending on the Festival Director, the new system paves the

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way for Cincinnati audiences to encounter artists who rarely make their way to the Cincinnati area.

This year alone, Wolfe’s connections have looped in the Bang on a Can All-Stars, a quasi-rock, quasiclassical sextet; the Lorelei Ensemble, featuring artists from across the U.S. whose focus is on presenting “living” works for treble and women’s voices; and the Steiger Butte Drum and Singers, an Oregon-based group of Native American traditional musicians who have collaborated with May Festival Board member Mary Stucky Wolfe’s Bang on a Can colleague (and husband) Michael Gordon.

In planning the shift to the new model, Sunderman and the May Festival Board looked to other organizations with a similar carousel-style sensibility. Perhaps the most prominent is the Ojai Festival, in southern California. The prestigious summer series has cycled through music directors annually since its inception in 1947.

“Ojai was definitely something we were looking at, as well as local models,” Sunderman says.

Mary Stucky has served on the May Festival Board for 15 years and on its artistic advisory

committee for about a decade. Prior to that, she taught at the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music, where she specialized in oratorio repertoire. What seems like a radical new direction is, in Stucky’s eyes, just an outgrowth of the innovation that has always characterized the oratorio genre.

“Today, Haydn’s Creation comes to us as something of a chestnut. But in its day, it was a highly new take on the Creation story…. In many ways, we’re getting back to the original spirit of these festivals, with new music,” Stucky says. “The [Festival] Director just adds energy to what has always been a dynamic choral tradition.”

The Festival Director role has some precedent in the May Festival’s recent history, too.

Composer John Adams took on some curatorial responsibilities when he was named Creative Partner for the 2020 Festival—deferred, naturally, because of the Covid pandemic. So did composer and researcher Gerard McBurney, whose stint as the 2017 May Festival Creative Partner generated two novel multimedia presentations of Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. In 2019, composer and conductor James MacMillan and Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth shared the Creative Partnership duties—MacMillan

Composer and conductor John Adams leads the 2022 May Festival performance of his El Niño. Credit: JP Leong

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conducting his Seven Last Words from the Cross and curating the Sounds of the City concert that featured community choirs, and Roomful of Teeth performing their own standalone concert at the Woodward Theater and joining the May Festival Chorus and CSO for the U.S. premiere of Mark Simpson’s The Immortal.

Those roles only influenced programming for a concert or two. In contrast, the new Festival Director gets to steer the entire programming, giving future May Festivals a bolder “throughline,” in Sunderman’s words.

“They can plan things out over the arc of the Festival,” he says.

Like Sunderman, May Festival Director of Choruses Robert Porco is stepping down from his role this season, after a historic 35-year tenure. He could hardly imagine ending on a more artistically satisfying note. Per the new model’s goal, the 2024 Festival pairs major, super-canonical works— Haydn’s The Creation, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Fauré’s Requiem—with pieces new even to Porco. This year’s Festival marks Porco’s first time preparing Wolfe’s music, an experience he’s found exhilarating.

“I just love it. I find her unbelievably imaginative,” Porco says. “I don’t think there’s room for interpretation in these pieces. She’s very articulate about what each of them needs.”

Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields, her oratorio about those who persevered and endured in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal mining region and the legacy of the industry itself, isn’t merely powerful.

When the May Festival Chorus teams up with the Bang on a Can All-Stars to perform the piece on May 23, it will likely be personal for many Cincinnati-area audiences. According to Porco, at least two or three members of the May Festival Chorus have direct connections to the mines.

“It’s a haunting thing,” he says.

Porco himself grew up in Steubenville, Ohio, an industrial town in the heart of coal and steel country. He remembers workers shuffling home with dirt smeared on their faces and clothes. The smell of industrial fumes was, in Porco’s words, “part of life”; at nightfall, the molten metal from nearby steel mills ignited the surrounding hills with an eerie red glow.

Porco’s father, an Italian immigrant, labored in the mills for most of his life. “As far as I know, he did not miss a day of work for 47 years. He was convinced that I shouldn’t do that, that I should go to college,” Porco says.

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

May Festival Director of Choruses Robert Porco leads choristers past and present at the Bob’s Big Sing celebration.

Credit: Tyler Secor

Anthracite Fields also hits close to home for Stucky: her grandfather was a coal miner who died of “black lung” disease. To Stucky, Anthracite Fields—and Wolfe’s work at large—injects a modern immediacy into the age-old genre.

“This work sounds contemporary, because it’s talking about contemporary American subject matter,” she says. “What’s exciting about our new Festival Director is she’s always worked with multimedia, with movement, with new sounds and ideas. That is really in keeping with the spirit of what we’re doing: we’re a festival of choral music, and all the ways you can use the voice to express.”

What this new model foretells for May Festivals to come remains wide open. That’s kind of the point.

In considering future Festival Directors, Sunderman says nothing is off-limits. Appointees need not come from the classical, or even musical, world.

“I would love to see a stage director, or a scenic designer—someone who could take the oratorios in the repertoire and give them a new and unique staging. But that’s the nice thing about it: we’ve never done this before, so we’re not tied into anything,” he says.

Sunderman teased that the Festival Director for 2026 is already set, and 2025’s is going to be pinned down shortly. So…stay tuned. n MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 9

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MAY FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT

Julia Wolfe Wants to Tell You a Story A love of folk music and theater courses through the work of the Pennsylvania-born composer. Discover why she was a natural choice to become the May Festival’s Inaugural Festival Director.

BY HANNAH EDGAR

Earlier this season, the Berlin Philharmonic performed Julia Wolfe’s Pretty, a 20-minute orchestral essay. But Wolfe’s piece dons orchestral effects that are more hard-rocking than “pretty”: scratching cellos, a rowdy drum kit, and vibrato like a shrieking Stratocaster.

Musicians in that storied ensemble could scarcely contain their delight during the performance.

Neither could Wolfe.

“I feel like it’s very much an American sensibility in terms of rock ‘n’ roll—but they got it. It was a blast,” she says.

If someone is to take an august institution like the May Festival—which predates the Berlin Philharmonic by nearly a decade—and give it a similarly energizing shake, Wolfe is the one to do it. Wolfe, 65, is among the most sought-after and original choral-orchestral composers working today, most widely known for her affiliation with Bang on a Can, the New York-based musical collective she co-founded with fellow composers Michael Gordon and David Lang.

Wolfe, Gordon and Lang were considered enfants terribles when they hosted the first Bang on a Can marathon concert in a 

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SoHo loft, in 1987. These days, Bang on a Can is an institution unto itself, with a critically acclaimed ensemble (the Bang on a Can All-Stars), formidable commissioning clout, trademark marathon musical events and its own summer festival. But even with a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur “genius” grant and a recent appointment as a Guggenheim Fellow under her belt, Wolfe still sees herself as the same scrappy, hungry composer she was nearly 40 years ago. Amazingly, CSO Music Director Louis Langrée applauds Julia Wolfe, whose Fountain of Youth the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra co-commissioned and premiered in November 2019. Credit: Lee Snow Fountain of Youth, a piece the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) co-commissioned in 2019, was legends. Bars bounced to disco, and Wolfe waited one of her first major orchestral commissions. tables at The Del Rio, a now-defunct jazz bar.

Pretty, which the Orchestra will perform at the May Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and British folk group Festival on May 18, followed it four years later.

Pentangle were her heroes.

“When somebody calls me to do something in a Wolfe didn’t intend to major in music—she was world I haven’t lived in my whole life, it’s always a more interested in political history, or another surprise,” she admits. “Other people would look at subject in the social sciences aligned with her dome and say, ‘You’re an insider at this point,’ but I gooder idealism. A “Creative Musicianship” class never feel like I am. I always feel like I’m coming in her sophomore year inspired her to change course. from some outside route, somehow.”

Just after graduation, on an invitation from a Wolfe grew up in Montgomeryville, a small former instructor, she started Wild Swan Theater, suburb of Philadelphia. Her parents were “liberala small, woman-run company in Ann Arbor. (Wild minded,” she says, but not particularly politically Swan closed in 2021.) The company’s sensibilities engaged. A young, feminist firebrand, Wolfe was, in were always multidisciplinary: the productions her words, the family’s “odd bird.” She attended the featured puppetry and music, again with an University of Michigan, attracted by its alternative, emphasis on folk traditions. artsy Residential College—a small liberal arts But music gradually became Wolfe’s life. She program ensconced in the larger state school. left the company in 1984 to study composition at “I went out there with my mom on a tour, and Yale University, where she met Gordon and Lang.

I wasn’t really relating to the tour guide. She was But her life in the theater was lodged in her bones. a cheerleader, or something—it’s a big football When she began exploring the oratorio genre in the school. At a certain point, somebody on the tour 2000s, after decades of working almost exclusively asked, ‘What about that Residential College?’ And in instrumental music, it felt like a homecoming. she was like, ‘Oh, no, you don’t want to go there’... I “That experience of being in the theater totally just looked at my mom and said, ‘We have to go see changed me. It’s in the music,” she says. that,’” Wolfe remembers.

Wolfe’s first oratorio was Steel Hammer, in The vibrant music community around the 2009, for three sopranos and a chamber ensemble university was also a huge draw. Then and now, (originally the Bang on a Can All-Stars). The major folk acts passed through the Ark, a storied hour-long piece adapts folk tales about AfricanAnn Arbor venue; harmonica player Peter “Madcat” American steel driver John Henry, who, according Ruth and bones player Percy Danforth were local to legend, once raced a steam-powered rock drill 12 | mayfestival.com

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and won. (The piece became a Pulitzer finalist inspired by that course-changing University of in 2010.) Wolfe’s unEarth is a 2023 New York Michigan class: the professor, a singer, used hand Philharmonic commission about climate change. motions to “direct the voice.”

Parts of the text were devised by conversations In its review of Her Story’s 2022 premiere in with the Young People’s Chorus of New York, who Tennessee, the state that cast the final vote to ratify also premiered the piece. the 19th Amendment, the New York Times observed NPR once christened these that Her Story “sobers as much recent opuses “docu-torios”—a as it rouses.” “‘Docu-torio’ combines label Wolfe has embraced.

“It has a ferocity that is the narrative part, and “It’s great, because I don’t literally written into the score, really know what to call these but also an absence of resolution the history part,” says pieces. I mean, oratorio fits: as it looks back to suffrage with Wolfe. The May Festival one wary eye toward the future it’s addressing a subject, and programs two of those while there could be characters, steps this country still needs to they’re definitely not singing “docu-torios” this season: take for something resembling to each other like they would true equality,” wrote critic Anthracite Fields in opera. It’s more a sort of Joshua Barone. and Her Story. storytelling. ‘Docu-torio’ Mary Stucky, May Festival combines the narrative part, and Board member and a voice the history part,” she says. professor emerita at the The May Festival programs two of those University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of “docu-torios”: Anthracite Fields, her Pulitzer Music, says Wolfe’s music strikes powerfully at the Prize-winning tribute to Pennsylvania coal miners essence of the oratorio genre.

(May 23), and Her Story, about the history of “The oratorio, as it was envisioned, tells a women’s suffrage (May 25). Her Story’s score religious or ethical story,” Stucky says. “The directs singers to make coordinated, semiethical part of that continues in Julia’s music.”  theatrical motions, which Wolfe says were

Julia Wolfe with her Bang on a Can colleagues Michael Gordon (l) and David Lang. Credit: George Etheredge

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Anthracite Fields will take on still-greater significance here. Cincinnati is among the cities that saw a midcentury influx of Appalachian migrants, many of whom toiled in the region’s coal mines.

Wolfe says she’s been approached by descendants of coal miners in performances of the piece from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. One concertgoer was even related to one of the “Johns” named in the oratorio’s opening movement, which Wolfe sourced from a real-life index of mining accidents.

Wolfe grew up just outside Pennsylvania’s mining country. Even so, she considers Anthracite Fields “the most personal” thing she’s written.

“People are still living who are in some way connected to it,” Wolfe says.

This year’s Festival adds to Wolfe’s capacious catalog with All that breathes, a commission for the May Festival Chorus. While writing unEarth, Wolfe found herself returning to a section of the libretto inspired by the Ark in the book of Genesis: “All the creeping things, all the birds, all the animals, all the beasts, all of human life, all that breathes.” All that breathes is a fantasia on that single line, teasing it out syllable by syllable. Before Wolfe knew it, what began as a six-minute work more than doubled in length.

All that breathes is one of “just a few” a cappella works in her output. With 135 singers in the May Festival Chorus, it certainly features the largest

vocal forces she’s written for to date. She’s found the challenge exhilarating.

“There are some syllabic patterns, some murmuring patterns, some breathing—I mean, it’s called All that breathes!” she says. “It’s fun to play with the voice in ways I hadn’t. Will it work, with a lot of people singing? Will it be something that becomes part of my language, or not? I don’t know.”

Wolfe is mulling over incorporating movement into All that breathes, like Her Story, though she’s still undecided.

“It’s a little hard to coordinate that with a hundred people,” she says, with a chuckle.

Thanks to Wolfe’s many musical connections, the entire Festival will be as crowded with talent as the chorus risers—many new to Cincinnati audiences.

In addition to the usual combined forces of the CSO and May Festival Choruses, the Festival will host the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can’s amplified house ensemble; the Lorelei Ensemble, the treble choir who debuted Her Story in 2022; and the Steiger Butte Drum and Singers, Oregonbased Klamath tribe musicians with whom Gordon collaborated in his piece Natural History, heard on the May 23 program. Lang’s music is also featured on the Festival: his the national anthems is featured on the same program as All that breathes.

Forty years, scores of world premieres, and one marriage later (Wolfe and Gordon), Bang on a Can is still going strong. So, what’s the secret to keeping a good thing going?

“I wish I knew the exact answer,” Wolfe says. “I feel fortunate that they [Gordon and Lang] are great people—it’s a real friendship. And we all love music: the passion for the art is really strong. It lights a fire under my own work.” n

The Bang on a Can AllStars, who will perform Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields on May 23.

Credit: Peter Serling

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ROBERT PORCO: Reflecting on 35 Years as Director of Choruses by david lyman This is it.

After 35 years, Robert Porco is stepping down as director of the May Festival Chorus. His tenure has been a remarkable one, even more so when you consider that during 19 years of that time he was also the director of choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra.

We could list all the music he and his singers have explored together. But we’d need another 20,000 words for that. Besides, it’s likely that you remember some already. There were several performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand, too. There was the memorable presentation of Britten’s War Requiem at Carnegie Hall just a month after the 9/11 attacks and the many world and Cincinnati premieres. Oh, Above: Robert Porco leads the May Festival Chorus, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and soloists in the 2015 Festival performance of Handel’s Coronation Anthems and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. Credit: AJ Waltz

and we can’t forget the umpteen performances of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”

But it’s not just the volume and the breadth of work that Porco led that we will remember.

Rather, it’s the understanding and stylistic precision that he brought to every piece of that sprawling choral repertoire.

With each new piece of music, Porco’s choruses sounded like they’d been performing them for years. It didn’t make any difference if the music was familiar or if it was something completely new, if it was melodic or musically jarring, if it was in English or any of the many other languages the Chorus members were called on to master.

So after that astonishing musical output, what has he chosen for his grand finale?

“Grand finale?” replies Bob, as he is known to everyone who meets him. “I’m not thinking of it that way. It may be true, but I don’t want to think of it that way, so I’m not.”

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SPOTLIGHT: ROBERT PORCO

He doesn’t want to time and effort these indulge in sentimentality, people spend just or reflect too intensely for the love of music. about the singers who Sometimes I drive have devoted hundreds, them pretty hard.” even thousands, of hours And he does have to working with him. a reputation for So the conversation occasionally being quickly turns in a tough on them, different, lighter abrupt, brusque. direction. It’s his Worst of all, he personal journey. Not a sometimes shows that metaphorical journey, he is disappointed in mind you. He’s suddenly them. But none of it talking about the journey lasts long. Besides, he makes every week he is as demanding of Robert Porco, May Festival Director of Choruses to attend May Festival himself as he is of his Chorus rehearsals. singers. To Bob Porco, For those who aren’t aware, Bob Porco does not it’s the music that is paramount. live in Cincinnati. He lives 255 miles northeast of He rattles off the rehearsal schedule the here, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio—in the far reaches of Chorus will soon be facing. It’s not just the suburban Cleveland. weekly rehearsals. They all put in enormous “By my wife’s estimate, I’ve driven more amounts of preparation time, as well. And then than 600,000 miles back and there is production week—the forth to Cincinnati,” he says. week before the Festival begins.

It sounds mind-numbing.

“The Saturday before, they’ll “What I can tell you, But Porco insists that’s not though, is that I will miss be there six hours. And six hours the case. “For some reason, I on Sunday. And then every day the people in the May for five nights, two weekends of don’t find it tedious at all. It’s private time.”

Festival Chorus.… I am concerts—it’s like a boot camp, It’s also time for Sirius XM really.” humbled by their singing. Porco may not want to think streaming.

“There is a Sinatra station I of The Creation as a farewell.

What a gift they have listen to. And a wonderful jazz But musically speaking, it seems given me.” station. There’s the Broadway a perfect piece of music to close channel, too. And a symphony out such a distinguished career.

—Robert Porco channel. I joke to the Chorus As you can imagine, that if I listen to a very slow winnowing down the list of movement, I’ll find myself going 40 mph on musical possibilities to a final May Festival the interstate.” program can be frustrating. There is an abundance As soon as the Chorus’ Tuesday night rehearsals of fine music to share with audiences. But with the finish, he hops back into his “beautiful blue” Audi May Festival lasting just two weekends, there is A4 and heads home. only so much music that can be played each year.

“After rehearsal, I’m too keyed up to sleep. So I go The Creation, it seems, had been under home. I’m usually there by 2:30 a.m.” consideration for a few years. But for one reason It sounds like a completely crazy schedule. But or another, it hadn’t made it onto the final for Bob Porco, it has become “a routine.” And programming lists. For one thing, it was performed just as quickly as he started talking about his as part of the 2015 May Festival. In fact, it has commute, he has grown serious again, perhaps been performed eight times since its May Festival even a bit melancholy. premiere in 1886.

“I think I will miss it.”

But with the world around us consumed in It’s hard to know if he’s talking about driving or turbulence and uncertainty, the optimism in the rehearsals or the May Festival itself. After a Haydn’s masterwork made it an ideal selection. short silence, he begins again.

“I think it’s one of those nearly perfect pieces of “I can’t say enough about this Chorus,” he says music in terms of its structure,” says Porco. “And quietly. “It’s an inspiration to me to think how much although I’ve done it a number of times, it still 16 | mayfestival.com

SPOTLIGHT: ROBERT PORCO

seems fresh and witty to me. It’s one of those rare, completely positive pieces of music.”

There is a certain wonderment as Haydn and librettist Gottfried van Swieten lead us through the seven days of Creation, starting with heavenly chaos and proceeding through the formation of the sun and moon, the seas and mountains and the flora and fauna that make up the majesty of the earth.

“It’s the most enlightening and inspirational piece,” says Porco. “It’s the work of a man at the height of his powers. It begins with this uneasiness.

He has all the strings muted until we get to the second movement. And the moment we have light in the world, the mutes come off and there is this musical blaze of glory. History books describe how, at one of the first performances, the audience erupted in cheers. I wish we still did that.”

Once again, he is quiet.

“You know, when I was at Indiana University, there was a professor there—a distinguished violinist named Josef Gingold. He used to tell us that music is not a career, it is a life, like the blood coursing through your body.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’m 83 now, but this is something I’ve been doing since I was six years old. It has been the main thing in my life.

One of the first memories I have is when I was a child back in a poor area of Steubenville. We were living close to the mills and the railroad. Someone knocked on the door. He was selling guitar lessons and I started to cry. My mother wanted to know why. I told her that I didn’t want to play the guitar.

I wanted to play the accordion.”

And so he did.

Perhaps it was the comparative lushness of the accordion’s sound. Or that he had seen others in his largely Italian community playing it.

Whatever the case, the accordion would come to serve Young Robert Porco with him well. After his chosen instrument, the accordion. completing a degree in music education at The Ohio State University, that accordion would become a calling card among the elementary school children he taught for several years.

“Those were good times,” he adds. “The kids enjoyed that music so much. So did I. I still do.”

Bob assures us he is not done with music.

“I am not a gardener,” he says adamantly. “I have no idea exactly what I’m going to do, to be honest.

But like Josef Gingold said, you don’t really retire from music. It’s my life. My love. What I can tell you, though, is that I will miss the people in the May Festival Chorus. Even today, 35 years after I started this, I am humbled by their singing. What a gift they have given me.” n

Robert Porco with conductor/composer John Adams, after May Festival 2022 performances of Adams’ El Niño. Credit: JP Leong

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 17

The May Festival Youth Chorus, with conductor Matthew Swanson and accompanist David Kirkendall. Credit: JP Leong

A Community of Peers Singing and Learning Together by members of the may festival youth chorus For us, the May Festival Youth Chorus (MFYC) is a unique experience, much different from our school choirs. The Chorus brings together students in grades 8 through 12 from around the Greater Cincinnati area, and we build a community around singing together. We get experiences unlike any other: we receive extensive music education and unique performance opportunities, get to work alongside the best educators and industry professionals, and find community with other singers our age.

One of the best parts of singing with the May Festival Youth Chorus is performing alongside the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival

Chorus at Music Hall. How many students get to say they’ve sung with one of America’s best orchestras? When the Orchestra and Chorus come together, the sound is just incredible! We especially loved performing during Holiday Pops this year for thousands of people in the hall and online. Before every Holiday Pops concert, we met different performers from the show and from inside the Orchestra. Vocalists Capathia Jenkins and Rafael Moras talked to us about their lives on the road and how they became professional singers. Even Concertmaster Stefani Matsuo came backstage to talk to us about her career and her role within the Orchestra. It’s truly special to share the stage with

The May Festival Youth Chorus, School for Creative and Performing Arts Chorale, Sycamore High School Select Ensemble and Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble join for 2023 Holiday Pops concerts. Credit: JP Leong

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SPOTLIGHT: MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS

such accomplished professionals, and it’s even cooler when they talk to us about their careers and offer advice.

Working with dedicated artistic staff like Dr. Matthew Swanson, Dr. Eva Floyd and Mr. David Kirkendall is really the highlight of the program.

Their guidance extends beyond the Chorus. They are fully committed to our musical development and our personal growth. Dr. Floyd works with us on our musicianship and teaches us about music theory, solfège and sight-singing. These lessons not

The May Festival Youth Chorus performs at Cincinnati Woman’s Club, October 2023.

only help us to perfect our choral repertoire but prepare us for our other musical pursuits, too. Dr. Swanson takes the time to understand our unique needs as singers, and he believes in our individual potential. He has created a supportive environment where we all feel valued and encouraged to grow, while still treating us like professionals. We are also able to enroll in private voice lessons with professional voice teachers like Dr. Ellen Graham.

These lessons provide individual attention and feedback, as well as provide the opportunity to learn and perform solo repertoire.

It’s also exciting to challenge ourselves by learning difficult repertoire. We sing pieces from many different genres and time periods, from Handel and Haydn to Duke Ellington and Mariah Carey. Some of us have even dedicated extra rehearsal time to sing Dona Nobis Pacem with the May Festival Chorus during this year’s May Festival. Singing with the adult Chorus is so much fun! Maybe one day we’ll be performing with them as members of the May Festival Chorus!

Very few choruses offer this sort of training, and even fewer make it so accessible for their students.

To make music accessible for all, the May Festival Youth Chorus is entirely cost-free, from our

uniforms to our parking. This makes it easier for students of all backgrounds to be brought together by a shared love of singing.

For those of us who may go on to pursue a career in music performance, these experiences are invaluable.

Many colleges look for students with musicianship skills, working knowledge of music theory and a strong stage presence. Being a part of the May Festival Youth Chorus hones these skills and will set us apart from our peers during the college audition process. Whether or not we go on to study music in the future, we know that the lessons we’ve learned and the skills we’ve developed will serve us well in our academic and personal endeavors.

Singing with MFYC is more than just an “extracurricular” for us. It’s really special to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We get to rehearse and perform alongside our friends and meet people we otherwise wouldn’t. And, hopefully, we will carry the friendships we’ve made along the way into the future. The May Festival Youth Chorus helps us to not only be better musicians but better students and better people. n

2024 YOUTH CHORUS AWARD WINNERS John Hauck Foundation Scholarship The May Festival Youth Chorus is pleased to award the John Hauck Foundation Scholarship to Ella Clark and Chiara Iadipaolo. The scholarship annually supports graduating Youth Chorus members who plan to study music, or the arts more broadly, at the university level.

James Bagwell Award The Youth Chorus is pleased to honor Oliver Wagner with the James Bagwell Award. Named for Dr. James Bagwell, conductor of the Youth Chorus 1997–2018, the award honors a singer who demonstrates musical curiosity, a strong record of academic achievement and exemplary commitment to the Youth Chorus.

Enrichment Scholarship Program The Youth Chorus is pleased to honor the following recipients of the Enrichment Scholarship, available to all members who attend enrichment events and concerts outside of MFYC rehearsals, enroll in the MFYC voice lesson program, audition for solo opportunities and finish the year with an examplary attendance record.

Ava Altenau Nora Braukman Sophia Clever Thanh-Tam Dao Natalie Hoover Genevieve Howard

Chiara Iadipaolo Nathan Share Jenavieve Southcombe Nikki Tayidi Oliver Wagner

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 19

JULIA WOLFE Festival Director

Photo: Peter Serling

Julia Wolfe’s appearance as the 2024 Festival Director is generously supported by the Kosarko Family Innovation Fund.

Julia Wolfe’s music is distinguished by an intense physicality and a relentless power that pushes performers to extremes and demands attention from the audience.

She draws inspiration from folk, classical and rock genres, bringing a modern sensibility to each while simultaneously tearing down the walls between them.

Wolfe saw three major orchestra premieres in the 2022–23 season. Pretty was premiered in June 2023 by conductor Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic. Co-commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Pretty is a raucous celebration— embracing the grit of fiddling and the relentlessness of work rhythms, and inspired by the distortion and reverberation of rock and roll.

UnEarth, commissioned and premiered in June 2023 by the New York Philharmonic, is a large-scale work for orchestra, men’s chorus and children’s chorus that addresses the climate crisis. Performed in three movements, the 40-minute piece is realized with spatial staging and scenic design projected on a large circular screen.

Her Story, a 45-minute semi-staged work for orchestra and women’s chamber choir, received its world premiere in September 2022 with the Nashville Symphony, conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, the vocal ensemble Lorelei and stage direction by Anne Kauffman. Co-commissioned by the Nashville Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San

20 | mayfestival.com

Francisco Symphony and National Symphony Orchestra, Her Story invokes the words of historical figures and the spirit of pivotal moments to pay tribute to the centuries of ongoing struggle for equal rights and representation for women in America.

The 2019 world premiere of Fire in my mouth, a large-scale work for orchestra and women’s chorus, by the New York Philharmonic with The Crossing and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City received extensive acclaim—one reviewer called the work “a monumental achievement in high musical drama, among the most commandingly imaginative and emotively potent works of any kind that I’ve ever experienced” (The Nation). The work is the third in a series of compositions about the American worker: 2009’s Steel Hammer examines the folkhero John Henry, and the 2015 Pulitzer Prizewinning Anthracite Fields, a concert-length oratorio for chorus and instruments, draws on oral histories, interviews, speeches and more to honor the people who persevered and endured in the Pennsylvania Anthracite coal region. Mark Swed of the LA Times wrote, Anthracite Fields “captures not only the sadness of hard lives lost…but also of the sweetness and passion of a way of daily life now also lost. The music compels without overstatement. This is a major, profound work.”

In addition to receiving the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Music, Wolfe was a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. She received the 2015 Herb Alpert Award in Music and was named Musical America’s 2019 Composer of the Year. In April 2024, she was named a Guggenheim Fellow. Julia Wolfe is co-founder/co-artistic director of New York’s legendary music collective Bang on a Can, and she is Artistic Director of NYU Steinhardt Music Composition.

Her music is published by Red Poppy Music and G. Ricordi & Co., New York (ASCAP) and is distributed worldwide by the Universal Music Publishing Group. juliawolfemusic.com

2024 FESTIVAL INSIGHTS

Celebrating Music That Carries Us Through Histories The 2024 May Festival, with the May Festival Chorus, May Festival Youth Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, celebrates music that carries us through histories—of labor, of the land, of people and place. The Festival begins at the beginning—with a celebration of life and light in the magnificent Haydn’s The Creation. The second concert follows with Anthems—looking at and questioning our assumptions about honor, bravery, power and peace— featuring David Lang’s poignant national anthems, my raucous and raging Pretty, Vaughan Williams’ plea for peace Dona Nobis Pacem, and my new choral work, All that breathes—a plea for breath and life— written especially for the May Festival. The third concert, Voices of the Earth presents the surround-sound Natural History—a collaboration between composer Michael Gordon and the Steiger Butte Drum and Singers of the Klamath Tribe—to celebrate the natural wonder of the Crater Lake region. This concert also features the intrepid Bang on a Can All-Stars in my work Anthracite Fields—delving deep into labor history and the anthracite coal community in northeastern Pennsylvania. We close with Her Story—my high voltage oratorio, Her Story, on women and equality. This work includes the spectacular chamber choir Lorelei, with staging by Anne Kauffman and set design

by Jeff Sugg. Closing the evening we have Fauré’s Requiem—a work full of human feeling and a strange sense of rest.

—Julia Wolfe

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 21

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MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS & CHORUS LEADERSHIP MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS ROBERT PORCO, Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson, Associate Director of Choruses Heather MacPhail, Accompanist Sergey Tkachenko, Conducting Fellow Sarah Farwell, Chorus Manager Kathleen Moran, Chorus Librarian The May Festival Chorus has earned national and international acclaim for its musicality and command of repertoire. Consisting of more than 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 Orchestra. The premier choral ensemble in Cincinnati, the May Festival Chorus has garnered national and international attention through numerous PBS broadcasts and awardwinning recordings, many in collaboration with the CSO and Pops. In 2016, the Chorus released, to critical acclaim, a live Bridge Records recording of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses with James Conlon conducting the May Festival Chorus and the CSO at Carnegie Hall, 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. mayfestival.com/chorus

THE MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS The May Festival Chorus is endowed by the Betsy & Alex C. Young Chair Sopranos Natalie Badinghaus, 3 Tracy Bailey, 23 Karen Bastress, 25* Laurel Boisclair Ellsworth, 19 Dawn Bruestle, 19* Caitlyn Byers, 2* Renee Cifuentes, 7 Kathy Dietrich, 10 Jennifer Dobson, 7 Rachel Dummermuth, 5 Donna Dunlap, 1 Sarah Evans, 8 Joelle Graham, 1* Anita Marie Greer, 35* Melissa Haas, 6 Dana Harms, 16 Mary Wynn Haupt, 22* Carolyn Hill, 13* Alexandra Kesman, 9 Lisa Koressel, 24 Judith C. LaChance, 46 Hilary Landwehr, 35 Julia Lawrence, 4 Jennifer Leone, 1 Julia Marchese, 3 Audrey Markovich, 3 Justine Merritt, 6 Melissa Navarra, 1 Alison Peeno, 5 Lauren Peter, 20* Regina Rancourt, 1* Kristi C. Reed, 13* Beth Roberts, 18 Hannah Schafer, 1 Meghan Schatt, 1 Julia H. Schieve, 29 Yvon F. Shore, 12* Mary Ann Sprague, 2*

Katherine Sullivan, 1 Alex Vale, 2 Patricia Wilkens, 3 Olivia Zimmerman, 1 Altos Caitlin Ahmann-Miller, 1* Hannah Bachmann, 1* Jennifer Blair, 1* Emily Cotten, 1* Tamara Craver, 1 Margaret Eilert, 1* Ali Falcón, 4 Kathy Falcón, 20 Lindsey Fitch, 10 Amanda Gast, 3 Bella Gullia, 1 Sally Vickery Harper, 53 Sarah Keeling Horseman, 14 Spence B. Ingerson, 34 Amy Jackson, 1* Karolyn L. Johnsen, 52 Jenifer Klostermeier, 5 Julia Lankisch, 1 Julie Laskey, 20 Megan Lawson, 9 Katherine Loomis, 4 Elaine P. Lustig, 14 Kathy Mank, 19 Melissa A. Martin, 18 Teri McKibben, 16 Jennifer Moak, 10 Rozelia Park, 8 Amy M. Perry, 12* Christy Roediger, 2 Amanda Schwarz Rosenzweig, 3 Karen Scott-Vosseberg, 7

Emily Seedle, 1 Sarah Stoutamire, 7 Kristie Stricker, 2 Katie Tesmond, 1 Christine Wands, 32 Megan Weaver, 11* Robin Rae Wiley, 2 Tenors Avery Bargassé, 6* Ryan Block, 1* David Bower, 3 Douglas Easterling, 9* David Gillespie, 2 Robert Henderson, 5 Fansheng Kong, 3 Kevin Leahy, 6 Matthew Leonard, 2* Robert Lomax, 6 Andrew Miller, 2* H. Scott Nesbitt, 14 Scott C. Osgood, 22 Jason Ramler, 22 Larry Reiring, 15* Adam Shoaff, 11 Jeffrey Stivers, 14* Matthew Swanson, 12* Timothy A. Vance, 1 Gary Wendt, 18* Stephen West, 3 Barry Zaslow, 40 Basses Mark Barnes, 7 Jim Baxter, 33 Richard Becker, 2* Nathan Bettenhausen, 3* Andrew L. Bowers, 8

Scott Brody, 9* Douglas J. Bruestle, 13 Darren Bryant, 3 Christopher Canarie, 30* Matthew Cheek, 2 Steven L. Dauterman, 42* David Dugan, 2 Ben Flanders, 1 Steve France, 19* Mark Hockenberry, 3* Kim P. Icsman, 27 Christopher Kanney, 2 Takuya Konishi, 3 Alex Kress, 1 Jim Laskey, 14 John McKibben, 6 Salvador Miranda, 1 Justin Peter, 20* James V. Racster, 42 Brian Reilly, 3 Sergey Tkachenko, 1* Joshua Wallace, 17 Mark Weaver, 18 Paul Wessendarp, 4 Tommy Wessendarp, 3* 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. *singing Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 23

Credit: Charlie Balcom

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS & CHORUS LEADERSHIP

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 2023–24 season is Porco’s 35th 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, 2022, 2023 and 2024, 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 24 | mayfestival.com

Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel; 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.

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, Louis Langrée, Raymond Leppard, James Levine, Jahja Ling, Jesús López Cobos, Zubin Mehta, Juanjo Mena, John Nelson, André Previn, Kurt Sanderling, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, 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).

Credit: Krista DeVaul

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS & CHORUS LEADERSHIP

MATTHEW SWANSON Associate Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson is Associate Director of Choruses, Director of the Youth Chorus and Director of Special Projects for the Cincinnati May Festival.

He annually prepares the May Festival Chorus and Youth Chorus for performances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra 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.

At the May Festival, he has instituted an annual Youth Chorus commissioning project, the presentation of community choral concerts during the May Festival, a program of free professional voice instruction for Chorus and Youth Chorus members, free in-school choral clinics for area middle and high schools, and the Youth Chorus Enrichment Program. In addition, he has expanded institutional support for the Youth Chorus, which is fully cost-free for members.

His portfolio of special projects at the May Festival has included staged productions of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS (2018) and Candide (2022) and the formation of the May Festival Community Chorus. In celebration of the May Festival’s 150th anniversary season in 2023, he led 25 for 25: A New Time for Choral Music, the May Festival’s wideranging community commissioning project.

Elsewhere, his affiliations have included the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center (New York), where he has been assistant conductor, production consultant and programmer. He has previously worked on the music faculties of Berkshire Choral International and the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. He is frequently engaged as a host and presenter of lectures and concerts in Cincinnati, New York and elsewhere.

In the 2023–24 academic year, he concluded a four-year tenure as conductor of the Xavier Choir at Xavier University and taught conducting and choral literature in the graduate conducting program at

the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He also led Vox Antiqua, an ensemble of the CCM Early Music Lab. Swanson is a native of southeast Iowa and was educated at the University of Notre Dame (BA), CCM (MM, DMA), and King’s College, Cambridge (MMus). He held the May Festival Conducting Fellowship in 2015.

In December of 2023, the May Festival announced that Matthew Swanson will become the 16th Director of Choruses for the Cincinnati May Festival, effective June 1, 2024. He succeeds Robert Porco, who has led the Chorus for more Festivals than any other choral director in the organization’s 151-year history, and to whom he is greatly indebted.

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 SaintSaëns 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.

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 25

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS & CHORUS LEADERSHIP

SERGEY TKACHENKO May Festival Conducting Fellow, 2023–24 Sergey Tkachenko is a Ukrainian-American conductor, bass-baritone and collaborative pianist who maintains an active performance schedule as a professional choral singer, keyboardist and church musician. He joined the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir in 2016 and also sings with Cincinnati’s The Union, Trevor Kroeger, director. Recently, Tkachenko appeared in the choir for the Leonard Bernstein biopic, Maestro, with Bradley Cooper. In February of this year, he directed the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project in a period performance of J.S. Bach’s Cantata 78, leading from the organ. In 2023, he was the assistant music director at the First United Methodist Church in Bloomington and currently sings at St. Rose of Lima in Cincinnati.

Tkachenko’s musical leadership includes both orchestral and choral conducting. He was

the assistant conductor for the Westminster Community Orchestra in Princeton, NJ, 2017–2020.

In 2023, Tkachenko completed his master’s degree in choral conducting at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he was an associate instructor for the choral department. In addition to directing several choirs on campus, he was the assistant director of the renowned show choir, the Singing Hoosiers, and assisted in preparing the choruses for two IU Opera Theater productions.

Before pursuing graduate studies, Tkachenko was the choral director at Moorestown High School (NJ).

Tkachenko is passionate about programming and performing the music of his Slavic heritage and coaches vocalists and ensembles in Russian and Ukrainian diction. Tkachenko earned his undergraduate degree in Music Education from Westminster Choir College in 2014 and is working on his doctorate in Choral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

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

WELCOME GROUPS! The Creation, Friday, May 17 Little Miami Middle School Anthems, Sat. May 18 Riverside High School

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26 | mayfestival.com

MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS MATTHEW SWANSON, Director David Kirkendall, Accompanist and Assistant Director Dr. Eva Floyd, Musicianship Instructor Sarah Farwell, Chorus Manager Kathleen Moran, 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.

Read more about the May Festival Youth Chorus from the singers themselves, on p. 18.

THE MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS Ava Altenau Hope Bowden* Lenora Braukman* Sam Bringle* Anna Burkhart* Cameron Carnahan* Ella Clark Sophia Clever* Thanh-Tam Dao* Lucy Dixon* Michael Doughman* Edward Gray* Mary Hollon Brandon Honnerlaw Natalie Hoover* Kamryn Hopkins Genevieve Howard* Chiara Iadipaolo* Naomi Jackson* Maren Jenkins

Madeleine Kasman* Emily Lewis Adriana Mayfield* Cecelia McDaniel Charles Rahner Caroline Reister Nathan Share* Somi Shrive* JenAvieve Southcombe* Nikki Tayidi* Eden Teare Oliver Wagner* Eden Walker Celia Wallace Molly Wehner Emily Wendt* Adelynn Woodward Sam Wright

DAVID KIRKENDALL, Accompanist and Assistant Director David Kirkendall served as choral director at Princeton High School in Cincinnati from 1980 to 2013. He has been assistant director and accompanist for the May Festival Youth Chorus since 2006 and has also served as accompanist for the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati since 2017.

Kirkendall completed his undergraduate degree, as well as a master’s degree in Choral Conducting, at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He attended 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. He provided continuo realizations for the Roger Dean edition of the Vivaldi Gloria and has an SSA arrangement published with Alfred Music.

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.

To Dr. Floyd from MFYC director Matthew Swanson: As the 2024 May Festival marks the conclusion of Dr. Floyd’s tenure as musicianship instructor, I wish to share our gratitude for her contributions to the MFYC singers in the past six seasons. Thank you, Dr. Floyd!

The May Festival Youth Chorus is generously supported by the Thomas J. Emery Memorial and Christy and Terry Horan.

Additional ongoing support provided by the following:

*Dona Nobis Pacem participant

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 27

GUEST SOLOISTS AND CONDUCTORS MAY 17: THE CREATION

Photo: Maria Östling

ROBERT PORCO, conductor Turn to p. 24 for a biography of this evening’s conductor, May Festival Director of Choruses Robert Porco.

CAMILLA TILLING, soprano Camilla Tilling possesses a beguiling tone and unfailing musicality that have secured her position as a favorite with conductors, audiences and critics alike, across a career that has now spanned more than two decades. She has been a steady presence on the world’s leading opera, concert and recital stages while simultaneously building an impressive discography that includes orchestral works by Haydn with Bernard Haitink, Handel and Purcell with Emmanuelle Haïm, Grieg with Paavo Järvi, Brahms with Marek Janowski and Cherubini with Riccardo Muti, in addition to recital collections of Gluck, Mozart, Strauss, Schumann, Grieg and many others.

Tilling has toured extensively in Peter Sellars’ stagings of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, and she enjoyed an enduring collaboration with Sir Bernard Haitink, under whose baton she sang her first Beethoven and for whom she was

the Strauss soprano of choice for his historic final concerts with Radio Filharmonisch Orkest in 2019.

Recent operatic highlights include the Governess (The Turn of the Screw) at Glyndebourne Festival, Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice) at Salzburg Mozartwoche, Donna Clara (Der Zwerg) at Bayerische Staatsoper, Debussy’s La damoiselle élue at Madrid’s Teatro Real, and Blanche de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites), Suor Angelica and Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro) at Royal Swedish Opera, as well as regular appearances as Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande).

Last season, Camilla Tilling expanded her already extensive repertoire with the premiere of Daniel Nelson’s Chaplin Songs with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Osvaldo Golijov’s Three Songs with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and Irgens-Jensen’s song cycle Japanischer Frühling with Karajan-Akademie of Berliner Philharmoniker, a work she repeats in the current season with Kristiansand Symfoniorkester. Elsewhere in the current season, Tilling’s commitments include a recital collaboration with pianist Emanuel Ax; presenting her Swedish Nightingale program “Jenny Lind: Love and Lieder” at Performance Santa Fe, Isabel Bader Center for Performing Arts in Ontario and Capital Region Classical; Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal; Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Navarra Symphony Orchestra and Mendelssohn’s Paulus with Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España. harrisonparrott.com/artists/camilla-tilling NICHOLAS PHAN, tenor

MAY FESTIVAL CONCERTS ON WGUC AND ONLINE 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 13: Anthems October 20: Voices of the Earth October 27: Her Story NOTE: Haydn’s The Creation will be broadcast live on WGUC on May 17.

The May 18 concert, Anthems, will be livestreamed at mayfestival.com/live as well as broadcast on WGUC on Oct. 13.

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American tenor Nicholas Phan is increasingly recognized as an artist of distinction. An artist with an incredibly diverse repertoire that spans nearly 500 years of music, he performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies.

An avid recitalist and a passionate advocate for art song and vocal chamber music, in 2010 Phan co-founded the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago (CAIC), an organization devoted to promoting this underserved repertoire.

A celebrated recording artist, Phan’s most recent album, Stranger: Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly, was nominated for the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. His previous

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

ALEXANDER BIRCH ELLIOTT, baritone Baritone Alexander Birch Elliott continues to garner praise for his “heated intensity and beguiling timbre of mahogany” (The New York Times). This season, he makes an exciting role debut with Houston Grand Opera as Captain Von Trapp in the beloved The Sound of Music, and he returns to the Metropolitan Opera, singing Papageno in the holiday presentation of The Magic Flute and covering Schaunard in La bohème.

The baritone also makes two notable role reprisals, singing Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Arizona Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with New Orleans Opera.

With the Grand Teton Music Festival, he will sing Papageno under the baton of Donald Runnicles.

Elliott kicked off the 2022–23 season with an anticipated role and house debut as Enrico in Simon Stone’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor with Los Angeles Opera. He returned to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as the baritone soloist in Mozart’s Great Mass and Handel’s Messiah. He also was heard in the summer as Leandro in Sergei Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges with Des Moines Metro Opera.

His 2021–22 season began with his return to the Metropolitan Opera as Schaunard in La bohème, followed by performances as the title role in Eugene Onegin at Opera Omaha. During the same season he was also seen as Marcello in La bohème for his debut at San Diego Opera, Escamillo in Carmen with

Opera Santa Barbara, and as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Des Moines Metro Opera, having previously bowed with the company as Prince Yeletsky in Pique Dame and Momus in Platée. alexanderbirchelliott.com MAY 18: ANTHEMS

Photo: Karolina Heller

albums, Clairières and Gods and Monsters, were nominated for the same award in 2020 and 2017. He is the first singer of Asian descent to be nominated in the history of the category, which has been awarded by the Recording Academy since 1959.

Sought after as a curator and programmer, in addition to his work as artistic director of CAIC, Phan is the host and creator of BACH 52, a web series examining the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

He has created programs for broadcast on WFMT and WQXR and has also served as guest curator for projects with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Merola Opera and San Francisco Performances, where he served as the vocal artist-in-residence 2014–18. Phan’s programs often examine themes of identity, highlight unfairly underrepresented voices from history, and strive to underline the relevance of music from all periods to the currents of the present day. nicholas-phan.com

STEPHANIE CHILDRESS, conductor Strong ideas, lucid communication and intensely focused energy are among the qualities that define Stephanie Childress among today’s most compelling young musicians. Recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, her musicianship and command of a broad repertoire have already led her to establish herself on both sides of the Atlantic.

Having been inspired to start conducting due to her love of opera, the Franco-British conductor opened the 2023–24 season making her Hamburg Staatsoper debut in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and returning to Glyndebourne’s autumn season for Don Giovanni. In the 2023–24 season she also makes her conducting debut with Detroit Opera in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves.

On the orchestral podium, Childress continues to be reinvited internationally and returns to the Barcelona and North Carolina symphony orchestras. In North America, she debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony and National Arts Centre Ottawa. In Europe, Childress also makes her first appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Dresden Philharmonic and her Japanese debut with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.

Childress has very strong ties to the French cultural scene following her second-prize win at the 2020 inaugural conducting competition, La Maestra. Since then, she has conducted some of the top French orchestras. In September 2023, following her involvement as one of the first conducting fellows of l’Académie de l’Opéra de Paris, she debuted at the Palais Garnier with l’Orchestre Pasdeloup for l’Opéra’s opening gala concert. In previous seasons, she has also made several exciting appearances with UK orchestras.

A passionate advocate for amplifying the role of music within today’s world, Childress previously undertook an artistic residence at the Villa MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 29

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

Photo: Rob Daly

CAMILLA TILLING, soprano A biography for Ms. Tilling is on p. 28.

DANIEL OKULITCH, baritone The renowned Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch is known for his commanding stage presence and impressive vocal versatility. He has performed with major opera companies and orchestras around the world, taking on a diverse range of roles showcasing his musical intelligence and strong sense of artistry.

Some of his acclaimed portrayals are in the principal Mozart roles, including his recent debut at Opernhaus Zürich as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro under Stefano Montanari.

At the same time, Okulitch is sought after for many contemporary operas and world premieres.

Most notably, he created the role of Ennis del Mar in Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real, premiered Lyndon B. Johnson in David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s JFK at Ft. Worth Opera, performed General Groves in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic at Santa Fe Opera, and made his British debut as Mark Rutland in Nico Muhly’s Marnie at English National Opera. Okulitch recently reprised the role of Beck in Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer’s Everest with BBC Symphony Orchestra, set for future release on CD, and made a notable role debut as The Protector in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at Opéra de Montréal, followed

by Lessons in Love and Violence at Gran Teatre del Liceu. Okulitch returns to Opéra de Montréal this season for the role of Axel Oxenstierna in the world premiere of Julien Bilodeau and Michel Marc Bouchard’s La Reine-garçon.

On the concert stage, Daniel Okulitch debuts in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem this season with South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, as well as Rachmaninoff’s Spring with Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid. Elsewhere, he joins the cast of Britten’s Billy Budd in concert performances at the George Enescu International Festival.

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Okulitch’s career first garnered national attention in the original cast of Baz Luhrmann’s Tonywinning Broadway production of La bohème. His first solo recording, The New American Art Song, was released on GPR Records in 2011.

Okulitch attended the Oberlin Conservatory and continued his studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. danielokulitch.com MAY 23: VOICES OF THE EARTH

TEDDY ABRAMS, conductor Teddy Abrams, Musical America’s 2022 Conductor of the Year, is now in his 10th season as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra (LO). As profiled by The New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning, The New Yorker, NPR, Opera News, The Wall Street Journal, PBS’s Articulate and PBS NewsHour, he has been the galvanizing force behind the orchestra’s extraordinary artistic renewal and innovative community engagement since his appointment in 2014.

Abrams and the LO began their 2023–24 season with mandolinist, vocalist and composer Chris Thile, who joined them for the next leg of their historic multi-season state tour, “In Harmony—The Commonwealth Tour of the Louisville Orchestra.”

Other season highlights include music of Gabriel Kahane and John Adams, Mahler’s “Tragic” Symphony No. 6, and “Creators Fest” concerts featuring world premieres of works from the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps.

Abrams continues to be in high demand as guest conductor, this season making his Helsinki and Buffalo Philharmonic debuts and returning to the Utah Symphony. Highlights of the 2022–23 season included engagements with the Chicago, Cincinnati, Colorado, Kansas City and Pacific symphony orchestras; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg; and Innsbruck’s Tyrol Symphony Orchestra.

An award-winning composer, in April 2023 Abrams premiered his own Mammoth with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bass-baritone Davóne Tines and the LO in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave. Other recent compositional highlights include a piano concerto for Yuja Wang, with which he and the Louisville Orchestra made their Deutsche Grammophon debuts on her March 2023 release, The American Project, and Space Variations, composed for Universal Music Group’s 2022 World Sleep Day.

Photo: Chris Witzke

Albertine, a network for arts and ideas spanning France and the United States. She is also a member of the Franco-British Young Leaders’ Program, and she is an active supporter of the Tri-borough Music Hub, an award-winning organization for music education. stephaniechildress.com

Abrams is now at work on ALI, a musical about Muhammad Ali, scheduled to premiere in fall 2024 in Louisville, the boxer’s birthplace, before opening on Broadway in spring 2025.

Other notable Louisville collaborations include the song cycle The Order of Nature, composed with Jim James, vocalist and guitarist for My Morning Jacket, and recorded with the LO on Decca Gold.

On the same label, Abrams, the LO and singersongwriter Storm Large recorded All In, featuring American music by Cole Porter, Aaron Copland, and Abrams and Large themselves. teddyabrams.com STEIGER BUTTE DRUM AND SINGERS OF CHILOQUIN, OREGON

The group’s name, Steiger Butte, originates from a Vision Quest Site west of Chiloquin, Oregon traditionally used by tribal people. The Steiger Butte Drum, which has been in existence since the 1950s, is a family group that travels the United States and the Pacific Northwest. Now in their third generation of singers, Steiger Butte includes fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces. Klamath Tribe representative Taylor Tupper describes Steiger Butte as a Northernstyle pow-wow drum. The group has previously performed at the Britt Festival, including for the world premiere of Michael Gordon’s Natural History, and for the Crater Lake—Mirror of Heaven documentary. To learn more about the Klamath Tribes, visit klamathtribes.org.

BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS Formed in 1992, the Bang on a Can All-Stars are recognized worldwide for their ultra-dynamic live performances and recordings of today’s most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world and experimental music, this six-member amplified ensemble has consistently forged a distinct category-defying identity. Performing each year throughout the U.S. and internationally, the AllStars have shattered the definition of what concert music is today.

Photo: Peter Serling

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

Bang on a Can All-Stars

Together, the All-Stars have worked in close collaboration with some of the most important and inspiring musicians of our time. The group’s celebrated projects include landmark recordings of Brian Eno’s ambient classic Music for Airports and Terry Riley’s In C, as well as live performances with Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Don Byron, Iva Bittová, Thurston Moore, Owen Pallett and others.

The All-Stars were named Musical America’s 2005 Ensemble of the Year.

Current and recent project highlights include In C, a new dance collaboration with Sasha Waltz & Guests based on Terry Riley’s minimalist classic; Can Dance, a new multi-media concert pairing composers and choreographers; a new recording of legendary composer/performer Meredith Monk’s MEMORY GAME; Julia Wolfe’s Flower Power, a multi-media concert exploring the sonic landscape of the late 1960s; Road Trip, an immersive and visually stunning concert collaboratively composed by Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe to commemorate the 30+ year journey of Bang on a Can; the touring performances and recording of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields; Julia Wolfe’s Steel Hammer, plus a moving theatrically staged collaboration with SITI Company and director Anne Bogart; Field Recordings, a major multi-media project and CD/DVD now featuring 30 commissioned works; the Lincoln Center Festival 2017 world premiere of Cloud River Mountain, a collaboration featuring Chinese superstar singer Gong Linna; the world premiere and recording of Steve Reich’s 2×5, including a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall, and much more. With a massive repertoire of works written specifically for the group’s distinctive instrumentation and style of performance, the All-Stars have become a genre in their own right. The All-Stars record on Cantaloupe Music and have released past recordings on Sony, Universal and Nonesuch. bangonacan.org MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 31

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stronger arts for a stronger region We don’t make the music you’ll hear on stage, but for nearly 100 years, we’ve been the primary way Cincy’s arts are funded. Your gift to ArtsWave ripples out across our communities to create a more vibrant future for everyone.

With tens of thousands of gifts from people like you, ArtsWave is proud to support the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, plus over a hundred other arts organizations and artists that make our region stronger.

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GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

FRANÇOIS LÓPEZ-FERRER, conductor Spanish-American conductor François López-Ferrer, currently serving as Resident Conductor of the Opéra de Paris Académie, boasts a remarkable career trajectory.

Formerly Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and May Festival, López-Ferrer’s talent was further honed during his tenure as a 2021–22 Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He captivated audiences and critics alike in January 2022 when he stepped in for Louis Langrée with the CSO for the U.S. premiere of Mark Simpson’s Violin Concerto.

He was recently named the 2024 recipient of the Solti Foundation’s 15th annual major grant, the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award.

His recent career highlights are marked by debuts with prominent orchestras worldwide, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orquesta Nacional de España, Ensemble intercontemporain, Opéra de Lausanne, Colorado Music Festival, Orquesta de Valencia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica Radio Televisión Española, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and the Pasadena Symphony.

He was a featured conductor in the prestigious 2022 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

Upcoming engagements include debuts with the Hollywood Bowl, May Festival, George Enescu Philharmonic, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony and the San Antonio Classical Music Institute, along with a highly anticipated return to the Pasadena Symphony.

López-Ferrer was formerly Associate Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile and Principal Conductor of the Ballet Nacional Chileno.

His musical journey commenced as an inaugural apprentice of the Verbier Festival’s 2018 Conductor Mentorship Program, where he made a last-minute debut stepping in for Iván Fischer in a shared program alongside Sir Simon Rattle and Gábor Takács-Nagy. He is a two-time recipient of a Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S., winner of the inaugural 2015 Neeme Järvi Prize at the Menuhin-Gstaad Festival and a former member of the Deutsche Dirigenten Forum.

López-Ferrer earned a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Haute école de musique de Lausanne and a bachelor’s degree in composition from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. francoislopezferrer.com LIV REDPATH, soprano

In the 2023–24 season, soprano Liv Redpath joins The Cleveland Orchestra for Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and a world premiere by Betsy Jolas under the baton of Daniel Harding, the Berliner Philharmoniker as Die Seele in Schoenberg’s Die Jakobsleiter with chief conductor Kirill Petrenko, Orchestra of St. Luke’s for Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium at Carnegie Hall led by Bernard Labadie, Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra for Strauss’ Brentano Lieder with Federico Cortese, Sag Harbor Song Festival for concerts in New York, and a Wigmore Hall debut in London with pianist Harry Rylance.

Next season, Redpath will join the San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Seattle Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Les Violons du Roy, Kansas City Symphony and Radio Filharmonisch Orkest for orchestral projects.

Opera appearances this season include debuts with the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, the Metropolitan Opera as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Staatsoper Hamburg for Lucia di Lammermoor, The English Concert as Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid) and Palau de la Música (Barcelona), and Atlanta Opera, where she reprises Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Redpath returns to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Pamina in The Magic Flute as well as Santa Fe Opera for Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier.

Liv Redpath is a graduate of Harvard University and The Juilliard School, as well as an alumna of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Program at LA Opera. livredpath.com

Photo: Thomas Brunot

MAY 25: HER STORY

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 33

2024-25 Season

SEASON TICKETS NOW ON SALE cincinnatisymphony.org/subscribe

Photo: Cyrill Matter

GUEST SOLOISTS & CONDUCTORS

ELLIOT MADORE, baritone Grammy-winning Canadian baritone Elliot Madore has established himself as an international artist in demand at the leading opera houses and orchestras of the world.

The 2023–24 season sees Madore’s return to Opernhaus Zürich as Oreste in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, with George Petrou leading the Orchestra La Scintilla, as well as Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd, opposite Bryn Terfel in the title role. Madore also makes his house debut with Boston Lyric Opera as Orpheus in Matt Aucoin’s Eurydice, conducted by the composer, and returns to the title role in Don Giovanni with Edmonton Opera.

Concert appearances include baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Baltimore Symphony, Fauré’s Requiem with the Alabama Symphony and Duruflé’s Requiem with the Cincinnati May Festival. This season Madore also continues his position as a performing Associate Professor of Voice with the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music faculty.

On the recital stage, Madore has appeared at Carnegie Hall as part of Marilyn Horne’s The Song Continues series, as well as with Cleveland Art Song Festival and with Music Toronto, which was broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. His Canadian recital debut took place at the National Arts Centre, which was recorded and broadcast on CBC Radio Two’s “Next! Canada’s Music Future” Series.

Madore was part of the Grammy-winning recording from the Saito Kinen Festival as Ramiro in L’heure espagnole and Le chat and L’horloge comtoise in L’enfant et les sortilèges.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Madore currently resides dually in Toronto, Canada and Zürich, Switzerland. elliotmadore.com LORELEI ENSEMBLE, Beth Willer, Artistic Director Led by founder and artistic director Beth Willer since 2007, Lorelei Ensemble is internationally recognized for its bold, inventive programs championing the extraordinary flexibility and virtuosity of the human voice. Led by founder and artistic director Beth Willer, Lorelei has established an inspiring mission, curating culturally relevant and artistically audacious programs that challenge artists’ and audiences’ expectations.

Lorelei Ensemble

Lorelei Ensemble collaborates with leading composers, commissioning more than 65 new works that expand and deepen the repertoire of sounds, timbres, words and stories that women use to reflect and challenge our world. This new repertoire for women’s and treble voices allows unparalleled music-making that is born from the unique position of power and cultural influence that women hold.

Collaborating composers include David Lang, Julia Wolfe, George Benjamin, Kati Agócs, Lisa Bielawa, Kareem Roustom, Jessica Meyer and others.

Lorelei Ensemble maintains a robust national touring schedule, including recent collaborations with numerous major symphony orchestras across the U.S., Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and performances at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On the New Focus, Sono Luminus, Cantaloupe and BMOP Sound labels, Lorelei has recorded the music of Kati Agócs, Peter Gilbert, James Kallembach, William Billings, Guillaume Du Fay, Alfred Schnittke and many others. Recent releases include Christopher Cerrone’s Beaufort Scales (Cold Blue Music, 2024), Jessica Meyer’s I long and seek after (New Focus Recordings, 2024), James Kallembach’s Antigone: The Writings of Sophie Scholl (New Focus Recordings, 2022), David Lang’s love fail (Cantaloupe, 2020), and Impermanence (Sono Luminus, 2018). loreleiensemble.com LORELEI ENSEMBLE Eliza Bagg Taylor Hillary Boykins Meg Dudley Christina English Stephanie Kacoyanis

Emily Marvosh Sophie Michaux Rebecca Myers Kathryn Radakovich Sonja Tengblad

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 35

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Music Director Louis Langrée The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is considered one of America’s finest and most versatile ensembles. Louis Langrée concludes his tenure with the Orchestra at the end of the 2023-24 season; subsequently, he has been appointed Music Director Laureate through the 2027–28 season. 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 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 of works 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-19 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. These efforts include two youth orchestras, the Nouveau program, Sound Discoveries, Musicians in Schools, the CSO Brass Institute, and one of the longestrunning Young People’s Concerts series in the U.S., which was launched more than 100 years ago.

In 2020, the CSO was one of the first American orchestras to create a Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer position; in 2022, the CSO became the first American orchestra to endow the position to ensure the absorption of best DE&I practices into every facet of the organization in perpetuity.

Started in 2007, the Nouveau Program was formed to support increased participation in classical music by African American and Latine student musicians and to provide equitable opportunities for music study and performance. Since its creation, the program has nurtured more than 80 students. cincinnatisymphony.org

“The music is breathtaking.”

“The intimacy and caliber of the performers are remarkable.”

“By far my favorite musical experience.”

The music speaks volumes.

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LintonMusic.org

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, Associate Conductor Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

Daniel Wiley, Assistant Conductor Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

FIRST VIOLINS Stefani Matsuo

CELLOS Ilya Finkelshteyn

Felicity James

Daniel Kaler

Principal Emma Margaret & Irving D. Goldman Chair

Norman Johns**

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

Concertmaster Anna Sinton Taft Chair Associate Concertmaster Tom & Dee Stegman Chair

Philip Marten

First Assistant Concertmaster James M. Ewell Chair++

Eric Bates

Second Assistant Concertmaster Serge Shababian Chair

Kathryn Woolley

Principal Irene & John J. Emery Chair Acting Associate Principal Ona Hixson Dater Chair Karl & Roberta Schlachter Family Chair

Drew Dansby§ Nicholas Mariscal Hiro Matsuo

Anne G. & Robert W. Dorsey Chair

[OPEN]

James Braid

Marc Bohlke Chair given

by Katrin & Manfred Bohlke

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

Gerald Itzkoff

Jean Ten Have 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

Ruth F. Rosevear Chair

BASSES Owen Lee

Principal Mary Alice Heekin Burke Chair++

Luis Arturo Celis Avila*

Thomas Vanden Eynden Chair

Stephen Jones**

Trish & Rick Bryan Chair

Boris Astafiev§ Gerald Torres Rick Vizachero

HARP Gillian Benet Sella

Principal Cynthia & Frank Stewart Chair

FLUTES Randolph Bowman

Principal Charles Frederic Goss Chair

Henrik Heide* Haley Bangs

Jane & David Ellis Chair

PICCOLO Rebecca Pancner

VIOLAS Christian Colberg

OBOES Dwight Parry

Brenda & Ralph Taylor Chair++

Principal Louise D. & Louis Nippert Chair

Gabriel Napoli

Acting Associate Principal Grace M. Allen Chair

Julian Wilkison** Rebecca Barnes§ Christopher Fischer Stephen Fryxell

Melinda & Irwin Simon Chair

Caterina Longhi Denisse Rodriguez-Rivera Dan Wang Joanne Wojtowicz

Vicky & Rick Reynolds Chair in honor of William A. Friedlander

Principal Emalee Schavel Chair++

Martin Garcia*

Marvin Kolodzik & Linda S. Gallaher Hugh Michie Chair for Cello

Stacey Woolley

Charles Gausmann Chair++

Ixi Chen

BASSOONS Christopher Sales

Alan Rafferty

Jo Ann & Paul Ward Chair

TIMPANI Patrick Schleker

Peter G. Courlas– Nicholas Tsimaras Chair++

Dianne & J. David Rosenberg Chair

Minyoung Baik

Joseph Morris*

BASS CLARINET Ronald Aufmann

Theodore Nelson‡

Mauricio Aguiar§

TUBA Christopher Olka

Laura Kimble McLellan Chair++

Nicholas Tsimaras– Peter G. Courlas Chair++

Anna Reider

CLARINETS Christopher Pell

Patricia Gross Linnemann Chair

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

Lon Bussell*

Stephen P. McKean Chair

Emily Beare

ENGLISH HORN Christopher Philpotts

Principal Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair++

Principal Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair

Principal Matthew & Peg Woodside Chair

Joseph Bricker*

Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

PERCUSSION David Fishlock

Principal Susan S. & William A. Friedlander Chair

Michael Culligan* Joseph Bricker

Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

Marc Wolfley+

CONTRABASSOON Jennifer Monroe

KEYBOARDS Michael Chertock

FRENCH HORNS Elizabeth Freimuth

Julie Spangler+

Principal Mary M. & Charles F. Yeiser Chair

[OPEN]*

Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer Chair

Molly Norcross**

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

Lisa Conway

Susanne & Philip O. Geier, Jr. Chair

Duane Dugger

Mary & Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Chair

Charles Bell

Donald & Margaret Robinson Chair

TRUMPETS Anthony Limoncelli Principal Rawson Chair

Douglas Lindsay*

Jackie & Roy Sweeney Family Chair

Alexander Pride†

Otto M. Budig Family Foundation Chair++

Christopher Kiradjieff TROMBONES Cristian Ganicenco

Principal Dorothy & John Hermanies Chair

Joseph Rodriguez**

Second/Assistant Principal Trombone Sallie Robinson Wadsworth & Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr. Chair

James P. Thornton Chair James P. Thornton Chair

CSO/CCM DIVERSITY FELLOWS~ Lucas Braga, violin Melissa Peraza, viola Manuel Papale, cello Caleb Edwards, double bass Wendell Rosa, double bass LIBRARIANS Christina Eaton

Principal Librarian Lois Klein Jolson Chair

Elizabeth Dunning

Associate Principal Librarian

Cara Benner

Interim Assistant Librarian

STAGE MANAGERS Brian P. Schott Phillip T. Sheridan Daniel Schultz Mike Ingram 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 Mellon Foundation

BASS TROMBONE Noah Roper

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 37

CINCINNATI OPERA at MUSIC HALL

NEW PRODUCTION!

Don Giovanni

June 13 & 15

Studio Sessions

June 18, July 2 & 11

La Traviata

June 27, 28 & 30 WORLD STAGE PREMIERE!

Paul McCartney’s

Liverpool Oratorio

July 18, 20, 21 & 27

TICKETS START AT $36

SUMMER 2024 FESTIVAL cincinnatiopera.org Illustration: Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio: Aimee Sposito Martini

Season Funders:

Patricia A. Corbett Estate and Trust Harry T. Wilks Family Foundation

Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio Lead Sponsor:

THE CREATION

FRI MAY 17, 7:30 pm | Music Hall ROBERT PORCO, conductor CAMILLA TILLING, soprano NICHOLAS PHAN, tenor ALEXANDER BIRCH ELLIOTT, baritone 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 Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732–1809)

The Creation (“Die Schöpfung”), H. XXI:2 Part I Part II

INTERMISSION Part III

Tonight’s concert is sponsored in loving memory of Ivan and Patty Misrach by their many friends.

Tonight’s concert will last approximately 145 minutes.

The 2024 Festival Sponsor is Christy and Terry Horan.

The 2024 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

The 2024 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 Robert Porco is made possible in part by a generous gift from Ronald C. Lamping.

The appearance of Camilla Tilling is made possible in part by a generous endowment gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy R. Brooks.

The appearance of Nicholas Phan is made possible in part by a generous endowment gift from Dr. and Mrs. Morton Harshman.

The appearance of Alexander Birch Elliott is made possible in part by a generous gift from David and Elaine Billmire.

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

This concert will be broadcast live on 90.9 WGUC this evening.

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 39

MAY 17 PROGRAM NOTES FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN

The Creation

Born: March 31, 1732, Rohrau, Austria Died: May 31, 1809, Vienna Work Composed: 1796–1798 Premiere: April 29, 1798 in Vienna, directed by the composer Instrumentation: SATB chorus, STB soloists, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, fortepiano, strings May Festival Notable Performances: First: May 1886, Theodore Thomas conducting the Theodore Thomas Orchestra; Lilli Lehmann, soprano; William Candidus, tenor; Myron Whitney, bass; May Festival Chorus.

Most Recent: May 2015, James Conlon conducting the CSO; Amanda Woodbury, soprano; Ben Bliss, tenor; Kristinn Sigmundsson, bass-baritone; May Festival Chorus, Robert Porco, director.

Duration: approx. 1 hour, 50 minutes

Unlike the six-day Biblical precedent, it took Haydn some seven years to finish The Creation. Under the auspices of the emigrant German violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon, Haydn first arrived in London in January 1791 to give concerts of his music Franz Joseph Haydn that would include several new symphonies written especially for the British audiences. His success was immediate and complete, and he was lionized by the public and the aristocracy unlike any musician since Handel—within six months, he had been awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University. For his part, Haydn was overwhelmed by the intensity of his reception, both personal and artistic; by the bustle, diversity and size of London; by the open kindliness of the many new friends he made; and by the wealth of musical life in the great city.

Among the most imposing of London’s musical events were the Handel Festivals that had been held in Westminster Abbey since 1784, the supposed centennial of the composer’s birth. (The British were one year early—the mistake is still inscribed on Handel’s tomb in the Abbey.) Haydn attended four of the 1791 Festival concerts in late May and 40 | mayfestival.com

early June, and he was stirred as he seldom had been in his life. After hearing performances of Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Joshua and other oratorios and instrumental works, Haydn, still humble after being unrelentingly praised by the British public and aristocracy for the preceding half-year, said, “Handel is the master of us all.” According to a friend, he admitted having “long been acquainted with the music, but never knew half its powers before he heard it [i.e., Joshua], and he was perfectly certain that only one inspired author ever did, or ever would, pen so sublime a composition.” Haydn, who had spent virtually his entire career writing to amuse a small group of noble cognoscenti at Esterháza, additionally observed the manner in which the huge audience, and, indeed, the entire country, was moved by Handel’s music, and in him was born the desire to write such works of grand vision and popular appeal. His knowledge of English, however, was poor, and he put the idea of an oratorio out of his mind for the time being, though the following February he did compose a short chorus called “The Storm,” his first English setting, that enjoyed a fine success.

Just days before he left England in 1792, Haydn had another experience that bore on the work that was to become The Creation, and may have been, as the eminent English scholar and critic Sir Donald Tovey commented, the germ from which it actually grew. On June 15, he traveled to Slough, near Windsor, to visit the famous astronomer William Herschel, noted as the discoverer of Uranus in 1781 and as a pioneer in the systematic exploration of the sky. Herschel, the son of a poor German musician, was led into the study of science by his interest in the theoretical mathematics of music. Composer and astronomer–musician fell into an easy German-language companionship, and Herschel told his new friend of the uncountable thousands of stars, galaxies and nebulae he had seen in his explorations. H.E. Jacob wrote, in his biography of the composer: The vastness of space was staggering to the imagination, and Haydn was awe-stricken as he stood in the semi-darkness of the observatory... but when his host led him up to the platform to show him the sky through the telescope, Haydn at first flatly refused to look. Later he did look, but very briefly. He was so shocked that he

PROGRAM NOTES

became cold. Trembling, he turned up his collar, although it was a June night. More than twenty minutes elapsed before he could utter a word.

Then he murmured, “So high...so far...”.

Handel and Herschel were much on Haydn’s mind on his way home to Vienna.

In February 1794, Haydn returned to England for a second time, this residency lasting, like the first, 18 months, and proving, if anything, more clamorously successful than the earlier one. His wish to compose a grand choral work—something, he said, “that will give permanent fame to my name in the world”—was still strong, particularly since he felt that he had uttered his last words on purely orchestral music with the second set of London symphonies. He asked for advice during a visit with his friend, the French violinist and composer François-Hippolyte Barthélémon. Barthélémon pulled a Bible from his shelf, flipped it open, and said, “There is the book; begin at the beginning.”

Haydn may have therefore thought it providential when Salomon, who also sponsored the second London venture, presented him with an English libretto on the subject of the Creation shortly before he left England for the last time, in August

1795, and encouraged him to set it as an oratorio in the style of Handel. Haydn tucked the text in his trunk and took it with him back to Vienna.

The libretto that Salomon gave to Haydn had originally been intended for Handel (a further attraction to Haydn), who had never gotten around to setting it, perhaps because he felt unsure about tackling such a transcendent subject, but more probably because the text lacked the continuity of drama and characters that was the basis of all his oratorios, save only Messiah. The provenance of the libretto is unclear. Haydn reported to the Habsburg Court Librarian, Baron Gottfried van Swieten, that Salomon told him it was assembled from the Bible and Milton’s Paradise Lost by one “Mr. Lidley.”

Tovey deduced that “Lidley” was actually the very young Thomas Linley (1738–1796), a London conductor and concert promoter whose daughter married the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, though that theory remains unproven. At any rate, the libretto must have been in somebody’s desk for nearly a half century before Salomon tempted Haydn with it.

The composition of an oratorio about the Creation appealed to Haydn for several reasons.

The performance of Haydn’s The Creation is sponsored

In loving memory of Ivan and Patty Misrach

by their many friends

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 41

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PROGRAM NOTES

He was throughout his life a deeply religious man, regularly observant of his faith (he inscribed the words Laus Deo [“Praise God”] at the end of virtually all his compositions), and the thought of voicing his praise of the deity in such a grand work was immensely attractive to him. (“When I think upon my God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap from my pen,” he maintained.) The work also would give him the chance to pay homage to Handel and his music in a form that Haydn, halfway through his seventh decade, was convinced would outlive all his previous endeavors, even admitting to a friend after the piece was done, “I spent much time over it, for I wanted it to last a long time.” Additionally, the poem itself presented the Nature-loving Haydn with excellent opportunities for musical portrayals of its many pictorial images.

Still, he needed encouragement to begin, and this he received from Baron van Swieten, who exerted an enormous influence on the Viennese musical community, not least in his production of frequent concerts of “old music,” i.e., that of Bach, Handel and other Baroque masters. (Mozart made a new orchestration of Messiah for the Baron’s performances.) Not only did van Swieten translate (and edit) the libretto from English into German, but he also made specific recommendations to Haydn about setting the texts (these can still be seen in the margins of his original manuscript—Haydn used many of them) and got the backing of “twelve persons of the highest aristocracy,” including the Princes Lobkowitz, Kinsky and Lichnowsky, to underwrite the first performance. Late in 1796, Haydn began writing the music for The Creation.

The composition of The Creation took some 18 months. The manuscript shows considerable re-working, evidence of the melancholia Haydn was said to have suffered at the time. Work on the oratorio was also interrupted by other compositions—St. Bernardi Mass, Mass in Time of War, a vocal arrangement of the Seven Last Words (originally written in 1787 as a series of seven slow instrumental movements to accompany a traditional Lenten service in Cádiz, Spain), several quartets, the trumpet concerto, three piano trios and Gott erhalte unsern Kaiser, the Austrian national anthem that was one of Haydn’s favorites among his pieces. To Haydn, who daily knelt to pray for Divine guidance and inspiration before beginning to compose, writing the oratorio was one of the greatest religious acts of his life: “I was never so devout as when I was

at work on The Creation.” On April 5, 1798, Haydn notified Prince Schwarzenberg, who was to host the first performance at his palace on the Mehlmarkt (today the Neuer Markt) in Vienna, that the work was finished. Preparations for the premiere, on April 29 and 30, were begun immediately under the direction of Baron van Swieten.

The premiere of The Creation was a private affair for the Viennese nobility. The market area in front of the Schwarzenberg Palace was cleared of merchants and stalls, and 30 police and assistants directed the movements of the ornate coaches as they arrived. Haydn, who was 66, found the excitement of the event almost more than he could bear. “One moment,” he said, “I was as cold as ice, the next I seemed on fire. More than once I was afraid I should have a stroke.” One Giuseppe Carpani left an account of the affair: Who can describe the applause, the delight, the enthusiasm of this society? The flower of the literary and musical society of Vienna were assembled in the room, and Haydn himself directed the orchestra. The most profound silence, the most scrupulous attention, a sentiment, I might almost say, of religious respect, were dispositions which prevailed

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PROGRAM NOTES

when the first stroke of the bow was given. The general expectation was not disappointed. A long train of beauties, to that moment unknown, unfolded themselves before us; our minds, overcome with pleasure and admiration, experienced during two successive hours what they had rarely felt—a happy existence, ever lively, ever renewed and never disappointed.

The general public first heard the work at Vienna’s Kärntnertor Theater on March 19, 1799.

The receipts from the capacity audience broke a record for the theater, and press and public were ecstatic in their praise of the music’s beauty and dramatic power. The score was published the following year and quickly became the only serious rival in popularity to Messiah. Noted the esteemed Haydn scholar Jens Peter Larsen, “Perhaps no other piece of great music has ever enjoyed such immediate and universal acceptance.”

Among the most memorable early performances of The Creation was the one given in the auditorium of the old Vienna University by the Society of Amateur Concerts on March 27, 1808 to celebrate (four days early) Haydn’s 76th birthday. Albert Christoph Dies, one of the composer’s early biographers, left an account of the touching occasion: On alighting from the Prince Esterházy’s carriage, Haydn was received by distinguished personages of the nobility and by his student, Beethoven. The crowd was so great that the military had to keep order. He was carried, sitting in his arm-chair, into the hall, and was greeted upon his entrance with a flourish of trumpets and joyous shouts of “Long live Haydn!” The people of highest rank in Vienna selected seats in his vicinity. Haydn thought he felt a little draught; the Princess Esterházy threw her shawl about him, many ladies following her example, and in a few moments he was completely wrapped in shawls. Poems by Collin and Carpani were presented to him. He could no longer conceal his feelings. His overburdened heart sought and found relief in tears. When the passage, “And there was light” came, and the audience broke out into tumultuous applause, he made a motion of his hands toward heaven, and said, “It came from thence.” He remained in such

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an agitated condition that he was obliged to take his leave at the close of the first part. As he went out, the audience thronged about him to take leave of him, and Beethoven kissed his hand and his forehead devoutly. His departure completely overcame him. He could not address the audience, and could only give expression to his heartfelt gratitude with broken, feeble utterances and blessings. Upon every countenance there was deep pity, and tearful eyes followed him as he was taken to his carriage.

It was Haydn’s last public appearance before his death 14 months later.

Any detailed consideration of The Creation is beyond the limit of these notes, and, in any case, would not be as rewarding to the listener as careful attention to the text as the piece unfolds. As one encouragement for following the words, it needs to be mentioned that the musically graphic passages with which The Creation abounds always occur before the words describing them, so that the soloists tell what just happened rather than what is to come.

In summarizing the overall plan of The Creation, Tovey wrote the following paragraphs: The words of the Bible are divided between three archangels, Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, and a chorus which, throughout the work, may be considered as that of the heavenly hosts.

The list and description of created things is not distributed haphazardly among the three archangels: Uriel is distinctly the angel of the sun and of daylight; his is the tenor voice, and his is the description of Man. Raphael sings of the earth and the sea, of the beginning of all things, and (according to the unmistakable direction of the original edition of the score) of the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters. His is also the description of the beasts, the great whales, and “every living creature that moveth”; and it is he who reports God’s blessing, “Be fruitful and multiply,” in a measured passage which is one of the sublimest incidents in Haydn’s recitatives.

Gabriel, the soprano, leads the heavenly hosts and describes the vegetable kingdom and the world of bird life.

Lastly, Adam and Eve (Soprano and Bass) appear and fulfill the purpose announced by Raphael while as yet “the end was not achieved; there wanted yet the masterwork that should acknowledge all this good.” Or, as the first answer in the Shorter Catechism has it: Q. What is the chief end of Man? A. To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

44 | mayfestival.com

PROGRAM NOTES

TEXT Translation by Robert Shaw and Alice Parker PART I 1. Introduction The Representation of Chaos (Orchestra) 2. Recitative Raphael (Bass) In the beginning, God made Heaven and Earth; and the Earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Chorus In the spirit, God moved upon the face of the water; and God said: Let there be light. And there was light.

Recitative: Uriel (Tenor) And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

3. Aria with Chorus Uriel Now vanished by the holy beams the ancient, ghostly, shuddering darkness; the First of Days appears.

Confusion yields, and order shines most fair.

Aghast, the fiends of hell confounded fly; down they sink in the deep abyss to endless night.

Chorus Convulsion, rage and terror engulf their monstrous fall.

A new created world springs forth at God’s command.

4. Recitative Raphael And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

Then howling raged the blast of the tempest.

The clouds then were driven like chaff in the wind, the lightnings slashed the heavens asunder, and crashing thunder resounded on high.

From waters rose at his command the all-refreshing rain, the devastating hail, the light and flaky snow.

5. Solo and Chorus Gabriel (Soprano) What wonder doth his work reveal to heaven’s host in joyful throng, and loud resounds throughout the skies the praise of God and of the Second Day. Chorus And loud resounds throughout the skies the praise of God and of the Second Day.

6. Recitative Raphael And God said: Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.

And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of the waters called he the seas; and God saw that it was good.

7. Aria Raphael Rolling in foaming billows, tumultuous swells the raging sea.

Highland and headland uplifted through clouds their towering summits rise.

Through broad and ample plains full flows the gathering stream and winding wanders.

Lightly murmuring, gently glides through silent glade the crystal brook.

8. Recitative Gabriel And God said: Let all the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so.

9. Aria Gabriel Now robed in cool refreshing green, the fields their new enchantment wear; and more to charm the sight arise the flowers in bright array.

Here herbs of every leaf abound; here dwells a healing grace.

The burdened boughs their golden fruit afford; here arbors spread their vaulted, restful shade, and lofty hills are crowned with kingly groves 10. Recitative Uriel And the heavenly host proclaimed the Third Day, praising God and saying: 11. Chorus Awake the harp; ye choirs awaken.

Loud let the praise of God be sounded.

Rejoice in the Lord, the mighty God. Surely the heavens and earth has he girded with splendor and light.

12. Recitative Uriel And God said: Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night, to give their light upon the earth, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years.

He made the stars also.

Please turn page quietly MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 45

PROGRAM NOTES

13. Recitative Uriel In shining splendor, radiant now the sun bestrides the sky; a wondrous, joyful bridegroom, a giant proud and glad, he runs his ordered course.

With softer steps and wistful shimmer steals the moon through still enshadowed night.

The boundless vaults of heaven’s domain shine with unnumbered magnitude of stars.

And the sons of God rejoiced in the Fourth Day in chorus divine, praising God’s great might, and saying: 14. Chorus with Trio Chorus The heavens are telling the glory of God; with wonders of his work resounds the firmament.

Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael Revealed are his ways by day unto day, by night that is gone to following night.

Chorus The heavens are telling the glory of God; with wonders of his work resounds the firmament.

Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael In every land abounds the word.

Every ear will hearken; never tongue be dumb.

Chorus The heavens are telling the glory of God; with wonders of his work resounds the firmament.

PART II 15. Recitative Gabriel And God said: Let the waters bring forth abundantly every moving creature that hath life, and fowl that fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

16. Aria Gabriel On mighty wings now circling soars the eagle proud and cleaves the air with swift exulting flight to greet the sun.

At morn the lark his cheerful welcome sings; adoring coos the tender turtle dove.

From every bush and grove pours now the nightingale her sweetest carol; no grief has ruffled yet her breast, nor yet to sorrow been tuned her charming rondelay.

17. Recitative Raphael And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth; and God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful all and multiply, ye creatures of the sky; be multiplied, and fill the air with singing!

Multiply, ye creatures of the waters, and fill each watery deep! Be fruitful, grow and multiply!

Rejoice in the Lord your God! 18. Recitative Raphael And the angels struck their immortal harps and sang the wonders of the Fifth Day. 19. Trio Gabriel In fairest raiment now, with virgin green adorned, the rolling hills appear.

From deep and secret springs, in fleeting crystal flow, the cooling brook doth pour.

Uriel In joyful garlands borne on wheeling tides of air, upwings the feathered host.

The myriad feathers’ gleam reflects in shimmering flight the golden sun’s pure light.

Raphael From sparkling waters leap the fish and twisting flash in ceaseless motion round.

From deepest ocean home waltzes up leviathan, in foaming waves to play.

Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael How many are thy works, O God! Who may their number tell?

Who, O God? Who may their number tell?

Chorus with Trio The Lord is great, and great his might, and ever stands his name.

46 | mayfestival.com

PROGRAM NOTES

20. Recitative Raphael And God said: Let earth bring forth every living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind.

25. Recitative Raphael And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good; and the heavenly choir loud rejoicing raised their song of praise and hailed the Sixth Day.

21. Recitative Raphael Straight opening her fertile womb, the earth brings forth at God’s command unnumbered living creatures, in perfect forms and fully grown.

26. Chorus Fulfilled at last the glorious work; the Maker sees with sure delight.

Let all our joy resound aloud; eternal praise to him accord.

Triumphant, roaring stands the lion there.

With a lightning leap, the tiger appears.

Bounding with branching head, the nimble stag.

With snorting and stamping, flying mane, uprears in might the noble steed.

In pleasant pastures, quietly the cattle graze on meadows green.

And o’er the ground, as growing there, abide the fleecy, gentle sheep.

As clouds of dust arise, in swarms assembled the host of insects.

In long dimension creeps, with sinuous trace, the worm.

22. Aria Raphael Now shines the brightest glory of heaven; now spreads the lavish attire of earth.

The air is filled with soaring processions, the water swelled by swarming legions; the ground is trod by ponderous beasts.

But all the work was not complete; there wanted yet that wondrous being, that God’s design might thankful see and grant his goodness joyful praise.

23. Recitative Uriel And God created Man in his own image; in the image of God created he him; male and female, created he them.

And God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living soul.

24. Aria Uriel In native worth and honor clad, with beauty, strength and courage formed, toward heaven raised uprightly, stands a man, the lord and king of nature all.

His broad and arching, noble brow proclaims of wisdom’s deep abode, and in his eyes with brightness shines the soul, the breath and image of his God. And to his breast he softly holds one of and for him formed, his other self, his pure delight.

With virgin grace so sweetly given as springtime’s charms bestowed, she loves him, yields her joy and bliss.

Trio Gabriel, Uriel From thee, O Lord, doth all proceed; all nature must thy bounty wait.

If open be thy hand, its fullness feedeth all.

Raphael But if thy face be turned away, A ghostly terror fills the night, and dust returns to dust, the living breath is gone.

Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael Thy breath, O Lord, is felt again, and life awakes with sweet surprise.

Renewed is all the earth, refreshed its charm and might.

Chorus Fulfilled at last the glorious work.

Eternal praise to him accord.

For he alone doth reign exalted. Alleluia.

Glorious be his name forever. Alleluia.

PART III 27. Recitative Uriel In rosy mantle, bright awaked by sweetest tones, the morning young and fair.

From heaven’s vaulted realm streams purest harmony to earth below.

Behold the happy pair as hand in hand they go: as from their eyes radiant shines the thanks they owe.

Full soon their tongues shall tell the louder praise of God. Let then our voices ring united with their song!

28. Hymn Eve (Soprano), Adam (Baritone) By thee with grace, O bounteous Lord, are earth and heaven stored.

This world, so great, so wonderful, thy mighty hand has framed.

Chorus O blessed be his holy might; his praise we sing eternally.

Please turn page quietly MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 47

PROGRAM NOTES

Adam Thou star of morning, O how fair thy tidings of the day; What radiance rare, O sun, is thine, thou eye and soul of all!

Chorus Proclaim in your extended course, your maker’s power and glory bright!

Eve And thou, the tender queen of night, and all ye starry host, proclaim in every land his praise in heaven’s harmonies!

Adam Ye mighty elements, by his power your endless changes make; ye misty vapors, which the wind doth spin and roll through air, Eve, Adam, Chorus O sing the praise of God the Lord.

Great is his name, and great his might.

Eve Soft flowing fountains, tune his praise, and trees adoring bow.

Ye fragrant plants, ye flowers fair, with sweetness fill the air!

Adam Ye that on highest mountains climb, and ye that lowly creep, ye whose flight doth cleave the skies, and ye that swim the deep, Eve, Adam, Chorus Ye, ye creatures of our God and King, praise, praise him, all ye breathing life!

Eve, Adam Ye shadowed woods, ye hills and vales, your thanks with ours unite and echo loud from morn to eve our joyful hymn of praise.

Chorus Hail, mighty God, Creator, hail!

The world springs forth at thy command.

Adoring earth and heaven stand.

We praise thy name for evermore.

29. Recitative Adam Now is our duty well fulfilled; our maker have we duly thanked.

Now follow me, companion of my life!

Thy guide I’ll be, and every step wakes new delight within my breast, shows wonders everywhere.

Then surely thou shalt know what boundless realms of joy the Lord hath given us.

Him praise we evermore, him serve with heart and mind.

Come, follow me! Thy guide I’ll be.

Eve O thou for whom I live!

My arm, my shield, my all!

Thy will is duty’s blessing.

So doth our Lord ordain; That I should heed thee and bring you comfort is my joy and glory.

30. Duet Adam Sweet companion! here beside thee softly fly the golden hours.

Every moment is rapture; naught of sadness lingers near.

Eve Dearest husband! here beside thee floods of joy o’erflow my heart.

That thou love me is my blessing; thine forever is my life.

Adam The dew-freshened morning, O bright awakening!

Eve The coolness of evening, sweetly restoring!

Adam How rich the taste of round and ripened fruit!

Eve How charming the scent of gay and fragrant flower!

Eve, Adam But without thee, what is to me: the morning dew? the evening cool? the ripened fruit? the fragrant flower?

With thee is every joy exalted; with thee, delight is ever new; with thee is rapture everlasting.

Thine be my love and life.

31. Recitative Uriel O happy pair! and happy evermore if false conceit betray ye not, the more to covet than ye have and more to know than ye should.

32. Chorus with Soloists Sing to God, ye hosts unnumbered!

Thanks, all thanks for wonders new created!

Praise his name in song unending, loud in festival rejoicing!

The Lord is great; he reigns for evermore.

Amen.

48 | mayfestival.com

ANTHEMS

SAT MAY 18, 7:30 pm | Music Hall STEPHANIE CHILDRESS, conductor CAMILLA TILLING, soprano DANIEL OKULITCH, baritone 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 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Louis Langrée, Music Director Julia WOLFE

All that breathes

(b. 1958)

world premiere, may festival commission

David LANG

the national anthems

(b. 1957)

Julia WOLFE

our land with peace— our hearts are glowing— fame and glory— keep us free— our common fate—

Pretty INTERMISSION

Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Dona Nobis Pacem (“Grant Us Peace”)

Agnus Dei— The Angel of Death Has Been Abroad (1872–1958) Beat! Beat! Drums!— Throughout the Land— Reconciliation— O Man Greatly Beloved— Dirge for Two Veterans—

Tonight’s concert will last approximately 130 minutes.

Tonight’s concert is sponsored by Chris and Beth Canarie.

The 2024 Festival Sponsor is Christy and Terry Horan.

The 2024 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

The 2024 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 the May Festival Youth Chorus in this evening’s performance is made possible in part

by Christy and Terry Horan and The Thomas J. Emery Memorial.

The appearance of Camilla Tilling in this evening’s performance is made possible in part a generous endowment gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy R. Brooks.

The appearance of Daniel Okulitch in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by Hixson Architecture Engineering Services.

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

This concert will be livestreamed at mayfestival.com/live this evening and broadcast on 90.9 WGUC on October 13, 2024.

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 49

MAY 18 PROGRAM NOTES JULIA WOLFE

All that breathes Born: December 18, 1958, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Work Composed: 2024 on commission from the Cincinnati May Festival Premiere: This May Festival performance is the world premiere of All that breathes.

Instrumentation: SATB chorus Duration: approx. 8 minutes

A biography of Ms. Wolfe appears on p. 20.

The following are her notes on All that breathes: All that breathes was commissioned by and written especially for the May Festival Chorus. It was a wonderful experience to compose for the Julia Wolfe, ©Peter Serling massive a cappella sound of this large, wonderful chorus. The piece begins with collective breath—inhalation/exhalation—the

breathing of one large organism. To the breath, I add singing of text adapted from Genesis: all the creeping things, all the birds, all of human life. Language breaks down into syllabic sounds. We are often removed from thinking about breath, and about life as a whole—that we are connected and dependent upon each other. It’s a simple idea—but we forget.

TEXT [sounds of breathing] all the creeping things all the birds all the animals all the beasts all the creeping things all the birds all of human life all that breathes all of human life all that breathes all of human life all that breathes [non-lexical vocables] all the birds all the beasts all, all that breathes

THANK YOU! to the 2024 Festival Director Sponsor

The Kosarko Family Innovation Fund

for their support of Festival Director Julia Wolfe 50 | mayfestival.com

PROGRAM NOTES

all the creeping things all the birds all the animals all the beasts all of human life all that breathes [sounds of breathing]

DAVID LANG

the national anthems Born: January 8, 1957, Los Angeles, California Work Composed: 2014 on commission from LA Master Chorale, Berlin Radio Choir and Yale Choral Artists Premiere: June 8, 2014 at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Grant Gershon conducting the LA Master Chorale Instrumentation: SATB chorus, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the first May Festival performance of the national anthems.

Duration: approx. 24 minutes

David Lang is one of the most highly esteemed and performed American composers writing today. His works have been performed around the world in most of the great concert halls.

Lang’s the little match girl passion, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered David Lang

by Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices, was recently listed by The Guardian as “one of the top 25 works of classical music written in the 21st century.” It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008, and the recording received a Grammy Award in 2010. simple song #3, written as part of his score for Paolo Sorrentino’s acclaimed film Youth, received many award nominations in 2016, including the Academy Award and Golden Globe.

His opera prisoner of the state (with libretto by Lang) was co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Rotterdam’s De Doelen Concert Hall, London’s Barbican Centre, Barcelona’s l’Auditori, Bochum Symphony Orchestra and Bruges’ Concertgebouw, and premiered June 2019 in New York (conducted by Jaap van Zweden). prisoner of the state received its UK premiere in January 2020 with the BBC Symphony (conducted by Ilan Volkov) and its EU premiere in May 2023 with the Bochum Sinfoniker (conducted by Steven Sloane).

Lang is a Professor of Music Composition at the Yale School of Music. He is co-founder and

co-artistic director of New York’s legendary music collective Bang on a Can. His music is published

by Red Poppy Music and G. Ricordi & Co., New York (ASCAP) and is distributed worldwide by the Universal Music Publishing Group. davidlangmusic.com David Lang has written the following about the national anthems: Every country has a history—how it came to be, how its wars were won or lost, how strong its people are, or how proud, or how sad. We group ourselves into nations, but it has never really been clear to me what that means, or what we get out of it. Are we grouped together because we believe something together and are proud of associating with others who believe the same way? Or are we grouped together because our ancestors found themselves pushed onto a piece of land by people who didn’t want them on theirs? It seems that all nations have some bright periods and some dark periods in their past. Building a national myth out of our bright memories probably creates a different character than if we build one out of the dark.

I had the idea that if I looked carefully at every national anthem I might be able to identify something that everyone in the world could agree on. If I could take just one hopeful sentence from the national anthem of every nation in the world I might be able to make a kind of meta-anthem of the things that we all share. I started combing through the anthems, pulling out from each the sentence that seemed to me the most committed. What I found, to my shock and surprise, was that within almost every anthem is a bloody, warlike, tragic core, in which we cover up our deep fears of losing our freedoms with waves of aggression and bravado.

At first, I didn’t know what to do with this text. I didn’t want to make a piece that was aggressive, or angry, or ironic. Instead, I read and re-read the meta-anthem I had made until another thought became clear to me. Hiding in every national anthem is the recognition that we are insecure about our freedoms, that freedom is fragile, and delicate, and easy to lose. Maybe an anthem is a memory informing a kind of prayer, a heartfelt plea: There was a time when we were forced to live in chains.

Please don’t make us live in chains again.

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 51

PROGRAM NOTES

TEXT Words and music by David Lang 1. our land with peace our land with peace our land with swords all of us are brave we have one wish we have one goal we swear by lightning and by our fragrant blood heaven gave us life and we alone remain we fight for peace our country calls us and we hear her call we hear the sound of our chains breaking we crown ourselves in glory and we die death is the same for everyone but dying for our land will make us blessed for we are young and free land with mountain land with river land with field if you need our death our blood, our heart, our soul we are ready we lift our heads up to the rising sun our peace our values our skies our hearts our songs our tears our time our land our seed our pride we have no doubts or fears our faithful friends are faithful in the battle our land, we swear to you our blood is yours to spill keep watch, angels keep watch, stars keep watch, moon our parents knew how to fight the sun will shine on us forever when the wicked come let them prepare for death for we would rather die than live as slaves our land, you fill our souls with fire our blessed land our parents left this land to us our hearts defy our deaths a vivid ray of love and hope descends upon us and our land bless us with long life

our land is love and beauty without end harvest our vows, which ripen underneath your sun our land, to lead a peaceful life we give our lives we were wounded we were bruised then we rose up our past is sleeping in our forests you are our garden and our grave 2. our hearts are glowing our hearts are glowing sing brother, sister our freedom must be sung we were slaves we were scorned but now, our future is ours our flowers our fields our fertile soil we will die before we let the wicked step upon them we are not slaves we are the seed that sprouts upon the fields of pain we are one blood on our land we were born our heads were bowed – now raise them we are wild with joy and if we have to die what does it matter? our children know the fight has made our faces glow sweet shelter kissed by our sun, our trees, our wind we don’t fear death die for our land and live we know our selves by our terrifying sword ours is our land ours is our beautiful land our land is where our heroes rest our earth our sky our peace our blood these are our gifts we broke our chains united, firm, determined our face is brighter than our sun we are our loyal guardian in each of us the hero remembers how to fight we walk the path of happiness to our rightful place with our last breath we thank ourselves

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PROGRAM NOTES

3. fame and glory fame and glory fame and glory no valley no hill no water no shore the bloody flag is raised the wicked howl they come to cut our throats to throw us back in chains no sorcerers no poison no deceivers no fear we strive we work we pray our star rises up and shines between two seas our heart and hand are the pledges of our fortune with mind and strength of arm we recognize ourselves by our terrifying sword with heads, with hearts, with hands we will die before we are made slaves our historic past our sun, our sweat, our sea our pain, our hope the flower of our blood branches of the same trunk eyes in the same light the sea, the land, the dawn, the sun are singing

our parents never saw the glory that we see we turn our faces up there is a star, the clearest light bring us happier times and ways each day is like a thousand years victory, victory, victory long live our land, our people, our body, our soul the light in our eyes is the brilliance of our faith will we see you? our woe or our wealth our eyes turn east we are awake 4. keep us free keep us free be our light until pebbles turn to boulders and are covered in moss our light and our guide golden sun, golden seed fill our hearts with thanks when our hearts beat as one show us the way until the mountains wear away and the seas run dry be safe and be glorious build our own fortune move forward our sons sing our daughters bloom our parents and our children await our call our peace our rain

Please turn page quietly

THANK YOU! to Concert Sponsor

Chris and Beth Canarie

for their support of the ANTHEMS concert on May 18

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 53

INVEST ENGAGE INNOVATE LEAD

Program Spotlight: POETRY OUT LOUD Ohio Poetry Out Loud State Champion Hiba Loukssi of Xenia High School (Greene County) reciting a poem at the 2023 state finals. She competed at the national finals in Washington, D.C. Image credit: Terry Gilliam

Investing state and federal dollars, the Ohio Arts Council funds and supports quality arts experiences for all Ohioans to strengthen communities culturally, educationally, and economically.

Learn more about our grant programs and resources, find your next arts experience, or connect: OAC.OHIO.GOV.

es

PROGRAM NOTES

be green we are your sacrifice fortunate and faithful the sun drives off the clouds we risk everything we sing new songs for you, for you, for ever our love, our zeal, our loyalty our land, where our blood spills our fields will flower with hope our land gives us our name and we will never leave we walk the path we have chosen we will die while we are on it our land, sweet is your beauty a thousand heroes our full measure of devotion our language is a burning flame our flag flies in the wind our unwavering land our rocky hills from where our lights rise up our name is freedom our blood waters it we pray for you woven from a hundred flowers we won’t let the wicked wash their hands in this guiltless blood of ours may our blessings flow let nothing dim the light that’s shining in our sky a single leap into the dazzling sky obey our call we are not many but we are enough be happy and may our land be happy interpret our past glorify our present inspire our future we are coming forth with strength and power our seas roar at our feet shout our name shout it again there is no middle ground between the free man and the slave may the light be denied us if we break our solemn vow the burning of the heart in our chests is alive our land will not die as long as we live the rays of the sun are a mother’s kiss we swear by the sky by the spreading light now, or never we will make our fate ourselves it was, it is, it will always be at last, our pride is worth our pride 5. our common fate our common fate our brighter day our loyalty and love and vow our crown our virtuous honor our sacred hymn of combat

our light, reflecting guidance our sword with no flaw our sepulcher of ages our only land our voices on high our noble aspiration our thunders, wildly beating our fire in every vein our tears, flowing down our cheeks our everlasting mountains our milk, our honey, our people working hard our different voices, our one heart our breath of life our death, our glory and our land our fight—there is a fight to fight our fair land, its hills and rivers our memories of days long gone our morning skies, grown red our sacred home, our suns that never set our future is the future, our meaning is the meaning our shields are wisdom, unity and peace our sacrifice of every drop of blood our love, our service, our untiring zeal our prayer for us, unseen our fires of hope and prayer our thunderbolts, our fire our star, and it will shine forever our light and song and soul our song forever more our own dear land our fate, which smiles once more our sacrifice, our blood, our souls our enemies, scattered and confounded our land, our home, our free, our brave our land, our grave our glory, for as long as the world shines our many ways before and our many ways today our rock, our beacon our scream out loud our steps, resounding on the long and tiring road our song—echoing over and over again our brothers and sisters under the sun may the rains come

JULIA WOLFE

Pretty

Work Composed: 2023 on commission from the Berlin Philharmonic, Houston Symphony Orchestra Philadelphia Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Premiere: June 8, 2023 in Berlin, Germany, with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons (incl. contrabassoon), 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, bass drum, drum set, glockenspiel, guiro, high hat, marimba, mounted drum stick, snare drum, suspended cymbals, 3 tom-toms, vibraphone, xylophone, harp, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the first May Festival performance of Pretty.

Duration: approx. 25 minutes

A biography of Ms. Wolfe appears on p. 20. The following are her notes on Pretty: The word “pretty” has had a complicated relationship to women. It implies an MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 55

PROGRAM NOTES

attractiveness without any rough edges, without strength or power. And it has served as a measure of worth in strange, limited and destructive ways. It has a less sweet origin from the old English—“cunning, crafty, clever.” As words evolve, it morphed to a much softer sentiment. My Pretty is a raucous celebration—embracing the grit of fiddling, the relentlessness of work rhythms, and inspired by the distortion and reverberation of rock and roll.

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Dona Nobis Pacem (“Grant Us Peace”) Born: October 12, 1872, Down Ampney, Gloucestershire Died: August 26, 1958, London Work Composed: 1934–1936 Premiere: October 2, 1936 in Huddersfield, conducted by Albert Coates Instrumentation: SATB chorus, SB soloists, 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, chimes, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambourine, tenor drum, triangle, harp, organ, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the first performance of Dona Nobis Pacem at the May Festival.

CSO Subscription: November 2004, Robert Porco conducting; Janice Chandler, soprano; William McGraw, bass-baritone; May Festival Chorus, Robert Porco, director. May Festival Youth Chorus: March 2013, William White conducting; Amita Prakash, soprano; Brandon Morales, baritone; May Festival Youth Chorus, David Kirkendall, director; Lakota West High School Chorale, Anthony Nims, director; Taylor High School Senior Choir, Bret Albright, director.

Duration: approx. 35 minutes

Vaughan Williams was an undergraduate at Cambridge in the 1890s when he was introduced to the poetry of Walt Whitman by fellow student Bertrand Russell. Whitman’s verses were enjoying a considerable vogue in England at that time, and Ralph Vaughan Williams (Credit E.O Hoppé) Vaughan Williams was not immune to the lure of the American poet’s daring topics and experimental poetic structures, nor to his themes of mysticism, human dignity, love and freedom. The young musician acquired several editions of Leaves of Grass, including one small selection that he carried in his pocket, and as early as 1903—the year in which Delius

56 | mayfestival.com

brought out his Whitman-based Sea Drift—began composing a work for chorus and orchestra using the words of the American writer. As the basis of this creation, he chose passages from Leaves of Grass that philosophically likened the individual’s journey of life to an ocean voyage. Both the topic and its musical realization were imposing artistic challenges for Vaughan Williams, however, who, at age 31, had written only some songs, chamber pieces and small compositions for orchestra, and he was unable to finish the work at that time.

In 1905, Vaughan Williams turned his attention to another Whitman poem, “Whispers of Heavenly Death,” and set a passage from it as “A Song for Chorus and Orchestra” titled Toward the Unknown Region. The work was presented at the 1907 Leeds Festival with enough success to encourage him to return to his earlier Whitman piece, which he completed in 1910 as A Sea Symphony. The following year, he sketched a choral setting of Whitman’s “Dirge for Two Veterans,” but then declined to have it performed or published, and put it away for over two decades. It was not until 1934, the year after Hitler had begun his threat to European political stability by bullying his way to power in Germany, that Vaughan Williams returned to the “Dirge” and to the words of Walt Whitman.

Although the composer’s output of the 1930s—the riotous Five Tudor Portraits, the comic opera The Poisoned Kiss, the colorful and ornate works for the coronation of George VI, the luminous Serenade to Music and the earliest sketches for the halcyon Fifth Symphony—remained largely in the pastoral nationalistic idiom principally associated with his music, the portentous Fourth Symphony of 1934 displayed a bristling modernity that many thought was influenced by the unsettling time of its creation. Although the composer asserted that there was nothing specifically programmatic about the Symphony (“I wrote it,” he said, “not as the picture of anything external—e.g., the state of Europe—but simply because it occurred to me like this. I can’t explain why.”), that his mind was drawn in the mid-1930s to foreboding thoughts of imminent war was confirmed by his revival of the “Dirge for Two Veterans” and the war-referencing text of the larger choral piece of 1934–36, Dona Nobis Pacem, of which it became part.

To create the text for his Dona Nobis Pacem, Vaughan Williams surrounded his revised setting of

PROGRAM NOTES

the “Dirge” with a collection of quotations matched to his own war-wary sentiments: a line from the Roman Catholic Mass (Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem—“Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world: grant us peace”), additional stanzas from Whitman, a brief excerpt from John Bright’s famous “Angel of Death” speech delivered to the House of Commons in 1855 during a debate on the Crimean War, and a number of biblical verses. Vaughan Williams organized Dona Nobis Pacem into six scenes that capture various aspects of war and its consequences. The work opens with the setting for soprano soloist and chorus of the Dona nobis pacem text, which begins introspectively but becomes a fervent supplication for peace as it proceeds. Before the entreaty can be answered, drum beats are heard as if from afar to lead without pause to a vehement interpretation of Whitman’s poem about the crushing of everyday life by war, Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!

(It was a sign of those troubled times that the American composer Howard Hanson was creating

his Songs from Drum Taps on exactly the same verses at just that time.) Following the horrible blast of conflict comes the Reconciliation, in which the baritone and chorus mourn those killed and maimed and pronounce some of Whitman’s most moving words—“For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead.” The soprano quietly recalls the prayerful Dona nobis pacem as a bridge to the Dirge for Two Veterans, given as a solemn dead-march for chorus and orchestra. The movement is subdued and lamenting for most of its length but rises to fury at the remembrance of the terrible hostilities that filled twin graves with the bodies of two veterans, a father and his son. The finale seeks assurance in the wake of the disturbing sentiments that have preceded it. A mighty hymnal tune of great optimism is launched in the middle of the movement, but the cantata ends not with a ringing choral affirmation of confidence in the durability of peace, but rather with the quiet and hopeful prayer of the soprano—“Grant us peace”— fading into silence.

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

TEXT I. Angus Dei Text: Roman Catholic Mass Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi: Dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

II. Beat! Beat! Drums!

Text: Walt Whitman Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!

Through the windows—through the doors—burst like a ruthless force, Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation, Into the school where the scholar is studying; Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride, Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field, or gathering in his grain, So fierce you whirr and pound you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.

Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!

Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets; Are beds prepared for the sleepers at night in the houses?

No sleepers must sleep in those beds, No bargainers’ bargains by day—would they continue?

Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?

Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow.

Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!

Make no parley—stop for no expostulation, Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer, Mind not the old man beseeching the young man, Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties, Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses, So strong you thump O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.

Please turn page quietly

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 57

PROGRAM NOTES

III. Reconciliation Text: Walt Whitman Word over all, beautiful as the sky, Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost, That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly, softly, wash again and ever again this soiled world; For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead, I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin—I draw near, Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.

Dona nobis pacem.

Grant us peace.

IV. Dirge for Two Veterans Text: Walt Whitman The last sunbeam Lightly falls from the finished Sabbath, On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending, Up from the east the silvery round moon, Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon, Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession, And I hear the sound of coming full-keyed bugles, All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding, And the small drums steady whirring, And every blow of the great convulsive drums Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father, In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell, Two veterans, son and father, dropped together, And the double grave awaits them.

Now nearer blow the bugles, And the drums strike more convulsive, And the daylight o’er the pavement quite has faded, And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying, The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumined, ’Tis some mother’s large transparent face In heaven brighter growing.

O strong dead-march you please me!

O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!

O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!

What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light, And the bugles and the drums give you music, And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans, My heart gives you love.

V. The Angel of Death Text: John Bright The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land, you may almost hear the beating of his wings.

There is no one as of old…to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on.

Dona nobis pacem.

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Grant us peace.

PROGRAM NOTES

We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land…and those that dwell therein….

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved….

Is there no balm in Gilead?; is there no physician there?

Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

—Jeremiah VIII: 15-22 VI. O Man Greatly Beloved O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.

—Daniel X: 19

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former…and in this place will I give peace.

—Haggai II: 9

Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

And none shall make them afraid, neither shall the sword go through their land.

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go into them, Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled; and let them hear, and say, it is the truth.

And it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues.

And they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain forever.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

—Adapted from Micah IV: 3, Leviticus XXVI: 6, Psalms LXXXV: 10 and CXVIII: 19, Isaiah XLIII: 9 and LXVI: 18-22, and Luke II: 14

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VOICES OF THE EARTH

THU MAY 23, 7:30 pm | Music Hall TEDDY ABRAMS, conductor STEIGER BUTTE DRUM AND SINGERS OF CHILOQUIN, OREGON BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS 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 Michael GORDON (b. 1956)

Natural History

INTERMISSION Julia WOLFE

Anthracite Fields

(b. 1958) Foundation Breaker Boys Speech Flowers Appliances

Tonight’s concert will last approximately 130 minutes.

Tonight’s concert is sponsored by Steven Sunderman with appreciation and admiration to the entire May Festival family.

The 2024 Festival Sponsor is Christy and Terry Horan.

The 2024 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

The 2024 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 the Steiger Butte Drum and Singers of Chiloquin, Oregon, in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by a generous gift from Dr. Thomas Lesher.

The appearance of Bang on a Can All-Stars in this evening’s performance 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 20, 2024.

60 | mayfestival.com

MAY 23 PROGRAM NOTES MICHAEL GORDON

Natural History

Born: July 20, 1956, Miami Beach, Florida Work Composed: 2016 on commission from the Britt Music & Arts Festival Premiere: July 29–30, 2016 at Crater Lake National Park, Teddy Abrams conducting the Britt Festival Orchestra and Steiger Butte Drum and Singers of Chiloquin, Oregon Instrumentation: SATB chorus, Native American drum ensemble, 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, 10 high brass in spacial location, 10 low brass in spacial location, timpani, bass drum, glockenspiel, small gong, tam-tam, tambourine, wood block, xylophone, 10 percussion in spacial location, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the first May Festival performance of Natural History.

Duration: approx. 25 minutes

Michael Gordon is known for his monumental and immersive works. Decasia, for 55 retuned, spatially positioned instruments (with Bill Morrison’s Michael Gordon accompanying cult-classic film) has been featured on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Minimalist Jukebox Festival and at the Southbank Centre. Timber, a tour de force for percussion sextet played on amplified microtonal simantras has been performed on every continent, including by Slagwerk Den Haag at the Musikgebouw and Mantra Percussion at BAM. Natural History, a collaboration with Steiger Butte Drum of the Klamath Tribe, was premiered by the Britt Festival Orchestra and Chorus on the rim of Crater Lake (Oregon) by conductor Teddy Abrams and is the subject of the PBS documentary Symphony for Nature. Gordon’s vocal works include Travel Guide to Nicaragua, an autobiographical choral work for The Crossing; the opera What to Wear with the legendary director Richard Foreman; and the film-opera Acquanetta with director Daniel Fish. Recent recordings include Clouded Yellow, Gordon’s complete string quartets performed by the Kronos Quartet.

Michael Gordon has written the following about Natural History: Natural History was commissioned by the Britt Music & Arts Festival in celebration of the 2016 National Park Service centennial.

Writing the piece took me on a journey through Crater Lake National Park at the height of summer and dead of winter, and to Chiloquin, Oregon to work with the members of the Klamath Tribe’s Steiger Butte Drum. It led me to the naturalist writers Henry David Thoreau and John Muir, among others. This is not the first work in which I have focused on location. I have written pieces about New York (Gotham), Los Angeles (Dystopia), Miami Beach (El Sol Caliente) and Beijing (Beijing Harmony)—all urban settings. When the Britt Festival commissioned me to write a piece for Crater Lake I wasn’t quite sure where it was. The commission included an invitation, “You’ve got to come and see it.” In the summer of 2015, with conductor Teddy Abrams, I went to the site.

Superintendent (head ranger) Craig Ackerman was our guide. Ackerman talked about the lake in terms of “Deep Time”—change happening over thousands of years. This sense of time was a great contrast to the “New York minute” back home. Crater Lake was created by an explosion—a volcano that blew up and then collapsed close to 8,000 years ago. The rim of the caldera falls almost straight down two thousand feet to reach the purest, deepest lake in the United States. That destructive act, which scientists say was more explosive than the world’s nuclear arsenal detonating all at once, wiped out all life for miles around, leaving a spectacular natural wonder.

What do people think about wilderness? This was a question I pondered and studied. The native people who lived at the lake at the time of the explosion still live there today.

This place is sacred to them. The first white settlers who came upon the lake in the late 19th century understood that this remarkable place should remain untouched. Park Historian Steve Mark and local journalist Lee Juillerat were important guides to understanding the history.

With Teddy Abrams I circled the rim looking for the perfect spot for the performance. We chose Watchman Overlook for its natural “stage” of panoramic views. Through the course of the day, we talked over the forces for the work—the orchestra, a chorus, 30 MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 61

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additional brass players and percussionists stationed out on the cliffs. The spatial setting was an important aspect of the work—sound coming from all sides and from different distances, sound moving through space.

We discussed the importance of having the Klamath Tribe in this piece.

I returned to Crater Lake in the winter of January 2016 for 10 days in the desolate beauty of a completely white landscape—16 feet of snow. Only the rangers were on site, with an occasional snowshoer up for a walk.

This trip included a visit to the Klamath Tribe to hear the Steiger Butte Drum. The members of the Drum Group are a part of an extended family. They sit in a circle, beat loudly on one drum and sing. The singing is a fast, sophisticated, syncopated yodeling. It is amazing. Although they had never played with classical instruments, they were game for joining the orchestra. Taylor Tupper, the tribe’s representative, taught me about the Klamath Tribe’s relationship to the lake, which they call “Giiwas.” For the Klamath, the lake is a house of worship. Tribal members go to the lake for spiritual purposes only.

On July 29th, at the premiere, the audience gathered around the rim. Elders from the Klamath Tribe came to listen. Afterward, Don Gentry, Chairman of the Klamath Tribe, said these emotional words: “I could almost envision the sounds of our ancestors reverberating through the ages.” The weaving of musical worlds and a shared love of the natural wonder inspired the writing of Natural History.

TEXT I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute Freedom and Wildness (Henry David Thoreau) red-tailed hawk, black bear, silver-haired bat, spiny-spored quillwort, boreal toad, funghi, porcupines, goldenrod, rainbow trout, rough-skinned newt, angel wing, bleeding heart, bumblebee, great horned owl, painted lady, shasta fir cones, nineleaf biscuitroot, ducks, bats, geese, swifts, doves, owls, hawks My father always told me that Giwas, which means spiritual place, Giwas is Crater Lake. I go up there to gather healing and prayer. —Taylor Tupper, member of the Steiger Butte Drum and Singers

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JULIA WOLFE

Anthracite Fields Born: December 18, 1958, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Work Composed: 2014 Premiere: April 26–27, 2014 with Bang on a Can All-Stars and Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Instrumentation: SATB chorus, and from Bang on a Can All-Stars: vocals, clarinet (incl. bass clarinet), cello, bass drum, crotales, 6 mounted bicycle wheels, mounted drum stick, tam-tam, tambour de Basque, tin can, vibraphone, drum set, electric and acoustic bass, electric and acoustic guitar, piano, synthesizer May Festival Notable Performances: This is the first May Festival performance of Anthracite Fields.

Duration: approx. 65 minutes

A biography of Ms. Wolfe appears on p. 20. The following are her notes on Anthracite Fields: I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania— Montgomeryville.

When we first moved there, the road was dirt and the woods Julia Wolfe, ©Peter Serling surrounding the house offered an endless playground of natural forts and ice-skating trails. At the end of the long country road, you’d reach the highway—Route 309. A right turn (which was the way we almost always turned) led to the city, Philadelphia. A left turn on Route 309 (which we hardly ever took) led to coal country, the anthracite region. I remember hearing the names of the towns, and though my grandmother grew up in Scranton, everything in that direction, north of my small town, seemed like the wild west.

When the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia commissioned me to write a new work for choir and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, I looked to the anthracite region. Anthracite is the diamond of coal—the purest form. At the turn of the century, the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania became the power source for everything from railroads to industry to heating homes. But the life of the miner was difficult and dangerous. I had been immersed in issues of the American worker—composing Steel Hammer, an evening length work on the legend of John Henry. For Anthracite Fields I went deeper into American labor history— looking at both local and national issues that arose from coal mining. I went down into the coal mines, visited patch towns and the local museums where the life of the miners has been carefully depicted and commemorated.

PROGRAM NOTES

I interviewed retired miners and children of miners who grew up in the patch. The text is culled from oral histories and interviews, local rhymes, a coal advertisement, geological descriptions, a mining accident index, contemporary daily everyday activities that make use of coal power, and an impassioned political speech by John L. Lewis, the head of the United Mine Workers Union.

My aim with Anthracite Fields is to honor the people who persevered and endured in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal region during a time when the industry fueled the nation, and to reveal a bit about who we are as American workers.

In the first movement, Foundation, the singers chant the names of miners that appeared on a Pennsylvania Mining Accident index 1869–1916. The list is sadly long. I chose only the Johns with one-syllable last names in alphabetical order. The movement ends with a setting of the very colorful multisyllabic names. The miners were largely from immigrant families, and the diversity of ethnicity is heard in the names. At the center of Foundation is text from geological descriptions of coal formation.

Breaker Boys follows next. There were many boys working in the Pennsylvania coal mines.

The younger ones worked in the breakers, which were large ominous structures. The coal would come running down the chutes of the breakers, and the boys had the painful job of removing debris from the rush of coal.

They weren’t allowed to wear gloves and, as a result, their fingers were cut and bleeding.

The central rhyme of this movement, Mickey Pick-Slate, is from the anthracite region.

Others were adapted from children’s street rhymes. In the center of this movement are the words of Anthony (Shorty) Slick who worked as a breaker boy. The interview is taken from the documentary film America and Lewis Hine directed by Nina Rosenblum.

Hine worked for the National Child Labor Committee and served as chief photographer for the Works Progress Administration.

Speech is the third movement. The text is adapted from an excerpt of a speech by John L. Lewis who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America. Lewis was an impassioned spokesperson for the miners and fought hard-won battles for safer working conditions and for compensation.

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MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 63

PROGRAM NOTES

The fourth movement, Flowers, was inspired by an interview with Barbara Powell, daughter and granddaughter of miners. She grew up in a Pennsylvania patch town and had many stories to tell about her family life. She never felt poor. She had an amazing sense of community.

Barbara talked about how everyone helped each other. In one interview, Barbara said, in order to brighten their lives, “We all had gardens,” and then she began to list the names of flowers.

The last movement, Appliances, ties the new to the old. I was struck by John L. Lewis’ line, “those of us who benefit from that service because we live in comfort.” Our days are filled with activities that require power. Even today, coal is fueling the nation, powering electricity. When we bake a cake or grind coffee beans we use coal. The closing words of Anthracite Fields are taken from an advertising campaign for the coal-powered railroad. In 1900 Ernest Elmo Calkins created a fictitious character, a New York socialite named Phoebe Snow, who rode the rails to Buffalo. It used to be a dirty business to ride a train, but with the diamond of coal her “gown stayed white from morn till night, on the road to Anthracite”—a stunning contrast to the coal-darkened faces underground.

Anthracite Fields was commissioned through Meet the Composer’s Commissioning Music/ USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund.

Additional support was made possible through the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Alan Harler New Ventures Fund, the Presser Foundation, and The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through Philadelphia Music Project.

TEXT Foundation (all last names preceded by John) John Ace, John Art, John Ash,… Ayers, Bab, Backs, Baer, Bail, Bains, Ball, Ban, Banks, Barnes, Barr, Bath, Baum, Bax, Bean, Beck, Bee, Bell, Best, Big, Bike, Birch, Bird, Black, Blain, Blair, Blick, Bloom, Blough, Bock, Boggs, Boltz, Bone, Book, Boone, Booth, Boots, Boss, Bork, Boyd, Boz, Brass, Bray, Breem, Brenn, Briggs, Brill, Brink, Britt, Broad, Brooks, Brown, Brush, Buck, Budd, Bull, Bunn, Burke, Burns, Burt, Burt, Bush, Cain, Camp, Carl, Carp, Carr, Case, Char, Chase, Childs, Christ, Clark, Clem, Cline, Cluff, Clune, Coates, Cole, Cone, Conn, Coon, Coots, Cope, Cox, Coyle, Coyne, Crabb, Craig, Crane, Cray, Creech, Cresh, Croll, Crook, Cross, Crow, Cruse, Crush, Cull, Dale, Danks, Dash, 64 | mayfestival.com

Dawe, Day, Deal, Dean, Deck, Derk, Derr, Dice, Dowe, Doyle, Drake, Drew, Duke, Dumm, Dunn, Dykes, Eck, Edge, Emes, Erb, Fair, Faith, Farr, Faust, Feets, Fern, Fife, Fink, Finn, Fitch, Flack, Fleas, Flesh, Flinn, Float, Flute, Folk, Forbes, Ford, Fox, Frank, Freel, French, Frick, Frill, Fritz, Fry, Fuke, Gantz, Gaul, Gell, George, Gish, Glinn, Gluke, Glump, Goff, Gold, Good, Grant, Grass, Gray, Green, Gregg, Grim, Grimes, Grip, Groom, Gross, Grove, Guy, Gwynn, Hall, Hand, Hane, Hawk, Hayes, Head, Heal, Heist, Helm, Hess, Hill, Hines, Hog, Holt, Homes, Hood, Hope, Howe, Hughes, Hunt, James, Jones, Joy, Judge, Lair, Lake, Lamb, Lane, Lang, Lappe, Leach, Lee, Left, Link, Linn, Lloyd, Lock, Long, Lord, Loss, Lott, Lowe, Luke, Lume, Lutz, Lynch, Lynn, Mack, Marks, Mates, Maul, May, Meck, Meese, Mick, Miles, Mill, Moore, Moss, Mott, Nash, Neil, Ney, Nick, Niles, Noke, Noll, Noon, Nutt, Nye, Orr, Ortz, Paff, Pap, Parks, Paul, Peace, Peel, Pierce, Pink, Pitz, Plant, Please, Plow, Pluck, Plum, Point, Pool, Pope, Posh, Pratt, Price, Prone, Prush, Pyle, Pyne, Quinn, Rage, Rand, Rape, Ray, Read, Reap, Reese, Rhodes, Rice, Rich, Ridge, Ring, Ripp, Rist, Roach, Robb, Rock, Roe, Roots, Rose, Ross, Rouse, Rudd The briny seas rose and fell, wide shallow seas.

Thick steamy swamps covered the earth.

The leaves and branches buried deep.

Thick roots and trunks buried deep.

Buried deep inside the earth.

Layer upon layer upon layer buried deep.

Heat. Pressure. Time.

Massimino Santiarelli, Nicholas Scalgo, Edward Scutulis, Alfred Seabury, Jonathan Shoemaker, Josiah Sibley, Emanuel Skidmore, Martin Sladovick, Andrew Smalley, Thomas Snedden, Sylvester Sokoski, Benjamin Spade, Charles St. Clair, Ignatz Stancheski, James Henry Sullivan, Anton Svanevich, Augustus Swanson, Olif Sweedbury, Anthony Sweeney, Lathrie Symmons, Julius Tamanini, Lino Tarillia, Premo Tonetti, Bladis Tonatis, Rofello Tironzelli, Anthony Tonery, Christian Ulrich, Theodore Valentine, Isaac VanBlaragan, Constantine Vickerell, Edwin Wagstaff, August Yeager, Henry Youngcourt, Martian Yunman, Victor Zaimerovich, Ezekiel Zamoconie, Ezekiel, Ezekiel, Ezekiel, Ezekiel.

The names above appear on the list of the Pennsylvania Mining Accidents index 1869–1916 (from the Denver Public Library Digital Collections) with the exception of Massimino Santiarelli who appeared in Growing Up in Coal Country by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. The geographic description was adapted from information in the book Big Coal by Jeff Goodell.

Breaker Boys Mickey Pick-Slate early and late Mickey, Mickey that was the poor little breaker boys fate. mickety pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety kickety, kickety, kick, kick, kick, kick Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, Mickey eight years, nine years, ten years, twelve years, six years, seven years, thirteen, fifteen, fourteen, eleven, seventeen, eighteen, sixteen Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, Mickey mickety pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety “Oh what a place, you sat on a hard seat.

You didn’t dare cushion it, no matter.

You had to sit on that plain plank, no matter, with your feet in the shoot, on a plain plank

PROGRAM NOTES

bent over like this.

Well I’ll tell you it was very scary.

Believe me, believe me.

I don’t know how in the world I got the nerve to go there in the first place.

You didn’t dare say anything.

You didn’t dare quit, because it was something to have a job at 8 cents an hour.

You didn’t wear gloves.

You didn’t dare.

You weren’t allowed to wear gloves.

Your fingernails, you had none.

The ends of them would be bleeding ever day from work, bleeding ever day.”* Mickey Pick-Slate early and late that was the poor little breaker boys fate.

A poor simple woman at the breaker still waits to bring home her poor little Mickey Pick-Slate. inor minor mona mai pascor lahra bonor bai eggs butter cheese bread stick stock stone dead Stick ‘em up and stick ‘em down.

Stick ‘em in the old man’s crown.

Snail, snail come outa your hole or else I’ll beat you black as coal, black as coal, black as coal stone dead stone dead Once a man and twice a boy, oh you are my pride and joy.

Twice a boy and once a man, catch me catch me if you can. catch me, catch me mickety pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety slate picker, mule kicker, air thicker, make you sicker, sicker, sicker, sicker, sicker, sicker, sicker, sicker, sicker mickety pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety Ten little angels dressed in white tryin’ to get to heaven on the tail of a kite, but the kite string broke and down they fell.

Instead of going to heaven they went to… heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven nine little angels, eight little angels heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven seven little angels, six little angels I am king of the castle. I am king.

I am king of the castle, king of the castle, I am king.

I am king of the castle you are a dirty rascal. * everything in quotes excerpted and adapted from an interview with Anthony (Shorty) Slick (breaker boy) from the film America and Lewis Hine directed and produced

by Nina Rosenblum, Daedalus Productions, Inc. Other text based on children’s street rhymes.

Speech If we must grind up human flesh and bones in the industrial machine that we call modern America, then before God I assert that those who consume the coal and you and I who benefit from that service because we live in comfort, we owe protection to those men and we owe the security to their families if they die.

I say it, I voice it, I proclaim it and I care not who in heaven or hell opposes it.

That is what I believe.

That is what I believe, I believe, I believe.

And the miners believe that.* *excerpt from a speech by John L. Lewis (head of the United Mine Workers) to the House Labor subcommittee

Flowers We all had flowers. We all had gardens.

Flowers, flowers, flowers, flowers.

Roses and lilies and violets and asters and lilacs and tulips and dahlias and poppies and pansies and bluebells and foxglove and heather and larkspur and dogwood and zinnias and lavender, irises, daffodils, peonies, crocuses, sunflowers, hyacinth, hollyhocks, touch-me-not, baby’s breath, azaleas, petunias, nasturtium, narcissus, marigolds, snap dragons, sweet williams, bleeding hearts, magnolias, chrysanthemums, wisteria, rhododendrons, geraniums, forsythia, forget-me-not, gladiolas, portulacas, mountain laurel, forget-me-not, forget-me-not, forget me, forget me, forget, forget me not.

Inspired by an interview with Barbara Powell—daughter and granddaughter of coal miners, who grew up in a patch town in the Anthracite region.

Appliances Bake a cake. Drill a hole. Go to the gym.

Heat your house.

Blend a drink. Blast your guitar. Dry your clothes.

Turn on the light.

Ring me up. Toast a slice. Blow out your hair.

Lock the safe.

Grind the beans. Shave your face. Run the dishwasher.

Order a book.

Charge it to my card. Purify the air. Listen to your favorite song.

Call your girlfriend on the phone.

Juice an orange. Set your clock. Make some popcorn.

Test your blood.

Watch a movie. Wash your clothes. Ride the subway.

Boil some water.

Push the buzzer. Get directions. Replace a knee.

Vacuum the rug.

Take a hot steaming shower. Send a message.

Grind, shave, run, blow, heat, drill, blast, turn, ring, blend, lock, dry Bake, bake, bake, bake, bake a cake, bake a cake.

Phoebe Snow about to go on a trip to Buffalo Phoebe Phoebe “My gown stays white from morn till night.

My gown stays white.

On the road to Anthracite.”* *Phoebe Snow was a fictitious New York socialite created by Ernest Elmo Calkins (D.L.&W.) in 1900 for an advertising campaign for the Lakawana coal-powered railroad. Her image was accompanied by short rhymes like the one in the last paragraph above.

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 65

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HER STORY

SAT MAY 25, 7:30 pm | Music Hall FRANÇOIS LÓPEZ-FERRER, conductor LIV REDPATH, soprano ELLIOT MADORE, baritone LORELEI ENSEMBLE, Beth Willer, Artistic Director 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 WOLFE

Her Story

(b. 1958) Foment Raise Anne Kauffman, director Márion Talán de la Rosa, costume designer Jeff Sugg, scening, lighting and production designer Kenny Savelson, project manager Andrew Cotton, sound designer Asher Ehrenberg, associate director Produced by Bang on a Can

INTERMISSION Gabriel FAURÉ

Requiem, Op. 48

(1845–1924)

Encore: George Frideric HANDEL (1685–1759)

Introit and Kyrie Offertorium Sanctus Pie Jesu

Agnus Dei Libera me In paradisum

“Hallelujah” from Messiah

Tonight’s concert is sponsored by the Christine E. and Thomas L. Neyer, Sr. Family.

Tonight’s concert will last approximately 110 minutes.

The 2024 Festival Sponsor is Christy and Terry Horan.

The 2024 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

The 2024 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 François López-Ferrer in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by generous endowment gifts from the friends and family of the Joan P. and Oliver L. Baily Fund.

The appearance of Liv Redpath in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by a generous endowment gift from Mr. and Mrs. S. Charles Straus.

The appearance of Elliot Madore in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by a generous endowment gift from Mary and Joe Stern.

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 27, 2024 at 8 p.m.

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 67

MAY 25 PROGRAM NOTES JULIA WOLFE

Her Story

Born: December 18, 1958, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Work Composed: 2019–22 Premiere: September 15, 2022, Nashville, Tennessee, Giancarlo Guerrero conducting the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and Lorelei Ensemble Instrumentation: amplified choir of women’s voices, 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 3 oboes, 3 clarinets (incl. bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (incl. contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drums, chimes, crotales, crash cymbals, flexatone, glockenspiel, kick drum, marimba, ratty cymbal, sandpaper blocks, siren, slapstick, snare drum, tamtam, tambour de Basque, tom-toms, triangle, tuned gongs, vibraphones, wind chimes, harp, piano, electric bass, electric guitar, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the first performance of Her Story.

Duration: approx. 40 minutes

A biography of Ms. Wolfe appears on p. 20.

The following are her notes on Her Story: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Although Julia Wolfe, ©Peter Serling we have yet to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, women have been battling for equality from the beginning of the nation. Her Story captures the passion and perseverance of women refusing subordination, demanding representation and challenging the prejudice and power structures that have limited women’s voices. The dynamic singers of Lorelei teamed up with five major American orchestras to tell this important, yet much neglected, thread of American political history.

Her Story was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, the National Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony, and with the generous support of Linda and Stuart Nelson.

68 | mayfestival.com

TEXT From sources including, for “Foment,” a letter from Abigail Adams written in 1776 to her husband, John, the future U.S. president; for “Raise,” sources include a sequence of adjectives from anti-suffragist propaganda, a 1915 political cartoon from Puck magazine (“I didn’t raise my girl to be a voter…”), and, from formerly enslaved woman Isabelle Baumfree (who changed her name to Sojourner Truth), words from two published versions of what became known as her “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech (“Look at me…”).

Foment Dear John I desire you would remember the ladies And be more generous and more favorable than your ancestors.

Do not put such unlimited power Into the hands of husbands.

Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.

We will foment a rebellion.

We have no voice.

Raise Unloving, Unstable, Unruly, Unnerving Unrighteous, Unbalanced, Unnatural Unmarried, Unwed Unlovely, Untamed, Unfit, Unglued Unstrung, Unkempt, Uncouth, Unkind Unchaste, Untoward, Unlawful, Unhealthy Uncivil, Unholy, Unwise, Untamed Screaming, Squawking, Screeching Bolshevik, Communist, Anarchist Emotional, Hysterical, Socialist Impossible Conjuring up unnatural powers that destroy…

Un-American I didn’t raise my girl to be a voter Look at me Look at my arm And she bared her right arm, to the shoulder Look at me I have ploughed and planted reaped and gathered and gathered and gathered and gathered I am strong

PROGRAM NOTES

GABRIEL FAURÉ

Requiem, Op. 48 Born: May 12, 1845, Pamiers, Ariège, France Died: November 14, 1924, Paris Work Composed: 1887–1888, revised in 1893 Premiere: January 16, 1888 in Paris, the composer conducting Instrumentation: SATB chorus, SB soloists, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, harp, organ, strings May Festival Notable Performances: First: May 1956, Josef Krips conducting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with Naomi Farr, soprano; Donald Gramm, bass-baritone; Christ Church Choir, Parvin Titus, choirmaster; and Westwood First Presbyterian Church Choir, Willis W. Beckett, choir director. Most Recent: May 2008, Robert Porco conducting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with Yulia Van Doren, soprano; Donnie Ray Albert, baritone; and the May Festival Chorus, Robert Porco, director.

Duration: approx. 36 minutes

It is one of the ironies of music history that some of the greatest sacred works have been composed by men who cared little for religion. Mozart paid scant attention to the faith after he left Salzburg, preferring the humanistic philosophies of Freemasonry; Beethoven was a theist who thought conventional religion stifled full realization of the

deity; Verdi refused to set foot in a church for any religious services, and would wait outside in a carriage for his wife on Sunday mornings; and Gabriel Fauré, though he held some of Paris’ most prestigious musical positions as a church Gabriel Fauré organist and wrote one of the most perfect of all sacred compositions, was an avowed agnostic. Upon reading a manifesto of faith in an important Catholic journal, Fauré wrote, rather condescendingly, “How nice is this selfassurance! How nice is the naïveté, or the vanity, or the stupidity, or the bad faith of the people for whom this was written, printed and distributed.” Émile Vuillermoz, in his biography of the composer, explained that “only his natural courtesy and his professional conscience allowed him to carry out his duties as an organist with absolute correctness, and with the least amount of hypocrisy to write a certain number of religious works.... The Requiem is, if I dare say so, the work of a disbeliever who respects

THANK YOU! to Concert Sponsor

Christine E. & Thomas L. Neyer, Sr. Family for their support of the HER STORY concert on May 25.

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 69

PROGRAM NOTES

the beliefs of others.” Rather than a testament of dogmatic faith, then, Fauré’s Requiem is a work to console and comfort the living—music, according to Vuillermoz, “to accompany with contemplation and emotion a loved one to a final resting place.”

Fauré began his career as an organist and church musician in 1866 at Rennes and four years later went to Clignancourt, a suburb north of Paris. In 1871, he was appointed organist at the Church of Saint-Honoré Eylau, and in the following years became assistant to Widor at Saint-Sulpice and frequently substituted for Saint-Saëns at the Madeleine. When Saint-Saëns left that post in 1877 to give his full attention to composing and concertizing, he was succeeded by Théodore Dubois, who named Fauré as his assistant. Fauré became chief organist at the Madeleine in 1896, when Dubois assumed directorship of the Paris Conservatoire. Fauré had contributed an occasional piece of service music as part of his duties at various churches, but the Requiem was his first large-scale work in any form. He said that it was begun in 1887 “just for the pleasure of it,” though the impulse to set the ancient text of the Catholic Mass for the Dead quite likely came from the passing of his father in 1885 and of his mother two years later. The score was completed early in 1888 and first heard, under the composer’s direction, at the Madeleine in Paris as part of a memorial service for Joseph Le Soufaché, one of the parishioners. This first version contained only five movements (Introit et Kyrie, Sanctus, Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei and In Paradisum), and was scored for a modest ensemble of divided violas and cellos, basses, harp, timpani and organ, with a part for solo violin in the Sanctus.

Fauré prepared a new version of the score for a subsequent performance in 1893 that contained two additional movements (Offertorium, composed in 1889, and Libera me, originally written in 1877 as an independent composition for baritone and organ) and expanded the orchestration to include

horns and trumpets. In preparation for the work’s publication by Hamelle in 1900, it was re-scored for full orchestra to make it available for concert as well as liturgical performances, though the orchestration was probably done not by Fauré but by his student Jean-Jules Roger-Ducasse. This final version was first heard at the Trocadéro Palace in July 1900 conducted by Paul Taffanel.

Unlike the grand, dramatic, sometimes tumultuous settings of the Mass for the Dead by Berlioz and Verdi, Fauré’s Requiem is intimate in scale and consoling in content. Fauré, perhaps under the influence of the Cecilian Movement, which sought a personal, uncomplicated and direct manner of religious expression, chose to omit the text of the Dies irae, the searing Medieval poem that so chillingly paints the terrors of the “Day of Wrath”—the Last Judgment. The composer’s pupil and friend Charles Koechlin believed that “the indulgent and fundamentally good nature of the master had as far as possible to turn from the implacable dogma of eternal punishment.” The composer himself wrote, “It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death; someone has even called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration toward happiness above....” In a letter of April 3, 1921 to René Fauchois, he further explained, “Everything I managed to entertain in the way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.”

The grace, restraint and calm Hellenic beauty that characterize Fauré’s best music find their perfect realization in this work, about which the celebrated pedagogue Nadia Boulanger said, “Nothing purer or clearer in definition has been written. No external effect alters its sober and rather severe expression of grief, no restlessness troubles its deep meditation, no doubt stains its gentle confidence or its tender and tranquil expectancy.”

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

For more information about this program, please text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*. *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.

70 | mayfestival.com

PROGRAM NOTES

TEXT Introit 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.

Kyrie Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Offertorio: Domine Jesu Christe Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae, Libera animas defunctorum de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu.

Libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum; Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus, tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus: fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls 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; Lord, in praise we offer to Thee sacrifices and prayers, receive them for the souls of those whom we remember this day: Lord, make them pass from death to life, as Thou didst promise Abraham and his seed.

Sanctus 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!

Pie Jesu Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem, requiem sempiternam.

Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest, rest everlasting.

Agnus Dei 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.

Lux Aeterna Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, 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.

Libera me Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra, dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.

Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit atque ventura ira: Dies irae, dies illa, calamitatis et miseriae, dies magna et amara valde, Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death in that awful day when the heavens and earth shall be shaken, when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.

I am seized with fear and trembling, until the trial shall be at hand and the wrath to come: That day, that day of wrath, of calamity and misery, a great day and exceeding bitter, Lord, grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Please turn page quietly MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 71

PROGRAM NOTES

In Paradisum In Paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.

Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem.

May the Angels lead you into Paradise; at your coming may the martyrs receive you, and conduct you into the holy city, Jerusalem.

May the chorus of Angels receive you, and with Lazarus, once a pauper, eternally may you have rest.

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

-Robert S. Groenke, Chief Executive Officer 72 | mayfestival.com

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 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.

2024 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 Fifth Third Foundation $500,000 to $999,999 altafiber GE Aerospace $250,000 to 499,999 Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center The Cincinnati Insurance Companies Western & Southern Financial Group $100,000–$299,999 Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation Cincinnati Business Courier Cincinnati Reds Duke Energy The E.W. Scripps Company and Scripps Howard Foundation The Enquirer | Cincinnati.com Great American Insurance Group Greater Cincinnati Foundation The H.B., E.W. and F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee The Kroger Co. Messer Construction Co. PNC U.S. Bank

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 73

OUR SINCERE APPRECIATION TO THE FOLLOWING FOUNDATIONS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT The Eleanora C. U. Alms Trust Cincinnati International Wine Festival The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation The H. B., E. W., F. R. Luther Charitable Foundation The Thomas J. Emery Memorial Matinee Musicale Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation The Saenger Family Foundation Ladislas and Vilma Segoe Family Foundation Louise Taft Semple Foundation The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation

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, 2023, and April 1, 2024. 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

Eleanora C. U. Alms Trust, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee ArtsWave Mrs. Oliver L. Baily Trish and Rick Bryan The Thomas W. Busse Charitable Trust Chavez Properties The Corbett May Festival Fund The Thomas J. Emery Memorial* Barbara Ann Feldmann Babs and Tom Ferrell Fort Washington Investment Advisors The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation 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 Ohio Arts Council Nellie Leaman Taft Foundation Irwin and Melinda Simon Ethan and Doreen Stanley Ginger Warner The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation ENSEMBLE LEVEL Gifts of $7,500–$9,999 Patrons

Robert A. Atterton John G. Avril Gifts of $5,000–$7,499

Chris and Beth Canarie Drs. Manisha Patel and Michael Curran Sherry and Mark Holcomb Sherie Lynch Marek Mrs. Karen P. McKim Christine E. and Thomas L. Neyer, Sr. Family Lois and Mel Nizny, MD Mr. Michael E. Phillips Kathy and Craig Rambo The Ladislas & Vilma Segoe Family Foundation

CHORALE LEVEL Gifts of $4,000–$4,999 Patrons

David and Elaine Billmire Cincinnati International Wine Festival Cincinnati Woman’s Club Ann Ellison 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 Mrs. Karolyn L. Johnsen Susan Laffoon Ronald C. Lamping Laskey Charitable Fund Patty Misrach David and Vicky Motch Motch Family Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Slobodan Stanisic Margaret and Michael Valentine Jeannine and John C. Winkelmann, MD Shelby O. Wood SOLOIST LEVEL Gifts of $2,000–$2,499 Patrons

Dr. Rob and Ashley Altenau Jess Baily and Capie Polk Melanie Chavez Karen and David Huelsman Tom and Sue Kirkpatrick Susan J. Lauf Whitney and Phillip Long Matinee Musicale Club Poul D. and JoAnne Pedersen Dr. and Mrs. G. James Sammarco Steven R. Sunderman and Mark C. Adams Gifts of $1,000–$1,999

Anonymous (2) Jeff and Keiko Alexander Milt and Berdie Blersch Prof. William Henry Caldwell Helen H. Chatfield Caroline H. Davidson Ashley and Barbara Ford Ms. Kathleen M. Grote Isaiah Hyman Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Klinedinst III Mr. Anthony & Dr. Kimberly Lazzeri Ms. Rene McPhedran Ellen Rieveschl Dianne and J. David Rosenberg* The Saenger Family Foundation The Schlachter Family Fund* Bill and Lee Steenken Jane A. Walker Rosanne Wetzel DUO LEVEL Gifts of $750–$999 Patrons

Charles and Barbara Glueck David L. Martin Rev. Anne Warrington Wilson Barry Zaslow Gifts of $500–$749

Anonymous Gerard Baillely Rhoda and John Brooks

William L. Budde, PhD Dr. Mark Carney and Mrs. Janet Greer-Carney Michael L. Cioffi and Rachael Rowe Cat and Stan Dixon Nancy and Steve Donovan Michael D. and Carolyn Camillo Eagen First Baptist Church of Dayton Dr. and Mrs. Michael J. Gelfand Margaret E. Hagar Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors Elizabeth Lilly* Dr. and Mrs. Calvin C. Linneman Thomas J. and Adele G. Lippert* Mitchel and Carol Livingston Linda Mueller The Naberhaus Family Judge Mark and Sue Ann Painter Pepco, A Division of Sonepar Irene and Daniel P. Randolph Family The Schieve Family Mr. George P. Schober James P. and Kathleen A. Schubert Mr. Geoffrey Strauss Dr. Matthew Swanson Mr. and Mrs. George Thomas Joe White TRIO LEVEL Gifts of $400–$499 Patrons

Spence Ingerson Brian T. Reilly Gifts of $300–$399

Helene Sullivan Bentley Neil K. Bortz Pete and Melanie Boylan David Brashear Carol C. Cole Dale and Kathy Elifrits Lindsey Fitch Shelley and Steven Goldstein Gorilla Glue Dr. Janet P. McDaniel Mr. and Mrs. Fred Moore Robert and Cynthia Muhlhauser Alice Perlman Carol J. Schroeder John M. Shepherd Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Stucky Robert Sydow Family Karen Wiltsie QUARTET LEVEL Gifts of $200–$299 Patrons

Anonymous (2) Turney Berry and Kendra Foster Rev. and Mrs. Milton T. Berner Thomas and Sondra Copanas Mark Dauner Steven and Donna Dauterman Stephen and Cynthia DeHoff Edy and David Dreith Barbara Erskine Barbara Esposito-Ilacqua Mr. and Mrs. John Gantt James W. and Sally V. Harper Mr. and Mrs. Robert Heidenreich Mr. Shaoming Huang and Ms. Xiaolan Cui Paul and Mary Jenks Mr. and Mrs. Randy Johnson Robert and Anne Judd MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 75

THANK YOU

Nikolaus and Susanne Kalti Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Kilfoil Florence Koetters Mel and John Kuempel Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lomax Kathy and Brad Mank Mr. and Mrs. H. Scott Nesbitt Network For Good Stephen Phillips Ann and Harry Santen Mr. and Mrs. Michael T. Schueler Avi and Karen Schulman-Bear Ms. Barbara Seiver Marian P. Stapleton Mrs. Cynthia M. Starr Robert E. and Nancy Stautberg Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Stradling Mary Ann and Bill Taylor David and Christine Thornbury Mrs. Barbara Wagner Dean and Mary Watkins Ronna and James Willis Robert and Judy Wilson Jeff and Kelly Woodward Gordon Yasinow

Laurie Roche Christine Roediger James E. & Mary S. Russell Austin Schafer Saira Shahani Dr. and Mrs. Rees W. Sheppard Linda L. Siekmann Kenneth and Alice Skirtz Elizabeth A. Snyder Sonepar Central Region Sam and Dottie Stover Mr. Dale Swisher Mr. Marc A. Tuel Michael and Sharon Walper Mr. and Mrs. Frederick D. Warren Jim and George Ann Wesner Stephen and Amy Whitlatch M. P. Wiggins Robin and Larry Wiley Dennis Wilhelm and Michael Kinerk Mr. Steven Wilkinson John M. Yacher

Gifts of $100–$199

Robert and Janet Banks Lauren and Richard Hess William and Joan Hill Terry and Burr Robinson Ms. Beth Troendly

Anonymous (5) Drs. Frank and Mary Albers Kathryn and Kevin Albertson Fred Berger Dr. Allen W. Bernard Ms. Laurie Boisclair Rev. James A. Bramlage Fred Brink Mrs. Barb Brown Phillip Crabtree and Christy Backley Mr. and Mrs. Vito Damiano Ronda Deel Mr. and Mrs. William O. DeWitt, Jr. Robert and Gretchen Dinerman Ms. Jennifer Drydyk Darin Dugan Karl and Connie Graham Kristina Groth J. Andrew & Martha Hadley Dr. Jack and Barbara Hahn Alice and John Hehman Bill and Cathy Herring Dr. Robert Highsmith Ross Hoff Marie F. Hurd Jeanine Jason Robert Jenkins Marlene Rowat Johnson Dr. and Mrs. Scott Jolson Mary Judge Jerry N. Kirby, M.D. Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence H. Kyte, Jr. Bob and Judy LaChance John E. Mahn David L. Martin Matt Matson William McConnell Catherine McGraw Mrs. Frances Lee Meyer Ms. Anne Miller Mrs. Tamara Moreno Mt. Auburn Literary Club Dr. and Mrs. Charles M. Myer III PNC Bank Foundation Mr. Terry Parsons Drs. Michael Privitera and Marcia Kaplan Steven and Emily Riedell Carole and Edwin Rigaud 76 | mayfestival.com

SHAREHOLDER LEVEL Gifts of $75–$99 Patrons

Gifts of $50–$74

Anonymous (2) AmazonSmile Foundation Jane and Francis Acquaviva Tracy Bailey Wendy Hart Beckman Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Beimesch Jinny and John Berten Mr. Michael Bourke Dr. Ralph P. Brown Cavendish Bridge Club Robert Burnett and Stacey Masneri Elizabeth Coley Dr. C.J. and Carolyn Condorodis Ellen Epstein Mrs. Caryl S. C. Fullman Mr. James Gaunt Robert and Christine Graeter Carl and Barbara Harcourt Ms. Julia Hawgood and Mr. Harry Kangis William and Joan Hill Emily and Barry Hindin Joseph and Eleanor Hingtgen Daniel J. Hoffheimer James N. Kaya and Ms. Debra Grauel Florence Koetters Mr. Joel Konzen The Kroger Company Ms. Megan Lawson M. Drue Lehmann Jennifer Leone Kay M. Luccasen Dr. and Mrs. John Maier David Mason Jim and Hope Metzger Ms. Brenda Mitchell Marilyn and Gary Mitchner Ms. Joyce A. Mueller Mr. Christopher Mystkowski James Norton Mrs. Norita D. Aplin and Mr. Stanley H. Ragle Bavi and Nedi

Mr. Steven Rosen and Mrs. Mindy Wallis-Rosen Christina M. Russo Edward V. Schoelwer Mr. Eli Shupe and Toby Ruben Nancy McGaughey and Sally Skillman Mr. and Mrs. William Smith Mr. and Mrs. Richard R. Sprigg Mr. Roger O. Stafford Shirley and Phil Stikeleather Mark Wert Debbie and Dick Westheimer Charles A. Wilkinson Mr. Steven Wilkinson * Denotes contributions received via the Greater Cincinnati Foundation

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 Michael D. and Carolyn Camillo Eagen Ann Ellison Mr. Frank Espohl Shelley and Steven Goldstein Karl and Connie Graham Ms. Kathleen M. Grote Kristina Groth Charles and Melissa Haas Dr. Jack and Barbara Hahn Ms. Jane F. Hansley Carl and Barbara Harcourt Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. 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

THANK YOU

Ms. Linda Kamperman Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Kanney Ian and Nicholette Kasman Mr. and Mrs. John Klahm Scott and Carol Kosarko Kathleen B. and Michael C. Krug Susan Laffoon 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 & Russ 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 Brian T. Reilly 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

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, 2023 and April 1, 2024.

In Memory of Prescott “Tito” Bigelow Shelby O. Wood In Memory of Christine Boylan Lytle and John P. Boylan Pete and Melanie Boylan In Memory of Mary G. Budde William L. Budde, PhD In Memory of Ms. Janet Burnett Robert Burnett and Stacey Masneri In Memory of Leland M. Cole Carol C. Cole In Memory of H. Jane Gavin Wendy Hart Beckman Kristina Groth Lauren and Richard Hess William McConnell Mt. Auburn Literary Club Dale Swisher 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 Robert Howes Ms. Kathleen M. Grote In Memory of Larry Keller Shelby O. Wood In Memory of Richard Lauf Susan J. Lauf In Honor of the May Festival Youth Chorus Dawn and Doug Bruestle Cincinnati Woman’s Club The Thomas J. Emery Memorial First Baptist Church of Dayton Christy and Terry Horan In Memory of Elise Rose Metzger Jim and Hope Metzger

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.

In Memory of Patty Misrach Jinny and John Berten Fred Brink Cavendish Bridge Club Robert and Gretchen Dinerman Mr. and Mrs. Coleman Goldsmith Dr. Jack and Barbara Hahn Mary Beth King Robert and Marcy Klein Florence Koetters Larry and Margie Kyte Ms. Joyce A. Mueller Pepco, A Division of Sonepar Mr. and Mrs. Michael T. Schueler Sonepar Central Region Robert Sydow Family Mrs. Barbara Wagner Michael and Sharon Walper Ginger Warner Shelby O. Wood In Memory of Carlos Moreno Mrs. Tamara Moreno In honor of Cora Ogle Mary and Jack Gimpel Shelby O. Wood In honor of Robert Porco Robert Jenkins Dr. Matthew Swanson In Memory of David R. Schieve The Schieve Family In Memory of Mary Schubert David and Elaine Billmire In Memory of Ethan B. Stanley II Ethan and Doreen Stanley Joan P. Baily In honor of Steven Sunderman Melanie Chavez Nancy Donovan Mary Gimpel Margaret E. Hagar Mark Holcomb Christy and Terry Horan Susan Laffoon Sherie Marek Christine Neyer Tom Neyer, Jr. Cora Ogle Mr. and Mrs. John T. Osterman Brett Stover Ginger Warner Rosanne Wetzel Mary Baily Wieler Shelby Wood In Memory of John Sullivan Florence Koetters In Honor of Dr. Matthew Swanson Dawn and Doug Bruestle Christy and Terry Horan Mary Judge In Memory of R. Robert von Brüning Karen and David Huelsman In Honor of Rosanne Wetzel Dawn and Doug Bruestle In Memory of Robert “Rick” Muhlhauser Steven Sunderman and Mark Adams In Memory of Thomas Muraco, May Festival recital accompanist from 1989 to 2000 Steven Sunderman MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 77

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 David and Elaine Billmire 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

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 1, 2024 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 Battersby David and Elaine Billmire Donald L. and Kathleen Field Burns Mr. and Mrs. James W. Harper Mr. Isaiah Hyman, Jr. Susan Laffoon Mr. Ronald C. Lamping Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Lippert Ms. Sally A. Lund Mr. Richard and Mrs. Kathy Wayman 25–49 YEARS

Dr. and Mrs. Khosrow Alamin Ms. Henrietta Barlag Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Bierer Ms. Debbie Bogenschutz and Mr. Harold Tucker Mr. and Mrs. John R. Brooks Mr. and Mrs. Frederick E. Bryan, III Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Burdin Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Canarie The Castellini Foundation Cincinnati Financial Corporation Mr. Michael L. Cioffi Mr. Mel Cohen Dr. George I. Colombel Mr. Louis M. Dauner Mr. and Mrs. Steven Dauterman Mr. and Mrs. Stephen P. Donovan, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Harold K. Eberenz Ms. Dorothyann Feldis Mr. Thomas Price Ferrell Mr. and Mrs. Jon T. Gimpel Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Givens Connie and Karl Graham Ms. Anita Marie Greer Mr. and Mrs. William C. Hill Mr. Michael H. Hirsch Ms. Emily M. Hodges Mr. and Mrs. Andrew M. Jergens

Dr. and Mrs. Robert S. Jolson Kathleen B. and Michael C. Krug Ms. Carol Louise Kruse Mr. Walter E. Langsam Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan R. Lippincott Kathy and Brad Mank Ms. Nancy McNeal Mr. Lon Mendelsohn Mr. and Mrs. Donald D. Mills Mr. Gary Mitchner Mr. Harry G. Moeller Mr. and Mrs. David W. Motch Dr. and Mrs. Alan E. Oestreich Dr. Cora K. Ogle Mr. and Mrs. Poul D. Pedersen Mr. and Mrs. Jason N. Ramler Dr. Christina M. Russo Dr. and Mrs. G. James Sammarco Irwin and Melinda Simon Alice Skirtz Mr. Jeffrey Slattery Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Stautberg Mr. and Mrs. William G. Steenken Mr. Brett A. Stover Samuel M. Stover James L. Thompson Mrs. Helga Tillinghast Ginger Warner Frederick and Jo Anne Warren Jeff T. Wysel 10–24 YEARS

Christine Andrew Dr. Paule S. Asch Mr. Neil K Bortz Ms. Melanie M. Chavez Eric and Jane Combs Ms. Melissa Cox Dr. Manisha Patel and Dr. Michael Curran Lynne Curtiss

Mr. and Mrs. Bill L. Dean Mr. and Mrs. Stephen DeHoff Ms. Marion DiFalco Mr. and Mrs. John G. Earls Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Elifrits Mr. John Ellmore Mr. Daniel Epstein Ms. Barbara A. Feldmann Mr. and Mrs. Jerome M. Galvin Mr. Richard L. Gruber Mr. and Mrs. John Hehman Karen and David Huelsman Ivan Ivanov and Elena Ivanova Mr. and Mrs. Dale Johnson Mr. and Mrs. Randy Johnson Mr. and Mrs. Jack Klette Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Klinedinst III Mr. and Mrs. Scott Kosarko Ms. Kathryn S. Lang Susan J. Lauf Mr. and Mrs. John Lund Mr. David L. Martin Mr. Randolph McAusland Mrs. Frances Lee Meyer Ms. Lynn Miller Lois and Mel Nizny, MD Mr. and Mrs. Justin Peter Ms. Priscilla J. Prouty Ms. Joyce M. Rimlinger Ms. Gale Z. Roberts Mrs. Germaine L. Santos Joseph Schwering and Diana Fleming Mrs. Diana Stoppiello Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Stradling Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Stucky Mr. George H. Warrington Mr. and Mrs. Mark Weaver Charles A. Wilkinson Dr. and Mrs. John C. Winkelmann Mrs. Shelby O. Wood Mr. John M. Yacher

MAY FESTIVAL 2024 | 79

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.

MAY FESTIVAL Steven R. Sunderman Executive Director

Kaitlyn Driesen Media & Label Services Manager

Cat Dixon Director of Advancement & Engagement

Kit Gladieux Communications Intern

Edy Dreith Administrative Assistant Sarah Farwell Chorus Manager Kathleen Moran Chorus Librarian Matthew Swanson Associate Director of Choruses EXECUTIVE OFFICE Jonathan Martin President & CEO Laura Ruple Executive Assistant to the President & CEO Robert McGrath Chief Operating Officer Shannon Faith Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer ARTISTIC PLANNING & PRODUCTION Robert McGrath Chief Operating Officer Shannon Faith Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer Artistic Planning Anthony Paggett Vice President of Artistic Planning

Lauren Hall Digital Content Intern Tyler Secor Director of Publications & Content Development Lee Snow Digital Content Technology Manager COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION Harold Brown The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Key Crooms Director of Community Engagement Vee Gibson Classical Roots Coordinator Pamela Jayne Volunteer & Community Engagement Coordinator Mollie Rains Community Engagement Events Manager FINANCE & DATA SERVICES Richard Freshwater Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Deborah Benjamin Accounting Clerk

Grace Kim Artistic Planning Intern

Julian Cann Accounting Clerk

Theresa Lansberry Artist Liaison

Kathleen Curry Data Entry Clerk

Shuta Maeno Assistant to the Music Director & Artistic Planning

Elizabeth Engwall Accounting Manager

Sam Strater Senior Advisor for Cincinnati Pops Planning COMMUNICATIONS & DIGITAL MEDIA Felecia Tchen Kanney Vice President of Communications & Digital Media Charlie Balcom Social Media Manager KC Commander Director of Digital Content & Innovation Maria Cordes Digital Media Coordinator

80 | mayfestival.com

Matt Grady Accounting Manager Sharon Grayton Data Services Manager Marijane Klug Accounting Manager Shannon May Accounting Clerk Kristina Pfeiffer Director of Finance Elizabeth Salmons Accounting Clerk Judy Simpson Director of Finance Tara Williams Data Services Manager

HUMAN RESOURCES & PAYROLL Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar Vice President of Human Resources

Wendy Marshall Group Sales Manager

Megan Inderbitzin-Tsai Director of Payroll Services

Amber Ostaszewski Director of Audience Engagement

Natalia Lerzundi Human Resources & Payroll Coordinator Jenny Ryan Human Resources Manager MARKETING Michael Frisco Vice President of Marketing Leon Barton Website Manager Jon Dellinger Copywriter & Marketing Manager Carmen Granger Subscriptions & Loyalty Marketing Manager Elaine Hudson Assistant Box Office Manager Hannah Kaiser Assistant Box Office Manager Abigail Karr Audience Engagement Manager Stephanie Lazorchak Graphic Designer Michelle Lewandowski Director of Marketing Tina Marshall Director of Ticketing & Audience Services

Madelyn McArthur Marketing Intern

Alexis Shambley Email & Insight Marketing Manager Patron Services Representatives Ellison Blair, Lead Drew Dolan, Lead Lucas Maurer, Lead Erik Nordstrom, Lead Hannah Blanchette Craig Doolin Mary Duplantier Ebony Jackson Monica Lange Talor Marren Marian Mayen Gregory Patterson Matthew Wallenhorst PRODUCTION John Clapp Vice President of Orchestra & Production Laura Bordner Adams Director of Operations Carlos Javier Production Manager Alex Magg Production Manager Isabella Prater Production Intern Brenda Tullos Director of Orchestra Personnel

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.

AU D I T I O N for the May Festival Chorus & Youth Chorus AUG 9 • 10 • 11

There are no costs associated with singing in May Festival Choruses, such as dues or fees for participation.

The May Festival provides uniforms, parking, voice lessons, and musical scores to all singers at no charge.

Plus, singers receive FREE or discounted tickets to CSO and May Festival performances!

mayfestival.com/join