November & December 2025 Fanfare Magazine by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Life is good when you’re surrounded by music

/ OCT 2025

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NOV / DEC 2025

Cristian Măcelaru

Cristian Măcelaru Music Director

A proud sponsor of the musical arts

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9 A native of Romania, Cristian Măcelaru has always felt a keen connection to his countryman, the composer George Enescu, whom Măcelaru describes as “a personal hero.” Read about the many parallels between these two musicians, plus a Cincinnati connection, on pp. 9-13.

• NOV 1 & 2: Disney in Concert: Hocus Pocus (Pops)

• NOV 4: Yo-Yo Ma Plays Elgar (CSO)

• NOV 8 & 9: The Bells & Symphonie Fantastique (CSO)

• NOV 12 & 13: Nas: Illmatic Live (Pops)

• NOV 15: Let’s Dance (Lollipops Family Concert)

• NOV 21 & 22: Louis Conducts Petrushka (CSO)

• NOV 29 & 30: Dvořák Symphony No. 7 (CSO)

• DEC 5 & 6: Handel’s Messiah (CSO)

• DEC 7: Common Lines (CSYO Concert Orchestra) and The Year 1905 (CSYO Philharmonic Orchestra)

• DEC 12–14: Holiday Pops (CSO)

80 Administration

ON THE COVER: CSO Music Director Cristian Măcelaru.

Credit: Alex Johnson pp. 9-13. pp. 14–15. pp. 16–17.

“This season carries an incredible sense of anticipation and hope,” says Charla Weiss, the CSO’s new Board Chair. Read more about how Weiss, along with new Music Director Cristian Măcelaru and President & CEO Robert McGrath, are shaping the organization both on stage and in the community on pp. 14–15.

While listening to live music doesn’t guarantee healing from serious illnesses or chronic conditions, compelling scientific evidence suggests that it does have a positive impact, from improving breathing and heart rates to increasing focus and sociability. Find out more about the many good reasons to keep listening to live music, on pp. 16–17.

Whether you’re new to chamber music or have loved it for years, Linton Chamber Music offers a rich, unforgettable experience.

Schub e r t’s D iv ine Q uinte t

DEC 7/8, 2025

Experience a delightful duo by Mozart, the elegance and grace of Boccherini’s String Quintet (you might recognize its famous minuet f rom f ilms and TV), and Schubert’s String Quintet, a moving masterpiece known for its sublime beauty and emotional power

D y namic D uos

JAN 18, 2026

Violinist Bella Hristova and pianist Anna Polonsky perform a dynamic program that features the timeless beauty of Bach, playful charm of Haydn, exuberant melodies of Grieg, and a world premiere by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Ame r ica n S t or ies

FEB 1/2, 2026

Clarinetist Anthony McGill and the Pacif ica Quartet join together to perform a program that celebrates the rich tapestry of the American experience through the works of Richard Danielpour, James Lee III, Valerie Coleman, and Antonín Dvořák

D vořák’s Bohemia n Sp ir it

FEB 22/23, 2026

Experience piano quartets that feature the vibrant spirit of Dvořák, brilliance and wit of Beethoven, and the distinctive voice of neo-Romantic, American composer Richard Danielpour in a work that explores the cycles of life

The Ar t of the S t r ing Q uar te t

MAR 15/ 16, 2026

Take a journey with the Calidore String Quartet as they perform a groundbreaking Beethoven work with an exquisite slow movement known for moving the composer to tears, a lyrical, action-packed quartet by Haydn, and an elegiac, “self-portrait” by Shostakovich

Be e th ove n’s Gh os t Tr io

MAY 3/4 , 2026

CSO principals join pianist Benjamin Hochman to perform a trifecta of trios, including a tempestuous and triumphant masterpiece by Mendelssohn, a centerpiece by Beethoven known for its haunting beauty, and an animated gem by Haydn

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CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CINCINNATI POPS

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 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

O cers

Charla Weiss, Chair

Dianne Rosenberg, Immediate Past Chair

Sue McPartlin, Treasurer

Gerron McKnight, Secretary

Directors

Dorie Akers

Nick Apanius

Heather Apple

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You are welcome to take this copy of Fanfare Magazine home with you as a souvenir of your concert experience. Alternatively, please share it with a friend or leave it with an usher for recycling. Thank you!

Adrian Cunningham

Gabriel Davis

Maria Espinola

Blair Fleischmann*

Kori Hill**

Francie S. Hiltz*

Joseph W. Hirschhorn*

Edna Keown

Florence Koetters*

John Lanni

H. Spencer Liles*

Robert W. McDonald

Dean Moulas

Ann E. Mulder

Aik Khai Pung

James B. (“Rick”) Reynolds*

Jack Rouse*

Patrick Schleker**

Valerie Sheppard

Brett Stover

Kari Ullman

Randolph (“Duck”) L. Wadsworth, Jr.*

Emeritus * Ex-O cio **

 BOARD OF DIRECTORS COMMITTEES & TASK FORCES and MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS COUNCIL

We thank our many partners who serve on the following CSO Board of Directors committees and task forces, as well as the Multicultural Awareness Council (MAC), as we collectively work to realize our vision to be the most relevant orchestra in America.

CSO Board of Directors Committees

Audience Engagement

Audit & Ethics

Inclusion

Executive

Finance & Investment

Learning

Nominating & Governance O cers Nominating

CSO Board of Directors Task Forces Government A airs Philanthropy Planned Giving

Non-Board Advisory Council Multicultural Awareness Council

WE BELIEVE MUSIC LIVES WITHIN US ALL regardless of who we are or where we come from. We believe that music is a pathway to igniting our passions, discovering what moves us, deepening our curiosity and connecting us to our world and to each other.

Our mission is to seek and share inspiration, and we exist to serve our community. Our entire community. Reflecting our community and the world around at every level — on stage, behind-the-scenes and in neighborhoods throughout the region — is essential to our present and future and makes us a strong ensemble and institution.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops acknowledge that Cincinnati Music Hall occupies land that has been the traditional land of the Myaamia (Miami), Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee), and Wahzhazhe Manzhan (Osage) peoples, who have continuously lived upon this land since time immemorial. We honor past, present and future Indigenous peoples.

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WELCOME

 with the online version of Fanfare Magazine, the CSO developed a platform to deliver concertspecific content.

Along with the online version of Fanfare Magazine, the CSO has developed a digital platform to deliver concertspecific content.

Facebook:

WELCOME to the November and December 2025 issue of Fanfare Magazine.

to the November and December 2025 issue of Fanfare Magazine.

For Cristian Măcelaru, the question of who he is and where he comes from is easier to answer not with words, but with music. Specifically, George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1. For Măcelaru, a native of Romania, Enescu is not only a national hero but also a personal guide. Hannah Edgar writes on pp. 9–13 about how Măcelaru’s legacy intertwines with that of Enescu’s, including unexpected connections with Cincinnati and the CSO.

Joining Music Director Cristian Măcelaru and President & CEO Robert McGrath to lead the organization into a bold new era is Board Chair Charla Weiss. On pp. 14–15 read about how Weiss completes a leadership trio poised to honor the CSO’s legacy while shaping its future.

Also joining our organization are our newest Orchestra musicians. David Lyman writes about their paths to joining the CSO, starting with their first music lessons. Acquaint yourself with David Smith, Michael Rau and Michael Martin by perusing their profiles on pp. 19–21.

Music has a deep impact on all of us, whether we are on stage or in the audience. Inspired by the 2025 May Festival’s Music and Mind program with soprano Renée Fleming, writer Anne Arenstein shares insights into what music does for our physical and emotional health on pp. 16–17.

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Facebook: @CincySymphony

@CincinnatiPops

Facebook: @CincySymphony

@CincinnatiPops

Instagram: @CincySymphony

YouTube: CincySymphony

@CincinnatiPops

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Knowing that a Romanian Rhapsody evokes thoughts of home for Măcelaru, we thought perhaps our Orchestra musicians share a similar sentiment. So, we asked them, “What music brings you home?” Explore their thoughtful answers on p. 18 and possibly reflect on your own answers to this issue’s Musician Q&A question.

Please enjoy these stories that have been curated for you in Fanfare Magazine, but also know that the Fanfare Magazine experience is not limited to a print publication available only at Music Hall concerts. You can explore Fanfare Magazine at any time via our website at cincinnatisymphony.org/fanfare-magazine, where you can also find web exclusive articles.

YouTube: @CincySymphony

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*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.

Along with the online version of Fanfare Magazine, the CSO has developed a digital platform to deliver concert-specific content to meet the CSO’s ongoing commitment to digital storytelling, innovation and accessibility. This digital platform offers early access to exclusive concert-specific content: full-length program notes, artist biographies, feature stories, up-to-theminute information and much more! As a bonus, program notes and artist biographies for the entire season will be available on this digital platform in advance of the season-opening concerts, allowing you to engage with all the content before you arrive at Music Hall.

Unlike a print magazine, this digital platform is compatible with all smartphone accessibility features. The CSO’s digital platform is easily accessible — no app to download or subscription to manage. To explore our digital content, visit cincinnatisymphony.org/DigitalProgram, text the word PROGRAM to 513.845.3024* or scan the QR code at right with your mobile device.

The CSO hopes you find inspiration within these pages and within the music — past, present and future — that reverberates at Music Hall and in the community. Thank you for being with us!

The CSO hopes you find inspiration within pages and within the music — past, present and future — that reverberates at Music Hall and in the community. Thank you for being with us!

INVEST ENGAGE INNOVATE LEAD

Program Spotlight: POETRY OUT LOUD

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.

Ohio Poetry Out Loud State Champion Zeke Moses of Bexley High School (Franklin County) reciting a poem at the 2025 state finals. He represented Ohio at the national finals in Washington, D.C. Image credit: Terry Gilliam

In Search of George Enescu

CSO Music Director Cristian Măcelaru has long been fascinated by his fellow countryman. He’s tracing the late composer’s footsteps in more ways than one.

by HANNAH EDGAR

Credit: Alex Johnson

WWhen CSO Music Director Cristian Măcelaru first met Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist posed a question to him that took him aback: Who was he, and where was he coming from?

Măcelaru decided to answer Ma through music, and he didn’t have to think particularly hard about which piece: George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, one of the composer’s most-performed works.

“It really, truly speaks of the beauty of the folklore, the traditions, the rhythms and the dances,” Măcelaru says.

Like so many Romanian musicians, Măcelaru considers Enescu “a personal hero.” The young Enescu was hailed as a musical phenom along the lines of Mozart, Korngold and other precocious talents. He was not only a world-class composer but also a conductor, violinist and pianist. Yehudi Menuhin, his former violin student, idolized him; Alfred Cortot, considered one of the 20th century’s greatest pianists, apparently claimed that his keyboard technique was outclassed by Enescu’s. The small village in which Enescu was born, in northeast Romania, has since been renamed in his honor.

In some ways, Măcelaru’s career path echoes Enescu’s. As a conductor, Enescu was accomplished

enough that he became a serious contender for the directorship of the New York Philharmonic after Arturo Toscanini resigned in 1936. For Măcelaru, composing was an early professional ambition; he attempted to write his first symphony as a teenager. Both, too, were virtuoso violinists: Enescu concertized throughout the U.S. and Europe, sometimes on the same programs he conducted, and Măcelaru’s talents on the instrument kickstarted his musical career.

At the time he connected with Fanfare Magazine for this story, Măcelaru had just wrapped a long day recording Enescu’s Suite No. 3 with the Orchestre National de France, with whom he is releasing a multiyear, six-disc recording project for Deutsche Grammophon. The venerable German label unveiled the first three discs as a box set last April. Since then, it has garnered a bevy of industry awards, like the Diapason d’Or and a spot on Gramophone’s 2024 critics’ choice shortlist.

“Receiving an award is not the reason why we do recordings,” says Măcelaru, “but it is such a beautiful validation of one’s effort, if for no other reason than to see so many people recognize [Enescu’s works] as really, truly being cornerstones of the classical music repertoire.”

Left: Violinist George Enescu (1881–1955) and pianist Alfred Cortot (1877–1962) (Credit: E. Joaillier, Paris). Below: A violin owned by George Enescu in a museum in Bucharest, Romania.

Enescu’s legacy has been far from assured. He’s known mostly for his Rhapsody No. 1 and violin sonatas, still frequently played and recorded. But performances of his works have been somewhat few and far between outside Romania. When Măcelaru began preparing for the Deutsche Grammophon recordings, he had to correct “hundreds, maybe thousands” of inconsistencies between the printed editions of Enescu’s music and his own manuscripts.

Ironically, for a time, Enescu’s star status was lost on his own home country. Because Enescu lived outside Romania for so much of his career, he wasn’t seen as a national symbol in the same way he is today — and Romania’s Eastern Bloc government was especially loath to champion an émigré who had married into the old aristocracy. Even the biennial George Enescu Festival, which Măcelaru also directs, wasn’t established until three years after the composer’s death, in 1955.

Enescu’s life bridged the 19th century with the long 20th. His music is predominantly tonal and lush but, much like his contemporary Richard Strauss, he deploys those harmonies toward narrative and often daring ends. One of Măcelaru’s favorite examples of this comes at the middle of Enescu’s Suite No. 3, nicknamed “Villageoise,” or “of the village.” A shepherd, represented by an offstage oboe, tries to soothe his sheep, their braying depicted through the drone of a pump organ and stinging brass clusters.

To Măcelaru, Enescu’s music also captures the complexity of the émigré experience. Enescu’s family

moved him to Vienna when he was just seven to support his meteoric musical talents. He eventually settled in Paris — yet another parallel with Măcelaru, who lives there when he’s not in Cincinnati — where he died and was buried.

The Romanian 5 lei bill, since 2005 featuring Enescu’s image.

Măcelaru believes Enescu’s distance to his homeland gives his folk themes both a certain “purity” and a “melancholic twist.”

“Enescu always wrote about Romanian culture and folklore traditions from an immigrant’s perspective, trying to tell you how beautiful the country is that he left behind,” he says.

But Enescu’s music just as frequently absorbed the sensibilities of his chosen home. Măcelaru identifies Enescu’s approach to orchestration as distinctly French: bursting with maximalist color, yet contoured and fine-grained.

“He wrote so many indications on every note. I really think he was trying to capture the spirit of a style of playing,” Măcelaru says.

Meanwhile, the Orchestre National de France is the Parisian orchestra that “has maintained and kept the focus of the [French] style” most, according to Măcelaru. It made them an ideal recording partner for the project.

“I think that if anyone wants to really, truly do research into the French style of playing from 100 years ago, they need to look at Enescu’s symphonies,” Măcelaru asserts.

As a busy touring musician, Enescu made his way to the United States — and often. He led several back-to-back concert cycles a year at the New York Philharmonic between 1937 and 1939. In 1939, he was invited to New York City again to lead the Philharmonic in a program of Romanian music as part of that year’s World’s Fair. “None of the foreign programs given at the Fair have had a more

Enescu in Cincinnati

George Enescu visited the CSO four times, as both conductor and violin soloist:

February 1933. Enescu played Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 7 and conducted his own Romanian Rhapsody No. 2.

December 31, 1937 and January 1, 1938. Enescu played Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 7 and conducted his Symphony No. 1 in E-flat, Op. 13.

April 1948. Enescu played Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Chausson’s Poème and conducted his own Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A Major, Op. 11.

February 1949. Enescu played Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 7 and conducted his own Suite No. 2 in C Major and Romanian Rhapsody No. 2.

Reviews from local critics were glowing:

The Cincinnati Enquirer, February 24, 1933 by George A. Leighton

“The Rhapsody is a series of impassioned utterances expressed in folk tunes pleasantly harmonized and skillfully orchestrated. It is a relaxing piece with its melodic charm, comfortable rhythms and clearly defined sectional divisions.

“As soloist, Enesco played Mozart’s D major Concerto, demonstrating the artistry for which the is so well known. His Mozart playing is far from conventional or traditional, and the great pleasure derived from his performance was more traceable to the artist than his vehicle. The same emotional temperament that created the Rhapsody was to be found in the Concerto and auditors reveled in wonder of tone, great depth of feeling, and exceptional violinism in every respect. The second movement with its exquisite melodic lines and the final Rondeau, sharply rhythmical and happy in thought, gave the best opportunities for display of the artist’s fine capacities.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer, January 1, 1938 by Frederick Yeiser

“What a man, this Georges Enesco! And what a tremendous musical figure!

“Both as solo violinist and conductor Mr. Enesco gives the impression of combining both emotional and intellectual power. … Although the music comes first for him, the strength of his personality never ceases to make itself felt.

“He has expressed himself with insight and feeling through billowing phrases of melody which his gift for orchestration leads him to color in a variety of ways. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra gave one of the most spontaneous performances that I have ever heard. The men played as though inspired, as they probably were. At the end, Mr. Enesco gave them the signal to rise and share his ovation but they let him have it all to himself.”

Cristian Măcelaru. Credit: Alex Johnson

distinctive and unmistakable color than this one,” enthused The New York Times

Enescu even visited the CSO four times as both conductor and violin soloist in the same period. The discovery that his hero had been to Cincinnati “tickled” Măcelaru.

“I think it speaks to how important Cincinnati was on the national circuit,” he says. “While being a little bit out of the main East Coast route, that part of the country was quite prosperous, which led very much to a really beautiful, world-class orchestra. That, of course, attracted Enescu.”

But Măcelaru also noticed something surprising: In many of the concerts he led while in the U.S., Enescu conducted his own music sparingly. Instead, he mainly seemed to promote works by other

living Romanian composers, some of them world premieres. Later in life, he would contribute the modern equivalent of $150,000 to create the first competition specifically for Romanian composers.

“I think it’s a really wonderful mission that he assigned himself, to promote a Romanian national school of composition,” says Măcelaru.

One with a direct line to the CSO’s new Music Director, no less. 

Subscribe to the CSO’s YouTube channel and watch the three-part docuseries: Introducing Cristian Măcelaru.

@CincySymphony

The Cincinnati Post, April 10, 1948 by

Eleanor Bell

“The presence of George Enesco had an electrifying effect on the doing in Music Hall yesterday.

“The great Roumanian composer, conductor and violinist was making his first appearance here since before the war, and both the sight and sound of him brought tears to many eyes and great surging bursts of applause for his artistry and musicianship.

“He played the Bach Concerto in A-minor and the Poème by Chausson with flawless phrasing and style, and with that grand and elegant seriousness that has always set him apart from the common garden variety of virtuoso.

“His performance was amazing.”

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra program listings from the February 23 & 24, 1933 and April 9 & 10, 1948 concerts featuring Enescu as violinist and conductor.

The Cincinnati Post, February 21, 1949 by Eleanor Bell

“Mr. Enesco’s reading of Mozart’s Concerto No. 7 in D-major for violin and orchestra was filled with all of the grace and charm and eloquence and superb musicianship we have come to expect from him.

“Under M. Enesco’s abbreviated baton the orchestra came to life in his Second Romanian Rhapsody and the Suite No. 2 in C-major. Both of these works were ingeniously orchestrated so that there was never any doubt as to the intended mood, and the musical ideals were skillfully projected through the language by one who is by all standards more fluent than most. Aside from their remarkable craftsmanship, however, both the Rhapsody and the Suite had flashes of humor and contrasting moments of pathos that were meant to be enjoyed by the least informed layman.” 

Completing the Symphony of Leadership: Introducing Charla Weiss

by CSO STAFF

Throughout Cincinnati, autumn holds an air of anticipation. Students return to school, festivals return to the parks and concerts return to Music Hall. For the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, this season not only carries the warmth of return, but also the thrill of new beginnings. Music Director Cristian Măcelaru made his debut with the CSO October 3–4, and this will be Robert McGrath’s first full season as President & CEO. Completing the trio of leadership is Board Chair Charla Weiss. Each of these leaders plays a distinct but complementary role, shaping the artistic vision, managing the organization and ensuring strong guidance so the Orchestra can thrive both on stage and within the community.

It is widely accepted that the Board Chair is a position that, beyond a deep commitment to the organization, requires strong leadership qualities and high ethical standards. This is why it is clear that Charla Weiss — who took the helm at the start of the 2025–26 season — was the perfect complement to this leadership trio. Weiss is no stranger to the complex nature of a large nonprofit organization. She recently retired from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center after 13 years of service as the Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

When Weiss was hired at Cincinnati Children’s, she was creating something new, as her role had never existed at the hospital. She stated her goal was to “increase the cultural competency of all those who interacted with all patients to make sure that everyone got extraordinary medical care.” This included starting a resident fellowship program for hospital administrators who were from underrepresented populations in the healthcare profession.

Weiss had no easy task at Cincinnati Children’s. The hospital world exists at an intersection between patients, doctors, education systems, insurance companies, cultural and religious beliefs, and a whole host of places in between. This may be overwhelming for some, but Weiss is an expert. “I love the complexity of people,” remarks Weiss. “I like looking at complex organizations and finding my way to help the organization move forward.”

Credit: Claudia Hershner

In addition to her incredible wealth of knowledge Weiss also brings a unique perspective. From being a Black child attending grade school on a Native American reservation in South Dakota to, as an adult, living in Hong Kong for seven years, she has refined her ability to interact with and embrace all people. Her experiences as a global citizen, enriched by music and life, led her to the field of psychology and sociology. She ultimately earned her Ph.D. while

Credit: Claudia Hershner

working full time at the University of Michigan. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to take on the position of CSO Board Chair, Weiss was undaunted. It’s clear why the CSO wanted to work with Weiss, but why did she agree?

Weiss has always loved music. As a child she learned piano, and as a teenager she earned a scholarship to spend the summer at the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts for voice. Yes, Charla Weiss attended the very same arts school that Cristian Măcelaru attended, also as a teenager.

“This season carries an incredible sense of anticipation and hope.”

“This season carries an incredible sense of anticipation and hope,” affirms Weiss. “Cristi’s presence marks the beginning of a bold new chapter — one that honors the CSO’s rich 130year history while embracing fresh energy, vision and possibility. It truly feels like a moment of transformation, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it.”

The Orchestra was founded in 1895, and since then there had only been 13 first Music Director concerts and, now with Măcelaru, 14. It is a momentous time for Weiss to begin this tenure. The Măcelaru era is one that will completely transform not just the CSO, but the entire Cincinnati arts community.

A key relationship for any Music Director is the one with the Orchestra’s chief executive. In the case of Măcelaru, this relationship is with Robert McGrath, newly appointed President & CEO of the Orchestra. McGrath isn’t new to the CSO, however.

He is a 14-year veteran of the organization, having previously served as Chief Operating Officer. A consistent, steady force behind the Orchestra’s resilience, McGrath played instrumental roles during the Covid-19 pandemic and Music Hall renovation. From the creation of CSO Proof and the 2019 Fanfare Project to the Live from Music Hall digital concert series, McGrath has made a lasting mark on the CSO’s artistic and community initiatives.

—Charla Weiss

In her new role as Board Chair, Weiss says her responsibility is to “advocate for the Board within the community, with community being defined very broadly. It is to partner with the leaders and teams of the organization to make sure they have what they need to be successful at their jobs. And to be a strong partner to the Music Director and President & CEO. “These three strands are what I think will keep the organization moving forward and make sure that the people who were with the organization 130 years ago say, ‘they’re doing better than we thought they could.’”

In a 2025 Fanfare Magazine interview, McGrath said about the CSO, “This is an organization that has always been determined for greatness.” With this new trio of leaders, perhaps it isn’t the amorphous “organization” that has determined the CSO’s greatness, but rather the leaders who recognize and honor past guidance while pushing the organization to strive for a better tomorrow. 

Credit: Claudia Hershner

The Science of Live Music and Health

by ANNE ARENSTEIN

Every part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be tracked on your phone’s health apps. Everything from steps to sleep patterns can be charted. Well, almost everything. Minutes listening to live classical music should be on the list.

There’s compelling scientific evidence that live music, especially classical music, has a positive impact, from improving breathing and heart rates to increasing sociability.

Last May, the May Festival’s 2025 Festival Director Renée Fleming hosted a discussion on “Music and Mind,” focusing on the intersection of music, health and neuroscience. Fleming is a passionate advocate for research on music and the mind. She edited Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, a collection of essays by leading experts in science and the arts, and the book the event was titled after. The panelists represented psychology, neurology, music therapy and early childhood education.

During the discussion, Stacy Sims, founder and executive director of The Well, a Cincinnati-based organization whose mission is to improve the human mental and emotional well-being, connectedness

and effectiveness through arts integration, especially music, provided compelling evidence for music’s impact on human behavior.

The Well’s Mindful Musical Moments program, geared toward school children, combines creative and mindful prompts with three minutes of orchestral, jazz, world and new music heard at the beginning of the school day. The results are dramatic. Teachers report that listening to music helps students to focus and reduces anxiety. Mindful Musical Moments is now in more than 300 schools, including Cincinnati Public Schools. Utah’s state board of education is implementing the program statewide, Sims reported.

In 1993, a scientific study claimed that listening to Mozart temporarily increased spatial reasoning. Popular media dubbed this “The Mozart Effect,” adding now-debunked claims of boosted intelligence, particularly in young children. However, this sparked interest that led to subsequent studies that used advanced technologies like fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to provide proof that listening to music improved well-being across the spectrum of physical and emotional health. The findings ranked live music superior to recordings, in terms of brain stimulation.

As part of her personal research, Fleming participated in a fMRI study as part of the National

Above: Audience members applauding at a Classical Roots concert in Music Hall. At right: Joyful faces at the Cincinnati Pops’ Disney in Concert: The Sound of Magic. Credit: Charlie Balcom

Institutes of Health’s Sound Health initiative to understand how music affects the brain. While in the MRI scanner, she performed activities like singing and imagining singing, with the goal of identifying which parts of the brain are activated by music. The fMRI showed that imagining singing activated more brain regions than singing itself, which was a surprising finding for the scientists. In an interview with CityBeat, Fleming said that seeing the result of her fMRI as she sang or listened to a live performance was a revelation, noting “I marveled at how responsive my brain is to these sounds, how much activity was going on in there!”

A Swiss study conducted in 2023 and published on the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Library of Medicine web page demonstrated that live music — piano performance in this study — produced higher activity in the amygdala, the brain’s emotion center. The study also found people could focus more when exposed to live music, noting enhanced neural flow between the regions of the brain that filter out distractions and manage information processing.

Research from the past two decades confirms that live music benefits the brain in other significant areas. The NIH’s Medical Library lists references to studies on music affecting mental and physical ailments, from anxiety to tinnitus. If you play an instrument, the health benefits increase even more. Regular practice and performance help stimulate neural connections and establish new ones. Playing or singing in an ensemble gets those neurons working, as well as encouraging social interaction.

It doesn’t matter who the composer is or whether it’s a suite, a full symphony or a concerto, live classical music has been shown to produce dopamine (vital to movement, motivation and mood — so-called 3M) and reduce cortisol (high cortisol can have negative affects on neural and cognitive function).

Moreover, researchers Aaron Williamon, professor of performance science at the Royal College of Music, and Daisy Fancourt, professor of psychobiology and epidemiology at University College London, noticed that blood pressure was reduced and heart rates lowered after live musical events. Live music experiences can even act as a natural pain management method; concerts can help to relieve physical pain by triggering the release of endorphins, which reduce a person’s perception of pain, or even intercepting pain signals before they reach the brain.

Then there’s the social aspect of enjoying a live musical performance. When you choose to attend a Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concert, the experience can make you feel like a part of a community. During breaks, you may be discussing the performance with the folks around you. A lyric passage may move you to tears or a rollicking finale may bring you to your feet, yelling “Bravo!” There will be others who share those emotions.

Live music doesn’t promise to heal serious illnesses or chronic conditions, but it can promote improvement in mental outlook and physical wellbeing, as well as reductions in blood pressure and heart rate. Whether you’re here to heal your body or heal your soul, there are always good reasons to keep listening. 

What Music Brings You Home?

Music has the power to transport us back to moments that shaped us. For our musicians, certain music holds a special connection to memory, identity and belonging. We asked them a simple but meaningful question: “What music brings you home?” We invite you to explore their answers and perhaps reflect on the question yourself.

Denisse Rodriguez-Rivera

Viola

I listened to Beethoven’s symphonies early on in my musical life, so I feel at home performing them.

Joseph Rodriguez

Second/Associate Principal Trombone

Sallie Robinson Wadsworth & Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr. Chair

I grew up with country gospel music. Anytime I hear that southern twang, it takes me home to my childhood.

Rachel Charbel

Violin

Ida Ringling North Chair

I always think of my hometown (Bellingham, Washington) every time I hear Sibelius, specifically his Fifth Symphony. Sibelius said that the theme to the last movement was inspired by watching a flock of swans fly overhead, which is something I’m very familiar with, as Bellingham is a stopover point for a massive trumpeter swan migration. My mom also thinks the first movement feels like a boat leaving a harbor for open waters, and I completely agree!

Joanne Wojtowicz

Viola

When I cross the bridge over the Detroit River into my hometown of Windsor, Ontario, I can’t help but hear Calixa Lavallée‘s “O Canada.”

Caterina Longhi

Viola

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 was one of the first major symphonies I played when I was 13 and a member of the New York Youth Symphony. It was my first time as a violist realizing how thrilling orchestra playing could be!

Michael Rau

Violin

The Beethoven violin sonatas, specifically the Isaac Stern/Eugene Istomin recordings. These were a favorite of mine to listen to while driving to violin lessons.

Christopher Philpotts

Principal English Horn

Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair

Even though I have played this solo a gazillion times, I never tire from hearing it. Dvořák’s Largo from the New World Symphony is a warm hug of goodness!

Haley Bangs

Flute

Jane & David Ellis Chair

John Williams’ score to Jurassic Park always reminds me of my childhood. It was the first PG-13 movie I was allowed to watch, and my best friend and I loved it so much we had to watch it every time we had a sleepover party!

Top row from left: Michael Rau, Caterina Longhi, Rachel Charbel and Joanne Wojtowicz. Bottom row from left: Christopher Philpotts, Joseph Rodriguez, Denisse Rodriguez-Rivera and Haley Bangs.

New Musicians of the Orchestra

This season, audiences will see three new faces on Music Hall’s stage. Learn more about their musical journeys and what brought them to Cincinnati.

by DAVID LYMAN

David Smith

Acting

Associate Principal Horn

Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer Chair

David Smith had his heart set on being a drummer.

It didn’t work out that way. In September, he began a one-year appointment as Acting Associate Principal Horn with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

What changed? You have to go back more than 25 years, to when Smith was in the fifth grade.

“There was an assembly, a presentation by the middle school band,” says Smith, who is now 38. “I had no idea what a band was. But to any kid at that age, assemblies were the most interesting things in the world. You could escape the malaise of the classroom and see your friends.”

But by the end of the assembly, a whole new world had opened up to him.

“I thought that the band was the coolest thing I’d ever seen,” says Smith. “I wanted to join as soon as I could. I went home and told my family I wanted to play the drums.”

His parents were having none of that. They said he had two options, either pick another instrument or not play in the band.

So, he and the band director did a little brainstorming. Renting a trumpet — Smith’s second choice — proved too pricey. But since there were never enough kids who wanted to play French horn, they had a couple of instruments in storage. Smith’s parents could rent one of them for $25 for the entire academic year.

Unlike many of his orchestral colleagues, who grew up hearing classical music all the time, Smith’s love of the horn grew from listening to movie scores.

“There were composers like John Williams — the greatest of all time — and Michael Giacchino and Howard Shore. You’d see Jurassic Park or Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings and you would hear the complete breadth of what the horn could do. You’d get the heroic moment, the sappy moment, the break-your-heart moments. I could never forget those moments.”

Though his love for the instrument was immediate, there’s a steep learning curve to the horn.

“I was rubbish in the sixth and seventh grade,” he says. But in ninth grade, the family moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There, Smith got his first private lessons, and, the following year, he was accepted into the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities.

“Fifteen-year-old me was super-excited,” he says. “I got to leave the nest early. These ended up being the most formative years for me in my early training.”

Besides all the usual academic subjects, Smith had an intensive musical curriculum: music theory, music history, ear training, keyboard skills and more.

“I played in ensembles and learned about chamber music. I even had to sing in the choir. And the brilliant thing about it at the time was that it was free. You had to audition to get in. But this was a public education — it was free.”

Later, at the Peabody Institute, he would not only study horn performance but also recording engineering.

“My father was a very practical person,” says Smith. “While he wanted to support my dreams, he believed in things like financial security, so he thought it was important for me to have some backup plans in place besides being a professional horn player.”

Initially, Smith was skeptical. But in retrospect, he realizes it was a wise decision.

“I have zero regrets about learning every aspect of the music business,” he says. “It’s always great to soak up new knowledge. When I listen to an orchestra recording now, I can listen as a musician and also through a studio recording lens.”

His most immediate concern, though, is a monthlong Asian trip with his new wife, Natalie Hoe, the principal clarinet of The Florida Orchestra.

“We got married in a courthouse here on May 29,” he says. “Then, we’re off to do the whole thing properly with her side of the family. Her mom is in Hong Kong and her dad’s side is from Malaysia. So we’re going to spend a month meeting family and then get married all over again on Pangkor Laut Island in Malaysia.”

Smith may not have ended up behind a drum set, but his journey shaped him into the musician he is today. Dreams change over time as new opportunities are presented. And now, those dreams have brought Smith back to Music Hall, where several years ago he had filled in a Holiday Pops concert.

“We were in our red jackets and there was JMR in front of us,” says Smith. “The air was electric with energy. And now, to come back to that same stage every night and perform live in front of 2,000 people — it’s definitely going to be a thrill.”

Michael Rau

Section Second Violin

“The violin would not have been my first choice,” says Michael Rau, who is joining the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra this season. As a violinist, mind you. “When my parents bought a used upright after my older brother started taking piano lessons, I would spend hours just staring at it, clearly wanting to play it.”

didn’t realize how odd that was. But once I picked up the instrument, you couldn’t pry it out of my hands.”

Exactly how thrilled was he? The day after his very first lesson was “show and tell” day at school, and he couldn’t help but show what he had learned.

“I took in my violin and played the first four bars of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.’ It was all I knew how to play. But I was determined to share it with my class. I guess I was really gung-ho about it from the start.”

He was so enthused that, when all his friends dreamed of becoming astronauts or firemen, he told his father he wanted to be a violinist when he grew up. “Or a shortstop, if I’m being completely honest,” he adds. “But there was something about the violin that I loved, so I kept going on that path.”

It’s a path that would, in time, lead him to the Chicago Youth Symphony, then the New England Conservatory of Music and, after graduation, to the New World Symphony in Miami.

In retrospect, it sounds so ordered, so organized — as if Rau planned each step along the way. But, in truth, it wasn’t so very long ago that Rau was uncertain if he would continue the musical career he had chased for so many years. He was 28 when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the arts in America. Since the New World Symphony only offers threeyear fellowships to its young musicians, Rau and his colleagues were taking every audition they could.

But even at the age of six, he and his brother had a reputation for being hyper-competitive in all things. Having both boys play the piano seemed like inviting trouble.

“I can’t say that my parents forced me to play the violin. But they suggested it would be better for me to take up another instrument,” says Rau. “There just happened to be a three-quarter-sized violin in my mother’s family.” So Rau ended up learning how to play the violin.

“It was a crazy instrument,” he recalls. “It had guitar pegs for tuning instead of regular violin pegs. I

“The problem was that, when Covid hit, there were almost no auditions for a year and a half,” he says. “Even before that, the auditions were insanely competitive. That was a very tough time, not just for me, but for every musician trying to break into the field. I really had to take stock. Do I really want to do this? Realistically, what could I expect?”

Fortunately, Rau persisted. And one of those auditions, in 2022, paid off.

“That’s when I won the audition with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,” he says. Even though we are speaking on the phone, you can almost hear the grin in his voice. “Oh, man, that felt really great. All those years of degrees and lessons … .”

As much as he liked playing in Baltimore, when he heard about auditions for the CSO, he leapt at the chance. He’d played here as a substitute several times in the past and saw Cincinnati as a clear step up the musical ladder.

“I’m really excited about coming to Cincinnati,” he says. “I was amazed the first time I played with the Orchestra. I just love Music Hall. It’s really incredible how clearly you can hear everything. And it’s such a beautiful hall, too.”

And then there is the opportunity to work with Cristian Măcelaru, the CSO’s new Music Director. As coincidence would have it, Rau was

guesting with the CSO the week that Măcelaru’s appointment was announced.

“Then the week after that he came to Baltimore. So, I had two weeks with him, back-to-back. I loved both weeks. He’s fantastic to work with. He’s a violinist, you know. When he’s up there in front of you, it’s almost like he’s another member of the orchestra. Cristi is just fantastic to work with. I can’t wait to start there.”

Michael Martin

Section Bass

“This feels totally surreal,” says Michael Martin, reflecting on his appointment as a member of the bass section of the CSO. “I keep pinching myself. This is something I’ve been doing seriously since I was 13 years old. So to finally get to do what I’ve worked for since I was a young teenager … well, it just feels like it’s happening to someone else.” His excitement is understandable. There are precious few fulltime orchestra positions in the country, fewer still when you’re talking about top-flight orchestras like the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

“I feel supremely lucky,” he says.

Now, luck is a fine concept. But that’s not what drove Martin’s success. His journey with the double bass began when he was in the third grade back in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His family was not a particularly musical one. Neither of his parents played an instrument, other than his father’s brief dalliance with the trumpet when he was very young.

But there was something about the bass’s raw, rumbling sound and the idea of making music with an instrument nearly as big as him that was profoundly appealing to Martin. Even though no one else in the home was playing an instrument, Martin says that “music was a constant in my life. Any time I was in the car, there was music playing. Both my parents had pretty well-developed musical tastes. My dad really likes Bill Withers and Marvin Gaye. And my mom would listen to Metallica and Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.”

True, that’s not the style of music that dominates Martin’s playing today.

“But I was richer for the broad gamut of music I was exposed to,” he says. “I learned what was good music and what wasn’t. Those lessons are really not that hard to apply to other kinds of music.”

At the outset, Martin wasn’t what you would call a gifted player. He was good enough to play in the school orchestra, but he admits “I never really practiced.”

That all changed during a trip to New York City.

“I heard the New York Philharmonic play the Mahler 5,” he says. “It blew me away. For two hours, I felt like I was in a completely different place, on a different metaphysical level. I came out of that experience thinking maybe I really should do more with my instrument.”

Clearly, he did do more. After earning performance degrees from Northwestern University and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Martin was awarded a 2019 Fellowship with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

“It was the first time I played regularly with a professional orchestra,” he recalls. “And it was completely different from anything I’d ever experienced as a player. I felt like I fit in here.”

In a curious way, he credits the Covid-19 pandemic with preparing him for the rigors of life as a professional musician. Three months after he joined the New World Symphony in Miami, the pandemic kicked in.

“We didn’t play in person for a year,” he says. “It was terrible, but everybody was in the same boat.”

Like many of us, Martin was faced with the question of what to do with all the additional time on his hands.

“I had a friend who went fishing every day and then did some practicing,” he says. “But the main thing he decided to do was study for the law school exam.” That turned out to be time well spent. The friend was accepted into Harvard Law School.

“For me, though, I viewed it as my time to level up my playing and take it to a different level.” Prior to the pandemic, he’d auditioned with great regularity. “But the feedback I had been getting was that ‘you’re not doing anything wrong, but you’re not doing enough to sell me on your playing.’ I decided that was what I was going to work on and fix.”

It was a grueling time for him, filled with intense musical self-evaluation. But in the end, it paid off.

“If you’re not a musician, not someone who takes auditions, it’s really hard to get across how difficult it is to get a job,” says Martin. “So, to get to return to Cincinnati is thrilling. Playing with the CSO had a huge influence on me. You can’t imagine what it feels like to return to a place where my sound fits.” 

FIRST VIOLINS

Stefani Matsuo

Concertmaster

Anna Sinton Taft Chair

Felicity James

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

Nicholas Tsimaras–

Peter G. Courlas Chair++

Anna Reider

Dianne & J. David Rosenberg Chair

Mauricio Aguiar§

Anne G. & Robert W. Dorsey Chair

Minyoung Baik‡

Jo Ann & Paul Ward Chair

James Braid

Marc Bohlke Chair given by Katrin & Manfred Bohlke

Rebecca Kruger Fryxell

Clifford J. Goosmann &

Andrea M. Wilson Chair

Elizabeth Furuta

Gerald Itzkoff

Jean Ten Have Chair

Joseph Ohkubo

Luo-Jia Wu

Jonathan Yi

SECOND VIOLINS

Gabriel Pegis

Principal

Al Levinson Chair

Yang Liu*

Harold B. & Betty Justice Chair

Scott Mozlin**

Henry Meyer Chair

Kun Dong

Charles Gausmann Chair++

Cheryl Benedict

Evin Blomberg§

Sheila and Christopher Cole Chair

Rose Brown

Rachel Charbel

Ida Ringling North Chair

Chika Kinderman

Charles Morey

Hyesun Park

Michael Rau

Stacey Woolley

Brenda & Ralph Taylor Chair++

VIOLAS

Christian Colberg

Principal

Louise D. & Louis Nippert Chair

Gabriel Napoli*

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

CRISTIAN MĂCELARU,

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

Louis Langrée, Music Director Laureate

Alex Amsel, Assistant Conductor

Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

Duo Shen, Assistant Conductor

Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

CELLOS

Ilya Finkelshteyn

Principal

Irene & John J. Emery Chair

Lachezar Kostov*

Ona Hixson Dater Chair

[OPEN]

Karl & Roberta Schlachter

Family Chair

Drew Dansby§

Daniel Kaler

Peter G. Courlas–

Nicholas Tsimaras Chair++

Nicholas Mariscal

Marvin Kolodzik & Linda S. Gallaher Chair for Cello

Hiro Matsuo

Laura Kimble McLellan Chair++

Alan Rafferty

Ruth F. Rosevear Chair

Tianlu (Jerry) Xu

BASSES

Owen Lee

Principal

Mary Alice Heekin Burke Chair++

Luis Celis*

Thomas Vanden Eynden Chair

Stephen Jones**

Trish & Rick Bryan Chair

Boris Astafiev§

Michael Martin

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

Patricia Gross Linnemann Chair

OBOES

Dwight Parry

Principal

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

[OPEN]*

Stephen P. McKean Chair

Emily Beare

ENGLISH HORN

Christopher Philpotts

Principal

Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair++

CLARINETS

Christopher Pell

Principal

Emma Margaret & Irving D.

Goldman Chair

Joseph Morris*

Associate Principal and E-flat Clarinet

Robert E. & Fay Boeh Chair++

Ixi Chen

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

BASS CLARINET

Ronald Aufmann

BASSOONS

Christopher Sales Principal

Emalee Schavel Chair++

Martin Garcia*

Hugh Michie

CONTRABASSOON

Jennifer Monroe

HORNS

Elizabeth Freimuth‡

Principal

David Alexander†

Acting Principal

Mary M. & Charles F. Yeiser Chair

David Smith†

Acting Associate Principal

Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer

Chair

[OPEN]**

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

[OPEN]

Jackie & Roy Sweeney

Family Chair

Alexander Pride†

Otto M. Budig Family

Foundation Chair++

Christopher Kiradjieff

David C. Reed, MD Chair

TROMBONES

Cristian Ganicenco

Principal, in memoriam

Dorothy & John Hermanies

Chair

Joseph Rodriguez**

Second/Assistant Principal Trombone

Sallie Robinson Wadsworth & Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr. Chair

BASS TROMBONE

Noah Roper

TUBA

Christopher Olka

Principal

Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair

TIMPANI

Patrick Schleker

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+

KEYBOARDS

Michael Chertock

James P. Thornton Chair

Julie Spangler+

James P. Thornton Chair

LIBRARIANS

Christina Eaton

Principal Librarian

Lois Klein Jolson Chair

Elizabeth Dunning

Associate Principal Librarian

Cara Benner

Assistant Librarian

Citlalmina Hernandez

Orchestra Library Intern

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

AND ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

CRISTIAN MĂCELARU

Music Director

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

Grammy-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru is Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, Artistic Director of the George Enescu International Festival and Competition, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Distinguished Visiting Artist at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He also serves as Artistic Partner of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, where he was Chief Conductor from the 2019–20 through 2024–25 seasons.

Măcelaru’s 2025–26 guest engagements include debuts with the Münchner Philharmoniker and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, as well as returns with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Czech Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony.

Măcelaru’s previous seasons include European engagements with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Wiener Symphoniker. In North America, he has led the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra. He is equally at home as a conductor of opera, with career highlights including productions of Don Giovanni with the Houston Grand Opera and Madama Butterfly with Opera Națională București.

In 2020, Măcelaru received a Grammy Award for conducting the Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and The Philadelphia Orchestra. His highly anticipated recording of George Enescu’s complete symphonic works with the Orchestre National de France was released in April 2024 on Deutsche Grammophon. September 2025 marks the release of Măcelaru’s and the Orchestre National de France’s Ravel Paris 2025 album on the naïve label, featuring the symphonic works of Maurice Ravel in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL

Cincinnati Pops Conductor

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair John Morris Russell’s (JMR) embrace of America’s unique voice and musical stories has transformed how orchestral performances connect and engage with audiences. As conductor of the Cincinnati Pops since 2011, the wide range and diversity of his work as a musical leader, collaborator and educator continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Cincinnati and across the continent. As Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, JMR conducts the classical series as well as the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

A Grammy-nominated artist, JMR has worked with leading performers from across a variety of musical genres, including Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, Garrick Ohlsson, Rhiannon Giddens, Hilary Hahn, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Steve Martin, Brian Wilson, Leslie Odom, Jr., Lea Salonga and Mandy Gonzalez.

For over two decades, JMR has led the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s wildly successful Classical Roots initiative honoring and celebrating Black musical excellence. Guest artists have included Marvin Winans, Alton White, George Shirley, Common and Hi-Tek.

JMR has contributed seven albums to the Cincinnati Pops discography, including 2023’s holiday album JOY!. In 2015, he created the “American Originals Project,” which has won both critical and popular acclaim and features two landmark recordings: American Originals (the music of Stephen Foster) and the Grammynominated American Originals 1918 (a tribute to the dawn of the jazz age). The 2020 “American Originals” concert King Records and the Cincinnati Sound with Late Show pianist Paul Shaffer honored legendary recording artists associated with the Queen City. In the 2024–25 season JMR took on the next installment of the project, offering a concert and recording celebrating the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, and presented a national PBS broadcast of Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey. JMR’s American Soundscapes video series with the Pops and Cincinnati’s CET public television station has surpassed one million views on YouTube since its launch in 2016.

For more information about Cristian Măcelaru and John Morris Russell, please visit cincinnatisymphony.org/about/artistic-leadership.

©Alex Johnson

©Mark Lyons

SAT NOV 30, 7:30 PM

SUN DEC 1, 2 PM Music Hall

DISNEY IN CONCERT: HOCUS POCUS | 2025–26 SEASON

SAT NOV 1, 7:30 PM | SUN NOV 2, 2 PM Music Hall

JASON SEBER conductor

There will be one intermission.

In Concert Live to Film

Starring Bette Midler

Sarah Jessica Parker

Kathy Najimy

Directed by Kenny Ortega

Produced by David Kirschner

Steven Haft

Screenplay by Mick Garris

Neil Cuthbert

Story by David Kirschner

Mick Garris

Executive Producer

Ralph Winter

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Presenter PNC.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert

Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation, the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

The CSO in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust.

Score by John Debney

Additional Music by James Horner

Brock Walsh

“I Put a Spell on You”

Music and Lyrics by Jay Hawkins

Arranged by Marc Shaiman

Musical Arrangements by Marc Shaiman

Choreography

Peggy Holmes

Kenny Ortega

Prints by TECHNICOLOR®

Walt Disney Pictures

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack available at Disneymusicemporium.com.

PRESENTATION LICENSED BY

This film is rated “PG”

Tonight’s performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 39 minutes with a 20-minute intermission. The performance is a presentation of the complete film Hocus Pocus with a live performance of the film’s entire score. Out of respect for the musicians and your fellow audience members, please remain seated until the conclusion of the end credits.

Johannes Brahms

YO-YO MA PLAYS ELGAR | 2025–26 SEASON

TUE NOV 4, 7:30 PM

Music Hall

Cristian Măcelaru conductor Yo-Yo Ma cello

Tragische Ouvertüre (“Tragic Overture”), Op. 81 (1833–1897)

Edward Elgar

Concerto in E Minor for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 85 (1857–1934)

Adagio — Moderato

Lento — Allegro molto

Adagio — Lento

Allegro

George Enescu

Romanian Rhapsody in A Major, Op. 11, No. 1* (1881–1955)

*New edition, corrected on the original manuscripts, edited by Stefan Diaconu, provided by Musica Coloris Edition.

This performance is approximately 60 minutes long. There is no intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group and Encore Sponsor Messer Construction.

The CSO in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

with Cristian Măcelaru, Music Director

Cristian Măcelaru first performed with Yo-Yo Ma a few years ago, at Tanglewood. After their first rehearsal with the orchestra, Măcelaru heard a knock at the door connecting his and Ma’s dressing rooms. Sure enough, Ma himself snuck in and beelined for Măcelaru. “I want to understand who you are, and where you’re coming from,” the cellist told him.

A musical answer comes in the form of George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 — a tribute to Măcelaru’s homeland and to the composer who made its sounds known around the world. (For more on Măcelaru and Enescu, see “In Search of George Enescu,” on pp. 9–13.)

Why this rhapsody specifically? According to Măcelaru, it references a lot of Romanian tradition — dances, rhythms — in a short amount of time. “It’s basically a 11-minute folk piece,” he says, albeit one “that is highly sophisticated and incredibly virtuosic for everyone in the orchestra.” Programming it on a concert that also features Ma “is my gift back to him,” Măcelaru says.

Măcelaru paired the Rhapsody with Elgar’s Cello Concerto, the same piece he and Ma performed together at Tanglewood. The concerto is solidly in Ma’s wheelhouse, of course, but Măcelaru also thinks of it as “the most tragic” of Elgar’s works. “You know, this was a composition written after the war,” he says. “This concerto brings back so many thoughts about human suffering, and the fragility of the human spirit.”

He sees Brahms’ Tragic Overture in the same vein. All that solemnity might seem odd for a gala concert. Măcelaru sees it differently. “What I would say is that neither the Elgar nor the Brahms speaks of the tragedy aspect,” he says. “[They] speak of the sensitivity that is a result of something truly traumatic in one’s life …. There’s an intimacy that it would be beautiful for the audience to be part of.”

—Hannah Edgar

To view the Digital Program for exclusive content, such as full-length program notes and artist biographies, please text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*, use your mobile device to scan the QR code or visit cincinnatisymphony.org/digitalprogram.

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©Alex Johnson

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Cristian Măcelaru, conductor

A complete biography for Music Director Cristian Măcelaru can be found on p. 23.

Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works for cello, bringing communities together to explore culture’s role in society or engaging unexpected musical forms, Ma strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

Most recently, Ma began Our Common Nature, a cultural journey to celebrate the ways that nature can reunite us in pursuit of a shared future. Our Common Nature follows the Bach Project, a 36-community, six-continent tour of J.S. Bach’s cello suites paired with local cultural programming. Both endeavors reflect Ma’s lifelong commitment to stretching the boundaries of genre and tradition to understand how music helps us to imagine and build a stronger society.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, where he began studying the cello with his father at age four. When he was seven, he moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies before pursuing a liberal arts education.

Ma has recorded more than 120 albums, is the winner of 19 Grammy Awards and has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Biden’s inauguration. He has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of the Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Birgit Nilsson Prize. He has been a UN Messenger of Peace since 2006 and was recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. yo-yoma.com

PROGRAM NOTES

Johannes Brahms: Tragische Ouvertüre (“Tragic Overture”), Op. 81

 Composed: 1880

 Premiere: December 26, 1880, in Vienna, Hans Richter conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra

 Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: January 1913, Ernst Kunwald conducting. Most Recent: March 2011, Louis Langrée conducting.

 Duration: approx. 13 minutes

Brahms composed his one-movement Tragic Overture in 1880, around the same time he was working on his Academic Festival Overture, which he wrote in gratitude for an honorary doctorate from the University of Breslau. He often wrote pairs of works in which one work complemented or contrasted with the other. In this case, the Tragic Overture is somber and intense while the Academic Festival Overture is witty and jubilant. Brahms himself remarked to a friend, “One weeps while the other laughs.”

The official premiere of the Tragic Overture took place in December 1880 in Vienna, with Hans Richter, a loyal supporter and friend of Brahms’, conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra. Less than a year later, in October 1881, the work received its American premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under George Henschel, another friend of Brahms’ and the orchestra’s founding conductor. American conductors quickly took up the work, with Theodore Thomas leading performances in New York the next month and then, for the 1882 May Festival, in Cincinnati. Brahms’ contemporaries and 20th-century commentators offered a variety of interpretations of the Tragic Overture’s meaning. Hermann Deiters, a music critic and friend of Brahms’, heard it as depicting “a strong hero battling with an iron and relentless fate; passing hopes of victory cannot alter an impending destiny.” Donald Frances Tovey, another associate of the composer’s, proffered a similar reading, describing the overture as expressing “human defiance against a dark destiny.”

Born: May 7, 1833, Hamburg, Germany

Died: April 3, 1897, Vienna, Austria

©Jason Bell

Born: June 2, 1857, Broadheath, U.K. Died: February 23, 1934, Worcester, U.K.

Much of the work’s psychological battle is conveyed through contrasts: loud, forceful passages, played by the full orchestra alternate with quieter, lyrical, almost peaceful interludes often performed by the strings and solo winds. Whereas other turbulent works, such as Brahms’ First Symphony, end triumphantly, the Tragic Overture concludes with a loud, defiant return to the unresolved tensions of its opening.

—©Heather Platt, Sursa Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts, Ball State University

Edward Elgar: Concerto in E Minor for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 85

 Composed: 1918

 Premiere: October 27, 1919, London, Edward Elgar conducting the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, Felix Salmond, cello

 Instrumentation: solo cello, 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: November 1970, Erich Kunzel conducting; Jacqueline du Pré, cello. Most Recent: March 2022, David Danzmayr conducting; Alban Gerhardt, cello.

 Duration: approx. 30 minutes

In May 1917, Sir Edward Elgar and his wife, Alice, rented an unpretentious thatched-roof cottage called “Brinkwells” in an isolated part of West Sussex, very close to the English Channel. The relocation was partly out of economic necessity — World War I had a devastating effect on musical life and, therefore, on Elgar’s income — and partly due to the composer’s depression and poor health. Staying at Brinkwells from May to October reinvigorated Elgar’s creative powers. Returning in 1918 and 1919, Elgar sketched, composed and virtually completed three major chamber music scores and, in 1919, his Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85. The war was still eerily present, however: as he was writing the Cello Concerto in 1918, Elgar could hear echoes of the final titanic battles wafting across the channel from northern France.

The concerto’s premiere was a shambles. The soloist, Felix Salmond, lost his nerve during the performance. Furthermore, Albert Coates, the conductor with whom Elgar shared the program, had monopolized the rehearsal time, leaving the concerto woefully under-rehearsed. Many music critics dismissed the work as old-fashioned. However, the charismatic cellist Beatrice Harrison championed the concerto; she recorded it twice with the composer conducting, and her insightful interpretations revealed the work’s true stature.

The audience at the premiere may have been puzzled by the concerto’s innovative formal design. Unlike most cello concertos, this score is concise, almost terse; the orchestral timbre is subdued; and the mood is autumnal. After the soloist proclaims a dramatic double-stopped recitative, the first movement begins wistfully, the music rising and falling in waves of emotion. The quicksilver scherzo that follows without a break demands complete technical control from the soloist. The slow movement, marked adagio, is a heartrending “song without words.” Although the finale begins with a swaggering theme, the music gradually loses confidence as it progresses and dissolves into a poignant lament. After a return of the soloist’s majestic recitative from the concerto’s opening, a precipitous coda hurtles to a brusque final cadence.

—©Byron Adams, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Musicology, University of California, Riverside

George Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody in A Major, Op. 11, No. 1

 Composed: 1901

 Premiere: March 8, 1903 in Bucharest, conducted by the composer

 Instrumentation: 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, crash cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbals, triangle, 2 harps, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: December 1912, Ernst Kunwald conducting. Most Recent: February 1957, Thor Johnson conducting, as well as on several Parks, Riverbend and Pops concerts since then. Notable: April 1948, George Enescu conducting; in 1988, the Cincinnati Pops recorded the work for its 1988 release, Symphonic Spectacular, Erich Kunzel conducting.

 Duration: approx. 11 minutes

George Enescu, Romania’s greatest composer, was one of the most prodigiously gifted musicians of the 20th century. He began playing violin at age four, wrote his first compositions a year later and was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory when he was seven. He was already an accomplished violinist and composer by the time he moved to Paris, at age 14, to continue his studies with Massenet and Fauré. The first concert of his works was given in Paris in 1897; the next year he introduced the Poème roumain, which he counted as his Op. 1.

During the years before World War I, Enescu’s career as violin soloist and chamber musician flourished, he was much in demand as a conductor, and his compositions, especially the two Romanian Rhapsodies of 1901, carried his name into the world’s concert halls.

Enescu’s music shows a broad range of influences — alongside native folksong stand echoes of Wagner, Brahms, Strauss, Fauré, Debussy, Bach, Bartók and Stravinsky. His Romanian Rhapsodies are modeled in form and style on Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies. Based on indigenous tunes, the Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 is a work of high spirits and good cheer. The themes are presented episodically with little development. The first melody, a traditional drinking song with the straightforward title “I have a coin and I want a drink,” is a perky ditty given by the clarinet and woodwinds. It is taken up by the strings and leads to the second theme, a slow dance in 6/8 meter with a sweeping figure in its first measure. This motive is succeeded by a languid phrase initiated by the violins. The slow dance, led this time by the solo viola, and the languid phrase return before a ponderous theme with an East Asian tinge is introduced. The last half of the work is a brilliant display of flashing orchestral sonority and leaping rhythmic vivacity.

—©Dr. Richard E. Rodda

Born: August 19, 1881 in Liveni-Virnav, Romania

Died: May 4, 1955 in Paris

Credit: From the collection at the George Enescu National Museum

THE BELLS & SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE | 2025–26 SEASON

SAT NOV 8, 7:30 PM | SUN NOV 9, 2 PM

Music Hall

Matthias Pintscher conductor

Andriana Chuchman soprano

Garrett Sorenson tenor

Joshua Hopkins baritone

May Festival Chorus Matthew Swanson, director

Sergei Rachmanino

The Bells, Op. 35 (1873–1943)

The Silver Sleigh Bells: Allegro, ma non tanto

The Golden Wedding Bells: Lento

The Loud Alarum Bells: Presto

The Mournful Iron Bells: Lento lugubre

INTERMISSION

Hector Berlioz

Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14a (1803–1869)

Reveries, Passions

A Ball Scene in the Country

March to the Sca old Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath

These performances are approximately 120 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group.

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson

WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts. This concert will air on 90.9 WGUC on January 18, 2026, followed by 30 days of streaming at cincinnatisymphony.org/replay.

The CSO in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust.

n CONDUCTOR AND SOLOISTS

Matthias Pintscher, conductor & CSO Creative Partner

Matthias Pintscher is the newly appointed music director of the Kansas City Symphony as of the 2024–25 season. He launched his tenure with a highly successful tour with the orchestra to Europe, just before opening the season in Kansas City, with concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

Highlights of the 2025–26 season include the world premiere of Pintscher’s new opera Das kalte Herz by the Berlin State Opera; Pintscher will conduct the January premiere and the March reprise performance, in a French version titled Nuit sans aube, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. He also returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra and is in his sixth year as Creative Partner for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Pintscher was formerly music director of the Ensemble intercontemporain and has held several titled positions, including nine seasons as BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s artist-in-association, principal conductor of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, music director for the 2020 Ojai Festival and season creative chair with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

Pintscher is also well known as a composer. His music is championed by some of today’s finest performing artists, orchestras and conductors, and has been performed by the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris, among many others. He has been on the composition faculty at The Juilliard School since 2014.

Matthias Pintscher is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes, and recordings of his works can be found on Kairos, EMI, Teldec, Wergo and Winter & Winter. matthiaspintscher.com

Andriana Chuchman, soprano

This season, soprano Andriana Chuchman makes her debut at Pacific Opera Victoria in Orfeo ed Euridice and appears in concert with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony She has appeared with many prestigious opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Tour, Salzburg Whitsun Festival and the Hamburg State Opera. In her native Canada, she has appeared with the Canadian Opera Company, Manitoba Opera and Edmonton Opera. Born in Winnipeg, Chuchman received her bachelor’s degree in Voice Performance from the School of Music at the University of Manitoba. She is also an alumna of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. andrianachuchman.com

*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.

©Chia Messina

Garrett Sorenson, tenor Grammy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated American tenor Garrett Sorenson has been praised as an artist of unique interest, acclaimed for the beauty and power of his rich lyric voice.

In the 2025–26 season, Sorenson joins the Grand Rapids Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, conducted by Marcelo Lehninger, and performs Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with both the Kansas City Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Matthias Pintscher.

Recent highlights include his return to San Francisco Opera as Steve Wozniak in Mason Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs — a role he created at Santa Fe Opera in 2017 and later recorded for the 2019 release, which won the Best Opera Recording Grammy. He has also appeared with Artis–Naples in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, performed Handel’s Messiah and Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero, reprised Wozniak at Seattle Opera, returned to Kentucky Opera as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos and sang Faust in the world premiere of The Beyond with Louisville Ballet.

At the Metropolitan Opera, Sorenson has performed Laca in Jenůfa, Matteo in Arabella, Cassio in Otello under James Levine, and numerous additional roles including Itulbo in Il pirata, Da-ud in Die Ägyptische Helena and Alfred in Die Fledermaus. On the concert stage, he has appeared with major orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León.

A graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Sorenson is the recipient of a Richard Tucker Career Grant and resides in Kentucky with his wife, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Batton, and their two children. imgartists.com/ roster/garrett-sorenson

Joshua Hopkins, baritone

In the 2025–26 season, Joshua Hopkins, a JUNO Award-winning and Grammynominated Canadian baritone, returns to two of his most acclaimed operatic roles: Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at both The Metropolitan Opera and Semperoper Dresden and Rossini’s Figaro at San Francisco Opera. His busy concert season includes several works that are new to the artist; he sings Rachmaninoff’s The Bells under Matthias Pintscher with both the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony, debuts with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast in Bucharest and returns to the San Francisco Symphony with longtime collaborator Bernard Labadie in Bach’s Easter Oratorio. He also returns to the Colorado Symphony in Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem and Haydn’s Mass in Time of War.

Hopkins brings his most personal project, Songs for Murdered Sisters, to two new venues this season, performing the song cycle with the Victoria Symphony in British Columbia and the University of Michigan’s Philharmonia Orchestra in Ann Arbor. Written by composer Jake Heggie and author Margaret Atwood, Songs for Murdered Sisters was conceived by Hopkins in remembrance of his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, to bring awareness to ending intimate partner violence. The critically acclaimed film, directed by James Niebuhr, is available to watch on YouTube, and the JUNO-nominated digital album, released on the Pentatone label, is available on all streaming platforms joshuahopkins.com

©Clinton Brandhagen

©Simon Pauly

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS

MATTHEW SWANSON, Director of Choruses

Jason Alexander Holmes, Associate Director of Choruses & Youth Chorus Director

Heather MacPhail, Accompanist

Max Trombley, Conducting Fellow

Jennelle John-Lewis, Chorus Operations Manager

Kathleen Moran, Chorus Librarian

The May Festival Chorus has earned national and international acclaim for its musicality and command of repertoire. Consisting of 145 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 and Cincinnati Pops. The premier choral ensemble in Cincinnati, the May Festival Chorus has garnered national and international attention through numerous PBS broadcasts and award-winning recordings, many in collaboration with the CSO and Pops. Most recently, a live recording of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses featuring Music Director Laureate James Conlon conducting the Chorus and CSO at Carnegie Hall was released to critical acclaim in 2016 on Bridge Records, and, in 2017, the Chorus re-released its popular a cappella holiday recording Christmas with the May Festival Chorus on the Fanfare Cincinnati label. The Chorus is also featured on several Pops recordings, which have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. mayfestival.com/chorus

MATTHEW SWANSON, Director of Choruses

Matthew Swanson is Director of Choruses for the Cincinnati May Festival. He is the artistic head of the May Festival’s choral ensembles — the May Festival Chorus, May Festival Chamber Choir, May Festival Youth Chorus and Cincinnati Boychoir — and collaborates with the annually appointed Festival Director to craft programming for the May Festival. He conducts and prepares the May Festival Chorus — the core artistic element of the Cincinnati May Festival and the official Chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra — for their performances at historic Music Hall and beyond. As Director of Choruses, he also leads the May Festival Conducting Fellowship, a collaboration of the May Festival and the Choral Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music (CCM).

Beyond Cincinnati, Swanson has been affiliated with the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Swedish Radio Choir and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He taught on the faculties of CCM and Xavier University and is frequently engaged as a presenter of lectures, concerts and broadcasts.

A native of southeast Iowa, Swanson 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. Prior to his fellowship appointment, he began singing with the May Festival Chorus in 2012 and worked in the CSO and May Festival box office from 2014 to 2015. He was the Associate Director of Choruses and Youth Chorus Director for the May Festival 2018–2024.

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

THE MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS

Caitlin Ahmann-Miller*

Hannah Bachmann

Tracy Bailey*

Cassandra Bailey-Langjahr*

Avery Bargasse*

Mark Barnes

Deborah Barnett*

Jim Baxter

Ronny Beck

Emily Benoit

Mariah Berryman*

Nathan Bettenhausen*

Kenny Bierschenk

Jennifer Blair

Laurel Boisclair Ellsworth

David Bower*

Andrew L. Bowers

Scott Brody

Douglas J. Bruestle

Dawn Bruestle*

Darren Bryant

Sage Bushstone

Christopher Canarie*

Miriam Cantwell

Timothy Carnahan

Sophia Choi

Renee Cifuentes

Alexis Cook

Emily Cotten

Julie Cowger

Rachel Curran

Charles Daston

Steven L. Dauterman*

Grace Devoid*

Kathy Dietrich

Jennifer Dobson

Brian Donaldson

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

Bethany Dorsel*

David Dugan

Donna Dunlap

Douglas Easterling*

Sarah Fall

Jonathan Fissel

Lindsey Fitch

Benjamin Flanders*

Joy France

Steve France*

Amanda Gast

Ella Giesler

David Gillespie

Joelle Graham

Anita Marie Greer*

Bella Gullia

Peter Guthrie

Grace Guthrie

Melissa Haas

Emma Hage

Sally Vickery Harper

Mary Wynn Haupt*

Carolyn Hill

Caleb Hixon

Grace Ho

Mark Hockenberry*

Jason Alexander Holmes*

Kim P Icsman*

Spence B. Ingerson

Karolyn L. Johnsen

Mark Johnston

Lauren Kerber

Alexandra Kesman

Erin Kie er

Jenifer Klostermeier

Andrew Kneer

Fansheng Kong

Takuya Konishi

Lisa Koressel

Judith C. LaChance

Hilary Landwehr*

Audrey Lanier

Julie Laskey

Jim Laskey

Emma Lawrence*

Megan Lawson*

Kevin Leahy*

Matthew Leonard*

Jennifer Leone*

Scott Lincoln*

Robert Lomax

Katherine Loomis

Alexx Lujan

Julia Marchese

Noelle Marousis

Melissa A. Martin

David Martin

Teri McKibben

John McKibben

Margaret Meece

Andrew Miller*

Jennifer Moak*

James Murray

H. Scott Nesbitt*

Scott C. Osgood

Mary Patton

Alison Peeno

Amy M. Perry*

Caitlin Powell

James V. Racster

Jason Ramler

Regina Rancourt*

Audrey Ray

Kristi C. Reed

Suzette Reid

Brian Reilly*

Larry Reiring*

Beth Roberts*

Christy Roediger

Lily Rollison

Hannah Schafer-Reese

Julia H. Schieve

Ann Schwentker

Karen Scott-Vosseberg

Molly Scruta

A.J. Seifert*

Adam Shoa

Emily Stevenson

Katherine Sullivan

Nikki Tayidi

Katie Tesmond

Maxwell Trombley*

Joshua Wallace

Megan Weaver*

Mark Weaver

Gary Wendt

Paul Wessendarp

Tommy Wessendarp

Stephen West

Robin Rae Wiley

Patricia Wilkens

Nathaniel Wilkens*

Taraneh R. Wilkinson

Lynnsey Williams

Evan Young

Meg Zeller

Olivia Zimmerman

*Chamber Choir for Messiah, Dec. 5–6

n PROGRAM NOTES

Sergei Rachmaninoff: The Bells, Op. 35

 Composed: 1913

 Premiere: November 13, 1913, in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer

 Instrumentation: SATB chorus and STB soloists, 3 flutes, piccolo, 3 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, chimes, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambour de Basque, triangle, harp, celeste, pianino, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: February 1974, Erich Kunzel conducting; soloists Patricia Wise, Seth McCoy and John Reardon; Miami University Choraliers, Miami University Men’s Glee Club, Northern Kentucky State College Concert Choir, Northern Kentucky Chamber Singers, Highlands High School Senior Chorus Ensemble. Most Recent: February 2016, Giancarlo Guerrero conducting; soloists Angela Meade, Garrett Sorenson and Hugh Russell; May Festival Chorus.

 Duration: approx. 35 minutes

Within five years of the spectacular premiere of his Second Piano Concerto in 1901, Sergei Rachmaninoff had become the most popular musician in Russia and probably the busiest — invitations for him to share his prodigious talents as pianist, composer and conductor poured in from across the country and around the world. His many performances severely restricted his time for creative work, however.

Early in 1906, frustrated with his lack of time to compose, he quit his post as opera conductor at the Moscow Imperial Grand Theater and tried (unsuccessfully) to live incognito in Dresden while writing his Second Symphony. It was for a similar reason six years later that he packed up his family and his manuscript paper, left Moscow on December 5, 1912, and headed for an extended working holiday in Switzerland and Italy.

By early 1913, Rachmaninoff had been piecing together ideas for a new symphony since the previous summer, and he planned to realize the work during his stay in Italy. He continued the story in his memoirs:

In Rome, I was able to take the same flat on the Piazza di Spagna that Modest Tchaikovsky had used for a long time and which had served his brother as a temporary retreat from his numerous friends. ... Here I worked on my Second Piano Sonata and the Choral Symphony, The Bells. … The work had an unusual source. During the previous summer I had sketched a plan for a symphony, and then one day I received an anonymous letter begging me to read Balmont’s wonderful translation of Poe’s poem, saying that the verses were ideal for music and that they should particularly appeal to me. I read the enclosed poem and decided at once to use it for a Choral Symphony in four movements.

The unsigned letter, Rachmaninoff learned only after he had introduced The Bells to Moscow in February 1914, was from one Maria Danilova, a cello student of his friend Mikhail Bukinik at the Moscow Conservatory. After hearing the performance, Miss Danilova could no longer contain the secret that it was she who had been the catalyst for Rachmaninoff’s new work, and she revealed everything to Bukinik, even that she had nearly fainted from excitement during the concert.

Rachmaninoff declared The Bells to be his favorite among his compositions, probably as much for the emotional resonances of its subject as for the quality of its musical setting. He recalled:

The sound of church bells dominated all the cities of the Russia I used to know — Novgorod, Kiev, Moscow. They accompanied every Russian from childhood to the grave, and no composer could escape their influence. … All my life, I have taken pleasure in the differing moods and music of gladly chiming and mournfully tolling bells. This love for bells is inherent in every Russian.

It is little wonder that a work so evocative for Russian audiences as The Bells enjoyed excellent success at its November 1913 premiere; the listeners at the first Moscow performance the following February decorated the rafters and balconies with paper bells in anticipation of the event, and they showered the composer with flowers and laurel wreaths when it was over.

—©Dr. Richard E. Rodda

Born: April 1, 1873, Oneg (near Novgorod), Russia Died: March 28, 1943, Beverly Hills, California

Born: December 11, 1803, La Côte-SaintAndré, France

Died: March 8, 1869, Paris, France

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14a

 Composed: 1830

 Premiere: December 5, 1830, at the Paris Conservatoire

 Instrumentation: 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes (incl. English horn), 2 clarinets (incl. E-flat clarinet), 4 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 timpani, 2 bass drums, bells, crash cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbals, 4 harps, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: March 1897, Frank Van der Stucken conducting. Most Recent: March 2022, Louis Langrée conducting.

 Duration: approx. 55 minutes

Berlioz had few compositional models when he began work on the Symphonie fantastique, so he turned inward for inspiration, drawing on his own life, loves and slim compositional portfolio. The earliest material to make its way into the work can be traced to around 1815, when the 12-year-old Berlioz, madly in love with the 18-year-old Estelle Duboeuf, penned an angsty song whose vocal line shaped the “sigh” motives of the violins heard in the opening of the first movement. The relationship — if there even was one — went nowhere, but Berlioz would continue to find creative muses throughout his life, including English actress Harriet Smithson. Berlioz first saw Smithson on the stage of the Paris Odéon in 1827, where she played Ophelia, and he excitedly returned four days later to see her as Juliet. He later noted in his Mémoirs that he was, “[by] the third act, scarcely able to breathe — it was as though an iron hand gripped me by the heart — I knew I was lost.” With Smithson completely unaware of Berlioz’s affections (they would not meet until 1832), the Symphonie fantastique thus became a vessel for the composer’s pent-up longing. Indeed, it is no coincidence that the program describes “a young musician, afflicted with that moral disease that a well-known writer [Berlioz was referencing François-René de Chateaubriand] calls the vague des passions,” who falls for an unattainable, ideal woman.

Berlioz’s deep love of literature and the theatre enabled his serendipitous encounter with Smithson, but it also provided important material for many of the “events” that make up the plot of the Symphonie fantastique. As did Part I of Goethe’s Faust, which had appeared in a celebrated French translation by Gérard de Nerval in 1827 that Berlioz admitted he read “incessantly, at meals, at the theatre, in the street, wherever I happened to be.” Berlioz’s Eight Scenes from Faust, for voice and piano, was his first compositional response to Goethe’s play; the fifth movement of the Symphonie fantastique, partially inspired by the play’s Walpurgis Night scene, would be his most celebrated. Berlioz was also likely inspired by Victor Hugo, who was actively challenging the classical orthodoxy of French theatre in works like Cromwell (1827) and Hernani (1830).

Beyond literary luminaries like Shakespeare, Goethe and Hugo, Berlioz also drew on his early schooling in medicine and a general interest in academic psychology and Romantic fantasy, including Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821–22), which explored drug-induced dreams, fantasies and other workings of the human mind.

Notably, the version of the Symphonie fantastique that premiered in 1830 no longer exists. Its full score did not appear in print until 1845, by which time Berlioz had altered the work in ways big and small. The third movement, which Berlioz reported “made no impression at all” at the first performance, was probably the first significant part to undergo revision, followed by the second. By the time the Symphonie fantastique was next heard, on December 9, 1832, again at the hall of the Conservatoire, the first and fifth movements had also been revised, in part to better align the work with its wild “sequel,” Le retour à la vie. Berlioz’s artistic vision evolved over the decade, and he continued to tweak the symphony’s shapes and sounds well into his foreign tours of the early 1840s.

— ©Jonathan Kregor, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

THANK YOU

JEFFREY & JODY LAZAROW and JANIE & PETER

SCHWARTZ FAMILY FUND

Leadership Sponsor

NAS: ILLMATIC LIVE | 2025–26 SEASON

WED NOV 12, 7:30 PM | THU NOV 13, 7:30 PM Music Hall

NAS

STUART CHAFETZ conductor

Thirty years after Illmatic’s critically acclaimed release, Grammy-winning hip-hop legend Nas performs the iconic album in its entirety — plus additional tracks from his illustrious career — with the Cincinnati Pops! Released in 1994, Illmatic is the groundbreaking debut from Nas and has long been considered one of the greatest hip-hop records of all time, with hits including “N.Y. State of Mind,” “The World is Yours,” “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in Da Park),” and “It Ain’t Hard to Tell.”

There will be one 20-minute intermission.

Please do not record the concert.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Presenter PNC, Leadership Sponsor The Lazarow Schwartz Family Fund, Presenting Sponsor BlaCkOWned™ and Supporter Sponsor The Voice of Your Customer.

The CSO in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust.

The Lazarow Schwartz Family Fund

PROUD SPONSOR OF THE LOLLIPOPS FAMILY CONCERT SERIES

LOLLIPOPS FAMILY CONCERT: Let’s Dance! | 2025–26 SEASON

SAT NOV 15, 10:30 AM | SAT NOV 15, 2 PM Music Hall

ALEX AMSEL conductor

CIARA HARPER vocalist

CITY GOSPEL MISSION’S PRINCESSES BALLET

McGING IRISH DANCERS

QKIDZ DANCERS

“Nimble Feet” from Dances in the Canebrakes

Florence Price

La cumparsita Gerardo Matos Rodriguez

FInale from the Suite from The Firebird

Igor Stravinsky

“Simple Gifts” from Lord of the Dance Traditional Electric Boogie (The Electric Slide)

Neville Livingston

Happy Pharrell Williams

Shut Up and Dance

Walk the Moon

The Cincinnati Pops is grateful to Series Sponsor UDF & Homemade Brand Ice Cream

Lollipops Family Concerts are supported in part through the George & Anne Heldman Endowment Fund and the Vicki & Rick Reynolds Endowment Fund

LOUIS CONDUCTS PETRUSHKA | 2025–26 SEASON

FRI NOV 21, 7:30 PM | SAT NOV 22, 7:30 PM Music Hall

LOUIS LANGRÉE conductor

DWIGHT PARRY oboe

CHRISTOPHER PELL clarinet

CHRISTOPHER SALES bassoon

ELIZABETH FREIMUTH horn

Jennifer Higdon blue cathedral (b. 1962)

Wolfgang Amadeus Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major for Oboe, Clarinet, Mozart Bassoon, Horn and Orchestra, K. 297b (1756–1791)

Allegro

Adagio

Andantino con variationi

Igor Stravinsky Petrushka (1882–1971)

INTERMISSION

The Shrove-Tide Fair; The Magic Trick; Russian Dance Petrushka’s Room

The Moor’s Room; Dance of the Ballerina

The Shrove-Tide Fair (Towards Evening)

These performances are approximately 110 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group and Fort Washington Investment Advisors

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation, the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson. WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts. This concert will air on 90.9 WGUC on January 25, 2026, followed by 30 days of streaming at cincinnatisymphony.org/replay.

The CSO in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Louis Langrée, conductor and CSO Music Director Laureate French conductor Louis Langrée was named director of the Théâtre national de l’Opéra Comique in November 2021 by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. Following a successful 10 years as Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Langrée was appointed Music Director Laureate through the 2027–28 season.

In the 2025–26 season, Langrée makes debuts with the Kansas City Symphony and Barcelona Symphony and returns to the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, for his first performances as Music Director Laureate. On the operatic stage, Langrée leads productions of Così fan tutte with the Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna and Monte Carlo.

A regular presence in New York since his 1998 debut, Langrée has conducted around 250 performances and concerts at Lincoln Center, Mostly Mozart Festival, Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic. Guest conductor appearances include the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris and Leipzig Gewandhaus, as well as Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Freiburg Baroque and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In addition to the Met, he frequently conducts at the leading opera houses and at festivals including Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence, BBC Proms, Edinburgh International, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Salzburg Mozartwoche and Whitsun.

An advocate for the music of our time, Langrée has conducted world premieres by Daníel Bjarnason, Julia Adolphe, Guillaume Connesson, Anna Clyne, Jonathan Bailey Holland, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Nico Muhly, André Previn, Caroline Shaw and Christopher Rouse.

Among his recent recordings, the DVD of Thomas’ Hamlet, filmed at the Opéra Comique in Paris with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, won the Best Recording of the Year award at the International Opera Awards, Best Video Performance at the International Classical Music Awards, the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros, Caecilia Prize and Diapason d’Or of the Year. His two last CDs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra were both nominated for “Best Orchestral Performance” Grammy Awards.

A native of Alsace, France, Langrée is an Honorary Member of the Confrérie Saint-Étienne d’Alsace, an Alsatian winemakers’ brotherhood dating back to the 14th century. He is a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and an Officier des Arts et des Lettres. askonasholt.com/artist/louis-langree

Dwight Parry, oboe

Dwight Parry is Principal Oboe of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Chair) and assistant professor of oboe at Bowling Green State University. He also teaches chamber music at the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music.

Guest appearances include the New World Symphony and universities such as University of Michigan, Indiana University, CCM, Cleveland Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Southern California and Juilliard.

Parry is a versatile and passionate soloist, an avid chamber musician and an advocate for new music. A background in jazz led Parry to pursue a career that spans from concert halls to the streets of New Orleans, where he has improvised with Dixie bands. In May 2022, Parry premiered an oboe concerto, Les belles heures, by Guillaume Connesson, which was written for him and co-commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He was then featured in the same piece with the Springfield (MO) Symphony and, in July 2025, with the Stellenbosch Festival Orchestra in South Africa (the work’s African premiere). Parry

NOTE: To read more about Louis’ return to the CSO, visit the digital program at bit.ly/ Louis-Returns, or scan the QR code below.

©Roger Mastroianni

©Chris Lee

subsequently gave the U.S. premiere of Carl Vine’s Oboe Concerto with the Ohio Valley Symphony. In May 2025, he performed the Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Jakarta Symphony Orchestra.

Parry was formerly principal oboist of the San Diego Symphony and a Fellow with the New World Symphony. He has appeared as guest principal oboist with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony, Deutsche Symphonie of Berlin and Korean Broadcasting Symphony.

Originally from Southern California, Parry found his passion for music early on through piano, voice and saxophone. In high school, he took up the oboe and decided to make a life in music. He went on to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at the University of Southern California.

Dwight Parry is a Lorée artist.

Christopher Pell, clarinet

Christopher Pell is Principal Clarinet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Emma Margaret & Irving D. Goldman Chair), second clarinetist of the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and the former principal clarinetist of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Pell has performed with the Toronto Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Knights, Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería (Mexico City), Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra and American Ballet Theatre. He has appeared as a soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Ohio Valley Symphony, Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, U.S. Army Band at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and the Long Island Sound Symphony. He has also won first prize in the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition.

As a chamber musician, Pell often performs with the Linton Chamber Music Series and has performed with concert:nova, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Twickenham Fest, Lyrica Baroque, Orlando Chamber Soloists, Luzerne Chamber Music Festival, NOLA 360 and the Lake George Music Festival.

Pell teaches at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. He has also taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp and the University of New Orleans. He has given recitals and masterclasses at Miami University (OH), University of South Carolina and the University of Kentucky.

Christopher Pell graduated from The Juilliard School in 2013 and has twice been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. He is a performing artist for Vandoren and is also a board member for Lyrica Baroque.

Elizabeth Freimuth, horn

Elizabeth Freimuth, currently on a leave of absence from her position as Principal Horn with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, is Professor of Horn at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Before joining the CSO in 2006, Freimuth was principal horn of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, principal horn of the Kansas City Symphony and assistant principal/utility horn of the Colorado Symphony.

Freimuth has performed as featured soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Butler County Symphony (PA), Johnson City Symphony Orchestra (TN), Overland Park Symphony (KS) and the Lakewood Symphony (CO). She has also performed as guest principal horn with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, KBS Symphony (Korea), Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony. She has been a featured artist at international horn symposiums at Ball State University and the University of Memphis, as well as for the International Women’s Brass Conference at the University of Northern Kentucky.

©Roger Mastroianni

Freimuth has also served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and she previously was the horn teacher at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She has also given numerous masterclasses and taken on several guest teaching engagements throughout the U.S. and in Beijing.

During the summer, Freimuth plays at the Sun Valley Music Festival, and, since 2015, she has been a principal horn and teaching faculty member at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. Since 2019, she has co-hosted a summer horn intensive at the Eastman School of Music.

Freimuth is a graduate and recipient of the coveted Performer’s Certificate of the Eastman School of Music (B.M. Horn Performance and B.M. Instrumental Music Education). She is also a graduate of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music (M.M.).

Christopher Sales, bassoon

Christopher Sales is Principal Bassoon of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Emalee Schavel Chair). He has also held principal bassoon positions with the Calgary Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony and Jacksonville Symphony orchestras.

As a soloist, Sales has showcased his virtuosity in concerto performances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, as well as the Aspen and Eastern music festivals. Sales has played with many other institutions over the years, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Bellingham (WA) Festival of Music, among others. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Sales has played countless masterclasses and solo recitals across North America in venues such as the Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, the Glenn Gould School and The Juilliard School, among others. He has participated in a number of recording sessions and livestreams with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

PROGRAM NOTES

Jennifer Higdon: blue cathedral

 Composed: 2000

 Premiere: 2000, Curtis Institute of Music

 Instrumentation: 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, bell tree, chimes, crotales, glockenspiel, marimba, sizzle cymbal, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tomtom, triangles, vibraphone, harp, celeste, piano, strings (various orchestra members double on crystal glasses (horns, trombones, tuba) and Chinese bells (strings)

 CSO notable performances: These are the first CSO performances of blue cathedral

 Duration: approx. 11 minutes

Jennifer Higdon is one of America’s most acclaimed figures in contemporary classical music, receiving the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, a 2010 Grammy for her Percussion Concerto, a 2018 Grammy for her Viola Concerto and a 2020 Grammy for her Harp Concerto. Higdon’s first opera, Cold Mountain, won the International Opera Award for Best World Premiere and the opera recording was nominated for two Grammy Awards.

In 2018, Higdon received the prestigious Nemmers Prize, awarded to contemporary classical composers of exceptional achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition. Most recently, she was inducted into the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Higdon enjoys several hundred performances a year of her works, and blue cathedral is today’s most performed contemporary orchestral work, with more than 850 performances worldwide. Her works have been recorded on more than 70 CDs. Her music is published exclusively by Lawdon Press.

Born: 1962, Brooklyn, New York

Born: January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria

Died: December 5, 1791, in Vienna, Austria

Higdon describes blue cathedral as follows:

Blue … like the sky. Where all possibilities soar. Cathedrals … a place of thought, growth, spiritual expression … serving as a symbolic doorway into and out of this world. Blue represents all potential and the progression of journeys. Cathedrals represent a place of beginnings, endings, solitude, fellowship, contemplation, knowledge and growth. As I was writing this piece, I found myself imagining a journey through a glass cathedral in the sky. Because the walls would be transparent, I saw the image of clouds and blueness permeating from the outside of this church. In my mind’s eye the listener would enter from the back of the sanctuary, floating along the corridor among giant crystal pillars, moving in a contemplative stance. The stained-glass windows’ figures would start moving with song, singing a heavenly music. The listener would float down the aisle, slowly moving upward at first and then progressing at a quicker pace, rising toward an immense ceiling which would open to the sky … as this journey progressed, the speed of the traveler would increase, rushing forward and upward. I wanted to create the sensation of contemplation and quiet peace at the beginning, moving toward the feeling of celebration and ecstatic expansion of the soul, all the while singing along with that heavenly music.

These were my thoughts when the Curtis Institute of Music commissioned me to write a work to commemorate its 75th anniversary. Curtis is a house of knowledge — a place to reach toward that beautiful expression of the soul which comes through music. I began writing this piece at a unique juncture in my life and found myself pondering the question of what makes a life. The recent loss of my younger brother, Andrew Blue, made me reflect on the amazing journeys that we all make in our lives, crossing paths with so many individuals singularly and collectively, learning and growing each step of the way. This piece represents the expression of the individual and the group … our inner travels and the places our souls carry us, the lessons we learn, and the growth we experience. In tribute to my brother, I feature solos for the clarinet (the instrument he played) and the flute (the instrument I play). Because I am the older sibling, it is the flute that appears first in this dialog. At the end of the work, the two instruments continue their dialogue, but it is the flute that drops out and the clarinet that continues the upward-progressing journey.

This is a story that commemorates living and passing through places of knowledge and of sharing and of that song called life.

This work was commissioned and premiered by the Curtis Institute of Music.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn and Orchestra, K. 297b

 Composed: 1778

 Premiere: unknown

 Instrumentation: solo oboe, clarinet bassoon and horn; 2 oboes, 2 horns, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: November 1962, Max Rudolf conducting; soloists (CSO principals) Dennis Larson, Richard Waller, Otto Eifert and Michael Hatfield. Most Recent: January 1988, Jesús López Cobos conducting; soloists (CSO principals) Richard Johnson, Richard Waller, William Winstead and Robin Graham.

 Duration: approx. 32 minutes

Mozart arrived in Paris, chaperoned by his mother, on March 23, 1778, hoping that the music lovers of the French capital would recognize his genius and reward him with an appropriate position. With the help of Baron Friedrich Grimm, whom he had met on his first trip to Paris as a Wunderkind of seven in 1763, he was introduced to several of the aristocracy, though his treatment at their hands was something less than he had hoped for — his letters home often complain of being kept waiting in drafty anterooms and of having to perform on wretched harpsichords.

In May, it appeared that Mozart’s foray into Parisian culture might be rewarded. He reported to his father that he had been offered the post of organist at Versailles, a job with light duties, six months’ leave per year and proximity to the royal family.

However, his longing was for the opera house (and for a sweetheart, Aloysia Weber, whom he had met on the stop in Mannheim while journeying to Paris), and he refused the post. “After all, 2,000 livres is not such a big sum,” he rationalized to his furious father.

Mozart’s stay in Paris grew sad. His mother fell ill in June, and died the following month. He lingered in Paris, sorrowful and alone, until September 26, when, without the position he sought or the commissions he hoped to receive, he returned to Salzburg.

The musical highlight of Mozart’s Parisian venture was his association with the illustrious series of orchestral programs given by the Concert Spirituel under the direction of Joseph Legros. Legros commissioned him to write a symphony (No. 31 in D major, K. 297/K. 300a, Paris), several substitute movements for a choral Miserere by the Mannheim composer Ignaz Holzbauer (K. 297a, lost) and something in the sinfonia concertante form that was then popular with Parisian audiences. On April 5, 1778, Mozart announced in a letter to his father that he planned to write a sinfonia concertante for three Mannheim wind virtuosos then visiting Paris: Johann Baptist Wendling, flute; Friedrich Ramm, oboe; and Georg Wenzel Ritter, bassoon. Jan Václav Stich, better known by his assumed Italian name of Giovanni Punto (assumed when he bolted illegally from the service of a Bohemian nobleman to undertake a career as a touring musician), the greatest horn player of the day (Beethoven wrote his Horn Sonata, Op. 17 for Punto), was in Paris at the time, so Mozart also included a part for him in the score. The resulting Sinfonia concertante for Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Horn and Orchestra was composed quickly later that month and scheduled for performance by Legros.

Although the sinfonia concertante nominally bridges the genres of symphony and concerto, this example stands closer in style and form to the latter, as do Mozart’s other works in the form (Flute and Harp Concerto, Two Piano Concerto and Sinfonia concertante for Violin and Viola, all dating from 1778–79). Each of its three movements remains in the tonic key of E-flat major, a result both of Mozart’s recognition of the Parisian taste for harmonic simplicity (Legros asked him to write a substitute slow movement for the “Paris” Symphony because the impresario claimed the rich chordal peregrinations of the original confused his audience) and the inability of the wind instruments of the time to easily negotiate all but rudimentary chromaticism. The opening Allegro follows the traditional first-movement concerto form: orchestral introduction — presentation of the soloists — thematic elaboration — recapitulation of earlier themes. Its abundance of melodic materials, suavity of gesture and gliding grace would seem to dispel any doubts concerning its authenticity. The following Adagio is a sweet song shared by the wind quartet lightly supported by orchestra, a sort of slow, wordless madrigal updated into 18th-century style. The closing movement is a set of 10 variations on a theme of opera-buffa jocularity that exploits both the soloistic and conversational characteristics of the little clan of winds.

—©Dr. Richard E. Rodda

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Born: June 17, 1882, Oranienbaum, Russia

Died: April 6, 1971, New York

Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka

 Composed: 1910–1911

 Premiere: June 13, 1911, Paris, at the Théâtre du Châtelet (staged ballet) by the Ballet Russes, Pierre Monteux conducting; Michel Fokine, choreographer. Stravinsky revised the orchestration 1915–1946, and his final thoughts are known as the “Revised 1947 Version,” which is heard at these concerts.

 Instrumentation: 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets (incl. bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, bass drum with attached cymbal, crash cymbals, snare drums, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambourine, triangle, xylophone, harp, celeste, piano, strings



CSO notable performances: First: November 1961, Max Rudolf conducting. Most Recent: November 2019, Louis Langrée conducting.

 Duration: approx. 34 minutes

After the resounding success of The Firebird in 1908, Stravinsky became an instant celebrity in Paris. His name was now inseparable from the famous Ballets Russes, whose director, Sergei Diaghilev, was anxious to continue this most promising collaboration. Plans were soon underway for what eventually became The Rite of Spring. But events took a slight detour: in the summer of 1910, Stravinsky began writing a piece for piano and orchestra in which the piano represented for him “a puppet, suddenly endowed with life, exasperating the patience of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggios.” The puppet was none other than Petrushka, the popular Russian puppet-theatre hero, the equivalent of Punch in “Punch and Judy” shows.

When Diaghilev visited Stravinsky in Lausanne later in the summer, he expected his friend to have made some progress with The Great Sacrifice (the working title of The Rite of Spring); instead, he found him engrossed in a piece for piano and orchestra. Diaghilev immediately saw the dramatic potential of Stravinsky’s concert piece and persuaded the composer to turn it into a ballet. (The soloistic handling of the piano in the final version is a reminder of the original scoring.) Alexandre Benois, a Russian artist and longtime Diaghilev collaborator, wrote the scenario with Stravinsky, and designed the sets and costumes for the performance.

In traditional Russian puppet shows, Petrushka was, according to one description, “a devil-may-care oddball, a wisecracker and disturber of the peace.” As musicologist Richard Taruskin has pointed out, however, the hero of the ballet has little to do with that characterization. He is, rather, a reincarnation of the French Pierrot, the sad-eyed clown with a white face and wearing a white suit with large black buttons. The plot was based not on the Russian Petrushka plays but rather on the classical love triangle from the commedia dell’arte tradition from Renaissance Italy, involving Pierrot, Colombine and Harlequin (to use their French names, which are more relevant here). Yet in the first and last scenes, Benois recreated the atmosphere of the old shrove-tide fairs in Russia, a tradition he remembered from his childhood. The structure of the ballet, with two outer scenes depicting a Russian fair and two inner scenes representing a love story that transcends time and place, is more than a neat symmetrical device. It expresses a contrast between Russia and the West, between the public and the private spheres, and between the worlds of humans and puppets. Yet, as Taruskin writes:

… the “people” ... are represented facelessly by the corps de ballet. Only the puppets have “real” personalities and emotions. The people in Petrushka act and move mechanically, like toys. Only the puppets act spontaneously, impulsively— in a word, humanly.

—©Peter Laki

Carlos Simon

DVOŘÁK SYMPHONY NO. 7 | 2025–26 SEASON

SAT NOV 29, 7:30 PM | SUN NOV 30, 2 PM Music Hall

Cristian Măcelaru conductor

Tessa Lark violin

Tales: A Folklore Symphony (b. 1986)

Motherboxx Connection

Flying Africans

Go Down, Moses (Let My People Go)

John Henry

Lisa Bielawa

Violin Concerto No. 2, PULSE cso co-commission (b. 1968)

Tin Pan Alley

The Shapes

Old Time

INTERMISSION

Aaron Copland Variations on a Shaker Melody from Appalachian Spring (1900–1990)

Antonín Dvořák

Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70 (1841–1904)

Allegro maestoso

Poco adagio

Scherzo: Vivace

Finale: Allegro

These performances are approximately 125 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group and Fort Washington Investment Advisors. Violin Concerto No. 2, PULSE by Lisa Bielawa is made possible by Kari and Jon Ullman.

Support for the co-commission of Violin Concert No. 2, PULSE was provided by New Music USA’s Amplifying Voices Program. New Music USA’s Amplifying Voices program is powered by the Sphinx Organization, with additional support from ASCAP, the Sorel Organization, the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, the Wise Music and the Wise Family Charitable Foundation, and the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trust.

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson. WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts. This concert will air on 90.9 WGUC on February 1, 2026, followed by 30 days of streaming at cincinnatisymphony.org/replay.

The CSO in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

with Cristian Măcelaru, Music Director

Last season, on breaks from some CSO business, Cristian Măcelaru attended banjoist Béla Fleck’s concert at Music Hall. It was, he recalls with equal parts pleasure and astonishment, “a completely different crowd. People, of course, associate the banjo with Appalachian culture. And that’s totally true,” he says.

Lisa Bielawa will lean into that heritage in her concerto PULSE, a CSO co-commission for violinist Tessa Lark. An alum of CCM’s preparatory strings program, Lark enriches her classical career with bluegrass chops from her upbringing in Kentucky.

PULSE is flanked by three other pieces with folk origins. The most famous of the bunch is Aaron Copland’s “Variations on a Shaker Melody,” from his 1944 ballet Appalachian Spring. The short piece riffs on “Simple Gifts,” a song little-known outside the pacifist religious sect at the time Copland arranged it for orchestra. Another is Carlos Simon’s Tales: A Folklore Symphony.

Măcelaru first met Simon through the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where he also serves as music director. The symphony’s roots in the African-American spiritual tradition — Simon grew up in the Black church — deeply appealed to Măcelaru.

He sees parallels between Simon’s work and Antonín Dvořák’s campaign to create an American school of music based on AfricanAmerican and Native American traditions. But because of the difference in their identities — Dvořák as a middle-aged, homesick Czech immigrant in late 19th century America, and Simon as a Black millennial living in the 21st century — “their treatment of the same spiritual is a world apart,” says Măcelaru.

“That’s why it’s important to have different composers talk about the same thing: It has different meanings,” he says. “What’s really beautiful to me is to see how four different composers turn the idea of folklore into a truly personal statement of identity, of who they are as artists.”

—Hannah Edgar

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©Alex Johnson

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Cristian Măcelaru, conductor

A complete biography for Music Director Cristian Măcelaru can be found on p. 23.

Tessa Lark,

violin

Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility and musical elegance. She is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music and inspiring composers to write for her.

In addition to her performance schedule, Lark is the newly minted artistic director of the Moab Music Festival. She also continues her work as artistic director of Musical Masterworks, a chamber music series in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Lark’s 2025–26 season features PULSE, a new concerto written for her by Lisa Bielawa. Other season highlights include returns to the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Pasadena Symphony, Tucson Symphony and Lexington Philharmonic. In recital, she debuts with the Da Camera Society of Texas and returns to The Cliburn and Oregon’s Sunriver Music Festival. She reprises Michael Torke’s violin concerto, Sky — the piece was written for her and her 2020 recording of it earned a Grammy nomination — with the San Antonio Philharmonic. As a chamber musician, she tours with her string trio project with composer-bassist Edgar Meyer and cellist Joshua Roman.

Lark’s most recent album, The Stradgrass Sessions, released in spring 2023, features an all-star roster of collaborators and composers, including Edgar Meyer, pianist Jon Batiste, mandolinist Sierra Hull and fiddler Michael Cleveland. The album’s selections mix original compositions by Lark and her collaborators with a sonata by Eugène Ysaÿe, a selection of Bartók violin duets arranged for violin and mandolin and the world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s STOMP.

Lark is a recipient of the Hunt Family Award, one of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Awards, as well as a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, among other awards. She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and earned her Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School. She plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. tessalark.com

PROGRAM NOTES

Carlos Simon: Tales: A Folklore Symphony

 Composed: 2021

 Premiere: January 26, 2022, Ann Arbor, Mich., University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Kiesler conducting

 Instrumentation: 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, drum set, anvil, bass drum, glockenspiel, guiro, 2 leather gloves, mark tree, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tomtom, triangle, tubular bells, vibraphone, whip, strings

 CSO notable performances: These are the first CSO performances of Tales: A Folklore Symphony.

 Duration: approx. 23 minutes

Carlos Simon’s music ranges from concert works for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel and neo-romanticism. He is the current composer-in-residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and frequently writes for the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera. Simon also is the inaugural composer chair of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Recent premiere performances of his music have been given by the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra for the Last Night of the Proms (his BBC Proms commissioning debut), Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Carnegie Hall for the National

Born: 1986, Washington, D.C.

©Richard Bowditch

Youth Orchestra of the USA and the LA Philharmonic, for Gospel Mass, a work reimagining the traditional mass with gospel soloists and choir, with visual creations from Melina Matsoukas (Beyoncé’s Formation, Queen & Slim). Simon was nominated for a 2023 Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem for the Enslaved, a multi-genre musical tribute to commemorate the stories of the 272 enslaved men, women and children sold in 1838 by Georgetown University. He has served as a member of the music faculty at Spelman College and Morehouse College in Atlanta and now is an associate professor at Georgetown University. carlossimonmusic.com

Here are excerpts from Carlos Simon’s synopsis of Tales: A Folklore Symphony:

Tales: A Folklore Symphony is a four-movement piece for orchestra that explores African American folklore as well as Afrofuturist stories. The work was commissioned by the Sphinx Organization for its 25th anniversary and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra.

I. Motherboxx Connection. “Where are all the Black people in comics?” This is a question posed by the creative duo Black Kirby (John Jennings and Stacey Robinson). Based heavily in Afrofuturism, Black Kirby’s characters show Black people as heroes, using ancient customs and futurist motifs from the African and African American diaspora. This piece is inspired by the many heroic characters found in the work of Black Kirby, but mainly Motherboxx Connection. …

II. Flying Africans. Once, all Africans could fly, but lost their ability once they crossed the Atlantic Ocean as enslaved humans. This story tells how one African maintained the ability and secretly passed the gift on to others. The Negro spiritual “Steal Away” is referenced in the woodwinds, as well as in the cello section, while the upper strings hover effortlessly in the higher register.

III. Go Down Moses (Let My People Go). The Jewish biblical story of the Plagues of Egypt resonated with the enslaved, and they created songs that related to this story of bondage. While the horrific plagues that swept across Egypt are compelling in and of themselves, the focus of this piece is recounted from the perspective of the stubborn Pharaoh, who unwillingly loosens his grip on the enslaved people. The Pharaoh’s hardened heart is conveyed through two sharp, accented chords. The spirit of God, represented by light, heavenly, metallic sounds from the percussion, signals the beginning of each new plague. … The orchestral texture grows thinner and thinner as the Pharaoh loathes in emotional anguish. The once prideful Pharaoh is now broken down to a powerless whimper. I use the Negro spiritual “Let My People Go (Go Down, Moses)” as a musical framework throughout this movement.

IV. John Henry. The story of John Henry is traditionally told through the work song, in versions with wide-ranging and varying lyrics. The well-known narrative ballad of “John Henry” is essentially the battle between man versus machine. Enslaved prisoners would often sing the story more slowly and deliberately, often with a pulsating beat suggestive of swinging the hammer. These songs usually contain the lines, “This old hammer killed John Henry / but it won’t kill me.”

Lisa Bielawa: Violin Concerto No. 2, PULSE cso co-commission

 Composed: 2024, co-commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, Library of Congress; Boston Modern Orchestra Project; and Louisville Orchestra; with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Santa Fe Pro Musica. Support has been provided by James Rosenfield, Justus Schlichting, Kari and Jon Ullman, New Music USA’s Amplifying Voices Program and the Loghaven Artist Residency. Dedicated to the memory of Jim Rosenfield. Composed for violinist Tessa Lark.

 Premiere: October 2025, Teddy Abrams conducting the Louisville Orchestra

 Instrumentation: solo violin, 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets (incl. bass), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, bongo, crash cymbals, finger cymbals, glockenspiel, mark tree, sizzle cymbal, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambour de Basque, temple blocks, tenor drum, tom-toms, triangle, tubular bells, vibraphone, wind chimes, harp, strings

 CSO notable performances: These are the first CSO performances of PULSE.

 Duration: approx. 23 minutes

Composer, producer and vocalist Lisa Bielawa is a Guggenheim Fellow and Rome Prize winner who takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. Her music has been premiered at the NY Phil Biennial, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, SHIFT Festival, National Cathedral, Rouen Opera, MAXXI Museum in Rome and Helsinki Music Center, among others. Orchestras that have championed her music include The Knights, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, ROCO and the Orlando Philharmonic. Premieres of her work have been commissioned and presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Rider, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Radio France, Yerevan Concert Hall in Armenia, the Venice Architectural Biennale, American Music Week in Salzburg, the INFANT Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, and more. Bielawa consistently incorporates community-making as part of her artistic vision. She has created music for public spaces in Lower Manhattan, a bridge over the Ohio River in Louisville, the banks of the Tiber River in Rome, on the sites of former airfields in Berlin and San Francisco, and to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. During the pandemic, Bielawa cultivated a virtual community using submitted testimonies and recorded voices from six continents through her work Broadcast from Home, now archived by the Library of Congress. lisabielawa.net.

Below are excerpts from Bielawa’s program note about PULSE:

The musical definition of “pulse” takes center stage in this work, composed expressly for a violinist with an impeccable inner metronome. But the word’s other meanings have guided its fascinations as well. This concerto was conceived as a way of keeping my finger on the pulse of American life during a period of seismic change and self-examination. Composed over a six-month period starting just before the 2024 presidential election, it is also informed by my immersion during this time in our sentimental history as told through our traditional musics.

Tessa Lark’s artistry draws from multiple musical traditions, from old-time to jazz to the classical avant-garde. I have had the enviable opportunity to hear Tessa play in the Smoky Mountains with Appalachian traditional musicians, at the Blue Note in midtown Manhattan, and on concert stages in concertos and chamber music both new and old.

I turned first to the surging popular song market of Tin Pan Alley, during the time just before, during and after the Great War. Composers and lyricists, many of them recent Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, churned out their songs all along 28th Street in Manhattan. … The first two orchestral sections of the Tin Pan Alley movement, which are separated by a freely composed first cadenza, are actually mosaics, faithfully composed entirely of small fragments — from a couple of beats to a couple of measures — of 27 different songs published between 1914 and 1923. The remainder of the movement captures some of the rich sonorities created by the chromatic passing harmonies and stretches them out into “changes” over which the soloist dances virtuosically, eventually improvising over them as in a jazz chart.

The second movement, The Shapes, takes its name from the directive “Sing the shapes,” which is what song leaders in the Old Harp tradition say when they are

Born: September 30, 1968, San Francisco, California

standing in the “hollow square” of a traditional shape-note Singing. This lyrical movement is a meditation on the traditional American hymn “Wondrous Love,” which was a favorite of mine when I was a child in my mother’s church choir. … The movement also derives some of its color from another deeply intimate meaning of “pulse” — lying awake with my ear on the pillow, hearing the sound of my own blood pumping. …

The last movement gives Tessa a chance to bring her old-time fiddling onto the orchestral stage. Three traditional American tunes are embedded wholesale in the score — “Blackberry Blossom” (Texas/Oklahoma), “Ducks on the Pond” (West Virginia) and “Dry & Dusty” (Southwest). Only the starting point and the number of verses is given in the score. While Tessa brings this whole other side of her virtuosity to her fiddle, changing eventually to an instrument in traditional “D” tuning, the orchestra partners her with its own enthusiasms and fragmentary looks back to the first two movements. In this movement, as in the other two to some degree, I liken my encounter with a musical tradition that is outside my own experience to the philosophy guiding traditional Japanese cuisine: different elements must balance each other perfectly but must never actually touch on the plate. Tessa’s own American voice comes through in its purest form, and the orchestra pulses along.

Aaron Copland: Variations on a Shaker Melody from Appalachian Spring

 Composed: Full ballet, 1944; wind band version, 1956, orchestral version, 1967

 Premiere: Full ballet, October 30, 1944, at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

 Instrumentation: 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, glockenspiel, triangle, harp, piano, strings

 CSO notable performances: Although the CSO has performed the Variations on a Shaker Melody many times over the decades on Educational, Parks and Pops concerts, this weekend marks the first CSO subscription performances.

 Duration: approx. 4 minutes

Aaron Copland created his Variations on a Shaker Melody by revising his version of the now-familiar “Simple Gifts” Shaker tune as it is heard at the center of his score for Appalachian Spring (1944). Though he found “Simple Gifts” in an anthology and did not collect it himself, Copland has been credited with bringing it to wide renown and fostering its rich and growing American musical legacy.

The ballet portrays vignettes around a Bride and Husbandman’s wedding as a Pioneer Woman, a Revivalist Preacher and his Followers mingle throughout. The “Simple Gifts” variations serve as the drama’s focal point, during which the betrothed perform an extended danced duet. The ballet’s stock characters and simple plot have been to the ballet’s advantage, lending audiences an opportunity to see themselves in its personae. The song’s familiar text (“’Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free”) reflects a sense of place and community that is difficult to parse from the appeal of Appalachian Spring and the Variations. Within Copland’s musically diverse catalog, many take these pieces and their style as most emblematic of an American sound. Indeed, Appalachian Spring was composed during the transitional period at the end of World War II, and the Variations were created in the thick of the Cold War. Each version resonates the challenges of history while also sounding out an intractable optimism. Indeed, the melody is imbued with an enduring quality and has been used and reused for many purposes, from serving as the basis of a popular Christian hymn to inspiring film scores and musical performances for the inaugurations of American presidents.

The Variations themselves play out such that individual sections indispensably construct a larger, emotionally varied whole. After an introduction, a solo clarinet presents the melody in full, supported by punctuating flute. Various instruments then take charge of the melody through the variations — highlighted by one variation with a tick-ticking accompaniment and another with exclamatory brass — culminating in a broad, chorale-like finale with the full orchestra.

—©Jacques Dupuis

Born: November 14, 1900, Brooklyn, New York Died: December 2, 1990, Sleepy Hollow, New York

Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70

 Composed: 1884–85

 Premiere: April 22, 1885, London Philharmonic Orchestra, St. James’s Hall, London, Antonín Dvořák conducting

 Instrumentation: 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: December 1940, Eugene Goossens conducting. Most Recent: October 2016, Neeme Järvi conducting. Notable: As part of the 2004 European Tour, Paavo Järvi conducting.

 CSO notable performances: First: December 1940, Eugene Goossens conducting.

Most Recent: October 2016, Neeme Järvi conducting. Notable: As part of the 2004 European Tour, Paavo Järvi conducting.

 Duration: approx. 35 minutes

Widely considered one of the most famous Czech composers, Antonín Dvořák composed masterfully in a wide variety of genres and styles. Over the course of his career, his compositional style shifted as he developed new musical languages and adopted new approaches. Dvořák’s music reflects the tensions of identity he experienced as a Czech composer loyal to his heritage and navigating a German musical network.

He composed the Symphony No. 7 in the early 1880s for the Philharmonic Society of London, when political tensions in Europe gave rise to anti-Czech sentiments in Vienna. This political climate placed Dvořák in a complicated position, as he wanted to remain loyal to his homeland while also seeking success in the Germanic musical scene. During this time of conflicting pressures in his compositional identity, Dvořák stepped back from the explicit Slavonic elements that permeated his earlier works. Hints of Slavonic tones became more subtle, and his music overall became darker and more dramatic.

The serious and dramatic nature of his symphony reflects the complex emotions he had been experiencing in his crisis of compositional identity. The music also exhibits Dvořák’s ambition to compose a great symphony, inspired after hearing Brahms’s Third Symphony at the end of 1883. Dvořák was resolved to present the London Philharmonic Society with quality work. His choice of the key of D minor positions his Seventh Symphony alongside other great works in that key, including Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1.

The first movement, Allegro maestoso, begins with the dark sounds of the low strings establishing the somber mood of D minor in the primary theme. A solo line in the horn and oboe momentarily breaks through the darkness, and the sweet B-flat major second theme in the flutes and clarinets lightens the atmosphere. The movement proceeds with drama, with the recapitulation bringing back the majorkey second theme first followed by the minor-key main theme. As the movement comes to a close, the music grows in intensity before suddenly subsiding and ending in a subdued spirit.

The second movement is a serene F major, opening with prayer-like melodies in the winds. Moments of heaviness and agitation threaten to disrupt the tranquility, but expressive solos and pastoral sweetness restore hopefulness.

The Scherzo third movement quietly introduces the syncopated rhythms of a furiant, a Czech folk dance, growing in energy to the full exuberance of the dance rhythm. A calmer pastoral Trio section takes over before the furiant music returns to conclude the movement.

The fourth movement concludes the symphony with the drama and compositional mastery exhibited throughout the piece. An octave jump and pronounced shift in dynamics in the D minor first theme set the stage for the intensity to follow. The A major second theme is introduced by the cello and taken up by the flute and oboe, offering a moment of brightness. Emotional turbulence builds as the movement continues to develop, culminating in an expressive coda in D minor that turns to a resolute D major in the final bars.

—©Dr. Rebecca Schreiber

—©Dr. Rebecca Schreiber

Born: September 8, 1841, Nelahozeves, Czechia

Died: May 1, 1904, Prague, Czechia

HANDEL’S MESSIAH | 2025–26 SEASON

FRI DEC 5, 7:30 PM | SAT DEC 6, 7:30 PM Music Hall

Cristian Măcelaru conductor

Lauren Snouffer soprano

Sasha Cooke mezzo-soprano

Nicholas Phan tenor

Jonathan Lemalu bass

May Festival Chorus Matthew Swanson, director

George Frideric Handel Messiah (1685–1759)

PART I

Overture

Comfort ye, my people

Ev’ry valley shall be exalted And the glory of the Lord

Thus saith the Lord But who may abide And He shall purify

Behold, a virgin shall conceive

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion For, behold, darkness

The people that walked in darkness For unto us a Child is born

Pastoral Symphony

There were shepherds abiding in the field And lo! the Angel of the Lord came upon them And the Angel said unto them And suddenly there was with the Angel Glory to God

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion

Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened He shall feed his flock like a shepherd His yoke is easy, His burthen is light

INTERMISSION

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group and Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation, the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts. This concert will air on 90.9 WGUC on February 8, 2026, followed by 30 days of streaming at cincinnatisymphony.org/replay.

The CSO in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust.

PART II

Behold the Lamb of God

He was despised

Surely He hath borne our griefs

And with His stripes we are healed

All we like sheep have gone astray

All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn He trusted in God that He would deliver Him

Thy rebuke hath broken His heart

Behold, and see if there be any sorrow

He was cut off out of the land of the living

But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell

Hallelujah

PART III

I know that my Redeemer liveth Behold, I tell you a mystery

The trumpet shall sound

If God be for us, who can be against us?

Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain. Amen.

These performances are approximately 135 minutes long, including intermission.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

with Cristian Măcelaru, Music Director

Back when he wielded a bow more often than a baton, CSO Music Director Cristian Măcelaru’s Decembers used to be clotted with performances of Handel’s Messiah Workaday musicians joke that performances of the perennial are so plentiful that they tend to pay for their holiday plans many times over. Măcelaru was no exception. Even so, no two performances of the Christmas classic were ever the same — especially not when Măcelaru was coming of age, in the early 2000s. No longer a fringe musical movement, historically informed performance practice had solidly entered the mainstream, where it remains today. Still, the purism of approach varies wildly. Does one use a countertenor or a mezzo? Period or modern instruments? And what cuts are observed, if any?

Măcelaru’s experience in historically informed performance practice dates back to his graduate work at Rice University.

Unbeknownst to him, his violin teacher, Sergiu Luca, was a leader in the historically informed performance movement; the two played together as part of an organization called Music in Context, which performed repertoire on instruments from the period and region.

Though he’s not going to ask the orchestra to use Baroque bows and gut strings, Măcelaru says his Messiah with the CSO and May Festival Chorus will draw on lessons he learned from Luca — and, yes, years of playing his own Messiahs with minimal rehearsal time.

“I tell the orchestra and chorus to begin with a very simple concept: If the music goes up, so does the intensity; if the musical line goes down, so does the intensity. Then, I’ll let them know when we inevitably break this rule,” he says. “But if you start from that point of view, you already have a different way of listening to each other.”

—Hannah Edgar

the organization and its performances; msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP to help, STOP to cancel.

©Alex Johnson

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Cristian Măcelaru, conductor

A complete biography for Music Director Cristian Măcelaru can be found on p. 23.

Lauren Snouffer, soprano

Recognized for her unique artistic curiosity in world-class performances spanning the music of Claudio Monteverdi and Georg Frideric Handel through to Missy Mazzoli and Sir George Benjamin, American Lauren Snouffer is celebrated as one of the most versatile and respected sopranos on the international stage.

Lauren Snouffer makes her Metropolitan Opera debut this season as Sarah Kavalier in the premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, an adaptation by Mason Bates and Gene Scheer of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prizewinning novel. Additionally, Snouffer makes her role debut as Stella Kowalski at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in Sir André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Symphonic performances of the 2025–26 season include the world premiere of Angélica Négron’s For everything you keep losing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Hans Abrahamsen’s Let Me Tell You at the Minnesota Orchestra, and the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Saint Louis Symphony. Her concert profile has yielded marvelous results with Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra, Raphaël Pichon and the Handel & Haydn Society, Masaaki Suzuki and the San Francisco Symphony, Dame Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque, Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony, Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert conducting the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Marin Alsop and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. Fervently committed to repertoire of the Baroque and Classical eras, Lauren Snouffer has performed Die Zauberflöte at Glyndebourne, Opernhaus Zürich and Seattle Opera; La clemenza di Tito and Orphée et Eurydice at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Hasse’s Siroe at the Opéra Royal de Versailles with additional performances in Budapest and Vienna; and Monteverdi’s Orfeo with a world premiere orchestration by Nico Muhly at Santa Fe Opera. She has enjoyed many successes at Houston Grand Opera in productions led by Patrick Summers and Harry Bicket, among others. etudearts.com/artists/lauren-snouffer

Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano

Praised by Opera magazine for her “agile, glamorous presence,” two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been called a “luminous standout” by The New York Times and “equal parts poise, radiance and elegant directness” by Opera News. Cooke has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Seattle Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others, and with over 80 symphony orchestras worldwide, frequently in the works of Mahler. This season, she returns to Houston as Hänsel in Houston Grand Opera’s Hänsel und Gretel opposite Mané Galoyan, making her directorial debut leading the company’s family day presentation of the opera. She later joins Seattle Opera for her role debut in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen. In recital, Cooke tours her program Of Thee I Sing with pianist Myra Huang, appearing at the Kennedy Center presented by the Vocal Arts Society of D.C., Baylor University’s Distinguished Artists Series, Park Avenue Armory and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. On the concert stage, she sings Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop, followed by the world premiere of Alex Turley’s the ocean’s dream of itself at the Grand Teton Music Festival, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. She joins Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra for Verdi’s Requiem at Saratoga Performing Arts Center and appears with the Baltimore Symphony, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, a signature piece of hers. She sings Handel’s Messiah with Music

©Angela Schütz

©Nick Granito

of the Baroque and Jane Glover, and with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cristian M celaru. She returns to the San Francisco Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Manfred Honeck and joins the Wiener Symphoniker in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 conducted by Petr Popelka. Additional concert appearances include Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the Sydney Symphony and Sir Donald Runnicles and Verdi’s Requiem with the Detroit Symphony. She joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players for Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, which she also sings with Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonika. sashacooke.com

Nicholas Phan, tenor

Nicholas Phan is a Grammy Award-winning lyric tenor, curator and educator, celebrated for his expressive artistry and versatility across a repertoire spanning nearly 500 years. Described by The Boston Globe as “one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” he has earned international recognition for his captivating stage presence, keen intelligence and natural musicianship. In 2010, he co-founded Art Song Chicago to promote art song and vocal chamber music and serves as its artistic director.

Phan won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for his recording of Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony. His album, A Change is Gonna Come, was nominated for the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. His previous albums, Stranger: Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly, Clairières and Gods and Monsters, were nominated for the same award in 2023, 2020 and 2017. He is the first singer of Asian descent to be nominated in the history of the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album 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 Art Song Chicago, Phan is the host and creator of BACH 52, a web

©Clubsoda Productions

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, San Francisco Opera Center and San Francisco Performances, where he served as the vocal artist-in-residence from 2014 to 2018. 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

Jonathan Lemalu, bass

Jonathan Lemalu is a New Zealand-born Samoan who holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Otago University and an Artist Diploma from the Royal College of Music, where he won the Tagore Gold Medal. Lemalu has sung at the Royal Opera House–Glyndebourne, English National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, Oper Frankfurt, Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric and San Francisco Opera, as well as the Salzburg, Baden-Baden and Edinburgh festivals, with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Colin Davis, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Roger Norrington, Ivor Bolton, Charles Dutoit, Alexander Joel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Edward Gardner and Patrick Summers. Roles include Osmin in Il Seraglio, Rocco in Fidelio, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, Hunding in Die Walküre, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, Colline in La bohème, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Queequeg in Moby Dick, Weit Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Nourabad in Les pêcheurs de perles

Recent and upcoming operatic highlights include Rocco in Fidelio at Garsington; Mayor in Jenufa at the ROH; Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro for Opera North; Doctor

©Sussie Ahlburg

Born: February 23, 1685, Halle, Prussia (Germany) Died: April 14, 1759, London, England

NOTE: The composer was baptized under the name Georg Friederich Händel, but long before his death he adopted an English version of his name, George Frideric Handel.

in La traviata, as well as Sarastro and Speaker in The Magic Flute for ENO; Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea and Banco in Macbeth for Grange Festival Opera; Don Fernando in Fidelio for Glyndebourne; Tiresias in Oedipus Rex for Opera Philadelphia and Sagristano in Tosca for Liceu. Concert performances include Brander in La damnation de Faust with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Dutoit conducting, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Kazuki Yamada and the London Philharmonic Orchestra led by Edward Gardner, and The Seasons with the Academy of Ancient Music and Handel’s Samson for the BBC Proms, both led by Laurence Cummings.

In 2022, Lamalu was made a Royal College of Music Honorary Fellow, a patron of New Zealand Opera and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours for services to opera. askonasholt.com/artist/jonathan-lemalu

May Festival Chorus

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

Matthew Swanson, Director of Choruses

Jason Alexander Holmes, Associate Director of Choruses & Youth Chorus Director

Heather MacPhail, Accompanist

Max Trombley, Conducting Fellow

Jennelle John-Lewis, Chorus Operations Manager

Kathleen Moran, Chorus Librarian

May Festival Chorus biographies and Chorus roster can be found on pp. 37–38.

n PROGRAM NOTES

George Frideric Handel: Messiah

 Composed: August 22–September 14, 1741; libretto assembled by Charles Jennens from passages in the Bible

 Premiere: April 13, 1742, in a matinée at the Great Music Hall in Fishamble Street, Dublin, Ireland; an open rehearsal had been held four days earlier

 Instrumentation: SATB chorus and SATB soloists, 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 trumpets, timpani, harpsichord, portative organ, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: December 1935, Eugene Goossens conducting; soloists Rose Bampton, Agnes Davis, Franz Trefger and Sherwood Kains; University of Cincinnati Oratorio Society Chorus. Most Recent: December 2009, Nicholas McGegan conducting; soloists Dominique Labelle, Marietta Simpson, Norman Shankle and Christòpheren Nomura; May Festival Chorus.

 Duration: approx. 108 minutes

Handel’s oratorio Messiah dates from a pivotal moment in his career. He composed his first oratorios in 1707–08, during his early residence in Rome. Not until a decade later did he essay an oratorio in English — Esther (1718) — by which time he had settled in London and achieved distinction as an opera composer. Italian-language opera would be his principal concern for a period of 36 years, during which he rode both the waves of success and the troughs of indifference that marked the topsyturvy world of lyric theatre. By the late 1730s, however, he had his fill with the high-stress management of opera productions, and the opera he wrote for London’s 1740–41 season — Deidamia — would be his last.

Just then, he received an invitation to produce a series of concerts in Dublin in 1741, and the idea of a change of scenery appealed to him. He traveled from London to Dublin in mid-November 1741 and remained until August 13, 1742. The highpoint of his Dublin season was without a doubt the premiere of his new oratorio, Messiah. He had composed it while still in London during the late summer of 1741, over the course of about three weeks. That so great — and large — a masterpiece should have been created in so brief a span seems all but incredible to most of us, but Handel documented its progress by entering dates in his score as it unrolled.

His librettist, Charles Jennens, a well-to-do fellow-about-the-arts-world who was 15 years his junior, was pressed into service to assemble a text for the new

Painted by Balthasar Denner

oratorio. This he apparently did in the early summer of 1741, drawing creatively on Biblical passages from the Books of Isaiah, Haggai, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, Zechariah, John, Psalms, Lamentations, Hebrews, Romans, I Corinthians and Revelation to create a loose story comprising historical narrative about the life of Jesus and reflections about him by Christian believers. He organized the texts into three discrete sections, the first relating to the prophecy of Christ’s coming and the circumstances of his birth, the second to the vicissitudes of his life on earth and the third to the events surrounding the resurrection and the promise of redemption. With the libretto in hand, Handel leapt into action on August 22. He finished the draft of Part One on August 28, of Part Two on September 6, and of Part Three on September 12 — and then he took another two days to polish details on the whole score, which numbered 53 movements in toto.

This prodigious pace was not exceptional for Handel, and it is no more than Romantic fantasy to view it (as once was routine) as a fever of divine inspiration peculiar to the composition of Messiah. In fact, he allowed himself about a week’s rest after finishing Messiah before embarking on his next oratorio, Samson, which he wrote in the relatively leisurely span of five weeks.

Handel’s Dublin season began auspiciously with performances of several earlier works — L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; Acis and Galatea; Esther; Alexander’s Feast — which paved the way for the excitement attending the unveiling of Messiah. These consisted of an open rehearsal on April 9, 1742, and two official performances, on April 13 and June 3 (the income from the last being earmarked for the composer). The first concert was given as a benefit, organized with the assistance of the Charitable Musical Society, “For Relief of the Prisoners in the several Gaols, and for the Support of Mercer’s Hospital in St. Stephen’s-street, and of the Charitable Infirmary on the Inns Quay” (as The Dublin Journal announced a couple of weeks in advance). After the open rehearsal, The Dublin News Letter pronounced that the new oratorio “in the opinion of the best judges, far surpasses anything of that Nature, which has been performed in this or any other Kingdom.” The Journal concurred that it “was allowed by the greatest Judges to be the finest Composition of Musick that ever was heard, and the sacred Words as properly adapted for the Occasion.” It continued with advice for persons lucky enough to hold tickets for the official premiere: “Many Ladies and Gentlemen who are well-wishers to the Noble and Grand Charity for which this Oratorio was composed, request it as a Favour, that the Ladies who honour this Performance with their Presence would be pleased to come without Hoops as it will greatly encrease the Charity, by making Room for more Company.” To which it added in a follow-up article: “The Gentlemen are desired to come without their Swords’, to increase audience accommodation yet further.”

Messiah was given often in Handel’s lifetime, and from 1742 to 1754 he provided alternate versions of some of its numbers, usually to accommodate the strengths of specific singers in revivals. This leaves modern conductors with choices about which versions of certain numbers to perform — and, indeed, which to cut, since the running-time of the “complete” Messiah can prove forbidding to audiences. Typically, Part One is offered in its entirety, with judicious cuts being made in Parts Two and Three, as in this performance.

—©James M. Keller

James M. Keller, for 25 years the program annotator of the San Francisco Symphony and the New York Philharmonic, is the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press).

Florence Price

2025–26 SEASON

CSYO CONCERT ORCHESTRA

SUN DEC 7, 2 PM, Music Hall COMMON LINES

ANTOINE T. CLARK, conductor

Concert Overture No. 2 (1887–1953)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Ballade (1875–1912)

Zhou Tian

Broken Ink (b. 1981)

Watching the Tidal Bore

Hearing the Sound of the Rain and the Bell

The Mighty River Runs Eastward

CSYO PHILHARMONIC

SUN DEC 7, 7 PM, Music Hall THE YEAR 1905

ALEX AMSEL, conductor

Dmitri Shostakovich

Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103, The Year 1905 (1906–1975)

The Palace Square

The 9th of January In Memoriam The Tocsin

For program notes, please visit our digital program by texting PROGRAM to 513.845.3024.

Ellen and Richard Berghamer Foundation

The Charles H. Dater Foundation

The Unnewehr Foundation

Support provided by the Ellen and Richard Berghamer Foundation, The Charles H. Dater Foundation and The Unnewehr Foundation. The Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras is a program of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and receives generous support in the form of rehearsal space from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Walnut Hills High School.

CSYO CONCERT ORCHESTRA ROSTER 2025–26

FIRST VIOLIN

Alexander Wang, Concertmaster

Grace Barnett

Elessar Dehoff

Bella Duhaime

Emma Leong

Julia Li

Eric Liu

Lukas Meinken

Ella Shadix

Sarang Srikanth

Stacy Villo

Mia Wang

Kevin Wen

Ethan Yao

Ethan Yuan

Angela Zhang

Jenna Zhang

SECOND VIOLIN

Andrew Zhang, Principal

Alice Chi

Kathryn Dillman

Soham Gudsoorkar

Joy Jang

Jiffannie Fredy

Daniel Kong

Nathan Lee

Brianna Luo

Rishi Pampati

Noah Stulberg

Sarah Wang

Luke Wright

Iris Xu

Clairette Yang

VIOLA

Lucia Schartung, Principal

Sungwoo Choi

Ryley From Andrew Jee

Henrik Reinsalu

Annabel Schulte

John Vasconcelos

Adele Williams

CELLO

Alexander Berger

Eliot Brown, Principal

Cynthia Li, Assistant Principal

Sieun Ghim

Marie Godarova

Zoe Lee

Jason Liew

Reign Matu

Gabriel Shin

Ethan Wang

James Yeoh

Emma Zhu

Alex Zhuang

DOUBLE BASS

Jonathan McGrath, Principal

Joel Bierkan

Jameson Hornsby

Miles Manning

Darcy McMahon

Christopher Southern

FLUTE/PICCOLO

Ethan Li

Yuxin Liu1

Penny Schackmann3

Samantha Wong2

OBOE/ENGLISH HORN

Sophia Cheng2

Gary Forsyth3

Sab Rajan

Isabella Vilanueva1

CLARINET

Lucian Chang1

Vincent Dicicco2

Ian Duff3

Evelyn Shin

BASSOON

Justus Chapman2,3

Scott Singleton1

HORN

Nathan Barkley1

Zoey Little

Maxwell Nelson2

Eden Proctor

Akio Wiese3

TRUMPET

Elijah Flores3

Benjamin Holloway1

Emma Ogden2

CSYO PHILHARMONIC ROSTER 2025–26

FIRST VIOLIN

Angela Tang, Concertmaster

Youngwoo Choi+

Anna Christos

Marley Feng

Yuhan Gu

Hyori Han

Andy Li

Annie Li

Madeline Mozlin

Sarah Perpignan

Clara Schmid

Ian Shang

Jubilee Shang

Eva Cate Wesley

Raina Yang

Elizabeth Yeoh

SECOND VIOLIN

Paul Ku, Principal

Andrew Cheng+

Carmen DeAtely-Rosales

Maren Heisler

Evie Hu

Eli Hu

Grace Kim,

Julia Lancman

Cecilia Lehmann

Elaine Peng

Santhosh Rajan

Ben Truong

Kenneth Wu

Irene Zhang

VIOLA

Grace Yu, Principal

Christy Kim, Co-Assistant Principal

Kasinda Willingham, Co-Assistant Principal

Samuel Butler+

Anna Cameron

Goehring, Ethan

Simon Park

Blake Roberts

Lainie Stautberg

Isabella Wang

Alina Zhang

CELLO

Sonya Moomaw, Principal

Autumn Rinaldi, Assistant Principal

Lillian Duhaime+

Adhi Nayak,

Kallea Willingham

William Yeoh

DOUBLE BASS

Matteo Meli, Co-Principal

Aaron Scott1, Co-Principal

Evan Butler

Alaz Erdem

Josiah Eriksen

Gerrit Johnson

TROMBONE

Tvasta Gajjar2

Mikayla November1

Colin Van Niman3

BASS TROMBONE

Jessica Ries

TUBA

Evan Moore

PERCUSSION

Murray Cummings

Chloe Dick

Adolphus McCullom II

HARP

Magdalena Milroy

+Begins the alphabetical listing of players who participate in a system of rotated seating within a string section.

All wind players are considered principals and rotate between pieces.

Wind Principals

1 Price

2 Coleridge-Taylor

3 Tian

FLUTE/PICCOLO

Mona Allen

Camille Kolar

Allison Sayles1

Riya Tummala

OBOE/ENGLISH HORN

Lydia Banzhof

August Hagen

Eden Potterton1

Gwendolyn Stapp

CLARINET

Edward Riddle

Jackson Runtenelli

Liheng Wang1

Mario Ynga Orellana

BASSOON

Sean Hayes

Josie Youtsler1

HORN

Josh Baxter

Lucas Elmore

Eva Fuller

Cate Mahoney

Lucas Monjot1

TRUMPET

Ryan Metsker

Trent Stricker

Thomas Stricker1

Benjamin Yoby

TROMBONE

Jack Izor1

Connor Perkins

BASS TROMBONE

Douglas Jacobo

TUBA

George Kaiser

PERCUSSION

Braeden Brown

Benjamin Hofmann

+Begins the alphabetical listing of players who participate in a system of rotated seating within a string section.

All wind players are considered principals and rotate between pieces.

1 Principal Players for Shostakovich

The CSYO CCM Conducting Fellow for 2025–26 is Mouye Zhoue.

Celebrating the brilliance that art brings to life.

PNC is proud to be the Pops Season Presenter and to support the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Thank you for mastering the art of making Greater Cincinnati a more brilliantly beautiful place.

HOLIDAY POPS | 2025–26 SEASON

FRI DEC 12, 11 AM & 7:30 PM | SAT DEC 13, 2 PM & 7:30 PM

SUN DEC 14, 2 PM & 7 PM Music Hall

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL conductor* CODY FRY vocalist

CINCINNATI STUDIO FOR DANCE

MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS

SYCAMORE HIGH SCHOOL SELECT ENSEMBLE

SCHOOL FOR CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS CHORALE and MERIDIAN 8 WINTON WOODS HIGH SCHOOL VARSITY ENSEMBLE

O Tannenbaum Traditional

There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Robert Allen/Al Stillman

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas/This Christmas Meredith Willson/Donny Hathaway/ Nadine McKinnor

I’ll Be Home for Christmas Buck Ram/Kim Gannon

Christmas Waltz/Waltz of the Flowers

Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne/Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Festive Sounds of Hanukkah (“A Candle is a Small Thing”) Traditional

Little Bolero Boy

Maurice Ravel/Katherine Kennicott Davis

Siyahamba Traditional

Jingle Bell Rock Joe Beal

INTERMISSION

Angels We Have Heard on High Traditional

Sugar Plum/Favorite Christmas Movies Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Christmas Song

Mel Tormé/Robert Wells

Christmas Concerto (“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”) Arcangelo Corelli

Jolly Old St. Nicholas/Santa Claus is Coming to Town John Frederick Coots/Haven Gillespie

A Suite of Carols Traditional

What a Wonderful World

Bob Thiele/George David Weiss

We Wish You a Merry Christmas Traditional

* A biography for John Morris Russell is on p. 23.

Program subject to change

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Presenter PNC, Concert Sponsor Graeter’s Ice Cream and Associate Sponsor AARP Ohio

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert

The CSO in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

HOLIDAY POPS

HOLIDAY POPS ENSEMBLES

THE STUDIO FOR DANCE

Shari Po , director; Della

Lehane, choreographer

Jossi Baum

Charlotte Becker

Cate Bingcang

Lily Bingcang

Lucy Brockman

Sophia Brockman

Maria Colas

Lola Darbyshire

Doris Du

Declan Dyer

Mia Goodlett

Chana Horewitz

Anna Kalb

Nika Kartashov

Evan Knight

Krystyna Laux

Fiona Lehane

Winifred Lehane

Sienna Parnes

Maddie Perdue

Caroline Reinke

Lucy Salters

Maddalena Serrangeli

Anna Wonderling

Ellie Wonderling

MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS*

Jason Alexander Holmes, Director

Ja’Vierre Adams

Carter J Allen

Ava Altenau

Seth Barry

Hope Bowden

Lenora Braukman

Anna Burkhart

Poplar Cagnon

Cameron Carnahan

Romeo Ciolino

Sophia Clever

Thanh-Tam Dao

Lucy Dixon

Alijah Frost

Katherine Gieson

Mary Hollon

Zipporah Horn

Genevieve Howard

Naomi Jackson

Preston Koeninger

Claire Kruckeberg

Arpad Lallement

Talula Lane

Emily Lewis

Elyse Longbottom

Ella Martin

Claire Miller

Runako Muvirimi

Arianna Pence

*The May Festival Youth Chorus receives generous support from the Bea Aldrink Idema Foundation.

To view the Digital Program for exclusive content, please text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*, use your mobile device to scan the QR code or visit cincinnatisymphony.org/digitalprogram.

*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.

Pearl Ramstetter

Nathan Share

Jenavieve Southcombe

Genevieve Stevenson

Oliver Wagner

Eden Walker

Daniel Winhusen

SCPA CHORALE

Sterling Finkbine, Director of Choirs

Amani Akins

Paige Arterburn

Tysean Brown

Naomi Childress

Tamiah Day

Riley Dills

Mariam Elwaﬁ

Aspen Fecher

Parker Flautt

Palmer Goodman

Sydney Hall

Clark Hamlet

Ashley Hammond

Mabel Hodson

Evelyn Huey

Isabella Kreft

Skylar Jones

Cora Koltak

Ethan Leonard

Joel Leptak-Moreau

Maiyara Long

HOLIDAY POPS ENSEMBLES

Kelly Lonneman

Morgan Lumpkins

Grace Manning

Sam Nguyen

Madison Perkins

Rhema Postell

Christian Rauen

Ezra Reidel

Luna Roberts

Heather Sherwood

Jenny Smith

Jenavieve Southcombe

Olive Stewart

Margaret Todd

Fallon Towns

Lydia Trout

Abby Turner

Athena Updike

Eden Walker

Gemariah Washington

Espen Wells-Jordan

SCPA MERIDIAN 8

Naomi Childress

Parker Flautt

Christian Rauen

Ezra Reidel

Jenny Smith

Maggie Todd

Athena Updike

Espen Wells-Jordan

SYCAMORE

HIGH SCHOOL

SELECT ENSEMBLE

Ken Holdt, Director of

Choral Activities

Carter Allen

Jaedyn Amos

Leland Anderson

Johanna Blackmore

Samuel Broxterman

Lexi Coman

Baden Danner

Hannah Donnellan

Katelyn Dunphy

Yasmeen Faruqui

Emma Garcia

Evan Gonzalez

Isabela Green

Grace Howard

Isabelle Jackson

Andy Lee

Rohan Mathew

Sharon Mathew

Shanaya Pal

Emily Phillips

Jai’Den Pritchett

Chloe Robinson

Khadijah Rodriguez

Alex Ru

Maevry Sams

Jack Smith

Sithara Venkatraman

Oliver Wagner

Hadley Wick

WINTON WOODS HIGH SCHOOL

VARSITY ENSEMBLE

Beth Caikowski, Director of Choirs

Payton Beacher

Asa Bouldin

Jaxon Braswell

Lyric Bridges

Ronin Buhl

Trinity Chapman-Davis

Zariah Clark

Damyah Coats

Mahesh Dhimal

Michael Doughman

Nyla Freeman

Edward Gray

Naima Groves

Relle Johnson

Lael Jones

Sacarii Kemper

Jason Kouomo

Joseph Kuhl

Tariyah Loggins

Jenique McDay

Jayden McKinney

Paiyton Miller

Je Njokou Dimou

Shontaz Phim

Sovit Regmi

Christopher Reid

Kai Richards

Cambria Robison

Shaniya Ruth

Raydale Smith

Everson Stallworth

Selena Stevison

Ella Sullivan

Madeline Tarber

Kel Thompson

Isabella Vargas

Chris Velasco

Arabella Vires

Camryn Wilkinson

Ariane Williams

Ariel Williams

2025–26 Financial Support

 INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

Local and national foundations, businesses, and government agencies are integral to the Orchestra’s vibrant performances, community engagement work, and education activities. We are proud to partner with the following funders.

ANNUAL SUPPORT

SEASON AND SERIES SPONSORS

PLATINUM BATON CIRCLE ($50,000+)

Anonymous ArtsWave

Ellen and Richard Berghamer Foundation

Charles H. Dater Foundation

The Fifth Third Foundation

Local Initiative for Excellence Foundation

H.B., E.W. & F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation

Mellon Foundation

Dr. John & Louise Mulford Fund for the CSO National Endowment for the Arts

Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation

Ohio Arts Council

PNC Bank

Margaret McWilliams Rentschler Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Nina Browne Parker Trust

Robert H. Reakirt Foundation Equities

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE ($10,000–$14,999)

Bartlett Wealth Management

Chemed Corporation

CVG Airport Authority

Crosset Family Fund

Kelly Dehan and Rick Staudigel

Graeter’s Ice Cream

Messer Construction Co.

The Daniel & Susan Pfau Foundation

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

YOT Full Circle Foundation

CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE ($5,000–$9,999)

Interact for Health

JRH Consultants

The Andrew Jergens Foundation

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Richard and Carmen Kovarsky

Queen City (OH) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated

The Willard & Jean Mulford Charitable Fund

SORTA/Metro

Thompson Hine LLP

Harold C. Schott Foundation / Francie and Tom Hiltz, Trustees

The Unnewehr Foundation

Western & Southern Financial Group

GOLD BATON CIRCLE ($25,000–$49,999)

The Cincinnati Symphony Club

HORAN Wealth

Louis H. and David S. Ingalls Foundation Inc.

George and Margaret McLane Foundation

The Ladislas & Vilma Segoe Family Foundation

United Dairy Farmers & Homemade Brand Ice Cream

SILVER BATON CIRCLE ($15,000–$24,999)

BlaCkOWned™

BT Rise

Johnson Investment Counsel

Peter E. Landgren and Judith Schonbach Landgren Millstone Fund

The Procter & Gamble Company

The Rendigs Foundation

Scott and Charla Weiss

Wodecroft Foundation

WOW Windowboxes

ARTIST’S CIRCLE ($2,500–$4,999)

Closing the Health Gap

Duke Energy Foundation

d.e. Foxx and Associates, Inc.

Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA

HUB International

Learning Links Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

NAMI Urban Greater Cincinnati

Charles Scott Riley III Foundation

Southern Grace Eats

Visit Cincy

BUSINESS & FOUNDATION PARTNERS (up to $2,499)

AARP Ohio

African American Chamber of Commerce

Albert B. Cord Charitable Foundation

American Red Cross, Greater Cincinnati-Dayton Region

The Blue Book of Cincinnati

William G. and Mary Jane Helms Charitable Foundation

Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors

Journey Steel

Robert A. & Marian K. Kennedy Charitable Trust

The Kroger Co.

League of American Orchestras

Frances L. P. Ricketts Sullivan Memorial Fund

The Voice of Your Customer

Join this distinguished group! Contact Sean Baker at 513.744.3363 or sbaker@cincinnatisymphony.org to learn how you can become a supporter of the CSO and Pops. This list is updated quarterly.

 2026 ARTSWAVE PARTNERS

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops acknowledge the following partner companies, foundations and their employees who generously participate in the Annual ArtsWave Community Campaign at the $100,000+ level. Thank you!

$2 million+ P&G

$1 million to $1,999,999

Fifth Third Bank and Fifth Third Foundation

$500,000 to $999,999

GE Aerospace

$250,000 to 499,999

The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

The H.B., E.W. and F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee

Western & Southern Financial Group

$100,000–$249,999

altafiber

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Cincinnati Reds

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

The E.W. Scripps Company and Scripps Howard Foundation

The Enquirer | Cincinnati.com

Great American Insurance Group

Greater Cincinnati Foundation

The Kroger Co.

Messer Construction Co.

PNC

 HONOR ROLL OF CONTRIBUTORS

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops are grateful to the following individuals that support our efforts by making a gift to the Orchestra Fund. We extend our heartfelt thanks to each and every one and pay tribute to them here. You can join our family of donors online at cincinnatisymphony.org/donate or by contacting the Philanthropy Department at 513.744.3271.

PLATINUM BATON CIRCLE

Gifts of $50,000 and above

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick E. Bryan, III §

Sheila and Christopher C. Cole §

David C. Herriman Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Robert W. Dorsey §

Kathy Grote in loving memory of Robert Howes §

Healey Liddle Family Foundation, Mel & Bruce Healey

Harold C. Schott Foundation, Francie & Tom Hiltz

Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Joffe

Florence Koetters

Jo Anne and Joe Orndorff

Vicky and Rick Reynolds

Irwin and Melinda Simon §

Dee Stegman §

Jackie and Roy Sweeney Family Fund*

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Ullman

Mr. Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr. §

Ginger Warner Scott and Charla Weiss §

GOLD BATON CIRCLE

Gifts of $25,000–$49,999

Joe and Patricia Baker

Dr. and Mrs. John and Suzanne Bossert §

Robert and Debra Chavez

Stephen J Daush

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Evans

Dr. and Mrs. Carl G. Fischer

Ashley and Bobbie Ford §

Dr. Lesley Gilbertson and Dr. William Hurford §

Marvin P. Kolodzik and Linda S. Gallaher §

Calvin and Patricia Linnemann

Carolyn Baker Miller

Dianne and J. David Rosenberg

Moe and Jack Rouse §

Ann and Harry Santen §

Carol B. Striker

Sarah Thorburn

SILVER BATON CIRCLE

Gifts of $15,000–$24,999

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Brueshaber

Mr. Gregory D. Buckley and Ms. Susan Berry-Buckley

The Garber Family

Tom and Jan Hardy §

Patti and Fred Heldman

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Hirschhorn §

Mrs. Andrea Kaplan

Mrs. Erich Kunzel

Will and Lee Lindner

Mark and Tia Luegering

Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Maloney

Susan McPartlin & Michael Galbraith

Joseph A. and Susan E. Pichler Fund*

Mark S. and Rosemary K. Schlachter §

Jacqueline Sifri

In memory of Mary and Joseph S. Stern, Jr

DeeDee and Gary West §

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Zimmerman § Anonymous (2)

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE

Gifts of $10,000–$14,999

Access Audio, Inc.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Akers

Jan and Roger Ames

Michael L. Cioffi & Rachael Rowe §

Mrs. Thomas E. Davidson §

Dianne Dunkelman and Clever Crazes for Kids

Emory P. Zimmer Insurance Agency

Dr. G. Russell and Renee S. Frankel

Lynne Friedlander and Jay Crawford

John B. and Judith O. Hansen

Ms. Barbara Johnson

Robert Johnson

John and Molly Kerman

Michael and Marilyn Kremzar §

John and Ramsey Lanni

Phillip Long

Alan Margulies and Gale Snoddy

In memory of Bettie Rehfeld

Linda and James Miller

James and Margo Minutolo

Martha and Lee Schimberg

Mike and Digi Schueler

Mr. Lawrence Schumacher

Ralph C. Taylor §

Nancy C. Wagner and Patricia M. Wagner §

Anonymous (3)

CONCERTMASTER’S

CIRCLE

Gifts of $5,000–$9,999

Heather Apple and Mary Kay Koehler

Thomas P. Atkins

Mrs. Thomas B. Avril

Kathleen and Michael Ball

Robert and Janet Banks

Michael P. Bergan and Tiffany Hanisch

Louis D. Bilionis and Ann Hubbard

Robert L. and Debbie Bogenschutz

Thomas A. Braun, III §

The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Ms. Melanie M. Chavez

Sally and Rick Coomes

George Deepe and Kris Orsborn

Bedouin and Randall Dennison

Dennis W. and Cathy Dern

Mrs. Diana T. Dwight

In Loving Memory of Diane Harrison Zent

David and Kari Ellis Fund*

Dr. and Mrs. Alberto Espay

Estate of E.J. and Jean Krabacher

Mr. and Mrs. James T. Fitzgerald

Dr. and Mrs. Harry F. Fry

L. Timothy Giglio

Jim and Jann Greenberg

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Hamby

Ms. Delores Hargrove-Young

William and Jo Ann Harvey

Dr. James and Mrs. Susan Herman

John M. and Lynda Hoffman Jeep for their 50th Anniversary

Barbara M. Johnson

Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Keenan

Mrs. Barbara Kellar in honor of Mr. Lorrence T. Kellar

Holly King

Frank and Ann Kromer

The Lewis and Marjorie Daniel Foundation

Mrs. Robert Lippert

Elizabeth and Brian Mannion

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Marshall

David L. Martin §

Mandare Foundation

Barbara and Kim McCracken §

Robert and Heather McGrath

Ms. Mary Lou Motl §

The Patel-Curran Family

Poul D. and JoAnne Pedersen §

David and Jenny Powell

Drs. Marcia Kaplan and Michael Privitera

Elizabeth and Karl Ronn §

Dr. E. Don Nelson and Ms. Julia Sawyer-Nelson

Dr. and Mrs. Michael Scheffler

Sandra and David Seiwert

Brent & Valerie Sheppard

Rennie and David Siebenhar

Michael and Donnalyn Smith

Brett Stover §

Christopher and Nancy Virgulak

M Elizabeth Warner

Donna A. Welsch §

Mr. Donald White

Ms. Diana Willen §

Cathy S. Willis

Wright Brothers, Inc.

Anonymous (2)

ARTIST’S CIRCLE

Gifts of $3,000–$4,999

Dr. Charles Abbottsmith

Mr. and Mrs. Gérard Baillely

Pamela & Jeffrey Bernstein

Ms. Marianna Bettman

Glenn and Donna Boutilier

Peter and Kate Brown

Dr. Ralph P. Brown

Chris and Tom Buchert

Daniel A. Burr

Janet and Bruce Byrnes

Andrea D. Costa, Esq. §

Peter G. Courlas §

Marjorie Craft

Jim and Elizabeth Dodd

Dr. and Mrs. Stewart B. Dunsker

Ann A. Ellison

Hardy and Barbara Eshbaugh

Mrs. Amy Forte

Yan Fridman

Linda P. Fulton §

Frank and Tara Gardner

Dr. and Mrs. Ralph A. Giannella

Lesha and Samuel Greengus

John and Elizabeth Grover

Esther B. Grubbs §

Mr. and Mrs. Byron Gustin

Dr. and Mrs. Jack Hahn

Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Heidenreich

Mr. Fred Heyse

Ruth C. Holthaus

In Memory of Benjamin C. Hubbard §

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley G. Hughes

Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Hughes

Karolyn Johnsen

Ms. Sylvia Johnson

Dr. Richard and Lisa Kagan

Dr. Robert W. Keith and Ms. Kathleen Thornton

Don and Kathy King

Lynn Keniston Klahm

Marie and Sam Kocoshis

Carol Louise Kruse

Mr. Shannon Lawson

Richard and Nancy Layding

Merlanne Louney

Luke and Nita Lovell

Mr. Jonathan Martin

Glen and Lynn Mayfield

The Allen-McCarren Trust

Ms. Sue Miller

Mr. and Mrs. David E. Moccia §

George and Sarah Morrison III

Phyllis Myers and Danny Gray

Alice Perlman

Mark and Kim Pomeroy

Rev. Dr. David V. Schwab

Michael and Katherine Rademacher

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Reed

James Rubenstein and Bernadette Unger

Carol J. Schroeder §

Mr. Rick Sherrer and Dr. Lisa D. Kelly

Sue and Glenn Showers §

Elizabeth C. B. Sittenfeld §

William A. and Jane Smith

Elizabeth A. Stone

Peggy and Steven Story

Mr. and Mrs. J. Dwight Thompson

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Tinklenberg

Dr. Barbara R. Voelkel

Dr. and Mrs. Matthew and Diana Wallace

Mrs. Paul H. Ward §

Dr. and Mrs. Galen R. Warren

Jonathan and Janet Weaver

Jim and George Ann Wesner

Jo Ann Wieghaus

Steve and Katie Wolnitzek

Irene A. Zigoris

Anonymous (4)

SYMPHONY CIRCLE

Gifts of $1,500–$2,999

Jeff and Keiko Alexander §

Lisa Allgood

Mr. Nicholas Apanius

Judy Aronoff and Marshall Ruchman

Ms. Laura E. Atkinson

Dr. Diane S. Babcock §

Mr. and Mrs. Carroll R. Baker

David and Elaine Billmire §

Neil Bortz

Dr. Leanne Budde

Gay Bullock

Ms. Deborah Campbell §

Tom Carpenter and Lynne Lancaster

Stephen and Karen Carr

Dr. Alan Chambers

James Civille

Carol C. Cole

Mr. and Mrs. Philip K. Cone

Randy K. and Nancy R. Cooper

Charles and Kimberly Curran §

Mark Dauner and Geraldine Wu

Robert B. Dick, Ph.D.

Tom and Leslie Ducey

David and Linda Dugan

Mr. and Mrs. John G. Earls §

Barry and Judy Evans §

Dr. and Mrs. William J. Faulkner

Ms. Barbara A. Feldmann

Mr. Robert Ferrell

Philip Ficks

Pops Conductor John Morris Russell presents PNC Regional Vice President Warren Weber with a painting by Chunk of China at Red, White and BOOM! Credit: Tyler Secor

Anne and Alan Fleischer

Mrs. Charles Fleischmann

Carol S. Friel

Dudley Fulton

Anne E. Mulder and Rebecca M. Gibbs

Louis and Deborah Ginocchio

Donn Goebel and Cathy McLeod

Dr. and Mrs. Glenn S. Gollobin

Bill and Christy Griesser

Mary and Phil Hagner

Catherine K. Hart

Mrs. Jackie Havenstein

Mrs. Betty H. Heldman §

Mrs. Carol H. Huether

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Isaacs §

Heidi Jark and Steve Kenat

Andrew MacAoidh & Linda Busken Jergens §

The Marvin Jester Family

Christopher and Felecia Kanney

Holly H. Keeler

Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Keown, Jr.

Bill and Penny Kincaid

Jack & Sharon Knapp

In Memory of Jeff Knoop

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kovarsky

Pat and Randy Krumm §

Everett and Barbara Landen

Evelyn and Fred Lang

Charles and Jean Lauterbach

Mary Mc and Kevin Lawson

Mrs. Jean E. Lemon §

Dr. Carol P. Leslie

Andi Levenson Young and Scott Young

Mr. Peter F. Levin §

Mr. and Mrs. Lance A. Lewis

Mr. and Mrs. Clement H. Luken, Jr.

Mr. Gerron McKnight

John and Roberta Michelman

Nan L. Oscherwitz

Dr. Aik Khai Pung

In Memory of Daniel H. Reigle

Stephen and Betty Robinson

Laurie and Dan Roche

Ross Charitable Trust

Marianne Rowe

Mr. & Mrs. Peter A. Schmid

Stanley and Jane Shulman

Ms. Martha Slager

Susan and David Smith

Mark M. Smith (In memory of Terri C. Smith)

Stephanie A. Smith

Stephen and Lyle Smith

Albert and Liza Smitherman

Marian P. Stapleton

Bill and Lee Steenken §

Mrs. Donald C. Stouffer

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stradling, Jr.

Mr. Mark Stroud

Rich and Nancy Tereba

Susan and John Tew

In Memory of Mr. William T. Bahlman, Jr.

Michael L. Walton, Esq

Ted and Mary Ann Weiss

Rev. Anne Warrington Wilson

Judy Wilson

Carol and Don Wuebbling

Anonymous (5)

CONCERTO CLUB

Gifts of $500–$1,499

Christine O. Adams

Dr. Mary Albers

Mr. Thomas Alloy & Dr. Evaline Alessandrini

Patricia A. Anderson

Paul and Dolores Anderson §

Dr. Victor and Dolores Angel

Nancy J. Apfel

Lynne & Keith Apple, Honoring our Family

James Babb

Mrs. Gail Bain

Jerry and Martha Bain

Jack and Diane Baldwin

Scott Balmos

Glenda Bates

Drs. Carol and Leslie Benet

Fred Berger

Barbara and Milton Berner

Dr. David and Cheryl Bernstein

Glenda and Malcolm Bernstein

Milt and Berdie Blersch

Randal and Peter Bloch

Margaret Blomer

Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Bloomer

Michael and Pamela Boehm

Ron and Betty Bollinger

Clay and Emily Bond

Dr. and Mrs. Kevin Bove

David & Madonna Bowman

William & Mary Bramlage

Briggs Creative Services, LLC

Joan Broersma

Kathryn L. Brokaw

Harold and Gwen Brown

Jacklyn and Gary Bryson

Bob and Angela Buechner

Angie & Gary Butterbaugh

Jack and Marti Butz

Drs. Alan B. Cady and Anne K. Nestor

Joseph P. Cardone

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Carothers

Mike and Shirley Chaney

Gordon Christenson

Dee and Frank Cianciolo Fund*

Mr. and Mrs. John Clapp

Bob and Tisha Clary

James Clasper and Cheryl Albrecht

Fred W. Colucci

Marilyn Cones

Janet Conway

Robin Cotton and Cindi Fitton

Martha Crafts

Tim and Katie Crowley

Susan and John Cummings

Jacqueline Cutshall

Loren and Polly DeFilippo

Stephen and Cynthia DeHoff

Nancy and Steve Donovan

Douglas & Kathy Dougherty

Meredith and Chuck Downton

Judy Doyle in Memory of James Johnson

Tom and Dale Due

Mrs. Shirley Duff

Mr. Corwin R. Dunn

Edgar J. and Elaine J. Mack Fund

Dale & Kathy Elifrits

Sally Eversole

Mr. Douglas Fagaly

Ms. Kate Farinacci

Mrs. Michelle Finch

Ilya Finkelshteyn and Evin Blomberg

Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Fischer

William and Carol Fisher

Mr. and Mrs. James Foreman

Janice and Dr. Tom Forte

Mr. and Ms. Bernard Foster

Dr. Charles E. Frank and Ms. Jan Goldstein

Harriet and Bill Freedman

Mr. and Mrs. John Freeman

Mr. Gregrick A. Frey

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Fricke

Mr. and Mrs. James Fryman

Marjorie Fryxell

Mark S. Gay

Drs. Michael and Janelle J. Gelfand

Kathleen Gibboney

Mr. and Mrs. Donald R. Gilb

Dr. Jerome Glinka and Ms. Kathleen Blieszner

Dr. and Mrs. Charles J. Glueck

Dan Goetz

Mr. and Mrs. Jim Goldschmidt

Ms. Arlene Golembiewski

Anita J. and Thomas G. Grau

Robert and Cynthia Gray

Carl and Joyce Greber

Mary Grooms

Nina Gross

Janet C. Haartz and Kenneth V. Smith

Ham and Ellie Hamilton

Walter and Karen Hand

Roberta Handwerger, in memory of Dr. Stuart Handwerger

Mr. and Mrs. William Hardie

James and Sally Harper

Dr. Donald and Laura Harrison

Mariana Belvedere and Samer Hasan

Dr. Deborah Hauger

Mr. John A. Headley

Amy and Dennis Healy

Janet Heiden

Angie Heiman

Howard D. and Mary W. Helms

Donald and Susan Henson

Mr. Jeff Herbert

Herman & Margaret Wasserman Music Fund*

Michelle and Don Hershey

Janet & Craig Higgins

Mr. and Mrs. William A. Hillebrand

Susan and Jon Hoffheimer

Tim and Connie Holmen

Richard and Marcia Holmes

Ben Houck

Ms. Sandra L. Houck

Deanna and Henry Huber

Melissa Huber

Karen and David Huelsman

Dr. Edward & Sarah Hughes

Nada Christine Huron

Judith Imhoff

Ms. Idit Isaacsohn

Dr. Maralyn M. Itzkowitz

Mrs. Charles H. Jackson, Jr.

Ruth and Frederick Joffe

Ms. Anna R. Johnson

Mrs. Marilyn P. Johnston

Mr. Andrew Jones

Elizabeth A. Jones

Scott and Patricia Joseph

Jay and Shirley Joyce §

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Judd §

Rabbi Kenneth Kanter and Dr. Toni Kanter

Marilyn and Joseph Katz

Dr. James Kaya and Debra Grauel

Dr. and Mrs. Richard Kerstine

Rachel Kirley and Joseph Jaquette §

Mr. and Mrs. Dave Kitzmiller

Paul and Carita Kollman

Carol and Scott Kosarko §

Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Kraimer

Kathleen B. and Michael C. Krug Fund*

Mark & Elisabeth Kuhlman

Mrs. John H. Kuhn §

Pinky Laffoon

Patricia Lambeck §

Asher and Kelsey Lanier

Ms. Sally L. Larson

Mrs. Julie Laskey

Joe Law and Phil Wise

Ms. Presley Lindemann

Mitchel and Carol Livingston

Mrs. Marianne Locke

JP and Footie Lund

David and Katja Lundgren

Larry and Mary Geren Lutz

Edmund D. Lyon

Mrs. Mary Reed Lyon

Marshall and Nancy Macks

Jenea Malarik

Barry and Ann Malinowski

Ms. Cheryl Manning

Ms. Wendy Marshall

Mr. and Mrs. Dean Matz

Ms. Elizabeth McCracken

Dr. Janet P. McDaniel

Tim and Trish McDonald

Mark McKillip and Amira Beer

Stephanie & Arthur McMahon

Stephanie McNeill

Charles and JoAnn Mead

Ms. Nancy Menne

Michael V. Middleton

Mr. Bradley Miller

Terence G. Milligan

Sonia R. Milrod

Leslie and Michael Minutolo

Mr. Steven Monder

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Moore

Regeana and Al Morgan

Janet Mott

Mr. Scott Muhlhauser

Kevin and Lane Muth

Alan Flaherty and Patti Myers § Hochwalt Naumann Fund

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Newcomer

Amy Paul and Jerry Newfarmer

Cheryl and Roy Newman

Ms. Jane Nocito

Jane Oberschmidt §

Gary Oppito

Mr. Gerardo Orta

Ms. Sylvia Osterday

Anthony Paggett

John A. Pape

Rozelia Park and Christopher Dendy

Leslie D. Payne

Ms. Catherine J. Pearce

Carol and Jim Pearce

Barbara Persons

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Piazza

Nancy and Patty Wagner, David and Denise DiMartino, Kelly Dehan and Carolyn Miller with John Morris Russell and staff at the Gold Baton Onstage Rehearsal. Credit: CSO Staff

Harry and Ann Santen at the Thomas Schippers Legacy Society Recognition Luncheon. Credit: Claudia Hershner

Ann and Marty Pinales

Jerry Rape

James W. Rauth §

Mrs. Genie Redman

Allan Reeves

Kenneth and Danielle Revelson

Becky and Ted Richards

Stephanie Richardson

Drs. Christopher and Blanca Riemann

Mr. David Robertson

Mr. Brian Robson

Dr. Anna Roetker

Ms. Jeanne C. Rolfes

Catherine Calko

Dr. and Mrs. Gary Roselle

Amy and John Rosenberg

Mr. and Mrs. G. Roger Ross

Dr. Deborah K. Rufner

Mr. Tom Samuels

Dr. Richard S. Sarason and Ms. Anne S. Arenstein

Cindy Scheets

Ms. Carol Schleker

Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Schleker

Dr. and Mrs. Michael Schmerler

Alice and Charles Schneider

George Palmer Schober

Tim and Jeannie Schoonover

Glenda C. Schorr Fund*

Janet R. Schultz

Dr. Joseph Segal and Ms. Debbie Friedman

Elaine Semancik

Mick and Nancy Shaughnessy

The Shepherd Chemical Company

Alfred and Carol Shikany

Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Shoop, Jr.

Jacqueline M. Mack and Dr. Edward B. Silberstein

Ms. Joycee Simendinger

Doug and Laura Skidmore

Nancy McGaughey and Sally Skillman

In Honor of Kenneth Skirtz

Jennifer S. Smith

Phillip and Karen Sparkes

Mrs. John A. Spiess

Mary Stagaman and Ron Kull

Dr. Jeffrey Stambough

Dana A. Stang

Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Stautberg

Mary M. Stein

Christopher and Meghan Stevens

Susan M. and Joseph Eric Stevens

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stevie

Stephanie and Joseph Stitt

Nancy and Gary Strassel

Ms. Susan R. Strick

Mr. George Stricker, Jr.

Dr. Alan and Shelley Tarshis

Maureen Taylor

Mr. Fred Tegarden

Carlos and Roberta Teran

Linda and Nate Tetrick

Dale and Yana Thatcher

Marcia and Bob Togneri

POPS Disney in Concert: Hocus Pocus | NOV 1 & 2

Anderson High School

Artswave YP

Charles and Mary Birkenhauer Friends & Family

Elena Ivanov and Friends

Robert and Libby Turner Friends & Family

CSO Yo-Yo Ma Plays Elgar | NOV 4

Anderson High School

Indian Hill High School

Seasons Retirement Community

POPS Nas: Illmatic live | NOV 12 & 13

Romayne Jones and DePaul Cristo Rey High School

Crystal Kendrick Friends & Family

Lollipops Family Concert Let’s Dance | NOV 15

Debbie Patten and Family

Ashley Schomaker Friends & Family

Michael Stallkamp Friends & Family

CSO Handel’s Messiah: DEC 5 & 6

Thomas and Sondra Copanas Friends & Family

Analeis Larsen Friends & Family

Twin Lakes

Myra Yates Friends & Family

Holiday POPS | DEC 12–14

Anderson Senior Center

Bank of America

Barrington of Oakley

Batavia Middle School

Bayley at Green Township

Beechwood Independent Schools

Berkeley Square

Joseph Brinkmeyer

Mike and Barbara Burns Friends & Family

Butler Tech

Gary and Bonnie Carothers Friends & Family

James and Susan Troutt

Dr. Nicolette van der Klaauw

Mr. D. R. Van Lokeren

Dr. Judith Vermillion

Jim and Rachel Votaw §

Mrs. Barbara J. Wagner

Ms. Barbara Wagner

Mr. and Mrs. James L. Wainscott

Jane A. Walker

Rosemary Waller

Sarella Walton

Ping Wang

Claude and Camilla Warren

Mrs. Louise Watts

Mary Webster

Janice T. Wieland

Mr. Dean Windgassen and Ms. Susan Stanton Windgassen

Craig and Barbara Wolf

Donald and Karen Wolnik

Rebecca Seeman and David Wood

Judith R. Workman

Linda Wulff

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wylly III

Mr. John M. Yacher

Edith and Leo Yakutis

David and Sharon Youmans

Judy and Martin Young

Mr. David Youngblood and Ms. Ellen Rosenman

Janice Zahn

Cheryl Zalzal

Mr. and Mrs. John Zeller

Moritz and Barbara Ziegler

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Zierolf

Mr. Richard K. Zinicola and Ms. Linda R. Holthaus

Daniel & Susmita Zuck

Mrs. Beth Zwergel

Anonymous (24)

List as of August 18, 2025

GIFTS IN-KIND

David and Carol Dunevant

Graeter’s Ice Cream

Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA

Southern Grace Eats

WOW Windowboxes

Carlos Zavala

List as of August 21, 2025

* Denotes a fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

(as of September 25, 2025)

Christian Village at Mason

Connor Middle School

Cops to Pops

Countryside YMCA

Rosemary Franck Friends & Family

Garfield Middle School

Hoeting Realtors

Nancy Jacob Friends & Family

The Kenwood

Kerry Automative

The Knolls of Oxford

Steve Lynn Friends & Family

Maple Knoll Village

Sally Middlesworth Friends & Family

Otterbein Retirement Community

Jackie Ramsey Friends & Family

Lauren Reynolds Friends & Family

George Schmidt

Kate Schmitt Friends & Family

South Dearborn High School

Wilson Middle School

Theresa Zenz Friends & Family

Mary Blake Friends & Family

Seasons Retirement Community

Kevin and Kathleen Pater Friends & Family

§ Denotes members of The Thomas Schippers Legacy Society. Individuals who have made a planned gift to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops Orchestra are eligible for membership in the Society. For more information, please contact Kate Farinacci at 513.744.3202. ENJOY THE MUSIC, TOGETHER!

• Groups of 10+ save 20% on most concerts and seniors and students save even more!

• Curate your own event with a private reception, guided tour or meet and greet — the possibilities are endless.

Contact CSO Group Sales: 513.744.3252 or wmarshall@cincinnatisymphony.org cincinnatisymphony.org/groups

 THE THOMAS SCHIPPERS LEGACY SOCIETY

Mr. & Mrs. James R. Adams

Jeff & Keiko Alexander

Mrs. Robert H. Allen

Dr. Toni Alterman

Paul R. Anderson

Carole J. Arend

Donald C. Auberger, Jr.

Thomas Schippers was Music Director from 1970 to 1977. He left not only wonderful musical memories, but also a financial legacy with a personal bequest to the Orchestra. The Thomas Schippers Legacy Society recognizes those who contribute to the Orchestra with a planned gift. We thank these members for their foresight and generosity. For more information on leaving your own legacy, contact Kate Farinacci at 513.744.3202.

Kathy Grote

Esther B. Grubbs, Marci Bein, Mindi Hamby

William Hackman

Vincent C. Hand & Ann E. Hagerman

Tom & Jan* Hardy

William L. Harmon

Dr. Diane Schwemlein Babcock

Henrietta Barlag*

Peggy Barrett*

Jane* & Ed Bavaria

David & Elaine Billmire

Walter Blair

Dr. John & Suzanne Bossert

Dr. Mollie H. Bowers-Hollon

Ronald Bozicevich

Thomas A. Braun, III

Joseph Brinkmeyer

Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Bryan, III

Harold & Dorothy Byers

Deborah Campbell & Eunice M. Wolf

Catharine W. Chapman

Michael L. Cioffi & Rachael Rowe

Mrs. Jackson L. Clagett III

Lois & Phil* Cohen

Leland M.* & Carol C. Cole

Sheila & Christopher Cole

Jack & Janice Cook

Mr. & Mrs. Charles Cordes

Ms. Andrea Costa

Peter G. Courlas & Nick Tsimaras*

Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Curran III

Amy & Scott Darrah, Meredith & Will Darrah, children

Caroline H. Davidson

Harrison R.T. Davis

Ms. Kelly M. Dehan

Amy & Trey Devey

Robert W. Dorsey

Jon & Susan Doucleff

Ms. Judith A. Doyle

Mr. & Mrs. John Earls

Mr. & Mrs. Barry C. Evans

Linda & Harry Fath

Alan Flaherty

Ashley & Barbara Ford

Guy & Marilyn Frederick

Rich Freshwater & Family

Mr. Nicholas L. Fry

Linda P. Fulton

H. Jane Gavin

Edward J. & Barbara C.* Givens

Kenneth A. Goode

Clifford J. Goosmann &

Andrea M. Wilson

Mrs. Madeleine H. Gordon

J. Frederick & Cynthia Gossman

Mary J. Healy

Frank G. Heitker

Betty & John* Heldman

Karlee L. Hilliard

Michael H. Hirsch

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph W. Hirschhorn

Daniel J. Hoffheimer

Kenneth L. Holford

George R. Hood

Mr. & Mrs. Terence L. Horan

Mrs. Benjamin C. Hubbard

Susan & Tom Hughes

Dr. Lesley Gilbertson & Dr. William Hurford

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Isaacs

Julia M. F. B. Jackson

Michael & Kathleen Janson

Andrew MacAoidh Jergens

Jean C. Jett

Jay & Shirley Joyce

Anne C. & Robert P. Judd

Margaret H. Jung

Mace C. Justice

Dr. & Mrs.* Steven Katkin

Rachel Kirley & Joseph Jaquette

Carolyn Koehl

Marvin Kolodzik & Linda Gallaher

Carol & Scott Kosarko

Marilyn & Michael Kremzar

Randolph & Patricia Krumm

Theresa M. Kuhn

Warren & Patricia Lambeck

Peter E. Landgren & Judith Schonbach Landgren

Susan J. Lauf

Owen & Cici Lee

Steve Lee

Mrs. Jean E. Lemon

Mr. Peter F. Levin

Janice W.* & Gary R. Lubin

Mr.* & Mrs. Ronald Lyons

Margot Marples

David L. Martin

Allen* & Judy Martin

David Mason

Barbara & Kim McCracken

Laura Kimble McLellan

Dr. Stanley R. Milstein

Mrs. William K. Minor

Mr. & Mrs. D. E. Moccia

Mary Lou Motl

Kristin & Stephen Mullin

Christopher & Susan Muth

Patti Myers

Ms. Phyllis A. Myers

Susan & Kenneth Newmark

Dr. & Mrs. Theodore Nicholas

Jane Oberschmidt

Marja-Liisa Ogden

Julie & Dick* Okenfuss

Dr. & Mrs. Richard E. Park, MD

Charlie & Tara Pease

Poul D. & JoAnne Pedersen

Sandy & Larry* Pike

Mrs. Harold F. Poe

Anne M. Pohl

Irene & Daniel Randolph

James W. Rauth

Barbara S. Reckseit

Mrs. Angela M. Reed

Melody Sawyer Richardson

Ellen Rieveschl

Elizabeth & Karl Ronn

Moe & Jack Rouse

Ann & Harry Santen

Rosemary & Mark Schlachter

Carol J. Schroeder

Mrs. William R. Seaman

Dr. Brian Sebastian

Mrs. Robert B. Shott

Sue & Glenn Showers

Irwin & Melinda Simon

Betsy & Paul* Sittenfeld

Sarah Garrison Skidmore*

Adrienne A. Smith

David & Sonja* Snyder

Marie Speziale

Mr. & Mrs. Christopher L. Sprenkle

Barry & Sharlyn Stare

Bill & Lee Steenken

Tom* & Dee Stegman

Barry Steinberg

Nancy M. Steman

John & Helen Stevenson

Mary & Bob Stewart

Brett Stover

Dr. Robert & Jill Strub

Patricia M. Strunk

Ralph & Brenda* Taylor

Conrad F. Thiede

Minda F. Thompson

Carrie & Peter Throm

Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Todd

Nydia Tranter

Dick & Jane Tuten

Thomas Vanden Eynden* & Judith Beiting

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Varley

Mr. & Mrs. James K. Votaw

Mr. & Mrs.* Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr.

Nancy C. Wagner

Patricia M. Wagner

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Ward

Jo Anne & Fred Warren

Mr. Scott Weiss & Dr. Charla Weiss

Donna A. Welsch

Anne M. Werner

Gary & Diane West

Charles A. Wilkinson

Ms. Diana Willen

Susan Stanton Windgassen

Mrs. Joan R. Wood

Alison & Jim Zimmerman

* Deceased

New Schippers members are in bold

Administration

SHARED SERVICES & SUBSIDIARIES. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s business model is unique within the orchestral industry because it provides administrative services for other nonprofits and operates two subsidiary companies — Music & Event Management, Inc. and EVT Management LLC. With the consolidation of resources and expertise, sharing administrative services allows for all organizations within the model to thrive. Under this arrangement, the CSO produces hundreds of events in the Greater Cincinnati and Dayton regions and employs hundreds of people annually.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

Robert McGrath President & CEO

Harold Brown

The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Inclusion Officer

John Clapp Chief Orchestra & Production Officer

Gregory Lee Chief Financial Officer

Felecia Tchen Kanney Chief Marketing & Communications Officer

Mary McFadden Lawson Chief Philanthropy Officer

Anthony Paggett Chief Artistic Officer

Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar Chief People Officer

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Shannon Faith Executive Assistant to the President & CEO

ARTISTIC PLANNING

Julia Gaines

Artistic Planning Intern

Theresa Lansberry Manager of Artistic Planning & Artist Servicing

Shuta Maeno

Manager of Artistic Planning & Assistant to the Music Director

Jamie Ellen Ripperger Artist Liaison

Sam Strater Senior Advisor for Cincinnati Pops Planning

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Key Crooms Director of Community Engagement

Pamela Jayne Volunteer & Community Engagement Manager

Molly Rains Community Engagement Events Manager

Andrea Saavedra Ferreira Community Engagement Intern

FINANCE, IT & DATA SERVICES

Julian Cann Accounting Clerk

Leia Chan Finance Intern

Kathleen Curry Data Entry Clerk

Elizabeth Engwall Accounting Manager

Spencer Enright Accounting Clerk

Matt Grady Accounting Manager

Sharon Grayton Data Services Manager

Marijane Klug Staff Accountant

Shannon May Accounting Clerk

Kristina Pfeiffer Director of Finance

Judy Simpson Director of Finance

Tara Williams Data Services Manager

HUMAN RESOURCES & PAYROLL

Megan Inderbitzin-Tsai Director of Payroll Services

Natalia Lerzundi Human Resources Manager

LEARNING

Hollie Greenwood Learning Department Coordinator

Kyle Lamb School Programs Manager

Jack Obermeyer Youth Orchestras Manager

Anja Ormiston Learning Department Coordinator

Hannah Ross Director of Learning

MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS & DIGITAL MEDIA

Charlie Balcom

Social Media Manager

Leon Barton Website Manager

Hannah Boettcher

Marketing Intern

KC Commander Director of Digital Content & Innovation

Maria Cordes

Video Editor

Jon Dellinger

Growth Marketing Manager

Drew Dolan

Box Office Manager

Kaitlyn Driesen

Digital Media & Label Services Manager

Jensen Fitch Publicity Manager

Gabriela Godinez Feregrino

Publications Manager

Daniel Lees Assistant Box Office Manager

Michelle Lewandowski Director of Marketing

Tina Marshall Director of Ticketing & Audience Services

Wendy Marshall Group Sales Manager

Madelyn McArthur Audience Engagement Manager

Nyla Nawab Communications Intern

Amber Ostaszewski Director of Audience Engagement

Devon Pine

Subscription Marketing Manager

Tyler Secor Director of Communications & Content Development

Alexis Shambley Audience Development Marketing Manager

Lee Snow Digital Content Technology Manager

Elise Wells

Digital Content Intern

Patron Services

Representatives

Hannah Blanchette, Lead

Monica Lange, Lead

Talor Marren, Lead

Lucas Maurer, Lead

Marian Mayen, Lead

Gregory Patterson, Lead

Andy Demczuk

Craig Doolin

Abby Dreith

Jacob Forte

Ebony Jackson

Grace Mattina

Scott Molnar

Kathleen Riemenschneider

Mekhi Tyree

PHILANTHROPY

Sean Baker

Director of Institutional Giving

Angelina Bush

Philanthropy Intern

Ashley Coffey Foundation & Grants Manager

Maddie Denning

Institutional Giving Coordinator

Kate Farinacci

Director of Special Campaigns & Legacy Giving

Catherine Hann

Assistant Director of Individual Giving

Rachel Hellebusch Corporate Giving Manager

Leslie Hoggatt-Minutolo

Director of Individual Giving & Donor Services

Quinton Jefferson Research & Grants Administrator

Ethan Mann

Donor Engagement Coordinator

D’Anté McNeal

Special Projects Coordinator

Emma Steward

Leadership Giving Manager

PRODUCTION

Laura Bordner Adams Director of Operations

Shawnta Hunter

Production Intern

Alex Magg

Production Manager

Isabella Prater

Production Coordinator

Brenda Tullos

Director of Orchestra Personnel

Rachel Vondra

Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Upcoming Concerts

Tickets on sale now

JAN 2026

DISNEY & PIXAR’S TOY STORY in Concert

JAN 3 & 4 SAT 7:30 PM & SUN 2 PM

Damon Gupton conductor “To infinity and beyond!”

TRIFONOV PLAYS BEETHOVEN

JAN 10 & 11 SAT 7:30 PM & SUN 2 PM

Cristian Mӑcelaru conductor

Daniil Trifonov piano

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2

Daníel Bjarnason I Want to Be Alive — Trilogy for Orchestra (Co-Commission)

AMERICAN VOICES

JAN 16 & 17* FRI 11 AM & SAT 7:30 PM

Cristian Mӑcelaru conductor

Morris Robinson narrator & bass

Rita Dove poet

Margaret Bonds Select movements from Montgomery Variations

Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings with poetry commissioned by the CSO Wynton Marsalis Select movements from Blues Symphony

Winstead Chamber Series BAROQUE AND BEYOND

JAN 22 THU 7:30 PM

J.S. Bach, arr. Perron Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D Minor for Two Cellos

Bohuslav Martinů String Quartet No. 4

Maurice Ravel Piano Trio in A Minor

DOLLY PARTON’S THREADS: My Songs in Symphony

JAN 23–25 FRI & SAT 7:30 PM; SUN 2 PM

Sarah Hicks conductor

Katelyn Drye vocalist

Hollie Hammel vocalist

Blair Lamb vocalist

Derek Drye acoustic guitar

Lindsey Miller electric guitar

Gideon Klein banjo/mandolin

Chris Leidhecker drums

Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs In Symphony is an innovative multimedia experience featuring Dolly on screen, leading audiences in a visual-musical journey of her songs, her life and her stories.

SLAVIC LEGENDS

JAN 30 & 31 FRI & SAT 7:30 PM

Oksana Lyniv conductor

Esther Yoo violin

Evgeni Orkin Five Interrupted Lullabies

Sergei Prokofiev Violin

Concerto No. 1

Antonín Dvořák Golden Spinning Wheel

Bedřich Smetana “Vltava” (“The Moldau”) from Má vlast (“My Country”)

FEB 2026

ACCESS TO MUSIC

FEB 1 SUN 2 PM

This all-ages, sensory-friendly performance celebrates the connection between autism and music, both of which exist on a vast spectrum.

MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 4

FEB 6 & 7 FRI 11 AM & SAT 7:30 PM

Tabita Berglund conductor

Camilla Tilling soprano

Anna Thorvaldsdottir ARCHORA

Gustav Mahler Rückert-Lieder Symphony No. 4

Lollipops Family Concert

PETER AND THE WOLF

FEB 7 SAT 10:30 AM

Duo Shen conductor

Big sounds for little ears! Bring your kiddos to Music Hall for a magical musical adventure as Sergei Prokofiev’s beloved tale of Peter and the Wolf comes to life on stage through the sounds of the orchestra.

CSYO/CSO Side by Side

FEB 25 WED 10:30 AM

Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra Philharmonic Orchestra

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Members of the CSYO Philharmonic sit with their CSO counterparts to perform a thrilling hour of music. The students sit in the principal chairs and take the lead in this annual showcase.

*This performance will be livestreamed on the CSO’s YouTube channel, cincinnatisymphony.org/live.

Esther Yoo

Tabita Berglund

Morris Robinson