Ailyn Perez and Soloman Howard – Photo by Soloman Howard
Soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Matthew White, baritone Michael Chioldi, and bass Soloman Howard are the international opera stars who will headline Cincinnati Opera’s “Viva Verdi!” special concert as part of its 2027 Summer Festival.
The concert, to be at 7:30 p.m. June 25, 2027 in Music Hall, celebrates a transformational $6 million gift from the Harry T. Wilks Family Foundation.
Tenor Matthew White JustJamiPhotography
Cincinnati Opera announced the cast this week. The cast includes some of the most sought-after voices in classical music who perform regularly with prestigious opera companies and orchestras throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. (Opera fans will recognize a number of Cincinnati Opera appearances, as well.)
They will be joined by the Cincinnati Opera Chorus, under the leadership of Chorus Master Henri Venanzi, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alex Amsel.
This special concert is made possible by a transformational $6 million gift from The Harry T. Wilks Family Foundation, led by trustees Nanci Wilks Lanni and Barbara Wilks.
The gift was first announced from the Music Hall stage during Cincinnati Opera’s July 2026 performances of Carmen. It will establish The Harry T. Wilks Family Foundation Fund for Leading Artists, an endowed fund that will provide Cincinnati Opera with ongoing support for the presentation of singers of the highest quality, beginning in 2027 and continuing with key principal artist engagements in seasons to come.Read More »
If your Fall calendar looks like mine, it’s filling up quickly. Here’s a fun idea: The a cappella group, the Yale Whiffenpoofs, will be performing at Knox Presbyterian Church on October 20th, 7:30-9 p.m.
The Whiffenpoofs, the world’s oldest and best known collegiate a cappella group, performs 200 concerts each year and tours internationally. Founded in 1909, the ”Whiffs” began as a senior quartet that met for weekly concerts at Mory’s Temple Bar, a famous Yale tavern.
They’ve appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the White House, the Rose Bowl, and Lincoln Center. Their television appearances includes NBC’s The Sing Off, The West Wing, The Today Show, 60 Minutes, Gilmore Girls, Jeopardy!, Saturday Night Live, the Season 4 finale of Glee and Hell’s Kitchen. They’ve also sung for multiple sitting presidents. They close each night with the historic Whiffenpoof Song, covered by artists such as Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby.
Tickets will be $15 for students/children and $25 for general admission. Priority seating tickets are also available, and the ticket link is here.
The Vocal Arts Ensemble will join with the May Festival in a unified vision and board of directors. Photo by Phil Armstrong
Two of Cincinnati’s most distinguished choral organizations are expanding a longstanding partnership to establish a shared governance structure with a single unified board of directors.
The Cincinnati May Festival, which was founded in 1873, and Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble (VAE), a professional choral group founded in 1979, announced on May 5 that they will be partnering in a new model that will deepen their ties. Although they will share a single board of directors, each organization will preserve its own, independent nonprofit status.
The Cincinnati May Festival centers around its community-based May Festival Chorus, and has presented a vast catalog of important choral works, including world and American premieres, over the past 150 years. VAE has performed with the May Festival since its founding, a tradition that continues today. Its leadership has included some of the nation’s top choral conductors. Joe Miller serves as its fifth music director.
Former director of choruses Robert Porco leading the Hallelujah Chorus. Photo by JP Leong.
“This is an intentional, measured step toward greater alignment building on a legacy of artistic and operational collaboration,” Julianne Akins Smith, Executive Director of the May Festival and VAE, said in a statement. “By connecting more closely with the May Festival’s vision and infrastructure, we are expanding what’s possible for professional choral singing in Cincinnati — allowing the vision of VAE to come to life.”
The shared model will enable both organizations to leverage their strengths more effectively. VAE, which regularly performs in intimate and varied settings, will play a vital role in advancing the May Festival’s year-round presence in the community. This month, concertgoers will see its members in pop-up performances during the festival.
In addition, audiences can hear VAE, 7:30 p.m. May 19, performing in the concert “May Festival Presents | Vocal Arts Ensemble: Rossini’s Pettie Messe Solennelle” as part of the 2026 May Festival curated by Festival Director Julia Bullock and Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson. (For tickets visit mayfestival.com.)
It is the second ensemble to come under the May Festival umbrella. In 2024, the May Festival announced a strategic alliance with Cincinnati Boychoir, while honoring the unique roles of each partner organization.
Together these efforts reinforce a shared goal: to make world-class choral music more visible and more accessible, transforming Cincinnati into a destination for aspiring singers while encouraging life-long relationships with singing at every age, the announcement said.
“On behalf of the May Festival Board of Directors, we look forward to this strengthened partnership,” said Dr. Michael Curran, Board Chair of the May Festival. “It honors VAE’s legacy, creates innovative new pathways for artists to connect with audiences, and ensures that choral music will continue to thrive in Cincinnati.”
It’s always amazing to look back at the wealth of Cincinnati’s arts that we enjoy every year. There were important new arts leaders and new and improved venues. In comings and goings, the new dean of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Peter Jutras, was busy hiring what seems like a record number of new faculty members. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, too, has hired many new musicians that we are all still getting to know. And early this month, the Contemporary Arts Center’s Christina Vassallo announced she will soon be departing from her role as director. She will become executive director of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in Philadelphia.
Assistant principal cellist Norman Johns performed with the CSO for 50 years.
Among those who left us in 2025 was cellist Norman Johns, an inspiring musician, a trailblazer and a role model. He shared his gifts as a teacher, chamber music coach and mentor to legions of students in Cincinnati for most of the 50 years that he performed in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Here is a small tribute to this musical giant.
Sadly, the Cincinnati Symphony also lost its much-admired principal trombonist Cristian Ganicenco. He was 58, and passed away on the eve of Cristian Măcelaru’s first concert as CSO music director. The two shared their homeland of Romania. Here is one of many tributes.
Below are some of my favorite performances, art exhibitions, newsmakers and more!
New leadership at Cincinnati Ballet — For his first season since being named artistic director, Cincinnati Ballet’s Cervilio Miguel Amador curated selections that include four world premieres, the regional premiere of “The Great Gatsby,” the return of “Swan Lake” (coming up in February) and “Director’s Vision: Liberty in Motion,” celebrating the evolution of American choreography in honor of America’s 250th birthday. We can’t wait to see his vision moving forward.
Alyssa Wang. Robert Torres Photography
A woman on the podium — This year, Cincinnati Ballet welcomed Alyssa Wang as its new music director, succeeding Carmon DeLeone, a local legend who retired after more than 50 years. I enjoyed watching her conduct “The Nutcracker” last week, and look forward to seeing more of her work.
A previous concert by Musica Sacra at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption/ photo provided
The choral ensemble Musica Sacra has commissioned a new work in honor of its 60th anniversary. Directed by Dr. L. Brett Scott, Musica Sacra will perform the world premiere of “Receiving” by award-winning composer Jessica French, 3 p.m. October, 26, 2025 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, KY. The program also includes Haydn’s “Harmoniemesse.”
Musica Sacra is second only to the Cincincinnati May Festival as the oldest continually operating community choral group in Cincinnati. It was founded in 1965 by Helmut Roehrig, whose vision was to create an ensemble for performing sacred choral literature in the spaces for which they were intended, accompanied by an orchestra, and at no charge to the public. He led the group for 50 years.
The Seattle-based composer will attend the performance. During the week, she’ll work with students at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where Scott is Professor of Ensembles and Conducting. French’s work has been commissioned by BBC Singers, the St. Olaf Cantorei and Orchestra; the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys (NYC), and the Choir of Trinity Church Wall Street (NYC) among others.Read More »
The Grammy Awards were announced today, and there are a few familiar names this year. The biggest news: Elaine Martone has won Producer of the Year, Classical for a host of recordings, including: Joy! (John Morris Russell & Cincinnati Pops). It is her sixth Grammy Award in her stunning career. Congratulations to Elaine, who produces the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops recordings. She is truly world-class. (Martone is married to Robert Woods, founder of Telarc Records, which was famous for the 100 or so Pops albums they recorded during the Erich Kunzel years … )
The other supporting works on her list are:
• Bartók: String Quartet No.3; Suite From ‘The Miraculous Mandarin’ (Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra)
• The Book of Spells (Merian Ensemble)
• Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 (Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra)
• Divine Mischief (Julian Bliss, J. Eric Wilson & Baylor University Wind Ensemble)
• Prokofiev: Symphony No. 6 (Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra)
• Schubert: The Complete Impromptus (Gerardo Teissonnière)
• Stranger at Home (Shachar Israel)
• Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 (Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra).
Here are some other classical music awards, which also have a few Cincinnati connections:Read More »
Cristian Macelaru conducting Shostakovich/Photo provided by CSO
Besides great performances in Cincinnati, 2024 was a year of anniversaries, historic firsts, farewells and new beginnings. In some instances, there was news-making connected with these performances. In chronological order:
1) Last February, when he led a thrilling and revelatory performance of Shostakovich’s monumental Symphony No. 11 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, we didn’t yet know that Cristian Macelaru would be announced as the 14th CSO music director. The conductor riveted listeners in Music Hall when he led Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905.” He moved little as he led Shostakovich’s vast symphonic canvas, but the sheer visceral impact of this performance lingered long afterward. The orchestra’s musicians were impressed. For Macelaru, the feeling was mutual, he said in April, when his appointment was announced. Macelaru returns for his only performances with the CSO this season in February. And in other CSO leadership news, the CSO announced that President and CEO Jonathan Martin will retire Feb. 16. Robert McGrath, the CSO’s chief operating officer, will then step in as acting president and CEO.Read More »
If you’ve ever heard the 1929 Grand E.M. Skinner Symphonic Concert Organ, you know the majesty of this instrument.
This historic organ, lovingly restored and installed in the Rotunda of Cincinnati Museum, can be heard in three concerts this season. Three renowned organists joined by local choirs and musicians will perform selections on the organ from Wagner to Messiaen, using every color of the symphonic spectrum.
Cincinnati Museum Center has announce the 2024–2025 Music in the Museum series, where they look forward to sharing the glorious sounds of the organ with you. Tickets are available now. Full programs are listed below.
During a capacity audience that I heard last season, s Michael Barone, host of “Pipedreams” on American Public Media told the large crowd, “There is no other organ like this in this kind of setting, anywhere. You have a treasure.”
Nearly 5,000 Pipes and four manuals — From 1987–2010, the 1929 Grand E. M. Skinner Symphonic Concert Organ was restored and installed in specially designed organ chambers. The main chambers are located on either side of the Rotunda where it meets the rear concourse. The antiphonal division is over the entrance to the Cincinnati History Museum. The organ has nearly 5,000 pipes played from a console with four manual keyboards.
The Ariel Quartet with clarinetist Pavel Vinnitsky on Tuesday at the Skirball Museum in Clifton.
Maybe you’ve seen brief mentions of the Jewish Music Festival, with musical performances, lectures and sometimes art exhibitions taking place throughout the area. The festival is brand new, and organized by Aik Khai Pung, associate professor at CCM, where he is music director of the CCM Concert Orchestra. I noticed in an online listing that the Ariel String Quartet was playing last night at Hebrew Union College, and by luck, I was able to go.
The concert, which was co-presented by concert:nova and the Cincinnati Cultural Exchange, was held in Mayerson Auditorium in the Skirball Museum on the HUC campus. Curator Abby Schwartz provided commentary about the art by Jewish artists that surrounded us, and the paintings’ relationships to the music.
The musical artists for this program were sensational. The Ariel Quartet, quartet-in-residence at CCM, opened with Lera Auerbach’s “Frozen Dreams” and “Cetera Desunt” for string quartet. Both works were a revelation. “Frozen Dreams” was haunting and deeply personal. Auerbach’s music is simply astonishing; it is both searing and lyrical. In “Cetera Desunt” Auerbach took her cue from Shostakovich, and the listener could detect the repeating motive signifying Shostakovich’s signature. The superb performers — violinists Alexandra Kazovsky and Gershon Gerchikov, Jan Grüning, viola, and Amit-Even-Tov, cello — soared through this treacherous score with exciting precision and passion. In the frenzied passages, they dug into their strings with bows flying. I plan to try to hear more of Auerbach’s music.
Vinnitsky was serenaded with “happy birthday” after the performance.
They joined with clarinetist Pavel Vinnitsky for Osvaldo Golijov’s “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind.” It is named for a blind, mystical rabbi who lived centuries ago, but is also a tribute to Golijov’s great-grandfather. This piece blends liturgical prayers in its outer movements with raucous Klezmer music. There could not have been a better champion for both styles than Vinnitsky, who wailed and almost danced in his seat as he performed Golijov’s riveting music, using three different clarinets.
Vinnitsky joined CCM’s clarinet faculty about two years ago. He and the Ariel Quartet will perform the Brahms Clarinet Quintet on March 26 at CCM, 7:30 p.m. in Werner Recital Hall. It’s not-to-be missed!
The Jewish Foundation is sponsor of the inaugural festival, a total of nine concerts and events. Other participants have included the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, composer Anna Vinnitsky, saxophonist Rick VanMatre and others.
‘Tis the season for lots of music. I hope you are all taking advantage of the wealth of holiday concerts and shows happening right now. Here are a few of my picks.
