Winner Joshua Mhoon with Music Director Cristian Măcelaru, who was also an adjudicator. Photos by Phil Armstrong, with thanks to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
To play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, you need to possess a spectacular technique, expressive power and, not least, endurance. Pianist Joshua Mhoon had all those and more.
Mhoon, 22, won first prize in the Nina Simone Piano Competition, held on Wed. Oct. 7 in Music Hall. Three finalists — Evan Hines, John Paul McGee and Mhoon — competed in the Solo Round followed by the Concerto Round in the competition. Music Director Cristian Măcelaru conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for the Concerto Round, during which the young artists each performed a complete piano concerto.
Mhoon was awarded the $12,000 first prize, as well as a recital at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music presented by Opus 3. Second prize ($4,000) went to Evan Hines. John Paul McGee won third and $2,000. A small audience of symphony fans and piano aficionados was on hand, and gave warm responses to each artist.
The finalists of the Nina Simone Piano Competition: Joshua Mhoon, music director Cristian Măcelaru, Evan Hines and John Paul McGee
The previous rounds of the Artist Division were held at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, said Awadagin Pratt, who is currently professor of piano on its faculty after serving on the piano faculty at CCM for two decades. Pratt is founder of the Art of the Piano Foundation, which hosts the biennial Nina Simone Piano Competition to spotlight talented young African American classical pianists. He is a Yamaha Artist, and the competition was using a Yamaha concert grand piano.
The judges were Pierre Van Der Westhuizen, executive and artistic director of the prestigious Gilmore Piano Festival (and a CCM alumnus); Mikael Darmanie, also a CCM grad, who is busy classical performer, composer and conductor with an eclectic career as a DJ and member of the Warp Trio. Măcelaru served as the third judge.Read More »
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 »
Carmen (J’Nai Bridges) joins Escamillo (Ryan McKinny) in his celebration. Photos by Philip Groshong for Cincinnati Opera
Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” is possibly the most popular opera ever written. Besides its dramatic story, you are left humming its gorgeous, unforgettable tunes days later. Cincinnati Opera has mounted productions of “Carmen” since it’s second season,1921, in Cincinnati Zoo Pavilion.
On July 25 in Music Hall, I saw the 179th performance of “Carmen,” opening night of the final opera of its mainstage season, with a fine cast and an engagingly updated co-production. Although the performance was sometimes uneven, there were many standout moments. For me, the highlight was Bizet’s musical score, given a spirited reading by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in the opera pit under the baton of Spanish conductor Ramón Tebar.
Tebar led the orchestra briskly through the Prelude’s bright opening themes. When the music arrived at the “Fate” theme, the lights dimmed theatrically (Thomas C. Hase). The curtain rose on 1950s Havana, where the cigarette girls had to be unlocked from cage-like doors in order to take their factory break, perhaps a nod to Havana just before Fidel Castro came to power. The set designs by Gary McCann, who also designed the wonderful midcentury costumes, were charmingly evocative of old Havana. The heat was almost palpable in the saturated red lighting that simmered in the background against a painterly blue sky. The smuggler’s mountaintop hideout was a gloomy, abandoned warehouse with looming windows and a large doorway, through which the smugglers loaded their loot.
The title character, Carmen, performed by mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, is a free-spirited femme fatale who seduces Don José and then dumps him for the toreador, Escamillo. In 2021, Bridges provided a glimpse of her gifts in an abridged “Carmen” with Cincinnati Opera. It was performed outdoors at Summit Park in Blue Ash, amplified and with Covid protocols in place.
A desperate Don José (Matthew White) confronts Carmen (J’Nai Bridges).
In this production, originally staged by Paul Curran and locally directed by Anderson Nunnelly, Carmen was more defiant than flirty or sensual. Bridges’ rich mezzo-soprano was pleasing in the upper register, although her lower phrases did not project well in the “Habanera.” Her Carmen had an edge – the director brought the factory spat vividly outdoors, as Carmen slapped a woman and yanked her hair. It was clear that men were putty in her hands as she tore off her apron down to a red dress for her sizzling “Seguidilla.”Read More »
Stephen Hough joined Roderick Cox and the CSO in Beethoven. Photos by JP Leong.
If you ever doubted the power and majesty of Beethoven, pianist Stephen Hough puts those thoughts to rest with his brilliant performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor,” with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on May 8 in Music Hall.
The British pianist joined returning guest conductor Roderick Cox for the CSO’s season finale that, besides the “Emperor,” included Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 and an upbeat opener by Jennifer Higdon, “Fanfare Ritmico.” Whether because of these fine artists or the crowd-pleasing repertoire on the program, a large audience attended the Friday morning concert, and a sellout was expected on Saturday night.
Hough has visited Cincinnati a number of times, including a memorable recital for the Xavier Piano Series in 2021 during his 60th birthday tour, when he performed one of his own compositions. The pianist is regarded by media such as the Economist and the BBC as a “polymath,” with a distinguished concert and recording career of more than four decades, as well as success as a writer and a composer. Among his many accomplishments, he was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, and was awarded a Knighthood for Services to Music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2022. He is now Sir Stephen Hough.Read More »
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.”
Kristiina Poska made her CSO debut this weekend at Music hall. Photos are by JP Leong.
It’s no longer a rarity to see an accomplished woman conductor on the podium of a major orchestra. This season, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is among those orchestras leading the way, with four presented this season, including the legendary Dame Jane Glover. But it’s not surprising either, to read about guest conductor Kristiina Poska, who made her CSO debut on April 17, and discover that she is the first woman to be appointed to several of her conducting posts around the globe. She is among a rising generation of talented women making strides, and someone to watch.
Lise de la Salle returned to perform Chopin with the orchestra
Poska, a native of Estonia, made an impression in an engaging program for a spring morning at Music Hall. She opened with “Underneath the Sheen” by Julia Adolphe, a gifted composer who is known to Cincinnati audiences, notably for her 2023 May Festival co-commission, “Crown of Hummingbirds.” The first half included Chopin’s Concerto No. 2 in F Minor featuring French pianist Lise de la Salle. Poska concluded the morning with a heartwarming reading of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3, known as the “Scottish.”
Like many rising conductors, Poska holds several positions. She is chief conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Latvian Symphony Orchestra. She is also music director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, and in opera, she debuts this season at the Opéra de Dijon, France.
Mendelssohn was inspired to write his “Scottish” Symphony more than a decade after his travels to England, Italy and France around 1930. It has no specific program, but clearly evokes Scotland’s landscapes and folk music. He dedicated it to Queen Victoria.
Poska was an assured leader in the orchestra’s richly detailed performance. The opening, with its recitative-like phrases for the violins, was somber and expressive, and the string sound was sumptuous. The listener could enjoy Mendelssohn’s serene lyrical themes, expertly set against moments of agitated intensity.Read More »
Guest conductor Ramón Tebar led the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Photos are by Phil Armstrong
An explosive standing ovation answered the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 conducted by Ramón Tebar at Saturday’s concert in Music Hall (April 11). The enthusiasm for Rachmaninoff’s arch-romantic symphonic masterpiece was not surprising. But this response went on for many minutes, calling Tebar back to the stage several times, until finally the conductor went into the orchestra to shake the hands of each principal player and acknowledge each section of the orchestra.
The gifted Spanish conductor made a welcome return to the orchestra with a program of emotional power and lyricism. He opened with the CSO’s first performance of American composer Margaret Brouwer’s “Pulse” and concluded with Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony in E Minor.
Equally engaging was the return of Canadian violinist James Ehnes in Max Bruch’s “Scottish” Fantasy. Just before launching into his encore (J.S. Bach’s Preludio from Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006), Ehnes spoke movingly about feeling nostalgic as he was turning 50 this year. The CSO was one of the first orchestras to support him early in his career, with his debut in 1995, he said, adding, “I’m grateful to be brought here.”
The orchestra has been sounding exceptional all season, and this was a concert that showcased their artistry.Read More »
An image from the live show of this program last March in Music Hall. Photo by Mark Lyons, provided by the CSO/Pops
The Cincinnati Pops announced the release of its newest recording led by Cincinnati Pops Conductor John Morris Russell, Harlem Renaissance, an homage to one of America’s most important artistic movements and the breadth of jazz styles it has nurtured.
The album features piano virtuoso Marcus Roberts in his own arrangement of James P. Johnson’s 1927 piano rhapsody, Yamekraw, based on the music and vibrant culture of Savannah, Georgia’s historically Black neighborhood in the roaring 1920s. In the hands of Marcus Roberts, Yamekraw exists as a living dialogue between Johnson’s original composition and the musical styles that have evolved since.
Harlem Renaissance features the jazz tone poem, Harlem, by Duke Ellington, an evocative soundscape of Manhattan’s legendary neighborhood. The album also includes the first commercial recording of Carlos Simon’s 2024 composition, Hellfighters’ Blues, inspired by World War I bandleader James Reese Europe’s 1919 recording of W.C. Handy’s Memphis Blues.
The album was recorded at Cincinnati Music Hall on March 21–23, 2025. Recording Producer is the Grammy Award winning Elaine Martone, Sonarc Music.
“Harlem Renaissance honors extraordinary Black composers and their kindred spirits — painters, poets, authors, sculptors and dancers — who together defined the ethos of 20th century American culture. We present these works not as museum-pieces but part of a continuum of style that continues to evolve a century later,” Russell said in a release.
“The album captures the nuance, power and virtuosity of the Cincinnati Pops, the thrilling and breathtaking improvisations of the Modern Jazz Generation and the sheer brilliance of Marcus Roberts and his trio. It was an absolute joy to perform these concerts live, and a delight to now share it with the world.”
Songs by Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes, Moisés Simons and Cab Calloway round out the album.
Seven-time Grammy award-winning recording producer and recent inductee into the Resonator Hall of Fame Elaine Martone continues her longstanding relationship with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops as producer for Harlem Renaissance.
Martone has collaborated with the Orchestra on more than 70 albums (Telarc and Fanfare Cincinnati labels), more than any other orchestra in her oeuvre.
Harlem Renaissance extends the Pops’ prolific recording legacy, which includes more than 100 commercial recordings that have sold millions of copies worldwide. Harlem Renaissance is the eighth Pops album led by Russell.
The album credits include Marcus Roberts piano; Marcus Roberts Trio with Marcus Roberts, piano; Jason Marsalis, drums; Marty Jaffe, upright bass; and the Modern Jazz Generation, led by Marcus Roberts Marty Jaffe, upright bass; Jason Marsalis, drums; Joe Goldberg, tenor saxophone & clarinet (Yamekraw); Tissa Khosla, baritone saxophone; Boyce Griffith, alto saxophone; Tim Blackmon, trumpet; Jianni Lazaga, trumpet; Etienne Charles, trumpet; Rashaan Salaam, trombone; and Mykal Kilgore and Tatiana Mayfield, vocalists.
Listeners can hear select tracks on the album beginning streaming on February 13 with Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady, February 20 with Ellington’s The Mooche and February 27 with W.C. Handy St. Louis Blues. The entire Harlem
Renaissance album will be available on all streaming platforms beginning March 13.
Harlem Renaissance is generously supported by gifts from Kelly Dehan & Rick Staudigel, Kathy Grote, Joan Wilson, Joe & Patricia Baker and an anonymous donor.
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.
What’s your favorite spooky music for Halloween? Mine is “Night on Bald Mountain.” There’s also “Symphonie fantastique” (gulp). Here are a few classical suggestions for holiday listening:
WGUC (90.9 FM) will be playing its annual Tunes from the Crypt, from 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 31.
Dia de los Muertos
If you’ve got a ticket to the Cincinnati Symphony’s CSO Proof event, “Dia de los Muertos,” 8 p.m. tonight, Oct. 30, you’re lucky. The candlelit event is SOLD OUT. It will be visually appealing and they collaborating with local artist Rebecca Nava Soto, a Mariachi band and the Cincinnati Baila! Dance Academy. The program features Latin American music and will have candles, an ofrenda and have epitaphs in a graveyard, where guests can add their own voice to the ofrenda.
There are still tickets for Disney’s “Hokus Pokus in Concert,” Nov. 1 and 2 in Music Hall. Join Max, Allison and Dani on a magical Halloween romp through Salem as they match wits with the legendary Sanderson sisters. Catch this bewitching film on the big screen as the Cincinnati Pops performs the score live to film. 513-381-3300, or click here.
Across the river, James R. Cassidy and the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra will open their season with Nosferatu (A Symphony Of Horrors), film to live orchestral accompaniment, 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 31 in Greaves Concert Hall at NKU. The silent horror film classic Nosferatu is paired with the music from the 1828 opera Der Vampyr, adapted to the film for live orchestral accompaniment by composer Timothy Brock. The evening will open with the Disney 1929 cartoon “The Skeleton Dance” featuring Carl Stallings’ musical accompaniment, before launching into the 86-minute feature film. Attend dressed as your favorite cinematic vampire and receive a free, bloody-good drink courtesy of the KSO. For additional info and tickets — visit kyso.org or call (859) 431- 6216. Tickets: $19 – $35
