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.”
I shouldn’t have been astonished when I saw thousands of people Friday night streaming to events in the Washington Park area of Over-the-Rhine. However, this wasn’t about Flying Pig, the great Cincinnati marathon that was happening that weekend, or FC Cincinnati. All those people were going to see Damon Gupton conduct the music of Star Wars with the Cincinnati Pops at Music Hall, as well as to theaters, Memorial Hall, events at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, to Washington Park and to an art opening in a tiny gem of a gallery a few steps from Music Hall.
I was heading to Wash Park Art for the opening of a remarkable installation, Anna VanMatre’s “Primary Fundamentals.” This is the U.S. premiere of the exhibition, which had its world premiere in Guiyang, China, a joint commission of the SKYSEA Museum of Art and the Xiyun Academy Gallery in 2025.
In this series, Anna explores the fundamentals that sustain our life on Earth — water, sun and fire — in stunning, nature-inspired creations that are almost hyper-realistic. (Read about her process in this article I wrote about another exhibition she had at the Auschwitz death camp in her native Poland a few years ago.) Anna’s husband, Rick VanMatre, saxophonist and professor emeritus of Jazz Studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, created new music to accompany the exhibition’s opening.
The author with the artist
Coming up: Anna will be giving an Artist Talk, 6 p.m. May 21 at the gallery, 1215 Elm Street. It runs through June 13. info: washparkart.com.
And on Sunday (May 3), I attended the final program of the Linton Chamber Series in Avondale’s First Unitarian Church. Besides the sun streaming in through its Tiffany windows, I’m partial to piano trios, and there were two of them: Beethoven’s Trio in D Major, “Ghost,” and Mendelssohn’s Trio No. 2 in C Minor, with pianist Benjamin Hochman, CSO concertmaster Stefani Matsuo and CSO principal cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn.
Haydn’s Flute Trio in G Major opened the program, featuring the CSO’s retiring principal flute Randolph Bowman, with Finkelshteyn and Hochman.
Each trio was distinctive and inspiring in its own way. The Haydn made a delightful opener, and I especially enjoyed the fleet, light articulation of each player. What is there to say about Beethoven? It was utterly profound, absorbing and played with breathtaking artistry. And what a treat it was to hear Mendelssohn’s “other” piano trio, written after the more familiar D Minor, and the last chamber piece he wrote. It is difficult for the pianist, and yet it was so brilliantly performed by Hochman, who balanced “fairy” lightness with moments of massive sonority at the Steinway. I could see Matsuo and Finkelshteyn smiling through these movements. For an encore, they played the unforgettable second movement of Mendelssohn’s D Minor Piano Trio.
Hochman told us he was last here 20 years ago, to appear with the CSO and the Linton. I hope he returns.
This program repeats tonight at Congregation Beth Adam in Loveland. Linton also announced next year’s season under its artistic directors Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson. More information here: lintonmusic.org.
Just a week earlier, more than 4,500 people attended the CSO’s two sold-out performances of “The Firebird” with giant puppets. Here’s my review, free to read, with thanks to the Cincinnati Business Courier.
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 »
The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra’s 12th Summermusik festival will hail America at 250 whil it carries on the orchestra’s tradition of imaginative programs across the city and region. This summer’s festival, Aug. 4-29, will included the artist debuts of renowned cellist Zuill Bailey and Fabiola Méndez, a virtuoso of the cuatro, a Latin American string instrument.
Eckart Preu is music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra
Eckart Preu, music director of the CCO, will open the mainstage season with the world premiere of “Visions of Humanity and Unity,” featuring Bailey as soloist. The cello concerto is a tribute to America’s 250th birthday this year, and each of its five movements is composed by a different composer: Mark O’Connor, Avner Dorman, Enrico Chapela, Zhou Tian and Chanda Dancy.
Cincinnati-based opera soprano Victoria Okafor joins the CCO for a semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s 20th century masterpiece “The Seven Deadly Sins.” And audience favorite Roger Klug returns to The Redmoor for a Chamber Crawl highlighting the legacy of American rock legends such as Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.
The festival will continue the successful mix of four mainstage concerts at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, as well as weeknight “Chamber Crawls” and Sunday matinees dubbed “A Little Afternoon Musik.” Read More »
The Israeli Chamber Project with violinist Antje Weithaas played Chamber Music Cincinnati this week.
Imagine being a touring musician while your country is at war. Clarinetist Tibi Cziger and his wife cellist Michal Korman were in a safe room with their three children in Tel Aviv when their home was hit and damaged by a bomb from Iran. The couple, members of the Israeli Chamber Project, were on the brink of their North American tour. They quickly decided that Korman would stay home with their traumatized children, while Cziger would travel to the U.S.
So began an odyssey just to get here. Cziger, who is founder and artistic director of the Israeli Chamber Project, and flutist Guy Eshed, principal flutist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, flew from Tel Aviv to Athens to Zurich to Chicago. (The others were coming from New York, Georgia and Germany.) From Chicago, the musicians were unable to get a flight to Cincinnati. The group, based in Israel and New York, had already been forced to make changes with some substitute players for their first two tour performances due to their travel woes. They decided to drive.
The fact that they arrived on time for their Chamber Music Cincinnati performance on March 24 in Memorial Hall was nothing short of a miracle. Their performance was not only a feat of superb artistry and virtuosity, but also of grit, determination and even courage. The audience stood for lengthy ovations at its conclusion.
For the tour, the ensemble joined with the distinguished violinist Antje Weithaas, now a professor at Berlin’s Hochschule fur Musik, and named “Instrumentalist of the Year” at Germany’s 2025 Opus Klassic. Besides Cziger and Eshed, the ensemble was rounded out by violinist Itamar Zorman (winner of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition); violist Guy Ben-Ziony (currently visiting professor at the Robert Schumann University of Music and Media in Düsseldorf); and pianist Assaff Weisman, a graduate of The Juilliard School where he now teaches. Cellist James Kim admirably stepped in at the last minute to play for Michal Korman for the whole tour. He is on the faculty of University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music and cellist of the Lysander Piano Trio.
They opened with Bernard Hermann’s “Souvenir de Voyage” for clarinet and string quartet. The first movement’s theme, a haunting tune set against lush strings, was ideal for the rich timbre of Cziger’s clarinet. Clarinet and violin traded themes much of the time, and their phrases were were tinged with nostalgia in the slow movement, Berceuse. The evocative finale was inspired by J.M. W. Turner’s Venetian watercolors, and began in the two violins, almost like a Kreisler miniature. Hermann, of course, is revered for his film scores, and these souvenirs were like small cinematic gems, and a wonderful discovery.Read More »
Conductor James Conlon is back in town to lead a program of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra this weekend at Music Hall.
Violinist Blake Pouliot
However, his soloist has changed. Yesterday the orchestra announced that the planned soloist, violinist Renaud Capuçon, is unable to be here due to an ear infection. He has been advised by a medical professional not to fly at this time. Violinist Blake Pouliot (pool-YACHT) has agreed to step in for Capuçon to play the scheduled Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3.
Pouliot studied violin in Canada with Marie Bérard and Erika Raum, and he completed his training as an associate of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He graduated from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Robert Lipsett, the Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair.
Pouliot performs on the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù on generous loan from an anonymous donor.
Conlon is Music Director Laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival, which he served for an unprecedented 37 years. He is in his 20th and final season as Music Director of LA Opera. His career of more than 50 years has taken him to the world’s most significant stages, and he is one of our country’s greatest advocates for classical music. For more, visit jamesconlon.com.
CCM’s Opera Department mounted a double bill, including Poulenc’s “Les Mamelles de Tirésias,” shown above. Photos by Mark Lyons
In Poulenc’s surreal opera “Les Mamelles de Tirésias,” (The Breasts of Tirésias), Thérèse opened her blouse and two balloons popped out. As her “breasts” floated away, Thérèse, who decided to become a feminist, promptly popped them, grew a beard, changed her name to Tirésias and sang a ravishing waltz.
It was giggly, outrageous and in many ways, timeless.
Jose Maria Condemi, the new Associate Director of Opera at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, made his directorial debut over the weekend with an impressive double bill of Kurt Weill’s “Mahagonny Songspiel” and Francis Poulenc’s “Les Mamelles de Tirésias.”
Smartly staged and featuring a cast of fresh rising-stars and imaginative sets by students Luke Dufilho (Mahagonny) and EJ Goodman (Les Mamelles), it was an enchanting evening of theater. From the steamy, dissolute world of Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny to Poulenc’s surreal fantasy of Zanzibar — where a man could produce 40,049 babies in one day — the audience was alternately riveted and howling with laughter.
Condemi, who is an alumnus of CCM and has an extensive portfolio, joined the faculty in August of 2025. He’s familiar to Cincinnati Opera fans, who saw him stage “Ainadamar,” “Don Giovanni,” “La Traviata,” “Tosca” and “Lucia di Lammermoor.”
In the small orchestra pit, these two jazzy and bubbly scores received spirited readings by CCM musicians, conducted by William Langley, currently resident conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, among other titles. He’s a gifted and very busy maestro, and has returned several times to lead productions at his alma mater, CCM, where he earned a Master’s Degree with Mark Gibson.
The cast of Kurt Weill’s “Mahagonny Songspiel”
Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “Mahagonny Songspiel” of 1927 is a 30-minute precursor to the full-blown opera, “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.” It offers a grim, cynical picture of Germany between the wars. I saw the Friday (Feb. 27) performance in CCM’s intimate Cohen Family Studio Theater (CCM has alternate casts).Read More »
Johannes Skoog, Royal Court Organist of Stockholm/ photo Janelle Gelfand
It took Swedish organist Johannes Skoog 24 hours to get to Cincinnati. Despite a canceled flight — originally out of Helsinki– and almost no sleep or time to rehearse, he performed his program magnificently on the historic 1929 E.M. Skinner Concert Organ in Cincinnati Museum Center on Feb. 25.
Under the circumstances, it was an Olympian feat for him even to play at all. Best of all, Skoog seemed to be enjoying the performance, playing his mostly French repertoire with flair and offering big smiles to the audience. Most of us don’t consider the trials a touring artist must endure, especially in these days of “bomb cyclone” snowstorms and frequent “mechanical” issues. The sold-out audience assembled in the Rotunda of Union Terminal was riveted throughout his two-hour program, thronging him at intermission and awarding a standing ovation at the conclusion.
Skoog is a rising star, who won First Prize and the Bach Prize at the prestigious Canadian International Organ Competition in 2024. Now the Stockholm native is the newly appointed Royal Court Organist and is becoming accustomed to his official duties, mostly at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, he told me, but also at the royals’ charming summer home, Drottningholm.
Skoog’s program included four anthems performed with the combined choirs of Christ Church Cathedral, Stephan Casurella, director, and St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Carlton Monroe, director.Read More »
