The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has reported a network outage at Music Hall. Saturday’s Classical Roots in-person performance in Music Hall will continue as planned. However, the digital premiere will now take place on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. (instead of live) on the CSO’s YouTube channel and website.
Also, the box office is closed, but the website, cincinnatisymphony.org, is fully operational.
The orchestra said in a statement that it is working quickly to resolve the issue.
Cristian Măcelaru, the CSO’s newly appointed music director-designate, unveiled programs for his first season as music director in the 2025-26 season in a press conference today at Music Hall.
He’ll be conducting six subscription programs plus a special concert with Yo-Yo Ma. Click here to read the highlights, and visit cincinnatisymphony.org to see the full schedule.
For a preview of what’s to come, you can see the maestro in action this weekend conducting Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” The program includes “Southwestern Shakedown” from “Blues Symphony” by acclaimed jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, a friend. There’s also Chausson’s “Poème” and Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, both featuring American violinist Randall Goosby as soloist.
You can read his thoughts about Antonin Dvořák in this column.
Măcelaru leads the CSO, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8 and 2 p.m. Feb. 9 in Music Hall. Tickets: 513-381-3300, cincinnatisymphony.org.
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 »
On Sunday, January 19, violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins will perform a recital to benefit the Ben Carlson-Berne (BCB) Scholarship Fund in support of classical music education for Cincinnati’s youth. Her performance, 3 p.m. next Sunday in the Mayerson Theater at the School for Creative & Performing Arts, is open to the public.
She performed as the “Fiddler” violin soloist in the Grammy/Tony nominated Broadway revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Featured as soloist in more than 400 Broadway performances, plus a Grammy-nominated cast album alongside a bonus track by Itzhak Perlman, Hall-Tompkins has been the featured subject on NBC’s Today Show with Harry Smith, and many other news outlets.
Among her awards, she received a Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize, a Concert Artists Guild Career Grant, and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence. She is featured in the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History.
She’s also the founder of Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul, a program which has brought more than 100 chamber music performances to New York City, Los Angeles and even Paris, France, homeless shelters.
She also has a Cincinnati connection — in 2018, she was appointed as the Cincinnati Symphony‘s inaugural Classical Roots program Artist-in-Residence. To read her impressive biography, click here.
Since 2004, the BCB Fund has helped provide instruments and lessons with premier, private instructors to underserved and economically disadvantaged Cincinnati Public School (CPS) students with an interest in classical music. To date, the fund has provided 350 lesson years to 131 youth.
Here’s a story I wrote for the Courier in 2018 about how one former student benefited from the BCB Scholarship.
Details:Read More »
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 »
For its 105th anniversary this summer, June 12-July 27, 2025, Cincinnati Opera will present the all-time favorite musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” in a new production. The season also will include Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and Puccini’s “Tosca.” The 2025 Summer Festival, which will feature acclaimed casts, will include the return of the popular Studio Sessions, intimate, artist-curated concerts presented cabaret-style. All performances are in Cincinnati’s Music Hall.
This will also mark Evans Mirageas‘ 20th season as Cincinnati Opera’s artistic director.Read More »
The Fall season is fast approaching. And here are some fun, just-announced Friday Experiences and CSO Proof programs coming up during the CSO season:
COPLAND: SYMPHONY IN LIGHT — Jan. 10, 2025 in Music Hall
I was surprised to learn during my visit last weekend to the Tanglewood Festival, celebrating the 150th birthday of Serge Koussevitzky this summer, that the legendary conductor almost came to Cincinnati.
The distinguished music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949, Koussevitzky was also a composer, a virtuoso of the double bass, champion of new music and influential mentor of dozens of conductors and composers, including Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. In a panel discussion I attended at Tanglewood, he was credited with literally rediscovering American classical music.
But before 1924, the Russian-born conductor was considering posts at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Perhaps his fate was sealed years earlier when Koussevitzky’s onetime teacher and former BSO music director Arthur Nikisch told him that he would oneday be music director of the BSO. (No worries: Cincinnati ended up with Fritz Reiner in 1924 instead.)
The Tanglewood Festival, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops in Lenox, MA, in the beautiful Berkshires, is a magical place. It has long been on my bucket list. This year, the festival welcomed critics and music journalists for the annual meeting of the Music Critics Association of North America. Our schedule included BSO concerts conducted by music director Andris Nelsons, panel discussions and a terrific Festival of Contemporary Music, curated by composers Steven Mackey and the Cuban-American Pulitzer Prize winning composer Tania León. Read More »
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has just announced that music director Louis Langrée has withdrawn from CSO subscription and special programs on May 3 & 4 due to an injury.
CSO Associate Conductor Samuel Lee, recent winner of the 2024 Malko Competition, will conduct the May 3 & 4 CSO subscription concert, Beethoven Symphony No. 7 & Dessner Premieres, which includes the U.S. premiere of Bryce Dessner’s Piano Concerto with Alice Sara Ott.
CSO Assistant Conductor Daniel Wiley will conduct the May 3 CSO special program, WIRES, featuring Bryce Dessner and his Concerto for Two Pianos with internationally acclaimed piano duo and sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque. You may recall that Wiley stepped in on about a day’s notice to lead concerts last weekend. Here is the review.
Langrée is concluding his 11-year tenure this month. He is to lead his final concerts as CSO music director on May 10-11 in Music Hall.
We wish him a very speedy recovery!
Learn more about Samuel Lee here.
Learn more about Daniel Wiley here.
It’s the talk of the music world today. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced on April 2 that Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, 28, will be the next Music Director of the CSO, the 11th in its 133-year history. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the recommendation of the CSOA Music Director Search Committee.
(Our own CSO has said that an announcement will occur this spring…)
Following a term as Zell Music Director Designate effective immediately, Mäkelä will begin an initial five-year tenure in September 2027. In this role, he will conduct the orchestra a minimum of 14 weeks per season: 10 weeks of subscription and other concerts in and around Chicago, plus four weeks of domestic and international tours.
Currently music director of the Orchestre de Paris and chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, Mäkelä is already one of the busiest conductors on the planet. His rise in the classical music industry has been meteoric. Mäkelä will be 31 when he begins his tenure at the start of the 2027-28 season. That will coincide with his inauguration as Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He explained in a statement released today:
“From 2027-28 my main responsibilities will be my partnerships with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Until then I remain committed to my ongoing collaborations with the Orchestre de Paris and Oslo Philharmonic. I look forward to all the music-making we have planned for the next three seasons and to returning to both institutions on a regular basis after my official tenures are completed.”
He is leading subscription concerts this week in Chicago, and will return for two concerts next season.
Mäkelä made his debut with the CSO in April 2022, to both critical and audience acclaim. When he returned to the CSO podium in February 2023, Classical Voice North America marveled at “the potent chemistry evident
between Mäkelä and the musicians, not to mention between Mäkelä and the audience, on both occasions.”
The orchestra’s president, Jeff Alexander, who worked in management for the Cincinnati Symphony before going to Chicago, noted Mäkelä’s “exceptional connection” with the musicians and his “ability to deliver extremely moving performances of a wide range of repertoire.”
In a statement, Alexander said, “As we got to know him off the podium and witnessed – in addition to his extraordinary musical talent – his passion for the artform, keen interest in music education and the legacy of the CSO, and innate ability to connect warmly and sincerely with our trustees, volunteers, concert attendees, donors, and administrative staff, it quickly became clear that he was the ideal choice to lead the orchestra into the future. I am delighted with this outcome.”
Throughout its distinguished history, the CSO has counted 10 of the most notable and respected conductors as music director. Theodore Thomas, of course, was founding music director of the Cincinnati May Festival, and Fritz Reiner was music director of the Cincinnati Symphony before going to Chicago:
Theodore Thomas (1891 to 1905)
Frederick Stock (1905 to 1942)
Désiré Defauw (1943 to 1947)
Artur Rodzinski (1947 to 1948)
Rafael Kubelík (1950 to 1953)
Fritz Reiner (1953 to 1962)
Jean Martinon (1963 to 1968)
Sir Georg Solti (1969 to 1991)
Daniel Barenboim (1991 to 2006)
Riccardo Muti (2010 to 2023)
