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Map and Directions
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| MAY FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT CONCERT |
May 16 8:00 PM
Music Hall
7 PM Music Hall
Ellie Dehn, soprano
Set across the magnificent backdrop of mid-18th century Spain, Verdi’s sweeping masterpiece finds the beautiful Leonora agreeing to elope with Don Alvaro. Her father, the Marquis, having heard noises from Leonora’s room, runs to protect her, sword drawn. Alvaro throws his pistol to the floor as a sign of surrender, but the pistol accidentally goes off, fatally wounding the Marquis.
The Force of Destiny is set into motion.
Leonora, separated from Alvaro while fleeing from the scene of her father’s death, goes to a monastery to spend the rest of her life in repentance. Her brother, Don Carlo, vows revenge on the lovers. And when the three eventually cross paths, it is for one final, fatal time. Experience all of the drama, and find out how the story ends, during the May Festival premiere concert presentation of
La Forza del Destino. |
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May Festival opening night sponsored by:
For more information, please call (513) 381-3300.
Map and Directions
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| MAY FESTIVAL PRESENTS |
May 17 8:00 PM
Music Hall
5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall
7 PM Music Hall
John Aler, tenor
Beethoven’s masterful celebration of universal brotherhood, the Symphony No. 9, is being given a record 20th May Festival performance since its debut on the first Festival in 1873. The Symphony, whose remarkable “Ode to Joy” will close this evening’s performance, is paired with a poignant work by a composer who is new to the Festival.
Eric Zeisl, who fled from Austria during the time of the Holocaust, is possibly best known for his work in Hollywood, including scores for 20 films such as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Lassie Come Home and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man. In a departure from his movie career, he composed the hauntingly beautiful Requiem Ebraico in memory of his father, who died in the concentration camp at Treblinka, and in honor of the countless other victims of the Holocaust. The text, quoted from the 92nd Psalm, is the basis for the Jewish Sabbath celebration but also reflects Zeisl’s view that “...there is very much in the 92nd Psalm that suits the occasion.... With a heart full of tears they [the Jews] nevertheless hold on to God and do not cease to thank Him and do not cease to hope....” |
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This May Festival performance is sponsord by:
For more information, please call (513) 381-3300.
Map and Directions
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MAY FESTIVAL SPECIAL CONCERT:
May 18 8:00 PM
Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption
The Festival’s annual sojourn to the exquisite Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption is this year taken in celebration of
James Bagwell’s tenth anniversary as director of the May Festival Youth Chorus. The works he has selected represent highlights from his time with the group, which he has shaped into an acclaimed ensemble that, just last season, was featured on NPR’s From the Top, a program that showcases the best of the best of today’s young performers.
The May Festival Chorus will perform one of the most sublime works in all of choral literature, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. This socalled All-Night Vigil Service evokes the Death and Resurrection of Christ through its symbolic descent into darkness and return to light. The Vespers remained among Rachmaninoff’s favorite compositions, so much so that he requested that the work’s “Nunc dimittis” be sung at his funeral.
The May Festival Youth Chorus is proudly sponsored by .
For more information, please call (513) 381-3300.
Map and Directions
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| MAY FESTIVAL PRESENTS: |
May 23 8:00 PM
Music Hall
5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall
7 PM Music Hall
Donnie Ray Albert, baritone
Fauré’s Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria are two of the best loved works of the choral literature — for good reason. Each is strikingly
beautiful in its own way. Fauré’s sublime Requiem, intimate in scale and consoling in content, gracefully and gently expresses
human grief, as Fauré himself said, “[My Requiem] is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal
rest.” Vivaldi’s Gloria, with its awe-inspiring waves of musical notes, its energy and rhythmic drive, and its achingly beautiful “Et in Terra Pax,” compellingly communicate the work’s message of spiritual joy.
Bach’s Cantata Gloria in excelsis Deo, which will receive its May Festival premiere at this concert, is listed among the composer’s cantatas for the Christmas season. The Cantata’s music, borrowed from movements of Bach’s celebrated B Minor Mass, vividly communicates the familiar message: “Glory be to God on high, and on Earth peace to men of good will.” A memorable evening of exquisite and spiritual music awaits! |
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This May Festival performance is sponsored by:
For more information, please call (513)
381-3300.
Map and Directions
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| MAY FESTIVAL 2008 FINALE: |
May 24 8:00 PM
Music Hall
5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall
7 PM Music Hall
Catherine Keen, mezzo-soprano
Great music and great art combine for this multimedia presentation of one of the most romantic, and tragic, stories in the English language — .
With extraordinary beauty, Berlioz’s self-titled “dramatic symphony” tells us in music and words of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets, the elation and melancholy of the young lovers’ allconsuming passion, the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, and the eventual reconciliation of the families. Berlioz’s breathtaking music will unite with the visual, as artists’ depictions of themes represented in the music are projected above the stage, thanks in part to the Cincinnati Art Museum. |
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The May Festival Finale is sponsored by:
For more information, please call (513)
381-3300.
Map and Directions
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