REVIEW: ‘Dettingen Te Deum’ launches May Festival’s 150th anniversary on festive note
April 3, 2023
by Janelle Gelfand
"The performance was an inspiring prelude to the main event of the sesquicentennial."
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Cincinnati trivia: At 150 years old, this festival is older than Music Hall
November 3, 2022
by David Lyman
"But 150 years? Only one local arts group can lay claim to that vaunted territory; The May Festival. The festival is older than Music Hall, the building it calls home, which is a mere 144 years old."
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Cincinnati May Festival finalizes programs to celebrate choral extravaganza's 150th anniversary
November 3, 2022
by Janelle Gelfand
"It remains the oldest choral festival in the Western Hemisphere. The May Festival’s 150th season spanning two weekends in May (May 19, 20, 25 and 27) will include performances of J.S. Bach’s “Magnificat,” Mozart’s Requiem, Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” and a program of American composers. It is anchored by the volunteer May Festival Chorus prepared by its longtime director Robert Porco, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra."
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May Festival sets monumental plans for 150th season in 2023
May 29, 2022
by Janelle Gelfand
"Cincinnati May Festival is planning to pull out the stops for its 150th anniversary season in May 2023. Choral masterpieces from Mozart to Mahler, celebrated conductors and a project to commission 25 choral works are planned, not only for May, but throughout the 2022-23 concert season."
REVIEW: Beethoven’s Ninth a radiant conclusion to May Festival season
May 29, 2022
by Janelle Gelfand
"This year especially, as the festival returned to its full forces for the first time in two years, it also symbolized the return from isolation, to the communal sharing of Beethoven’s final, greatest symphony, and to looking ahead to the future. That was strikingly evident in the nearly sold-out concert in Music Hall, that held the audience in thrall until they rose, cheering at its conclusion."
REVIEW: May Festival’s South American gems offer a rare treat
May 28, 2022
by Janelle Gelfand
"Mena’s orchestra glowed with lush strings, and the women of the May Festival Chorus added magical color to this extraordinary movement."
Read the full review of Mena Conducts South American Epics from the Cincinnati Business Courier.
REVIEW: ‘Candide’ delights at May Festival
May 23, 2022
by Janelle Gelfand
"The chorus added lively color and was especially memorable in their gleeful rendition of, 'What a day, what a day, for an auto-da-fé.' The choral sound glowed in that miraculous number that concludes the show, 'Make Our Garden Grow.'"
Read the full review of the May Festival performance of Candide from the Cincinnati Business Courier: Read Full Review
REVIEW: May Festival makes radiant return to stage with ‘El Niño’
May 21, 2022
by Janelle Gelfand
"I was struck by the radiant quality of the telling of the Nativity story, the beauty of the intimate moments and the color and transparency that Adams was able to achieve in the choral and orchestral forces."
Read the full review from our opening night performance of John Adams Conducts El Niño: Read Full Review
"Composer Jessie Montgomery to Pay Tribute to Powerful Women in 'I Have Something to Say' at Cincinnati May Festival"
Wed, May 18, 2022
by Anne Arenstein
Cincinnati CityBeat
"Incorporating powerful words spoken by abolitionist Sojourner Truth and climate activist Greta Thunberg, I Have Something to Say pays tribute to women speaking truth to power and challenges listeners to hear their messages."
Cincinnati CityBeat met with composer Jessie Montgomery to discuss the influences and ideation behind her piece that was co-commissioned for the May Festival.
Composer Adams delivers Nativity oratorio through the eyes of a modern woman
May 18, 2022
by Janelle Gelfand
"As a composer, his music, with its roots in minimalism, is approachable. He has a gift for melody – perhaps a reason why he’s one of the most-programmed composers worldwide."
Cincinnati Business Courier provides some insights at what audiences can expect from Pulitzer Prize-winning John Adams (Composer) and his oratorio, El Niño.