Cincinnati May Festival Names Dami Choi as Fourteenth May Festival Choral Conducting Fellow
CINCINNATI, OH (August 25, 2026)— The Cincinnati May Festival has announced Dami Choi as the May Festival Choral Conducting Fellow for the 2026-27 season. Choi is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in Choral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She previously earned her
Master of Music degree from the University of British Columbia. During her studies at UBC, Choi was a graduate conductor for the university’s Chamber Choir, Treble Choir and Tenor-Bass Choir. She also taught choir, band and strings in public schools. In addition to educating, she has been nationally recognized for her choral work. In 2025, Choi was selected as a Conducting Fellow for the National Collegiate Choral Organization Conference, and, most recently, was awarded the Iwan Edwads Young Choral Conducting Scholarship, which is an annual scholarship presented to one candidate in Canada to support choral studies. In addition to Choi’s awards, one of her compositions was selected as the winner of the Phoenix Chamber Choir Composition Competition. <strong">Choi now joins the Cincinnati May Festival as the 2026-27 Choral Conducting Fellow.
"I’m honored to have the opportunity to work closely with the May Festival Chorus,” said Choi. “As a newcomer to Cincinnati, I look forward to building a deeper connection with the community, learning from its rich choral tradition, and sharing the highest quality of choral music with audiences throughout the region."
Choi is the fourteenth May Festival Choral Conducting Fellow since the program’s inception in 2013. Created through the generosity of Ginger Warner, a long-time trustee of the University of Cincinnati and Director Emeritus of the May Festival Board of Directors, the Fellowship aims to expand on the Festival’s long-standing traditions and values. The position provides rising conductors with the opportunity to participate in the leadership of a major symphonic choral organization through several ways, including commissioning new works and arrangements, taking part in community engagement, and providing real-time conducting experience.
In collaboration with CCM’s graduate choral conducting program, the annually appointed Fellow is selected from CCM’s Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) class to serve one season as the assistant conductor of the May Festival Chorus. Choi will directly support Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson and Associate Director of Choruses Jason Alexander Holmes with leading the May Festival Chorus. As part of the fellowship, Choi will also expand on the May Festival family of choruses’ commitment to bringing high-caliber choral music to Cincinnati, with the 2027 May Festival featuring performances by the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble led by Music Director and Director of Choral Studies at CCM, Joe Miller. Choi will also work alongside esteemed industry professionals, including this year’s May Festival Director, Marin Alsop, to support a successful classical music festival, which is consistently named “One of the Best Classical Music Festivals in the USA and Canada” by BBC Music Magazine.
"The May Festival is committed to cultivating the choral leaders of tomorrow," said Swanson, who was the 2015-2016 May Festival Conducting Fellow. "Past fellows now occupy prominent leadership positions nationally and internationally. We look forward to welcoming Dami to Cincinnati and to the May Festival. Her broad and extensive experience will be of great benefit to our organization in the year ahead."
TICKETS
Official programming details and the Festival Pass for the 2027 May Festival will be released in the coming months. To receive first access to the latest information on next season’s May Festival, sign up here.
BIOGRAPHIES
Dami Choi, Matthew Swanson, Jason Alexander Holmes, Joe Miller, May Festival
