It is with gratitude that we welcome you to the 2026 May Festival, an enduring celebration of one of the oldest choral traditions in the Western Hemisphere. This year embodies the ethos of collaboration and community that are central to the Festival. All of our concerts and events have been carefully curated to honor, expand and reimagine the May Festival’s history.

Welcome to the 2025 May Festival! Led by this year's Festival Director, Renée Fleming, we continue an over 150-year-old tradition of choral celebration. With fresh perspectives and powerful storytelling, this year's festival embraces the transformative power of music and invites all to take part in an unforgettable experience.

We have worked hard behind the scenes to bring this new artistic model to life for the 2024 Festival. I cannot tell you how excited I am to welcome Julia Wolfe as our inaugural Festival Director and for you to hear these amazing concerts. Julia is a multi-dimensional and collaborative artist who seeks to bring people into community around music, which makes her the perfect artist to serve as our first Festival Director!

May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra are honored and excited to present the May Festival’s 150th season, which is poised to be our biggest season yet!

Ken Smith highlights the upcoming May Festival, which will bring back treasures from previous Festivals and introduce new works to celebrate this momentous year.

After two years of limited engagements, we are overjoyed to be able to say: Welcome to May Festival 2022 with full chorus, full orchestra and a full house!

Explore program books from the 1873-1920 May Festival housed at Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library online archive