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!

Adams returns to conduct his bilingual opera-oratorio El Niño (2000)—“one of my favorite pieces,” he admits. Hard at work on Antony and Cleopatra, his latest opera debuting in San Francisco this fall, Adams answered questions via email.

Montgomery’s I Have Something to Say imagines an encounter between the two women and culminates with a children’s choir protesting in an imagined courtroom or assembly hall. Montgomery spoke to us about the work—her first for full orchestra and chorus—and about collaborating on the libretto with her mother, the late writer and performance artist Robbie McCauley.

The May Festival Youth
Chorus straddles two worlds. For one, its existence is artistically necessary: to supply the sound of young voices for concerts when the repertoire requires it. It also provides those same young voices with an invaluable music education.

Life-changing? For some, certainly. But as you speak with one May Festival Chorus member after another, there is a common theme that is revealed; for nearly every member, joining Cincinnati’s oldest chorus was a turning point, a defining moment in the singer’s musical life.

View the full issue of the May Festival 2022 program book.