Join the Chorus | May Festival

Join Us for the Musical Experience of a Lifetime

The May Festival Chorus welcomes singers of all voice types, ages 18 and up, with an interest in choral music. Join us to sing on the stage of Music Hall!

As the heart of the May Festival and the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the May Festival Chorus offers high-level performance opportunities to skilled adult volunteer singers in our region.

For children and youth who love to sing, the May Festival Youth Chorus (mixed voices, grades 8-12) and the Cincinnati Boychoir (boys with unchanged, changing, and changed voices, grades 3-12) provide excellent training and unique performance opportunities. Visit their webpages to learn more about how you can join!

Auditions for the May Festival Chorus are typically held in January and August of each year, but we are always eager to hear from interested singers. Read on for more information and fill out the linked form below to schedule an audition.

REGISTER FOR Adult Chorus AUDITION

Questions? Please email us: [email protected].

May Festival Chorus

The May Festival Chorus seeks skilled singers of all voice types, ages 18 and up, with an interest in choral-orchestral music and a desire for excellence.

The audition will consist of three elements:

Prepared Solo: Perform a brief (3 mins or less) solo of your choosing. Solos should be in a classical style with piano accompaniment (art songs, arias or arranged folk songs). Singing in languages other than English is encouraged, but not required. If your chosen work is longer than 3 minutes, please plan to perform only a portion.
Required Excerpt: Prepare your voice part (soprano, alto, tenor or bass) to the final chorus of Handel’s Messiah as found here. The accompanist will play the piano reduction. Perform the work exactly as printed, observing all markings.

▶ Messiah Amen - (Alto)

▶ Messiah Amen - (Bass)

▶ Messiah Amen - (Soprano)

▶ Messiah Amen - (Tenor)

▶ Messiah Amen - All Parts
Vocal and Aural Exercises: In order to assess your vocal technique, the Director of Choruses will ask you to perform a series of simple vocal exercises. Aural skills will be assessed through pitch recall exercises and/or sight-reading.

The May Festival provides a pianist, but auditioning singers must bring a copy of their chosen solo work for the pianist to use. For works more than two pages, a double-sided copy in a binder is best (please, no staples or plastic sleeves).

Listed below are some common audition solos, and singers are welcome to offer these selections at their audition. For each work listed below, there are three files: a PDF of the score, a MIDI learning track, and a piano accompaniment. The learning track may aid in your preparation and mirrors the learning tracks made available to chorus members each week in preparation for our rehearsals. Be prepared to sing with a live accompanist in the audition, however.

Audition Piece	Score	Learning Track	Piano Track
Schubert, An Die Musik (D major)	View	Listen	Listen
Schubert, An Die Musik (B flat major)	View	Listen	Listen
Giordano, Caro Mio Ben (E flat major)	View	Listen	Listen
Giordano, Caro Mio Ben (D flat major)	View	Listen	Listen
Mozart, O Isis und Osiris	View	Listen	Listen
Traditional, The Water is Wide	View	Listen	Listen
Purcell, When I am Laid in Earth	View	Listen	Listen

Fill out the online audition form to indicate your interest. Our chorus manager will contact you to arrange a time. If you’re unavailable for the scheduled audition time, other arrangements can be made. The audition will last approximately ten minutes, and we’ll notify you of the result within one week.

We encourage you to read the FAQ below. If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us!

May Festival Chorus: 2026-2027 Season Summary

N.B. Full rehearsal details are listed on Chorus Connection; the listing below is a summary for convenience.

Aug 18: First MFC Rehearsal
Week of Sept 8: Greenacres Concert (small group, by assignment)
Week of Sept 14: Hans Zimmer concert (small group, by assignment)^
- ^There are soloists required for this program. MFC members are welcome to audition for casting consideration. Both solos are for treble singers (not tenors and basses). See the 2026 Reaudition Guide for more information.
Week of Oct 12: Brahms Choral Works with the CSO and Cristi
- Brahms, Schicksalslied
- Brahms, Nänie
- Rehearsals Tuesday-Friday evenings.
- Performances Sat, Sun
Wed Oct 28: May Festival Chamber Choir Concert (small group, by audition)
- The May Festival Chamber Choir appears on the Louise Nippert Concert Series at the Cincinnati Woman’s Club in a program of Americana, both a cappella and accompanied. Matthew Swanson, Jason Alexander Holmes, and the 2026-2027 Conducting Fellow will conduct. Program to include:
  - Runestad, Come to the Woods
  - Shaw, and the swallow
  - Thomson, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need
  - McFerrin, Psalm 23 (for my mother)
  - Other works TBA
- Fri Jan 15: SCPA Gala (small group, by assignment)
- Week of Jan 17: Enescu, Symphony No. 3 with the CSO and Cristi
  - Rehearsals Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
  - Concerts Fri/Sat
- Week of March 7: Bach, Matthew Passion with CSO and Cristi
  - Rehearsals Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
  - Concerts Saturday, Sunday
- May 15-30: May Festival 2027
  - MF 1: Julia Wolfe, Fire in my Mouth (sopranos and altos only)
  - MF 2: Tenor and Bass Festival concert (tenors and basses only)
  - MF 3: Roxanna Panufnik, Across the Line of Dreams; Lili Boulanger, Psalm 24
  - MF 4: Anna Clyne, New Work; Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 with text by Tracy K. Smith; Reena Esmail, See Me.

May Festival Chorus FAQ

Much of the Chorus’s energy is devoted to the choral-orchestral repertoire (works for chorus and orchestra) in partnership with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, ranging from pieces by J.S. Bach to commissions and U.S. premieres. The Chorus also frequently appears with the Cincinnati Pops to perform a broad range of musical styles, including operetta, musical theatre, film and video game music, and newly-composed works. Additionally, the Chorus and the May Festival Chamber Choir (selected from the May Festival Chorus) often perform works for the chorus without orchestra, such as Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, Duruflé’s Requiem and other choral works.

In addition, the May Festival Chorus and the May Festival Chamber Choir routinely collaborate with the leading composers and conductors of our time. Recent examples include:

All that breathes (May Festival commission and world premiere) and Anthracite Fields with 2024 Festival Director Julia Wolfe and the Bang On A Can All-Stars
El Niño with composer John Adams conducting
Seven Last Words from the Cross with composer James MacMillan conducting, as well as MacMillan’s Timotheus, Bacchus, and Cecilia (May Festival co-commission and world premiere)
the national anthems with composer David Lang
Natural History with composer Michael Gordon
Crown of Hummingbirds, Equinox, and Sea Dream Elegies with composer Julia Adolphe
Breaths of Universal Longings (May Festival commission and world premiere) with composer James Lee III

In a typical year, the Chorus presents two or three programs with the CSO during their subscription season (September-April) and presents four unique programs with the CSO during the May Festival. The Chorus is most frequently heard at Cincinnati Music Hall, which was built for the 1878 May Festival. The Chorus, in full or in part, often appears holiday, summertime and special concerts with the Pops and at any number of local and regional venues.

May Festival Chamber Choir, comprised of select members of the full Chorus, usually appears in a handful of concerts as well, including local music series performances or featured appearances at the May Festival.

In recent seasons, the May Festival Chorus has appeared in some of Cincinnati’s most notable artistic projects, including CSO Look Around, Cincinnati Ballet’s Carmina Burana and Lumenocity.

The May Festival Chorus rehearses every Tuesday from September-May, 7-10pm, at Music Hall. All rehearsals and performances are required of all members unless a smaller ensemble of singers is used. During Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra concert weeks, members can expect one rehearsal with the conductor, two rehearsals with the Orchestra and two or three performances. (This standard formula is sometimes altered.) During the May Festival, the chorus members sing rehearsals or a concert at Music Hall every day for two weeks (usually the last two weeks in May, but not always). Rehearsals are occasionally added at the discretion of the Director of Choruses.

The May Festival Chamber Choir requires additional rehearsal time beyond regular chorus rehearsals.

No! There are no annual dues or fees associated with membership in the May Festival Chorus. The organization provides members with scores, folders, learning materials, parking passes, ticket discounts, meals during extended rehearsal periods, concert uniforms and more. Additionally, the Chorus provides free, individual voice lessons with professional singing teachers to interested chorus members.

Yes! Most members of the Chorus are not professional musicians, but instead work in a wide variety of industries. A strong musical skillset, including the ability to read music and learn your part independently, is necessary, but no specific employment experience or degree qualification is required.

The Chorus occasionally has openings for professional singers. Contact the Chorus Manager to learn more.

Each week, the Director of Choruses announces the music that will be covered in the following week’s rehearsal. Learning materials are made available online, and the singers are expected to learn the assigned excerpts in preparation for the following week’s rehearsal. This individualized preparation enables us to rehearse efficiently and prepare a high volume of music each season.

We aren’t looking for a specific “kind” of singer – our members have a broad array of vocal talents, which is necessary for our equally broad repertoire. But, in addition to a sincere desire to contribute to a high-level ensemble, successful auditioners will exhibit a clear, flexible and responsive voice and the ability to learn music independently.

Questions?

Other questions? We are always glad to hear from you. Get in touch with our staff and we'll answer your questions.

Contact the Director of Choruses

Contact the May Festival Chorus Manager