May Festival Chorus
Matthew Swanson, Director of Choruses
Jason Alexander Holmes, Associate Director of Choruses
Heather MacPhail, Accompanist
Cincinnati’s Chorus
The May Festival Chorus is the heart of Cincinnati’s May Festival, the longest-running choral festival in the Western Hemisphere, and the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Cincinnati Pops. The Chorus performs year-round and offers a wide array of musical experiences to our members and our community.
The Chorus is led by May Festival Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson and collaborates frequently with leading figures in the international arts scene, including the annually-appointed Festival Director of the May Festival, CSO Music Director Designate Cristian MÓ‘celaru, and Cincinnati Pops conductor John Morris Russell.
Want the best seat in the house? Join the May Festival Chorus today and feel what it’s like to belong to a group that’s committed to community and singing. Or, if you’re a young person who loves to sing, join the May Festival Youth Chorus (mixed voices, grades 8-12) or the Cincinnati Boychoir (boys with unchanged, changing, and changed voices, grades 3-12).
Excellence in Our Community
The Chorus is a group of 135 adult volunteer singers from greater Cincinnati, northern Kentucky, and southeast Indiana who devote numerous hours each year to making music together. Their remarkable devotion to the choral art form, to our community and to one another produces memorable and impactful musical experiences for chorus members and audiences alike.
Joining the May Festival Chorus is a significant commitment of time, but the reward is an equally significant musical experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
Excellence from the Start
Founded in 1873, the annual May Festival is the longest-running choral festivals in the Western Hemisphere. Many famous choral and orchestral works received their World or American premieres here in Cincinnati — including Bach’s Magnificat, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, and others — and our tradition of innovation continues to the present day through partnerships with the leading composers of our time, including John Adams, James Lee III, Julia Adolphe, James MacMillan, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, and more.
Excellence on Record
The May Festival Chorus has expanded its national and international presence through numerous PBS broadcasts of live concerts and several award-winning recordings, including projects in collaboration with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Each year, the May Festival Chorus appears on local or national radio broadcasts, and the Live at Music Hall livestream series brings our performances to a worldwide audience.
The Chorus appears on numerous CSO and Pops recordings, and the May Festival has made quite a few recordings itself over the years — from the 2001 release Christmas with the May Festival Chorus, a popular stand-alone holiday album, to the 2016 live recording of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses from Carnegie Hall.
Excellence is What We Do
Each year, artists from around the world join the May Festival Chorus to present high-level performances to our audiences. Local and national institutions have lauded the May Festival Chorus for their performances and the May Festival is recognized as one of the country’s leading choral organizations.
In addition, the May Festival is committed to access and inclusion, which is why there are no dues, tuition or fees associated with membership in the May Festival Chorus. We provide music scores, folders, uniforms, parking passes, voice lessons and more – all free of charge to our members — in order to ensure that all qualified singers can participate, regardless of financial circumstance.